The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-02
HAvANA,s NARROW STREETS. :
Walking on a Fourteen Inch Sidewalk.
Elaborate Politeness.

Walking on a Fourteen Inch Sidewalk.
Elaborate Politeness.
With the exception of the Paseo and
Prado, and the many interesting little
plazas, with their tiny parks in which the
flora of the tropics are seen In delicious
luxuriance the Gales publicas or pnblic
thoroughfares of Havana are remarkably
narrow. Many are only from twelve to
twenty feet wide. There are a number
but from six to eight. To stroll through
these sinuouS passages and buLd little
romances based on the contingency OF
some fair senorita's alcoba to some per-
sistent don's quarto, is a delightful ex-
perience. And then one, while lodging
the sharp angles and massive walls, Is re-
minded by innumerable sounds and
glimpses of the exquisite interiors behind,
where there are endless beauty, bloom and
song. Sidewalks, in the American sense,
are unknown. A narrow, raised footway
of granite, averaging no greater width
than two feet, is all you will find to keep
you out of the street. 1 have meas
ured some no wider than fourteen
inches. Custom rules that foot pas
sengers take the right hand way. No
people on earth are SO courteous in the
streets as the Havanese. There are no
crowding and hustling here. II you have
the footway and please to saupter le1s-
urely, and one behind you is in haste, he
a kindly spoken "Con perdon," or "By
your leave" So, too, if one meets you
quito unusual thing, for the human
tide moving opposite follows the other
side of the calle-he will deferentially
step from the walk into the roadway,
while saluting you with some brief but
earnest expression of apology. This rule
of the right of way is inviolable, and the
archbishop or governor general, il either
CHANGED to be on foot would observe it
with all the courtesy and exactitude of the
less distinguished. There is only one ex-
ception. That is in favor of the ladies.
They are held strictly accountable to this
universal politeness and consideration on
their own part; but If occasion come when
you can serve them by getting into the
mud, even for beggar or bag, and you
fail of doing it you are misunderstanding
This street usage and right extend also
. public conveyances, which are fneXor-
ably controlled. The omnibuses here are
called guaguas. The lines bound from
the outskirts to central city points are
compelled to come into the city on one
street to the right and return by another
street to the left; and no similar vehicle
is permitted to run in the opposite direc-
ton on those streets. Only the little VIC
torias-each one horse cochero, or driver,
and all, compact enough to drive through
an American dwelling house door--are
allowed to wriggle and twist around
almost everywhere. The guagua is so
characteristic Havana institution that il
cannot be overlooked. In appearance it
much resembles the first patterns Of our
own street cars, set a little higher In the
k-air, or very old fashioned daguerreotype
| gallery on low geared wagon wheels. 1t
has an excited and noisy conductor in
| gaudy uniform, and an empujador, or
| driver, who seems in a perpetual frenzy.
| Four little Cuban ponies are attached to
| the affair, and as you see It coming down
| possibly Gale or Obispo-rattling and
| crushing thunderously through the mar
| row thoroughfare-then Mays at full gallop,
| the guagua swaying and bounding "a
| though it would land in some shop front
at every lurch, the driver leaning far
| over the wheel team, flashing it with the
| lines and cracking his huge whip at the
leader, the meantime shouting "Hi-i-il
| Hi-i-i!'' at the top Of his voice, while
working with his right knee a tremendous
stationary bellows that, at each prod,
emits a lugubrious Shrek almost as
| hideous as a seaside fog horn-you feel
| you have witnessed one active form of
Cuban danger.-Edgar L. Wakeman'a
| Letter,