68 



TH E CUBA REVIEW. 



Fancy a town of that age with a bank, a fine modern hotel and administration build- 

 ing, a town hall, a general store doing a business of $100,000.00 a year; an electric light 

 and refrigerating plant — which latter one needs in that country to make life worth liv- 

 ing — and the Berlin system of sewerage, more perfect than any which has yet been 

 adopted even by the most enterprising cities in the States. 



After all, does it not seem like some fable of the Arabian Nights? One could 

 easily fancy Aladdin and his wonderful lamp having had something to do with this almost 

 miraculous change from useless jungle to prosperous town; and oh, how good it is to 

 get once more into a real bed, with real mattresses on it, after weeks of sleeping on 

 the padded quilts the Cubans affect as covering for springs ! The Plaza Hotel at 

 Ceballos has quite a piquant history, for it is nothing more nor less than as much of 

 the old Plaza Hotel which for so many years stood at the entrance to Central Park, New 

 York, as could be moved to Cuba. One feels upon entering it very much at home in- 

 deed. Ceballos is a sort of social rendezvous for a number of American colonists from 

 various parts of the States, who foregather for evenings at the hotel or town hall, their 

 days being spent in the raising of cane, bananas, oranges or pineapples. 



But the three pictures I want you to hold before your minds are, first, of the Trocha 

 district in Wej'ler's time, fierce, bloody, ravaged and devastated ; the women whose homes 

 lay along its ghastly trail, with their tongues cut out and arms chopped off, mutilated 

 beyond description for their loyalty, as I myself saw them. Then the Trocha of that 

 heart-rending reconstruction period, overgrown with tropical underbrush, a veritable 

 jungle, its people discouraged, impotent and anemic under the hopeless burden of their 

 poverty; and lastly, the Trocha of to-day, its wonderful natural possibilities being de- 

 veloped, its people happy and smiling, employment and a modicum of comfort for the 

 very meanest; centers of tremendous industry springing up where blood once dyed the 

 rich alluvial soil a deeper red; natives having their natural slothfulness organized into 

 activity and a general impulse of vigorous vitality inspired chiefly by American enterprise 

 and sagacity reaching out in every drection. 



Under the title of "A Souvenir of Ceballos, Cuba," Mr. Gillett has written a brief 

 but interesting history of what the Company has accomplished, illustrated by nearly one 

 hundred photographic scenes. He will mail a copy to any one who may be interested and 

 will address their request to him at 43 E.xchangc Place. New York. Since the publica- 

 tion of this book there have been many new and important developments resulting from 

 the re-occupation of the Island by the United States. Ceballos has been made the head- 

 quarters for the army officers stationed in Central Cuba, and several hundred troops arc 

 also quartered there. The tourist season is now opening, and with the attractions offered 

 at Ceballos, this favored town will be the Mecca of Island visitors this winter. 



THE PLAZA HOTEL, CEBALLOS. 



