i5* 
THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
the actual work of building having been done largely with his own hands. 
The chapel contains his tomb, with the epitaph: 
“Aqui yace el V. P. F. Jose de la Cruz Espi, Misionero Apostolico, que 
en su vida alcanzo la gloria en al trato de la gente, i amplio la entrada de 
la casa i atrio del Senor. 1838.” 
Which being Englished reads: “Here rests the venerable Father Josd 
de la Cruz Espi, Apostolic Missionary, who in life obtained glory by bis 
ministrations to the poor, and who made more ample the entrance to the 
porch of the mansions of our Lord.” 
Father Valencia’s room, “Cama del Padre Valencia,” a narrow little 
cell, 3 feet by 6, contains the stone pillow he used and the rough board 
bed on which he slept. In the chapel are images of San Lazaro, patron 
saint of lepers, and San Roque with his dog. San Roque is the patron 
saint of those who languish in prisons or are sick in hospitals or are 
stricken with the plague. The story is that the saint (born in Languedoc 
in 1280) devoted his life to ministering to the sick, was himself plague- 
stricken, and crawling to a wood outside the city of Piacenza was kept 
from starving by his little dog, which every day repaired to the town and 
returned at evening with a loaf of bread in his mouth, though whence he 
obtained it none could tell. In representations of the saint, the dog is 
usually pictured as here, bringing the loaf of bread. Among other relics 
here treasured, there is preserved in a glass case a rude wooden cross, 
encrusted with salt, which was left by Valencia with the warning prophecy 
that when the salt should melt, the world would come to an end. 
Camagiiey has always been renowned for its hospitality. Formerly there 
were no hotels. Strangers who came here on business were entertained 
by the merchants with whom they had dealings; the practice still prevails, 
not only here but at Havana and elsewhere, and it has much to do with 
the lack of hotel accommodations in Cuba. Now that the old town, which 
was established here where it might be isolated and inaccessible, has been 
put in close touch with the world by the building of the Cuban Railroad, 
conditions have changed, and to-day in the Hotel Camagiiey it has the 
largest and most completely appointed hotel on the island. The immense 
building, which was the Spanish cavalry barracks, has been transformed by 
Sir William Van Horn into a most inviting and comfortable winter refuge 
for fugitives from the trying climate of the North. The spacious apart¬ 
ments are finished in handsome native woods; there are interior courts 
filled with shrubs and flowers, and the large airy roof gardens look out to 
the red tile roofs and gray church towers of the town, and pastoral scenes 
of quiet beamy restful to look upon. The Hotel Camagiiey is adapted 
primarily to meet the requirements of those who seek a warm, dry and equable 
winter climate, with repose of surroundings. The trade winds spring up 
with unfailing regularity in the afternoon; and the atmosphere and tem¬ 
perature of Camagiiey have in large degree those desirable qualities which 
have given fame to Nassau. 
