Our War with Spain for Cuba's FreedomWhite, Trumbull
History
Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom
White, Trumbull
Cuba -- History; Spain -- Foreign relations -- United States; Spanish-American War, 1898; United States -- Foreign relations -- Spain
Here the tourist enters his name in the visitors' register, pays
his dollar, and follows the boy guide down the stairs into the
cave. About one hundred and fifty feet from the entrance a small
bridge is crossed, and the "Gothic Temple" is reached. The only
light comes from a few scattered lanterns, and is consequently
very obscure, but one can see the millions of crystals, the
thousand weird forms, and realize that it is surpassingly
beautiful. The temple is about two hundred feet in length and
seventy feet in width, and while it does not equal in size or
solemn grandeur the temple of the same name in the Mammoth cave of
Kentucky, it greatly excels it in the richness and splendor of its
crystal formations and beautiful effects.
The spectator possessed of strongly developed imaginative powers
cannot fail to feel himself in fairy land. From the gloomy corners
come gnomes and demons, and in the crystal shadows he sees sprites
and lovely fairies, keeping gay revel to dreamy airs, played on
invisible strings by spirit hands.
One of the most beautiful objects in the cave is the "Fountain of
Snow," a name given to one of the great pillars, called by the
natives the "Cloak of the Virgin." Others are known as "Columbus
Mantle," "The Altar," and "The Guardian Spirit."
"Who has not seen the Caves of Bellamar has not seen Cuba."
UNDER NATURE'S DOME.
One of the most vivid pieces of descriptive writing, referring to
the beauties of Cuban skies, is from the pen of James M.
Phillippo:
"The splendor of the early dawn in Cuba, as in the tropical
islands in its vicinity, has been referred to. The whole sky is
often so resplendent that it is difficult to determine where the
orb of day will appear. Small fleecy clouds are often seen
floating on the north wind, and as they hover over the mountains
and meet the rays of the sun, are changed into liquid gold and a
hundred intensely beautiful dyes more splendid than the tints of
the rainbow. During the cooler months, the mornings are delightful
till about ten o'clock, the air soon after dawn becoming agreeably
elastic, and so transparent that distant objects appear as if
delineated upon the bright surface of the air; the scenery
everywhere, especially when viewed from an eminence, is
indescribably rich and glowing; the tops of the rising grounds and
the summits of the mountains are radiant with a flood of light,
while the vapor is seen creeping along the valleys, here
concealing the entrance to some beautiful glen, and there
wreathing itself fantastically around a tall spire or groves of
palm trees that mark the site of a populous village.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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