The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-26
SANTIAGOISA QUAINT CITY
Ear Older Than Any On the North
American Continent.

American continent.
The bottling up of Cervera's fleet in
the harbor CT Santiago de Cuba is not
the only claim to distinction possessed
by that curious old city, for, as the in
habitantS never fail to remind the traV-
1 eler, it has long been disputed fact
/ whether Columbus landed first at san
Salvador or Santiago de Cuba. How
/ ever that may be. st. Jago, as the
! Spanish call it, is far older than any
! city in North America.
The peculiar narrow streets and the
> facades of the houses remind one of
/ some of the old towns in Italy, but
there the resemblance ceases, for the
! houses of Santiago are nearly all built
around a court, or patio as they are
in most Spanish towns. With their
high barred windows and giaring plas-
| tered walls, on the outside they look
more like prisons than like the Amerl-
can idea of dwelling houses. But go
inside the patio, and everything is diff
ferent. There are palms and shrubs
and flowers, and in some of the richer
houses even fountains. Meals are of
ten served in the patio in pleasant
weather.
In Santiago, as well as in other Gu
ban cities, the proprietors of most of
the shops and warehouses live in the
same building in which their business
is conducted The shops open about
o'clock in the morning and remain open
until about noon, when the close up.
and everybody gees to the monday
meal. After that everybody takes a
nap in the heat of the day. The shops
open up again about . o'clock in the
afternoon and remain open till $50 or
6. Go to an office in Santiago at $50
in. the morning. and nobody Will be up;
go again at 1880 and everybody will
be eating; go again at 1870 and every
body will be asleep.
In the evening the people sit around
and take life easy, and smoke, of
course, for in Santiago everybody
SmOkes-men, women and children.
Even the walters in the hotels and
cafes pull out a cigarette and smoke
between the courses. The porters and
Cabmen smoke at all times and sea-
SONS. The stevedores on the .wharves
smoke at their work. and even the
clerks in the dry goods stores roll
cigarette and take a puff between two
customers.
The senorita blows a cloud of smoke
from under the lace of her fascinating,
mysterious mantilla, while negresSeS
walk along the street putting away at
huge cigars. Children of and 10 may
often be seen with cigarettes in their
mouths, and it is no uncommon sight
to see men and women smoking in
church.
All the Young bloOds in Santiago wear
W hite duck suits and straw hats, and
they may be seen leungimg around the
city and the club de San Carlos, looking
cool and comfortable, and smoking, of
course, for that goes without saying in
Santiago. At the club de San Carlos,
,i,1, ~, 7 SfCs
the Spanish officers from MORO castle
and the gilded youths of the city make
their idling headquarters. 1t is a pleas
ant place in which to loaf, drink cool
ing beverages, smoke and gossip. The
club house is only one story high, like
most of the buildings in the city, and
in front is a little garden with a foun-
tain and flowers. Opposite the club de
San Carlos is the cafe Venus, where,
an enthusiastic traveller declares, as
good a meal can be had as at Delmon-
icO's. There is less wine drunk in Cuba
than in most Latin countries; but there
is a native rum, called barcardi, which
is made from mOldsSss, and which,
well mixed with water and cooled with
ice, makes d very smooth sort of bzv-
erage and a somewhat insidious one. a
quart bottle Of this rum costs only 80
cents, and as a good deal of it is usu-
ally drunk at the midday meal, it is
not to be wondered at that a nap i'm
mediately follows it.
At all places in Santiago where drinks
are sold, as well as in the telegraph
offices and postoffice, one always finds
lottery tickets on sale, and men and
boys peddle them about the streets.
These tickets vary in price from 10
cents to SO, and even more.
Of all the cities of Cuba, Santiago,
with its 10000 inhabitants, is by far
the most picturesque and interesting
1t is many years older than st. Au-
gustine, and after walking for an hour
or two through it's medieval looking |
streets the most matteT-of-fa Ameri- !
can is ready to believe any romantic !
story about the place which may be told !
to him, except, perhaps, the story of |
the immense chain stretching from |
MORO castle to a huge staple in the |
wall of rock on the opposite short, 90 /
yards away, which can be hove up by |
a capstan till it is level with the water, |
so as TO form an insurmountable OBJ
stacle to any attempt to force an en-
trance in time Of war.
The country houses around Santiago /
are infested with mice and lizards. The
latter are VeTy i"'t and active, are
quite unlike tn sh lizards seen
In northern cir B.: there is a curl
Gus kind of mo- rose presence is
rather encouraged a.o,ut Cuban country
houses. These mous5rs are not cats. as
one might suppose, but large black !.
snakes. AS they are quite harmless,
nobody thinks of being afraid of them,
and they come and go as they please,
lnmolested.-Bo Herald.