Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-03-22
LETTER FROM CUBA.

Mr.. Gosman Talks Interestingly About
Things That Have Come Under His OBJ
servation-Products,T Timbers, Fruits and
Game Birds of the Mountainous Region
Expects to Be Home Soon.
Correspondence Of the Yorkville Enquirer.
SoRPREsA, Cuba, March 3.-We are
now in the mountains, where we have
been for the past five weeks, going
from place to place taking away guns
and ammunition wherever we fud
them.
Everything is reasonably quiet here
now. There is not as much thieving
going on as there was sometime ago.
An occasional horse is stolen and that
is about all.
The health of the regiment contin-
ues first. class. There have been only
two deaths since my last letter.
Here in the mountains, the principal
products are coffee, cocoa, bananas and
ginger. Coffee is in full bloom now
and the fields of hundreds of acres
look very beautiful. The blossoms are
white and the aroma is delightful. /
enclose short coffee twig, from which
the blooms have dropped. You will
note that the fruit comes only on the
new growth of wood. The trees are
set in rows four feet apart and two
feet in the row. Coffee sells here at
IL cents pound, and in the stores at
from 20 to 25 cents retail.
Cocoa is the fruit of the cocoa tree.
1t grows close to the body and limbs
of the tree, and is the shape, size and
color of the muskmelou. When the
fruit is ripe for gathering, it is golden
yellow. 1t is then cut open, and the
seeds from which the cocoa of COM
merce is made, are taken out and dried
for about 10 days, after which they are
parched like coffee. In this form they
sell at 10 cents per pound.
Ginger is not cultivated extensively.
1t grows wild almost everywhere so
plentifully that cultivation is unneces-
sary. There is kind of vanilla here /;
but it is of inferior quality.
Fine timber is plentiful in this To-
cality. Among other kinds of timber,
1 notice mahogany, ebony, ironwood,
Spanish cedar, lance wood, etc. For
me to mention all the names would be
impossible.
The houses of the better class of
people in this locality are built of ma
hogany, from top to bottom-sills,
floor, ceiling-wherever wood is used.
The value of the rough wood sufficient
to build such houses as are common
here, would represent small fortune
if one only had the wood in the states.
The most valuable tree in Cuba,
perhaps, is the royal palm. 1t fur
nishes both food and shelter for man
and beast. Out of the trunk of the
royal palm the people get the plank
from which to build their shanties.
The leaves serve as shingles for the
roof of the shanties, and from them
also is to be had soft bedding. From
the heart of the leaves is made dish
that tastes very much like cabbage, and
which is delicious to the taste and sus-
tanning to the body. The fruit of the
tree is a small berry which, when
dried, is good horse food.
Fruits of all kinds are plentiful.
Among other things there are oranges,
lemons, lines, coacoanuts, guavas,
guanabanos, bananas, wine berries,
grapes of every descriptions, and var
ious kinds of fruits, the names of which
do not know. All of them, however,
are delightful to the taste and harm
less to eat.
Wild animals are not plentiful.
There are few deer and a great many
wild hogs. We kill a wild hog occa-
sionally. There are also plenty OF
wild guineas, partridges, chickens,
turkeys, peafowls, etc. There are also
many snakes; but all are harmless.
The largest snakes are about four
yards long. 1 shot one few days
ago that measured 10 feet in length.
The woods are full of green parrots,
mocking birds, pigeons, doves, black
birds and orioles. The mocking birds
are beautiful songsters.
Although prices are coming down
somewhat, they are still high enough.
Flour sells at from SS to $40 barrel,
Irish potatoes at 23 cents pound !;
chickens from so cents to 81, accord
to size; eggs are scarce at 60 cents a
dozen. Homemade butter is not to
be had, and the imported stuff costs
40 cents a pound. Clothing is cheap
enough; but then one does not need a
a great deal in this climate.
This will be my last letter from
here. Just when we will start back to
The states do not know but we are
informed that we are to be mustered
out at Macon, Ga, on April Is. So