The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-06-07

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against him. for the tug. in which we
were. stuck in the mud within ten feet
| of the wharf. With all the pushing
and showing and pulling that we were
able to do we only barely got on the
dock in time to make room for the Int
! tie revenue cutter
The town OF Gibarra is built on a
side hill which rises rather rapidly
| from the water front. The houses are
in the quaint old Spanish American
style, some with tiles, many with fiat
roofs. all coming flush with the street
having their front yards at the back
OF the house or rather inside the house,
since they nearly all have pretty lit
tie courtyards.
A single pier juts out into the bay
for about $50 yards. At one end of this
pier were President Palma and his fol-
lowers, accompanied by an orchestra.
call it an orchestra for want of
more expressive term. 1t surely was
not band, and yet could hardly be
called an orchestra. Evidently all the
musical instruments in town had been
gathered together for the occasion, and
although, a big base drum was the
most Conspicuous musical machine.
there were Violins. flutes, oboes and all
sorts of a strange instruments, played
by a variety of individuals in vari-
Gus dress. with no apparent leader,
and no visible music. However, they
did very we'll, and successfully escort
ed the Presidential party from one end
of the pier to the other, where the
whole population had gathered to await
them.
1T was an extremely interesting
Th.. i.
on either side of the dock and saluted
with a loud Viva as we marched
between their ranks. The house tops
were crowded with Cuban beauties
whose fathers. sons and sweethearts !
were packed together in the crowded ,
streets. Just as the procession reached !
the end of the dock it stopped. A I
small open space was made in the /
crowd. circle was formed, and with 4
true dramatic instinct Senior Tomas /
Estrada Palma set his right foot on
Cuban soil after an absence of eighteen
years. From this port eighteen years
before he had departed from his native
land. a prisoner in chains, to Spain
Now he returned for the first time as
the chief executive of his beloved is
nd. No sooner had he lifted his foot
om {; sand made sacred by his touch
than score of patriotic followers, with
clothes but undignified man
ners, strove to get small handful of
the hallowed soil
Not far from the end of the wharf
was the finest carriage that Gibarra
Afforded. with two of the least broken
down horses in town. I only saw two
other carriages, one OF which was in
he act of losing one Of its wheels, while
the other was securely tied together !
with ropes. AS the chosen vehicle was
80 much superior 10 either of its COM
oetitors. the driver assumed a proud
md naughty mien. He was doubly !,
,lated by the fact that he was to be {
he first Cuban cabbie To- drive a really :
ruly Cuban President on Cubin soil. ,
'ut his pride soon had a fall He was
dismount from his box his !
lorses were taken from their position I
ma he was told tn get them out of the
way. Amid the 'Vivas' of the crowd
md greatly TO the chagrin of cocher.
he carriage was surrounded by strug-
cling citizens whose highest ambition I
vas 10 act as horse power for this new {
lorSelesS carriage.
The enthusiasm was infectious be- q
ause il was so spontaneous. Every a
'ody was shouting and laughing. All i
lad on their best clothes except the
cry smallest children. who did not o
ave on any at all The streets were
ay with countless banners, flags and I
aim branches. and before long the pro-
ession started on its way 10 inspect o
he various wonderful creations by the
zeal artists in the shape of arches OF il
riumph which had been strewed care n
.ssly around at various points of in
crest The procession was made up of p
iuch the same material as an Ameri- b
an MEMORIAL day parade. There were n
,hool children with flags and flowers.
here were patriotic societies, there
as the inevitable militia besides the
luadron OF u. s. cavalry
In the two hours at our disposal. we o
'ade pretty thorough examination of h
ne quaint old town. II was unlike V
nythinS i had ever seen outside the a
lcture books, but il was so like numer- f.
Us pictures with which 1 am farniI- Z
IT that i felt perfectly at home and
as only sorry when the time came to y
o pack TO the wharf and get into a v
irty little sail boat with the rest of Z
lie regular passengers and return to l;
le Admiral Farrsgut. Our duty done.
oserved by none. we quietly steamed b
lt or the barber and set our course
~ JaTaica. n days run around Fhe Fl
I'd OF Cube and through the Caribbean Y
,e q