The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-28
THE NORTHERN COAST OF CUBA

DlChGu L6dnl II lOill NLCIA VIA SAA~ ony street grounds Saturday.
 THE NORTHERN COAST OF CUBA.
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 4'patriots," but it does not seem to have been much more effective than the cardboard fort in front. There is It. tie plaza with few palm trees in it, quaint old church, a fine new casino Q theater and dozen shops; but the dwelling houses are few and shabby and the general aspect of the place Is decidedly down. at-heel. At the time of my visit, three months ago, the citizens looked hungry and discouraged enough, and Heaven knows how they may be faring to-day, cut off by land and sea from communication with the world.
 At Gibara the connoisseur In canes may indulge his fancy in some odd specimens. One variety in particular is worth seeking far and wide. It is made from the skin of that strange gre garious, aquatic animal, the manati, sea-cow or sea-lion, as he is variously called, which frequents these shores as nowhere else in the West Indies. Any day you may see a herd of them foun- dering ciumsily in the marshes around Gibara point. At first glance the sea- COW looks like a Chesapeake Bay DOT boise, only it is much too large. Then you think 1t must be whale, but who ever saw a whale eating grass? And then, noticing the hand-shaped fiippers, or fore-fins and the queer-famed pro- iections curved, like horns, over the eyes, you recognize the far-famed 1nanatee, whose species are extremely rare on this side of the globe, but abound in the ndian ocean and on the shores of Africa
 In the east they are hunted for their food and fat; and here their tough hides serve as many useful purposes as the papier maohe of China and Japan. II some way known only to the natives, manati-skins are converted into canes beautifully mott1ed, transparent as glass and strong as steel. When mounted in gold or silver they cost at Gibara from ten to twenty dollars gold, but in Havana, if you find them at all, they will be as high as fifty dol lars Another beautiful cane is made in the coast villages of eastern Cuba from the shells of a very large turtle The shell is boiled to a thin liquid, into which a strong, straight stick of prope, length is dipped. After being allowed to harden the process is repeated again and again, until the required thickness is attained. Then the outer coating is sand-papered to brilliant polish headed, feruled and is ready for mar ket. It has the appearance of solid tor S1 If 1o1l fny, fi,yA 6fI. lars and upward.
 The planters in the grassy plains be- yond Holguin raise many cattle, and usually while waiting in Gibara bay for the taking on of cargo you are treated to a spectacle which rivals the Spanish bulI-hght in cruelty. It is tht Cuban method of loading animals. 4 lighter filled with cattle comes along side the steamer and makes fast; ropt is thrown down, one end of which is at tached to the steamers hoisting- -wrincf and at the other is a running moose The moose is thrown over the horns o1 an unfortunate animal, the winch i started to tighten the knot, and thel with sudden jerk goes ahead at ful speed, hoisting the unhappy beast hlgi in the air Sometimes there are two animals in the same moose franticall. paMing each other, and the tortures they undergo can only be dinly tmag ined as the cruel rope tightens arount their horns and cuts into the flesh b! the terrible strain of their weight Of ten the horns are actually pulled iron their sockets and the poor beast drop into the sea- Otherwise hoisted to { sufficient height, they are swung Ill over the deck, spinning round ant round like huge tops, until droppe' heavily upon the deck, where they Ii awhile stunned and motlonless Though so ghastly @ spectacle, it i characteristic of the native taste tha women and children lean over the taft rail in high glee, enjoying every detai as at the bull-fght.
 few hours after the headlands G,ibara had faded from sight we cam into the historic bay of Nuevitas. It entrance is through river with hlg hanks. like a. winding canon four or tiv ,,ni1es long, which widens out Ill it' co,,pse into two bays. Tine first bay \ nanoad Moyanabo, the second Nuov1 +as. and into each two rivers empty what a glorious morning it was, Wher .ya awoke to find our ship swinging a anchor in the superb inner bay! It wal inc very perfection of spring weather hut such an April day as northern eyes have seldom seen, with the won derful blue of the sky, the brightness Inf she verduFe, the purity of the at ,nosphere. the dearness of the waters Sneaking of this place, Irving say that "Columbus was struck with tn ~randeur of it's features, its higl mountains, which reminded him O Sicily. it's fertile valleys and lon: sweeping plains, watered by noble riv ars. it's stately forests and bold pro ,oantories and stretching headlands which melted away into remotest dis tances.'' The inner bay is no less thal 57 square miles in extent and there Sore the discoverer named it Puert Principe, Principal PorD-not dream sne that there were several grande ones along the coasts of Cuba. He se mn cross upon the neighboring neigh in token of possession, and ID lol Diego Nalezquez. and founded 3 tewr