Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-08-13
THE ISLE OF PINES.

Beautiful and UealthfuI Hesort OF
the Southern Coast ga Cuta.
From the New Haven Journsl
1t lies off the southern coast Of Cuba,
about nil ETY. miles due south Of Havana
city and equidistant from the western tin,
! and is the only islet Of size and consc-
qGence among the thousands that encom-
pass the Queen of the Antilles 1 visited It
early last spring. sailing westward from
Cienfuegcs, but the future tide of travel
will come down from New York or Tampa
to Havana; thence two or three hours by
raj; across the narrowest portion of Cuba
TO the dirty little southern port of Bata-
bano, and thence by steamer across fifty
four miles of tranquil sea TO Pire Island.
The elm ate is as near absolute perfec-
ten as can be found this side Of heaven
the dry, pure air cooled by breezes from
the nearby ocean and odorous of the pine
forests. At present only one of the springs,
called Template (temperate). is used as
a bath. A house has been erected over it,
divided into compartments for women and
mon. each bathing pool being twelve feet
by six, With four inches of water on a floor
of solid stone The temperature of the
wafer is 81 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is
very strongly impregnated with oxygen,
carbonic acid gases, chloride Of sodium,
sulphate of lime, nitrate Of lime. iron, mag
nesia. slick, chloride of calcium and nobody
knows what other constituents making
about the nastiest drink imaginable. Be-
side it the saver OF added eggs. so COM
mon to most mineral springs, is as am
brosia, and even the smell on it generally
acts a lively emetic on newcomers. The
regulation cure here, as prescribed by the
Cuban doctors for almost every disease
known to materia medica, is four glasses
a day of the water and two baths; but
it is pro bable that the pine odors, the
warm, pure air and simple diet. and, above
ALL faith, have much to do with II. At any
rate, d great many surprising cures have
been effected, particularly OF bronchial
rheumatic and scrofulous complaints. In
ValidS have been brought from the steam
ers on filters apparently just ready to
give up the ghost, who in a weeks time
have been riding over the hills on horse
back, and in a month have gone home
good new and we'll as anybody.
Mere pleasure seekers would better stay
away. but one whose health IS at stake
can afford to fight Astounding vermin and
put up with short commons for a sea-
son. Fleas, reaches, spiders, a thousand
wrigSling, crawling, singing creatures be-
set you continually on the Isle of Pines.
You ind pests between the sheets and in
the food. They pre-empt your shoes at
night and the garments You are wearing
by day. ana if they do not take bodily pos
session of you, whole colonies of them set
thing down comfortably on your hair and
forty winks" of troubled slumber in the
intervals of warfare, you are exceptionally
fortunate Even Eden had its serpent you
know and doubtless a more advanced state
of civilization here will evolve some means
of diminishing the plague Of vermin.
Expenses at this spa are very moderate.
The best hotel charges S2.25 per diem,
American money, for its choicest accom-
modations. including baths. Saddle horses
may be fred at $50 a day, and carriages
at proportionate rates. There are many
charming walks and drives in the neigh
boring hills, and interesting all-day excur-
sions may be made to sugar estates and
pineapple plantations The natives of Isle
de los Pfnos are a simple, kind-hearted
people, whose greatest pleasure seems to
be chatting with strangers and listening
to their accounts of the outer world To
them all beyond the horizons rim, or at
most beyond the limits of Cuba, is terra
incognita of more than Munchausen WON
der. The young children go about entirely
naked, and the universal innocence COM
bined with the utmost dignity and pune
ulious courtesy, is charming to behold.