It was my pleasure and privilege to cruise back and forth in the shadow of Morro castle with that blockading fleet through part of June and July. It was easy to appreciate the motive that spared the old fortification in all the bombardments of the shore batteries. The American gunners felt that it would be a pity to demolish the old ruin which had such remarkable picturesque beauty and historic interest for the Americans who might come after them. But one shot ever was fired at Morro castle from the guns of the American fleet. A gunner of the Iowa, at the command of Captain Evans, took careful aim at the angle of the wall where the red and yellow banner of Spain was floating on its staff. The shot was a perfect one although the range was more than two miles, and the whole southeast bastion of the fortress crumbled into fragments of ancient masonry at the explosion of the shell, while every man in the fleet felt like cheering when the em blem of cruelty fell into the dust. The narrow, winding channel which leads from the open sea into the harbor, pursues its sinuous course past several other fortifications of quaint construction, but of little use against modern guns-between low hills and broad meadows, fishing hamlets and cocoanut groves. Presently you turn a sharp angle in the hills and enter a broad, landlocked bay, inclosed on every side by ranges of hills with numerous points and promontories jutting into the tranquil water, leaving deep little coves behind them, all fringed with cocoa-palms. Between this blue bay and a towering background of purple mountains lies the city which Diego Velazquez, its founder, christened in honor of the patron saint of Spain, as far back as the year 1514. It is the oldest standing city in the new world, excepting Santo Domingo, which Columbus himself established only eighteen years earlier. By CHARACTERISTICS OF SAN the way, San Jago, San Diego and Santiago, are really the same name, rendered Saint James in our lan- TIAGO DE CUBA. guage; and wherever the Spaniards have been are numbers of them. This particular city of Saint James occupies a sloping hillside, 500 miles southeast from Havana, itself the capital of a department, and ranks the third city of Cuba in commercial importanceMatanzas being second. As usual in all these southern ports, the water is too shallow for large vessels to approach the dock and steamers have to anchor a mile from shore. Until the American occupation brought new enterprise into the civic administration, the city was one of the dirtiest that could be conceived. All of its sewage emptied into the harbor, which, although a larger bay, is almost as stagnant as that of Havana. For many centuries the mariners of the Spanish main have dreaded Santiago de Cuba, because of the threat of yellow fever and smallpox which always existed there. Under the military governorship of General Leonard Wood, a notable change was made in the sanitation of the city, and enough was learned to prove that it is quite possible to make the cities of Cuba wholesome places of residence if proper methods are employed. Red roofed buildings of stone and adobe entirely cover the hillsides which rise from the wharves of Santiago, with here and there a dome, a tower, a church steeple shooting upward, or a tall palm poking its head above a garden wall-the glittering green contrasting well with the ruddy tiles and the pink, gray, blue and yellow of the painted walls. In the golden light of a tropical morning it looks like an oriental town, between sapphire sea and turquoise mountains. Its low massive buildings, whose walls surround open courts, with pillared balconies and corridors, the great open windows protected by iron bars instead of glass, and roofs covered with earthern tiles-are a direct importation from Southern Spain, if not from further east. Tangiers, in Africa, is built upon a similar sloping hillside, and that capital of Morocco does not look a bit more Moorish than Santiago de Cuba. On the narrow strip of land bordering the eastern edge of the harbor, the Morro at one end and the city at the other, are some villas, embowered in groves and gardens, which belong mostly to Americans interested in the Cobre mines. The great iron piers on the right belong to the American mining companies, built for loading ore upon their ships. Fifty miles east of Matanzas is the city of Cardenas, the last port of any consequence on the north coast of the island. It has a population of 25,000, and is the capital of a fertile district. It is one of the main outlets of Cuba's richest province, Matanzas, and is the great railroad center of the island, or, more properly speaking, it ought to be, as the railroads of the country form a junction fifteen miles inland, at an insignificant station called Jouvellenes. In time of peace Cardenas enjoys a thriving business, particularly in sugar and molasses, its exports of the former sometimes amounting to 100,000 tons a year. To the west and south stretch the great sugar estates which have made this section of Spain's domain a prize to be fought for. The water side of the town is faced with long wharves and lined with warehouses, and its extensive railway depot would do credit to any metropolis. IMPORTANT There are a few pretentious public buildings, including the customs house, hospital and college. Its cobble paved streets are considerably wider than those of Havana, and have two lines of horse cars. There is gas and electric light, and more two-story houses than one is accustomed to see on the island. But, notwithstanding the broad, blue bay in front, and the Paseo, whose tall trees seem to be touching finger tips across the road, congratulating each other on the presence of eternal summer, Cardenas is not an attractive town. One misses the glamour of antiquity and historic interest which pervades Havana, Matanzas and Santiago, and feels somehow that the town is new without being modern, young but not youthful. Puerto Principe, or to give it its full name in the Spanish tongue, Santa Maria de Puerto Principe, is the capital of the Central department, and is situated about midway between the north and south coasts, 305 miles southeast of Havana, and forty-five miles southwest of Nuevitas, its port, with which it is connected by railroad. Its population is about 30,000 and it is surrounded by a rich agricultural district. One of the most attractive cities of Cuba is Trinidad, which lies near the south coast, three miles by rail from the port of Casildas. It is beautifully situated on high land overlooking the sea, and on account of its mild and very equable climate it is a favorite resort for tourists and invalids. Nuevitas, Sancti Espiritu, Baracoa and Cienfuegos are all centers of population with many natural advantages, and with a just form of government, and the advent of American enterprise and capital, they might become prosperous, attractive, and of great commercial import ance. CHAPTER XL. A GLANCE AT THE ISLAND OF CUBA. New Attractions Offered to American Tourists-The Climate and the Seasons of the Island-The Valley of the Yumuri-The Caves of Bellamar-The Mountain Chains of Cuba-Political Divisions of the Island-Popular Divisions of CubaCaverns and Subterranean Rivers-Cataracts and Lakes-The Fertile Plains of the Island-Coral Reefs and Tropical Islets-Marshes Along the Coast-Roads and Vehicles-A Word Concerning the Accuracy of Maps-Railway Lines of Cuba-Steamship Service Between the Ports-The Isle of Pines and Its Resources-A New Naval Station. A MERICANS will need to learn new avenues of travel in order to become familiar with the attractions of the new lands which have come under their influence. Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines offer their individual and peculiar attractions of scenery, climate, resources and manners of life. The people are different, mountains and forests are different, and the industries and resources are different; so that no one need feel that his information concerning one is sufficient to make him acquainted with the other. When the island of Cuba, "The Pearl of the Antilles," was assigned a place upon the terrestrial globe, Nature must have been in her most generous mood. Certainly no land beneath the skies was given a more perfect combination of mountains and rivers, forests and plains. Situated within and near the border of the northern tropical zone, the temperature of the low coast-lands is that of the torrid zone, but the high interior of the island enjoys a delightful climate, and the verdureclad hills, with the graceful palm and cocoanut tree clear against the pure blue sky, may be seen at all seasons of the year. As in other countries on the borders of the tropics, the year is divided between a hot and wet season, corresponding to the northern declination of the sun, and a cool and dry period. The months from the beginning of May to October are called the wet season, though some rain falls in every month of the year. With May, spring begins in RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE IN CUBA. the island, rain and thunder are of almost daily occurrence, and the temperature rises high, with little daily variation. The period from November to April is called the dry season by contrast. On a mean of seven years the rain-fall at Havana in the wet season has been observed to be 27.8 inches; of the dry months, 12.7, or 40.5 inches for the year. July and August are the warmest months, and during this period the average temperature at Havana is 82 Fahrenheit, fluctuating between a maximum of 88 and a minimum of 76. In the cooler months of December and January the thermometer averages 72, the maximum being 78, and minimum 58. The average temperature of the year at Havana on a mean of seven years is 77. In the interior, at elevations of over 300 feet above the level of the sea, the thermometer occasionally falls to the freezing point in winter. Frost is not uncommon, and during north winds, thin ice may form, though snow is unknown in any part of the island. The prevailing wind is the easterly trade breeze, but from November to February, cool north winds, rarely lasting more than fortyeight hours, are experienced in the western part of the island, to which they add a third seasonal change. Hurricanes may occur from August to October, but they are rare and sometimes five or six years pass without such a storm. Many "globe-trotters" who have never included this little corner of the world in their itinerary, do not appreciate the fact that nowhere under the sun can be found a more perfect climate, grander mountain scenery, more charming valleys, more picturesque ruins, and fertile fields than Cuba offers to their view. One of the grandest bits of scenery in the known world is to be found in the valley of the Yumuri, rivaling in sublimity the far-famed Lookout Mountain view and the Yosemite of the Sierra Nevadas. The journey leads over a winding trail, easily traversed by the native horses, up a steep hill, until, after a continuous climb of an hour and a half, the road turns around the edge of a grassy precipice, and the beautiful valley, with its patches of green and gold, spreads away in the distance. The little river of Yumuri winds its way through its flower-decked banks until it reaches the bay beyond, while in the dis |