8 THE HISTORY OF CUBA. For tobacco-raising, the rich plains in the western province of Cuba, Pinar del Rio, have no rival in the world. This is the region which Maceo, commanding the insurgent "Army of Invasion," chose as the principal theater of his operations in the campaign of 1896, and where, in consequence, the tobacco crop of that year was nearly all lost. Riding through the fields just at the critical season for cutting and curing the leaves, his troops enlisted thousands of the laborers and stampeded the rest. The Spaniards, regarding the rebellion and the tobacco interests as largely identical-perhaps not without reason, either-retaliated with ruinous effect wherever their army could penetrate. However, not all the tobacco exported is produced in the western provinces. Ordinarily, large quantities come from the eastern half of the island as well. Coffee. This crop formerly came next to sugar in export value, as also in profit to the planters; and although Brazil long since broke down, without entirely destroying, the Cuban coffee trade, the cafetals, as the coffee estates are called, are still scattered throughout the island, especially as adjuncts to the great ingenios, where their ornamental effects are much prized. Coffee culture was introduced from Hayti in 1748, and fifty years later received a great impetus from the superior methods introduced by intelligent and wealthy French planters, who had fled from the now proverbial "horrors of San Domingo." Minerals.-Cuba's mineral resources remain but slightly developed. The mountains, wooded to the summit, in places contain iron and copper, both of which, as also manganese, are exported. The city of Santiago de Cuba is the center of a flourishing mining and smelting industry. Though silver ore has been found, and in some of the rivers alluvial gold deposits, Cuba as a producer of the precious metals has always ranked low. Bituminous coal deposits, in extensive layers, seem to constitute the most important item of its mineral wealth. PEOPLE, CAPITAL, ETC. PEOPLE, CAPITAL, ETC. Population. The latest census of Cuba is that which was taken in 1887, as follows: As regards density, this population is distributed very unevenly in the several provinces, being per square kilometer (a kilometer is within a fraction of five eighths of an English mile) as follows: Santiago de Cuba, 7.75; Puerto Principe, 2.10; Santa Clara, 15.34; Matanzas, 30.59; Havana, 52.49; Pinar del Rio, 15.09. The population of the state of New York, a little larger than Cuba, in 1890 was 5,997,853. Religion and Education. The government recognizes but one religion-the Roman Catholic. Education has been greatly neglected, anything in the nature of public schools for the benefit of the people in general being entirely unknown. One of the grievances of the Cuban patriots for generations lies along this line. City of Havana. The famous capital of Cuba, which is also the commercial center of the West Indies, is the oldest city founded by Europeans in America, dating from 1519. Its harbor is very fine. It is the foremost tobacco and sugar market of the world, and manufactures cigars in immense quantities. The census of 1887 showed a population of 200,448. The city, which is made up of the "old" and "new "7 towns, the latter outside the old walls, has handsome suburbs, besides many and beautiful public parks and promenades. Havana is a metropolis of wealth, good living and general luxury, with an abundance of cafes and restaurants, fairly rivaling those of Paris. It is massively built, mostly of stone, and paved with granite or other stone equally hard, as being the best material for this land of prodigious rains and flaming suns. A well-known American journalist, recently returned from Havana, designates it a city of palaces fronting on alleys, some of the principal thoroughfares, sidewalks and all, having a width of only twenty-five feet, and none of the streets being kept clean. The Cathedral of Havana, venerable and imposing without, ornate and brilliant within, has in its keeping (unless an almost incredible fraud was perpetrated in 1796) the priceless treasure of the bones of Columbus, in a marble urn. Moro Castle, at the entrance of the harbor, is quite celebrated, lastly as the dreary prison of political offenders, including more than one American. For harbor defense, however, the main reliance is some newer fortifications on the neighboring hills. Other Cities.- Santiago de Cuba comes next to Havana in population. It contained 71,307 in 1892, while Matanzas had 56,379, Puerto Principe 46,641, and Cienfuegos 40,964. (An enumeration was made in the cities in 1892, but it was not general throughout the island.) Communications. There are 1,000 miles of railroad in regular operation, in times of peace, throughout the island, besides about 200 miles of private lines running to the large sugar-plantations, and which, during the war of 1895– 1897, were more or less completely destroyed. The telegraph lines aggregate 2,810 miles. The number of vessels that entered the five principal ports-Havana, Santiago, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Nuevitas--in 1894 was in round numbers two thousand, with a tonnage of two and one half millions. CUBA UNDER SPAIN. CUBA UNDER SPAIN. 11 Early Spanish Rule. Forty years of cruel and rigorous servitude sufficed to blot the three hundred thousand gentle, indolent aborigines of Cuba off the face of the earth. For a long time the island continued sparsely settled, its wondrous agricultural capabilities surprisingly unappreciated. The Spanish vessels passing between the New World and the home ports of Cadiz and Barcelona invariably made the harbor of Havana; that city quickly grew into importance, but the rest of the island lay neglected. Meanwhile the West Indian waters were churned into bloody foam whenever war arose in Europe. Here would assemble the French, the English, the Dutch navies, and here they dealt some of their most telling blows upon the power of Spain at sea. Havana was destroyed by a French privateer in 1538, and again in 1554, and in 1624 the Dutch captured it, but gave it back to Spain. During two centuries the rich Spanish galleons offered an irresistible temptation to hostile seamen and swarming bucaneers. English Conquest of 1762. —The conquest of Havana and other important points in Cuba by the English in 1762 was a striking feat of arms, which, strange as it sounds, owed its success to a timely reinforcement of 2,300 men, under General Lyman and Lieutenant-colonel Israel Putnam, from the colonies of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The resistance of the Spaniards cost the victors dearly, most of all in an appalling death-rate from disease, exposure and lack of water. The spoil taken was enormous, that part of it which was divided among the British soldiers and sailors as prize-money amounting to about $4,000,000. Lord Albemarle and Sir George Pocock each pocketed about $600,000. English statecraft never made a worse bargain than when it gave Cuba back to Spain in 1763, in exchange for a barren title to Florida. Had England held Cuba, French assistance in the Revolution might have been futile, and possibly George III. would have had his way, instead of Washington and Hancock having theirs. From 1763 to 1873.-English domination lasted scarcely a twelvemonth, but that was enough to impart a decided impetus to the industries of the island. The replacement of the iron and bloody hand of Spain retarded, but did not check, the development of Cuba's marvelous resources. When the French deposed the reigning family in Spain, in 1808, Cuba declared war against Napoleon. Nor was this sentiment of loyalty subverted by the example of successful revolt on all sides. Spain lost Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, etc., but Cuba remained her prize, with only one disturbance of note, the Black Eagle Conspiracy of 1829, amid it all. However, because of government (since 1810) by a foreign captain-general, also because of the heavy taxation, a discontent was breeding, which gradually hardened into opposition, hatred and defiance after 1836, when Cuba was denied a share in the benefits of the new constitution granted the mother-country. The antagonisms of race likewise came into play, and 1844 brought the short-lived insurrection of the blacks. In 1848 President Polk offered Spain $1,000,000 for the island, but encountered an indignant refusal. In 1851 Narcisso Lopez, a Venezuelan and a filibusterer, led a much-vaunted expedition from one of our southern ports into its death-trap in the western part of Cuba, and was garroted. The famous Ostend Manifesto by the United States ministers to England, France and Spain was issued in 1854, declaring that if Spain would not sell, this country should seize Cuba by force and annex it. The three movements last mentioned were conceived in the interest of slavery extension. In 1873 occurred the tragic Virginius incident, when Captain Fry, of that ill-fated vessel, and fifty-two other American prisoners were shot at Santiago as pirates." In 1889, Sagasta, the Spanish premier, told the United States minister there was not gold enough in the world to buy Cuba, |