The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-12

fierce enough and formidable enough to
put a whole regiment to Night, 1t il all
. blum. Tor the big reptile Is harmless.
Among the birds. the soldier may ex-
ercise his taste for pets. Those peculiar
to the island have beautiful plumage.
rich In coloring. There are nearly 200
kinds to be found there, and among
them all the vulture and the turkey
buzzard are almost the only birds of
prey. They are 30 useful as scsvengers
to carry away waste material that they
are protected from death by law. Geese.
turkeys. peacocks and pigeons are the
most familiar domestic fowls, and pigs,
sheep, goats, mules and horses the ami
mails used.
The Cuban horses are almost a race by
themselves They are very gentle, they
never kick nor bite nor play any UNI
seemly tricks on their riders. In some
parts of h island horses receive as
much consideration as q member Of the
family. They are not tied or confined.
but they wander about the door yard,
put their heads into the kitchen win
dows to exchange the time Of day. and
even on occasion have the privilege Of
entering the house. The sight of humans
and equines on terms Of such easy ia
miliarity makes one wonder II the days
of CULVER and his horse country have
come again.
Sometimes h roads are very bad and
the mud so sticky that IT holds any for
eign substance like glue. For this rea-
son farmers braid their horses tails.
turn them up over their backs and tie
them to the saddle. No Northern pony
would stand this indignity. but the Gu
ban pack animals seem quite willing to
endure it. In mountainous regions
mules are used to carry coffee and sugar
down the mountain paths. and to save
drivers mules in long procession are tied
ones head to another's tail, and
with only one man at the head of the
column to guide the leader, they carry
down their burdens safely. The hind
legs of Cuban mules must be worked on
a different principle from that in vogue
among United States mules. Here no
insurance agency would insure a man
whose business was tying mules to one
another's tails.
The only wild animal peculiar to Cuba
is the jutia, or hutia. 1t is rat-shaped,
black and small. 1t lives in the hollows
OF trees. like our squirrel, and eats
leaves and fruit. It's flesh is insipid, but
1t Is often eaten. Curious notifications
of felines and CANNES inhabit the woods.
The animals have sprung from dogs
and cats in the domestic state and differ
from them only In their size and habits.
oOiir VI tnc uttliktDCt Oh CIVILIZATION
seems to remain with them, and they
cause the farmer much anxiety by their
carefully planned attacks upon his poul-
try and cattle.
The matter of lights is a small item
of expense to the poor man in Cuba,
for in the phosphorescent fly nature
provides him a lamp free. This fly,
the %cucullo. about the size Of our
roach, is perfectly black, with a trans
ma rnnf hraoCf Txxrn AxAa In fraxt a-I
n in the point Of it's breast gives out
so much light when its wings are
spread that one car see by it to read
a letter. Children make pets of cucul-
los and u them up In reed cages. If
they feed them on sugar., the sticky
particles adhering to their legs exaspe-
rate them 10 much that they fall upon
each other like prize fighters. The
children avoid this by giving the flies
sugar cane. They wash them carefully
morning and night. and in this way
keep their pets alive and shining for
many days.
Fashionable ladies' wear the brilliant
flies in their hair. and sometimes the
bellies use them, covered with a guazy
material, for living belts. One little
girl remarked with much solemnity aft
er examining a cucullo's legs that God
made 1t with hooks to fasten on little
girls dresses. Left to themselves, the
cucullos fly in regular lines, giving
the effect of the long procession of the
watch at For this reason the
Cubans call them "serenos de los
Observation-Disclosures of the insects. Fiji
teen or twenty of them in a calabash
pierced with holes make a kin of a
lantern often used during the night. A
few years ago an adventurous traveller
brought a number of cucullos to New
York and set them free in Broadway,
to the everlasting establishment of an
lrishman, to whom the dancing lamps
were such a mystery that he wavered
etwee the pledge and the oculist.
Another curious phenomenon of Gu
ban animal life is the procession of
land crabs across the sland. They
travel from north to south every
spring when the rains commence, and
are as regular an institution as the
wet weather itself. Shell fish are
abundant, but they are of inferior
quality. The climate is too warm for
them, and oysters there at all times
are as unsatisfactory as ours in the
when no magic r appears.
The rivers and bays and inlets, how
ever, are well stocked with palatable
fish. The iguana, cayman and croco-
are common. A huge variety of
crocodile. called cayman has a colony
of its own on the Isle OF Pines. Turtles
are found in large numbers in shallow
reefs n on sandy beaches, and they
are put to all sorts of uses, from soup
to walking sticks. For canes the shell
of the carey variety of turtle is used.
First a strong stick is cut of the
length desired. Then the turtle shell is
boiled until 1t becomes a thin liquid,
and n his the stick Is dipped and
allowed to o The process Is re-
peated several times till the beautiful
tortoise shell covering is of proper
thickness. Afterward the cane is poll
ished. headed, fitted with a ferrule and
sold for "a or S..
Another curiosity is a cane made
from the dried skin of the manatee or
sea cow. The skin is perfectly trans
parent and when rightly prepared Ia
flexible but strong enough to be used
as a rapier for defense. Mounted in
gold and silver. these canes are very
expensive. They are rarely seer in
Havana. and one ourist who wished to
ca rFV "A xyav q oanA oa q aa.rx,A~f. ala