Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-03-19
THE TOURISTS PARADISE.
FEW OF THE MANY ATTRACT
IONS IN HAVANA.
Places And Points Of Historic interest
Fort cabanas Of Appalling Repute
old MORO castIe-The
Palace. Ancient
CathedraIs.
ITS PARKS AND NARROW SHOP
PING STREETS.
speeIal Correspondent % EvenIng CapItal


American tourists is the Cathedral
where once reposed the body of Co
Iumbus, the discoverer OF the conti-
nent. II is commonly called the Co
lumbus Cathedral, but is really the
Cathedral of the Virgin Mary of the
Immaculate Conception Ii is built
in Spanish-American style and has
| two towers and dome. 1t is built
of native limestone, which was yell
fowish white, but is n1w a yellow ish
brown and appears TO be a relic of
antiquity.
The Cathedral occupies the site of
an older church and was built by the
Jesuits in 1907. The bells in the
towers bear the dates of 1864 and
1913, respectively. After 10 o'clock
Sundays the Cathedral is closed, but
we were admitted through a gate at
the right TO a triangular court yard
into room hung with rare old paiut-
ings, one of which is said to be the
work Of the famous artist Murillo,
and represents the Pope and Cardinal
celebrating mass before the sailing of
Columbus. This room leads to the
high altar which is of Carrara mar
Bile. The choir stalls are of richly
carved mahogany. The floor is a
mosaic of colorcd marble. The organ
was built in Germany. The light
effect is beautifully startling and sheds
soft radiance over the exquisite
paintings in the dome, of Moses and
the Prophets and Evangelists.
For more than a century the Cathe-
dral enshrined what is said to have
been the bones of Columbus, the Great
Discoverer, who died at Valladolid,
Spain, in 1903. The body of Colum-
bus was taken, according to provi-
sion in the Will, to Santo Domingo,
but when il passed into French rule
the Spaniards had the bones removed
TO Cuba, where they rested in niche
in the wall of the chancel in the
Cathedral, that the guide points out
with great deal of pride to Ameri-
cans. When in 1898 the Spanish evac-
uated Havana, the bones of Columbus
we're taken back to Seville, where
they now repose in the Cathedral there.
Poor Columbus He has had almost
as many funerals as John Paul Jones,
and, like John Paul, there seems to
be some question>as to the identity
of his bones after all, as the authagl
ties at Santo Domingo claim to have
the real, genuine and only bones of
Columbus, and have built handsome
sarcophagus for them, and the Spanish
explorer lies buried both here and at
Seville. But Columbus goes John
Paul Jones better, both as to funerals,
numerical and last resting places, of
which Columbus has two, and Jones
but one the Naval Academy.
Someone has remarked that Annap-
Oils has narrow streets, but our East
rtr ffnrnIRflI on1 the allaN hat txro
Green's drugstore aud Mrs. GARDENERS
millinery establishment are boule-
wards compared to some streets in Ha-
vana. The sidewalks heIe are SO mar
row that one frequently falls off them
if he isn't very careful. The two of
the .narrowest streets are the principal
streets of the shopping district-Obispo
and O'Reilley. The visitor on one
side of the street can reach across
(almost) and shake hands with his
American friend on the other side.
Heavy cornices and signs overhang
the street and in the hottest part of
the day awnings are stretched across
the street from side To side. The
open shops makes the streets appear as
it were pig bazar with all the stock
and goods exposed to view and one
imagines he is at q street fair in
Denver or Kansas City, or the Midway
Plaisance at Chicago or ON the Allan
tic City boardwalk.
O'Reilley street doesn't sound Spar
ish. or even French. 1t isn't. Up TO
1863 the streets of Havana were name
less. The Havanese must have thought
that their narrow streets without a
name were Just as easy to walk on.
But they got their names by and by,
and when a man with the uu-Spanish
name of O'Reilley came to Cuba in
1868, he named the streets of the city
aud honored land immortalized his
own name by calling one after him
self. 1t is seldom one sees the name
of the firm over the shops in Havana.
Affecting grandiloquent style the
Cubans have adopted pretty names,
such as Diana, Galatea, Truth, The
Nymphs, Patience, or some other fan
ciful name by which their place of
business are identified.
And what of the shops themselves.
They are usually attractive, neat and
tidy with beautiful goods and exquis-
its laces, bright fans and everything
TO tempt the visitor. But the prices
we have found them extortionate
without single exception. Laces are
beautiful, but they are high priced /;
linens could be bought in New York
or Baltimore for the same price, or
probably much less. 4 fan that costs
a quarter in Baltimore, in Havana is
60 cents. A veil that would cost 90
cents in the States anywhere, is so
cents here. No pretty shirtwaist can
be bought for less than S. here, when
in New York the same thing would
be $3.50 or 50 at most. Americans
are considered gold bricks, and a high
mark is pat upon everything salable
during the tourist season. The aver
age sandel wood fan is$3, when it
doesn't appear TO be worth half that
price. Hand embroideries are much
sought for here by tourists. They are
exquisite. but they come high. The
embroidery is not done in Havana. but
in the Canary Islands, mostly by
nuns in the converts there. 1t is ex-
quisitely wrought handwork. and the
women who deal in it here make for
tunes, the Navy and Army people he
ing easy marks. The modest (?) sum
of 50 is paid for an embroidered ~ l-2
or 14-inch collar, a like sum for an
embroidered belt. An embroidered
shirt waist comes anywhere from six
to ten or fifteen dollars, and an: en-