itas mountains near this spot that the Cuban insurrectionists
had what they called their independent civil government for some time
prior to the intervention of the United States, and secreted their
cattle and raised fruit and vegetables to supply food for the "Army of
Liberation," we guessed that this might be one of the places then put
under cultivation. It certainly had had very little recent care.

After journeying past some chalk-white cliffs, which we examined with
interest, we entered the mountain pass which we supposed would take us
through the town or village of Cubitas, the one-time Cuban capital. The
way was somewhat rough and rugged, but not very steep. The mountains
were covered with trees and we had no extended view in any direction.
All at once, at about 10:30 a.m., we suddenly and unexpectedly emerged
from the pass, when the shut-in forest view changed to a broad and
sweeping prospect into the interior of Cuba. What we looked down upon
was an immense savanna, stretching twenty miles to the front, and
perhaps more on either hand, broken in the distance on all sides by
hills and lofty mountains. It was a beautiful sight, particularly for us
who had been shut in by the forest most of the time for months. The
savanna was dry, but in places showed bright green stretches that were
restful to the eye. It was dotted with thousands of small palm trees,
which were highly ornamental. We could not see Puerto Principe, nor did
we catch sight of it until within three miles of the city. There was no
town or village in sight, and not even a shack, occupied or unoccupied.
The view embraced one vast plain, formerly used for grazing purposes,
but now wholly neglected and deserted. We did not then know that we were
to walk seventeen miles across this savanna before seeing a single
habitation of any sort.

We had seen nothing of the village of Cubitas, and concluded that we had
taken the wrong pass. We were afterwards told that Cubitas consisted of
a single shack which had been used as a canteen. Whether the Cuban
government occupied this canteen, or one of the caves which are said to
exist in these mountains, I cannot say. The revolutionary government,
being always a movable affair, was never easy to locate. It was,
however, secure from harm in these mountains. We noticed later that the
natives seemed to regard all the scattered houses within a radius of
half a dozen miles from this part of the mountains as forming Cubitas.