Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-03-25
SIDELIGHTS ON HAVANA.
CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF QUAINT
COUNTRY.
Incidents Of Life In And About The City
Native peouIiarities That Strike
Tourist Are Everywhere
The FruitseIIer And Milkmau.
LEPERS IN The VERY HEART
OF THE CITY.

Havana, Cuba, March -. Every
where in Havana is the tourist struck
with queer customs of quaint and
curious country. and not a moment
passes, scarcely that he does not find
or stumble upon something decidedly
different from things he is used 20
seeing in his own country. Perhaps
nothing strikes him more than the
sight of the numerous cafes. Indeed
cafes seem 10 be everywhere. One
cannot walk fifty feet without passing
cafe.
There are more cafes and restaurants
to the square inch in Havana than
any place ON the map. It gives one
the idea that people here are eating
and drinking all the time, and SO they
seem to be. The cafes are usually
out of doors. that is in sight, on the
porch, as we would call it, in the gal
lery or colonnade, but always in the
open. Here are small marble tables
where liquid and solid refreshment is
dispensed, and the Cuhans sit down
to eat &c only dry roll and a glass
of water
Frequently one sees being served
something that looks like birds nest
made Of white sugar. II really is one
of the popular drinks here and is call
ed panal, which means honeycomb.
II is made of sugar and the white of
an egg i'm rolls about six inches long,
and looks like spongy white candy.
II is served ON top of glass of water,
sometimes with a lemon. When the
panal is dissolved in the water ii
makes a sweetish drink.
In all cafes they serve coffee.
4 A Of
leehe (millS) which is boiled and salt
ed TO keep il fresh. The tourist finds
he must take four-ffth sleche and one
fifth coffee if he would attempt to
drink the coffee, as the Cubans burn
the coffee bean to cinder, which pro-
cess they say destroys the toxic quail
tiles. 1t takes long time To acquire
a taste for coffee in Cuba.
One thing to be commended is that
IL you buy an ice in Cuba the cake is
always served with it. These cakes
are somewhat like our eat tongue wa
fers, they are called 'barquillos,
and are long rolled rice waters, and
are pleasant TO eat with an ice. Orange
ice is served in the shell of the fruit
that has been frozen and is very
tempting.
Wine rs served in the cafes, and is
rs comomn at meals rs on the Conti-
nent, but one sees very little, il any,
drunkenness in Haavna. Indeed, in
the five weeks the writer only saw
one drunken man and ne was from the
United States. Ninety per cent of the
vintage comes from Spain. Although
Cuba is admirably adapted to the
cultivation of grapes, il was prohibit
ed under Spanish rule for fear of i'm
terrering with the home industry, just
as i'm the seventeenth century tobacco
grow ing was prohibited in Ireland for
fear of interfering with the interests
of the infant colony of Virginia.
There is an open field and splendid
opportunities for the ;. +. q. A. in
Havana. Ones heart goes out in pity
for the overtaxed animal. The small
est horses draws the largest wagons
and the heaviest loads. Disproportion
is evidenced everywhere. One sees
a huge wagon with a heavy top loaded
with numerous bales, orpiles of sugar
cane drawn by wee bit of horse.
One feels indignant, stops the car,
gets out, makes ready TO have the
driver arrested, when all of sudden
it suddenly dawns upon us-what's
the use. We forget we cannot speak
Spanish. However, we have been told
that il is not cruelty to animals they
indulge in here, that these small
horses have great strength and are
capable OF bearing heavy burdens.
But we took this information with
pinch of salt.
Picturesque sights greet us every
where. The rfuit seller has an array
of cocoanuts, bananas, oranges, pine
apples, ETC., carelessly but artisti-
cally arranged in two grass like saddle
bags on his small horse. These he
peddles about the streets crying his
sales in Spanish, which sometimes
sounds as though he might be swear
ing. Lechero -the milkman, is another
picturesque sight. Mounted on his
pony-like horse with shining tin cans
OF leche (milk) dangling at each side
of the saddle he peddles milk. The
milk cans have pieces of corn husk for
shoppers. They say this keeps the
milk sweet. The way the milk is
shaken up i'm those cans il is a won
der it isn't butter milk or even churn-
ed to butter before it gets to its desti-