178 
THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
with the progress of the ship new peaks and valleys come into view. 
The mountains culminate in the peaks of San Juan and Potrerilla, the 
latter 3,200 feet in height. 
Casilda, forty-two miles from Cienfuegos, is the port of Trinidad, 
which enjoys the reputation of being one of the pleasantest and healthiest 
places in Cuba, and always a favorite resort for invalids. The town 
occupies an elevated situation on the side of the mountain well called 
La Vigia (The Watchtower), whence it looks out over the sea, as it 
has looked for almost four centuries. It is, next to Baracoa, the oldest 
town in Cuba. In the old days when the ports were closed, an extensive 
contraband trade was carried on between Trinidad and Jamaica, the 
Spaniards exporting tobacco, mahogany and other products, and receiv¬ 
ing from the English in exchange negro slaves for the plantations. The 
neighboring country is very fertile; the sugar planters here were worth 
millions before the war destroyed their plantations. An American colony 
settled here is engaged in fruit culture. 
Tunas de Zaza has railroad connection with Sancti Spiritus on the 
Cuba Railroad. Jucaro is the southern terminus of the Jucaro and San 
Fernando Railroad, connecting at Ciego de Avila with the main line of 
the Cuba Railroad. The Jucaro and San Fernando was the military rail¬ 
road along the Trocha which here cut the island in two. The lines are 
shown on the map. 
Santa Cruz del Sur is a collection of diminutive toy houses built on 
a long narrow strip of land between the bay and a lagoon, and on the 
outer end looking like a South Sea village of thatched huts under the 
cocoanut palms. 
At Manzanillo they have one of those little drop-curtain plazas—■ 
Plaza del Qro—you have seen it before in a theatre, you say to yourself, 
with the royal palms and the stone Sphinxes at the corners, where the 
negro women sell roast pig smoking hot off their stands. This and the 
line of electric lights on the water front receding and dimming as your 
ship heads for Cape Cruz, are the pictures you will remember of Man¬ 
zanillo. Manzanillo is a terminal of the Cuba Railroad. 
From Cabo de Cruz to Santiago we are in sight of some of the grandest 
coast scenery in the world. The Sierra Maestra Mountains here rise 
boldly from the sea to a height of 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Ojo del Toro, 
the Eye of the Bull, towers above the cape; and beyond the Pico Tur- 
quino lifts its summit 8,320 feet in the air, the highest peak on the island. 
The bold and precipitous coast line continues all the way to Santiago 
harbor. 
