The Republican journal., 1898-07-07

| tive, and tWO mud cathdruC. druggists
| sell them, and nothing is just a good. u"
dredged out, to make the proposed flush
/ ing Of the gulf stream possible. For more
than 300 wears the stagnant water has been
receiving all the sewerage of a great city,
and the wonder is not that the neighbor-
hood is unhealthy, but that anybody can
live in it at all. The menacing demons of
disease which have been concentrating
themselves there for three centuries must
be exterminated. The United States must
also provide Havana with a sewerage sys-
TEN. Indeed, to render the city even toll
| erably healthy, good deal of it will have
to be annihilated.
Hardly one-quarter OF the entire popu-
| lation live 80 feet above sea- level, and
great many of the houses are built upon
land formed by the dumping of garbage
and street refuse in what is surely one of
the most densely populated localities of all
the cities on the Globe.
The other ports are not much better
Santiago, on its slipping hillside, has ex-
eellent natural drainage, but it is to the
highest degree unsanitarv. Cardenas-
the tlouMsling Chicago Of the island.
which before the wu numbered among
! its business citizens good many Ameu-
/ cans, is wholly devoid OF sanitation. The
centre Of its population being only 4 feet
| above sea-ieyel, The death rate is high
and would doubtless be a good deal high
| er were it not for the line. large harbor in
front. Nature intended Matanzas for a
health1ul place, its beautiful harbor being
widest and deepest at the entrance. thus
allowing the sea to flow freely in and out;
and it is also flushed by three bic rivers.
Yet thorough scrubbing and Cisinfect-
ing is necessary to make the dirty old city
haDitabIe, In CienfueGos. the so-called
Philadelphia Of Cuba more than a third of
the population are living only feet above
subsoil water. Trinidad city, aloft on its
mountainside, is considered the healthiest
place ON the island, thanks to the acct
dent Of situation not to the wisdom or
work OF its builders. In many Cuban
towns the water is totally unit to drink;
and SO scarce IN others that were the en-
tire population to indulge in the luxury
of bathing and toagree on taking turns, -
each person would get no more than one
bath a year. In these hot, fever-infested
countries, one should drink as little water
as possible and eat no fruit until it is
cooked. If a law to that effect We're en-
forced in our army, it would save the
lives of many men.
The cities and villages of Porto Rico
are even worse than those of Cuba,-only
we hear less about them. Nine tenths of
the Inhabitants are lazy, dirty negroes,
and modern sanitary arrangements are
unknown. The water supply is poor.
scant and generally polluted houses hud-
died together and densely crowded, and
smallpox and yellow fever continually
stalk the streets. San Juan, the capital,
is as compactly built as Canton, China
| Fortunately our troops on their Cuban
marches will find no ferocious beasts or
venomous serpents to contend with.
Snakes are few, even in the iungles; but
they include some freakish reptiles. Such
is the maya from II to - feet long
and of proportionate circumference 1t
looks formidable enough to put whole
regiment to flight but it is only bluff,
for his huge snakeship is harmless and
too indolent even to hug, like his near
relations of the boa family. One of the
greatest pests our soldiers will have to
encounter is the chigoe, or digger" as
the wretched little insect is commonly
called. 1t insinuates itself somehow
through the stoutest leather and burrows
under the toe nail. Then it has to be
/ dug out with pen knife; tor if left "A
hours the insect has not only established
a home, but raised a family under the
nail-and the result may be the loss of
| the whole preempted toe by amputation.
Sand lilies and mosquitoes are not much
worse in the West Indies than in many of
Jul idoHloHdole stdSlue IeSoIIS; out we
have nothing in our country to match the
brown, hairy spiders of Cuba, large as
the palm of your hand, whose bite is not
fatal but causes fevers. Nor have we
anything like the belligerent ants known
as ''vivajajaus," which go out of their
way to attack you and leave mark
which will keep their memory green
through many weary day. The Cuban
scorpions, through not particularly
dangerous, cannot be said to be agreeable
companions, for they have too sociable
habit of getting into your shoes over
night, and nesting in your ''back hair,''
and sometimes even darting into your ear
in search of safe retreat.