36 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



fleeted the lithe, buoyant figure, and his gold mounted sword, a priceless heirloom, clanged 

 merrily on the tiles. A child of nature and impetuosity he was, and thoroughly likable ! 



"You ready? We commence! We fly! The horse he wait," he cried with a for- 

 eigner's true disregard for the correct terms in which to express his meaning; and with 

 unerring military precision he marched us into the waiting gua-gua (carriage), shouted 

 directions to the cochero (driver), and jumped in himself, beaming and gesticulating. 



We reached the Muella de Luz. the ferry which conveys the Havanese to trains for 

 the Eastern provinces in time for the seven o'clock morning boat, and rarely have I 

 seen in one place a more heterogeneous gathering. There was a party froin one of the 

 Embassies, both men and women, in up-to-date immaculate white linens, crowded up 

 against a grinning group of negroes with half-clothed bab-'cs squirming in their arms; there 

 were high-bred Spanish grandamcs, with pale powdered faces and magnificently gloomy 

 eyes ; also cool-looking Canadian business men ; sharp, quick-moving little Cuban inter- 

 preters seeking custom and hustling baggage; impudent multi-colored newsboys who 

 laughed a "good-bye" to you, — the only English word they knew — by way of greeting; slim 

 handsome oflficers of the Rural Guard; a bunch of rolling-gaited middies from a visiting 

 French warship; American tourists fighting for their trunks; cabbies following them 

 demanding extortionate fees, and through this chaos moved the unperturbed Captain, 

 flinging here and there a joyous response to the salutes of numberless acquaintances. 



On the train, even in the first-class coaches, the cigar-loving tourist may enjoy his 

 weed in comfort, and for sight-seeing purposes the last half of the car has great wide 

 window spaces and comfortable rattan armchairs. 



Between Havana and Matanzas the scenery is exquisitely lovely and of greater variety 

 than further East. You pass through gorges, where from between moss-covered rocks 

 springs a most marvellous growth of quivering maiden-hair fern ; then out into the 

 open where endless avenues of royal palms wave and beckon and nod. In the distance 

 you see the outlines of purple mountains silhouetted against a sky of the most in- 

 tense unbelievable blue. Goats and oxen regard you with a patient curiosity as you 



go whirling by. 

 Matanzas, the 

 seaport town next 

 to Havana in impor- 

 tance, is reached in 

 about three hours. 

 Here we left the 

 train and had our 

 second breakfast at 

 -a quaint little cafe, 

 the excellence of 

 whose cuisine is 

 justly cele- 

 brated all 

 over the is- 

 land. Tt was 

 a typically 





CUBA'S FERTILE ACRES 

 WHERE SUGAR IS GROWN. 



