The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-24


 tion of the city now lying south of San Juan, known as Pueblo Neuve, (New Town), is connected by several handsome stone bridges, among them the notable Puente Belem, and con- tains the railway depots and many handsome villas in the outskirts. It has also one of the handsomest streets in all Cuba, the Calzada (Avenue) de San Eatedan, lined with imposing resi- dences, all of which have pil'ared fronts and portcos, and flower-tilled gardens surrounded by iron railings with tall stone pillars topped by urns. Porticos and terraces are paved with mosaic of black and white marble, or blue and yellow tiles; and the colors and combinations, styles of architect. ure and recommendations that in our country would be pronounced gaudy, here tone in perfect harmony with the bright sun and blue sky. Matanzas' central square, the Plaza d d'Armas, is laid out With the usual walks and shrubbery, benches aud gas posts, and has a fine statue of Ferdinand VII, in the center. In this palza in times past many patriots have met death by or der of the government, Here Gabriel Conception de la Valdez, the celebrat- ed mulatto poet and one of the noblest men Cuba ever produced was shot by soldiers of the line. He was accused of complcity with the slave insurrec- tion of 1S44, when the blacks made desperate effort to gain their freedom. Grouped around the Plaza dArmes are the several government offices, the res- idences of the Bishop, the Command ante, and others high in authority, also the finest shops and cafes.
 The northern portion of MatanzaS, that lying beyond the Yumuri river, is called Versailles and reaches half way up the Cumore hills. From the sum- init of the Cumbre, or rather from the top of Mountserrat chapel, one may get an incomparable view of the Yu- muri valley-a stretch of emerald gorge with @ river running through, enclosed within green hills-once dot ted with gardens and orange groves. with stately palms and villas-now all blackened, desolate and empty. To one familiar with old Spain, the pros- pect recalls, the Veg, of Grenada. It is believed that this narrow valley was once a lake. walled across it's present seaward opening; and that some con- vulsion of nature rent the bowl and precipitated the lake into the ocean, leaving the river in it's course. On the hills nearest the bay are the barracks of Santa Isabella, now numerously garrisoned, the military hospital and two or three similar institutions; and directly below them, for a mile and a tn1 ol1 0f seilles, runs the Paseo or fashionable drive, laid out with gravelled walks. and rows of trees a stone parapet and iron gates at either end. Beyond the Paseo proper an excellent road extends two miles farther out, to the old fort and castle of San Severino, or Punto Gordo, Fat Point.' Before the war this charming drive was crowded every morning and evening with handsome equippages filled with the beauty and fashion of Matanzas; but now not a dozen decent carriages are left in the district, the grandees of other days are poor as church mice, and only lettering soldiers and hungry Recon centrados are seen in the Paseo.
 Breakfast had been ordered for our party at the Louvre, which is perhaps the smallest and cleanest of the eight or nine leading hotels with which Matanzas is blessed. It is built around sunny patio in which palmettos and bananas, Towering vines and fragrant shrubs flourish to perfection. Directly in front of the main entrance, a beau tiful marble basin set in the wall looks like the holy water fountain in Q cathedral while above it printed placard warns the populace, in choice Castilian, that only guests of the hotel are expected to wash therein. A flight of stone steps leads to parlors and bed rooms on the second floor; the rooms are marble floored, with dadoes of blue and yellow tiles, and all is as pictur
 esque and Spanish as anything out of Spain. Directly opposite is 8 small plaza, with tropical trees banked by a moldy old church, in which a lot of rusty bells murder sleep for weary travellers.
 Before the many-course midday breakfast was over, word was brought that the governor was waiting to re- Seive us in his palace; and presently we trusted our bones, somewhat tim orously, to rickety carriages and were ushered with ceremony into the pres ence of his excellency. The governor of Matanzas is certainly rara avis among Spaniards in Cuba, being an amiable gentleman and friend of Americans. In his casa a beautiful suite of rooms had alreay been prepar- ed for Miss Barton, and during the somewhat lengthy official pow-wow, the governor himself proposed the toast-'To the Star Spangled Banner" :" Then the rickety carriages were again brought into use, for tour of the so- called hospitals. I believed that no more. dreadful sights could be found in the sin-cursed world than I had all ready witnessed In Havana and Jaruso but for wretchedness unutterable the poor of Matanzas bear off the palm! Crowds of beggars followed us about the streets, displaying their sores and wounds and emaciated frames: Fam inc glared at us from 8 thousand sunk en eyes. Skeletons hands were stretch ed in our faces supplicating the wherewith to buy morsel of food and stories of starvation, pitiful enough to make the blood run cold, were clamored in our ears.
 The hospitals are mere sheds, crowd ed with rude stretchers-most of them with no flooring but mother earth and oo cart oP attondonoa Oxray, ', ,y,a,,