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- Herausgeber: Krill Press
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
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Seitenzahl: 655
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
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THE HISTORY OF CUBA, VOL. 5
Willis Fletcher Johnson
FIREWORK PRESS
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Copyright © 2016 by Willis Fletcher Johnson
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
THE HISTORY OF CUBA: CHAPTER I THE PEOPLE OF CUBA
CHAPTER II THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CUBA
CHAPTER III THE CLIMATE OF CUBA
CHAPTER IV PROVINCE OF HAVANA
CHAPTER V PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO
CHAPTER VI PROVINCE OF MATANZAS
CHAPTER VII PROVINCE OF SANTA CLARA
CHAPTER VIII PROVINCE OF CAMAGUEY
CHAPTER IX PROVINCE OF ORIENTE
CHAPTER X THE ISLE OF PINES
CHAPTER XI MINES AND MINING
CHAPTER XII ASPHALT AND PETROLEUM
CHAPTER XIII FORESTRY
CHAPTER XIV AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER XV SUGAR
CHAPTER XVI TOBACCO
CHAPTER XVII HENEQUEN
CHAPTER XVIII COFFEE
CHAPTER XIX THE MANGO
CHAPTER XX CITRUS FRUITS
CHAPTER XXI BANANAS, PINEAPPLES AND OTHER FRUITS
CHAPTER XXII GRAPES, CACAO, AND VANILLA
CHAPTER XXIII VEGETABLE GROWING
CHAPTER XXIV STANDARD GRAINS AND FORAGE
CHAPTER XXV ANIMALS
CHAPTER XXVI STOCK RAISING
CHAPTER XXVII POULTRY: BEES: SPONGES
CHAPTER XXVIII PLACES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST
CHAPTER XXIX HAVANA
CHAPTER XXX A PARADISE OF PALM DRIVES
CHAPTER XXXI BAYS AND HARBORS
CHAPTER XXXII RAILROAD SYSTEMS IN CUBA
CHAPTER XXXIII MONEY AND BANKING
CHAPTER XXXIV PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
CHAPTER XXXV OCEAN TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER XXXVI AMERICAN COLONIES IN CUBA
The History of Cuba, vol. 5
By
Willis Fletcher Johnson
The History of Cuba, vol. 5
Published by Firework Press
New York City, NY
First published circa 1931
Copyright © Firework Press, 2015
All rights reserved
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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PREFACE
NATURE DESIGNED CUBA FOR GREATNESS. That salient fact is written large and clear upon every page of the island’s history. He must lack vision who can not discern it even in the annals of political, military and social development of the Cuban nation. Although one of the earliest lands in the Western Hemisphere to be discovered and colonized, it was actually the last of all to be erected into political independence and thus to enter into an opportunity for improving fully the incomparable opulence of its natural endowment. No land ever shows of what it is capable until it is permitted to do so for its own sake and in its own name.
During the long and tedious centuries of Spanish domination, therefore, the resources of Cuba remained largely latent. That is to be said in full view of the notorious fact that the island was openly declared to be “the milch cow of Spain.” In those two facts appears perhaps the most impressive of all possible testimonies to the surpassing richness of the island. If while it was a mere colony, only partially developed and indeed with its resources only in part explored and imperfectly understood, and with the supreme incentive to enterprise denied it—if in these unfavorable circumstances, we say, it could be a source of so great revenue to Spain and in spite of thus being plundered and drained could still accumulate so considerable a competence for its own people, what must its material opulence prove to be under its own free rule, with every advantage and every encouragement for its full development according to the knowledge of Twentieth Century science?
We need not be fanciful or visionary if we believe that some important purpose was subserved in such withholding of Cuba from complete development until so late a date. Her neighbors went on ahead, developing their resources, and passing through all the political and social vicissitudes of which colonial and national experience is capable, inevitably with a great proportion of sheer loss through ill-directed experimentation. Cuba on the contrary remained held in abeyance until in the fulness of time she could profit from the experience and example of others and thus gain her development at a minimum of effort and expense and with a maximum of net profit.
The beneficent design of nature, to which we have alluded, is to be seen, moreover, in the inherent conditions of insular existence. No other great island of the world is so fortunate in its geographical placing, either strategically or climatically, nor is any other comparable with it in topography and material arrangement and composition. It lies midway between the two great continents of the Western Hemisphere, within easy reach of both across landlocked seas, where it receives the commerce of both and serves as a mart of exchange between them. Similarly it lies between the Temperate Zone and the Torrid Zone, so as to receive at its very doors the products of each and of both, the products, that is to say, of all the world. Nor is it less significant that it lies directly upon the line of commerce and travel not only between North and South but equally between East and West, on the line of passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific and between the lands which border the one and those which occupy the shores of the other. Such strategic position—the strategy of commerce—is unique and incommensurable in value.
Equally beneficent is the climatic situation of Cuba. Mathematically lying just within the tropical zone, it in fact enjoys a temperance of climate surpassing that of the temperate zone itself. It has all the geniality of the regions which lie to the south of it, so that it can produce all the fruits of the sultry tropics in profusion throughout a year-round season of growth; yet it escapes the oppressive and enervating heat which makes life in those lands burdensome to the visitor and indolent to the native. It has the comfort and the tonic properties of northern climes, yet without the trying and sometimes disastrous fluctuations and extremes which too often there prevail. As a result, Cuba can produce, if not always in fullest perfection yet with a gratifying degree of success, practically all the vegetable life of the world, from that which thrives close to the Arctic Circle to that which luxuriates upon the Equator.
In coastal contour, and thus in profusion of fine harbors, Cuba enjoys preeminence among the countries of the world. In varied contour of mountain, valley and plain, in endowment with springs and rivers, she is conspicuously fortunate. The often quoted tribute which her first discoverer paid spontaneously to her magic beauty has been repeated and confirmed uncounted times, with a deeper significance as it has been found that the beauty of this island is not merely superficial but intrinsic, and that Cuba is as hospitable to the interests and welfare of the visitor and resident as she is fair to the passing eye.
It is a grateful task to dwell in these pages upon the varied and opulent resources of the island, in all the natural conditions of the mineral, the vegetable and the animal kingdoms. We shall see that the hopes and dreams of the early conquerors, of rich mines of gold, have been far more than realized in other ways which they knew not of. The mines of what they regarded as base metals, and of metals unknown to them, are richer far than they ever hoped deposits of the “precious” metal to be, while the products of forests and plantations are immeasurably richer still. Today Cuba stands before the world a Treasure Island of incomparable worth even in her present estate, and of an assured potentiality of future opulence which dazzles the imagination.
We shall see, too, most grateful and inspiring of all, how at last the people of Cuba have come into their own and are improving the vast endowment with which nature has so bounteously provided them. It has been only since they gained their independence that they could or would do this; the result being that a score of years have seen more progress than the twenty score preceding. Indeed we may say that the great bulk of this progress has been achieved in the last six or seven years, the earlier years of independence being unfortunately marred with untoward circumstances of dissension and revolt which held in check the progress which the island should have made. But with the final establishment of a government capable of fulfilling all its appropriate functions, the advance of Cuba has been and is to-day swift and unerring.
The taking advantage of natural conditions and resources through scientific applications, the organization and administration of such governmental institutions as best conduce to the security, the prosperity and the happiness of a self-governing people, are agreeable themes to contemplate and are profitable to study. We shall see how agriculture, mining, manufactures and commerce have been promoted in both extent and character. We shall see how all parts of the island realm have been made accessible, for business or for pleasure, with railroads and a marvellous system of highways for motor vehicles. We shall learn of the sanitation of what was once a pestilence infested land until it has become one of the three or four most healthful in the world.
We shall see, too, the practical creation and universal development of a scheme of free popular education which to-day gives to what was within the memory of living men one of the most illiterate of countries such school facilities as scarcely any other can surpass. If we were writing in this volume of some long-established Commonwealth, with many generations, perhaps centuries, of progress and culture behind it, we should not be able to restrain our admiration of much that has been accomplished. When we consider that we are writing of a land that suffered nearly four centuries of repression and oppression, followed by a dozen years of devastating strife, and less than twenty years ago began to live the free life of a sovereign people, we are entranced with amazement at the memory of what Cuba has been, with appreciation of what she is, and with the assured promise of what she is to be.
It was a fascinating task to trace the story of her existence in its many phases, largely of vicissitude, from the days of Diego Velasquez to those of Mario Menocal. But that after all was a record of what has been, of what has largely passed away. More welcome is it to contemplate what Cuba actually is, in present realization and achievement, and to scan with sane and discriminating vision the prospect of what she may be and what, we may well believe with confidence, she will be. It is to reveal the actual Cuba of to-day, and to suggest the surely promised Cuba of to-morrow, that these pages are written. So far as they may seem technical and statistical, their very dryness contains a potency of suggestion surpassing the dreams of romance. So far as they may seem touched with imagination, speculation, enthusiasm, they are still based upon the practical and indubitable foundation of ascertained facts. Their aim is to present to the world an accurate, comprehensive and sympathetic living picture of the Twentieth Century Republic of Cuba, and as such they are submitted to the reader with a cheerful confidence, if not always in the adequacy of its treatment, at least in the unfailing interest and merit of the theme.
January, 1920.
WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON.
THE HISTORY OF CUBA: CHAPTER I THE PEOPLE OF CUBA
IN THE LAST ANALYSIS, OF course, the people of a country have much to do in making it what it is, or what it may be. From them must come the life, energy, character and development. They will regulate its social standing and fulfill the promise of its future. Society in Cuba, as in nearly all long settled countries, is many sided, and while resembling, more or less, that of all civilized communities, certain racial traits stand out prominently in the Island Republic.
If asked to name the most prominent or salient characteristics dominating the Cuban race, we should probably be justified in saying: unfailing hospitality, exceptional courtesy, and unmeasurable love of children.
Hospitality in Cuba is not a pose, but on the contrary is perfectly natural, having descended from a long line of ancestors, as have the beauty of eyes and teeth and color of hair. Hospitality among those of higher education, like courtesy, is tempered with good form that breeding has rendered an essential characteristic of the individual. Journeying through the rural or remote sections, it is so manifestly genuine that unless held back or retarded through diffidence or suspicion, no one can avoid being deeply impressed with the extent to which hospitality has pervaded every corner of the country.
John B. Henderson, the naturalist, in his “Cruise of the Barrera,” refers to an occasion when, after serving coffee in the house of a native family living far from contact with the outside world, a dollar had been surreptitiously given to a child; and when the guests, whom he had never seen before, were quite a mile away, the father came running breathlessly down the mountain path to return the money, which he said he could not possibly accept under any circumstances.
True courtesy, also, has kept hospitality close company in all grades of society. Among the higher ranks of scholars, statesmen and Government officials, the visitor who by chance has occasion to call on the Chief of any Department, if said individual belongs to the old type of genuine nobility, from the moment he crosses the threshold will note certain polite forms that, while never obtrusive, are always in evidence.
No word, gesture or deed will come from the host that can possibly jar the sensibilities of the visitor, no matter what his errand may be. During his stay, courtesy will seem to pervade the atmosphere, and the caller cannot help feeling absolutely at home. Upon leaving, he will be made to feel that he has been more than welcome, and even if the topic discussed or the nature of the errand has been delicate, he will realize that he has been given all the consideration that one gentleman could expect of another.
The educated Cuban is by birth, by nature and by training, a polished gentleman and a diplomat; a man who will be at ease in any position, no matter how difficult, and whose superior, socially or intellectually, is seldom found in any court, committee or congregation of men. This all prevailing trait of courtesy is also surprisingly manifest among those who have had no advantages of education, and who have been denied the wonderfully civilizing influence of travel and contact with the outside world. Nor is this trait of courtesy and self possession confined by any means to the man.
Love of children, and willingness to make any sacrifice for their happiness, are perhaps exaggerated developments of the motherly instinct. A man will be polite to you in Cuba even if he intends to sign your death warrant the next moment. A Cuban mother will yield to any caprice of her children, even although she may realize that in so doing she endangers their future. As a result, Cuban children, although lovable and affectionate, are not always well behaved or gentle mannered. Still this depends largely, as it would in any country, on the temperament and education of the mother, who in Cuba has all to do towards forming the character of the child, especially the daughter, in whose “bringing up” the father is supposed to take no immediate interest or part.
The love which parents, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, bestow on their children, no matter how many little ones may compose the family, or how small the purse which feeds them, is proverbial. No child, even of a far removed relative, is ever permitted to enter an institution of charity if it can be avoided, but will find instead an immediate and hearty welcome in the family of a man who may not know at times where to look for money for the next day’s meal.
The original stock from which sprang the natives of Cuba, and from which many of their traits undoubtedly came, reverts back to the followers of Columbus, and to the old time conquerors of Mexico and the New World. These gentlemanly adventurers were mostly from the southern provinces of the Iberian Peninsula, whose blood was more or less mixed with that of the Moor, and whose chief physical characteristics were regularity of features, beauty of eyes, teeth and hair, and whose mental attributes were dominated by pride, ambition, love of pomp and ceremony, with great powers of endurance, a strong aversion to ordinary forms of labor, exceptional courtesy, and an intelligence frequently marred with almost unbelievable cruelty.
These original pioneers or soldiers of fortune in Cuba found the climate exceedingly to their liking and, after love of conquest and adventure had been tempered by increasing years, and the possible accumulation of modest means, they settled down to quiet and fairly industrious lives in the Pearl of the Antilles. From them sprang the true Cuban race, in which still remain many of the physical, moral, and intellectual traits of their ancestors.
Some of these early settlers made wives of comely Indian women, whose beauty had captured their fancy, and while the influence of the kindly, pleasure-loving “Cubenos” has not made any deep or striking impression on the race, it may account for the quite common fondness of display and love of gaiety found in the Cuban of today.
Next to the pioneers of Andalusia and southern Spain, it is probable that the introduction of French blood has influenced the Cuban type and life more than any other race foreign to the Island. Back in the seventeenth century French traders and privateers made frequent visits to Cuba, and some of them found Cuban wives, whose descendants afterward became citizens of the country. Then again, in the very first years of the nineteenth century, a large influx of French settlers, forced by revolution from Santo Domingo, fled as refugees to Cuba and made for themselves homes in Santiago and Santa Clara, whence with the increase of Havana’s distinction as the capital, many of them transferred their abiding place to that province and to Pinar del Rio, bringing with them their experience as coffee growers; this in the early part of the nineteenth century, becoming one of the most important industries of the Island.
In the province of Havana, social life and the Cuban race itself, to a certain extent, were influenced by the various officials and army officers sent there from the mother country, many of whom found wives and made homes in Havana, bringing with them the predominating traits and customs of Madrid and other cities of Central Spain, which had given them birth.
In later years, when Cuba began to obtain some prominence in the industrial and commercial world, immigrants from the mother country came to Havana in steadily increasing numbers. These were mostly from Galicia and other northern coast provinces of Spain. They were a plodding, frugal and industrious people, who, leaving a country that offered little compensation for the hardest forms of labor, found easier work and higher pay in Spain’s favorite colony.
The Gallego in Cuba, however, prefers the life of the city, in which he plays quite an important part, since beginning at the very bottom of the ladder, through patient thrift and industry, maintained throughout a comparatively few years, he often succeeds in becoming the proprietor of a bodega, the ubiquitous barber shop, the corner café, or the sumptuous hotel on the Prado.
In the commercial life of the Island, he has a serious rival in the Catalan, who, while possessed of many of the traits of the hard working son of Galicia, is perhaps his superior in establishing successful enterprises of larger scope. The Catalan seldom if ever fails in business, and in energy, persistence and keen foresight, is quite the equal of those most famous of all traders and men of commerce, the sons of Israel.
Since the capture of Havana in 1763, when some of the members of the English army, captivated by the climate, concluded to remain there permanently, a small influx of English immigrants may be traced along through the past century, but never in sufficient numbers to play a very important part in the social or economical life of the country. Nevertheless, those who came and remained as permanent residents of Cuba, brought with them the elements of courage, thrift and integrity which characterize the English colonist in all parts of the world. Strange to relate, the general rule in regard to the unconformity of the English, when living in foreign climes, does not seem to apply in Cuba.
The immigrant from Great Britain, who settled in Cuba, while leaving the imprint of his character on his descendants, has nevertheless, sooner or later, become in many respects a typical native of the country, adopting even the language, and using it as his own, while his children, bright blue eyed and keenly intelligent, are often permitted to remain ignorant of their paternal tongue. Hence it is that we frequently meet with Robert Smith, Henry Brown, Herbert Clews, Frank Godoy, Tom Armstrong and Billy Patterson, sons or grandsons of former British subjects, who would look at you in doubt and fail to comprehend if saluted with such a common phrase as “a fine day” in English. Cuba has appreciated the sterling value of the small English immigration that has come to her shores, and only regrets that there is not more of it.
Quite a large sprinkling from the Emerald Isle have become permanent residents of Cuba, and aside, perhaps, from a little trace of the original brogue, it would be hard to distinguish them from the wide awake Gallegos. The men of no race will so quickly adjust themselves to circumstances, and become, as it were, members of the family, no matter whether they settle in France, Italy, Spain, Cuba or the United States, as will the immigrants from Ireland. The Irishman brings with him, and always retains, his light-hearted, go-as-you-please and take-it-as-it-comes characteristics, no matter where he settles. More than all, the Irishman seldom makes trouble in any country but his own, and seems not only content, but quite willing, to accept the customs of his adopted country, even to the point of “running it” if opportunity offers.
Why more Italians have not settled in Cuba, a country that in many respects resembles some sections of southern Italy, is not easy to determine, although it is probably due to a lack of propaganda on the part of the Republic itself. Occasional commercial houses are found, owned by Italians who have been residents there for many years, and a few of the laboring class, seeking higher wages within the last few years, have made their homes in Havana. Marvellous opportunities in the various fields of agriculture wait the keen witted thrifty Italian in Cuba. The certainty of a competence, if not a fortune, in small stock raising and grape growing, evidently has not been brought to his attention, otherwise more would have come and settled permanently in a country with whose people, in their fondness for music, their religious and social customs, they have much in common.
Of the Germans, of whom quite a number came to Cuba within the last thirty years, a different tale is told. The Teuton who roams abroad seems to come always with a definite purpose. He is diplomatic, courteous, observing, hard working, but essentially selfish in his motives, and makes no move the object of which is not to impress on the land he visits, or in which he may become a permanent resident, every custom, tradition and practice of the Fatherland that can possibly be implanted in the country that has given him shelter or social recognition. His club, his habits, his beer, his songs, his language and his precepts of “Deutscher Ueber Alles,” are spread to the utmost of his ability. But the German has been efficient and has catered in all his commercial dealings to the customs, caprices and even to the vices or weaknesses of the people with whom he trades and comes in contact. Hence it is that, up to the outbreak of the war of 1914, Germany certainly had the advantage over every competitor for trade from the Rio Grande to Patagonia.
Strange as it may seem, although Cuba is no farther from American territory in Florida than is Philadelphia from the City of New York, there was very little immigration from the United States and almost no citizens of that country, in spite of the attractions of the Pearl of the Antilles, had apparently ever thought of making a home in Cuba, until the Spanish-American War brought an army of occupation to the City of Havana in the fall of 1898.
Following this army, as a result perhaps of favorable reports that came from the lips of returning soldiers, quite an influx of Americans, actuated by curiosity or motives of trade, came to Cuba and remained here permanently, many marrying into Cuban families, purchasing farms, or establishing branch houses and independent industries in the Island Republic. Most of these have succeeded socially and financially.
The larger part of the American settlers of 1900 came from Florida, and the Gulf States, although scattered throughout the various colonies of the Island are found people from almost every State of the Union. While the greater part of them, owing to the attractiveness and to better transportation facilities have remained in or near Havana, quite a number have settled in the Province of Camaguey, most of whom have prospered there as stock raisers and followers of agricultural industries.
The American as a rule, although of little experience as a colonizer, has nevertheless readily adapted himself to circumstances, and had made fast friends in his new surroundings. Many broad and excellent changes have been brought about by this influx of citizens from the sister Republic of the North. Most important of all was the introduction of an excellent system of modern sanitation which the Cuban has appreciated and followed with zeal. The absolute elimination of yellow fever and every other disease common to the tropics, can be placed to the credit of the country that became sponsor for Cuban Independence.
To this immigration may be attributed, also, many changes in Cuban social life, especially the gradually broadening sphere of activity among Cuban women, and the removal of some of the social barriers which from the immemorial had placed her in the position of a treasured toy, rather than that of an independent partner, and a responsible unit in the game of life.
The impress of American influence on education, too, has been very great, since almost the first move of the military forces that took charge of the Island’s affairs with the exit of Spanish authority was to establish in Cuba a public school system, and modern ideas of education.
To the American farmer and fruit grower of Florida was due also the introduction of the citrus fruit industry, and the growing of vegetables on a large scale for the northern market, and while these enterprises are still, to a certain extent, in their infancy, many millions of dollars have been added thus to the wealth of the Island. In spite of what has been done, truth compels the statement, however, that in the United States really little is known of Cuba and her opportunities, although from the beginning of that country as a nation, aside from Mexico, geographically Cuba has been her closest neighbor.
There are great possibilities for American enterprise in the Island Republic, in agriculture, in stock raising, mining and other industries that American genius in the near future will undoubtedly discover and develop.
CHAPTER II THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CUBA
TOPOGRAPHICALLY THE SURFACE OF CUBA may be divided into five rather distinct zones, three of which are essentially mountainous. The first includes the entire eastern third of the province of Oriente, together with the greater part of its coast line, where the highest mountains of the Island are found. The second includes the greater part of the province of Camaguey, made up of gently rolling plains broken by occasional hills or low mountains, that along the northern coast, and again in the southeast center of the Province, rise to a height of approximately 1500 feet above the general level.
The next is a mountainous district including the greater part of eastern Santa Clara. The fourth comprises the western portion of this province together with all of Matanzas and Havana. The surface of this middle section is largely made up of rolling plains, broken here and there by hills that rise a few hundred feet above the sea level.
The fifth includes the province of Pinar del Rio, the northern half of which is traversed from one end to the other by several more or less parallel ranges of sierras, with mean altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, leaving the southern half of the Province a flat plain, into which, along its northern edge, project spurs and foothills of the main range.
The highest mountains of Cuba are located in the province of Oriente, where their general elevation is somewhat higher than that of the Allegheny or eastern ranges of the United States. The mountainous area of this province is greater than that of the combined mountain areas of all other parts of the Island. The mountains occur in groups, composed of different kinds of rock, and have diverse structures, more or less connected with one another.
The principal range is the Sierra Maestra, extending from Cabo Cruz to the Bay of Guantanamo, forty miles east of Santiago. This chain is continuous and of fairly uniform altitude, with the exception of a break in the vicinity of Santiago where the wide basin of Santiago Bay cuts across the main trend of the range. The highest peak of the Island is known as Turquino, located near the middle of the Sierra Maestra, and reaching an altitude of 8,642 feet.
The hills back of Santiago Bay, separating it from the Valley of the Cauto, are similar in structure to the northern foothills of the main sierra. In the western part of the range, the mountains rise abruptly from the depths of the Caribbean Sea, but near the City of Santiago, and to the eastward, they are separated from the ocean by a narrow coastal plain, very much dissected. The streams which traverse it occupy valleys several hundred feet in depth, while the remnants of the plateau appear in the tops of the hills.
East of Guantanamo Bay there are mountains which are structurally distinct from the Sierra Maestra, and these continue to Cape Maisi, the eastern terminus of Cuba. To the west they rise abruptly from the ocean bed, but further east, they are bordered by terraced foothills. Towards the north they continue straight across the Island as features of bold relief, connecting with the rugged Cuchillas of Baracoa, and with “El Yunque” lying to the southwest.
Extending west from this eastern mass are high plateaus and mesas that form the northern side of the great amphitheatre which drains into Guantanamo Bay. Much of this section, when raised from the sea, was probably a great elevated plain, cut up and eroded through the ages since the seismic uplift that caused its birth.
The most prominent feature of the northern mountains of Oriente Province, west of “El Yunque,” is the range comprising the Sierras Cristal and Nipe. These extend east and west, but are separated into several distinct masses by the Rio Sagua and the Rio Mayari, which break through and empty into harbors on the north coast. The high country south of these ranges has the character of a deeply dissected plateau, the upper stratum of which is limestone.
The character of the surface would indicate that nearly all the mountains of the eastern part of Oriente have been carved through erosion of centuries from a high plateau, the summits of which are found in “El Yunque” near Baracoa, and other flat topped mountains within the drainage basins of the Mayari and the Sagua rivers. The flat summits of the Sierra Nipe are probably remnants of the same great uplift.
Below this level are other benches or broad plateaus, the two most prominent occurring respectively at 1500 and 2000 feet above sea level. The highest summits rise to an altitude of 2800 or 3000 feet. The 2000 foot plateau of the Sierra Nipe alone includes an area estimated at not less than 40 square miles. It would seem that these elevated plateaus with their rich soils might be utilized for the production of wheat, and some of the northern fruits that require a cooler temperature than that found in other parts of Cuba.
In the province of Oriente, the various mountain groups form two marginal ranges, which merge in the east, and diverge toward the west. The southern range is far more continuous, while the northern is composed of irregular groups separated by numerous river valleys. Between these divergent ranges lies the broad undulating plain of the famous Cauto Valley, which increases in width as it extends westward. The northern half of this valley merges into the plains of Camaguey, whose surface has been disturbed by volcanic uplifts only by a small group known as the Najassa Hills, in the southeast center of the province, and by the Sierra Cubitas Range, which parallels the coast from the basin of Nuevitas Bay until it terminates in the isolated hill known as Loma Cunagua.
The central mountainous region of the Island is located in the province of Santa Clara, where a belt of mountains and hills following approximately northeast and southwest lines, passes through the cities of Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara. Four groups are found here, one of which lies southwest of Sancti Spiritus, and east of the Rio Agabama. A second group is included between the valleys of the Agabama and the Rio Arimao.
The highest peak of Santa Clara is known as Potrerillo, located seven miles north of Trinidad, with an altitude of 2,900 feet. A third group lies southeast of the city of Santa Clara, and includes the Sierra del Escambray and the Alta de Agabama. The rounded hills of this region have an altitude of about 1,000 feet although a few of the summits are somewhat higher.
The fourth group consists of a line of hills, beginning 25 miles east of Sagua la Grande, and extending into the province of Camaguey. The trend of this range is transverse to the central mountain zone as a whole, but it conforms in direction with the general geological structure of the region.
East of the city of Santa Clara the hills of this last group merge with those of the central portion of the province. The summits in the northern line reach an altitude of only a thousand feet. The principal members are known as the Sierra Morena, west of Sagua la Grande, Lomas de Santa Fe, near Camaguani, the Sierra de Bamburanao, near Yaguajay, and the Lomas of the Savanas, south of the last mentioned town.
In the province of Pinar del Rio, we find another system, or chain of mountains, dominated by the Sierra de los Organos or Organ mountains. These begin a little west of Guardiana Bay, with a chain of “magotes,” known as the “Pena Blanca,” composed of tertiary limestone. These are the result of a seismic upheaval running from north to south, almost at right angles with the main axis of the chains that form the mountainous vertebrae of the Island.
Between the city of Pinar del Rio and the north coast at La Esperanza, the Organos are broken up into four or five parallel ridges, two of which are composed of limestone, while the others are of slate, sandstones and schists. The term “magote,” in Cuba, is applied to one of the most interesting and strikingly beautiful mountain formations in the world. They are evidently remnants of high ranges running usually from east to west, and have resulted from the upheaval of tertiary strata that dates back probably to the Jurassic period.
The soft white material of this limestone, through countless eons of time, has been hammered by tropical rains that gradually washed away the surface and carved their once ragged peaks into peculiar, round, dome-shaped elevations that often rise perpendicularly to a height of 1,000 feet or more above the level grass plains that form their base. Meanwhile the continual seepage of water formed great caverns within that sooner or later caved in and fell, hastening thus the gradual leveling to which all mountains are doomed as long as the world is supplied with air and water. The softening and continual crumbling away of the rock have formed a rich soil on which grows a wonderful wealth of tropical vegetation, unlike anything known to other sections of Cuba, or perhaps in the world.
The valley of the Vinales, lying between the City of Pinar del Rio and the north coast, might well be called the garden of the “magotes,” since not only is it surrounded by their precipitous walls, but several of them, detached from the main chain, rise abruptly from the floor of the valley, converting it into one of the most strangely beautiful spots in the world.
John D. Henderson, the naturalist, in speaking of this region, says: “The valley of the Vinales must not be compared with the Yosemite or Grand Canon, or some famed Alpine passage, for it cannot display the astounding contrasts of these, or of many well-known valleys among the higher mountains of the world. We were all of us traveled men who viewed this panorama, but all agreed that never before had we gazed on so charming a sight. There are recesses among the Rocky Mountains of Canada in which one gazes with awe and bated breath, where the very silence oppresses, and the beholder instinctively reaches out for support to guard against slipping into the awful chasm below. But the Valley of Vinales, on the contrary, seems to soothe and lull the senses. Like great birds suspended in the sky, we long to soar above it, and then alighting within some palm grove, far below, to rejoice in its atmosphere of perfect peace.”
A mountain maze of high, round-topped lomas dominates almost the entire northern half of Pinar del Rio. It is the picturesque remnant of an elevated plain that at some time in the geological life of the Island was raised above the surface 1500, perhaps 2000, feet. This, through the erosion of thousands of centuries, has been carved into great land surges, without any particular alignment or system.
Straight up through the center of this mountainous area are projected a series of more or less parallel limestone ridges. These, as a rule, have an east and west axis, and attain a greater elevation than the lomas. They are known as the Sierras de los Organos, although having many local names at different points. Water and atmospheric agencies have carved them into most fantastic shapes, so that they do, in places, present an organ pipe appearance. They are almost always steep, often with vertical walls or “paradones” that rise 1000 feet from the floor or base on which they rest.
The northernmost range, running parallel to the Gulf Coast, is known as the “Costanero.” The highest peak of Pinar del Rio is called Guajaibon, which rises to an altitude of 3000 feet, with its base but very little above the level of the sea. It is probably of Jurassic limestone and forms the eastern outpost of the Costaneros.
The southern range of the Organos begins with an interesting peak known as the Pan de Azucar, located only a few miles east of the Pena Blanca. From this western sentinel with many breaks extends the great southern chain of the Organos with its various groups of “magotes,” reaching eastward throughout the entire province. At its extreme eastern terminus we find a lower and detached ridge known as the Pan de Guanajay, which passes for a few miles beyond the boundary line, and into the province of Havana.
Surrounding the Organos from La Esperanza west, and bordering it also on the south for a short distance east of the city of Pinar del Rio, are ranges of round topped lomas, composed largely of sandstone, slate and shale. The surface of these is covered with the small pines, scrubby palms and undergrowth found only on poor soil.
From the Mulato River east, along the north coast, the character of the lomas changes abruptly. Here we have deep rich soil covered with splendid forests of hard woods, that reach up into the Organos some ten miles back from the coast. Along the southern edge of the Organos, from Herredura east, lies a charming narrow belt of rolling country covered with a rich sandy loam that extends almost to the city of Artemisa.
Extensions, or occasional outcroppings, of the Pinar del Rio mountain system, appear in the province of Havana, and continue on into Matanzas, where another short coastal range appears, just west of the valley of the Yumuri. This, as before stated, has its continuation in detached ridges that extend along the entire north coast, with but few interruptions, until merged into the mountain maze of eastern Oriente.
Outside of the mountainous districts thus described, the general surface of Cuba is a gently undulating plain, with altitudes varying from only a few feet above the sea level to 500 or 600 feet, near El Cristo in Oriente. In Pinar del Rio it forms a piedmont plain that entirely surrounds the mountain range. On the south this plain has a maximum width of about 25 miles and ascends gradually from the shores of the Caribbean at the rate of seven or eight feet to the mile until it reaches the edge of the foothills along the line of the automobile drive, connecting Havana with the capital of Pinar del Rio.
North of the mountain range the lowland belt is very much narrower and in some places reaches a height of 200 feet as a rule deeply dissected, so that in places only the level of the hill tops mark the position of the original plain.
The two piedmont plains of Pinar del Rio unite at the eastern extremity of the Organos Mountains and extend over the greater part of the provinces of Havana and Matanzas and the western half of Santa Clara. The divide as a rule is near the center of this plain, although the land has a gradual slope from near its northern margin towards the south.
In the neighborhood of Havana, the elevation varies between 300 and 400 feet, continuing eastward to Cardenas. The streams flowing north have lowered their channels as the land rose, and the surface drained by them has become deeply dissected, while the streams flowing toward the south have been but little affected by the elevation and remain generally in very narrow channels.
East of Cardenas the general elevation of the plain is low, sloping gradually both north and south from the axis of the Island. Considerable areas of this plain are found among the various mountain groups in the eastern half of Santa Clara province, beyond which it extends over the greater part of Camaguey and into Oriente. Here it reaches the northern coast between isolated mountain groups, extending as far east as Nipe Bay, and toward the south merges into the great Cauto Valley.
From Cabo Cruz the plain extends along the northern base of the Sierra Maestra to the head of the Cauto valley. Its elevation near Manzanillo is about 200 feet, whence it increases to 640 feet at El Cristo. In the central section of Oriente, the Cauto River and its tributaries have cut channels into this plain from 50 to 200 feet in depth. In the lower part of the valley these channels are sometimes several miles across and are occupied by alluvial flats or river bottoms. They decrease in width towards the east and in the upper part of the valley become narrow gorges.
A large part of this plain of Cuba, especially in the central provinces, is underlaid by porous limestone, through which the surface waters have found underground passages. This accounts for the fact that large areas are occasionally devoid of flowing surface streams. The rain water sinks into the ground as soon as it falls, and after flowing long distances under ground, emerges in bold springs, such as those of the Almandares that burst out of the river bank some eight miles south of the City of Havana. Engineers of the rope and cordage plant, just north of the City of Matanzas, while boring for water, found unexpectedly a swift, running river, only ten feet below the surface, that has given them an inexhaustible supply of excellent water.
Most of the plains of Cuba above indicated have been formed by the erosion of its surface, and are covered with residual soil derived from the underlying limestones. Where they consist of red or black clays they are exceedingly fertile. Certain portions of the plains, especially those bordering on the southern side of the mountains of Pinar del Rio, are covered with a layer of sand and gravel, washed down from the adjoining highlands, and are inferior in fertility to soils derived from the erosion of limestone. Similar superficial deposits are met in the vicinity of Cienfuegos, and in other sections of the Island, where the plain forms a piedmont adjacent to highlands composed of silicious rocks.
CHAPTER III THE CLIMATE OF CUBA
SINCE ON THE CLIMATE OF country depends largely its healthfulness, nothing perhaps is of greater importance, especially to the man who wishes to find some place where he may build his permanent home and raise his family; to him this feature above all demands careful consideration.
The most striking and perhaps the most important fact in regard to the climate of Cuba is its freedom from those extremes of temperature which are considered prejudicial to health in any country. The difference between the mean annual temperature of winter and that of summer is only twelve degrees, or from 76 degrees to 88 degrees. Even between the coldest days of winter, when the mercury once went as low as 58 degrees, and the extreme limit of summer, registered as 92 degrees, we have a difference of only 34 degrees; and the extremes of summer are seldom noticed, since the fresh northeast trade winds coming from the Atlantic sweep across the Island, carrying away with them the heated atmosphere of the interior.
The fact that the main axis of the Island, with its seven hundred mile stretch of territory, extends from southeast to northwest, almost at right angles to the general direction of the wind, plays a very important part in the equability of Cuba’s climate. Then again, the Island is completely surrounded by oceans, the temperature of which remains constant, and this plays an important part in preventing extremes of heat or cold.
Ice, of course, cannot form, and frost is found only on the tops of the tallest mountain ranges. The few cold days during winter, when the thermometer may drop to 60 after sundown, are the advance waves of “Northers” that sweep down from the Dakotas, across Oklahoma and the great plains of Texas, eventually reaching Cuba, but only after the sting of the cold has been tempered in its passage of six hundred miles across the Gulf of Mexico.
A temperature of 60 degrees in Cuba is not agreeable to the natives, or even to those residents who once lived in northern climes. This may be due to the fact that life in the Tropics has a tendency to thin the blood, and to render it less resistant to low temperature; and also because Cuban residences are largely of stone, brick or reinforced concrete, with either tile or marble floors, and have no provision whatever against cold. And, although the walls are heavy, the windows, doors and openings are many times larger than those of residences in the United States, hence the cold cannot readily be excluded as in other countries. There is said to be but one fire-place in the Island of Cuba, and that was built in the beautiful home of an American, near Guayabal, just to remind him, he said, of the country whence he came.
Again in the matter of rainfall and its bearing on the climate of a country, Cuba is very fortunate. The rains all come in the form of showers during the summer months, from the middle of May until the end of October, and serve to purify and temper the heat of summer. On the other hand, the cooler months of winter are quite dry, and absolutely free from the chilling rains, sleets, snows, mists and dampness, that endanger the health, if not the life, of those less fortunate people who dwell in latitudes close to 40 degrees.
Cloudy, gloomy days are almost unknown in Cuba, and the sun can be depended upon to shine for at least thirty days every month, and according to the testimony of physicians nothing is better than sunshine to eliminate the germs of contagious diseases. Hence we can truthfully says that in the matter of climate and health, Cuba asks no favor of any country on earth.
CHAPTER IV PROVINCE OF HAVANA
THE PROVINCE OF HAVANA, WITH its area of 3,171 square miles, is the smallest in Cuba, and yet, owing to the city of Havana, capital of the Republic, it plays a very important part in the social, political and economic life of the Island.
Geographically, it is the pivotal province of Cuba, since the narrowest place across the long arch-like stretch of the Island is found along the border between Havana and Pinar del Rio, where only twenty-two miles lie between the Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean Sea. The province proper measures about thirty miles from north to south, with an average width of fifty-five.
The topography of Havana includes a varied assortment of hills, ridges, plateaus, valleys and plains, so that the scenery never becomes monotonous; and with the numerous automobile drives that radiate from the Capital, shaded with the luxuriant foliage of royal palms, bamboo and other forms of tropical vegetation, it offers to the tourist and traveler an almost endless panorama of charming change and pleasant surprise. The average altitude of Havana province is slightly lower than that of either Matanzas or Pinar del Rio, bordering on the east and west.
Columbus, on his second voyage of discovery, cruised along the southern coast of Cuba until he reached a point a little west of the Indian village of Batabano. Here he heard of another island not far to the south. Leaving the coast he threaded his way through shoals and scattered keys, that even up to the present time have been only imperfectly charted, and finally, on July 12, 1494, landed at some place on the northern shore. He called this island the Evangelist. It is the largest of a chain of keys running parallel with this part of the south coast, irregular in form with an area of approximately eight hundred square miles, and forms the southern half of the judicial district of Havana.
Columbus remained here, taking on fresh water and wood, until July 25, and then began his return voyage east, sailing over shoals that displayed so many varying shades of green, purple and white, that his mariners are said to have become alarmed.
Some twenty years later Diego Velasquez cruised along the southern coast to a point west of the Guines River, where he founded a city, which he called San Cristobal de la Havana. The fifty odd colonists whom he left behind soon became dissatisfied with the general surroundings of the spot which he had selected for their abiding place and moved over to the north shore of the Island near the mouth of the Almandares River, which they found in every way more agreeable as a place of permanent residence. In 1519 a second move was made to the Bay of Carenas, where they located permanently on the harbor, destined soon after to become the most important port of the West Indies.
The inhabitants of that irregular group of palm thatched huts little dreamed that four centuries later the Port of Havana would have a foreign commerce whose tonnage is excelled by only one other in the Western Hemisphere.
With the exception of the low, grass-covered plains of the southern shore, the topography of the Province of Havana is undulating and picturesque. The northern shore, throughout most of its length, especially from the City of Havana west to Matanzas, rises more or less abruptly from the beach until it reaches a rather uneven plateau, several hundred feet above the level of the sea.
In the northwestern corner, some two miles back from the shore line, the “Pan” or “Loma of Guayabon,” which is really a continuation of the Organ Mountains of Pinar del Rio, forms a palm covered, picturesque ridge, six hundred feet in height, extending from east to west for several miles. Along the southern edge of this range of hills, runs a beautiful automobile drive, connecting the capital with the city of Pinar del Rio, the wonderful valley of the Vinales, Guane and the extreme western end of the Island. A drive leading from the city of Guanajay extends fifty miles northwest to the Bay of Bahia Honda, chosen originally as a coaling station for the Navy, but never occupied.
In the east central part of the province lie two small mountains known as the Tetas de Bejucal, and from them, extending in an easterly direction into the Province of Matanzas, are broken ridges, plateaus, and hills that form one of the connecting links between the Organ group of mountains in the west, and the still higher cordilleras of the Province of Oriente in the extreme east.
With the exception of the coastal plain running along the southern boundary, the remainder of the province is undulating, more or less hilly, and quite picturesque in its contour. A little east of the Tetas de Bejucal, from the top of the divide that forms the water shed of the province, looking south, one sees below him the Valley of the Guines, known as the Garden of Havana. Thousands of acres are here spread out before the view, all irrigated by the Guines River, whose source is in the never failing springs that gush from the base of a mountain ridge in the east center of the Province.
The rich soil of this section, furnished as it is with water throughout the year, produces a marvelous yield of sugar cane, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, egg plants and other vegetables, affording an inexhaustible supply during the winter to the capital, forty miles north. Engineers are making a study of this river so that its water may be more economically distributed and the acreage of irrigated lands greatly increased.
In the southwestern quarter of Havana Province, known as the Tumbadero District, experiments were first made in growing tobacco under cheese cloth. These were so successful that in a few years Tumbadero, or Havana wrappers, became famous for their fineness of texture, and within a short time thousands of acres in that section were converted into fields, or vegas, whose returns in tobacco leaf product were excelled in value only by those of the celebrated Vuelta Abajo district of Pinar del Rio. The towns of Alquizar and Guira de Melina were built and sustained by the reputation of the Tumbadero wrapper, and the tobacco district was soon extended well up into the center of the province, including Salud, Rincon, San Antonio de los Banos, and Santiago de las Vegas. In the northwestern corner of the Island, the rich valley extending south and east of the “Pan de Guayabon,” including the towns of Caimito, Hoyo Colorado, and Guayabal, has recently rivaled the Tumbadero district in the excellence of its tobacco, and excels in citrus fruit.
Over three-fourths of Havana Province have been blessed with a remarkably fertile soil, and although much of it has been under cultivation for three centuries or more, with the judicious use of fertilizers, the returns, either in fruit or vegetables, are very gratifying to the small farmer.
Along the delightfully shaded automobile drives that radiate from the Capital in nearly all directions, the price of land within thirty miles of the city has risen so rapidly that it is being given over almost entirely to suburban homes and country estates, maintained by the wealthy residents of the capital. In a climate where frost is unknown, where the foliage remains fresh and green throughout the winter, it is comparatively easy to convert an ordinary farm into a veritable garden of Eden.
One of the most beautiful places on the Island within the last few years has been created by General Mario G. Menocal, President of the Republic. It covers several hundred acres and is known as “El Chico,” or the “Little One.” A commanding residence of Cuban colonial architecture, standing a little back from the road, has been surrounded with beautiful drives, lined with every variety of fruit tree, flower and ornamental plant known to Cuba. The green lawn sweeps up to the stately building occupied by President Menocal as a residence or country seat in summer. On this place may be found many varieties of poultry, recently imported from the United States for experimental purposes, in which the President is deeply interested. Competent gardeners and caretakers are maintained, with the result that “El Chico,” where General Menocal and his family spend much of their time, has become one of the show places of the Province.
Col. Jose Villalon, Secretary of Public Works, and Col. Charles Hernandez, Director of Posts and Telegraph, have pretty country estates located west of Havana, not far from El Chico.
The soil of the Province, throughout most of its extent, has been formed through the erosion of tertiary limestone, colored in many places a reddish brown of oxide of iron that has impregnated most of the soils of Cuba. Just south of Havana, serpentine has obtruded through the limestone along a belt some two or three miles in extent, and forms the round topped hills in evidence from the bay.
