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CUBA PAST AND PRESENT
[Illustration: _CHRISTOPHORUS COLUMBUS LIGURINDI_.
_ARUM PRIMUS INVENTOR ANNO 1492_
_Qui rate velivola occiduos penetrauit ad indos,
Primus et Americam Nobilitavit humum.
Astrorum consultus et ipso Nobilis ausu,
Christophorus tali fronte columbus erat._
CUBA
PAST AND PRESENT
BY
RICHARD DAVEY
AUTHOR OF "THE SULTAN AND HIS SUBJECTS"
_With Illustrations and Map_.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1898
PREFACE.
Any contribution to Cuban literature cannot, if so I may call it, but
possess considerable interest at this absorbing moment. The following
pages embody the experience gathered during a visit to Cuba some years
ago, and to this I have added many facts and memoranda bestowed by
friends whose knowledge of the country is more recent than my own, and
information collected from various works upon Cuba and West Indian
subjects. I do not pretend that the book is an authoritative text-book
on Cuban matters--I give it as the result of personal observation, so
far as it goes, supplemented in the manner already indicated; and as
such I believe it will not be found lacking in elements of interest and
entertainment. Certain chapters on Columbus and on the West Indian
Manuscripts in the Colonial Exhibition have been included as an
Appendix.
The description of the youth of Columbus, the "Great Discoverer," has
never, so far as I am aware, been attempted before in the English
tongue. It appeared to me to be appropriate to a work on the island he
was the first to discover, and I have therefore included it in this
book. It is founded on original and authentic documents, discovered in
the Genoese Archives by the late Marchese Staglieno. These I have
carefully examined and verified, and to the facts therein contained I
have added others, which I have myself unearthed in the course of my own
researches in the CittA Superba.
The chapter on the Colonial Exhibition Manuscripts speaks for itself,
and my readers will be struck by the fact that the condition of the
British West Indian Colonies, at the close of the last century,
resembled in many respects not a little that of Cuba at the end of ours.
The chapter on the Bahamas, which closes the volume, has been inserted
to mark an evident contrast, and point a moral, which will hardly escape
the thoughtful reader's eye.
I cannot forbear paying here a tribute to the memory of the very
remarkable American gentleman, the late Mr George Wilkes, in whose
company I first saw the beautiful "Pearl of the Antilles." On the
important paper which he founded, the New York _Spirit of the Times_, I
worked for several very happy years, and I take this opportunity of
expressing to its present editor and to Mr Stephen Fiske, my gratitude
for much and constant courtesy, shown me ever since I left its staff.
RICHARD DAVEY.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE v
CHAPTER I. THE ISLAND 1
" II. POPULATION 14
" III. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ISLAND 39
" IV. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE REBELLION 65
" V. HISTORY OF REBELLION UP-TO-DATE 93
" VI. HAVANA AND THE HAVANESE 121
" VII. MATANZAS 148
" VIII. CIENFUEGOS 161
" IX. TRINIDAD AND SANTIAGO DE CUBA 173
" X. SOME WEIRD STORIES 193
" XI. PLANTATION LIFE 205
" XII. AN ISLE OF JUNE--A CONTRAST 224
APPENDIX I. THE BOYHOOD OF COLUMBUS 237
" II. SOME UNEDITED DOCUMENTS CONNECTED WITH
THE HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES 257
ILLUSTRATIONS.
_Portrait of Columbus_ _Frontispiece_
HAVANA _to face_ 121
MATANZAS " 148
SANTIAGO " 173
MAP OF CUBA _at end of Book_
CUBA PAST AND PRESENT
CHAPTER I.
THE ISLAND.
Cuba, "the Pearl of the Antilles" and the key to the Gulf of Mexico, is
not only the largest, but the most important and the wealthiest island
in the West Indian Archipelago. Its curious shape has been aptly
compared to that of a bird's tongue,--a parrot's by preference. From
Point Maisi, at one extremity, to Cape San Antonio, at the other, it
describes a curve of 900 miles, being, at its greatest breadth, only 120
miles from sea to sea. It is traversed throughout its Eastern province
by a range of mountains, which, according to Humboldt, continue under
the Ocean, and emerge thence in British Honduras, to receive the
somewhat unromantic appellation of the Coxcombe Chain,--another proof,
if such were needed, of the fact that, in prehistoric times, this
island, together with its numerous neighbours, formed part of the main
Continent.
The coast of Cuba, on either side beyond the range of the Sierra
Maestra, is singularly indented and irregular; and by reason of its
innumerable tiny bays, capes, peninsulas, shallows, reefs, "cays,"
promontories, and islets, presents, on the map, the appearance of a deep
curtain fringe. The surface measurement of the island is fully 35,000
square miles. In other words, it is a little bigger than Portugal, or
somewhat over a fourth the size of Spain.[1]
The Sierra Maestra range rises from the coast, out of the Ocean, with
grand abruptness, immediately opposite the sister island of Jamaica. It
here presents much the same stately and varied panorama as may be
admired on the Genoese Riviera, and, by a series of irregular terraces,
reaches the Ojo del Toro, or the "Sources of the Bull," where it
suddenly drops towards the centre of the chain, whence it sends up one
exceedingly lofty peak, the Pico Turquino, rising 6900 feet above the
sea. From this point the range diminishes in height again, until it
reaches the valley of the Cauto River, whence it runs in a straight line
to Santiago de Cuba, after which it rapidly declines in height, and
loses itself in the unwholesome Guananamo Marshes. A section of this
range is popularly known, on account of its mineral wealth, as the
Sierra de Cobre, or Copper Chain. Its principal peak, La Gran Piedra, so
called from a huge block of conglomerate perched upon its extreme
summit, is about 5200 feet high. None of the numerous peaks and crags of
the Sierra Maestra and the Cobre Ranges show the least trace of recent
volcanic eruption, although limestone is found high up among the
mountains, and alarming earthquakes are of frequent occurrence, notably
in the province of Santiago. At the eastern extremity of the island are
a number of isolated mountains, linked together by low-lying hills. Two
other ranges of hills exist, in the neighbourhood of Matanzas, and at
the back of Havana, but although they present an imposing appearance
from the seaboard, at no single point do they exceed a height of 1000
feet. The mountain ranges occupy about one-third of the island; the
other two-thirds are more or less spreading and fairly well cultivated
plains and level valleys, but even these fertile regions are broken by
lagoons and marshes, like those in the Campagna.
Until quite late in the last century, coffee and tobacco were the
principal objects of the planter's care and industry, but in 1786 the
French refugees from San Domingo persuaded the Cubans to extend their
sugar plantations, and sugar very soon became the staple cultivation of
the country. Next to sugar, tobacco and coffee are the chief products,
but cotton is also grown, but not very extensively. Cocoa and indigo
have received considerable attention lately, and maize has always been
one of the absolute necessaries of life, and may be described as the
bread of the country; cereals have no place in its husbandry, and are
imported, for the most part, unfortunately, from Spain, which country
holds a monopoly, which has had its share in bringing about the unhappy
civil war of the last three years. As the negroes and the poor whites
have rarely, if ever, tasted wheat flour, its absence is not felt by
them, but it is an absolute necessity to the upper classes and to the
foreigners. Yams, bananas, guavas, oranges, mangoes, and pineapples, are
the chief fruits cultivated for exportation. The decline in the
popularity of mahogany as a furniture wood in America and Europe--a mere
freak of fashion--has been greatly felt. It used to be a most valuable
product, and was exported in great quantities, especially to
England,--the Cuban variety being considered the finest.
The mountain regions of Cuba are extremely picturesque, but very
sparsely populated, and, for the most part, little known. Their slopes
are often covered by forests or jungles, whose rich vegetation,
constantly moistened by innumerable springs, rivulets, and heavy dews,
is rankly luxuriant. Immense mineral wealth is supposed to be hidden in
the heart of these mountains, but, though the copper mines are fairly
well worked, neither gold nor silver have yet been discovered in any
quantity, notwithstanding the ancient and persistent tradition as to
their abundance.
The entire coast of Cuba is protected, in a measure, by coralline and
rocky reefs, "cays," and muddy shallows, which stretch out into the sea
for miles. These are most dangerous, and have often, in stormy weather,
proved fatal to large vessels, as well as to small fishing craft. Some
of these banks are really fair-sized islands, covered with beautiful
vegetation, but, as a rule, they are only inhabited by fishermen, and
that merely at certain seasons of the year. In many localities the sea
is very deep quite close in-shore, and offers excellent harbours and
refuges for vessels plying on the busiest sea-road in the Western
Hemisphere. The most important of the numerous outlying islands is La
Isla dos Pinos, a famous health resort, where, for some unaccountable
reason, the pine-tree of our northern regions flourishes to perfection
amid tropical surroundings.
Every part of Cuba is supplied with fresh water. There are several
fairly broad, though shallow rivers. The Cauto, which takes its rise in
the Sierra Maestra, and flows into the sea at the mouth of Manzanillo
Bay, is about 130 miles in length, and navigable for small craft. The
only other rivers of any importance are the Sagua Grande and the Sagua
Chica. Neither of these is navigable, even for small craft, except for a
week or so at the close of the rainy season. Springs and streams of
exquisitely pure water are to be found in incredible abundance. Indeed,
the island has been described as consisting of a series of vast caverns
rising over huge reservoirs of fresh water, and the number of caves and
grottoes to be found circling over pools of limpid water is really
remarkable. In the mountains there are lovely waterfalls, amongst which
the cascades of the Rosario are the most celebrated. A number of
fair-sized lakes add considerably to the beauty of the scenery in the
interior of the island, and, what is more, they are well stocked with a
variety of fish of delicious flavour.
Cuba is phenomenally free from noxious animals and reptiles. Columbus
only found two quadrupeds of any size on the whole island--a sort of
barkless dog, the guaquinaji, possibly a racoon,[2] and a long-bodied
squirrel. Many imported domestic animals, such as the horse, the pig,
the dog, the cat, and the goat, have in the course of time run wild, and
are to be found in great numbers in the densest parts of the forests in
the interior. Our canine friend has modified himself considerably since
he first landed on Cuban soil. He has dwindled, on the one hand, into
the tiny Havanese toy spaniel, and has developed on the other into the
colossal molasso, which was constantly employed, but a few years back,
in the highly humane sport of slave-hunting. The prehistoric sportsman,
however, must, if he was an amateur of big game, have had a good time of
it in Cuba, for fossils of mastadons, elephants, hippopotami, and other
large and uncanny beasts of the antediluvian world, who have joined the
majority countless ages ago, are still constantly to be found.
Some members of the bat family grow to an enormous size, their wings
measuring from a foot to a foot and a half from tip to tip. I remember
one night, on a plantation near Puerto Principe, one of these most
unpleasant monsters flopped through my bedroom window on to the floor.
For a few moments I was convinced that I had received a visitation
either from Minerva's very own owl or from a dusky cherub.
With the sole exception of a rather long, but not particularly harmful
boa, venomous or dangerous snakes are, I was assured, not to be found
anywhere on the island. This, however, is a popular error, for in most
of the sugar plantations there dwells a small red asp, whose bite is
exceedingly dangerous. The creature may not be indigenous; he may have
come over with the first sugar-canes from San Domingo. According to the
Cubans, imported reptiles, even after a short residence on their native
soil, become innocuous, and it must be confessed that the scorpion,
which is disagreeably prominent in the island, is less hurtful here than
elsewhere. As I happen to have been bitten both by an Italian and a
Cuban scorpion, I am in a position to know something about the matter.
The Italian rascal stung me in the foot, and sent me to bed with a
frightful pain, and a fever which lasted a week. The Cuban gentleman
nipped my finger, caused me awful agony, the arm swelling up to twice
its size; but I had no fever, neither was I obliged to seek my bed. My
Cuban wound, I, remember, was rubbed with a decoction of deceased
scorpions, preserved in oil, which certainly soothed the pain, and,
further, I was plentifully dosed with Kentucky whisky. In a few hours
the suffering passed off, and, after two days of extraordinary numbness
in all parts of the body, I completely recovered. My private opinion is
that the cure was effected by the decoction of defunct scorpions, and
that no difference really exists between the poisonous qualities of the
European and the Cuban reptile.
If Cuba possesses no very obnoxious reptiles, their absence is amply
atoned for by the surprising collection of annoying insects of all sorts
and kinds. The Cuban mosquitoes must be heard, seen, and felt, before
they can be imagined. I had hitherto thought the Venetian _zanzare_
diabolical pests enough in all conscience, but, when compared with their
Cuban brethren, they stand as angels to demons. Then there are
irritating jiggers, ants, giant wasps, infernal little midges, spiders
as big as the crown of your hat, and other disreputable gentry who shall
be nameless, and who, I learn on good authority, were first imported
into our own unsuspecting continent from the West Indies. Alas! they are
with us still! In Cuba they haunt the woods and gardens, secrete
themselves in the turn-up of your trousers, and in the train of your
skirt. They soon let you know their whereabouts, I can assure you! Two
very remarkable insects deserve special mention. One is the large
"vegetable bee," a member of the bee family, condemned by nature to
carry an umbrella-shaped fungus of the _Clavara_ tribe on his back, and
the other, the superb cucullo, a monster fire-fly, who emits rays of
light from two eyes on his back and one in his breast. Three of these
creatures under a glass shade suffice to illumine a moderate-sized room,
and, if it were not for the rhythmical flickering glare produced by the
breathing of the insects, it would be easy to read by their
extraordinary glow.
The Cuban birds are identical with those found in other West Indian
islands. Among the great variety of humming-birds, only one is
recognised as indigenous to the island. All sorts of tropical fish
abound, both in the sea, in the rivers, and the lakes. On the latter,
the rather exciting sport of tortoise-hunting may be enjoyed, and the
sportsman may chance an unpleasant encounter with the dangerous, but
easily avoided cayman. Most Cuban travellers make acquaintance with the
frightful-looking, but perfectly harmless iguana, at some friend's
house, where he occasionally joins the family circle in the capacity of
prime domestic pet. As to the lizards, they are exceedingly well
represented, both in gardens and in woods, from the charming,
bright-eyed little metallic green and blue opidian, to a very large and
ugly brown old lady and gentleman--they usually go abroad in pairs--to
be met with in your walks, and which the uninitiated are apt to mistake
for a couple of miniature crocodiles. But they are simply very large and
harmless lizards, with prodigiously long Latin names. Then, too, there
is the interesting and ever-changing cameleon, and the pretty striped
flying squirrel, and the delightful little dormouse, a long-established
native of the island, well beknown, it would seem, to Christopher
Columbus and his companions, who have condescended to make special
mention of his timid, yet friendly presence.
As to the flora, it is surpassingly beautiful. I shall have occasion to
return to it at greater length, and will only say in this place that it
embraces nearly every variety of plant, flower, and fern known in the
tropical and sub-tropical zones. European fruits, flowers, and
vegetables can be easily and largely cultivated on the highest plateaux
of the Sierra Maestra.
The climate of Cuba is, for the tropics, a very tolerable one, quite
enjoyable indeed from November to the beginning of May, during which
time the heat is rarely oppressive. The summer season is extremely
enervating, and in many parts of the island actually dangerous, on
account of the excessive heat and the incessant torrents of rain, which
together create an unhealthy steaming miasma. The forests, with their
prodigious stratas of decaying vegetation, emit, especially in summer,
unwholesome malarial vapours, and the lagoons and marshes on the broads
are sometimes hidden for days at a time by a dense and deadly but
perfectly white fog. Yellow fever is said not to have made its
appearance till 1761; at any rate it is from that date only that it has
been regarded as a distinct disease indigenous to the island. The deadly
vomito nigro has often appeared in various parts of Cuba in epidemic as
well as isolated form. It rarely if ever attacks the negroes, but has
proved only too fatal to newcomers.[3] I cannot help thinking that it is
mainly due to the filthy habits of a people unacquainted with the
hygienic laws, and who do not object to have their latrines in the
middle of their kitchens, and to a general system of drainage, which,
even in the capital and in the other principal towns, is wretchedly
antiquated. Dysentery annually carries off a great number of European
colonists, especially children, and cholera very frequently decimates
the blacks and Chinese, without doing the slightest injury to the whites
among whom they live. The wholesomest parts of the island are in the
eastern provinces, where yellow fever rarely makes its appearance. This
is simply due to a healthy combination of sea and mountain breezes. The
outlying island of Pinos, already mentioned, is remarkably healthy, no
epidemic ever having been known there, and it is, consequently, a
favourite resort with the wealthier Cubans and European colonists, who
have built charming cottages amongst its fragrant pine-groves.
I am quite persuaded that Cuba could be rendered fairly healthy by
proper irrigation and drainage. The towns are nearly all without proper
drains, and the inhabitants are generally very uncleanly in their
habits, although well-managed public baths abound. Like most members of
the Latin family, the Cubans seem to have a horror of cold water, and
rarely indulge in a "tub." On the other hand, to do them justice, at
certain seasons of the year they seem never out of the sea, which is
often so warm that you can stop in it for hours without getting a chill.
However, whether they wash or not matters little, for even in the best
regulated families their hygienic habits apparently are indescribably
filthy. Add to this state of affairs the still dirtier practices of the
immense negro and coolie population, and a faint idea may be formed of
the real cause of the unhealthiness of the place. I have often wondered
that the pest did not carry off half the population. It _has_
occasionally done so, and Yellow-Jack is always seeking whom he may
devour,--generally some invalid from the United States, who has come out
in search of health, or some over-robust European emigrant. As an
illustration of the rapidity with which this fell disease overcomes its
victims, I will relate an incident which occurred during my first visit
to the island, very many years ago. On board the ship which conveyed us
from New York to Havana was a certain Senator L...., well known in New
York and Washington for his good looks and caustic wit. In his youth he
had been engaged to a lovely Cuban girl, whose parents had sternly
rejected his suit, and had obliged their young daughter to marry a
wealthy planter very much her senior. She had recently become a widow,
and our friend, who had already been to Havana to lay his fortune at her
feet, and had been accepted, was hastening back to claim her as his
bride. On our arrival in Havana we all breakfasted together, the party
including the still very handsome widow DoA+-a Jacinta. In the afternoon
the bridegroom went sketching in the market-place. Yellow-Jack laid his
hand on him, and before morning he was dead! The funeral took place on
the very day appointed for the wedding. I shall never forget the
procession. The whole of Havana turned out to witness it. The church of
the Merced, where the Requiem was sung, was so crowded that several
persons were seriously injured. The floral offerings were of surprising
beauty. All the Donnas in the town, in their thousands, accompanied the
_cortA"ge_ conveying the coffin to the port, where it was placed on an
American steamer to be taken to New York for burial. The local papers
contained many really charming sonnets and poems addressed to the
afflicted DoA+-a Jacinta, who, by the way, some time afterwards followed
her lover's body to New York, and there became a Little Sister of the
Poor.