Arizona weekly citizen., 1892-09-24
Highest of all in Leavening Power-Laest U S Report R1AI Bs,kdss'! BaklRs A @ssAg0 K OWaCk
 ABSOLUTELY PURE

] more temperate nere than Tn the other
 islands, the nights being neither hot nor cold, while the birds and crickets sang
 all night long Indeed there is beauty
 In tropical night, in the depth of the
 dark blue sky, the lambent purity of the
 stars, and the resplendent clearness of
 the moon that spreads over the rich land
 scape and the balmy groves. a charm
 more captivating than the splendor of tles day.
 In the sweet smell of the woods and
 the odor of the flowers Columbus fan.
 cied he perceived the fragrance of ori-
 ental spices, and along the shores he found shells Of the kind of oyster which pro-
 duceS pearl. From the grass growing to
 the very edge of the water he inferred
 the peacefulness of the ocean which
 bathes these islands, never flashing the
 shores with angry surges. Ever since
 hls arrival among these Antilles he had
 experienced nothing but soft and gentle
 weather, and he concluded that Der
 petual serenity reigned over these happy
 seas. He was little suspicious of the oc-
 casional bursts of fury to which they are
 liable. Charleyoix, speaking from actual
 observation, remarks: ''The sea of those
 islands is commonly more tranquil than
 ours; but, like certain people whoare ex- cited with difficulty, and whose trans ports of passion are as violent as they are rare, so when the sea becomes irri- tated, it is terrible. It breaks all bounds, overfiows the country, sweeps away all things that oppose it, and leaves fright ful ravages- behind to mark the extent of its inundations. 1t is after these tenn pests, known by the name of hurricanes, that the shores are covered with marine shells, which greatly surpass in luster and beauty those of the European seas" It is singular fact. however, that the hurricanes. which almost annually dev- astate the Bahamas and other islands in the immediate vicinity of Cuba, have been seldom known to extend their in- fuence to this favored land It would seem as if the very elements were charmed into gentleness as they ap- preached it.
 In kind of riot of the imagination, Columbus finds at every step something to cOrrobOrate the information he had received, or fancied he had received, from the natives. He had conclusive proofs as he thought. that Cuba DOS sesSed mines of gold and groves of spices, and that its shores abOunded with pearls. He no longer doubted that it was the island of Cipango, and weighing anchor cOaSted along westward, in which according to the signs of his the magnificent city of its king was situated. In the course of his voyage he landed occasionally, and visit ed several villages. particularly one on the banks of large river, to which he gave the name of Rio de los Mares.
 The houses were neatly built of branches of palm trees in the shape of pavihOns. not laid out in regular streets but scattered here and there among the groves and under the shade of broad spreading trees, like tents in camp-as is still the case in many of the Spanish and in the villages in the interior of Cuba The inhabitants fled l to the mountains or hid themselves in | the woods
 Columbus carefully noted the archi- | lecture and furniture of their dwellings | The houses were better built than those he had hitherto seen, and were kept ex- -remely clean. He found i'll them rude | statues and wooden masks carved with | ingenuity All these were | indications of more art and civilization | han he had observed in the smaller is- | andS, and he supposed they would go on | increasing as he approached terra frma. Finding ill all the cabins implements for ishing. he concluded that these coasts | were inhabited merely by fishermen, | who carried their fish to the cities in the | interior He. thought also he had found | he skulls of COWS. which proved that | here were cattle in the island; though | hese are supposed to have been skulls of he manati or seacalf found on this coast.
 After standing to the northwest for Ome distance. Columbus came in sight # a great headland, to which, from the ] ,roves with which it was covered. he ave the name of the Cape of Palms, md which forms the eastern entrance to what Is now known as Laguna de Moron. Here three Indians, natives of the island f Guanahani, who were on board of the 'inta, informed the commander, Mar in Alonzo Pinzon, that behind the cape here was a river. whence 1t was but our days journey to Cubanacan, a place bounding in gold By this they desig- ated a province situated in the center f Cuba-nacan, in their language, sig ifying the midst. Pinzon, however, ad studied intently the map of Tosca- elli, and had imbibed from Columbus Il his ideas respecting the coast of Asia. Ie concluded. therefore, that the Indians were talking of Cublai Khan, the Tartar overeign, and of certain parts of his ominions described by Marco Polo. He understood from them that Cuba was ot an island, but terra frlna, extending
 vast distance to the north, and that the ing who reigned in this vicinity was at 7ar with the great khan.
 Gomez repalrs watches, clocks and swelry, Church plaza.