The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-01-19
HAS A RED-HOI NAME
Cienfuegos, by the Same To-
ken, Is a Red Hot Town.
LIKE AMERICAN CITIES
Some Interesting Myths Of
the Times of Columbus.

Philadelphia, jan T.-Fannie Ward
D writes from Cienfuego, Cuba as follows
AS this city Of the frey cognomen is just
} now the most interesting place in Cuba
the Stars and Stripes having been official
" unfurled early IN January, the tide OF
visitatfng Americans has turned this way
from Havana. And the old town-which,
:; by the way, is pronounced as if spelled
See-an-foo-a- gose is well worth visit for
it's own sake.
AS everybody knows nowadays, since
the once misty geography of Cuba has be-
come matter of consequence TO the out
side world. Cienfuegos lies on the south
coast of the island, about so miles east of
Trinidad-the latter occupying the exact
centre of the shore line. 1t is the southern
terminus of the most important railway
line in the island, which passes through
the provinces of Havana, Matanzas and
Santa Clara; and several steamship lines,
American, English and Cuban, also make
! it q regular port oof call. Before the war,
| Cienfuegos rejoiced under the pseudOnym
| of 'tthe Philadelphia of Cuba"-as much
! because it became nearer than any other
| place on the island of being what Yankees
| term s".wide awake" as on account of the
considerable enterprises of several Penn
| sylvanians in the vicinity The cruel for
| tunes Of war, however, put it sound asleep
again, in slum'ber so profound that moth
ing could awaken it but Ga'brieTs trumpet,
OF Major Dusenbury in the role of a mid
with hispotent wand, the American flag.
The zig-zag journey from Havana to
Cienfuegos involves an alI-day ride, be-
ginning at dawn and ending in darkness,
with four changes of carsad no end OF
dust, heat and discomfort. Travellers must
bring both food and water, for neither are
to be had along this most important rail-
way line of Cuba-except the rum and
harsh red wines of the country at way
side stations and small loves of sour bread
dirtw and hard as srickbats, carried in
low, fiat baskets on the headsof peddling
gamin. 1t is devoutly to be hoped that the
comfort Of the travelling public will re-
ceive some attention when the American
Indies Company gets hold Of this line, as
IS promised in the near future, in connec-
ton with the new road it is. about build
| from Casa Blanca wharves of Havana to
Matanzas, via Triscoria. Hitherto the is
land railways, built 10y English capital,
have been run by sO-called "conserva-
tive" Englishmen, whose ideas of con-
servatism seem to have demanded the
snails pace and stupidity.
Even in the darkness of the night, as
you emerge from a railway depot much
hot no
decent cab through broad, well-Iighted
treets to a good hotel, you receive an i'm
preston of the progressiveness of Glen
fuegos quite foreign to the country. And
daylight confirms the opinion Instead
of the narrow, crooked alleys, rambling
up hill and down, which distinguish its
older neighbors, Santiago and Trinidad,
Cienfuegos' streets are straight, well-pav-
ed and level, laid out with the regularity
of a checker4board, and were long ago
lighted with gas, while those Of Havana.
were yet depending on oil lamps. The
fact is the town is already so American
lied as to be somewhat Of disappoint-
ment to the average curiosity-hunting
tourist. who misses the musty pictur-
esqueness of Espana antigua.
Bright, clean and with q surprising air
Of newness, it reminds one Of the school
boys shining morning face" and ex-
plains at a glance the talk one hears so
much of nowadays in Havana-of trans
fering the capital from its four-century-
old, s-disease-infested seat to this
side Of the island. Cienfuegos' common
place, two-storied, freshly-painted houses
might belong to any interior town in the
United States, and are so nearly alike
that man coming home at night must be
comparatively sober not to mistake his
neighbours casa for his own. The present
popula ton is officially reckoned at 5000.
including number of English and Ameri-
can merchants and plantres who are Cor
were before the war; engaged in the sugar
and tobacco trade. Santa Clara Province.
of which Cienfuegos is the seaward out
let, You know. is the chief sugar-proGuc-
ing section of Cuba, and in better DAYS
the tobacco industry was not far behind.
la Opinion. the local uewspa per. asserts
that before the war the average annual
export OF the neighbOring plantations
amounted to $1,000 hogsheads of sugar:and
l dare not tell you in figures on tobacco,
least You doubt the varacity of that ven
cradle organ. The harbOr. A deeep inlet
behind the sheltering keys Of Doce Leguas
-innwmerable wooded inlets. which Co
. lumbuS named the Queens Gardens" in
the green mazeS OF which his caravals
safe and commodious: and this IS one Of
the rare tropical port IN which steamers
come up to a wharf, as at New York. per
hitting passengers 10 land without the
omni-present small boats
Do you ask: How did the town come
by its singular nance" We have all
read the romantic story Of how Columbus.
winding in and out the thousand bright
coves Of Doce Ieguas, charmed with the
translucent blue OF the water, the sflve-v
beaches fringed with cocoa-palms and the
shorevard prospect of mountain yelled in
cloud-suddenly saw before him II the
westward the flashing Of hundred fires
in the forest Of the main land. and ex-
claimed 10 his companions: Mira, Los
Glen fuegos.' CLOCK, a hundred fires.'1:
for the Indians. who had become alarmed
at the doinEs of the white strangers IN
the eastern end Of ehc island. were VAN
ing their fellows farther along The CO.'S.
in the direction the caravans we-e takir.s.
by firing tan trees IS danger signals.
1t seems a pity 20 take Il . rsmIn.,e cot
of any tale Of the oi..en time r.articu-
larry as We have been 50 saG.y disa5used
/ Of many charming beliefs. AMI now tkat
WiIiam Tel aid not 5 o3e an apie rom
his sons head, and BARBARA Fri-cr q new
er waved flag at Fredericzstown. and
there are even grave doubts OF the au.hc--
truthful chronicler Is sometimes conl9eU-
ed 10 90 l.
The naming Of Cieafuegos did not come