[Illustration: Havana Harbor]
Our engraving represents a view of the harbor of Havana, which is one
of the most commodious in the world, communicating with the sea by a
channel little more than half a mile in length, and from 300 to 350
yards wide; its depth varying from eight to ten fathoms. The harbor
itself is an oblong basin, surrounded by heights which usually shelter
it from the wind.
Havana is a place of considerable strength, and, besides the walls and
ditches which surround it, the city is defended by six strongholds,
called the Moro, the Cobanas, No. 4, the Atares, the Principie and the
Putna. The first and last serve to protect the entrance of the harbor,
the second is a sort of citadel and the others are so placed as to
cover the approaches by land. The line of fortification, embraces a
sort of irregular polygon of an eliptical form, the greatest diameter
of which is 2,100 yards, and the smallest 1,200 yards in extent. The
entrance between the Moro and Putna, castles is about 1,500 yards
long, and in its narrowest part 350 yards wide. In the arsenal of the
Havana, there have been built 49 ships of the line, 22 frigates, 7
packet ships, 9 brigs of war, and 15 schooners of war.
The town is built on the western side of the basin, near the channel,
on a kind of promontory. The suburbs, or _barrios esta muros_, cover
more ground and contain a larger population than the city itself, and
yet they are so intimately connected with it, that the first of the
houses in the suburban street, stands on the very edge of the
_glacis_.
The streets are narrow, crooked, and generally unpaved, but they
contain some well-built houses. There are, too, several good buildings
among the churches, one of which contains the remains of Christopher
Columbus. The other large edifices, as the Palace of the Government
(shown to the right of the engraving,) that of the commandant of the
marine, the arsenal, the post-office, and the building used for the
manufacture of tobacco, are less remarkable for their architecture
than for their solidity. Besides these, the city contains nine parish
churches; six other churches, connected with hospitals and military
orders; five chapels or hermitages; the Caza Cuna, a foundling
hospital; and eleven convents, four for women, and seven for men. The
other public establishments are the University, the colleges of San
Carlos and San Francisco de Soles, the Botanic Garden, the Anatomical
Museum and lecture rooms, the Academy of Painting and Design, a school
of Navigation, and seventy-eight common schools for both sexes. These
places of education are all under the protection of the Patriotic
Society and the municipal authorities. The charitable institutions
consist of the _Caza de Beneficiencia_, for both sexes, a
penitentiary, a Magdalen Asylum, and seven hospitals--one of them
contains a lunatic asylum. There are, besides, three theatres, an
amphitheatre for bull fights, _plaza de toros_, and several public
promenades, such as the Alameda and the Paseo Nuevo; In Turnbull's
"Travels in Cuba," published by Longman & Co., London, 1840, the city
is said to contain 3,671 houses within the walls, all built of stone;
and in the suburbs, 7,968, of various materials. The number of private
carriages for hire amounted, in 1827, to 2,651, and they are certainly
now more numerous. In the same year, the population was 122,023--the
whites were 46,621; the free negroes, 15,347; the free mulattoes,
8,215; the negro slaves, 22,830, and the mulatto slaves 1,010.
Turnbull, speaking of the _Real Caza de Beneficencia_, says: "Girls
are not admitted to the institution after 10 years of age; and, being
entirely supported there, they are completely separated from their
parents and their families, until the time of their final removal from
the establishment has arrived. They are taught the various branches of
needle-work and dress-making, and receive such other instruction as
may sufficiently qualify them for becoming domestic servants,
housemaids, cooks or washerwomen. They are not suffered, by the
regulations, to remain in the house after the age of twenty-one: but,
before that time, it is the duty of the _junta_, or committee of
management, to endeavor to procure employment for them earlier in a
private family or in some house of business. Should the circumstances
of the parents have improved during the stay of their daughter at the
institution, they are not suffered to take her away until they have
paid her previous board and education at the rate of fifteen dollars a
month; but if the girl herself has acquired property by inheritance,
or is able to improve her condition by marriage or otherwise,
independent of her parents, she is suffered to leave the house without
any payment; and, in the event of her marriage to the satisfaction of
the junta, a little dowry is provided for her, amounting to $500, from
a fund created from prizes in the lottery, the produce of tickets
presented to the institution. Six such marriages had taken place, and
dowries bestowed from this fond in the course of a single year." This
lottery business shows the spirit of gambling so largely developed in
nations of Spanish descent. The Mexicans are noted for it, and Santa
Ana, who spent his exile in Cuba, and recently sailed from Havana for
Vera Cruz, indulged in the propensity to a great extent. But he had
two strings to his bow, and whilst playing his fighting cocks was also
playing for an empire, and has won the game. How long he will hold it
remains to be seen.
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[Illustration: HUMOUROUS]