The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-14
CITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY


As Yet the Greater Part of Cub" Re-
sembles the "Heart of Africa" Com
corning which Amy wild story, Wen
Told, Gains Ready Credence.
| Especial Correspondence Of the Journal
and Courier)
Trinidad de Cuba, July 13,-Thanks
| to American newspapers, the world has
lately become we'll acquainted with Ha-
vana in the west Santiago in the cast
Cienfuegos and Matanzas in the middle
the New York, San Francisco Phila-
this day few people know much about
the country between those widely sep
arated cities 1t is hard to realize that
the Pearl of the Antilles stretches over
three and half degrees of latitude
| farther than the distance between New
York and st. Louis, Philadelphia and
New Orleans, San Francisco and Den
ver Harder yet Is 1t to realize the diff
flcultes of travelling through the inte-
rior-the impossbilty of making the
entire journey overland from one end
of the island to the other Spaniards
and Cubans seem to have considered the
| waterways of their forefathers good
enough for all time to come, and there
l,,, M
by boat, between the eastern and west
ern portions of the country. In all this
rich territory there are but four good
roads. and they lead only a few miles
out of Havana The eastern half of the
island, with its rugged mountains full
of minerals, extensive forests and path
less jungles, has no public highways
| worthy the name, the few countryWard
routes being mere mule-trailS and poor
ones at that. Since the war, however,
an American syndicate has investtga-
ted the feasibility Of a railway line be-
tween Santiago and Havana and re-
| ported favorably; therefore the time Is
at hand, maybe, when locomotives VIII
rush shrieking from end to end of this
sleepy land, connecting forgotten towns
and villages, like the beads Of rosary.
on strings of steel.
As yet the greater part OF Cuba re-
sembles the Heart Of Africa" in one
particular-that it remains terra in
cognita, concerning which any wild
story, we'll told. gains ready credence.
Even during the war, when the eyes OF
all nations were turned this way, only
occasional scraps of information found
their way from the southern ports,
leaving the whole vast interior with its
tragedies of murder, starvation ana
| wanton destruction buried In impene-
trabe silence. In this region OF gloom
and mystery of which Trinidad is the
southern outlet and Sagua la Grande
| the northern, I have been spending the
! last few weeks for the purpose of tell
ing the Journal and Courier about it.
Santa Clara province is the very heart
of Cuba and was once the garden-spot
of the world, before these destructive
patriots" Gomez and Maceo, over-ran
it with their negro rabble, al machete,
and converted sixty million dollars
worth of growing cane into drifting
ashes To-day little is left but the roy
al palms, standing like plumed sentinels
amid the dead. In a hundred miles Of
| the richest territory not house nor
human being is to be seen. Planta-
lions, ranches, farms We're all destroyed
by one army or the other, villages
wiped out sugar-mills a thing of the
past expensive machinery broken up
and rusting in the fields waiting pur-
chaser as old junk; nothing to speak of
a former population but heaps of mel
ancholy ruins.
BY the way, it is in this province of
Santa Clara that the uch-advertised
Cuban Land company, whose head
quarters are in Washington, d, c., are
supposed to be carrying on their oper-
atoms The compauy's prospectus
sets forth in florid syntax its ability to
bpy the richest soil on earth for a song
say for a hundred cents an acre
which will soon be worth a hundred dol
lars and importunes the public TO JOIN
in singing to the tune of dollar the
share. Says the document; I'VE have
located valuable tracts of timber mine
raj and farm lands-all better than gov
eminent bonds Please understand that
this is not an advertisement for the
land company aforesaid-of which /
can find no trace in it's alleged field OF
acton-but rather a word of advice to
the unwary, viz. look before you leap.
The six hundred miles or SO between
Havana and Santiago are traversed
barely half way by the railroad which
ends at Santa Clara sending out
branches to Sagua and Cienfuegos, If
you insist on an all-land route, the re-
naning three hundred miles must be
made over robber-infested trails, in the
saddle. in oX-carts, on foot, according
to circumstances and locality. 1t Is
not to be thought of without a strong
escort; and If, after great expense, dam
ger, toll and privation, you arrive at
the end of the journey with whole skin
and purse in your own possession. you
have been exceptionally fortunate. No
native undertakes such a hazardous
thing without saying seven Ave Marias
at every mile to bring himself good
luck and even then the reverse is like
ly to be his portion Hardly one per-
son in thousand comes to Trinidad
except by water; usually by coasting
steamer from Cienfuegos forty miles to
the westward. You may go all the way
by water from Havana, rounding the
western tips of the island; or by rail to
Batabanao the southern port of Ha-
too g1f,f-