The History of Cuba Volume V Part 27

A player may occasionally be seen to leap into the air, catch and fire the ball back to the end of the court, he himself falling flat on his back, leaving his partner to take care of the return. Thirty points const.i.tute the usual game and about an hour is required in which to play it. Jai Alai was suspended during the latter part of President Estrada Palma's term, on account of the heavy betting that accompanied it, but owing to insistent popular demand, it was again installed at the Fronton in the Spring of 1918.

The game of baseball, brought to Cuba in the year 1900, from the very start gained a popularity among the natives that has never ceased for a moment. It is today the national sport of Cuba, and quite a number of high-priced players from Cuba have occupied prominent places in the big league clubs of the United States. The local clubs of Havana play a splendid game, as several crack teams from the United States have discovered to their surprise and cost, many of them having been sent home badly beaten.

The king of sports, however, in Havana, is horse racing, first introduced from the United States in 1907. Such was its popularity that capitalists some four years ago, were encouraged to erect in the suburb of Marianao the finest racing pavilion in the West Indies. The mile track and the beautiful grounds which surround it are all that lovers of the sport could desire; while the view from the Grand Stand, across a tropical landscape whose hillsides are covered with royal palms, with dark green mountains silhouetting the distant horizon, gives us one of the most picturesque and attractive race tracks in the world.

Between the Plaza and Camp Columbia are located the golf links of Havana, which owing to the natural beauty of the grounds, and the charm of the surrounding country, with its view of the ocean and distant palm covered hills, render golfing a pleasure for at least three hundred and thirty days a year. These natural advantages have made the links of the Country Club of Havana celebrated in all places where golfing news reaches those who are devoted to the game.

In the various public buildings in Havana occupied by the Government of Cuba may be traced many styles of architecture that have followed each other from the beginning of the 16th century to well into the 20th. The old Fort of La Fuerza, that dates from 1538, is now occupied by the Secretary of War and Navy, and from it orders are issued directing the management of the two arms of the service, which in Cuba are combined under one directorate. Aside from modern windows, shutters and up-to-date office furniture, no changes have been made in the general outline or contour of this antiquated old fortress, whose entrance and drawbridge face the Templete close by on the spot where the residents of Cuba held their early Town Councils and listened to the singing of their first ma.s.s, four centuries ago.

Next in line of antiquity would come the old San Franciscan Convent, that in 1916 was converted into a s.p.a.cious and artistic post-office, where the Director General of Posts and Telegraphs looks after that important branch of the Government Service.

Next in point of age comes the home of the Department of Public Works in the Maestranza, along the northeastern front of which runs a remnant of the old sea wall, extending along the west sh.o.r.e of the harbor from the Cathedral to the head of Cuba Street. This thick walled building, of only two stories, began as an iron and bra.s.s foundry, in which cannon were made several centuries ago and during later years of Spanish Colonial occupancy was used as a warehouse for rifles, sabres, pistols and small arms in general. Here were outfitted officers and men of the Spanish Volunteers, or loyalists of the Island, during Cuba's century of revolutions. With the occupation of American troops in 1900, this building, covering over a block of ground, was converted into offices of the Sanitary Department and allied branches, who vouched for the city's health and cleanliness during that period. It was here that Major Gorgas, now Major General, held sway and directed the campaign that exterminated the stegomyia mosquito, and thus put an end to the dreaded scourge of yellow fever in Cuba. It is at present occupied by the various branches of Public Works under the direction of Col. Jose R.

Villalon, who has earned the reputation of being one of the most tireless and persistent workers in the Government. The National Library, whose entrance faces on Chacon Street at present, shares the accommodations of the Maestranza.

The Department of Sanitation, with all of its vast ramifications, whose jurisdiction covers the entire Island, is located in an old colonial building fronting on Belascoain near the corner of Carlos Tercero Street, and with its ample patio covers an entire block of ground. This Department is located more nearly at the center of modern Havana than any of the other Government offices.

One of the oldest public buildings, and the largest used for purposes of Government, known as La Hacienda, is located on the water front between Obrapia Street and the Plaza de Armas. During the many years of Spanish rule, not only the Custom House, but nearly all the more important branches of Government, were located within its walls. With the inauguration of the Republic, the National Treasury was installed in the southwest corner of the building, under the direction of Fernando Figuerdo, who has retained this position of trust during all changes of administration. The remainder of the ground floor is occupied by the National Lottery and offices connected with that Inst.i.tution, which extend into the entresuelo, or half-story, just above. The second floor is occupied by the Hacienda, or Treasury Department, whose offices surround the central patio on all four sides. The third and fourth floors are devoted to the central offices of the Department of Agriculture, including the headquarters of its Secretary, General Sanchez Agramonte. The upper floor, or azotea, is used by the Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture. The Hacienda is rather an imposing building from the Bay, on which it faces, and plays a very important part in the Government work of the Island.

To the outside world the best known building is probably the old Governor-General's palace, fronting on the Plaza de Armas and occupying the square of ground between Tacon and Mercaderes Streets and between Obispo and O'Reilly Streets. The palace is two stories in height and belongs to what may be termed the modern colonial style of Cuban architecture, with very high ceilings, enormous doors and tall iron-barred windows that descend to the floor. The interior of the Palace is occupied by a very pretty palm court with a statue of Christopher Columbus posing in the center, facing the wide deep entrance that opens from the Plaza. This building was erected in 1834, as a residence and headquarters for the Governors General sent out from Spain, many of whom have occupied the Palace between that date and the year 1899, when the last Governor General took his departure. It was here that General Martinez Campos, in the winter of 1896, penned his cablegram to the Spanish sovereign, stating that Generals Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo, with their insurgent forces, had crossed the Trocha into Pinar del Rio, for which reason he tendered his resignation, acknowledging his failure to arrest the tide of Cuba's War of Independence. Within this same palace General Weyler planned his scheme of reconcentration, or herding of the pacificos, non-combatants, old men, women and children, into barbed wire stockades, where a quarter of a million of them died of exposure, disease and hunger. It is said that when informed of their condition and the fearful death rate, he remarked, "Excellent! Let these renegade mothers die. We will replace them with women who will bear children loyal to Spain." It was here also that his more humane and civilized successor, General Blanco, who in the last days of 1897 had tried hard to save Spain's one remaining colony in America, felt the shock of the explosion that sank the battles.h.i.+p _Maine_ in Havana Harbor in February, 1898, and exclaimed as he looked across the bay toward the wreck: "This will mark the saddest day of Spain's history." Within the same room too, Cuba's first President, the beloved and revered Tomas Estrada Palma, with tears of humiliation in his eyes, handed his resignation as President to the American Secretary of War, William H. Taft, and left for his almost forgotten farm in the forests back of Manzanillo, where he pa.s.sed his last days as a martyr to the greed and cruelty of his own people.

Diagonally across from the old Presidential Palace, on the northwest corner of the Plaza de Armas, stands the Senate Chamber, a two-story building of the same attractive architecture found in the old Palace. It is in a way a companion to this building, having been designed and directed as the home and office of the various Lieutenant-Generals of the Island, in which capacity it served until the termination of Spanish rule in Cuba. During the two years of American Intervention, various military departments made their headquarters within this structure, but with the installation of the Republic in 1902 it was formally dedicated to the use of the Senate, and officers connected with that branch of the Legislative government. The lofty salon fronting the Plaza de Armas served as the Senate Chamber. The 24 members of the upper house held sessions there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week. As with the Presidential Palace, the somewhat lavish use of marble in patios, floors, stairways, balconies, etc., is much in evidence in this building.

Just north of the Senate Chamber, and covering the east side of the long block on Tacon Street, between the Palace and the Bay, are located the Bureau of Secret Service, the Department of Government, and those of State of Justice, all installed at the present time in the same building.

This building during Colonial days was occupied by the Department of Engineers, and with the beginning of American intervention was turned over to Brigadier General William A. Ludlow, to whose energy is due the credit of rapidly and effectively cleaning up the city of Havana after its sanitary abandonment of three centuries duration. General Ludlow shared the building with General Enoch Crowder. The Palace of State and Justice has been remodeled and renovated from foundation to azotes. All of its floors and most of its walls are now finished and decorated in a manner appropriate to the uses to which it is dedicated.

During the regime of General Leonard Wood, through an official decree of that most competent commander, three public buildings were added to the capital of the Republic, each now bearing his name in an appropriate placque or tablet in the wall. The first of these was a Bacteriological Laboratory, now known as the General Wood Laboratory, located on Carlos Tercero Street in front of the Botanical Gardens. Bacteriological experiments, which up to that time had been conspicuous by their absence, have since been carried on faithfully in Havana under the direction of the celebrated expert in that science, Dr. Aristides Agramonte.

Next in order was a handsome three-story stone building, located on Belascoain a block from the corner of Carlos Tercero Street, dedicated to the school of Industrial Arts and Sciences. The instruction given in this Inst.i.tution since its foundation in 1901, has been efficient, and of excellent service to the youth of Havana, many of whom have taken very kindly to this much needed innovation.

The third of these inst.i.tutions fathered by General Wood is the Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts, located on Cuba Street near Amargura Street.

This inst.i.tution has been a boon and a blessing to the intellectual life of Havana, since for the first time suitable quarters were offered to celebrated lecturers, artists and musicians, who find in Havana appreciative audiences, and where, since the founding of the Academy, local talent had a fitting theatre in which to display its merit.

Since the beginning of the Republic in 1902, under President Estrada Palma, the old Governor General's Palace was found rather limited in its accommodations. Not only was it compelled to shelter the President and his family, together with the many offices belonging to the Executive Department, but it also shared its accommodations with the City Council, and many of the dependencies of that Inst.i.tution. With the rapid growth of the City, and the unavoidable increase in the work of all departments, consequent on the development of commerce and trade with the outside world, these quarters, each year, have been found increasingly cramped and unsatisfactory.

During the regime of President Jose Miguel Gomez, a new Presidential palace was planned, and work was begun on it on the site formerly occupied by the Villa Nueva Station, belonging to the United Railways of Havana. This ample s.p.a.ce, facing for several blocks on the Prado and Colon Park, was exchanged, by an Act of Congress, for the old a.r.s.enal Grounds on the water front, desired by the railways for a Grand Central Station, for which they were excellently adapted. The plans of this structure, as well as the beginning of the work, were found to be most unsuited to a Presidential Palace, and by order of President Menocal, at the suggestion of the Secretary of Public Works, work was discontinued and abandoned for other plans and better construction.

Previous to the inauguration of President Menocal funds were voted for the erection of a Provincial Palace or State House, on the property belonging to the Government located between Monserrate and Zuleuta Streets, just at the head of the long, beautiful stretch of open land that sweeps down to the sea from the crest of the low hill, where rests the last remnant of the city walls. This location, with its view of the Luz Caballero Park, of the entrance of the Bay of Havana and the Morro Headland on the opposite side, is one of the finest in the City, and naturally appealed to the artistic taste of General Menocal as the true location for a Presidential Palace. The Provincial Building had been planned on a scale altogether unsuited for the offices of a Provincial Council, whose members were limited to less than ten, and whose services were of so little utility that several proposals for their discontinuance had been considered. More than all, funds for the completion of the building had been more than exhausted, and large debts to contractors were pending. To relieve this emergency and liquidate the indebtedness, it was finally resolved by the National Congress to take over the property, reimbursing the Provincial Government with the $540,000 which they had expended, and to dedicate this building to the purpose of a Presidential Palace that would be more appropriate to the demands of the Executive Department in a rapidly growing Republic.

A million dollars was appropriated for this purpose, which sum has since been augmented in order to carry out the interior decoration of the building along lines that would be in keeping with its proposed use. The new Presidential Palace is four stories in height built of white stone, the architecture being a harmonious combination of the Medieval and Renaissance, terminating with a magnificent dome that rises from the center of the building. The interior decoration of the new Palace has had the benefit of skilled experts, and everything is in harmony with the purpose to which the building was dedicated. The great Salon de Honor is in the style of Louis XVI, while the State Dining Room is modeled after the Italian Renaissance. The main entrance, princ.i.p.al staircase, the hall and the general dining-room are of Spanish Renaissance. The Salon de Damas is decorated in modern French style. All of the other rooms that pertain to the personal equipment of the Palace, and comprise the east wing, follow the same general line of architecture and decorations, varying only in design and colors. The Palace is beyond doubt, in location, design and decoration, one of the most beautiful and interesting structures of its kind in the western hemisphere.

Work on the new capitol building, which is to replace the architectural mistake of its original founders, was begun in 1918, with the purpose of making this building the most imposing and stately modern structures of its kind in the West Indies. It will be four stories in height and cover 5,940 square meters of ground, with a floor s.p.a.ce of 38,195 square meters. Above this s.p.a.cious structure will rise a splendid dome in keeping with the architecture of the main building. One half of the building will be devoted to the use of the House of Representatives, while the other will be occupied by the Senate. It will contain offices and apartments for the Vice President, Committee halls, etc., and will be furnished with all of the conveniences and improvements of modern times. The Hall of Representatives will accommodate 133 members, and may be increased up to 218. The Senate Chamber has ample capacity for the 24 senators, with accommodations in each of these Congressional halls for visitors and the general public. Elevators will reach all floors and the interior decorations will be in keeping with the purpose to which the new Capitol Building is devoted.

During the Presidency of General Mario Menocal, work was begun on the National Hospital, which when completed, will be one of the finest inst.i.tutions of its kind in the world. The grounds are located on the northwest corner of Carlos Tecero and Belascoain Streets, occupying the eastern extension of the Botanical Gardens that adjoin the hospital grounds on the west. The location, near the center of what may be termed modern Havana, is excellent, and the work as planned will const.i.tute a very important adjunct to the maintenance of health in Havana.

The plans contemplate the erection of 32 modern buildings, constructed of white limestone and reinforced concrete. Sixteen, or one-half of these had been finished in the fall of 1918. This hospital when complete will cost approximately a million and a half of dollars, and will rank with those of the best of America and Europe. The inst.i.tution has been named in memory of General Calixto Garcia.

CHAPTER x.x.x

A PARADISE OF PALM DRIVES

To those who are fond of motoring in the tropics, the world offers no more delightful field than the Island of Cuba from the end of October until early May, with Havana as a point of departure. Some fourteen hundred kilometers or 850 miles of clean, cream colored macadamized drives stretch out to the east, south and west of Havana, each inviting the tourist or lover of nature to feast his eyes on a fascinating panorama of mountain, hill and dale; of canon, cliff and undulating plain.

Long lines of stately royal palms, of white-trunked Cuban laurel, from whose branches the glossy green leaves never fall, of cocoas, mangoes, almonds, tamarinds, and a score of others, border mile after mile of the national highways, furnis.h.i.+ng grateful shade and softened light that otherwise would try the eyes. Every turn and curve of the driveway brings change. There is no sameness of landscape, no monotony of level.

Each mile, each moment, presents something new. Expectation is seldom disappointed.

Nothing perhaps is more startlingly novel or strikingly beautiful than when, in early summer, the touring car, rounding a curve, suddenly brings to view a line of flamboyans in full bloom. Lips open in surprise, eyes fasten on what seems a forest of fire. The great banks of brilliant red and golden yellow waving in the breeze need only smoke to proclaim the roadside all ablaze. The camouflage of Nature is perfect and strangers of the tropics will bid the chauffeur pause until they can feast their eyes on this riot of color.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN AVENUE OF PALMS

The splendid highways which under the Republic have been created in all parts of Cuba have not been left as mere roadways, but have been provided with hundreds of thousands of shade trees, for the comfort of travellers as well as for the scenic beauty which they enhance. There are hundreds of miles of driveways shaded and adorned with stately palms or other trees, like that shown in the ill.u.s.tration.]

The most interesting excursions through Cuba radiate from the Capital. One of exceptional charm stretches east through Matanzas to Cardenas, a comparatively modern, well built little city of some thirty thousand souls, resting on the southern sh.o.r.e of Cardenas Bay, just a hundred miles from Havana.

One of the old colonial, solidly-built military roads leaving Havana was constructed along a comparatively straight line for 48 kilometers to the little city of Guines, located in the southeastern center of the province of Havana. The road, bridges, and culverts are built solidly of stone, while giant laurels, almonds and flamboyans on both sides of the way furnish a continuous stretch of shade beneath which the voyager travels from one end of the road to the other. This drive is over a rolling, and in places a decidedly hilly country, which relieves monotony and at the same time adds greatly to the picturesqueness of the highway. Many little villages such as San Francisco, Cotorro, Cautro Caminos, Jamaica, San Jose, Ganuza and Loma de Candela or "Hill of the Candle," are pa.s.sed between Havana and Guines. These, to the stranger are always a source of novelty and interest. From the top of the Loma de Candela, a beautiful view of the valley below spreads out towards the south. This is known as the Valley of Guines, a large part of which has the good fortune to have been brought under a rather crude but nevertheless efficient system of irrigation many years ago. The water for this irrigation comes from a large spring that, like many others in the Island, bursts from some big cavern below the surface and forms a river that eventually reaches the sea a little east of the village of Batabano, on the south coast. Some three miles from Guines the river is brought under control by a rather crude dam of cement through which it is distributed by ditches over the lands, referred to usually as the "Vegetable Garden of the Province of Havana." Here large quant.i.ties of tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, squash and Irish potatoes are grown during the late fall and winter months. The produce of this section is s.h.i.+pped to the United States as long as market prices justify, after which ready sale is found in the local markets of the capital.

From Guines another drive extends some 13 kilometers towards the northeast to the town of La Catalina on the way to Matanzas. The distance from Havana to Matanzas is shortened by a connecting link 16 kilometers in length which branches off the Guines highway at Ganuza, and runs due east through La Catalina to the town of Madruga, 63 kilometers from Havana. This section of the road follows a ridge of low hills or mountains. From Madruga the drive turns sharply to the northeast, entering the Province of Matanzas, 25 kilometers east of the border line.

The drive from Havana to Matanzas is 100 kilometers or 60 miles in length, and pa.s.ses through a section of country every mile of which brings to view charming bits of tropical scenery, together with an opportunity to see something of the life of the inhabitants in the interior of the Island. If one has time to stop, or cares to leave the main highway at Ceiba and cross the ridge of hills about a mile distant, a beautiful little valley lies below, on the other side of the divide.

The drive from Havana to Matanzas is usually made in about three hours, and, aside from the attractions furnished by the city and its suburbs spread out along the western side of the harbor, will furnish a very pleasant diversion for an early morning or late afternoon excursion.

Another of the old Spanish colonial military roads, leaving Havana through the suburb of Marianao, sweeps away towards the southwest in a comparatively straight line until it reaches the city of Guanajay, 42 kilometers distant. Here the road divides, one branch running due south to the little city of Artemisa, located in the center of the pineapple district, which furnishes a large part of the fruit s.h.i.+pped to the United States. From Havana to Artemisa, 58 kilometers, Cuban laurels, royal palms and flamboyans furnish a continuous and often dense shade throughout its entire length. In some places, for miles, the road resembles a long green tunnel pa.s.sing through foliage that arches up from the sides and meets in the center above. From Las Mangas, 7 kilometers south of Artemisa, the road swings sharply to the westward and so continues through a more open country with less shade and less traffic. There is no speed limit on the country roads of Cuba, and if the condition of the drive permits, one can skip along at a 40 or 50 mile clip between villages, with little danger of interference. This westerly drive swings on through Candelaria, 82 kilometers from Havana, where one gets the first glimpse of the long picturesque range of the Organ Mountains some five miles away to the north. These parallel the road to the western terminus of the Island.

From the village of Candelaria a short drive not over five miles in length reaches up to the base of the Ruby hills, which at this point form a perpendicular cliff several hundred feet in height, over which falls a stream of water whose volume during the winter is comparatively small, but the drop is perpendicular and the roar of the torrent during the rainy season can be easily heard at Candelaria. Just above the falls are a group of mineral springs, iron, sulphur, etc., that were once very popular, and during slavery days, which terminated in 1878, many families pa.s.sed the warm months at these baths, the ruins of which can still be seen. About four kilometers of this road to the falls is macadamized and the remainder can be negotiated readily by an ordinary carriage. A connecting link some 20 kilometers in length has been proposed to connect Candelaria with San Diego de Nunez and Bahia Honda on the north coast, but the cost of the road through the mountains may prevent its completion for some time.

San Cristobal, 10 kilometers further west, and 92 kilometers from Habana, was the terminus of one of the old military roads at the beginning of the Cuban Republic. Since this time a beautiful automobile drive has been continued out to Guane, 246 kilometers from Havana, and will soon reach La Fe and Los Arroyos, two points on the extreme western coast about 30 kilometers further on.

Nine kilometers west of San Cristobal a connecting link with the main highway has been built to the town of Taco-Taco, about a mile and a quarter distant on the railroad, with another branch 7 kilometers in length running due north to the foot of the mountains. This road will be built straight across the Organ Range, through Rangel and Aguacate, to Bahia Honda on the north coast, pa.s.sing the old time "cafetales" or coffee plantations of Pinar del Rio, and also through some of the rich mineral zones of that region. The uncompleted link is only about 20 kilometers but is over a rather difficult mountainous country.

At the 117th kilometer post a highway of six kilometers connects with the town of Palacios on the Western Railway, while at the 123rd, still another branches south to Paso Real with a northern extension that reaches San Diego de los Banos, 9 kilometers distant. This road too, will eventually cross the mountain range and connect with Consolacion del Norte, whence the road has already been completed to Rio Blanco on the north coast, 9 kilometers away.

The drive from the main line to San Diego de los Banos is through an extremely picturesque country of hill and dale, and the village itself is well worthy of a visit. Like the Candelaria Springs, the San Diego Baths have long been famous, and the latter still continue to be so. The springs of hot and cold water impregnated with sulphur, iron and other minerals are said to have valuable medicinal qualities.

From the cross roads at the 123rd kilometer the main trunk-line pa.s.ses through a series of low hills, but with grades so reduced that motors have no difficulty in negotiating them. From the town of Consolacion, 151 kilometers from Havana, one enters the eastern border of the celebrated Vuelta Abaja tobacco district that lies spread out on either side of the driveway. On either side are low hills with gentle slopes and little oases or "vegas" of land that are not only rich, but contain that mysteriously potent quality which from time immemorial has produced the finest tobacco in the world.

Pinar del Rio, the capital of the province, is located at the 172nd kilometer and forms a center from which five different automobile drives radiate. The western line, which may be considered as an extension of the main highway, will eventually connect San Antonio, the western terminus of the Island, with Cape Maisi in the east, 800 miles away.

This road to the northwest soon enters the mountains, through which it pa.s.ses many rises, falls and unexpected turns, bringing into view a picturesque country, rugged but not forbidding. At kilometer 200, a point known as Cabezas or "the Head," the drive turns at a right angle and sweeps down towards the plain below, terminating at Guane, 246 kilometers from Havana, on the western edge of the celebrated Vuelta Abajo. A shorter line between Pinar del Rio and Guanes, pa.s.sing through San Juan y Martinez, is under process of construction. The latter city is located in the western center of the Vuelta Abajo district.

From this city, a modern little place of some 12,000 or 15,000 inhabitants, another branch of the trunk line, 25 kilometers in length, pa.s.ses through a level country until it reaches La Paloma, a landing place for coasting vessels and light draft steamers of the Caribbean Sea.

From the capital of the Province due north a line 52 kilometers in length has been built straight across to La Esperanza on the north coast, a little fis.h.i.+ng village located on the bay formed by the outlying islands some six miles from the mainland. The road ascends by comparatively easy grades to a height of some 1800 feet, where the top of the ascent is reached. Here the line takes a sharp curve to the east, bringing suddenly into view, as Rex Beach exclaimed: "The most picturesquely, dramatically beautiful valley in the world!" This strangely hidden mountain recess or park is known as the Valley of Vinales, and forms part of a strange basin, that has been carved out of the heart of the Organ range by erosion, leaving a quiet gra.s.s covered, flat bottomed basin 2,000 feet below the top of the ridge from whose level surface strange, round topped limestone hills are lifted perpendicularly to an alt.i.tude of 2000 feet. A small stream courses through the rich gra.s.s that carpets the floor, and one lone picturesque little village, with houses of stone and roofs of tile, nestles in its center. The inhabitants of the place seem absolutely content with its quiet charm and seldom see anything of the outside world, except as represented by the occasional tourist, who sweeps through with his car, stopping for a moment perhaps for some simple refreshment, and then on, through the narrow gap between the towering "magotes" that form the northern wall of the valley. Here the road suddenly swings to the west, following the foot of the mountain which towers above for a few kilometers, whence it again turns north, and pa.s.ses out into the comparatively barren pine covered hills that continue on through San Cayetano until the gulf coast is reached at La Esperanza.

In returning after a rather primitive fish breakfast which can be had at La Esperanza, it is worth one's while to pause for a moment in front of the little country school, on the west side of the road, just before the Valley is entered from the north, and there to secure a child guide, whom the courteous professor will indicate, and with the services of this little pilot you may find the reappearing river, a stream that slips under the base of the mountain within the valley, and reappears from a picturesque, cave-like opening on the other side. The stream is only a few yards in width, with the water clear as crystal and very pleasant to drink.