Chapter I: Front Matter

SEE PAGE 78.]

EL TORO

A MOTOR CAR STORY
OF INTERIOR CUBA

BY
E. RALPH ESTEP

DETROIT
PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY
1909

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Copyright, 1909
BY PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY

Printed by
THE MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP WORKS
Buffalo

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

“Many of the mountain passes were so narrow ... that we were
forced to run with one wheel on a sloping side wall and
the other on the crest of the deepest rut,” FRONTISPIECE

“Once in awhile a good sort of winding dirt road gave promise
of speed,” 10

“Insular urchins, partly curious and partly fearful, were
half-hidden in the doorways,” 22

“Everywhere was stone.... Each mile was gained by defiant effort,” 22

“A hill like a natural stairway of great, rough limestone steps,” 28

“The clearance of an ox cart is thirty-eight to forty-eight inches,” 32

“At Jaruca, the whole town joined us at luncheon,” 32

“Through the clear rippling water of this first river the car shot
with a great splurge,” 36

“We drove under the everlasting palms and among boulders half-hidden
in the luxuriant grass,” 44

“On these ruts we tore tires off the wheels at two miles an hour,” 56

“We enjoyed the rare experience of ‘beating it,’” 56

“Palm trees by the thousand, and, scattered among them, small ponds
made by heavy rainfall,” 62

“The car looked like some big black beast, wallowing along in
boundless marsh,” 62

“The valley became muddier and muddier,” 68

“The sun’s farewell glance spread a woven gold mantilla on the
naked shoulders of a grim, forbidding world and the motor car
sank, helpless, into the mud as if, also, its day was done,” 68

“A river would be reached by following down a tortuous pass,” 74

“We had to ford ... a fast flowing torrent set down in a gorge
... which had no path leading to a crossing of any kind,” 82

“Digging to obtain a footing for the wheels in the roughest ravines,” 90

“At last we found the promised highway,” 100

“The oldest cathedral in Cuba, weatherbeaten, but proudly rising
over the low tiled houses of the town,” 100