The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-13

Charming DuSenbury and his aides de-
 camp. It is tlanked by a long line of
 barracks, now filled with Spanish SOL diers making ready for departure-eve- ry mothers son of them frail, under sized and dispirited, like Casslus with
 a lean and hungry look"
 Not far away is the opera house, a quaint open-air theater, the market-
 place, town hall military and public hospitals (both of the latter filled to
 overflowing), and the famous palace of the Segundo Cabo, or military com
 mander. The latter is more of a prison
 than a palace" with it's enormously
 thick walls, double doors always shut
 and with sentinels pacing before them
 and little barred windows high up un-
 der the caves, which like closed eyes
 disclose no secrets. There are dungeons
 below it, and secret passages connect 1 ing with the forts and prisons; and
 gruesome tales are whispered of deeds
 committed therein which would shame
 the darkest days of the Spanish inqui-
 sition--of political prisoners, whose only crime is love of Cuba fibre, compelled by nameless tortures to duplicate their friends and confess to sins they never | committed.
 | The central plaza is a fine. large square, lighted by electricity, with enormous ornamental gas lamps set at intervals. Its broad pavement of mar ble tiles is guarded by n-surmounted pillars, and pedestals here and there support white-washed statues. There is also fine Alameda ("Grove of elms'D at the edge of the town, wherein it is the fashion to drive or promenade on
 certain afternoons of the week, to the music of military bands. To get gen.
 eral idea of the surroundings, you should climb to the top of Reservoir hill, the only commanding point in the vicinity, from which the city stretches west a couple of miles, while country ward are the plantations with their neat villas and whits-Washed sugar mills, fields of yellowing cane and scat tered groups of palms. A large propor- tion of the inhabitants of Cienfuegos speak English, and for years past fully nine tenths of Its commerce has been with the United States. Yet until lately bull-fghtlng was the favorite amuse- ment, and as everywhere else in Span ish America, Sunday was, and still is, the gala-day of the week. distinguished from the other six days of native dolce far niente by the universal donning of best clothes, increased activity of bil- Hard and drinking saloons, boisterous masquerade processions, opan-air, day. light dancing, noisy persistency of lot tery vendors cock-fghting, bull-bating and the theater. Everybody to the manor born begins the festive day reli- giously, with maths, confessional and mass; but the accommodating clergy get through with all that by 10 a. m. leaving plenty of time for divertise- ments.
 Three considerable rivers, the Canu- do, Saludo and Danaji, empty into Ci- enfuegos spacious bay, where the navies of the world might rendezvous in safe- ty; and each of the rivers is navigable some distance inland-a matter of great importance in a country so destitute of good roads. Between this city and Santiago to the eastward and Trinidad on the west, as well as in other noun tainous districts of Cuba, the frails from time immemorial have been infest- ed with banditti, who plunder both, na tives and foreigners. soldiers and civil ! ians There are many instances. even within the last ten years, of travellers being captured by knights of the road and held for ransom. Terrible stories are told of tortures inflicted upon those whose friends failed to pay promptly the sum demanded. Perhaps finger, an eye or an ear of the captive would | arrive by special post, as a gentle hint to the relatives of what would be likely to happen unless the money was quick ly forthcoming; followed by other DOT tons of the hapless victim, until it was known beyond doubt that there was not enough left of him to be worth paying for. FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD. ]