The Republican journal., 1899-10-12


aminations and "local treatment "
so invariably insisted upon by local
practitioners and 50 abhorrent to every
| modest woman
beginning of the railroad which an
American company has built to its mines
OF magnetic ore up in the hills. The
mountains hereabouts are very rich in
| copper, iron and manganese. The old
mining town of Cobre is the heart of the
copper region SO far developed, where
some of the mines at one time reached an
, output of fifty tons a day. The village
of Christie, (''Christ"l is equally interest
ing; also Bonita, Los Bocas and other up
| land hamlets. The road thereto traverses
a series of wales and pockets every
where filled with sugar cane, splendid
royal palms and blooming gardens. On
every side the foot hills rise steeply, their
slopes cultivated to the summit. This
was once a famous coffee producing re-
| gion, and may be again when prosperity is
restored. From the upper heights entranc-
!
globe to see.
J Another delightful little trip is to san
Luis, the terminus OF the railway that
starts from the centre of Santiago city
and runs forty miles inland san Luis is
typical interior town Of southern Cuba,
with population OF perhaps fifteen hun
bred, its stony muIe-tlails, by courtesy
called streets, its palm shaded plaza and
/ tumble down casas, as quaint as quaint
can be. Besides these railway journeys,
there are little Jaunts to be made on horse
back OF Ell yolante, and excursions by
boat around the bay. One Of the ada
cent hills, greener than the rest with grue-
some suggestion OF eXuberant vegetation
and faced on its wate1-side with high
adobe walls, is the over crowded Campo
Santo. 1t needs no crosses OF funeral
urns to Indicate the character of that en-
closure, fol the Yultures that continually
bower above it tell Enthusiastically of burst
ing vaults and shallow, rented graves
from which tenants Of a few months are
evicted to make room for others. Few of
our soldiers are buried there, for most of
those who died in hospitals We're put into
a new cemetery, laid out about year
| ago near the city limits. Y on may hire
! boatman at the wharves of Santiago to
row you to Siboney for a dollar, that
place Of doleful memory where the great
/ yellow fever camp is situated; or you may
traverse the sixteen miles by railway.
Many of our brave boys died there, but
far greater number survived the fever and
| lived to tell the tale. Drawer than all Others
were the devoted band of nurses, who with
out glory or hope of earthly reward, def
ed death in its most dreadful form to save
the lives of others. A number of these mar
tyrs lie in the adjacent burial ground, in
unmarked graves, forgotten of man; but
be sure that Heaven remembers.
| Rowing straight across Santiago bay and
up winding creek, you may penetrate
the mangrove bushes and hear the curious
sound of oysters shutting their shells,
alarmed at your approach. On the way,
you are shown the rotting timbers of an
| old hulk, lying far below the surface of
the clear water, all that is left of
one of the Armada's galleons, come to
grief three centuries ago. Farther up
the creek you land on a sand beach and
follow a path bordered with the sharp.
pinkish green bayonets of the wild pine
apple, to a famous cocoanut plantation.
If the owner of the grove is at home-a
saddle hued, bare footed gentleman, attired
in shirt and drawers of native cotton. tom
ped with an enormous hat of coarse straw
fringed around the edges-he will give you
cordial welcome, seconded by his wife
, and bakers dozen Of children, the latter
mostly naked and shy as the birds of the
forest. Toss real to one of the half
nude negroes loungng about, and he will
shin up a cocoa tree with the agility of a
| lizard, carrying his ma chete in his teeth.
and toss you down some cocoanuts. The
proprietor, with his machete, will whack
the tops off the nuts, leaving hole about
an inch across in the shell of each. Inside
that great ivory cup there is a full pint of
cool, sweet, delicious water, distilled by
nature in the sun and breeze-and of
course you are thirsty after jaunt in the
tropics. So tilt back y our head, elevate
| the nut to the proper angle and let the
refreshing stream flow gently down your
! throat.
few miles east of Santiago is the noble
harbor of Guantanamo, recently brought
into prominence by our gallant marines.
Though one of the most extensive bays on
the coast of Cuba, it is comparatively
useless for commercial purposes, because
choked with alluvium from the entering
streams. The name, pronounced Wan