The morning call., 1890-12-07
THE CAPTIVATING
ISLE OF CUBA.
Many Think It Ought to Be a
State Of the Union.
Havana's Clearly strsets-Its cabs-Favorite
Triple Of the Inha Pick
aninnies at Every Turn.

EANSTEAD of being the dirty, filthy ard
l2 therefore pestilential and disease-breed-
u Ing place that it is popularity supposed
to be, we found Havana to be-as far as ap-
pearances go-the cleanest city we had seen
on our travels; and, at conservative esti-
mate, at least 100 per cent cleaner than De-
troit. The whole city is paved or maca1amized;
and in the thickly settled downtown"
portions the scavenger work is systematic
calty attended to every night. All the
refuge Of the day is gathered up and carted
away while the majority OF the citizens are
asleep. We did not take this from hearsay.
rites a correspondent to the Detroit Free
fresS, Dut NAG ocular proof that such was
the case, having had occasion 10 return to our
domlclle from The vicinity of the Prado several
times after the witchng hour of midnight.
linen we saw men Scraping, Others sweep
ing, and others loading into carts to carry
tne STUN 10 the dumping grounds. When
they had finished, the stone tagging, of
which the pavements are made, looked as
clean as the kitchen floor of thrifty Mich-
gan housewife. 1t may be that they are
compelled by the natural laws of self
protection and self-preservation to do this
in order to hold in check the climatic dis
ease of yellow fever, but whatever the
cause, certain it is that Havana is an extra
ordinarily clean city.
1t seemed as though scarcely any one
walked if they wanted to go from one part
OF the city to another. There is, think, but
one or two lines of Street-cars in the city
but there are innumerable lines of open ON
nibuses. If they may be called by that name.
They are duplicates of some of the antedilu-
Wan vehicles which are kept in the back part
OF some Of our livery stables and only trotted
outdurlDg the races at the driving park TO run
from Mt. Elliot avenue 10 the track. They are
covered, but not inclOSed, have front seat
for the driver, Slated seats ranged on either
side, running lengthwise, and hanging steps
at the rear for entrance or exit, on which
the conductor stands. They are pulled by
small pairs of the little tough mules Of
Cuba, team Of which runs all day. They
go along at good clip; and though mule
occasionally falls down on the smooth flag
giDg, he picks himself up with won
derful celebrity, by the aid of the
drivers lash and plenitude of Span
ish oatns. For warning signal, instead
OF the gong with which our ambulances
ana patrol-wagonS are provided, the driver
sounds fog-horn. He does not have to
waste his breath on this, but simply presses
rubber bulb, which drives the air through
the horn, making the sound, and then fills
Itself automatically, ready tor another
pressure and another screech. The fare of
these vehicles is 10 cents in Cuban scrip,
which is equivalent to cents in our money.
They do not run on regular time, but stand
at their termIni until they get good part Of
load, aud then start.
There are thousands of cabs in Havana,
each drawn by one small horse, about the
size and, apparently, the toughness of a
Mexican mustang. They are open, low
and small-wheeled, made TO carry two and
the driver, but can seat three on pinch.
They can be found standing in any of the
central portions of the city. They will carry
load, whether II is one or three, from any
part of the city to another, for 40 cents of
their money, which is 16 cents of ours.
tho civ To snothsr a5d N nantS ma f or
eyerv ston wnI, n,ata 70 90, a ninor or -
sapdw 'Thsv Tnvhis M m ,f,ass rates
n tier mi,inight ny va '0'
s.
Tbere are anna immense saloops in u.-
vann and thev are arranged in Ut we ara
accustomed IN regard &C German styia viz
filled with tahles and chairs Tn meet tha
demand nj a Tow Amarinans who asl, for IL
tnev Laye Iagar Laar r. coll ba~a. Inv
as Hamiet Save i, ia "staIa tiat and
mnnrotiiah,s Tho ,io,out uniyorsai h ",,.l
erapes ara Snanisb vines Unliand Gin
and cosnac In the service nj the copnac
ana gin the purchaser Is furnished two very
LARGE and thicl, glasses and a hottle from
which he helps himself and mo- ouestions
asked as to the Quantity taken One Of III.
glasses is filled with ice-waier containing n
good chunk of ice. The latter Commodity
used to be something of luxury here. as i
Maine and Nova Scotia. But now this is
manufactured in Cuba for about SO cents
ton 1t is plentiful. and plentifully used.
In every one of these public places Won
will find man going aronnd selling tictatS
which takes place once month. II was
told to us that there was scarcely anybody
in town who could scrapeup s2-tpe urice Of
fraction Of a ricket-who did mot take
chances in the lottery every month.
s,,
oomethlng new anu something strange
meets Tue eye at every turn we took trip
one DAY on the cars TO Matanzas, au import
ant seaport OF Cuoai ABOUT eighty miles up
the coast east from Havana. Even the cars
are different from ours. They were of
American Dulid, Dut, except the last one on
the tram. were not the KIND In use IN our
country mat one was hrst-class, and
was not as sood as one OF our ordinary pas
sengef e9aGnes' i he , others were second
! and third class cars The second had cane
seals, ana the third benches with no
backs. AT every station we. reached we
found one or more OF those little soldiers
July armed with musket etc., walking up
ana down the platform. we were Informed
That TINS sort Of thing was not so much for
the protectlon OF Tie travelling public as
Tor the purpose OF keeping the Cubans in a
proper frame OF mind regarding the au-
thorlty oil the Spanlards. 1t needed these
constant reminders OF despotlsm to make
US realize that there was net the same safe
guards mere 10 the lie. liberty and prop
erty oil the cltlZens as there were across the
narrow chahhei separating CuDa ttom the
United StateS.
AS we proceeded the wonderful natural
wealth. ana luxuriant fertility OF the coun-
Try showed Itself. thousands of acres
Oh the tobacco plant could be seen in
all stages OF development from the young
ana lender shoots In the ground to the
punches hung up In sheds and undergoing
the sweating process, Tor ID this eli
mate nothing ever stops growing. until it