The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-30

OF 10 to Is English miles, but the Span
ish officers complain that their pursuit
of fugitive rebels is almost invariably
bafled by the fact that the natives
know scores of intermediate crossing
places, and with a start of only a few
hundred yards will effect their escape
In localities where their pursuers, 10
minutes later have to stagger about
in a network of creepers and aquatic
plants. till a sudden plunge into 10
foot lagoon admonishes their pioneers
to admit the hopelessness of the enter
prise.
In the terrace lands the difficulties of
progress moderate for a few miles only
to be soon after complicated by the
danger of ambuscades. The insurgents
visit the plantation of the coast plain
chiefly on marauding expeditions, but
establish their headquarters higher up.
in the deep, bush-shrouded ravines of
the Sierras, that rise tier above tier to
the SUBMITS of the Sierra Maestras.
or backbone range of the island. Good
roads traverse these mountains. but,
like the highways of the Incas, they
lead the traveller close by the gates Of
death, and as a Spanish artillery regi-
ment tolls up the wooded slopes with
its howitzers and ammunition wagons,
its vanguard is suddenly greeted by a
shower of rife balls from the head of a
tanglewood gully, where big lodges of
rock and barricades of fallen trees
form an effectual bulwark against
counter attack.
Forward. Push ahead all you CAM"
cries the commanding officer after a
brief halt and a hasty survey of the
situation. Hurry up! There comes an
other shower! More hail and no
weather shed. Carraxo! these fellows
save sharpshooters and repeating
rifles"
The artillerymen close their ranks
and trudge forward across corpses and
scattered baggage till at a turn of the
road they are confronted by a barri-
cade of felled trees, and the alterna-
tive of facing about and Ralloping their
horses down hill, or hating TO be shot
down like wolves in trap. Their pio-
neers try to remove the obstruction but
find that it will be a work of hours,
and report accordingly, while volley
after volley rings out from the rocks
above till the council of officers order
a retreat.
Besides these tanglewod gullies there
are tree-shrouded ruins; and caves,
groups of limestone caverns with con-
Meeting tunnels and hidden outlets,
where a hundred sharpshooters can
hold their own against an army
corps
These caves that are found along the
slopes of the Sierras throughout it's
enormous extent of $50 miles afford the
native rangers a welcome retreat from
the showers of the rainy season, while
the lack of topological knowledge often
obliges their enemies to bivouac in the
midst of the dripping forests, where in
the intervals of drenching rains mos
quitoes descend like a shower of hot
ashes, while ants and chigoes explore
the undergarments of the would-be
sleeper.
The consequent disorders are aggra-
waited by the malarious effects of bad
drinking water, not to mention such
trifes as the circumstance that mot
less than IA kinds of poisonous fruits
and berries bear q choice resemblance
to edible varieties" as the author of a
work on the flora of the West Indies
informs us.
No troops recruited among the ma
tives of the temperate zone can stand
the hardships of a protracted campaign
in a country of that sort, and the aver
age term of endurance is about three
months for the hardy Catalan high
landers and four months for the weaker
but more sun-seasoned natives of
Southern Spain.
The Cuban Creoles, on the other
hand, actually enjoy their warpath
outings, as their forefathers enjoyed
their campaigns against the Spanish
Moors and the legions of the Corsican
Caesar They are, however. sustained
by the sympathy Of nearly all their
West Indian neighbors and will achieve
their independence If one Of their re-
volts should ever, for a few months, be
tided by an uprising of the Spanish re-
publicans.