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National Geographic : 1947 Jan
Contents
Cuba-American Sugar Bowl Since there are no protecting mountains along the coast here, cold waves, called "northers," sweep unchecked across the plains. Temperatures of 32° F. have been recorded, the lowest on record in Cuba, except in the high mountains. Cubans who have lived all their lives on the island have never seen snow. A light fall has been recorded in the mountains of Las Villas. Long after dark we reached Santa Clara, capital of the Province of Las Villas. The brilliant lights and crowded streets dazzled us after several hours of motoring through dark, lonely savannas. Vidal Park was jammed with people noisily talking and milling around the statue of Marta Abreu (Plate XV). A band blared popular rumbas, classical pieces, and American jazz. Boys and girls, dressed in their best, paraded in circles. Senoritas kept to one lane and senors to the other. It was May 20, Cuba's Independence Day. Busy Santa Clara lies almost in the geo graphical center of Cuba. Sugar, cattle, and tobacco are its principal products. Santa Clara tobacco stands next to Pinar del Rio's in quality and quantity. Next morning we window-shopped through Santa Clara's business section, which seemed like any small American city. On a side street we visited a shop where saddles were made, mostly of western cowboy style. We watched the carpenters fashion wooden trees, a foundry forge pommels, and men stamp designs on the leather in basket weave pattern. The factory was filling an order from the United States for 300 saddles. The manager learned his trade in Philadelphia and copies American saddles from an illus trated catalogue. Sister Cities Wage War Santa Clara originally was founded at Remedios in 1514. Pirates sacked it so many times that many people moved inland and founded the present Santa Clara. Bitter rivalry developed into a fratricidal war in 1690. Santa Clarans sacked Remedios and took their Spanish captives home. Remedios, off the beaten path today, has never regained its prominence. On the road to Cienfuegos we passed through a veritable canyon of aroma. For miles on either side, this impenetrable thorny thicket spread across once-rich sugar lands. "Originating in Madagascar and Africa, aroma was introduced into Cuba as an orna mental plant," we were told by Dr. Jose Al varez Conde, professor of Natural Sciences of Santa Clara Secondary Institute. "It spreads like wildfire and renders land useless for culti vation. Cut down, aroma grows even faster and thicker. Cattle eat the seeds but do not digest them; thus they spread the pest. Even wind scatters the seeds. Aroma is an ever present danger to Cuban fields. The only defense is constant cultivation and alertness on the part of the farmer." Humble Farmer, Courteous Gentleman Near Palmira we passed a model thatched cottage shaded by a giant flamboyant (royal poinciana) tree. It was so attractive and typical of Cuban country homes that we stopped to call (Plate XIX). Humble as he was, the farmer was a courte ous gentleman. He introduced us to his wife and eldest son. As the lad shook hands, he bowed and said, "Jose Ram6n, your servant." Pigs were resting in the shade of a flamboy ant on a carpet of orange petals. One son was pounding and winnowing yellow rice in a mor tar hollowed from a palm trunk. A toti, or blackbird, hovered on a near-by fence to pick up any stray grains the chickens missed. "We dry the rice on a pan in the sun, and what the toti leaves we pound and winnow," the farmer said. "Is the toti really such a thief?" I asked. "Yes, the rascal will steal anything. We have a saying when things go wrong, 'Blame the toti for that.' " As our host bowed us into his home, he said, "This is your house." Inside, the cottage was neat. Family por traits hung on the whitewashed walls. Hard packed earth was the floor. Grandmother, oblivious of us, continued her sewing in a rocking chair in the corner. Small youngsters peeked coyly through the kitchen door. Sefiora Luisa offered us coffee, and we knew then that we had been accepted as "simpatico." She ground the beans herself and served the coffee sweetened with raw sugar. It was thick but delicious. We passed a wagon and a horseman resting in the shade of a big algarroba tree. The cowboy called out "Many happinesses" as we passed. "Cows stand under algarrobas so long, wait ing for fruits to fall, that they get thin!" said Dr. Conde. "But, kidding aside, the fruits are used as feed. They are sweet, and cattle like them. Farmers believe the fruit produces more and better-tasting milk. Algar robas are planted in pastures and to shade the roads." When Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1819, Col. Luis d'Clouet came
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