THE CUBA REVIEW 



25 



By a Lady from New York. 



HEN we were told in Havana that the only train which would take 

 us to Camagijey left at nine o'clock in the evening our disappoint- 

 ment was intense, for ever since our first trip to Cuba two years 

 before, when we heard of the majestic loveliness of the Santa 

 Clara valley, which runs through the heart of the island, we had 

 looked forward to discovering its beauties for ourselves, only to find out that it would 

 be night time when we passed through it. 



It just happened, however, that circumstances forced us to start on our trip eastward 

 several days earlier than we had anticipated, and much to our chagrin we found that owing 

 to the stress of travel and the fact that there is onlj'' one sleeping car attached to the 

 train every berth was engaged and we would have to travel in an ordinar}^ day coach. 

 With the philosophy induced by much travelling, we decided to make the best of it and 

 supplied ourselves with pillows and rugs, making up our minds to a sleepless night. 



Matanzas was reached about midnight, and here some officers of the Rural Guard 

 (who always ride free of charge) boarded the train and with their songs and card- 

 playing, destroyed whatever idea of repose we had had, and I can never thank them 

 enough ; for looking out of our window we saw a gradual but intense red glow steal 

 along the horizon which moment by moment became more lurid. Thinking it one of 

 the cane fires we had heard about we watched it with interest. Fancy our astonishment 

 when suddenly the golden disk of a great red moon made its appearance, and soon 

 the entire valley was flooded with light. 



The Santa Clara valley by moonlight! How can one, with even the most ardent 

 enthusiasm, do justice to the superb and almost supernatural beauty of that scene! The 

 moon in the tropics has, as you know, a brilliancy peculiarly intense, and as it shone 

 upon the slumber-shrouded valley with its cane fields and native huts guarded by sentinel 

 palms, the sight was one of unearthly witchery and charm. 



Jovellanos was reached in about two hours more and there we all sprang from the 

 train to snatch a cup of solacing coffee at the little stand which one finds at every Cuban 

 station. 



About two hours before reaching Santa Clara, where one imbibes his matutinal 

 coffee, the moon fell asleep and the stars were put to bed ; and then in the east faint 

 streaks of feathery lilac and rose and gold began to glimmer and gleam until, with a 

 mighty rush, the sun rose in all his proud effulgence. 



Mile upon mile of wonderful country was passed. People began to appear from the 

 rude shacks ; women with soft dark eyes and fugitive smiles ; magnificently bronzed 

 laborers, barefooted and wearing naught but a pair of linen trousers, urging their patient 

 oxen toward the cane fields; and merry little children run down to the waiting train and 



