263 CHAPTER XIV.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF MATANZAS.

~\ TATANZAS is the second city of Cuba, I\/1 coming next to Havana both in ■*■'■*" population and in wealth. It is a city of more than 50,000 inhabitants, with well-built streets, and in the suburbs the broad promenades are overhung with shade trees, which the colonial Spaniard loves. Several railways connect it with the capitaland with the towns of what was till lately the richest district in Cuba, a land of rich soil with tobacco and sugarplantations, well wateredby the numerous rivers, each with its course marked by long take a cioser look at the snore, was fired on from Point Maya, and Admiral Sampson, on hearing the reportof this occurrence, decidedto reconnoitrewitha morepowerfulforce. Accordingly,on the morningof Wednesday, April 27th, he left the blockading squadronbefore Havana, and with his flagship the New York steamed eastward along the coast to join the Puritan and CincinnatibeforeMatanzas.

It was a bright clear day, with a smooth sea and hardly any wind, an ideal day for naval gunners to makegood practice. The New York led the way towards Matanzas harbour mouth, the Puritan following her, and the Cincinnati remaining further out to seaward. The New York and the Puritan alone were a formidable force: the great armouredcruiser with her two masts fitted with several fighting-tops, her three funnels,her many quick-firers, and the six long 8-inch guns mounted in armoured barbettes; the monitor, a heavy low lying craft, her deck almost level v.ith the water,and her two pairs of 12-inch gunsmounted in revolving turrets. As they headed for the bay, work ceased in the batteries. Spadeand pick were laid asidi the Spanish gunners stood by theirpiece--, waiting to open fire. A few minutes before oneo'clock the first sh .iied. It came from the batteries on Point Maya. There was a h. a cloud of blue smoke above the low breastwork on the shore, and a moment after a tall fountain of water spurting from the sea half a milefrom the Nen V< rk showed that the shell had fallen short. ': niards had judged the disl ince badly. The flagship ivas al the moment about 6,000 yards from the battery, and ought to have le.'ii a fairly easy target, eventhough sin was under way. Still moving towards the bay, the Admiral signalled to the Puritan, which was nearer Maya, to reply, and the monitor answered with her quick-firers, the first lew shots falling short. Presently she got therange, and then she brought her big turret guns into action. Two of the enormous shells, each a thousand pounds in weight, fell close to the breastwork of the battery and exploded in a cloud of flying sand and earth. But a naval winding avenues of ''royal palms,'' the noblest of West Indian trees.

The city stands at the end of a deep curving bay. A reef of rocks forms a breakwater in front of its wharves,and the passage into this inner harbour at each end of the reef is guarded by an old Spanish fort. In the days of shortrange artillery these were the only defences of Matanzas. But modern batteries, armed with heavy rifledguns, hadbeen erected,bothon the slopes of the woodedpromontories that guarded the mouth of the bay, and on the edge of the sea below. MorilloIiattery,looking out between the headlands,crowed its fire with Maya on the right andFort RubalCaya on the left. Further in than Rubal Caya,a sandbagbattery wasbeing erected on the low ground of Punta Gorda. Thegreat depth of water at the entrance— more than a hundred and fifty fathoms— madede: by submarine mines extremely difficult. If Matanzas Bay was to be held,it must beby the batteries, assisted by torpedo boats. There was a suspicion that the United States staff might select the bay as a convenient place for landing their army for the advance onHavana, so a considerable force of Spanish troops had been concentrated at Matanzas city to resist a pos-ible attempt at invasion.

Since the second day of the war, the cruiser Cincinnati and the powerful turret-ship Puritan had been watching the place. From their position .1 few miles off the land they could see every day strong working parties on the headlands extending the earthworks and mounting guns. A torpedo boat, which ran in to