OTHEK CUBAN CITIES 121 



The principal industries are rum-distilling, sugar-refining, 

 and manufacture of guava- jelly. There are railroad- car 

 and machine-shops. Sugar and molasses are sent to the 

 United States, amounting, from 1891 to 1895, to $59,988,497. 

 The climate is fine, and Matanzas is considered the most 

 healthful city on the island. With proper drainage and 

 sanitary arrangements yellow fever and malaria would be 

 almost unknown. 



The streets are well laid out and paved with stone ; sev- 

 eral handsome plazas with ornamental trees and flowers are 

 interspersed here and there ; and the houses in the better 

 quarters are large and neat-looking two-story buildings, 

 the upper portions of which are used as residences. These 

 are all stuccoed in drab or ocher colors, and have neat and 

 ornate balconies along the second story. Club-houses, 

 churches, and theaters of no small proportions also abound, 

 and a handsome administration building. Matanzas has a 

 large pleasure-boulevard, known as the Paseo, which is laid 

 out with gravel walks and rows of trees, with a stony para- 

 pet and iron gates at each end of the drive. It is about a 

 half-mile in length. 



Newtown, lying to the east of the city, is marked by a 

 handsome street called the Calzada de Esteban, and con- 

 tains in one block some of the most tasteful dwelling-houses 

 to be seen in Cuba. The houses are large and imposing, 

 having handsome pillared front porticos with iron railings, 

 and generally covered with extensive luxuriant vines. 

 Prettily colored tiles are used along this street for the 

 formation of terraces. The strong color-effects of these 

 houses, which would look gaudy in our climate, are very 

 pleasing in Cuba. 



In the northeast part of the city, at the mouth of the 

 Yumuri, and immediately overlooking the shore of the bay, 

 is the suburb known as Versailles. This is a picturesque 

 spot, the home of the boatmen and fishermen, and has a 

 look of antiquity suggestive of the fact that it may have 

 been the original site of the city. 



