The times., 1899-09-17

at it than any other place in Cuba. and
truly it looks as if posing for picture of
desolation. The canefields were burned
for miles around, and not a house left
standing except one solitary sugar mill,
which may have been spared because. with
nothing 10 grind, it was rendered useless
for years to come. And many long month
will go by before smoke is again seen is
suing from its chimneys. for the black
ened acres have not yet been plowed for
cane-planting
Guanajay, once a village of some i'm
portance, is now about the dullest place
imaginable. Until the departure of the
Spanish troops their hammocks We're
swung in the portico of every house, and
SO grievous was the burden that-though
long since lifted-the people seem unable
to rally from it. Some cigars are made
here, and shoes and saddles; and between
these industries and the tobacco fields
there is employment for everybody who
cares to labor. If time permits little
horseback riding across the country from
this point will repay the traveller. Here
aboutS the palm-tree scenery is varied by
giant ceihas (similar to our cottonwoods),
and Carolina, a species of tropical oak
But for the most part it is an empty eoun-
try, little way from the main roads, so
far as human life is concerned. The peo-
pie, dazed by their sorrows and losscT
are still afraid to venture far beyond ..e
settlements. All the porteros, or farm
houses, were destroyed, together with the
handsome residences on the larger estates,
and their owners, If not among the dead,
are too poor to rebuild. There is also
noticeable lack of farm animals, and of
farm implements there was always a
dearth. In number of instances l saw
men taking the place of oxen at the
plough, two men pulling while the third
guided rude hand-fashioned implements,
whose model may have been the pictures
of ploughs used in Moses day.
Nearing the centre OF the long and mar
row province, one -discsrns more hopeful
signs of recuperation, chiefly owing 10 the
exigencies of the tobacco trade. This was
once the great tobacco growing section
of the world, you know, the region of the
famous Vuelta Abajo, where every far
mer, as well as every squatter on half
acre, was tobacco planter and where
every straw-t matched palm-sided home
was supplemented with drying shed for
tobacco leaves. In many cases wealthy
buyers and manufacturers have advanced
money to the whilom planters. furnished
oxen, and supplied young plants to stock
the field anew.
Wealth I'm the Northern Hills.
It is pleasant to take yulante-r ride along
the old highway, shaded with plambagante
trees, to Colona fifteen miles from Pinar
del Rio What is most needed is a rail-
way through the hills. from Bahia Honda
on the north coast. The English compa-
ny which owns the railway running from
Habana to the capital of Pinar Province,
threatents to extend its line farther into the
tobacco lands; but If it does not afford
better and cheaper service than at present,
its patrons will not be numerous. The
northern hills are said 10 be full Of magne
sia and other minerals, While their exten-
siye forest of cedar and mahogany, and
the several varieties of pines from which
the province takes its name, offer wealth
10 the woodsman. Immense fields of yucca
also call for American enterprise. The
first man who start a yucca plantation and
builds starch factory lays the foundation
for a colossal fortune, Yucca is a fibrous
root containing tapioca and other starchy
matter in larger proportign- 1t grows wild
all over Cuba and resembles the alder
bushes of our middle STATES
Pinar del Rio city has atsass been noted
as an intensely Spanish tesyn. The insur-
gents had some sympathizers and abetters
there, but they We're never numerous
enough to neutralize Spanish sentiment,
as in other places. To this day the Cas-
tilian colony, representing the riches and
aristocracy of the section, still holds it
self above it's Cuban neighbors. Although
in the nature Of things the Spaniards can
not feel excessive friendlines5 for the
United States, they greatly prefer annexa-
ton to an Independent Cuban government.
We reached Havana just in time for the
sailing hour CT La Cienege, one of the few
native steamers that regularly make the
circuit of the island by the westward route.
Sailing eastward from Havana, toward Ma
tanzsa, Cardenas, and Sagua la Grande,
and so on around TO Santiago, is frequent
and favorite trip; but much more unusual
is that in the other direction, around the
ribbon-like province OF Pinar del Rio,
stretching almost TO the border of Mexico
and rounding the sharp corner OF Guiana
haca Peninsula which forms the southwes-
tern tip of Cuba We stopped at several
shabby little ports on some bust
ness Of the steamship company, but
none of the passengers went ashore. Night
overlook US eff the Baios de los Colora-
dos, Colorado Banks) of tiny
islets standing in close ranks, arrayed like
Robin Hood men, in hunters green, guard
ing the narrow passage between Cuba and
Yucatan-the gateway from the Mexican
gulf into the Caribbean Sea. On the main
land pines climbed the mountain sides
without ever reaching the summit, silver
mists veiled the purple gloom of the will
derness, and the faint sound of vesper
bells from the unseen belly of some vii
lage church served to underline the silence
Morning found us on the other side of
Cuba, skirting another ennermous archi-
pelago, that cf Los Canarios-thousands
of islands off the southwest coast, crowd
ing the crescent of tranquil sea described
by the curving shores Of Pinar del Rio
Havana, and Santa Clara provinces, with
the big Isle OF Pines at its outer edge.
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD