The herald., 1898-03-18

us calmly wait for the report.
"There are six provinces in Cuba, each
with the exception of Matanzas, extending
the whole width of the island and having
about an equal sea-front on the north ant
south borders. Matanzas touches the
Caribbean sea only at its southwest cor
ner. being separated from it elsewhere
by the narrow peninsula of Santa Clara
province.
my observations were confined to the
four western provinces. which constitute
about one-half of the island. The two east
ern ones are practically in the hands OF
the insurgents, except the few fortified
towns. These two large provinces are
spoken of today as Cuba Libre.'
Havana. the great city and capital OF
the island, is, in the eyes of the Spanish
and many Cubans, all Cuba, as much as
Paris is France, but having visited 1t ir
more peaceful times and seen its sights
the tomb of Columbus, the forts. Cabanas
and Moro castle, etc.-I did not care to
repeat this, preferring trips in the country
Everything seemed to go on much as usual
in Havana. Quiet prevails, and except fol
the frequent squads of soldiers marching
to guard and police duty and their abound
ing presence in all public places, one saw
little signs of war.
OUTSIDE OF HAVANA
"Outside of Havana all is changed. II
Is not peace nor is ii war. 1t is desolatior
and distress misery and starvation. Every
town and village is surrounded by the
trocha (trench), a sort of rifle pit. but
constructed on a plan new to me, dirt be-
ing thrown up on the outside and barbed
wire fence on the other side Of the trench
These trochas have at every corner and al
| frequent intervals along the sides what
are called forts, but they are really small
| block houses, many of them more like
a large sentry box, and with guard OF
| from two to ten soldiers in each. The
purpose of these trochas is to keep the re
concentrates in and keep the insurgents
out. In all the surrounding country the
people have been driven into these for
| titled towns and held there, to subsist as
| they can. They are virtually prison yards
| and not unlike one in general appearance
except the walls are not so high and
strong; but they suffice. where every point
| is In range of soldiers rifle, to keep in
| the poor reconcentrados, women and
children. Every railroad station is with
in one of these trochas and has an armed
guard. Every train has an armored freight
car, loopholed for musketry, and filled
with soldiers. and with as I observed
usually, and was informed was always the
case, pilot engine a mile or so in ad-
vance. There are frequent block houses,
enclosed by the trocha and with a guard
along the railroad track. With this ex-
fhor ic ifa or bo1,
ton between the fortified towns and vii
lagos, and throughout the whole of the
four western provinces, except to a very
limited extent, among the hills where the
Spaniards have not been able 10 go and
drive the people to the towns and burn
their dwellings.
A DEVASTATED COUNTRY
IT saw no house or hut in the 400 miles of
railroad rides from Pnar del Rio province,
in the west. across the full width of
Havana and Matanzas provinces, and to
Sagua la Grande, on the north shore, and
to Cienfuegos, on the south shore of
Santa Clara, except within the Spanish
trcchas. There are no domestic animals or
crops on the rich fields and pastures. ex-
cept such as are under guard in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the towns
I'm other words, the Spaniards hold in
these four western provinces just what
their army sits on. Every man, woman
and child, and every domestic animal.
wherever the columns have marched. is
under guard and within their so-called for
tifications. To describe one place is to
describe all. To repeat, it is neither peace
nor war. u is concentration and DESC
lot snacifioI' COp6itinp of
the four rn provinces.
West of Havana is generally the rich
tobacco country; east, so far as I went
it is a sugar region. Nearly all the sugar
mills are destroyed between Havana and
Sagua. Two or three were standing In
the vicinity of Sagua and part running.
surrounded as they are by villages, by
trochas and forts of palisades of the
royal palm and fully guarded. Toward
and near Cienfuegos there were more
mills running, but all with the same pro-
lection. 1t Is said that the owners of
these mills near Cienfuegos have been
able to obtain several favors from the
Spanish government in the way of large
forces of soldiers, but they also, as well
as all the railroads, pay taxes to the
Cubans for immunity. 1 had no means of
verifying this. 1t is the common talk
among those who have better means of
knowledge.
THE RECONCENTRADOS
"Al the country people in the four west
ern provinces, about 100000 in number, re-
manning outside the fortified towns
when Weyler's order was made, were
driven into these towns, and these are
the reconcentrados They are the peas
antry, many of them farmers, some land
owners. others renting lands and owning
more or less of their stock, others working
on estates and cultivating small patches,
and even a small patch in that fruitful
cline will support family. 1t is bu:
fair to say that the normal condition of
these people was very different from that
which prevails in this country. Their
standard of comfort and prosperity was
not high. measured by our own. but ac-
cording to their standards and require
factory.
"They live mostly in cabins made of
pa I'm or in wooden houses. Some of them
had houses of stone, the blackened walls
of which are all that remain to show that
the country was ever inhabited.
Many doubtless did not learn of Wey-
ler's concentration order. Others failed to
grasp its terrible meaning. Its execution
was left largely to the guerrillas to drive
in all that had not obeyed. and / was Ill
formed that In many cases the torch was
applied to their homes without notice, anl
that the inmates fled with such clothing
tol, hot, IL,