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Poverty had been common in Matanzas, even before the war, but now there were so ars in the city that nobody undertook to count thean to pour in by the thousands, and when it became apparent that the Government intended to let them starve, the better citizens undertook an effort at relief; but tih Moreover, it soon transpired that the anized charity, and in consequence the new-comers were, perforce, abandoned to their own devices These country people were dumb and terrified at the misfortunes which had overtaken them; they wandered the streets in aiht next befall They were not used to begging, and therefore they did not often i they asked for work, for bread, that their little ones ht live Work, however, was even scarcer than food, and the time soon came when they crouched upon curbs and door-steps, hopeless, beaten, silently reproachful of thoseand hollow; their outstretched hands grew gaunt and skinny The sound of weeping wo to hear

In the suburbs, just within the ring of guardian forts, an "area of cultivation" was set aside, and here the prisoners put up huts of yagua--coh, perhaps, in fair weather, but sadly ineffective against wind and rain Here, housed with hunger and crowded together in indescribable squalor, they dwelt, seeking comfort in their common wretchedness Since they had no far this ground apportioned to their use, it rerier day by day Outside the lines there were yams, potatoes, edible roots and such, for the Spaniards' work of desolation had not been quite complete, and no hand can rob the Cuban soil of all its riches; but the pacificos were not allowed to leave the city

Fish were plentiful in the harbor, too, but to catch theuard with ready rifles and bared h the filthy reconcentrado quarter guerrillas drove pack- the ht to seek food surreptitiously Sohastly reminders at the ends of ropes; this, indeed, was a favorite ith thes and cats became choice articles of diet, until they disappeared The Government did supply one quality of food, however; at intervals, it distributed yucca roots But these were starchy and alrew pinched in liely Matanzas becarotesquelybodies, but with faces old and sick