154 
THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
LA CARIDAD. 
leading down to the water. The drive to the Santa Cruz gives pleasing 
views of the distant church towers and over fertile fields adorned here 
and there with palms and clumps of bamboos. VVe are likely to encounter 
here the huge creaking country cart, drawn by slow-paced oxen, urged on 
by the swarthy driver with his shout, “Arsa buey”—Go on, ox. Beyond 
the bridge the road leads for eight or ten miles through cattle ranches and 
highly cultivated farms. Another drive is to Salvaje Bridge, which crosses 
the Santa Cruz, here called the Salvaje. From La Caridad a macadamized 
road has been projected to Santiago; twenty miles of it were completed by 
the Americans. 
Camaguey was always Criolisima—that is, the most Creole of Cuban 
towns—and its people were the most independent. The story goes that 
once upon a time when the Governor-General wished to make a demon¬ 
stration of the Spanish rule, he came in state to Puerto Principe, attended 
by his retinue, and the Plaza and public buildings were decorated for his 
reception, the Camagiieyans closed their doors, shut tight their windows, 
and ignored him completely. The seat of the revolutionary government 
was in the Cubitas Hills, whose blue range is seen in the northern dis¬ 
tance. The intricate defiles were very favorable for the revolutionists’ 
ways of campaigning, and the hills were called the Guerilla Eden. 
The color line was drawn more closely in Camaguey than in other cities 
of Cuba. For one thing, there were fewer slaves, for the cattle industry 
did not require them; and there has been less intermingling of the races 
here than elsewhere. The white inhabitants are almost entirely descended 
from twenty old and rich families. The place has always been famous for 
its fine horses, skilled horsemen and beautiful women; it is claimed for it 
to-day that the percentage of beautiful women is larger than that of any 
other town on the island. 
