Under the Ram's Hull. that his attempt to surprise the "Albemarle's" crew had miscarried. Not to be deterred from his desperate purpose, he set fear at defiance and pushed his little boat ahead until his progress was arrested by the logs that surrounded the vessel. A volley of musketry from the ram riddled the launch but did not arrest its progress. A torpedo was A Torpedo Exploded attached to a long spar that was run out from the bow of the launch, and by parting the logs the boat was brought within a dozen feet of the "Albemarle's" sides, permitting Cushing to drop the torpedo, which was then brought against the hull of the now fated vessel, where it was promptly fired and with such effect that the bottom of the "Albemarle" was torn for a distance of fifty feet, and she settled quickly. Of the fourteen volunteers who accompanied Cushing, ten surrendered to the Confederates as the launch was fast on the logs, but the heroic commander, and John Woodman, acting master's mate, threw off their clothes and jumped into the water. They were fired upon by many of the shore guards, but were favored by the darkness and swam down the steam for a distance of half a mile without being once hit, though the bullets struck all around them. Woodman, less expert than Cushing, was unable, however, to gain the shore, and sank beneath the murky water, but Cushing succeeded in gaining the bank and hid himself in a swamp until morning, when he found refuge in a negro's hut and later put off in a skiff to the Union fleet in the sound, where he was joyfully received. For his heroic act Cushing received a vote of thanks from Congress and was promoted to be lieutenant-commander, but shortly after the close of the war he was seized of a brain malady that destroyed his mind, which soon led to his death. STRANGE CUSTOMS OF OUR WEST INDIES NEIGHBORS. S BY AN AMERICAN PORTO RICAN. INCE the achievement of Cuban Independence, through United States intervention, and the acquisition of Porto Rico as a war indemnity, the habits, beliefs and singular customs of these island people have become subjects of large interest to Americans. Though lying so near our coast as to give evidence of having at one time been a part of the North American continent, these islands are distinct in their climatic conditions and natural productions, as their inhabitants are alien, in manner, to the civilization of our country. Speaking another tongue than ours, the West Indian is characteristically foreign in everything that appertains to our customs, social, domestic and political, and years of intimate intercourse will be required to accomplish their assimilation with the American people. A few of their remarkable habits here given will suffice to justify this conclusion : Coffins are rented by the day in Cuba and Porto Rico. When a member of a family dies, one of the relatives or a friend goes to a "Casa de Funebras," or public undertaker, and enters into negotiations for a coffin. He does not buy it, but stipulates for the temporary use. The age and height of the late lamented are given, particulars arranged for certain trimmings, and as many mutes as the family purse will permit are engaged. The price charged ranges from five dollars to twenty, according to the size of the coffin, the decorations and the number of mourning mutes. Burials must take place within twenty-four hours of death under penalty of a heavy fine. Horses are seldom used, save by the wealthy. When the time set for the funeral arrives, a short service, which the immediate family does not attend, is held; then the coffin is lifted upon the shoulders of four mutes, who are generally clad in white trousers, long black coats, ancient silk hats and high collars. Huge bouquets of artificial flowers are worn in the buttonhole, but in many cases the coffin-bearers are barefooted. At a word given by the master of ceremonies, also furnished by the undertaker, the procession starts for the cemetery, which may be three or four miles distant. The spectacle furnished by four grotesque negroes swaying and lurching through the uneven streets under the burden of a broad, shallow, black-draped coffin, and the thin line of native friends and mourners following in the rear, all puffing away at cigarettes or chattering gayly over some mot of the day, is remarkable. Haste seems to be the main object. At times the procession moves at a trot, never at less speed than a rapid walk. Spectators uncover as the coffin passes, and some make the sign of the cross. The followers lessen as the cemetery is neared, and when the grave is reached there are seldom more than three or four besides the paid mourners. The grave is deep, and at the bottom is a thin layer of quicklime. The body, robed in tawdry finery, is taken from the coffin and literally dumped in. More lime is used, then the mutes return to their employer with the coffin. Every Cuban and Porto Rican cemetery is surrounded by immensely thick walls containing rows of niches. These niches are sold to the wealthy for five years, the price ranging from forty to two hundred dollars, according to the situation. When a body is placed inside a niche the opening is bricked up and plastered. Then the services of a cemetery "artist" are secured, and a suitable inscription painted upon the white plastered end. At the conclusion of five years the niche must be paid for again, or the remains will be removed to the common burying corner. Visitors to our new possessions will find a multitude of other queer trades. In fact, almost every trade or profession is conducted differently from the methods pursued in the United States. Beggars Beggars Ride on ride on horseback and block your way upon a crossing to Horseback. importune you for a peseta. One day recently, while riding in Santiago de Cuba, I noticed a wee native boy following me upon a sorry-looking burro. As I passed the Plaza de Armas another boy similarly mounted fell in behind. Near the cathedral still another joined the procession. As I spurred up I heard a clattering in the rear and noticed that my escort was plying. whips in an effort to keep up. Reining in near the Administration Building, I asked them what they wanted. "To hold your horse, senor," they replied in chorus. They would have followed me ten miles for the sake of earning a fivecent piece. Carried a Piano on Their Heads. One of the officers on General Guy V. Henry's staff in San Juan, Porto Rico, rented a house in the pretty little capital, and sent for his family. A brother officer, ordered home, sold him his furniture, and the moving was placed in the hands of a native hanger-on about the palace. The following morning the staff officer went to his new abode to receive the furniture. It arrived as he reached the house. Coming down the narrow street he saw a strange procession consisting of twelve or more men. The first six were carrying a piano perched upon their heads, and each of the others "toted" a chair or a washstand. A moment later another procession came in sight. There were two heavy iron beds, each borne by three men, an immense dresser, under which tottered two natives, and finally several boys bearing sundry culinary articles and a few odds and ends. "Heavens and earth, man," exclaimed the officer, aghast, "you have engaged a battalion. For goodness' sake, what's the bill ?" "Doce reales, senor," was the calm reply. "One dollar and twenty cents in American money." Accomplishment. The Americans living in Cuba, at least that part embraced in the province of Santiago de Cuba, claim that only one thing worth eating is cooked there. It is the bread. Cuban bakers excel in making rolls. There is little variety, but what they bake is first. Cuban Bakers' Only class. Bakers work at night, and long before the sun appears, the bread vender is crying his wares in the street. He does not travel in a four-wheeled wagon, emblazoned with the name of his employer, but carries the rolls, each neatly wrapped in a leaf or husk, in baskets suspended from the sides of a burro. The vender's melodious cry, "Pan fresa-a!" is the aların clock that wakens half the city. There are two new and rather peculiar trades in Santiago de Cuba at present, trades which are the direct outcome of the American occupation. They are the selling of alleged curios and pawned articles, and the shining of shoes. An American cannot walk three blocks in the ancient capital without being accosted by some native who has a wonderful curio for sale. They approach you with a mysterious air, and after a few commonplace remarks about the weather and the mortality of the city, hint that you may be able, in return for a ridiculously small sum, to obtain possession of the most remarkable article ever discovered in the province. If you are new and inexperienced you confess your interest. You are conducted down some narrow unpaved street to an adobe "shack" and invited to enter. Your Yankee contempt of the native forbids fear, and you are soon looking at the wonderful curio. It may be a bit of an American shell, a splinter of wood from the "Merrimac's " foretop mast, a stone from Morro Castle, or a bone from the "Vizcaya's" collection of human remains, but you can rest assured that, in nine times out of ten, it is a fake and a snare. Shortly after my arrival in Santiago I was shown a dried, wrinkled object, which the curio sharp insisted was a human ear. It certainly resembled that appendage in a way, and I hastened to ask whose particular ear it was. Sampson's Ear for Sale. "It once was part of an illustrious American general," the man replied solemnly. "An American general?" I gasped. "Who?" "General Sampson, senor. It very cheap. I sell it for twenty-five dollars." Bootblacks in a Barefoot City. The evolution of the bootblack in Santiago de Cuba is rather interesting. The genus did not exist prior to the war, as the Spanish military officers and the citizens wore white canvas shoes, which were attended to by the house servants. It was not long after the occupation of the city by the Americans, however, that several of the street Arabs-as shrewd in their way as their Yankee prototype-began to discover that the newcomers liked to have their shoes polished. A good-natured soldier constructed a box with the appropriate foot-rest and contents, and started one of the boys in business. He did not hold the monopoly more than one day. Within forty-eight hours the vicinity of the clubs and the Café Venus swarmed with half-clad youngsters eager to earn an American dime. They picked up English in a remarkably short space of time, and they even went the American bootblack one better by varying their request according to the color of the prospective customer's shoes. If the color was tan, they would invariably say, "Meester! Care for shoe brown?" A refusal was met with a choice collection of profane words learned from the army teamsters, but uttered in such whimsical English that it was impossible to show anger. Hokey-Pokey of a New Kind. The "hokey-pokey" of Cuba and Porto Rico is a liquid. It consists of a sweetened, unfermented liquor, made from a plant, and is as much a delight to the native youngster as the Italian microbe-bearing icecream is to the American boy. The "fresca," as it is called, is vended from gaily decorated carts, and the huckster announces his presence in a street by sounding sonorous blasts upon a cow's horn. After the manner of such men in all climes, he usually frequents the vicinity of the schools. It is a sad commentary on human nature when the purity of the milk of commerce is only accepted when the cow delivers it in person. That is the peculiar condition of affairs in our new possessions. The good housewife of Cuba and Porto Rico insists on seeing the cow milked at her door. Hence it is no unusual spectacle to find the narrow street obstructed by a collection of bovine animals, one of which is being industriously robbed of its milk by a native dairy Cows Deliver Their Own Milk. man. In this operation a calf plays no unimportant part, it having been found by experience that the mother cow will surrender her store more easily when the calf is given the first chance. There are not many dairy farms in the islands, and butter is almost unknown. In fact, the Spanish |