The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-19

ing from Point Maisi at the eastern tip of the island, to Cabo San Cruz, the cape which forms the heel of the boot, so to say, in the instep of which Santl- ago is located. Though the Spanlaros are adopts in embellishing pictures or their possessions, there has never yet been a reliable map of Cuba produced from triangulation survey. The Mas ter Mountains" stand from five to ten miles inland; and between them ana the sea stretch two distinct ranges or nils, neither of which come down to tlde- water.
 The tall, bare cliffs in the foreground are part of the uniform series of bench es and terraces peculiar to Cuba and fringing it's entire circuit of twenty-five hundred miles Beginning with sub merged coral reef, they rise from fifteen to fifty feet Back of them comes a second bench, or terrace rising nowhere more than one hundred and fifty feet in height. As the dark Maestro Noun tains sweep grandly to the east Of san tiago, so the no less stately Copper range stretches away to the westward, to their abrupt termination at Cabo de San Cruz. Steamers stand some dis tance out from shore to avoid the dan gerous reefs and keys. But they go near enough for passengers to eaten charming glimpses of low hills wrapped in mist and peaceful coves edged with cocoa palms. The only other usual halting-place lon the southern coast or Cuba is Cienfuegos The harbor Of the City of Hundred Fires" is so secure ly hidden behind wooded keyes that its shipping is not visible except at close l range. It is matter of recent history | that when Commodore Schley came | this way in search of the Spanish fleet, l he thought he deserted the masts of l Cerveras vessels secreted among these islands; and he was manoeuvering, to get his own ships in unobserved, when the insurgents brought him word that the game had taken refuge elsewhere. | I did not go ashore at Cienfuegos on this trip, having visited the place twice before, and intending to come down later by rail from Havana. Then out to sea we went again. away down below | Isla de Pinos, the only island of conse- quence among the hundreds that en- compass the Queen of the Antilles. It is nearly square in form; perhaps sixty miles long by fifty broad and of exceed ingly picturesque appearance. TWO dark hill-ranges cross it from east to west, with wide, green valleys between; a great swamp, or jungle, of densest vegetation divides it in twain, and on all sides rivers seek the sea, some of them navigable for several miles. The island is famous for it's pine forest and beautiful marbles, it's salubrious cli- mate and wonderful thermal springs It is already favorite sanitarium, and Cubans believe that short residence here is an unfailing panacea for con- sumption. Lying only ninety miles due south from Havana, going by rail across the narrowest portion of the is- land to the little port of Batabano. it is bound to be developed in the near flu ture under American rule. This is the island that Columbus discovered on a June day of 1494 and christened La Evangelsta. Three centuries later it rejoiced under the name of "Riena Amalia,'' and gained it's present cogno- men because of the beautiful pine groves which which fill the air with pungent odors We are accustomed to think of pine trees as growing only in cold countries and upon mountain tops, | DuI llGl U llCy llOulbSll to -p -pCi1OStitii among the palms and cacti. It is sim gular fact that the pine family, though peculiarly northern product, has sev- eral species which grow best in torrid lowiands.
 I To the north and east of Isla del | Pinos the sea is dotted with the archi- I pAlagos of Los Canarios and Baneo de los Jardines, innumerable tiny islands, each an emerald gem in the ring of the wave" Travelling among them Is unal- loved delight. The boat winds in and out the labyrinth channels, over waters blue and luminous as the tropic skies, and so beautifully translucent that star-fsh lying on the silvery bottom, or sea flowers growing leagues below look as though seen through glass. The air is indescribably balmy, the same in summer as in winter, and the eyes are continually feasted upon the beauty of verdure-clad shores and distant moun- tains yelled in c,ouds--the Guanahaga, or Golden Range" of the aborlgines Our course from the Isle of Pines was the same as Cortez took-'toward that part of the horizon where the sun sets;" and our next stopping place was the same as his, on the coast of Yucatan. Progress, the Mexican port, is certain ly far from carrying out the idea its name implies, having made no progress worth mentioning in almost four hun dred years of Spanish occupancy. Why, oh why, in all these treeless ports, where Sol pours down his fiercest rays from year to year do the natives persist in painting everything snoW-white. at the risk of blindness to man and beast? The intense glare, reflected from snowy walls, silvery beeches and shimmering sea is perpetual torture; intensified by hot winds, like simeon, which blow up clouds of dust, but bring no coolnesi;. Groups of dark-faced men lounge idly in the doorways, and women in gar ments of spotless white, are squatted along the curb-stones with bowls of cooked meat for sale, or tamales made red-hot with ahi and odorous of grease and garlic. There is a hotel, so-called- a stone structure matched with straw
 whose ground floor is used for stable
 and the entire space above.is one long unpartitioned dormitory. This primi- tive sleeping apartment contains no ar ticle of furniture, not even bedstead
 The transient guest is expected to bring his own hammock, sling it upon the waiting hooks, and sleep-if he can amid abounding vermin and the snores
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