The Republican journal., 1899-08-17
The City of the Holy Trinity.
.,tteu Towns and Villages in the Heart
of Cnha


become well acquainted with Ha-
..u, hi the west, Santiago in the east,
~. saw ork, San Francisco, Philadel-
and Chicago of Cuba; but to this day,
.s,ple know much about the country
.,sfp those widely separated cities 1t
,sri 10 realize that the Pearl of the
.r-ss stretches over three and a half
..-.ss If latitude-farther than the dis
between New York and St. Louis,
,.,1gtphia and New Orleans, San Fran
and Denver. Harder yet is it to
f.-the difficulties OF travelling through
uteuol-the impossibility of making
.sr-ue Journey overland, from one end
...D SAND to the other. Spaniards and
-e seem to have considered the
.....r5lvs of their forefathers good
.. f'r all time to come, and there
.t. been any connection, except by
Htiween the eastern and western
-..u~ ui the country. In all this rich
v there are but four good roads,
.tt, cad only a few miles out of la-
lie eastern half of the island,
all. rugged mountains full of minerals,
-.a~a forests and painless jungles,
aQplic highways worthy the name,
..f7 eountryward routes being mere
..-iuls, and poor ones at that. Since
..p however, an American syndicate
,. asigated the feasibility of a rail
an t between Santiago and Habana,
81 a rted favorably; therefore the time
..., l5ld. maybe, when locomotives will
,aueking from end to end of this
.-Y. and connecting forgotten towns
..- qees like the beads of rosary, on
If steel.
..yet the greater part of Cuba resem-
le, tlt Heart of Africa in one partic-
F-ruat it remains a terra incognita,
t,.ng which any wild story, well told,
1. ready credence. Even during the
when the eyes of all nations were
.1,t ths way, only occasional scraps of
-at,on found their way from the
...A-lu ports, leaving the whole vast
,emo- with its tragedies of murder,
81. -oionaud wanton destruction, buried
..-- -netrable silence. In this region of
e.- and mystery, Of which Trinidad is
..-- -hern outlet and Sagua la Grande
sl0theIn, | have been spending the
teN weeks, for the purpose of telling
epublican Journal all about it.
-1t Clara province is the very heart of
l and was once the garden spot OF the
0 letore those destructive patriots
e.- md Maceo, overran it with their
- oble, Il al mocbete, and converted
,s million dollars worth of growing
drifting ashes, To-day, little is
the royal palms, standing like
sentinels amid the dead. In a
miles of the richest territory,
use nor a human being is 10 be
LIMITATIONS, ranches, farms We're
we'd by one army Of the other,
wiped out, sugar mills thing Of
expensive machinery broken up
ing in the fields awaiting pur
old iunk-nothing to speak of
.YIlation but heaps of melancholy
way, it is in this province Of
ra that the mueh-advertised
aJ Company, whose head quar-
.. III Washington, D. c., are sup
be carrying on their operations.
Hany's prospectus sets forth i'll
tax its ability to buy the richest
lth Tor song-say for hun
lt~ an acre, which will soon be
.a. 4ldred dollars, and importunes
Hie to join in the singing, to the
dollar the share. Says the
vent. 1--WE have located valuable
-- timber, mineral and farm lands
Liter than Government bonds"
a- Understand that this is not an
,ement for the Land Company
of which | can find no trace in
Jed field of action; but rather a
advice to the unwary, viz,-look
-.e ECU leap.
Tie siz hundred miles or SO between
a4a aud Santiago are traversed barely
~ way by the railroad which ends at
Ela-a Clara, sending out branches to
aqua and Cienfuegos. If you insist on
Ill and tour, the remaining 800 miles
IS. Ve made over robber-infested trails,
le saddle, in OK carts, on foot, acc cord
to eircumstances and locality. 1t is
la be thought of without strong
N.4f and if, after great expense, dan
s-- toll and privation, you arrive at the
-+ NJ the journey with whole skin and
iae your own possession, you have
'sa eptionally fortunate. No native
1aaertakes such hazardous thing with
ssying seven Ave Marias at every
A-~ to bring himself good luck-and
'sl -hen the reverse is likely to be his
-lau. Hardly one person in thous-
4a comes to Trinidad except by water
''a.'y by coasting steamer from Glen
forty miles to the westward. You
' g all the way by water from Haba-
-+ .}1uding the western tips of the is