i8o 
THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
Madruga, sometimes called the Saratoga of Cuba, is a popular watering 
place, having warm sulphur springs and others of proved beneficial 
properties for bathing and dietetic purposes. It is fifty miles from 
Matanzas. 
San Antonio de los Banos (San Antonio of the Baths), twenty-three 
miles from Havana, is resorted to for its mineral springs and the health¬ 
ful peculiarities of its climate. Near the city is the disappearing river 
Ariguanabo, which, draining the large lake of the same name, flows into 
a cave and does not reappear. 
Santa Clara, 177 miles from Havana, is the capital of Santa Clara 
Province, and is the second largest inland town in Cuba; the population 
by the census of 1899 being 13,763. It is a thriving, well built city in the 
midst of a rich grazing and agricultural country. One of the notable 
institutions of the town is the Teatro de la Caridad (Charity Theatre!, 
which was presented to the city by Dona Marta Abreu de Estevez; the 
income is devoted to the support of public schools. Santa Clara has an 
attractive plaza, and an old cathedral containing a picture of the Madonna 
painted in Spain and sent to the Santa Clara Mission more than 200 
years ago. 
The Western Railway. 
Ihe Western Railway extends from Havana south through the famous 
Vuelta Abajo tobacco growing district, 109 miles to the city of Pinar deh 
Rio, and beyond this to Guam, 141 miles from Havana. While chiefly 
noted for its tobacco, which is the choicest in Cuba, the Pinar del Rio 
country is adapted also to sugar, cotton and fruits and vegetables, as well 
as to cattle grazing. There are here excellent citrus fruit lands, and 
many Americans and Canadians have engaged extensively in the culti¬ 
vation of oranges and grapefruit. The Western Railway by a liberal 
policy toward settlers is doing much to foster desirable colonization. 
There are many pretty little towns on the road; the stations are adorned 
with flowers, and the whole air of the country is of thrift and prosperity. 
The Cuban Experiment Station, at Santiago de las Vegas, twelve miles 
south of Havana, is doing an important work in agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural experiments and study to extend the resources of the island. 
Ninety miles from Havana on the Western Railway is the well known 
American colony of Herradura. 
