Morning journal and courier., 1888-05-21

A Cuban Plantation Home = Quaint Surroundings fin she Dreamy Routine of Daily Life-Beaut1fuI and Musical Birds-Myrfads of Fire Flies i'm Way erIng Witch Dances Usher out she Bays of Listless Languor.
 VALLE DEL AGUAcATE, Cuba, May 13. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 There is nothing in the western hemis- phere accessible to an American traveller more truly interesting than the surroundings of and daily life in one of these quaint old Cuban plantation homes. This is particular ly true if it be deep in the interior and far remote from even remote Cuban cities. For instance, this very estate to which Don Man. uel brought me, in the heart of the Cuban coffee-lands, has been entailed from father to son for nearly quarter thousand years. The charm of age rests upon it. Framed in an ever new setting of ravishing tropic ver- dure, it is like coming upon some rare old canvas of the masters giorifed by contrast eff modern environment. The great laure1s above this noble old casa de vivienda, the coco trees piercing the blue Cuban sky with their sword-liks, pinnate leaves, the royal palms, an hundred feet to their pluny branches, were all old when Columbus wrote of this island in his journal, 'sIt excels all other countries, as far as the day surpssses the night in brightness and splendor."
 A CUBAN PLANTATION.
 Away out there along the old road is wall of stone and cement eight feet high, with 8 peaked top. For mile in front of the es- tancia or farm this gray, bastionaded guar l.. yofk 1,s nese wall. from massive entrance called ls taranquera. This is the queerest sort of Q structure. Huge supporting pillars are sur mounted by 8 canopied roof some twenty feet from the ground; and reaching fully half way to this are two immense doors or gates of the indestructible guabrahaca wood. filled with huge brass-headed cross bolts. These swing on stapled hinges as thick as ones arm. tremendous paddock fastens the taranquera; and were you stranger de- sirous of entering the grounds, such wish could only be made knowa by tolliag cen- tury old bell hung high above. As the en- tire plantation is surrounded by an impene- trable hedge of Spanish bayonet, the latter with the road wall and the insurmountable taranquera render the indwel1ers compara- lively safe from annoyance. in troublous times. Differing only in degree of expendi- ture of money and toll upon them, the lar ger plantations of all this vast and iuxuriant region are similarly defended.
 For a. eighth of mile from the road en. trance an avenue nearly an hundred feet wide, bordered by great hedges of pArnaro- sas, leads straight towards the old plantation home. Then, the point of the angles marked by gigantic palms, the avenue spreads fan like to the right and left-a common arrange ment in this region-and the entire open space beyond, defined by long reaches of the gorgeous granadillas or passion flowers, is simply an indescribable- collection of tropic flowers and shrubs, far surpassing anything possible to conceive from conservatory dis | plays in our own northern cline. At either \ side of this are what are regarded here al | "small" fields of orange trees, with from two | to three thousand trees in each field. Be- l yond is the Cuban country home low and
 large and old, with scores of outbuildings al | convenient distances, with little plazas o1 packed clay ground between, the whole set | beneath the ample and endless shade of huge
 lsurels, cocos and palms.
 | BEAUTIFUL AND MUSICAL BIRDS
 | Bewildering as may be the magnifcence oi | flowers around these Cuban plantation grounds, the variety and singing of birds are | positively ravishing. It has been written
 that what tropical birds gain in brilliancy ot plumage they lose in variety and quality oi I song That is not true of Cuba. The birds I seem numberlees; their voices and singing are startlin0ly beyond anything possible for l one to come upon at any one time in the States Riding from Trinidad to Don Man. uel's home the other day, I saw eighteen dis
 tinct species of birds-the crow, the parrot
 the indigo bird, the paroquet, the lapwing the oriole, the hamingo, the robin, the brown | pelican, the pigeon, the mocking- bird, the | canary, the golden-winRed woodpecker, the | English lady bird, the bluebird, the ibis, the catbird and the hummingbird, of which there are said to be sixty varieties in Cubal All oi these birds were to be seen or heard here | about; and besides passed many charming hour in the acquaintance of as many more all of which regarded the plantation trees 1 shrubs and hedges theirs as surely as theil
 human owners. Among these were the fol | lowing. The solviros, which live by suck. ing honey from the flowers. They have bril- | liant green jackets with yellow vests. As large as our robin, they live in gourd- shaped double. widowed nests attached to the un- | der side of large tropic leaves. The male ii 1 ruminative; but it's mate is full of joyous
 song. The mavitos are as large as our south
 ern mockingbird, and in form and action re l semble them. Their backs are blue black
 and they have gorgeous yellow breasts and { yellow slashing along each wing. Theil songs are precisely like those of the canary
 but belder and stronger. The negritos ar'
 here called the black canary birds. Thei | wings have 8 few dainty white feathers ant
 their singing is marvellous. The savanero are delightful inhabitants of the shorter Gu
 ban grasses, and have the form of ou
 thrush, with dark puce-brown feathers, deli l cately mottled, clinging close to the frame and their cheery chatter is endless. Othe
 frequenters of the ground and grasses abou plantation houses are the totises and tn their resemblance to the American blackbir( l in form and movement. Both are melodiou
 but noisy. They flock in great numbers ana cry -kl-ee-ingl-kl-ee-i witt | the rythmic modulations of silver bells First the totises sound their triple note
 with rising scale, as if questioning. Thel l from hundreds of hidden places answer Ii | made in descending scale by the chinchin guacos. The notes are almost identical; sim ply reversed. A singular fact is that whel l the former sing their tails spread laterall,
 and the latter perpendicularly. Thousand l at one time will flock about these home spots 1 ringing these bird-voice chimes until the dil
 the hooking bird and canary in size and ar 1 very beautiful. They are 8 mottled black yellow and red in color. One of their inte
 resting characteristics Is to eat 80 freely as t.
 barely enable them to remain upon branch o shrub and then twitter and sing with won
 drous and plaintive sweetness. Two daint, species are the temegrines del pinar and tn pioreras. Both are much smaller than tn
 smallest canary and but trife larger thal
 the humming bird. For its size the forme
 has the most striking plumage of ali Cuba
 birds. With Robin Hood jacket of bright
 est green, it's breast is set with silver crea
 cent, while gleaming black, plume-lik
 comb surmounts it's tiny head. It's notes ar
 similar to those of the American robin, bu
 with more or the piccolo in them than th
 flute. The piorera is smaller with blacl
 and white back, white breast and re-
 neck. He is an incessant singer, with pret ty variety of trilled notes. But the zorale are the buffoons of these plantation cheris
 ters. They are the size of our wrens, of asl
 color, mottled with black and yellow, wit
 yellow bills and feet. Their impish activit
 is astounding. Differing from the crow
 magpie and mocking.bird, they possess man.
 of the qualities of each; though their gibea
 taunts and teasinRs seem directed agains