THE CUBA REVIEW 



31 



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The Tourist at Santiago 



A.t their feet is a plaza tilled with jas- 

 mine, oleander, roses, royal palms; across 

 the street a cathedral four hundred years 

 old, and facing it the palace on which was 

 raised the first American flag to tiy over 

 Cuba. Within the distance of a cab ride 

 is San Juan Hill, Morro Castle, or the 

 mountain of Bonaito, from the top ot 

 which is a view of valley, harbor and 

 ocean, among the most beautiful of any 

 land And ten minutes' walk wou d take 

 them where, against a wall, were shot the 

 American filibusters of the Vtrgimus. 

 The bronze tablet on the wall reads, \ou 

 who pass, uncover the head. This spot is 

 consecrated soil. It is blessed with the 

 blood of patriots sacrificed to tyranny. 



But the tourists on the terrace of the 

 hotel do not uncover the head ; they do not 

 pass the spot ; they prefer to learn how a 

 fellow-countryman in the hardware busi- 

 ness in Spokane raised ten thousand dol- 

 lars on a first mortgage. Why, to learn 

 that, should one travel a thousand miles. 

 Why leave home? 



They number from three to five hun- 

 flrcd. and at once do they scatter toward 

 San Juan Hill? They do not. They make 

 a coml)ined charge upon the newspaper 

 stand and buy picture postal cards thou- 



sands of picture postal cards. Within ten 

 minutes after their arrival the entire ship s 

 company is on the terrace or in the writ- 

 ing-room feverishly directing to Aunt 

 Emily or Uncle John picture post cards of 

 places they have not yet seen, and which 

 half of them never will see. They desire 

 only that the folks at home shall know 

 they are within twenty minutes' walk of 

 the' battlefield of San Juan. But they do 

 not take the walk. Instead, the women ot 

 the party visit the local "emporiums and 

 buy Panama hats, kodak films and tambou- 

 rines decorated with scenes from bull- 

 fights And the men remain on the veranda 

 and fan themselves, and talk— not of what 

 they have seen or of what, according to 

 their itinerary, they are going to see — but 



of home. , c • u 



It will be many years before the bpanish 

 Main or Cuba or the Windward Isles lose 

 their local color. Always the Caribbean 

 will hold its charm, its beauty, its historical 

 interest. . . . After you have reached those 

 happy isles and have visited the show- 

 places the guide-books tell you to visit, do 

 not sit in the patio of the hotel and read 

 two weeks old newspapers from your home 

 town (iet into the street and .see things. 

 Richard Harding Davis in the Metropolitan. 



