192 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



boat service in that part of the world) and, during 

 the daylight stages, picturesque. 



The train leaves every evening at nine, and a 

 comfortable sleeper is provided, with Cuban con- 

 ductors who speak French, the French of Havana. 

 The journey is made under the auspices of two 

 companies, the United Railways taking the 

 traveller as far as Santa Clara, which is reached 

 early next morning, and the Cuba Railroad taking 

 him to his destination before midnight. 



The scene on either side of the carriage cannot 

 perhaps lay claim to continuous beauty, and as a 

 matter of fact, so far as this particular train is 

 concerned, the environs of both terminal cities, the 

 most picturesque fragments of the journey, blush 

 unseen in the darkness of night. On emerging 

 from his berth in the morning the traveller will 

 probably find himself moving through fertile 

 country overgrown with rich guinea-grass and 

 displaying at short intervals small patches of 

 tobacco, generally in the neighbourhood of dwell- 

 ings. The serious cultivation of this insidious 

 narcotic is restricted to the province of Pinar del 

 Rio, which is reached by another railroad, and 

 which may be remembered as having acquired 

 some notoriety in the recent revolution. The 

 little patches of tobacco that we see between 

 Havana and Santa Clara are merely tended for 

 home use. Every Cuban goodwife worth her 

 salt can roll a cigar from the dried leaf (which 

 is kept on a shelf in the kitchen) like an artist, 

 and her lord and master, returning from his day's 

 labour at the sugar - mill or among the cattle, 

 can enjoy a freshly -twisted fragrant weed that 



