CAMAGUEY—PUERTO PRINCIPE. 
149 
mg six feet in height, with a diameter of six feet, and a capacity of 500 
gallons. They have come down from the old days. All are dated, and the 
dates show that some of them are more than 100 years old; none are 01 
more recent production than i860, in which year masons came from Spain 
who knew how to build cisterns. Despite the modern cistern, however, 
the Ca maguey an still clings to the tinajon as a cherished domestic institu¬ 
tion; and to this day, when a house is to be built, the first step is to 
procure one of these venerable rainwater vessels, set it in place, and build 
the house with reference to it. The tinajones were turned on a potter’s 
wheel over a core. Among the Spaniards the term tinajon is applied to a 
stout person with a large capacity for liquid refreshments. Camaguey has 
also a supply of well water; five artesian wells were drilled by the United 
States Government of intervention, two of them being 486 feet deep. 
From whatever direction Camaguey is approached, its church towers 
stand out conspicuously above the embowering foliage against the sky. 
The first glimpse of the city from the west is of the towers through a 
grove of royal palms, and from the east they are seen beyond the plain 
rising above the flat surroundings 
in exaggerated heights and dignity. 
Nor are these qualities entirely lost 
on closer view, when in our ram¬ 
bles through the streets we come 
upon the churches lifting their gray 
mass above the low houses, and 
giving a dominating note to the 
picture. Most of the edifices are 
ancient, some of them many cen¬ 
turies old, the time-worn walls 
' contributing in no small degree to 
the ancient appearance of the city. 
The cathedral, Parroquial Mayor, 
on the Plaza de Agramonte, has a 
boy choir. In the Church of 
Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, 
there are services daily, with sing¬ 
ing by a choir of Carmelite monks. 
Other churches are those of 
Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, on 
Republica street; San Juan de 
Dios, San Francisco (Franciscan 
Order), Santa Ana, San Jose, 
Cristo (attached to which is the 
cemetery), the Chapel of the 
las Mercedes. Siervas de Maria (Slaves of Mary 
