The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-03

our beggar following increased to a
! crowd. Strange to say, there are few
signs of cultivation in the environs OF
TINS poverty-cursed town. Whether the
| people are too i'll or too lazy to make
gardens in the fertile soil lying all
around, or too poor to buy seeds, or if
conditions" not apparent to foreigners
forbid, do not know. 1t seems to me,
however, that if the Red Cross, or some
other beneflcent power were to utilize
the many acres of seemingly waste land
by planting it to potatoes and common
vegetables, apportioning it out to fami-
lies and compelling them to care for and
harvest the crops, it would be truer
charity than to feed them on free ra-
lions for an indefinite length Of time.
On slightly slope of the road to town
we passed beautiful villa, its white
walls and pillared front cleaning amid
sapadillo, orange and mango trees.
Palms and olive trees lifting their
heads in the center of the house-walls
tell off, Moorish inner court and the
safeguards are gay with pink and white
oleanders, scarlet pomegranites and roy
al hibiscus. But the silence of death
hangs over all, for the splendid place is
quite deserted. Our intelligent cochero
related its history. The residence is
considered the finest in the entire prov
ince. 1t contains a well-filled art-gal
lery and imported furniture that was
formerly the admiration OF the people.
The owner once wealthy Spaniard,
possessed rich sugar plantations little
way back in the valley, besides three
thousands acres of the best tobacco
lands in the world. Five years ago it
seemed beyond the range of possibility
that he could ever find himself poor
man. Early in the war insurgents
burned his sugar estate, destroying his
mills and machinery and in a few hours
sent skyward in fame and smoke prop
erty worth two or three million dollars.
Fearing for his own life and the safety
of his family, the 'Spaniard hastily
gathered together what he could and
fled to the mother country, leaving all
he possessed In Cuba to be sold by
agents But nobody was buying much
in those nefasti dias. Some Of the rich
est plantations on the island brought
only six dollars an acre, and others
equally good could not be sold at any
price. The senor's tobacco property,
that erstwhile yielded a yearly income
Of several hundred thousand dollars,
brought only eleven thousand dollars in
the lump. During the war the ADAM
doned maDsion in the outskirts of Ma
tanzas, at the mercy Of both armies and
all the guerillas, bush-whackers and
bandits Of the time, was absolutely
for nobody would have ac-
,epted it as a gift if obliged to try living
in it. Probably the house cost in the
of a quarter of million;
and in the opinion Of ur cochero might
be purchased to-day for five thousand
dollars down" Here is a valuable hint
to home seeking Americans. There are
other abandoned palaces like this, scat
erred all over the island, which might be
bought for a 1.-THE of their original value
and converted into ideal residences.
The beauty, salubrity, pure water and
'asy railway and ocean facilities con-
'pire to make Matanzas a far more elig-
BILE place for American resort than
Ia-sau and other points to which our
'ountrymen and women flock by thou
ands every season. Two or three mil
ion dollars judiciously expended in Ma
anzas would put it on a par with Nice
md the Riviera and make it a central
place for the world.
When we reached the central portion
# the town the streets that erstwhile
ooked so deserted were filed with mer-
y maskers. Ladies' in Spanish cos
ume, wearing harlequin masks of black |
ilk, promenaded in bevies, or rode in |
arriages, throwing kisses and bandying I
okes with everybody they met, both |
riends and strangers. Presently bar
arie music was heard, a weird sound |
Ike the beating of tom-toms before a
annibal feast, and around the corner
wept a molly procession. 1t was head
d by score of stalWart negroes bear
lg aloft effigies of saints, the most hon
red figures being naturally the Black
'irgin and St Augustine. Following
his advance guard were several hun
red men, women and children, of all
onditions and shades of complexion.
lost of them We're more or less darkly
olored, and while a few sported gor-
eous holiday raiment, many We're rath-
: too scantily attired for decency, with
ere and there a half-grown child as
aked as the minute he was born. All
ere shouting and singing at the tops of
leir voices; and while the leaders kept
ep with the monotonous rythn, beat
g the ground with their long heels like
ldians in the ghost dance, the more ex-
ted females were whirling like tops
1wn the dusty street in dance la
gyptienne. Such a heterogeneous
ovid I have seen King Carnival in
any countries, but never anything like
lis. The pavements were lined with
ell dressed ladies and gentlemen, thou
nds of children footed horns and ,
look noisy rattles like the Mexican me- ,
acas. while the barking of dogs and ,
it'll the unearthly music Now and ,
en- an over-enthused negress of the :
accession in the wild abandon of the
lnce would waltz out of the line to en- :
ace an innocent onloolSer, as regard t
SIS of order as of comment. One of the S
nniest sights of the day was the hor-
fed expression on the countenance Of
dignified elderly army officer and the
sgust of his prim American wife when
buXom wench spun up to the wearer
the United States uniform, slung her
t arms around his immaculate collar
d imprinted a resounding smack upon
3 soldierly mustache.
All the Saloons cafes and casinos were
de open, their tables surrounded by