statements, official and semi-official, and on the other side, Cuban
statements no less partisan. The facts appear to support the Cuban
argument. In spite of the severe restrictions and the heavy burdens, Cuba
shows a notable progress during the 19th Century. Governors came and went,
some very good and others very bad. There were a hundred of them from 1512
to 1866, and thirty-six more from 1866 to 1899, the average term of service
for the entire number being a little less than three years. On the whole,
the most notable of the group of 19th Century incumbents was Don Miguel
Tacon, who ruled from June 1, 1834, until April 16, 1838. His record would
seem to place him quite decidedly in the "reactionary" class, but he was a
man of action who left behind him monuments that remain to his credit even
now. One historian, Mr. Kimball, who wrote in 1850, describes him as one
in whom short-sightedness, narrow views, and jealous and weak mind, were
joined to an uncommon stubbornness of character. Another, Mr. M.M. Ballou,
says that "probably of all the governors-general that have filled the post
in Cuba none is better known abroad, or has left more monuments to his
enterprise, than Tacon. His reputation at Havana (this was written 1854) is
of a somewhat doubtful character; for, though he followed out with energy
various improvements, yet his modes of procedure were so violent that he
was an object of terror to the people generally, rather than of gratitude.
He vastly improved the appearance of the capital and its vicinity, built
the new prison, rebuilt the governor's palace, constructed a military road
to the neighboring forts, erected a spacious theatre and market house,
arranged a new public walk, and opened a vast parade ground without the
city walls, thus laying the foundation of the new city which has now sprung
up in this formerly desolate suburb. He suppressed the gaming houses and
rendered the streets, formerly infested with robbers, as secure as those of
Boston or New York." Another writer, Mr. Samuel Hazard, in 1870, says: "Of
all the governors who have been in command of the island Governor Tacon
seems to have been the best, doing the most to improve the island, and
particularly Havana; making laws, punishing offences, and establishing some
degree of safety for its inhabitants. It is reported of him that he is
said, like the great King Alfred, to have promised the Cubans that they
should be able to leave their purses of money on the public highway without
fear of having them stolen. At all events, his name is cherished by every
Cuban for the good he has done, and _paseos_, theatres, and monuments bear
his great name in Havana." The Tacon theatre is now the Nacional, and the
Paseo Tacon is now Carlos III. The "new prison" is the _Carcel_, or jail,
at the northern end of the Prado, near the fortress of La Punta. Don Miguel
may have been disliked for his methods and his manners, but he certainly
did much to make his rule memorable.
There is no reliable information that shows the progress of the island
during the 19th Century. Even the census figures are questioned. A reported
432,000 total population in 1804 is evidently no more than an estimate, yet
it is very likely not far from the actual. Concerning their distribution
throughout the island, and the number engaged in different occupations,
there are no records. There are no acceptable figures regarding the
respective numbers of whites and blacks. Nor is there any record of the
population in 1895, the year of the war for independence. From the definite
tabulation, under American auspices, in 1899, showing 1,576,797, it has
been estimated that the number in 1895, was a little less than 1,800,000,
the difference being represented by the disasters of the war, by the result
of reconcentration, and by departures during the disturbance. The general
result seems to be that the population was practically quadrupled. A
somewhat rough approximation would show the blacks as multiplied by three,
to an 1899 total of 505,000, with the whites multiplied by four, to a total
of 1,067,000. Nor are there figures of trade that afford any proper clue
to the growth of industry and commerce. There are records of imports
and exports from about 1850 onward, but before that time the matter of
contraband trade introduces an element of uncertainty. An American official
pamphlet on Cuban trade carries the statement, "the ascertainment of full
and exact details of the commerce of Cuba prior to the close of Spanish
dominion in the island is an impossibility. The Spanish authorities, as
a rule, published no complete returns of Cuban trade, either foreign or
domestic. Except with regard to Spain and the United States, most of the
existing commercial statistics of Cuba, prior to 1899, are fragmentary
and merely approximative. Spain and the United States have always kept a
separate and distinct trade account with Cuba; but the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, and other European countries excepting Spain, formerly
merged their statistics of trade with Cuba in one general item embracing
Cuba and Porto Rico, under the heading of "Spanish West Indies." Since
1899, however, all the Powers have kept separate accounts with Cuba,
and the statistics of the Cuban Republic have been reasonably full and
accurate."
[Illustration: IRON GRILLE GATEWAY _El Vedado, Suburb of Havana_]
Cuba's recorded imports in 1894 show a total value of $90,800,000, and
exports show a value of $102,000,000. Writing about the year 1825, Humboldt
says: "It is more than probable that the imports of the whole island, licit
and contraband, estimated at the actual value of the goods and the slaves,
amount, at the present time, to fifteen or sixteen millions of dollars, of
which barely three or four millions are re-exported." The same authority
gives the probable exports of that time as about $12,500,000. The trade at
the beginning of the century must have been far below this. The official
figures for 1851 show total imports amounting to $34,000,000, and exports
to $33,000,000, but the accuracy of the figures is open to question. The
more important fact is that of a very large gain in population and in
production. The coffee industry, that assumed important proportions during
a part of the first half of the century, gradually declined for the reason
that sugar became a much more profitable crop. Now, Cuba imports most of
its coffee from Porto Rico. Because of its convenience as a contraband
article, there are no reliable figures of the tobacco output. Prior to
1817, the commodity was, for much of the time, a crown monopoly and, for
the remainder of the time, a monopoly concession to private companies. In
that year, cultivation and trade became free, subject to a tax on each
planter of one-twentieth of his production.
As we shall see, in another chapter, Cuba at last wearied of Spanish
exactions and revolted as did the United States, weary of British rule and
British exactions and restrictions, more than a hundred years earlier.
III
_THE COUNTRY_
Description of the physical features of a country seldom makes highly
entertaining reading, but it seems a necessary part of a book of this kind.
Some readers may find interest if not entertainment in such a review. The
total area of the island, including a thousand or more adjacent islands,
islets, and keys, is given as 44,164 square miles, a little less than the
area of Pennsylvania and a little more than that of Ohio or Tennessee.
Illustration of its shape by some familiar object is difficult, although
various comparisons have been attempted. Some old Spanish geographers gave
the island the name of _La Lengua de Pajaro_, "the bird's tongue." Mr. M.M.
Ballou likened it to "the blade of a Turkish scimitar slightly curved back,
or approaching the form of a long, narrow, crescent." Mr. Robert T. Hill
holds that it "resembles a great hammer-headed shark, the head of which
forms the straight, south coast of the east end of the island, from which
the sinuous body extends westward. This analogy is made still more striking
by two long, finlike strings of keys, or islets, which extend backward
along the opposite coasts, parallel to the main body of the island." But
all such comparisons call for a lively imagination. It might be likened to
the curving handles of a plow attached to a share, or to any one of a dozen
things that it does not at all clearly resemble. Regarding the Oriente
coast, from Cape Cruz to Cape Maisi, as a base, from that springs a long
and comparatively slender arm that runs northwesterly for five hundred
miles to the vicinity of Havana. There, the arm, somewhat narrowed, turns
downward in a generally southwestern direction for about two hundred miles.
The total length of the island, from Cape Maisi on the east to Cape San
Antonio on the west, is about seven hundred and thirty miles. Its width
varies from a maximum, in Oriente Province, of about one hundred and sixty
miles, to a minimum, in Havana Province, of about twenty-two miles. It has
a general coast line of about twenty-two hundred miles, or, following all
its sinuosities, of about seven thousand miles. Its north coast is, for
much of its length, steep and rocky. Throughout the greater part of the
middle provinces, there is a border of coral reefs and small islands. At
the western end, the north coast is low, rising gradually to the eastward.
At the eastern end, the northern coast is abrupt and rugged, rising in a
series of hills to the elevations in the interior. Westward from Cape Maisi
to Cape Cruz, on the south coast, and immediately along the shore line,
runs a mountain range. From here westward, broken by an occasional hill or
bluff, the coast is low and marshy.
Probably the best description of the topography and the orography of the
island yet presented is that given by Mr. Robert T. Hill, of the United
States Geological Survey. In his book on Cuba and other islands of the West
Indies, Mr. Hill says:
"As regards diversity of relief, Cuba's eastern end is mountainous, with
summits standing high above the adjacent sea; its middle portion is wide,
consisting of gently sloping plains, well-drained, high above the sea, and
broken here and there by low, forest-clad hills; and its western third is
a picturesque region of mountains, with fertile slopes and valleys, of
different structure and less altitude than those of the east. Over the
whole is a mantle of tender vegetation, rich in every hue that a flora of
more than three thousand species can give, and kept green by mists and
gentle rains. Indenting the rock-bound coasts are a hundred pouch-shaped
harbors such as are but rarely found in the other islands and shores of the
American Mediterranean.
"But, at the outset the reader should dispossess his mind of any
preconceived idea that the island of Cuba is in any sense a physical unit.
On the contrary, it presents a diversity of topographic, climatic, and
cultural features, which, as distributed, divide the island into at least
three distinct natural provinces, for convenience termed the eastern,
central, and western regions. The distinct types of relief include regions
of high mountains, low hills, dissected plateaus, intermontane valleys, and
coastal swamps. With the exception of a strip of the south-central coast,
the island, as a whole, stands well above the sea, is thoroughly drained,
and presents a rugged aspect when viewed from the sea. About one-fourth of
the total area is mountainous, three-fifths are rolling plain, valleys, and
gentle arable slopes, and the remainder is swampy.
"The island border on the north presents a low cliff topography, with a
horizontal sky-line from Matanzas westward, gradually decreasing from five
hundred feet at Matanzas to one hundred feet on the west. The coast of the
east end is abrupt and rugged, presenting on both the north and south sides
a series of remarkable terraces, rising in stair-like arrangement to six
hundred feet or more, representing successive pauses or stages in the
elevation of the island above the sea, and constituting most striking
scenic features. About one-half the Cuban coast is bordered by keys, which
are largely old reef rock, the creations of the same coral-builders that
may now be seen through the transparent waters still at work on the modern
shallows, decking the rocks and sands with their graceful and many colored
tufts of animal foliage."
Mr. Hill summarizes the general appearance of the island, thus: "Santiago
de Cuba (now called Oriente) is predominantly a mountainous region of high
relief, especially along the coasts, with many interior valleys. Puerto
Principe (now Camaguey) and Santa Clara are broken regions of low mountain
relief, diversified by extensive valleys. Matanzas and Havana are vast
stretches of level cultivated plain, with only a few hills of relief. Pinar
del Rio is centrally mountainous, with fertile coastward slopes." The
notable elevations of the island are the Cordilleras de los Organos, or
Organ Mountains, in Pinar del Rio, of which an eastward extension appears
in the Tetas de Managua, the Arcas de Canasi, the Escalera de Jaruco,
the Pan de Matanzas, and other minor elevations in Havana and Matanzas
Provinces. In Santa Clara and Camaguey, the range is represented by crest
lines and plateaus along the north shore, and finally runs into the hill
and mountain maze of Oriente. In the south-central section of the island, a
somewhat isolated group of elevations appears, culminating in El Potrerillo
at a height of nearly 3,000 feet. In Oriente, immediately along the south
coast line, is the precipitous Sierra Maestra, reaching its greatest
altitude in the Pico del Turquino, with an elevation of approximately
8,500 feet. Another elevation, near Santiago, known as La Gran Piedra, is
estimated at 5,200 feet. All these heights are densely wooded. From the
tops of some of them, east, west, and central, the views are marvellously
beautiful, but the summits of most are reached only with considerable
difficulty. One of the most notable of these view points, and one of the
most easily reached, is the height immediately behind the city of Matanzas,
overlooking the famous Yumuri valley. The valley is a broad, shallow bowl,
some five or six miles in diameter, enclosed by steeply sloping walls of
five to six hundred feet in height. Through it winds the Yumuri River. It
is best seen in the early forenoon, or the late afternoon, when there come
the shadows and the lights that are largely killed by the more vertical
rays of a midday sun. At those hours, it is a scene of entrancing
loveliness. There are views, elsewhere, covering wider expanses, but none,
I think, of equal beauty.
The vicinity of Matanzas affords a spectacle of almost enchantment for the
sight-seer, and of deep interest for the geologist. Somewhat more than
fifty years ago, an accident revealed the beautiful caves of Bellamar, two
or three miles from the city, and easily reached by carriage. Caves ought
to be cool. These are not, but they are well worth all the perspiration it
costs to see them. They are a show place, and guides are always available.
In size, the caverns are not comparable with the caves of Kentucky and
Virginia, but they far excel in beauty. They are about three miles in
extent, and their lower levels are said to be about five hundred feet
from the surface. The rock is white limestone, in which are chambers and
passage-ways, stalactites and stalagmites innumerable. These have their
somewhat fantastic but not unfitting names, such as the Gothic Temple, the
Altar, the Guardian Spirit, the Fountain of Snow, and Columbus' Mantle.
The place has been called "a dream of fairyland," a fairly appropriate
description. The colors are snow-white, pink, and shades of yellow, and
many of the forms are wonderfully beautiful. There are many other caves in
the island, like Cotilla, in the Guines region not far from Havana, others
in the Cubitas Mountains in Camaguey Province, and still others in Oriente,
but in comparison with Bellamar they are little else than holes in the
ground. The trip through these remarkable aisles and chambers occupies some
three or four hours.
Cuba is not big enough for rivers of size. There are innumerable streams,
for the island generally is well-watered. The only river of real importance
is the Cauto, in Oriente Province. This is the longest and the largest
river in the island. It rises in the hills north of Santiago, and winds a
devious way westward for about a hundred and fifty miles, emptying at last
into the Gulf of Buena Esperanza, north of the city of Manzanillo. It
is navigable for small boats, according to the stage of the water, from
seventy-five to a hundred miles from its mouth. Numerous smaller streams
flow to the coast on both north and south. Some, that are really estuaries,
are called rivers. Very few of them serve any commercial purposes. There
are a few water areas called lakes, but they are really little other than
ponds. On the south coast, directly opposite Matanzas, lies a vast swamp
known as the Cienega de Zapata. It occupies an area of about seventy-five
miles in length and about thirty miles in width, almost a dead flat, and
practically at sea-level. Here and there are open spaces of water or
clusters of trees, but most of it is bog and quagmire and dense mangrove
thickets. Along the coast are numerous harbors, large and small, that are
or, by dredging, could be made available for commercial purposes. Among
these, on the north coast, from west to east, are Bahia Honda, Mariel,
Havana, Matanzas, Nuevitas, Nipe Bay, and Baracoa. On the south, from east
to west, are Guantanamo, Santiago, Manzanillo, Cienfuegos, and Batabano. At
all of these, there are now cities or towns with trade either by steamers
or small sailing vessels. Among the interesting physical curiosities of
the island are the numerous "disappearing rivers." Doubtless the action
of water on limestone has left, in many places, underground chambers and
tunnels into which the streams have found an opening and in which they
disappear, perhaps to emerge again and perhaps to find their way to the sea
without reappearance. This seems to explain numerous fresh-water springs
among the keys and off-shore. The Rio San Antonio quite disappears near San
Antonio de los Banos. Near Guantanamo, a cascade drops three hundred feet
into a cavern and reappears a short distance away. Such disappearing rivers
are not unknown elsewhere but Cuba has several of them.
* * * * *
The Census Report of 1907, prepared under American auspices, states that
"the climate of Cuba is tropical and insular. There are no extremes of
heat, and there is no cold weather." This is quite true if the records of a
thermometer are the standard; quite untrue if measured by the sensations of
the human body. It is true that, in Havana, for instance, the thermometer
seldom exceeds 90° in the hottest months, and rarely if ever goes below 50°
in the coldest. But a day with the thermometer anywhere in the 80s may seem
to a northern body very hot, and a day with the thermometer in the 50s
is cold for anyone, whether a native or a visitor. There is doubtless a
physical reason for the fact that a hot day in the north seems hotter than
the same temperature in the south, while a day that seems, in the north,
only pleasantly cool, seems bitterly cold in the tropics. When the
thermometer drops below 60° in Havana, the coachmen blanket their horses,
the people put on all the clothes they have, and all visitors who are
at all sensitive to low temperature go about shivering. Steam heat and
furnaces are unknown, and fireplaces are a rarity. Yet, in general, the
variations are not wide, either from day to day or when measured by
seasons. The extremes are the infrequent exceptions. Nor is there wide
difference between day and night. Taking the island as a whole, the average
mean temperature for July, the hottest month, is about 82°, and for
January, the coolest month, about 71°. The mean for the year is about 77°,
as compared with 52° for New York, 48° for Chicago, 62° for Los Angeles,
and 68° for New Orleans. There are places that, by reason of exposure to
prevailing winds, or distance from the coast, are hotter or cooler than
other places. Havana is one of the cool spots, that is, relatively cool.
But no one goes there in search of cold. The yearly range in Havana, from
maximum to minimum, rarely if ever exceeds fifty degrees, and is usually
somewhat below that, while the range in New York, Chicago, and St. Louis
is usually from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five degrees. The
particular cause of discomfort for those unused to it, is the humidity that
prevails throughout the greater part of the year. The worst season for
this, however, is the mid-year months when few people visit the island. The
winter months, locally known as the "_invierno_," a term to be associated
with our word "vernal" and not with "infernal," are almost invariably
delightful, bringing to northern systems a pleasurable physical laziness
that is attended by a mental indifference to, or satisfaction with, the
sensation.
[Illustration: WATERING HERD OF CATTLE _Luyano River near Havana_]
The rainfall varies so widely in different parts of the island, and from
year to year, that exact information is difficult. Taken as a whole, it is
little if at all greater than it is in most places in the United States. We
have our arid spots, like El Paso, Fresno, Boise, Phoenix, and Winnemucca,
where only a few inches fall in a year, just as Cuba has a few places where
the fall may reach sixty-five or seventy inches in a year. But the average
fall in Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Santiago, is little if any
greater than in Boston, New York, or Washington. A difference appears in
the fact that about three-quarters of Cuba's precipitation comes between
the first of May and the first of October. But the term "wet season" does
not mean that it rains all the time, or every day, any more than the term
"dry season" means that during those months it does not rain at all. At
times during the winter, or dry season, there come storms that are due to
unusual cold in the United States. These are known in Cuba, as they are in
Texas, as "northers." High winds sweep furiously across the Gulf of Mexico,
piling up huge seas on the Cuban coast, and bringing what, in the island,
is the substitute for cold weather, usually attended by rain and sometimes
by a torrent of it. The prevailing wind in Cuba is the northeast
trade-wind. In summer when the sun is directly overhead this wind is
nearly east, while in winter it is northeast. The proper way to avoid such
discomfort as attends humidity accompanying a thermometer in the 80s, is to
avoid haste in movement, to saunter instead of hurrying, to ride instead of
walking, to eat and drink in moderation, and where-ever possible, to keep
in the shade. Many of those who eat heartily and hurry always, will,
after a few days, be quite sure that they have yellow fever or some
other tropical disorder, but will be entirely mistaken about it. Modern
sanitation in Cuba has made yellow fever a remote possibility, and the
drinking water in Havana is as pure as any in the world.
Most of the official descriptions of the flora of Cuba appear to be copied
from Robert T. Hill's book, published in 1898. As nothing better is
available, it may be used here. He says: "The surface of the island is clad
in a voluptuous floral mantle, which, from its abundance and beauty, first
caused Cuba to be designated the Pearl of the Antilles. In addition
to those introduced from abroad, over 3,350 native plants have been
catalogued. The flora includes nearly all characteristic forms of the
other West Indies, the southern part of Florida, and the Central American
seaboard. Nearly all the large trees of the Mexican _Tierra Caliente_, so
remarkable for their size, foliage, and fragrance, reappear in western
Cuba. Numerous species of palm, including the famous royal palm, occur,
while the pine trees, elsewhere characteristic of the temperate zone and
the high altitudes of the tropics, are found associated with palms and
mahoganies in the province of Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Pines, both
of which take their name from this tree. Among other woods are the
lignum-vitae, granadilla, the coco-wood, and the _Cedrela Odorata_
(fragrant cedar) which is used for cigar boxes and the lining of cabinet
work."
In quoting the number of native plants, Mr. Hill uses a report somewhat
antiquated. Later estimates place the number as between five and six
thousand. Flowers are abundant, flowers on vines, plants, shrubs, and
trees, tall stalks with massive heads, and dainty little blossoms by the
wayside. Brilliant flowering trees are planted to line the roadsides. Among
all the tree-growths, the royal palm is notable. Scoffers have likened it
to "a feather duster stood on end," but it is the prominent feature in most
of Cuba's landscape, and it serves many purposes other than that of mere
decoration. From its stem the Cuban peasant builds his little cottage which
he roofs with its leaves. Medicinal qualities are claimed for its roots.
From different parts of the tree, a wide variety of useful articles is
made, plates, buckets, basins, and even a kettle in which water may be
boiled. The huge clusters of seeds are excellent food for animals, and I
have heard it said, though without proper confirmation, that "a royal palm
will keep a hog." Almost invariably, its presence indicates a rich soil, as
it rarely grows in areas of poor land. The forest area of the island is not
known with exactness, and is variously estimated at from about six thousand
square miles to about sixteen thousand. The difference probably represents
the opinion of individual investigators as to what is forest. About
one-third of the total is reported as in Oriente, another third in
Camaguey, and the remainder scattered through the four remaining provinces.
A part of it is "public land," that is, owned by the central government,
but a greater part is of private ownership under old Spanish grants. Much
of it is dense jungle through which a way can be made only by hacking,
almost foot by foot. A good deal of it has already been cut over for its
most valuable timber. Most of the woods bear names entirely unfamiliar to
us. Some are used as cabinet woods, and some for tanning, for oils, dyes,
gums, or fibres.