Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-01-21
them has tended to confirm this view
one "South Carolina niger" being
worth at least five of them:


worth at least five of them:
The most fascinating and interesting
study, however, was the houses. Built
of solid masonry, usually only one
storied, with every open place heavily
iron-barred, and with no yard, they
were more like medieval castles than
dwellings. They were usually only
two rooms thick, and in the rear would
be the most beautiful gardens. The
strangest, most unreal thing of it all
was to see the most magnifcently fur
nished houses, with the prettiest and
most artistic fresco and tiling, face
streets not wide enough for two wagons
to pass, and filthy to such degree
that Americans would not believe 1t.
The sidewalks almost everywhere that
I saw, were only about two feet wide
two people could not pass upon them.
There are several other small towns
around us: Mariana, with popula.
ton of $1,000, being about two miles
distant. About half mile below us,
where We were first encamped, is an
other old plantation. The majority of
the heavy stone buildings are in ruins,
having been burnt; but the dwelling,
grim and grand, is still intact, and
presents an interior of marvellous
beauty. Thing seems to be used on
all the floors, and some of it and the
frescoes are exquisite.
Lumber is $12O per 100 feet, 1 hear
but cannot believe it. Anyway, We
are paying $15 cord for wood to
burn. The prices of different things
are, to US, so disproportionate that
they furnish a subject of unfagging
interest. Eggs, for instance, are 80
cents a dozen, while you can get sever
al packs of splendid cigarettes for q
nickle. One of the men asked for q
nickle's worth of apples and was given
one shrivelled little apple. He pre-
ferred to take six big oranges instead.
The dress of the natives is very
simple. twenty-five cents for . hat,
20 cents for pair of slippers, 81 for q
pair of trousers and jacket made of
some light stuff, throw in nickle for
"shigaretty" and for $3.50 you have
dressed your Cuban. Now add little
dirt, smile for the "ah-may-ree.cah-
nah" and give him machete Una a-chey-
te) and you have the type. This Is the
laboring class but some of the richer
Cubans dress elegantly and with taste.
The younger children neglect this
little item, and in q state of nature,
play in the mud to their hearts con-
tent, with no fear of being scolded for
soiling their clean clothes.
The people are generally and unus-
ually small and slight. 1, with my B
feet Z inches and 1S0 pounds, feel like
a giant among them. Their hands
and feet are very small, and l should
say their average weight is about Ito
pounds-possibly 115 pounds.
The soldiers generally are. great ad-
mirers of the dark beauty and lustrous
eyes of the sayn-yo-ree-tahs; but as for
myself, am free to confess that pre-
fer less powder and paint and more
soap.
But to 20 back a little. We took
the transport Roumanian at Savannah
on Tuesday morning, January 8, and
debarked at Havana on Friday morn
ing; being just three days out. And
oh those days. TrHly, "a tale /
could unfold whose lightest word
would harrow up thy SOUL" The ship
was top.heavy and overcrowded-car.
rying beside our own corral, that Of
the Ninth Illinois-in all about l 900
men and 300 horses and mules.
We were fortunate in catching
very quiet sea but, nevertheless, the
ship rolled fearfully. Consequently,
the young volcanoes within us soon
began to erupt, and it soon became AN
open contest as to whose stomach con-
tanned the most, who could strangle
the loudest and become the most
CHASTITY, deathly sick; and your pre-
cious son, mamma, was not the least OF
these if he didn't beg to be either
chloroformed or killed like some, and
didn't have the strength and necessary
vocabulary to swear as loud and pro-
fioiently as most of the others.
I had remained on deck during the
first afternoon "feeding the fshes";
but toward night went down into the
hold, which had already become foul
and sloppy, to get my blankets, in
tending to return; but l never got
back. 1 managed to get lodged in
hammock beneath some poor devil
who seemed to be having particular
ly hard time of it. Periodically he
would interrupt his prayers, curses
and lamentations, launch over to one
side and emit volumes, it seemed to
me- and az the hammocks were con-
tinually swaying as the shipped rolled,
it occurred to me in kind of dull way,
that 1 might offer some obstruction to
its passage; but strange to say l
neither moved nor cared. remem-
ber wondering how in the world he
could ever have gotten so much in
side himself and if he would never
stop; when after an unusually hard
strangle, I heard him declare, with a
perfect avalanche of army oaths, that
he had thrown up everything but his
government job, and I know how heart
ily, Just then, that the poor fellow
wished that could be thrown up also.
All around, packed like hogs in
pen, but without the advantage of
fresh air, everything was the same
way. 1 heard men slashing around
on the floor that had been at least dry
a few hours before, and drop valuable