The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-20

Posada," fit for neither man nor beast.
 The port is surrounded by an abrupt range of hillS-part of the Sierra Nisse chain, At the summit of the mountain, q few miles from the town, there is a
 huge volcanic cavity of great depth, in the form of a crater, but in which, sin
 gularly enough, the strata give no evi- dence of volcanic origin, The most conspicuous feature in the landscape, however, and the one most dwelt upon by Columbus In his journal, is the great able-topped mountain close behind the town, which is visible miles out at sea. It is still called by it's aboriginal name, Yunque, and about it many traditions cling. To this day the natives declare that at times the face and figure of the martyred cacique, Hatuey, may be clearly traced on the perpendicular cliffs of unque that overlook the valley he loved; and then the apparition dis appears as mysteriously as it came. By the way, we have heard little about the aborigines of Cuba, but this partic-
 ular chieftain, Hatuey, seems to have been a savage of remarkable foresight.
 Though nearly twenty years elapsed from the time of Columbus discovery of the island to the founding of it's first settlement, the chief cacique, Hatuey, never ceased to warn his people against the Spaniards. Having secretly in formed himself of the barbarous treat ment inflicted upon the Indians of san to Domingo, he called all the tribes of Cuba together in three-days council
 He told them that the Spaniards per c q ,Iro of great god whom they were serving,
 whose likeness he would show them. Then taking some gold from his pouch he said: This is the god whom they serve and him they follow. They are coming here to seek this god. There fore let us make a festival and dance before him, to the end that we may please him, and when the white stran- gers come he will order them to do us no harm" After they had danced and sung till exhausted, the chief directed his people to keep no trace of the gold god anywhere about their persons or in their houses. He advised them to throw it all into the bay, or bury it deep in the earth, or hide it in the depths of caverns; for said he, If a bit of the gold-god were inside of you, yet would the white-strangers find it." All this. they did, but it did not save the simple people. In their insatiate thirst for gold the Spaniards bounded the h. dians through forest and jungle, swamp and desert, until in few years all were captured or slain, and the poor chief ] tain himself was burned at the stake, But this was long after Columbus day. He reached this coast late in October of 1492, and spent five weeks searching vainly for "Bohio," place where some | Indians had told him he would find | plenty of gold. Not finding it, he sailed away on the 4th of December, steering | straight across the channel for the cloud-like mountains of Haiti-just across the narrow "Windward Pas sage" But it was owing to his glowing | description of Puerto Santo," as he named what is now known as Baricoa Bay, that Don Diego Velazquez came here few years later and founded the , town. He christened 1t Nuestra Sonora de la Ascunsion, appointed civil officers, created a bishopric and established his
 own residence here; but somehow the
 place never amounted to much, al- l lnOugH d more ldNOIdDle SllG CdlluUl- De found in Cuba than the locality which the great discoverer spoke of as "The most beautiful land eyes ever beheld." On all Spanish maps the town is still named in honor of Our Lady of the As tension, but everybody calls it Baracoa.
 One of the funniest sights you will see here is that of countryman coming to town astride the back of a COW or an
 OK, perhaps with two or three of his
 family seated alongside, covering the
 animal from horns to tail, one member
 of the party holding aloft palm-leaf | for shade. The roads are often too
 heavy for carts and the farmer who is not rich enough to own horse and vo-
 lante, or a. mule, has only to throw a
 sheep-skin on the back of his COW, run
 a cord through her nostrils, and the
 family vehicle is ready and as good as l that used by most of his neighbors.
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