16 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



r.aracoa, vvitli "Yunque" Mountain, J.ilOi) feet higli, in the Ijackground. 



and visible out to sea 

 for miles towers a great 

 mass of rock, 2,000 feet 

 high, known as "Yunque"' 

 the Anvil. 



Here "Don Angel" 

 met us with a carriage 

 and boys to carry the 

 luggage and conducted 

 us to "El Siglo XX" 

 Hotel, which as anyone 

 would guess means the 

 Twentieth Century Ho- 

 tel. This hotel was 

 thoroughly Spanish. Our 

 rooms fronted on a 

 l)road balcony that over- 

 liioked a tiny plaza. The 

 delicious quaintness of 

 this town was indescri- 

 bable. The streets were 

 most ingeniously ill 

 paved except for a 

 stretch of 300 yards that 

 w^as smooth asphalt. This 

 was laid by a former reform inayor (in front of his own residence) and the towns- 

 people point to it with much pride. Carriages were few, as a mile or two outside of 

 the city only trails existed. Nearly every one rode horseback and there were many 

 fine horses, beautiful trappings and dashing and graceful riders. As the country is 

 mountainous, bullocks, most surefooted of beasts, are used instead of pack horses. They 

 are big black fellows, often gaily caparisoned and much more picturesque than any 

 other pack animals that I have seen. 



Baracoa is very beautiful with its tiny bay, its stretches of sandy beach, its close 

 encircling mountains and its red tiled houses. While the stores are exceedingly well 

 equipped, the city could not boast of a dentist, an oculist or an automobile. 



After the purchase of a few necessaries and the bargaining for horses to take the 

 explorers into the valley to the "Nunez" estate, where the rubber grew, distant some 

 five miles, they set out at seven in the morning, believing they would be but a short 

 time on the journey. Outside of the town they struck a mountain trail and then 

 their troubles began, which might best be told in the travelers' own words: 



"We forded a river and were soon on a mountain trail that followed the erratic 

 course of another and larger river. When I say followed, I mean that in its fullest 

 sense, for when the banks grew too precipitous on one side we forded the streatn and 

 rode along the other. By mid-afternoon we had crossed and recrossed so many times 

 that I had lost count and was wondering what 'five miles' Cuban meant in English. 

 The scenery, however, was grand, the day not too hot, and the little horses sure-footed 

 and easy to ride, so I was contented. At last, about five o'clock, we crossed the river 

 for the last time, scrambled up a steep bank, passed through a thicket of giant bamboo, 

 and found ourselves in front of a huge thatched house surrounded by dilapidated 

 outbuildings. We were welcomed by a big, athletic negro, who was in charge of the 

 place, his greetings being seconded by half a dozen thin hounds, many naked pickaninnies 

 and the lady of the house, who, suckling an infant at her breast, and a big black cigar 

 in her mouth, gave us a tiny yellow hand and warm greeting in Spanish. 



"The big house had evidently been a planter's mansion at one time, but its negro 

 tenants had allowed it to go to ruin as fast as it pleased. The narrow veranda in front 

 had sagged to an angle of about 45 degrees, and polished smooth by many bare feet 

 it made a slippery ascent : but we negotiated it safely and were soon in the great living 

 room, seated in wrecks of massive chairs, covered with stretched cowhide. We at once 

 formed the center of an interested circle of negroes, big and little, dogs, hens, pigs, 

 goats and turkeys, all of whom seemed to have the run of the house, while Don Angel, 

 like a patriarch of old, patiently explained the cause of his visit, asked after the health 

 of each individual and listened to voluble descriptions of plantation and domestic hap- 

 penings, garnished with gusts of rollicking laughter. Night fell and the big room was 

 lighted by half a dozen of the inost primitive of all lamps, tin cups filled with cocoanut 

 oil, on the top of which floated cotton wicks. 



"The night passed without events of importance. Towards morning I wondered why 

 I could hear the crowing of the cocks so near and I found out at daybreak that three 



