The Republican., 1899-10-05
The Same Old Singers and the Same Old Tune.

lie CdIlle Ulu Ca1geTS
all vessels have to load by means of
lighters and get away as quickly as
possible, to avoid sticking fast on the
sandy bottom. Yet the shabby little
port enjoys a large trade in prosper
Gus times, principally in sugar and
honey. 1t has extensive wharves and
warehouses, and a rather handsome
station for the short railway leading
to Trinidad and 90 miles or so beyond.
The next port of call on our east
ward way is Santiago, nearly twice
as far from Trinidad as from that
point westward to the Isle of Pines.
To avoid the dangerous reefs, La
Cienega stands far out to sea, pursu-
ing her course midway between the
Cayman group and Cayos de las Doce
Leguas. Morning finds us rounding
Cabo de Cruz, the picturesque head
land which forms the southwest tip
of the great triangular province of
Santiago de Cuba; and thenceforth
the mountains keep us company,
crOwding down close to the sea and
peering over one another's shoulders,
as if to get better view. The coast
hills are bare and desolate enough,
but the dark heights behind them
are forbidding beyond description.
They are said to contain incomputa-
bic stores of mineral wealth, and,
though apparently inaccessible, have
been mined, here and there, since,
carly -titles mbe ahe-; tinal.H -.i'' is
took silver, copper and gold from
them, and the first Spaniards, by
most primitive methods, got out an
average of four million dollars worth
of ore every year. AS late as 1907 six
million tons of copper were mined in
ten months. Then the Spanish Gov
ernment, not content with realizinga
very large sum by way of taxes on
the product, increased the excise
charges to such an outrageous extent
as to utterly kill the enterprise.
Then, for more than half a century
the ores lay undisturbed in the
"pockets'' of the hills, until the atten
tion of Americans was turned this
way. 1t is only about fifteen years
since the first mining claim of a for
eigner was recognized in Cuba. Now
several n North American corporations
are busy in the Maestro Mountains,
developing rich tracts of mining ter
ritory, building railways to the coast
from their works in the upper heights
and shipping increasing quantities of
ore to the United States. In the un-
known defiles of this dark Sierra and
in the painless wilderness beyond the
mountains, the patriots had their
secure camping grounds, from which
they defied Spain for three long years,
and might have held the armies of
the world at bay indefinitely if food
been grown in their Businesses. To
the world at large this Land of the
Sky is yet terra incognita, and men
wonder why Spain's hundred thous-
and soldiers did not crush at once
! the few hundred half-starved rebels.
Under circumstances similar to Gen
eral Weyler's, the Earl of Hereford
resigned his command in despair
when ordered to arrest the cliff-castle
of Dunnottar from the Scotch insur-
gents. Said he "If all the imps OF
mischief had conspired to burden a
man with an impossible task they
could have done no worse than to
saddle him with the siege of that sea.
girt rock"
While the coast mountains of Cuba
show traces of former volcanic activ-
ity the main range-the backbone oi
the island, so to speak, which is really
a continuation of our Western ALE
ghenies-resembles the Cumberland
chain of Kentucky and Alabama il
limestone cliffs and deep caverns
The Sierra Honda ("Hollow Noun
tains'O, for example, which covel
more than 5000 square miles of Cen
tral Cuba, are honey-combed will
calcareous caves and grottoes thai
absorb good-sized rivers and hav,
underground communications fol
long distances. Their entrances are