Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-23

There Is drink here made of the Skins
and cores Of pineapples, which have been
placed in a stone jarwith water and al
lowed to ferment and there are others
made Of other fruits the names of which 1
do not know The Cubans have but few In
toxicating liquors, and SO far / have seen,
almost no drunkenness. The most common
wines are Spanish. it being the custom TO
drink wine with ones meals.
Coffee may be had anywhere In Cuba. 1t
is always served with milk, and, as the
coffee beans are burnt to a cinder, 1t IS
rather bitter to the American taste. Most
of the milk used In coffee Is boiled and
sailed. 1t used to be the custom to drive
the cows through the streets from house
to house and milk them before the doors,
but the milk is now delivered from panniers
on the backs of horses or mules.
Cabs Are Cheap.
1 came from my ship to the hotel for 30
cents in silver. This included three passen-
gers. The fare for the ordinary cab ride
is about 10 cents, and the service is quite
as good as that of New York. The cab
horses are fast, and the drivers as a rule
are not extortionists. In shopping, one can
get hack by the hour for so cents gold,
and ii he makes his bargains away from
the hotels, other kinds of transportation
are cheap
The street car rates are cents American,
and there is set OF common Nehlcles
known as gua-guas, which connect Havana
with all suburban towns, and the fares OF
which are remarkably low. The gua-guas,
pronounced wah-wahs, are the property of
the street car companies. They are omni-
buses, each drawn by four mules, the ami
mails being driven on the gallop up hill and
down. l have ridden in them here and
there over the island, but I doubt whether
they are fit vehicles for our supersensitive
American ladies, who may object to the
smoking among the men and even the wom-
en- passengers
nh 1-, Cuba xri,f mill tnros
which come down to shade the eyes.
They are well-made vehicles, imported from
Europe. Indeed, am told that the Ameri-
can cab will not stand the wear and tear
of the Havana street. The most of the
city thoroughfares are narrow, and not n
few are paved with cobbles. In some of
them 1t is hardly possible to pass, and the
drivers have to be careful at the crossings
or when turning corner. Every cab has
a bell under 1t, which Is rung by the foot
of the driver. These bells are of the door
gong variety, so that there is a continual
changing and ringing the carriages go
through the streets. Indeed, it was some
time before l could find where the ding
dong noises came from, until l saw that
they We're from my own cab and made by
my driver.
Outside Havana the heavy traffic is car
ried In OK carts; such carts are to be seen
everywhere throughout the island, except
in the larger cities.
Land of Ten Million Palms.
The most of the tourists do not get out
side of Havana. They miss the most inter
esting part of the country. There is no
more beautiful island than this 1t is
the Switzerland of the tropics; and, indeed,
it might be called the land of ten million
palms l have seen palms in the tropics
around the globe, but nowhere do they
compare with those of Cuba- The princ.-
pal tree is the royal palm. This tree has
a trunk like frosted silver, and it rises
| straight upward to height of 100 or more
feet, when ii bursts out into gigantic tas
sci of fern-like leaves. The leaves are of
the brightest green; they have many
branches, and they culver in the breeze.
These royal palms are to be seen in groves
and singly here and there throughout Guilt
waited Cuba. They often line the road to
some great hacienda, mark the bounda-
ries of estate. They may be seen among
| the sugar fields, columns of silver rising
out of a plain of emeralds; and again oyer
| the dark green OF the tobacco or above
| the reddish bronze OF pineapple plantation.
They stand out upon the newly plowed
| fields of rich chocolate soil and mirror
| themselves in every stream and lake. There
are tens of thousands-aye, tens of millions
| of them.
These palm trees form. to a large ex-
tent, the building and roofing material of
Cuba. Their leaves are used to wrap the
bales of tobacco which are brought into the
factories or shipped abroad. Sewed to-
gether, they form the walls of the huts,
and laid one over another, the roofs. Enor-
nous sheds are covered by them. from
10000 to 10000 leaves being used for sin
gle tobacco barn. Such leaves are tied
| over the horns above the yokes to shade
the heads of the oxen. They sometimes
also shade the carts, framework being
covered with them.
Picturesque Cuba.
i have spoken of Cuba the Switzerland
of the tropics. 1t will be known as such
as time goes on Every town has its own
peculiar features, and some of the older
ones are as queer as any In Moorish SPAIN.