The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-03-12

pants oil the vehicle are comfortable. Som,
New England visitor who has made severn
trims in the ,yolantes SAYS they are ilrst cousli
Tine Il the TReJ 6nv. shsyTb been OF e eoS sTSPdI1 70 r,
ealushes. or cdLectes which the French In Que
bee have preserved; This compaTison II
lante are 50 different. except that each has two
wheels.
talk OF the old times mourn the decadence oil
the Qtutrins and volantes. Thew say these
the age Of railways and holding their " Iona
after the railways came. Twenty-Five or thirty
years ago. victorias aud cabs and coaches OF
various kinds began to eupplant them in the
cities. Nevertheless 1t will proba bly, be n long
time before they disappear from the country
Cuba is traversed in all parts by good roads.
Except on horseback there Is. no other means
all the sugar plantations there arc volantes
slowed nway somewhere. and every Cuban
family which has a country home Possesses
one. Some of them are very aged vehicles.
Is said to have done. The position is usually
a sedate colored man who has. all the pride Of
a family coachman. He sits his mount with a
grace and a seriousness that evoke admira-
which the horseS drawing a %voiante move
would be excessively uncomfortable. 1t is not
3" to the Cnban, p2stiliop, As he joys along no
The hot sun he goes to sleep. He is rarely the
victim OF an accident. 1t NAV. be that the en-
lSlhk Ailtl NdD WIN Ia lVoh'uG " llc
chance to make money in Cubn will corner the
volantas with n view to the tourist travel of the
corner the positions. They are family coach
men and they do not take kindly to innova-
tons.
In the parts OF the island where there are
caizdias. or macadamized highways. travel by
means of the carriages is preferable to The rail
roads, IL gives a much better idea OF the land
scnre' and enables one to see the country TO
advantages. some Of the vehicles are ricksty
and asthmatic and the horses are s~urvivals OF
II n rpCOnrentI1flDn 1atlt is better To take
them and thus enjoy the journey. The Cuban
cabmen. whether in town. CITY or country, are
members Of the universal union of highway
robbers. In other respects they are obliging
and good fellows. but they viii oyercharGe.
out settling the price in advance. In doing
this their first demands should never be, needed.
morning train from Havana to Gnanaiayo and
then driving back in the afternoon part of the
way to the city: The cab driver will begin by
than SO in, gold. After half an hours SQUAD
bling he vii come down to SS. The knowing
in. silver. negotiations will end abruptly.
After a time the cab driver will return and re-
the aren stabiey 10 " Change .f hor r : The ne vi Sitt FS viii ii
wait for MIN. Other vehicles will be passed
before him in review. Finally he will become
will be- toll that I'M accident has befal!en the
horses. Then other drivers, will offer their
finally the same amount in silver, When the
disgust OF the visitor has reached its height
tue CnlnhTnhn VINO Keeps the Inn VIII come out,
scold the robbers for their ]rapacity and tell tho
stranger to oIer any one of them So in silver
for driving him TO Marianao.. which is the sta
lion where the train is taken for Havana. This
is the regular procedure and 81 is the regular
charge. The tariff, however. was not estab.
lished until two Americans had indicated
their INDEPENDENCE ana that OF their country
men. This was mouths ago. Nearied with
hngGling, with the hackmeu who had begun at
$50 and in the course of an hour had only got
ten down to $40 these two visitors calmly an
%nourced that they would walk. 1t was only a
m "a 2 Z - 4f ttftnar nr frp.IYu IL "a - vlLN"r nod
they thought il would do them good. This
was explained to the ranarious hackman in
blunt Castilian and the visitors started on their
walk. The league OF cab driver and the major
part OF the population stood open-eved and
o Gen unrG am,re' see see; the Americans
yond the village when they were overtaken
by the best OF the rickety vehicles. 1t had
been sent after them by agreement among the
Eoid: MT "EiEh dollars SILVER" No"
leans rode and by that ride fixed tie tariff.
rate for the drive from Guanajay to Marianne.
None of their .countrymen need fear TO insist
on paving 81. for the tradition is now strongly
rooted that all Americans will walk rather than
pay more than that amount.
a journey by stage All the highways running
out from Havana. OF which there are four. have
villages. These are in reality omnibuses and
are not specially comfortable or uncomfort-
able; Further out III the country, where the
roads are not. good. yet where they are not SO
bad as to entirely prevent travel. the real old
fashioned country stages, are met with. Some
Of them look as though they had been sent to
the United States. This is not the case. They
are. like the volantes. indigenous. All their
them were hidden away during the insurrec-
ton and the war. Now that travelling i'll the
country has been resumed, they have been
brought out again. Their long rest does not
seem to have made them more comfortable.
thing that resem hleS the old Deadwood coach.
lnasmuch as the brigands used to stop the
stage when business was dull In the way of
Kidnapping rich sugar planters. the similarity
is not confined to the appearance q: the
coaches. Now the Cuban soldiers who expect
to be organized into the rural police escort the
stage. but that is more to give themselves ex-
erGise than from fear of brigands.
called bandits, but they are no worse than
their follows else where. They have a whole
lear OF the municipal regulations and do
of not being caught. The fare. which is 70
cents In Spanish silver. for one or two passen.
give them much margin. Some OF them have
the trick OF extra poIiteness and Of
rests entirely with his generosity. They OBJ
!ect to a lon I trip and are often surIy when
times they halt and free themselves OF a long
string OF C~astilian expletives.
The American visitor thinks the cabman is
d~erstand Spanish and after the TRADE Is over
replies in that tongue. the cabman. instead OF
pH,nT on'1 noth fpnaN9 an ~ f the ca l8bs' around 1I nd
the parks so much as TO call him for a trim to
the business part OF the city. He Is waiting
for a DdseO. or drive. which may mean 50 in
stead OF 20 cents. If he refuses to take a pas
senger all that is necessary Is to call a police
man. Then he moves RAPIDLY. The Havana
cabmen own the streets of the city. They
have a wonderful faculty for Just missing The
chance Of running over pedestrians. The
sidewalks are so narrow that The pedestrians
are forced to walk in the streets. but the cab
invariably .reat them as intrudera. They
also have an unusual faculty for turning angles
and running into ono another. They exchange
and hurl e%pithets. yet they rarely
get to blows. After abusing each other they
is at his best whom he gets into a
blind alley of q mule cart blockade. Though
il is his own fauI', he abuses the cart drivers
them to yield their right of way ana drives OF
happy, with a parting shot thrown over his
shoulder.
HORSES THAT SLEEP UPSTAIRS.