The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-09-07

tana Words fail to tell how thankful I am
for the relief as had suffered so much and it
seemed that the doctors could do me no good. l
got down in weight to q pounds, and was not
able to work. Now weigh nearly 100 and can
do days work on the farm
coat-of- arms cut upon them-circulat-
ing around the tables Of the middle class
from back corners in dingy shops where
the clerks are fed, to the servants tables
in hotels and the mess rooms of Spanish
ships in the harbor. One botella, or at
most two filed with vino catalan,
answers for tableful, and briskly it goes
from hand to hand, as frequent but spar
ing draughts are taken. Strange to say,
the bottle never touches anybodys lips;
but, held aloft at the correct angle, the
nozzle sends a tiny stream with unerring
precision into the sophisticated drinker' S
wide open mouth.
You would be surprised to see such a
variety of food served in this third rate
hotel in the heart of a poverty stricken
island where nothing is raised; and great
Ell would be your establishment to find
everything excelIently cooked. Yet the
''santa Clara is 10y no means above the
average of Cuban hotels. In all Cuba
there are only two meals a day, not
counting the early coffee, and break
fast is almost the counterpart of din
ner. At both meals soup comes first,
a savory concOtion whose component
parts could only be told by clairvoyant
Hunt around in it, and you may find
chicken, pork, sausage, and pig-tails also
peppers. almonds and eggs; raisins, onions
and clans; possibly giblets, bits of NUT
ton and bananas boiled Whole in their
skins, the whole colored dark yellow with
saffron. Probably anything else within
reach OF the cook that is edible went into
it; but what the odds since the result is
delicious?
About the only difference between
breakfast and dinner is that eggs figure at
the former meal. The Cubans, like their
Latin cousins in France and Italy, know a
thing OF two in the line of egg cooking, and
particularly in omeette- making, which
colder blooded Anglo-Saxons can never
master. 1t is an old saying that only per-
sons of blue blood and refinement can
compound proper salad; and equally
true is it that the art and science of ONE
lettes belong exclusively to the poetic
race, | presume that you might get an
omelette plain in Cuba by giving such
an order to the amazed cook; but l have
never seen one here unadorned, or unmix-
ed with something besides the eggs to
give it color, beauty and flavor. Toma-
toes, peas or potatoes most frequently en-
ter into it, or fruit, nuts, beans, onions,
meat rice or raisins.
Fish never follows soup, as with US, but
is served late in the Cuban menu. And
such fish! Big or little, they are always
Drowned to delicate perfection in oil and
served with lines, or in some savory mess
of tomatoes, wine and the inevitable SAT
from. The fish market of any Cuban sea-
port is its most an interesting sight.
That of Habana, called the Pescaderia,
(the word derived from Pescado, fish, is a
great stone building, mostly roof, resting
upon arches supported by pillars, the
sides being open to secure ventilation.
The market is a government institution
and monopoly, and the piscatorial display
cannot be surpassed, and is seldom equal
led, in any part of the world Not only
does the Cuban coast furnish wonderful
variety of the finny tribe, but fisher
men come in regularly from the border of
Florida, Yucatan and the Tortugas.
There are she'll fish of every description,
snake-like cells, black and yellow Spanish
angle fish, the so-called butterflies of
the sea-" beautiful dolphins, bright blue
ish green Bahama turbet, squirrel fish of
brilliant scarlet, parrot fish, sharks, enor
nous porpoises to be converted into oil, and
a thousand others, golden, amethyst. sill
yer, pearl, blue, crimson iridescent and
lusterless gray.
NOl only dIe uSu lOI tIDdu
ton brought from other parts of the
Caribbean sea and the Mexican gulf, even
Goldfish from far away Nantucket and sal
mon from the Columbia-but great
many other common food supplies which
might Just as we'll be raised in the island
come from afar. Spanish vessels bring
wines and olives from Barcelona; queer
Portuguese craft discharge cargoes of
onions, garlic and flour; Halifax sends
onions, cabbages, potatoes, apples and
sailed fish; South American brigantines.
with the general air of piratical craft,
bring wheat, jerked beef sweet oil, bacon,
lard, figs, olives and brandy; from Mexico
come most of the bulls for fighting in the
Plaza de Torros, and, incidentally, beef
while American and Canadian vessels bring
about four fifths of the entire food supplies
consumed in Cuba.