The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1899-02-22
LETTER FROM HAVANA.
Conclusion of Capt. Beers Letter, Begun
in Our Last Issue.

| IVY hpiboNAiiN' o'
You asked me about the land here.
You remember that red limestone land
Of Clarion county; we'll, this is quite
similar to that. Soil is very thin. but
is exceedingly rich and but few in.hes
under ground there is bed of lime
rocks which covers the whole country
around here. The water we get here is
taken from the acqueduct which sup
plies the city and is as pure and sweet
as our own spring water at home. We
hauled water for about month. but we
now have it piped into our camp. II is
hard to describe this country: these
landscapes that greet your eye here are
such as you will find nowhere else. The
land Is rough. but nearly all OF it is un-
der cultivation. The most beautiful
valleys, made picturesque by numerous
royal palm trees, towering hundred
feet above the earth, which is usually
covered with thick growths of various
kinds Of plants. Cocoanut palms,
banana trees, or where under cultiva-
tion the tropical luxuriance is such that
IL makes the country seem like one vast
green garden, which it really is.
Their gardens and lawns here are
something that, could you folks drop in
here now from your dreary wintry
homes, you would scarcely believe your
eyes. Flowers of every hue; fruit of all
kinds: oranges, bananas, pineapples;
some ripe, ready to be gathered, and
you will see some trees with blossoms:
fruit just to bud and fruit
matured, all on the same tree. One
odd looking tree that grows here is
gourd tree. To look at the tree, with
out seeing the green fruit on il you
would be almost certain that it was
nothing but dead trunk, but on closer
inspection you will find growing right
out from the body, without bloom or
stem, the gourds from which the tree
takes its name. The branches will
strike each other and grow rightaround
themselves, as you have seen a tree
grow around a wire, intertwining
amongs each other, forming a network
of branches through which it is most
impossible for the sun to penetrate.
Along the beach here the underground
of vegetation is so thick that it is i'm
possible for man to get through, ex-
cept through narrow paths which have
been cut out.
A crop here will mature in forty days.
Vegetables OF all kinds can be raised in
an incredibly short period. II the peo
pie had modern means OF cultivating
the land, what they could grow on one
acre of land in few years would place
them in comfortable circumstances, but
their farm implements Except on the
large sugar plantations) are of the
crudest kind. Take down your old Bl-
BILE dictionary and look at the old plows
that were used in the time of Moses
and you have picture of their present
mode of tilling the soil here.
It's curious, some of the scenes that
meet our eyes here. For instance, we
will see living in the same house, all
under one roof family OF four or five
children, two or three calves, as many
goats and sheep and chickens. You find
gazing out on you from door or win
dow three or four children and calf or
goat, the latter looking at you with
peaceful eyes, as much as to say: al am
one of the important members of this
household and have to be looked after
accordingly" At the end OF the house,
If the family is wealthy enough to af-
ford them, you will find their oxen and
horses. About the place you would ex-
pect to find their parlor door you will
find door to drive their carriage into
the house, and IL seems they consider
their front porch just the finest kind OF
a place to keep their farming imple-
ments, as there is generally plow or
two leaning up against the house in
very conspicuous place.
One place | have never described to
you is one of the cemeteries have Wis
tied here; one OF the largest on the
Island, too, by the way. The Maine
victims are buried there under mound
OF earth about l4x20, all that remains
of our noble boys who met such an aw-
full death at the hands OF the blood
thirsty Spaniards. These bodies, as
will all the rest of the bodies OF Ameri-
can soldiers who die here, be exhumed
and shipped to their respective homes.
To continue my description of the
cemetery: | won't go into details as
there are portions of it that are simply
horrible; for instance, the dead house
which you have to pass through to get
into the cemetery, where there are
nude bodies of paupers piled two and
three deep, awaiting burial, from which
a stencil arose the day we went over
there that was simply awful | made
my stay around that place very short