The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-31
SIGHTS IN SANTIAGO.
The Remains of a Ship That Was
Once a Part of the Armada.
From the Boston Transcript.

From the Boston Transcript.
I can imagine the interest with which
our sailors and soldiers will look around
the famous city and harbor of Santiago.
One of the sights in the harbor is the re-
mains of the old st. Paul, one of the ships
of the great Spanish armada that Phillip
II sent TO England in 1888, being one of
the very few of that famous hotilla that
escaped destruction at the time; what
career this old ship has been through;
she has breasted the waves of many seas
and withstood the storms in many waters
for nearly three centuries, when she was
burned 10 the waters edge here, in San
tiago harbor, few years ago, and SUNK
where her remains now lie covered with
barnacles; an emblem of the nation whose
flag she once so proudly bore.
During the last years of her career
afoat she was used as transport for
troops from Europe, and as a Spanish
guardship in these seas by the local gov
eminent. She can only be seen at low
water: only the ribs and stanchions are
held together by The stout keel and tim
bers and lower sheathing. The Spaniards
would probably have tried to destroy even
this part of the wreck if they had sup
posed that the American tackles" would
have made these timbers into relics of
their victory, if they find them, as they
probably will.
Another thing about this harbor is the
sharks. The soldier will not be able to
take a swim here for these monstrous
man-eating sharks abound, and for all
the water looks so quiet in the day, if a
person should fall overheard, he would
never come up alive. The sharks follow
the ships in hopes of a meal Political
prisoners have been confined in MORO in
times past, and I was told that con-
demned patriots had been led out upon
the ramparts and shot, their bodies fall
ing into the water, to be eaten by the
sharks in a moment. Spain extends no
mercy to any one daring to try for free
dom from her cruelty.
On the other side of Moro can be seen
cave, directly under the castle. The sea
has worn this so deep that it has not been
explored within the memory of people in
the place. The lofty entrance to this
cave is a perfect arch, and they say that
the superstition is that no one attempting
to explore 1t will ever live TO return.
There are little coves and bays along
the coast where oysters do really grow
on trees! AS funny as this sounds, the
mangrove trees extend their roots into
the sea and the oyster affix themselves 10
these growing and thriving. We could
not believe this till we saw it ourselves.
These oysters are small and are eaten
on the islands freely. Then the fish are
so strange, many of them, to foreign
eyes. They are OF many bright colors,
and it is here that the real Spanish mack
erel abound.
The harbor of Santiago is a beautiful
one ana a safe one, as II is land-locked
but It is an awful hot one, and our people
could not stand IL to be shut in there
long. The Cuban stevedores round the
harbor wear nothing but a pair of white
linen drawers and a palmetto straw hat
when working at loading or unloading a
vessel, and all the Cubans drink very lit
tie water. When working in the heat
they drink q good deal of thin Catalina
wine, at a penny a drink. They also
drink a good deal of coffee without milk
or sugar. and they smoke necessarily
men and wonderland children even
smoke and may be seen rolling a ciga-
rette every moment. They can buy a
bunch of real Cuban cigarettes for PEN
ny.
Some of the common class of working
men are called motteros, and they live in
little huts or cabins of one room, the
earth for a floor. and hole cut for a win
dow. This has shutter which opens out.
The roof is palmetto, and slopes down TO
a few feet of the ground. Sometimes q
a dozen little naked young ones, who roll
around in every direction among their
pigs, dogs and chickens, all in a heap.
Many every day street scene would
astonish our people-for instance, seeing
horses kept without a bit of shelter There
are no barns, and often a horse may be
seen standing all day long with a saddle
on, in waiting at the door for his master.