The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-02-26

the soft, porous nature OF the material
will not admit OF finer finish; hence the
buildings are frequently plastered and
generally painted on the exterior. In
the latter case the colors selected
are sky blue, yellow, red, pink, pea
green and similar shades of modest ana
retiring disposition. Among the better
class of structures the stories average
twenty feet in height, and where these
occur on the outlying or border streets,
the second and third stories project over
the sidewalks and are supported by
colonnade of lofty stone pillars, forming
arcades which are both cool and pleasant
for pedestrians; but nine-tenths OF the
streets here do not exceed thirty feet IN
width.
once wrote THE HERALD from Yoko-
hama that Japanese sidewalks were three
feet wide and thought that enough, as
nobody used them. Here on the busiest
thoroughfares they are but two feet
in width and everyone uses them. Hence,
of two pedestrians meeting, one must
stop momentarily in the street, and by no
means desirable alternative, when their
condition is known. In some of the mar
row streets where shopping is done
largely by strangers, notably the Gale
del Obispo (street of the Bishop enter
prlsing storekeepers stretch awnings
clear across the street, leaving a pleasant
shade to walk or ride beneath.
Oddly enough there are no chimneys.
Fires are not required except for cook
ing, and then charcoal takes the place
of other fuel. With few excep-
tions there are no window sashes;
the openings required Tor light and
ventilation and barred against intrusion
by plain or ornamental iron work and
closed at night with panel wooden shut
tiers. No open grounds, lawn or flower
plats face the houses; when on the prem
ises at all. they are found in an interior
court yard, where fountains also play.
Residences, like the stores, are flush with
the sidewalks; the deep, large window
openings reach the ground, and wide
gratings with the absence Of grass or cur
talns leave the interior open to the
view of any passer-by. In their front
parlors on the ground floor it is their Gus
tom to place two rows of chairs at right
angles to the sidewalk, on the cement,
! tiled or marble floor. They lay strip OF
carpet between the chairs and receive
their visitors there, the family occupying
one row, their visitors the other.
| The employees of the establishment take
their meals on the premises with the pro-
prietor and at such times the table is set
in the store in view of customers and the
street. The streets are sprinkled, II at
all, by hand hose, but as rule the semi
! LIQUID filth of a Cuban thoroughfare is of
such clammy, ropy consistency that no
dust can form; nothing generates there
from but the foul, fetid exhalations of the
fever breeding soil.
Some days since, however, in pas
sing through a squalor haunted
region, l noticed dozen OF
twenty soldiers engaged in deluging the
streets with fire hose and swabbing the
reeking filth into the sewers where it is
probably lying now. l was startled at
the unusual energy displayed and asked
my Mexican friend, Colonel Colorado
Maduro, who knows all about these
things, what 1t meant He replied that
that particular district was threatened
! with incipient yellow fever. A few cases
| of that desolating disease are even now In
| the southwestern quarter, but 1t is not
spreading, and | presume is rarely il
ever inexistent on the island. Like
the wind, it strikes and goes where
soever it isteth. frequently pass
ing by the weak and emaciated
while It strikes down the strong and
robust One might think the Cubans'
past experience with the dreadful malady
had taught them a lesson; not SO. We'll
knowing their one foe is forever afeld
they throw open the gates, sit down and
with careless unconcern light fresh
cigarette, while the sluggish, half-choked
sewers become open trenches before
| TGaCuluQ
less than 800 unburied carcasses OF the
porcine, canine and feline species lie
round about the streets and alleys fes-
tering under the fierce rays of tropical
sun
Yet Notwithstanding those discourag-
ing facts Havana is beautiful, picturesque
and interesting; its population is esti.
mated at 240, GOO, one-third being
Suaniards, one-half Cubans and the re.
y,1-i :, ilxy CNhipaco and 0aCrOec
the latter predominating and apparently
the happiest class of the four, since
slavery ceased in this island home anC
their swarthy shoulders no longer Writht
under the whistle of the whip.
The Spaniards hold all the civil and
military Offices. Since the Revolution
Cubans are not permitted to bear arms O.
hold office and the feeling between tn,
two classes is anything but cordial to thi
day The city is also policed by tn
military, those on that duty wearing
short sword and pistol, hence instead o
brutalIy clubbing an offending citizen, i
. is only necessary to shoot or stab him.
Facing our hotel is the principal prom
enade of the city, the Prado, broad
avenue some miles long, running to tb
sea and lined on either side by rows .
magnolia and laurel trees. "EfCentral, )
the principal one of three intra- urbal
parks in the city also falls the Prado
| it contains among many Towering
shrubs, palm and coral trees, hfe-siz
. marble statue of Isabel the Catholic. TIL
park is a favorite promenade of tn
Habaneros in the evening, when shortl.
, after sunset the noisy traffic of the cit!
ceases and residents and stranger
alike begin strolling towards tn
, common rendezvous. The fierce heat 0
: the day is over remember we are on tn
Tropic of Cancer) the shade we've beer
, hunting all day has deepened and floodet
/ the streets and houses. All the brillian
southern consultations illumine the sky
followed by the southern cross and tn
rising moon. In the park hundreds O
, chairs are grouped about where tamarind
: mango, lemon and plantain struggle il
luxuriant rivalry. Then, at in the even
ing to a marble dais at the foot of til
, statue comes the captain generals mill
tary band and plays to the assemble,
. crowds. The thrOng is cosmopolitan il
! every sense. While Cubans and Span
iards predominant, many of the rambler
seem to have wandered here from ever
+ land beneath the sun.
But the most noticeable figure amonl
the promenaders is the creole OF tn
gentler sex, the Guiana she is called here
and like her half-sister, the Spanis
, senorita, she wears no covering on he
, head, unless perhaps when the nigh
!, wind blows cool across the sea. piece c
|. black or white Spanish lace is drape
: about the hair and falls gracefully owe
Z the head and shoulders, but it leaves th
\ face uncovered (grGcids a Dios). Durin
: childhood and youth these creoles are in
: variable pretty and frequently beauti
q ful-mcre SO than in any othe
/ country which [ have visited
= our own not excepted. The eye
, all large and lustrous with long sweepin
: lashes, the complexion clear, brigt
: olive, and the hands and feet small an
= shapely. The figure is developed ger
: Gro liz of txrelua or fourteen and hec