The age-herald., 1898-06-24
THE PEACOCKS
 OF SANTIAGO

| adoration of alealde, lieutenant, capta n
 and captain-general in that beseiged city
 are the strutting pecocks behind the gar- 1 den latices of white. Not all the game
 hunting to be found in the wild cats and
 dogs infestng the Sierra Maestro range | can take the eyes and interest of the Span- 1 ishs soldiery from the proudest and most l useless bird of modern history. The pea
 cock of Santiago a bird by no means as
 brilliant in hue as those of Java or the Ceylon country is an object of almost pop | ular idoization. His shril cry is a warning
 of evil; the spreading of his tail to the
 sweet sunlight of the southern coast an
 omen of good fortune.
 Pephaps it is not faulty index to Span- l ish character that the peacock should be
 constant object of wonderment and worship | to not only the grizzled vetei ans of san | tago, but to the conscripts and the latest | importations from Madrid Little in the
 literature of Cuba is to be found explan-
 atory of the presence of the birds in San'
 tiago or why they should be invested with
 almost a celestial character. The expan-
 ation must be found in the native spanish | love for glittering colors, the shell of beau- l ty rather than the substance. If history 1 is to be believed the son of Christopher | Columbus brought the first peacock to bah- | tiago early ill the sixteenth century Pre- | sumably the bird came as an offering 10 l some native chief who might be pursuad.o | through it's beauty and desire Of possess | sion to give up of land and gold all that l was asked Legend says that the junior | Columbus brought three female and one | male bird of this species and that fthelr | first home in the new land was on the | River Tarquino, not far from santiago Subsequently, through perhaps neglect or l the natives, who were cleanly, qulet uo>
 mestic people, not given to earthly van | ities, the four birds were freed They pro- pagated until their number increased ten | fold From the Pico de Tarquino to the mouth of the mines of Fl Corbre they made | their homes, going to the highlands during l the rainy season, returning to the coast | when the dry season was on. The vegeta- | ton was luxuriant and food plentiful. In | time as settlements sprang up about the | base line of Pco de Tarquino, the birds at | tackled the products of the sznall gardens l and plantations. Their work was exceed | ingly destructive. Hunting of them as l if they were birds of prey became lash l ion.
 An alcalde of the seventeenth century, Who came rom 11dNdId lo thS pohbAoSO 1 coast told of the immense number of pea l cocks to be found there. One of his success | sors a century later was chasing them on | horseback, using small lasso in the sport and finding much enjoyment from 1t. Fat | fathers of the church attempted a revival | of the custom of having the birds served | at the table as a delicacy just as the | Greeks once did. But the flesh. although | white was tough and sinewy. Even when
 stewed in wine it did not grow tender, and
 the epicures sighed
 Santiago grew. From a fishing port and | a harbor of shelter for storm-tossed ships | it developed into a vanal station for Spain | a retreat for crown officials anxious to be | ont of sight of the government, for | time at least; a resort for soft-voiced Wo- l men of Spain following the fortunes of | husband-soldier or the court of a captain | general This population attempted an ori- l ertaal way of living in Santiago Houses | in that mild climate were but mere shells | but they bred all the material comforts | that wealth could purchase.
 l The peacocks ceased to be objects of the | chase They were captured and brought | to the gardens, where the rose and the | dewbell were more beautiful than the | faces of the women who bent over them. | Little silver bells that tinkled with every l step were bound about their feet, golden 1 chains laid about their necks. Gay ribands | were often intertwned with their feathers | to heighten if possible the effect of natural | hues The garden confines were marked by | lattices painted white. Behind these the | birds strutted, the male displaying all his | gorgeousness of color to his humble mate | In less than twenty-five years from this | time there was not wild peacock about | Santiago. But the gardens were filled With | them, and at the lattices the crlnging poor | or idle so.diery might stand and watch their l unfolding beauty. Naturally 1t followed 1 that in land where native birds are few | and not of brilliant color the popular mind | centered it's interest in bird life on the con- l fined peacocks. Then, too there was some thing in the gorgeousness of that bird that l spoke of the Spain that Spaniard always dreams of, speaks of, writes of but never creates Simple folk began to weave tales | among themselves about the bird. In time | they consulted 1t as they would an oracle | should a simple fisherman be so fortunate | in passing the gardenway of grandee as l to catch glimpse of a pied or white, pea | cock his catch at the next throw of the net would certainly be thrice what it had ever been before. If it was not, the rare | white peacock was not to blame, but some l evil spirit of the sea. Was father or
 sweetheart toling life away in the cursed | copper hole of Fl Cobro up there by the
 Maestra range the Haunting of such and | such A peacock's tail on such and such a
 saints day meant his freedom in twelve | month.
 Did male bird with deep, lustrous blue | upper wings and golden green about the
 neck savagely attack his grayish white | mate in the bright dawn of a holy day
 then evil betide him who did not imme- | diately pray. If prayer were offered at | once then harm could not come of the | vixen spitework of the proud male bird. | A thousand and one things were invented
 as the years passed to give the bird | higher standing in the minds of the peo-
 ple. Idle jest did part of it. design on the
 part of those who control by superstition ] aided. Father passed the tales to child
 and childs to his child, and so on down
 through generation until fable seemed to
 become fact The peacocks of Santiago be- | oa me, nortentous powers, capable of over
 throwing all the effort of man if not prop
 erlv consulted and rightly needed when
 giving warning The discordant, ear-split-
 fling cry of these vain birds became song,
 their tail feathers a panoply of divine
 beautv. All this in four centuries, while
 Santiaeo de Cuba was rising to the doom
 of today.
 | , of cantiapo won with rea-