Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-06-04
SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
One of the Oldest Cities in the New WorId-The Famous
Castle Upon Whose Raulparts Our M of the Vreinus
We're E<eouted-What Americans Have Been Doing in
Southern Cuba.

ribbed fortress of the middle ages. This
is the famous castle of San Jago, the
Moro, which antidates the more ia
miliar fortress of the same name in
Havana harbur by at least a hundred
years Words are of little use describing
this antique Moorish looking strong
hold, with Its crumbllng. honey-cumbed
battlements, queer little thanking tur-
rets.and shadowy towers, percNd upon
the face Of the dun colored clih $50 feet
high-So old, so odd. so different from
anything in Ainericawith which to com
pare it. A photograph, or pencil sketch,
Is not much better, and even paint
brush could not reproduce the exact
shadings OF It's time worn, weather
mellowed walls-the Oriental plnks ana
the old blues and predomlnating yell
lows that give half its charm. Upon
the lowmost wall, directly overhangins
the sea, Is n dome-shaped sentry-box, or
stone, iinnked by antiquated cannon.
Above It,, the lines of masonry are
sharply drawn. each guarded terrace
recedlng upon the one next higher, all
set with cannon and dominated by a
massive tower of obsolete construction.
1t takes good while to see IL all. for
new stories and stairways, wings and
terraces are constantly cropping out in
unexpected places, but as IT occupies
three sides OF the rounding cliff and the
guides your steamer close up under the
frowning battlements, you have ample
time to study IT, Window holes, cut in
to the rock In all directions. show how
extensive are the excavations. A large
garrison Is always quartered here, even
in time of peace, when their sole bust
ness Is searching shady places alons
the walls against which to lean. There
are ranges above ranges of walks, con-
nected by stairways cut into the solid
rock. each ranged covered with lolling
soldiers. You pass so near that you can
hear them chatting together Those
on the topmast parapet, dangling their
blue woollen legs over, are so high and
so directly overhead that they remind
| you OF flies on the ceiling. In various
/ places small inches have been exctvat-
! ed In the cliff some with cruclnxes, or
/ figures of saints, and in other places the
| bare unbroken wall of rock runs up
straight hundred feet Below, on the
ocean side. are caves, deep, dark and I'M
| canny, warn deep into the rock Some OF
/ them are so extensive that they have
1 not been explored for generations The
broad and lofty entrances to one of
] them, followed by the encroaching sea.
/ Is as perfect an arch as could be drawn
| by skillful architect, and with 1t n
/ tradition Is connected which dates back
couple of centuries, a story or two
| above these wave-eaten caverns are
| many small windows. each heavily
| barred with iron. They are dungeons,
and over them might well
/ be written, Leave hope behind, we
who enter here?" A crowd of bag
/ gard, palid faces, are pressed against
| the bars; and as you steam slowly by,
! so close that you might speak to the
wretched prisoners, it seems as IL a
| shadow had suddenly fallen upon the
| bright sunshine, and chill. like that of
! coming death, Expresses the heart.
| Since time out of mind, the Moro of
| Santiago has furnished dungeons for
| those who have incurred the dlspleas-
ure of the government Infinitely more
! to be dreaded than its namesake in
| Havana. Spain, whose political exist
ence on this side of the Atlantic has
| long been sustained only by cruelty
| and oppression. has shown no mercy
| toward those whose hands and voices
have been lifted In freedoms causes.
| Had these Shiny walls n tongue what
stories they might reveal of crime and
| suffering, Of tortures nobly undergone,
of death prolonged through dragging
years and murders that will not "out"
until the Judgment day. Against that
| old tower, n quarter of century ago,
our countrymen of the Virginius were
| butchered like sheep. Scores of later
| patriots have been laid out upon the
ramparts and shot, their bodies-per-
! haps with life yet in them. falling into
| the sea. where they We're snapped up
by sharks as soon as they touched
| the WATER
The narrow. winding channel which
leads from the open sea into the harbor
| pursuCs its slnuous course past several
other Notifications of quaint construc-
| tion. but Of little use against modern
| Guns-between low hills and broad
meadows, fishing hamlets and cocoanut
| groves. Presently Won turn n gharu
| angle in the hills and enter n broad,
land-locked bay. enclosed on every side
| by ranges OF hills, with numerous points
and promontorles jutting into the
tranquil water leaving deep little
coves behind them, all frlnEed with
cocoa-palms.. Between this blue bay
| and a towering background Of purple
mountains. lies the CITY which Diego
| Melazquez, Its founder, christened in
| honor of the patron saint of Spain, rs
| far back as the year 1914. 1t is the
oldest standing city In the New World,
| excepting Santo Domingo, which CO.
I lumbus himself established only eigh-
| teen years earlier. BY the way, San
| Jago, San Diego, and Santiago, are
really the same name, rendered Saint
| James In our languages: and wherever
| the Spaniards have been. are numbers
| of them. This particular city of Saint
James occupies sloping hillside, 600
| miles outheast from Havana, itself the
| capital of O department, and ranks this
| third ci'v of Cuba in commercial i'm
| portanoe. Matanzas being second. AS
| usual In all these southern ports. the
| water IL too shallow for large vessels
| to approach the dock, and steamers
have TO anchor a mile from shore
| While waiting the coming of health and
customs officials, those lordlv gentle
men who are never given to undignified