The record-union., 1893-03-04
tassels or dry and splintered leaves of the

tassels or dry and splintered leaves of the
palm.
AT the old Cuban town of Guines, which
is scarcely more than a village, the lott
erer has much to study and enjoy. 1t is
more Moorish than Havana, more Doric
than any village OF the Holy Land, and
as pretty as rose-emboweTed garden.
NO hamiet in Europe that / have ever
seen furnishes such quaint old corners,
or, when the eye and mind tire of these,
gives in every direction across its mar
velous valley such enchanting prospects.
Inc untold riches of the earth. far and
near, have set their opulent seal on all
tnlngs, and one can easily imagine that
the handsomest women in the world are
here housed. So, too, in Guines the
Spanish idea of the constant seclusion
OF women is less rigorous. Balcony and
portlco swarm with the beauties fair as
the troplc flowers among which they
smlle-s They are even upon the streets in
dainty squads. Everywhere are song
and music and flowers and women and
Incidence.
Seated underneath the cool porch
arches of old Posada de Roig, what med
leval sights and groupings are beheld.
There, against the portals of san Julien
de los Guiues Church is group of lazZa-
ronl basking in the sun as typical OF all
that IS desperate and dolorOus as Rome,
Constantinople or Morocco can show.
Here, beside you, are Gitani filthier and
more persistent than ply their black arts
in Lisbon, Madrid or Nalladolid. At the
mouth OF that narrow calle are dozen
whites and blacks as innocent Of clothing
or shame as the kanaka girls of the Sol
omon Islands. All about i'll haif-caught
threnodies are sounds of music from in
struments made and played precisely as
when the same notes reSounded among
the arabesques and fret-work of the AL
hambran Court of Lions half thousand
years ago. Water carriers pass with
puncheons on their heads just as they dld
in the days of Herod in Egypt. While
through the medieval vision set actually
before your eyes of to-day, coming to a
later time and form, which yet seem but
relics of dead centuries, are the ancient
volantes, dragged sleeplily along, caballe-
ros and senoritas on horseback as though
a page of Don Quixote were furnished
and half-naked guajiros with oxboats,
primitive as the porterage of the ancient
Goths and Huns.
At sundown in Havana harbor cannon
boom from all the forts and men-of-war
Instantly every flag in the harDor is
lowered. At o'clock again the cannon
below. Instantly again from hundreds
of vessels come the changing sound of
Eight bells" With these mingle the
Ginning of bells from hundred churches.
Far and near sound the notes of the
trumpeters in the forts upon the mount
aims. Then for a little it seems as if deep
silence came upon mountain and city and
bay, and then-here a song; there the
notes of guitar; over yonder the merry
click of the castinet; beyond sailors
singing roysteringly or well; here again
an old American accordion full of senti-
mQnt and sweetness. ont there in
Scotch craft bagpipe, softer sounding
than upon shore; beyond that clump of
vessels the crew OF a German man-of- war
singing, as only Germans can sing, some
soulful bundeslied; upon the shore near
and far and all about all manner of half
heard tones Of laughter and melody, hid
den and intensified in mystery and sweet
ness by distance and night, while from
the lookouts on Moro tower, around to
JeSu del Monte, and on again cIrcling to
the sea are heard, as in medieval days of
old Spain, the chanted calls of challeng-
ing sentinels, travestying our later time
with owl-liSe hootings from monarchy's
mold and gloom.
An agreeable diversion in Cuba is par
ticipation in a genuine "cobijar'' or
house-raising. l was once guest at one
of these i'll the country region north of
Trinidad. \ couple had been married.
About a cabelleria of land had been given
them by an old montero father, and.
planters and yeomen alike, some from as
far as twenty leagues away among the
mountains had come to make q sort of
testivity ont of setting the queer home
upon its legs.
over a hundred men were here, and
their little ponies We're tethered for a half
mile up and down the road. Two fat bull
locks had been killed and roasted, and
fhar. NO Of tol
der lambs from the mountains, with ali
sorts of unnamable Cuban country dishes
Perhaps score of men were employed
in the cooking alone. There were casks
of aguardiente and tlagons of cheap Cat
alan wine, and these splendid swarthy
fellows made many picturesque groups
among the laurels, palms, tamarinds and
mignonettes which grow to the hight of
our own Towering locusts.
But to me the construction of the house
itself, as it arose in the wilderness gar
den, under the lazy, ''viSiting'' sort of
efforts of the crowd was fully as inter
esting. 1t was built of guahrahaca lax
breaker) wooden posts, interviewer with
the long, straight and thin saplings of
Ilaya, until complete and most dextrous
network Of sidewalks was made. This
woven work is perhaps eighteen inches
in thickness, and as rapidly as it pro-
gressed upward score or so of guaiiros
forced into the chinks and interstices a
hard plaster made of clay, water and the
tough espartillo grass. so that by the
time the casa de vivienda was ready for
its roof. as two or three days are con-
sumed in Cuban house-raising, the sides
are dry and solid as brick wall. This
particular structure was about forty feet
square in area, making pretty comfort-
able home for ewlywedded pair The
roof went to tremendous hight at the
ridge. and with its bellying arch of llaya
poles reaching out over rude wide porches.
was matched with the broad leaves of the
palm, which serves for perfect shelter
for period of seven years.