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diff --git a/35872-h/35872-h.htm b/35872-h/35872-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48590e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/35872-h/35872-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8492 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> + <head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Cuba Past and Present, by Richard Davey. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} + +.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} + +.nind {text-indent:0%;} + +.r {text-align:right;margin-right:5%;} + + h1,h3 {margin-top:15%;text-align:center;clear:both;} + + hr {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;text-align:left;} + + body{margin-left:2%;margin-right:2%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:95%;} + + img {border:none;} + +.blockquot {margin:4% auto 4% auto;font-size:85%} + +.caption {font-weight:bold;} + +.figcenter {margin:auto;text-align:center;} + +.footnotes {border:dotted 3px gray;margin-top:15%;clear:both;} + +.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} + +.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} +</style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cuba Past and Present, by Richard Davey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cuba Past and Present + +Author: Richard Davey + +Release Date: April 14, 2011 [EBook #35872] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CUBA PAST AND PRESENT *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr /> + +<p class="cb">CUBA PAST AND PRESENT</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 433px;"><a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a> +<a href="images/frontispiece_lg.png"> +<img src="images/frontispiece.png" width="433" height="550" alt="Christopher Columbus" title="Christopher Columbus" /></a> +<span class="caption">Christopher Columbus</span> +</div> + +<p class="cb"><i>CHRISTOPHORUS COLUMBUS LIGURINDI</i>.<br /> +<i>ARUM PRIMUS INVENTOR ANNO 1492</i></p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry" +style="font-style:italic;"> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">Qui rate velivola occiduos penetrauit ad indos,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Primus et Americam Nobilitavit humum.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 0em;">Astrorum consultus et ipso Nobilis ausu,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Christophorus tali fronte columbus erat.</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<h1>CUBA<br /> +PAST AND PRESENT</h1> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="cb"><small>BY</small><br /> +RICHARD DAVEY<br /> +<small>AUTHOR OF "THE SULTAN AND HIS SUBJECTS"</small></p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="cb"><i>With Illustrations and Map</i>.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="cb">NEW YORK:<br /> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<br /> +1898</p> + +<p><a name="page_v" id="page_v"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h3> + +<p class="nind">A<small>NY</small> contribution to Cuban literature cannot, if so I may call it, but +possess considerable interest at this absorbing moment. The following +pages embody the experience gathered during a visit to Cuba some years +ago, and to this I have added many facts and memoranda bestowed by +friends whose knowledge of the country is more recent than my own, and +information collected from various works upon Cuba and West Indian +subjects. I do not pretend that the book is an authoritative text-book +on Cuban matters—I give it as the result of personal observation, so +far as it goes, supplemented in the manner already indicated; and as +such I believe it will not be found lacking in elements of interest and +entertainment. Certain chapters on Columbus and on the West Indian +Manuscripts in the Colonial Exhibition have been included as an +Appendix.</p> + +<p>The description of the youth of Columbus, the "Great Discoverer," has +never, so far as I am aware, been attempted before in the English +tongue. It appeared to me to be appropriate to a work on the island he +was the first to discover, and I have therefore included it in this +book. It is founded on original and authentic documents, discovered in +the Genoese Archives by the late Marchese Staglieno. These I have +carefully examined and verified, and to the facts therein contained I +have added others, which I have myself unearthed in the course of my own +researches in the Cittā Superba.</p> + +<p>The chapter on the Colonial Exhibition Manuscripts speaks for itself, +and my readers will be struck by the fact that the condition of the +British West Indian Colonies, at the close of the last century, +resembled in many respects not a little that of Cuba at the end of ours.</p> + +<p>The chapter on the Bahamas, which closes the volume, has been inserted +to mark an evident contrast, and point a moral, which will hardly escape +the thoughtful reader's eye.</p> + +<p>I cannot forbear paying here a tribute to the memory of the very +remarkable American gentleman, the late Mr George Wilkes, in whose +company I first saw the beautiful "Pearl of the Antilles." On the +important paper which he founded, the New York <i>Spirit of the Times</i>, I +worked for several very happy years, and I take this opportunity of +expressing to its present editor and to Mr Stephen Fiske, my gratitude +for much and constant courtesy, shown me ever since I left its staff.</p> + +<p class="r">RICHARD DAVEY.</p> + +<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tr><td align="right" colspan="4">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="3">Preface</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_v">v</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Chapter</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td align="left">T<small>HE</small> I<small>SLAND</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_001">1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td align="left">P<small>OPULATION</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_014">14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td align="left">A B<small>RIEF</small> H<small>ISTORY OF THE</small> I<small>SLAND</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_039">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td align="left">T<small>HE</small> B<small>EGINNINGS OF THE REBELLION</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_065">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td align="left">H<small>ISTORY OF</small> R<small>EBELLION UP-TO</small>-D<small>ATE</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_093">93</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td align="left">H<small>AVANA AND THE</small> H<small>AVANESE</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td align="left">M<small>ATANZAS</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td align="left">C<small>IENFUEGOS</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_161">161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td align="left">T<small>RINIDAD AND</small> S<small>ANTIAGO DE</small> C<small>UBA</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td><td align="left">S<small>OME</small> W<small>EIRD</small> S<small>TORIES</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_193">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td><td align="left">P<small>LANTATION</small> L<small>IFE</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td><td align="left">A<small>N</small> I<small>SLE OF</small> J<small>UNE</small>—A C<small>ONTRAST</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Appendix</td><td align="right"><a href="#APPENDIX_I">I.</a></td><td align="left">T<small>HE</small> B<small>OYHOOD OF</small> C<small>OLUMBUS</small></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_237">237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#APPENDIX_II">II.</a></td><td align="left">S<small>OME</small> U<small>NEDITED</small> D<small>OCUMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE</small> H<small>ISTORY OF THE</small> W<small>EST</small> I<small>NDIES</small> </td><td align="right"><a href="#page_257">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="4"><a href="#FOOTNOTES">Footnotes</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + +<tr><th align="center" colspan="3">ILLUSTRATIONS</th></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Portrait of Columbus</td><td> </td><td align="right"><i><a href="#frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Havana</td><td align="center"><i>to face</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">M<small>ATANZAS</small></td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">S<small>ANTIAGO</small></td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">M<small>AP OF</small> C<small>UBA</small></td><td> </td><td align="right"><i><a href="#cuba">at end of Book</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3" align="center">click on any image to view it enlarged<br /> +(n. of etext transcriber)</td></tr> +</table> + +<h1>CUBA PAST AND PRESENT</h1> + +<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Island</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">C<small>UBA</small>, "the Pearl of the Antilles" and the key to the Gulf of Mexico, is +not only the largest, but the most important and the wealthiest island +in the West Indian Archipelago. Its curious shape has been aptly +compared to that of a bird's tongue,—a parrot's by preference. From +Point Maisi, at one extremity, to Cape San Antonio, at the other, it +describes a curve of 900 miles, being, at its greatest breadth, only 120 +miles from sea to sea. It is traversed throughout its Eastern province +by a range of mountains, which, according to Humboldt, continue under +the Ocean, and emerge thence in British Honduras, to receive the +somewhat unromantic appellation of the Coxcombe Chain,—another proof, +if such were needed, of the fact that, in prehistoric times, this +island, together with its numerous neighbours, formed part of the main +Continent.</p> + +<p>The coast of Cuba, on either side beyond the<a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a> range of the Sierra +Maestra, is singularly indented and irregular; and by reason of its +innumerable tiny bays, capes, peninsulas, shallows, reefs, "cays," +promontories, and islets, presents, on the map, the appearance of a deep +curtain fringe. The surface measurement of the island is fully 35,000 +square miles. In other words, it is a little bigger than Portugal, or +somewhat over a fourth the size of Spain.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>The Sierra Maestra range rises from the coast, out of the Ocean, with +grand abruptness, immediately opposite the sister island of Jamaica. It +here presents much the same stately and varied panorama as may be +admired on the Genoese Riviera, and, by a series of irregular terraces, +reaches the Ojo del Toro, or the "Sources of the Bull," where it +suddenly drops towards the centre of the chain, whence it sends<a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a> up one +exceedingly lofty peak, the Pico Turquino, rising 6900 feet above the +sea. From this point the range diminishes in height again, until it +reaches the valley of the Cauto River, whence it runs in a straight line +to Santiago de Cuba, after which it rapidly declines in height, and +loses itself in the unwholesome Guananamo Marshes. A section of this +range is popularly known, on account of its mineral wealth, as the +Sierra de Cobre, or Copper Chain. Its principal peak, La Gran Piedra, so +called from a huge block of conglomerate perched upon its extreme +summit, is about 5200 feet high. None of the numerous peaks and crags of +the Sierra Maestra and the Cobre Ranges show the least trace of recent +volcanic eruption, although limestone is found high up among the +mountains, and alarming earthquakes are of frequent occurrence, notably +in the province of Santiago. At the eastern extremity of the island are +a number of isolated mountains, linked together by low-lying hills. Two +other ranges of hills exist, in the neighbourhood of Matanzas, and at +the back of Havana, but although they present an imposing appearance +from the seaboard, at no single point do they exceed a height of 1000 +feet. The mountain ranges occupy about one-third of the island; the +other two-thirds are more or less spreading and fairly well cultivated +plains and level valleys, but even these fertile regions are broken by +lagoons and marshes, like those in the Campagna.</p> + +<p>Until quite late in the last century, coffee and tobacco were the +principal objects of the planter's care and industry, but in 1786 the +French refugees from<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> San Domingo persuaded the Cubans to extend their +sugar plantations, and sugar very soon became the staple cultivation of +the country. Next to sugar, tobacco and coffee are the chief products, +but cotton is also grown, but not very extensively. Cocoa and indigo +have received considerable attention lately, and maize has always been +one of the absolute necessaries of life, and may be described as the +bread of the country; cereals have no place in its husbandry, and are +imported, for the most part, unfortunately, from Spain, which country +holds a monopoly, which has had its share in bringing about the unhappy +civil war of the last three years. As the negroes and the poor whites +have rarely, if ever, tasted wheat flour, its absence is not felt by +them, but it is an absolute necessity to the upper classes and to the +foreigners. Yams, bananas, guavas, oranges, mangoes, and pineapples, are +the chief fruits cultivated for exportation. The decline in the +popularity of mahogany as a furniture wood in America and Europe—a mere +freak of fashion—has been greatly felt. It used to be a most valuable +product, and was exported in great quantities, especially to +England,—the Cuban variety being considered the finest.</p> + +<p>The mountain regions of Cuba are extremely picturesque, but very +sparsely populated, and, for the most part, little known. Their slopes +are often covered by forests or jungles, whose rich vegetation, +constantly moistened by innumerable springs, rivulets, and heavy dews, +is rankly luxuriant. Immense mineral wealth is supposed to be hidden in +the heart of these mountains, but, though the copper mines are fairly +well worked,<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a> neither gold nor silver have yet been discovered in any +quantity, notwithstanding the ancient and persistent tradition as to +their abundance.</p> + +<p>The entire coast of Cuba is protected, in a measure, by coralline and +rocky reefs, "cays," and muddy shallows, which stretch out into the sea +for miles. These are most dangerous, and have often, in stormy weather, +proved fatal to large vessels, as well as to small fishing craft. Some +of these banks are really fair-sized islands, covered with beautiful +vegetation, but, as a rule, they are only inhabited by fishermen, and +that merely at certain seasons of the year. In many localities the sea +is very deep quite close in-shore, and offers excellent harbours and +refuges for vessels plying on the busiest sea-road in the Western +Hemisphere. The most important of the numerous outlying islands is La +Isla dos Pinos, a famous health resort, where, for some unaccountable +reason, the pine-tree of our northern regions flourishes to perfection +amid tropical surroundings.</p> + +<p>Every part of Cuba is supplied with fresh water. There are several +fairly broad, though shallow rivers. The Cauto, which takes its rise in +the Sierra Maestra, and flows into the sea at the mouth of Manzanillo +Bay, is about 130 miles in length, and navigable for small craft. The +only other rivers of any importance are the Sagua Grande and the Sagua +Chica. Neither of these is navigable, even for small craft, except for a +week or so at the close of the rainy season. Springs and streams of +exquisitely pure water are to be found in incredible abundance. Indeed, +the island has been<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> described as consisting of a series of vast caverns +rising over huge reservoirs of fresh water, and the number of caves and +grottoes to be found circling over pools of limpid water is really +remarkable. In the mountains there are lovely waterfalls, amongst which +the cascades of the Rosario are the most celebrated. A number of +fair-sized lakes add considerably to the beauty of the scenery in the +interior of the island, and, what is more, they are well stocked with a +variety of fish of delicious flavour.</p> + +<p>Cuba is phenomenally free from noxious animals and reptiles. Columbus +only found two quadrupeds of any size on the whole island—a sort of +barkless dog, the guaquinaji, possibly a racoon,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and a long-bodied +squirrel. Many imported domestic animals, such as the horse, the pig, +the dog, the cat, and the goat, have in the course of time run wild, and +are to be found in great numbers in the densest parts of the forests in +the interior. Our canine friend has modified himself considerably since +he first landed on Cuban soil. He has dwindled, on the one hand, into +the tiny Havanese toy spaniel, and has developed on the other into the +colossal molasso, which was constantly employed, but a few years back, +in the highly humane sport of slave-hunting. The prehistoric sportsman, +however, must, if he was an amateur of big game, have had a good time of +it in Cuba, for fossils of mastadons, elephants, hippopotami, and other +large and uncanny beasts of the antediluvian world, who have joined the +majority countless ages ago, are still constantly to be found.<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a></p> + +<p>Some members of the bat family grow to an enormous size, their wings +measuring from a foot to a foot and a half from tip to tip. I remember +one night, on a plantation near Puerto Principe, one of these most +unpleasant monsters flopped through my bedroom window on to the floor. +For a few moments I was convinced that I had received a visitation +either from Minerva's very own owl or from a dusky cherub.</p> + +<p>With the sole exception of a rather long, but not particularly harmful +boa, venomous or dangerous snakes are, I was assured, not to be found +anywhere on the island. This, however, is a popular error, for in most +of the sugar plantations there dwells a small red asp, whose bite is +exceedingly dangerous. The creature may not be indigenous; he may have +come over with the first sugar-canes from San Domingo. According to the +Cubans, imported reptiles, even after a short residence on their native +soil, become innocuous, and it must be confessed that the scorpion, +which is disagreeably prominent in the island, is less hurtful here than +elsewhere. As I happen to have been bitten both by an Italian and a +Cuban scorpion, I am in a position to know something about the matter. +The Italian rascal stung me in the foot, and sent me to bed with a +frightful pain, and a fever which lasted a week. The Cuban gentleman +nipped my finger, caused me awful agony, the arm swelling up to twice +its size; but I had no fever, neither was I obliged to seek my bed. My +Cuban wound, I, remember, was rubbed with a decoction of deceased +scorpions, preserved in oil, which certainly soothed the pain, and,<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> +further, I was plentifully dosed with Kentucky whisky. In a few hours +the suffering passed off, and, after two days of extraordinary numbness +in all parts of the body, I completely recovered. My private opinion is +that the cure was effected by the decoction of defunct scorpions, and +that no difference really exists between the poisonous qualities of the +European and the Cuban reptile.</p> + +<p>If Cuba possesses no very obnoxious reptiles, their absence is amply +atoned for by the surprising collection of annoying insects of all sorts +and kinds. The Cuban mosquitoes must be heard, seen, and felt, before +they can be imagined. I had hitherto thought the Venetian <i>zanzare</i> +diabolical pests enough in all conscience, but, when compared with their +Cuban brethren, they stand as angels to demons. Then there are +irritating jiggers, ants, giant wasps, infernal little midges, spiders +as big as the crown of your hat, and other disreputable gentry who shall +be nameless, and who, I learn on good authority, were first imported +into our own unsuspecting continent from the West Indies. Alas! they are +with us still! In Cuba they haunt the woods and gardens, secrete +themselves in the turn-up of your trousers, and in the train of your +skirt. They soon let you know their whereabouts, I can assure you! Two +very remarkable insects deserve special mention. One is the large +"vegetable bee," a member of the bee family, condemned by nature to +carry an umbrella-shaped fungus of the <i>Clavara</i> tribe on his back, and +the other, the superb cucullo, a monster fire-fly, who emits rays of +light<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> from two eyes on his back and one in his breast. Three of these +creatures under a glass shade suffice to illumine a moderate-sized room, +and, if it were not for the rhythmical flickering glare produced by the +breathing of the insects, it would be easy to read by their +extraordinary glow.</p> + +<p>The Cuban birds are identical with those found in other West Indian +islands. Among the great variety of humming-birds, only one is +recognised as indigenous to the island. All sorts of tropical fish +abound, both in the sea, in the rivers, and the lakes. On the latter, +the rather exciting sport of tortoise-hunting may be enjoyed, and the +sportsman may chance an unpleasant encounter with the dangerous, but +easily avoided cayman. Most Cuban travellers make acquaintance with the +frightful-looking, but perfectly harmless iguana, at some friend's +house, where he occasionally joins the family circle in the capacity of +prime domestic pet. As to the lizards, they are exceedingly well +represented, both in gardens and in woods, from the charming, +bright-eyed little metallic green and blue opidian, to a very large and +ugly brown old lady and gentleman—they usually go abroad in pairs—to +be met with in your walks, and which the uninitiated are apt to mistake +for a couple of miniature crocodiles. But they are simply very large and +harmless lizards, with prodigiously long Latin names. Then, too, there +is the interesting and ever-changing cameleon, and the pretty striped +flying squirrel, and the delightful little dormouse, a long-established +native of the island, well beknown, it would seem, to Christopher +Columbus and<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> his companions, who have condescended to make special +mention of his timid, yet friendly presence.</p> + +<p>As to the flora, it is surpassingly beautiful. I shall have occasion to +return to it at greater length, and will only say in this place that it +embraces nearly every variety of plant, flower, and fern known in the +tropical and sub-tropical zones. European fruits, flowers, and +vegetables can be easily and largely cultivated on the highest plateaux +of the Sierra Maestra.</p> + +<p>The climate of Cuba is, for the tropics, a very tolerable one, quite +enjoyable indeed from November to the beginning of May, during which +time the heat is rarely oppressive. The summer season is extremely +enervating, and in many parts of the island actually dangerous, on +account of the excessive heat and the incessant torrents of rain, which +together create an unhealthy steaming miasma. The forests, with their +prodigious stratas of decaying vegetation, emit, especially in summer, +unwholesome malarial vapours, and the lagoons and marshes on the broads +are sometimes hidden for days at a time by a dense and deadly but +perfectly white fog. Yellow fever is said not to have made its +appearance till 1761; at any rate it is from that date only that it has +been regarded as a distinct disease indigenous to the island. The deadly +vomito nigro has often appeared in various parts of Cuba in epidemic as +well as isolated form. It rarely if ever attacks the negroes, but has +proved only too fatal to newcomers.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> I cannot help thinking that it is +mainly<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> due to the filthy habits of a people unacquainted with the +hygienic laws, and who do not object to have their latrines in the +middle of their kitchens, and to a general system of drainage, which, +even in the capital and in the other principal towns, is wretchedly +antiquated. Dysentery annually carries off a great number of European +colonists, especially children, and cholera very frequently decimates +the blacks and Chinese, without doing the slightest injury to the whites +among whom they live. The wholesomest parts of the island are in the +eastern provinces, where yellow fever rarely makes its appearance. This +is simply due to a healthy combination of sea and mountain breezes. The +outlying island of Pinos, already mentioned, is remarkably healthy, no +epidemic ever having been known there, and it is, consequently, a +favourite resort with the wealthier Cubans and European colonists, who +have built charming cottages amongst its fragrant pine-groves.</p> + +<p>I am quite persuaded that Cuba could be rendered fairly healthy by +proper irrigation and drainage. The towns are nearly all without proper +drains, and the inhabitants are generally very uncleanly in their +habits, although well-managed public baths abound. Like most members of +the Latin family, the Cubans seem to have a horror of cold water, and +rarely indulge in a "tub." On the other hand, to do them justice, at +certain seasons of the year they<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> seem never out of the sea, which is +often so warm that you can stop in it for hours without getting a chill. +However, whether they wash or not matters little, for even in the best +regulated families their hygienic habits apparently are indescribably +filthy. Add to this state of affairs the still dirtier practices of the +immense negro and coolie population, and a faint idea may be formed of +the real cause of the unhealthiness of the place. I have often wondered +that the pest did not carry off half the population. It <i>has</i> +occasionally done so, and Yellow-Jack is always seeking whom he may +devour,—generally some invalid from the United States, who has come out +in search of health, or some over-robust European emigrant. As an +illustration of the rapidity with which this fell disease overcomes its +victims, I will relate an incident which occurred during my first visit +to the island, very many years ago. On board the ship which conveyed us +from New York to Havana was a certain Senator L...., well known in New +York and Washington for his good looks and caustic wit. In his youth he +had been engaged to a lovely Cuban girl, whose parents had sternly +rejected his suit, and had obliged their young daughter to marry a +wealthy planter very much her senior. She had recently become a widow, +and our friend, who had already been to Havana to lay his fortune at her +feet, and had been accepted, was hastening back to claim her as his +bride. On our arrival in Havana we all breakfasted together, the party +including the still very handsome widow Doņa Jacinta. In<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> the afternoon +the bridegroom went sketching in the market-place. Yellow-Jack laid his +hand on him, and before morning he was dead! The funeral took place on +the very day appointed for the wedding. I shall never forget the +procession. The whole of Havana turned out to witness it. The church of +the Merced, where the Requiem was sung, was so crowded that several +persons were seriously injured. The floral offerings were of surprising +beauty. All the Donnas in the town, in their thousands, accompanied the +<i>cortčge</i> conveying the coffin to the port, where it was placed on an +American steamer to be taken to New York for burial. The local papers +contained many really charming sonnets and poems addressed to the +afflicted Doņa Jacinta, who, by the way, some time afterwards followed +her lover's body to New York, and there became a Little Sister of the +Poor.<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Population</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">T<small>HERE</small> must have been people in Cuba in the very night of time, for some +prehistoric race has left its trace behind. Numerous stone implements of +war and agriculture, closely resembling those so frequently found in +various parts of Europe, have been unearthed, near Bayamo, in the +Eastern Province. Then, again, within the last thirty years, a number of +<i>caneyes</i> or pyramidical mounds, covering human remains, many of them in +a fossilized condition, have been discovered in the same part of the +island. Specimens of rude pottery, bearing traces of painting, have also +been dug up in various places, and I have in my possession a little +terra-cotta figure, representing an animal not unlike an ant eater, +which was found in the neighbourhood of Puerto Principe, and exhibited +in the Colonial Exhibition of 1886. Many small earthenware images of a +god, wearing a kind of cocked hat, and bearing a strong resemblance to +Napoleon I., are often picked up in out-of-the-way places, but we have +no other evidence that the ancient Cubans were blessed with any +conspicuous knowledge of the fine arts. The majority of the friendly +Indians who greeted Columbus<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> on his first landing are believed to have +spoken the same language as the Yucayos of the Bahamas, and the +aboriginal natives of Hayti and Jamaica. Grijalva declares they used a +language similar to that of the natives of Yucatan—at any rate, on his +first expedition into that country, he was accompanied by some Cubans, +who made themselves understood by the inhabitants. Although Columbus +mentions the good looks of the early Cubans with admiration, there is +every reason to believe that the Discoverer flattered them considerably. +They seem to have been men of medium height, broad-shouldered, +brown-skinned, flat-featured, and straight-haired. The women are +described as better looking than the men, and do not appear to have +disfigured themselves by ornamental cheek slashes and other hideous +tattooing. They were, as we have already seen, an amiable set of +savages, quite innocent of cannibal tastes. Their huts were made of palm +branches, and their cooking was performed in the most primitive fashion, +over a wood fire, lighted in the open air. Some of their tribes, more +advanced in civilization than others, wore aprons decorated with shells +or with the seeds of the caruba, strung together in rather pretty +designs.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a><a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a></p> + +<p>In order to understand the very complex matter known as the Cuban +question, it is necessary for the reader to know something about the +exceedingly mixed population of the island, whereof "Cubans" form by far +the greater part. The present population, estimated at over 1,600,000, +may be divided into six sections<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>:—The Cubans, the Spaniards, the +Creoles, the foreigners, the coloured folk of African origin, of all +shades, from the deepest ebon to the lightest cream, and the coolies or +Chinese.</p> + +<p>For three hundred years Cuba was exclusively inhabited<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> by Spaniards, or +people of Spanish descent. The political and religious conditions of the +country were therefore far more favourable to peace and unity, and the +island was much less difficult to govern, than in these troublous times +of ours.</p> + +<p>The "Cubanos" are the descendants of Spanish colonists, who have +inhabited the island for at least two generations. The slightest +admixture of African blood debars the enjoyment of this distinction. The +first Spanish immigration into Cuba began very soon after the conquest +of the island, and consisted mainly of adventurers who had accompanied +the earlier expeditions, and who settled permanently in the country, +after having returned to Spain, and transported their wives, and such +members of their families as were ready to follow them, to their new +homes. Almost all these individuals were either of Castilian or +Andalusian origin. A few years later, emigrants began to come in from +the Basque Provinces, and from Catalonia.</p> + +<p>The descendants of these early colonists form the present aristocracy of +Cuba, and many of them bear names which have cast lustre on Spanish +history.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Cuba was governed, for over three centuries, by the laws which bound the +other Hispano-American colonies.<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> These were framed by Philip II., and +are still known as <i>Las Leyes de Indias</i>.</p> + +<p>The unbending nature, and jealous religious orthodoxy of the Spaniards, +offered scant encouragement to the establishment of settlers of any +other race or faith. The Inquisition soon reigned in the island, in all +its gloomy and mysterious horror. To its merciless pressure, and +frequently cruel action, we may perhaps ascribe the instinctive hatred +of the "powers that be"—so characteristic of the modern Cuban—even as +hereditary memories of the doings of Mary Tudor and her Spaniard husband +have implanted a sullen distrust of the Spanish nation in the breast of +the average Englishman.</p> + +<p>From the physical point of view, the Cubans are inferior to their +Spanish forefathers, a fact which may be attributed, perhaps, to the +effect of an enervating climate on successive generations. Still, it has +been remarked that they do not seem to have deteriorated, +intellectually, to the same extent as the descendants of the French and +other European Creoles in the West Indies. They are lithe, active, and +occasionally very good-looking, in spite of their pasty complexions and +somewhat lustreless dark eyes. They are certainly more progressive in +their ideas, and more anxious to educate their sons, at all events, to +the highest possible standard, than are their Spanish cousins. A +remarkable impetus was given to education in Cuba by the celebrated Las +Casas, who governed the island from 1790. He increased the endowment of +the University of Havana, which had been established in 1721, and<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> +greatly extended its sphere of action, by creating several important +professorial chairs, and notably one of medicine. He assisted the +Jesuits in improving their colleges. It should be noted, to the credit +of this much maligned order, that the Fathers provided their pupils with +a thorough classical education, and also instructed them in foreign +languages.</p> + +<p>During the great Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods there was +considerable chaos in the island, and the vigilance of the censorship +became so relaxed, that the large towns were flooded with French and +Italian literature of an advanced kind, and the ex-pupils of the Jesuits +devoured the translated works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Beccaria with +an avidity which must have sorely scandalized their orthodox +instructors. The Voltarian spirit thus introduced amongst the better +class of Cubans has endured to this day, and though they pay every +outward respect to their religion, they are exceedingly sceptical both +in thought and speech. During the last seventy years, again, the country +has been overrun by Americans, who have introduced every form of +Protestantism, from Episcopalianism to Quakerism, and even Shakerism. +This large acquaintance with varied schools of religious thought has had +its effect in broadening the horizon of the Cuban mind. Many young men +are sent to schools and colleges in the United States, in England, in +France, in Germany even, or else to the Jesuits' colleges at Havana and +Santiago. Yet the mother country refused for years to admit even the +best class of Cubans to any share in the administration of the<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> island, +and though within the last two decades this rule has been somewhat +relaxed, the result, politically speaking, has not always been +satisfactory, even to the natives. In the legal and medical professions +they have attained brilliant success, and some very large fortunes have +been made. The majority, however, follow the life of planters, or engage +in mercantile pursuits. Here again there is cause for trouble. In bygone +days the Spanish hidalgos were granted large estates in Cuba, and though +they rarely visit the country, they still retain them, entrusting the +management of their property to agents and overseers. Among these +absentee landlords are the Aldamas, Fernandinas, dos Hermanos, +Santovenios, and the Terres, whose palaces in the Cerro quarter of +Havana have stood uninhabited for years, except, perhaps, for an +occasional and rare winter visit. Still there are, or were, until quite +lately, many wealthy Cuban planters who reside on their plantations, +with their wives and families. A few years ago—I daresay it is so +still, on such estates as have not been devastated by the Rebels or the +Spaniards—the grown-up sons lived with their parents, each attending to +a separate department of the plantation, until the father died. Then one +of them—the eldest, as a rule—took over the whole estate, paying each +of his brothers a proper proportion of his net yearly earnings, and if +sufficient frugality was exercised, he was able to pay them a share of +the original property into the bargain. But even when these events took +place, they did not necessitate the separation of the family.<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a></p> + +<p>The Cubans are naturally a domestic and affectionate people, exceedingly +happy in their home relations. In many a Hacienda, from one to four or +five families will live most peaceably, under the same roof. The men, as +a rule, make excellent husbands, and are passionately fond of their +children, whom they are apt to spoil, and often ruin, by allowing the +coloured servants to over-indulge them. In these patriarchal homesteads, +the children, being not a little isolated from other society, become +exceedingly attached to each other. When the girls attain a marriageable +age they are placed in seclusion, under the charge of a governess, or +else sent to one or other of the great convents in the Capital managed +by French and Spanish nuns of the Sacré Cœur, Assumption, and +Ursuline orders. The results of this system are not always fortunate. +Premature marriages abound. Many a Cuban is a father before he is +eighteen years of age, by a wife a couple of years his junior—a fact +which may account, even more, perhaps, than the much-blamed tropical +climate, for the physical inferiority of the race. Then again, as is +invariably the case in slave countries, a pernicious laxity in morals is +tolerated, and Cuban life, in cities and plantations alike, will not, I +have been assured on good authority, bear too close investigation. If +the ancestors were devoted to their Voltaire and their Jean Jacques, the +modern descendants are equally zealous readers of all the most +suggestive French and Italian novels. The fine literature of the mother +country has never found much favour in Cuba, and the educated islanders +are far<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> more intimately acquainted with Zola, Gaboriau, Gyp, and +Huyssman than with Cervantes, Calderon, Lope, and Fernan Cabalero. They +do not even patronise their own national drama, preferring modern French +and Italian plays. It is a curious fact that even really excellent +Spanish troupes have failed to attract audiences in Havana, whereas +French and Italian companies have done tremendous business during the +few weeks of their stay in the city. I shall have occasion to speak +elsewhere of the great love of music which has long distinguished the +Cubans, whose principal Opera House has been kept up all through the +century to a pitch of excellence worthy of one of the great European +capitals.</p> + +<p>The Cuban women, even in the lower classes, are generally far better +looking than the men. Those of the upper ranks are often extremely +fascinating. Their features are small and delicate, their eyes dark and +fine, and their hair magnificent. Their feet and hands are small, and +although they cannot vie in grace with their Andalusian sisters, they +have a distinct and striking charm, peculiar to themselves. They have a +regrettable weakness for plastering their faces with rice powder, to an +extent which sometimes makes them look absolutely ghastly, and, like +most Creoles, they are apt, except on formal occasions, to neglect the +elementary duty of personal neatness. They are fond of lolling about in +their own homes, in wrappers, none of the cleanest, and are much +addicted to swinging in hammocks, coiling themselves up on sofas, and, +above all, rocking lazily to and fro, in low American chairs.<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a></p> + +<p>Of society, even in the city of Havana, there is little or none. A few +large parties are given by the wealthier families in the winter season, +but very few people can converse easily on any interesting subject. +Conversation must soon flag, indeed, in a country where the intellectual +pabulum of the fair sex consists, generally speaking, of a singular +combination of the Catholic prayer-book and the worst stamp of French +novel. The usual way of spending the evening in a Cuban house is to +place two long rows of rocking-chairs opposite one another, and sit +chatting, everybody, meanwhile, smoking the inevitable cigarette. In +some of the houses, music of a high order may be heard, and not a few of +the Cuban ladies sing charmingly. During the Carnival, a good many +dances take place in private houses, but even these are extremely dull, +for as soon as a gentleman has danced with a lady, he is expected to +lead her back to her rocking-chair, where she sits smoking in smiling +silence till the arrival of another partner. It would be thought highly +improper for a young man to start a conversation, let alone a +flirtation, with an unmarried girl.</p> + +<p>The general want of that association between the sexes, so necessary to +the welfare of each, makes the Cuban women indifferent to the opinion of +the Cuban men. They care for nothing but the most childish chatter and +gossip, have no desire to improve their minds, no ambition beyond that +connected with their own personal comfort and vanity. They marry when +they are mere children, from twelve years of age to<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a> about +eighteen,—and if no suitor has appeared upon the scene by that time, +they are looked on as old maids. Belonging to a most prolific race, +those who marry soon have large families about them, and devoted as they +are, in most cases, to their children, they find their happiness in +their domestic circle. The haughty spirit derived from their Spanish +ancestry is not dead in the hearts of the Cuban ladies. Many of them +have proved the fact, of late, by qualities of self-sacrifice, courage, +and splendid heroism, which have gone far to carry the revolutionary +struggle to its present phase. The exceedingly pernicious habit of +bandaging infants in swaddling clothes is still prevalent, even in the +best regulated Cuban families. This may account for the excessive infant +mortality, for though as many as eight or ten children are born to most +parents, they rarely succeed in rearing more than three or four.</p> + +<p>There is a saying in Havana that "the church is good enough for the old +maids of both sexes." The women are pious from habit. Nearly all of them +begin the day by going to Mass, and in Holy Week they literally live in +church. But, for all this, religion does not seem to have any deep +influence on their lives. The men make no pretence to piety. Generally +speaking, Catholicism in Cuba has become a mere matter of form and +custom, although there are doubtless many sincerely pious people in the +island, who practise all the Christian virtues, both in public and in +private. Still, I fear the clergy can hardly have done their duty by +their flocks for many generations past. Yet, I am assured, a more +evangelical spirit is stirring among<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> them at the present moment. This +we may fairly ascribe to the vigilance and zeal of the present Pope, Leo +XIII., who has appointed more energetic and able bishops than any of his +predecessors, since the Apostolic age. I am assured that the present +Archbishop of Santiago and Bishop of Havana—the island is divided into +two dioceses—have effected many remarkable reforms, not only among +their clergy, but also among the laity.</p> + +<p>To resume: the Cubans are, as I have already indicated, the descendants +of Spaniards born on the island. They form considerably over a third of +the population. The true Spanish population, which is not at all +numerous, includes the absentee grandees, who own at least a fourth of +the island, the numerous officials sent out from Spain, and the very +considerable garrison which has always been kept in Cuba, to maintain +order, and suppress all attempts at open rebellion. The Spaniards keep +very much to themselves, although, of course, many of them are allied +with Cuba by family ties, and are on very friendly terms, in times of +peace, with their own kinsfolk. Still, there is a local feeling against +them, as the representatives of bad government in a sorely-troubled +colony. Their manners and customs are not quite identical with those of +the natives. Their women, for instance, have a far higher sense of +dignity than the native ladies. They are more sincerely pious, and, in +many cases, far more highly educated and accomplished. On the other +hand, the men are extremely overbearing and exclusive. Their manners are +ridiculously elaborate, but their hospitality,<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> though courteously +proffered, is less genuine than that of the native Cubans. When a Cuban +says, "Come and stay," or "Come and dine with me," he means it, and is +hurt, however humble his circumstances may be, if you refuse.</p> + +<p>During the last fifty years, a great many Americans have established +themselves in Cuba as planters, merchants, and shopkeepers. They come +from all parts of the United States, and associate very little with the +Spaniards, although they are generally very friendly with the Cubans. +The principal American settlements are at Cardenas, quite a modern town, +and known as "The American City," Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago. The +Spaniards, on the other hand, suspect and dislike the Americans. There +are not many English established on the island. The railroads, however, +and some of the best tobacco estates, are mainly in British hands. There +is a small French colony, consisting mainly, I am assured, of persons +who cannot live in their own country. In the old slave times, most of +the overseers were Frenchmen who had been expelled from France, and not +a few were well known as having "served their time." There is also a +small Italian colony, and a very considerable German contingent, who +live their own lives, apart from their neighbours. Until within quite +recent times no religion but the Roman Catholic was tolerated on the +island, but, at the present moment, there is, if anything, greater +freedom of worship than in Spain itself. From all I have heard, Cuba is +the last place in the world where people trouble their heads over<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> +theological or philosophical questions. Life is essentially +materialistic, and the chief aim and struggle of existence is to get as +much comfort as may be, out of an exceedingly uncomfortable climate.</p> + +<p>The Jews in Cuba barely number 500, and are mostly of Spanish origin, +and engaged in trade. A great many Jews fled to the West Indies from +Spain, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but few remained in +the Spanish possessions. The danger was too great. Five or six of the +Cuban Jewish families are reported wealthy, and are much respected, but +they keep entirely to themselves. We next come to the two last divisions +of the heterogeneous population of the Pearl of the Antilles,—the +coloured race, and the Coolies.</p> + +<p>The coloured folk of Cuba, who vary, as I have said, from the deepest +ebony to the lightest cream, form a little over a third of the whole +population. That they are not more numerous in proportion to the whites, +is due to causes which I shall endeavour to explain hereafter. At a very +early date, slaves were introduced into Cuba, to replace the massacred +aborigines. At first the black merchandise was exceedingly dear; in +fact, according to ancient authorities, slaves were "worth their weight +in gold." But, in the seventeenth century, the importation from Africa +began on a great scale, though very few females were at first landed, as +the majority died on the way over. This fact necessitated a system of +constant replenishment of the males, and it was only in the last century +that negresses were brought to Cuba in any great<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> numbers. Their +appearance was followed by the inevitable result—a peaceful invasion of +small niggers. And the dusky Venus found scores of worshippers, among +the haughty Dons. Even worthy Brian Edwards, the pious author of the +<i>History of the West Indies</i>, did not neglect to pay tribute to the +charms of the "Sable Aphrodite" in an Ode from which I cannot resist +culling the following lines:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Her skin excell'd the raven plume,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Her breath the fragrant orange bloom,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Her eye the tropic beam.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Soft was her lip as silken down,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And mild her look as ev'ning sun</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That gilds the Cobre stream.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The loveliest limbs her form compose,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Such as her sister Venus chose</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In Florence, where she's seen,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But just alike, except the white,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">No difference, no—none at night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The beauteous dames between.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O sable Queen! thy mild domain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I seek, and court thy gentle reign,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">So soothing, soft, and sweet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where meeting love, sincere delight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Fond pleasure, ready joys invite,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And unbought raptures meet.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The prating Frank, the Spaniard proud,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The double Scot, Hibernian loud,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And sullen English, own</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The pleasing softness of thy sway,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And here, transferr'd allegiance pay,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">For gracious is thy throne.</span><br /></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a></p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the nominal abolition of the slave trade, something like +half a million of slaves have been imported into Cuba since the first +treaty between England and France,—for the gradual abolition of slavery +was officially signed in 1856. The traffic continued even as late as +1886, when slavery was at last entirely and finally suppressed. It was +often connived at by the Governor, and other high officials at Havana, +who thus increased their popularity, and their private fortunes. In the +course of 1878 I was told, on good authority, of a cargo of sixty Congo +negroes, which had just been landed in a small port in the neighbourhood +of Havana, and sold to planters in the interior. The first step towards +emancipation was the freeing of all infants born of slave parents, and +of all slaves who had attained their fiftieth year. This was achieved in +1856, with very curious consequences. The infants, being deemed +worthless by their parents' owners, as soon as they realised the fact +that when the children were reared they would have no control over them, +were purposely neglected, and thousands of them perished in their +earliest years. The old folk, on the other hand, were, in most +instances, turned adrift, to enjoy their freedom as best they might, as +vagrants on the highways and byways, or as beggars in the towns. Not a +few died of starvation, and this is one of the main causes which has +reduced the coloured population in Cuba much below its natural +proportion, to that of other countries, where slavery has lately +existed. Many years have elapsed since slaves were publicly sold in the +market-places of Havana and the<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a> large cities, but until ten years ago, +advertisements for their sale continued in the principal papers, and I +hold a collection of these, which proves that very little or no +attention was paid to the freedom of infants, even after the passing of +the law in 1856. For the majority of these advertisements refer to +children of twelve and fifteen years of age, who are generally offered +for "private sale," the intending purchaser being asked to "inspect the +goods at the house of the present proprietor." Here is a specimen, dated +April 1885:—"Anyone who requires a nice active little girl of light +colour, aged 12, can inspect her at the house of her mistress. Price to +be settled between the parties privately" (here follows the address). +This is a proof, if proof were needed, of how the slave laws were +regarded in Cuba; and even now, I am assured, in many of the more lonely +plantations, the blacks have not fully realized that they are free, and +continue working gratuitously, as in the old days. On the other hand, +the vast majority, being of opinion that freedom means idleness, have +ceased labour altogether, and, as their requirements are remarkably +modest, a number of them have departed for the woods and wildernesses, +where they lead much the primitive life led by their forebears in their +native Africa. These refugees have proved admirable recruits for the +rebel army, and have, on more than one occasion, found an opportunity of +wreaking their vengeance on their late masters' plantations and +homesteads.</p> + +<p>I do not think the slaves were any worse treated in Cuba than in the +Southern States of America before<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> the Abolition, and, indeed, I have +not noticed in Latin slave-owning countries that strong prejudice, on +the part of the whites, against the blacks, which exists all over the +United States, and amounts to a sense of absolute loathing. I am +convinced the free blacks in Cuba are better treated than their +liberated brethren in the Southern States. They are more civilly handled +by the whites, who appear to me to have very little or no prejudice +against them. They mingle freely with the white congregations in the +churches, and are even allowed to walk in the various religious +processions, side by side with their late owners. If the Americans ever +conquer Cuba, they will have to deal with a coloured population which +has long been accustomed to far more courteous treatment than the +Yankees are likely to vouchsafe to it.</p> + +<p>The Spanish laws for the protection of the slaves were remarkable for +their humanity. According to the <i>Leyes de Indias</i>, all slaves had to be +baptized, and their marriages were to be considered legal. It was +unlawful to separate families. In the towns and villages, judicial +tribunals were instituted, to which any slave could have recourse +against his master. It was illegal to administer more than twenty-five +lashes in a single week on the bare back of any slave, male or female. +It was murder to kill a slave, unless, indeed, it could be proved that +he had attempted to assassinate his master, or strike him, to burn his +house or property, or to violate his wife, daughter, or any other white +female, howsoever humble, in his employ. But these laws, unfortunately, +were rarely observed.<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> It is true that Syndicates, as they were termed, +existed in the capital and in all the larger towns, and were +occasionally useful to the household slaves. But the unfortunate +plantation hands were either utterly ignorant of the existence of these +tribunals, or were unable to reach them. If a bold applicant contrived +to apply to these organizations, his master soon found means to make him +regret his temerity. The slaves were well fed, because they were +considered useful beasts of burden. But during the sugar harvest they +were cruelly overworked, sometimes labouring nineteen or twenty hours +out of the twenty-four, and this for weeks at a stretch, without any +interruption, even on the Sundays. They would often fall down exhausted +from sheer fatigue, only to struggle to their feet again under the +overseer's merciless whip. Personally, I witnessed very few acts of +cruelty, during a visit to the island before the emancipation. Once I +did see a number of blacks in the coffee fields wantonly flipped with +the whip, simply to keep them "spry," as the Yankees say. One horrible +instance, however, took place to my knowledge. A strikingly handsome +mulatto had escaped into the woods. For a week after his recapture he +was daily subjected to the most horrible tortures, the ostensible object +of which was to strike terror into the souls of such of his fellow +slaves who might be tempted to follow his example. They subjected him to +torments too shocking for description, and rubbed his wounds with <i>agua +ardiente</i>. The poor wretch, writhing in agony, and shrieking with pain, +was bound hand<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> and foot to the stump of a tree. The strangest part of +it was that the niggers for whom this torture, which eventually ended in +death, was intended as a warning, did not seem impressed by its horror. +They merely laughed and shrieked like so many fiends—possibly they were +accustomed to such scenes, and callous. The excuse given for the +diabolical treatment of this particular slave was that he had escaped +into the forest, where a number of other runaways were in hiding, and +had formed a dangerous association, with the object of pillage and +incendiarism. I afterwards learnt that the master of the plantation on +which the awful crime took place was notorious for his brutality, and +consequently shunned by all his neighbours. A year or so later, he was +arrested on some charge or other connected with the ill-treatment of his +slaves, and after paying a heavy fine, found it to his interest to leave +the island. He came to Paris, where he was well known for his +eccentricity and extravagance, and there died some years ago. Even in +the case of this unfavourable specimen of the Cuban planter the +household slaves were treated with the utmost indulgence, and petted and +pampered to their hearts' content. They were as vicious, idle, +happy-go-lucky a lot as ever existed! I did hear some horrible stories +of fiendish cruelty devised by spiteful mistresses, and inflicted upon +their female servants. One, for instance, which may or may not have been +true, of a lady who, because her own eyes worried her, stabbed out those +of her waiting-maid with pins. Perhaps the worst features of slavery in +Cuba were, as I have already stated, the<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> length of the working hours, +and the fact that the masters considered their religious duty to have +ended with the wholesale administration of baptism. It never entered +their heads to teach the poor wretches any lesson beyond that of +implicit obedience to their own will and caprice. Even the rudiments of +the catechism were absolutely forbidden. Many a worthy priest has found, +to his cost, that any attempt to Christianize the field hands was the +worst possible mistake he could make in their owners' eyes. It not only +involved him in difficulties with the masters, but with his own +ecclesiastical superiors. The Jesuits and Franciscans were persecuted, +and threatened with expulsion over and over again, because they +persisted in their efforts to convert the negroes. The fact is, the +masters were quick to understand that the ethics of Christianity are not +compatible with slavery. Yet many household slaves received a religious +education rather elaborate than otherwise, were obliged to attend +morning and evening prayers, and to say the Rosary, a very favourite +form of devotion at the present time with all Cuban negroes, who will +sit for hours in the glaring sun, telling their beads and smoking +cigarettes, with the oddest imaginable expression of mingled piety and +self-indulgence on their faces. Although the days of slavery are long +since passed,—and they were quite as harmful to the whites as they were +to the negroes,—the condition of the dark population in Cuba has not +greatly improved. On some of the more lonely plantations, as I have +pointed out elsewhere, they still seem unaware that they are +emancipated, but the vast majority<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> have foresworn all regular +employment, and live as best they can, from hand to mouth.</p> + +<p>That portion of the coloured population of Cuba which has been free for +several generations, is in better case than the corresponding section in +the United States. The negroes belonging to it earn their living as +labourers, workmen, servants, hackney-coach drivers, messengers, and +even as musicians, in the various towns. Some few are fairly well off. +Whatever their vices may be, they are by no means ambitious, and are +contented with the simplest pleasures. The men love a glass of <i>agua +ardiente</i>, and the women delight in any scrap of cast-off finery with +which they can parade the streets, and show themselves off to the +admiration and envy of their neighbours. I fancy that half the old ball +dresses in Europe find their way, after various vicissitudes, to Cuba. +On a Sunday or a feast-day, the ebon ladies sally forth in all their +glory, arrayed in their white sisters' cast-off finery, with low necks +and short sleeves. The matter of underclothing is frequently altogether +overlooked, shoes and stockings never by any chance appear, but a bright +flower is invariably stuck in each woolly pate. Some of the holiday +makers sport a pair of long kid gloves, which have the oddest possible +effect. In church the dusky beauties squat, beads in hand, upon the +floor of the nave, which is reserved for their accommodation, while the +gentlemen darkies stand round in the side aisles. When Mass is over, the +sable congregation pours forth into the sunny streets, each member, +almost without exception, armed with a cigarette. The little negro<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> +children are the sweetest little rascals upon earth, and I can quite +understand the enthusiastic lady who was heard to exclaim "Oh, why can't +we have black babies who turn white when they grow up." These said black +babies are inconceivably quaint, and the older children charming, and +very intelligent, till they reach their twelfth year, when their brains +suddenly appear to cease all development, excepting in the imitative +arts. The Cuban negroes are madly fond of music, and although they +prefer the dreadful tom-tom, and their own barbaric sounds, imported, +doubtless, from Africa, they will crowd the galleries of the Tacon +Theatre to listen to Italian operas. When I was last in Havana, nearly +every darkie you met was whistling the Toreador song from "Carmen," the +favourite opera then being performed, to the accompaniment of an +orchestra largely composed of coloured people,—a peculiarity which +would never be tolerated in the States, where no white conductor would +lead a mixed band, and where half the audience would leave the house on +beholding woolly heads bending over instruments played by sable hands. +Many members of the Tacon orchestra, one of the best in existence, are +full-blooded negroes, and, with their co-operation, not only Italian, +but Wagnerian opera, is successfully performed.</p> + +<p>Slavery has unfortunately been replaced, in Cuba, by coolie labour, a +form of the same cruel institution, which, for some occult reason, has +never excited the same amount of horror in Europe, possibly because it +does not bear the actual name of slavery, and because most people +imagine the wretched coolie<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> sells himself, instead of being sold. In +1877 there were 43,000 Chinese workmen on the island, all that remained +out of 100,000, originally imported, of whom not less than 16,000 had +died on their way out from China. At the present moment the coolies +number something like 40,000. These poor wretches do not bring their +female belongings with them, and are consequently reduced to a condition +of enforced celibacy; for so great is the contempt in which these +voluntary slaves are held, not even the lowest negress will have +anything to do with them. Despised by the whites, and detested by the +blacks, they lead a miserable life, and die like flies, in the scorching +climate. The very partial success of the coolie immigration scheme led, +some years ago, to the importation of Mayas from Yucatan, but this has +not been followed by happy results; and what with the depreciation of +tropical produce, the number of estates which have gone out of +cultivation, and the revolutionary movement, the present condition of +the coloured class, and of the coolies, is exceedingly deplorable. They +have swollen the ranks of the malcontents, and form a portion of that +starving multitude of which we have heard so much of late. In a word, +they are workmen out of employment, starving plantation hands, and their +condition seems irremediable, unless, indeed, some wealthy Power should +eventually take the island in hand, and spend countless millions in the +endeavour to lift it, once more, to its former condition of prosperity.<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">A Brief History of the Island</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">I<small>T</small> was on the morning of Friday, 12th October 1492, that Christopher +Columbus first saw the New World rising on the ocean horizon. The +ardently prayed-for land proved to be an island, called by the natives +Guanahanč, and by the explorer baptized San Salvador, but known to us +now as the chief of the Bahamas group. After making friends with the +gentle natives, and taking in supplies of food and water, Columbus, +though at some loss as to which way he should direct his course, set +sail once more. Such a multitude of islands lay before him, large and +small, "green, level, and fertile," that he grew fairly confused as to +which way to turn. He fancied he was sailing in the Archipelago, +described by Marco Polo as studding the seas which washed the shores of +Chin, or China, a great, great distance from the mainland. These, the +Venetian traveller had declared, numbered some 7000 or 8000—rich in +gold, silver, drugs, spices, and many other precious objects of +commerce. Night obscured the delightful vision, and the verdure-clad +islands faded into the tropical darkness. The next morning Columbus +landed on a pretty islet, the inhabitants of which greeted<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> him in the +most friendly manner, and to which he gave the name of Santa Maria de la +Concepcion. But the extreme simplicity of their costume—they were clad +in all their native innocence—and the absence of all signs of wealth, +led the Discoverer to think that perhaps, after all, he was still far +from that part of the world mentioned by the imaginative Marco. Next, he +landed on a beautiful island, now known as Exuma, to which he gave the +name of Fernandina, in honour of His Most Christian Majesty. Here the +ladies betrayed more native modesty, for, he gravely assures us, "they +wore mantles made of feathers, and cotton aprons." He had disembarked in +a noble harbour, bordered by shady groves, "as fresh and green as in the +month of May in Andalusia." The trees, the fruits, the herbs, the +flowers, the very stones, were, for the most part, as different from +those of Spain as day is to night.</p> + +<p>On 19th October he left Fernandina, steering towards another island, +called Saometo, where, as he gathered from the natives, he was to find +rich mines of gold, and a monarch who held sway over all the surrounding +lands. This potentate was said to dwell in a mighty city, and to wear +garments studded with gold and gems. He reached the island in due time, +but neither monarch nor mine found he. It was a delightful spot, +however, blessed with deep lakes of fresh water, and with such swarms of +singing-birds that the explorer felt, so he declared, that he could +"never desire to depart thence. There are flocks of parrots which +obscure the sun, and other brilliant birds of so many kinds and sizes, +and all different from<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a> ours, that it is wonderful, and besides, there +are trees of a thousand sorts, each having its particular fruit, and of +marvellous flavour." To this enchanting island he gave the name of +Isabella, after his royal patroness.</p> + +<p>Whilst the Discoverer was seeking for healing herbs, and "delighting in +the fragrance of sweet and dainty flowers," and, moreover, "believing +that here were many herbs which would be of great price in Spain for +tinctures and medicines," his followers were clamouring to the natives +concerning the whereabouts of mines of gold and silver, which, we need +hardly say, existed only in their ardent, greedy, and deluded +imaginations. Whether Columbus and his companions mistook the natives' +signs or not, certain it is that, for several days, he was once more +convinced he was in the neighbourhood of the islands of which Marco Polo +had written. The capital of this archipelago was supposed to be a city +called Quinsai, and there Columbus intended personally to deliver the +letter of the Castilian sovereigns to the mysterious Khan. With his mind +full of such airy castles, he set sail from Isabella on the 24th +October, steering, haphazard, west-south-west. After three days' +navigation, in the course of which he touched at a group of small +islands, which he christened Islas de Arena, now supposed to be the +Mucacas, he crossed the Bahama Bank, and hove in sight of Cuba. Lost in +contemplation of the size and grandeur of the new island, its high +soaring mountains, which, he tells us, reminded him of those of Sicily, +its fertile valleys, its long, sweeping, and well-watered plains; its +stately forests, its bold promontories and headlands melting<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a> away into +the softest distance, he once more concluded that this, at last, must be +the enchanted country of the Venetian explorer. Landing, he took +possession in the name of Christ, Our Lady, and the Sovereigns of Spain, +and christened the new country Juana, in honour of the Infanta Doņa +Juana. The land on which he set foot is believed to have been just to +the west of Nuevitas del Principe, the seaport of the city of Puerto +Principe. The objects which first arrested his attention were a couple +of huts, from which the inmates had fled. Their interiors boasted no +evidences of civilization or wealth. Their sole contents were a few +fishing-nets, hooks, harpoons of bone, and a queer sort of dog (the +breed, alas, is now extinct, I fear!), "which never barks." With the +humane consideration which distinguished the illustrious Italian, though +his Spanish followers can never be said to have followed his good +example, Columbus ordered that nothing should be touched or disturbed in +the two cabins. There was a certain foresight, too, about the order; it +was more advantageous to pose as a demi-god than to run the risk of +being taken for a thief.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The scenery of Cuba is described by Columbus in his usual glowing +language. Then, as now, it was a marvel of tropical beauty. He was +specially impressed<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> by the vivid splendour of the jewelled +humming-birds, which hovered around the innumerable and gorgeous +blossoms clustering every bough. The smaller species of fireflies he had +frequently seen in Italy, but the <i>luccioli</i> of the Old World were as +sparks to lamps beside the meteor-like creatures which, even on the +brightest nights, made a flickering radiance in the Cuban forests. In a +word, Cuba broke upon him like an Elysium. "It is the most beautiful +island that eye of man ever beheld, full of excellent woods and deep +flowing rivers." He was utterly convinced, now, he had reached Cipango, +that wonderful spot which, according to Marco Polo, possessed mountains +of gold, and a shore the sands of which were strewn with oriental +pearls. A worthy native further deluded the already over-credulous +Discoverer by inducing him to believe that the centre of the island, at +a place called Cubanacan, literally glittered with gold. Now Cubanacan +is uncommonly like Cublia-Khan, the name of the Tartar sovereign +mentioned by Polo, and this confusion of names probably led Columbus and +his companions to the conviction that Cuba was not an island, but part +of the main continent.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, one day, the weather changed; the sky, hitherto as blue as a +turquoise, grew dark and heavy, torrents of rain began to fall, and +Columbus was obliged to relinquish all further pursuit of adventure in +the heart of the island, and to confine his operations to the coast.</p> + +<p>There is nothing more pathetic in the "Journal" of Columbus than those +passages which deal with the<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> discovery of Cuba. Illusion after illusion +fades away. To-day there are reports of gold and silver mines; to-morrow +someone has heard of cinnamon and nutmeg trees, and even of the humble +rhubarb, but, on examination, gold and silver, cinnamon, nutmeg, and +rhubarb, all prove delusions. The Spaniards showed the natives pearls, +at which they merely smiled,—to them they were naught but pretty white +beads. Gold did not impress them as being of any particular value or +beauty; and they were understood to say that, in the more distant parts +of the country, the people wore ornaments made of that precious metal +about their necks, arms, and ankles. Then came an old native who +announced that further on dwelt men who had but one eye, and that below +their shoulders; others who had dogs' heads; and others, again, who were +vampires, and sucked their prisoners' blood until they died of +exhaustion, and thereby confirmed Othello's account of his adventures—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"In lands where dwell cannibals that each other eat,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Do grow beneath their shoulders."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="nind">Everything, in a word, was new and wonderful, and everything tended to +make the Discoverer think he was approaching that object of his dreams, +"the city of the Khan."</p> + +<p>In November he was still wandering down the coast of the magnificent +island, which he believed to be part of the Continent,—an error in +which he continued until his death. Yet, had he but sailed three days +further, he would have touched the main coast of Florida.<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a> Certain +writers assert that he landed in British Honduras, without, however, +realizing that, by so doing, he had discovered the real Continent of +America.</p> + +<p>Here we must take our leave of the illustrious Discoverer and his +adventures. If I have dwelt so long upon them, it has been simply in +order to impress my readers with the fact that, when Columbus reached +Cuba, he discovered a country, the inhabitants of which were evidently +at peace among themselves and their neighbours. Yet, almost from the day +of his arrival to the present time, the unhappy island has been stained +by incessant tragedy. The illustrious Italian firmly believed he had +brought a blessing to the natives. His arrival, alas! only signified the +beginning of their extermination.</p> + +<p>The early inhabitants, not only of Cuba, but of all the other islands, +were certainly of common origin, spoke the same language, practised the +same customs, and held similar superstitions. They bore a distinct +resemblance to certain tribes of Indians on the main Continent, to the +Arrowauk in particular. They were well made, of dark brown complexion, +with goodly features and long straight hair. They went by the generic +name of Charaibes or Caribees. Several distinct tribes may have existed, +but the evidence is that they were all of one family, which had in all +probability swarmed out of the great hive of the Mexican empire. Juan de +Grijalva, a Spanish navigator, declared, in 1518, that he found a people +on the coast of Yucatan who spoke the same language as<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> the natives of +the island. According to Las Casas, and to Peter Martyr, who wrote on +the authority of Columbus himself, there were about 1,200,000 souls in +Cuba at the time of its discovery. This was possibly the result of some +rough calculation made upon the large number of people noticed as living +upon the immediate sea-board. It is certain that not Cuba only, but all +the neighbouring islands, were thickly populated at the time of their +discovery, and also that the aborigines were exceedingly gentle in +character. They almost invariably received the European adventurers as +beings of a superior order, who had alighted from some spirit world, +evidently with the intention of doing them good—a conviction +strengthened by the graceful courtesy which still distinguishes their +descendants in Spain and Italy. This conviction was, ere long, to be +cruelly shaken! The islanders, in spite of many virtues, had a moral +code of the loosest description, and, if we may believe Ovando, Europe +owes them its first acquaintance with one of the most terrible penalties +exacted by Nature from the too fervent worshipper of Venus. Labour and +cultivation appear to have been little practised by the Caribbees, who +found the great fertility of their country sufficient to enable them to +lead a life of delightful indolence. Their fashions never changed—since +they had none to change—and their wives' milliner's bills troubled them +not. They spent their time in athletic exercises, in dancing, hunting, +fishing, and in fact, according to contemporary Spanish evidence, the +aboriginal Cubans would seem to have discovered the real secret of +life,<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> and to have been far more philosophical than their restless and +over-ambitious conquerors.</p> + +<p>They treated their elders with respect, and their wives with affection; +and they were untainted with cannibalism and other objectionable savage +practices. The discovery of fragments of ancient pottery, by no means +inartistically designed, and other objects indicating a higher +civilization than that for which Columbus gave them credit, would lead +one to believe that the natives were not devoid of a certain degree of +culture. Contemporary testimony is almost universally in favour of their +firm belief in the existence of a personal Deity, who had power to +reward merit and punish vice, a heaven and a hell. Columbus, according +to his own account, seems, between the years 1492-4, to have acquired +sufficient knowledge of the Indian language to understand a good deal of +what was said to him. He had taken two Indians back with him to Spain, +and had studied assiduously with them. However that may be, he declares +that on one occasion, in July 1494, during his second visit, an aged +Cuban made him the following speech as he presented him with a basket of +fruit and flowers: "Whether you are a divinity," said he, "or a mortal +man, we know not. You come into these countries with a force which we +should be mad to resist, even if we were so inclined. We are all, +therefore, at your mercy; but if you and your followers are men like +ourselves, subject to mortality, you cannot be unapprised that after +this life there is another, wherein a very different portion is allotted +to good and bad men. And if you believe you will be<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> rewarded in a +future state, you will do us no harm, for we intend none to you."</p> + +<p>The fairy-like opening of the dramatic history of Cuba, with all the +quaint descriptions of its Eden-like beauty bequeathed to us in its +Discoverer's Journal, was soon to degenerate into a horrible tragedy. +Not a generation elapsed before the Spaniards were deep in the very +tactics which have been disgracing their behaviour in Cuba during this +last decade. In the most wanton, senseless, and barbarous fashion, they +fell on the wretched natives, with no other object than that of +extirpating them, so as to usurp their possessions. They even went so +far as to assure the poor wretches that if they would embark with them +on their ships they would take them to certain islands where their +ancestors resided, and where they would enjoy a state of bliss of which +they had no conception. The simple souls listened with wondrous +credulity, and, eager to visit their friends in the happy region +described, followed the Spaniards with the utmost docility. By these +damnable devices over 40,000 human beings were decoyed from their homes +and ruthlessly slaughtered. Las Casas and Peter Martyr relate tales by +the dozen concerning the frightful cruelty of the men whom they had the +misfortune to accompany to the New World. Martyr tells us that some +Spaniards made a vow to hang or burn thirteen natives in honour of the +Saviour and the Twelve Apostles every morning. Certain monsters, more +zealous than the rest, drove their captives into the water, and after +forcibly administering the rite of baptism, cut their throats to prevent +their<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> apostacy. But I will not harrow the reader with further accounts +of the astounding cruelty shown by the Spanish conquerors of Cuba. I +will simply repeat with their own historian, Martyr, "that in the whole +history of the world such enormities have never before been practised." +If any further testimony were needed, we have that of the venerable Las +Casas. Even Oviado, who strives to palliate his countrymen's +barbarities, confesses that in 1535, only forty-three years after the +discovery of the West Indies, and when he himself was on the spot, there +were not above 500 of the original natives left alive in the island of +Hispaniola.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>This wholesale massacre may have been carried out with a view to +ensuring the complete Spanish repopulation of the islands. The +destruction of the natives naturally led, in course of time, to the +importation, on a very large scale, of negro slavery, and the unnatural +trade continued until its final abolition, which took place some twelve +years ago. Traces of Indian blood are still evident amongst the +inhabitants of the wild regions in the eastern part of Cuba, who boast +indeed that they are the "Caribbees." The women are especially +beautiful, and remarkable for the extraordinary length of their hair, +which sometimes touches the ground. A female attendant in the house of a +planter whom I visited in this part of the island some years ago, was,<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> +I was assured, of undoubted Caribbean descent. She was rather tall, +copper-coloured, and her hair, when she let it fall loose, nearly +reached her ankles, perfectly straight, and intensely black. She was not +a slave, and was treated with respect and kindness by her employers.</p> + +<p>Although Columbus revisited the island three times before he returned to +Spain, to rest his weary bones in that peace his enemies so persistently +denied him, he died, as I have said, in the full conviction that it +formed part of the Asiatic continent, and it was not until 1508 that, at +the command of Nicola Ovanda, a certain Captain Sebastian +circumnavigated the island, and established the undoubted fact of its +being completely surrounded by water. In 1511, Columbus' son Diego, then +Governor of Hispaniola, otherwise Hayti, sent Diego Velasquez to Cuba, +with full authority to colonize it. This process he performed by +parcelling out the island among his followers and reducing the natives +to slavery. The poor creatures, never having been accustomed to hard +work, rebelled, and were forthwith mercilessly exterminated. Velasquez +founded many towns, among them Baracoa, Bayamo, Trinidad, Puerto +Principe, Santiago de Cuba (in 1515), and San Christobal de Habana +(Havana) (in 1519), this last city not exactly in its present position.</p> + +<p>More interesting by far than Velasquez was his lieutenant, Hernando +Cortez, eventually to be known as the intrepid explorer of Mexico. The +lustre of his career in Cuba was stained, however, by his ferocious +treatment of the aborigines, whom he condemned<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> to work in his newly +discovered copper mines, and tortured to death because they refused to +obey their taskmaster. His love affairs, on the other hand, were +romantic, and are still enshrined in the legendary history of the +island. His great, if cruel, name figures in many a folk-lore tale, but +no allusion is ever made to his subsequent adventures on the main +continent. Velasquez, too, is not forgotten. His Governorship had +evidently many features of excellence, and if he bears the shame of +having introduced the curse of negro slavery, he must be given credit +for having planted the first sugar cane in his fair domain.</p> + +<p>After his death, in 1524, the history of Cuba is a blank until the year +1538, when Hernando de Soto landed in the island, and fitted out, in the +harbour of Santiago, the celebrated but unfortunate expedition to +Florida, by means of which he hoped to annex that country to the Spanish +territory. The undertaking, one of vast importance to the future welfare +of the New World, was disastrous in many ways. The flower of the Spanish +colonists perished in numerous battles with the natives, Cuba was +drained of her European population, and the progress of the island +lamentably retarded. Meanwhile, the venerable Las Casas had settled +himself in Havana, and started many wise reforms. Thanks to him, the +future enslavement of the natives was rendered impossible. The +benevolent law, unfortunately, came all too late—the great majority had +already perished. Las Casas built several charitable institutions and +hospitals in various parts of the island, notably at Havana and +Santiago, and obtained for<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> Havana the grant of civic rights, as capital +of the island. For a few years Cuba enjoyed a measure of peace and +prosperity, interrupted by fierce occasional raids by French, Dutch, and +English buccaneers and pirates.</p> + +<p>The great Buccaneering period in West Indian history, from the second +quarter of the sixteenth century till the end of the seventeenth, is one +of the most romantic and exciting that can be conceived. This celebrated +association of piratical adventurers maintained itself in the Caribbean +seas for over a century, by dint of audacity, bravery, and shrewdness. +It was organized for a systematic series of reprisals on the Spaniards; +but in the course of time all sense of honour disappeared, and its +members indulged in indiscriminate piracy. Its name, singular to relate, +is derived from the Caribbee word <i>bucan</i>, a term for preserved meat, +smoked dry in a peculiar manner. From this the French adventurers formed +the verb <i>bucaner</i> and the noun <i>bucanier</i>, which was eventually +adopted, oddly enough, by the English, whereas the French preferred the +word <i>filibustier</i>, a possible corruption of our "freebooter," still +used to designate a certain portion of the Cuban rebels. The real motive +for the existence of the buccaneers was the universal detestation in +which Spain was held in the West Indian Archipelago. The Spanish +assumption of a divine right to half of the New World, in accordance +with the grant bestowed on them by Pope Alexander VI., and traced in his +own hand on the famous Borgian map, and the diabolical cruelties +practised by them upon all foreign interlopers<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> who chanced to fall into +their hands, led to an association for mutual defence among all +adventurers of other nations, whom the reports of its fabulous wealth +had attracted to this part of the New World. Their policy was war to the +death against all Spaniards. Their code was of the simplest. They lived +in community: locks and bars were proscribed as an insult to their +honesty. Each buccaneer had his comrade, who stood by him when alive, +and succeeded to his property at his death. Their centre of operations +was the island of Tortuga, near San Domingo, where, when not hunting the +Spaniards or being hunted by them in return, they enjoyed peace of a +kind. Their life was wild and terrible, and their history teems with +cruelty and bloodshed, but the lurid page is lighted here and there by +tales of romantic adventure, chivalrous valour, and brilliant +generalship. Cupid, too, occasionally lent his aid to soften the rugged +asperities of the buccaneer's career. Who has not heard how Peter of +Dieppe fell in love with, and carried off, the daughter of the Governor +of Havana? and of how Van Horn lost his life in saving his daughter's +honour? Pre-eminent amongst such names as L'Olonnais, Michael de Busco, +Bartholomeo de Portuguez, and Mansvelt, stands forth that of Henry +Morgan, the Welshman, who organised fleets and armies, besieged rich +cities, reduced strong fortresses, displayed throughout his long career +an absolute genius for command, was finally knighted by Charles II., and +ended his wild and spirited career as Deputy-Governor of Jamaica, a +somewhat tame conclusion! Had he loved gold less, and power more, he<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a> +might have died Emperor of the West Indies, but he was content to retire +into comparative obscurity with his enormous fortune, after having made +the western hemisphere, from Jamaica to Rio, ring with his name and +fame. The buccaneers were then, as we see, a thoroughly well organised +association of sea-banditti, consisting mainly of English, French, and +Dutch adventurers, who harassed the coast of Cuba for over a century, +and finally, with the connivance of their respective Governments, laid +hands on Jamaica, Hayti, and others of the islands. In 1528 they even +ventured to attack Havana, set the town on fire, and reduce it to ashes. +There were no fortifications to repel them then, and the straw and +wooden buildings burnt merrily. When the buccaneers evacuated the ruins, +Hernando de Soto, the future discoverer of the Mississippi, hastened +from Santiago, where he was residing, and set himself to work to rebuild +the city in its present position, and surround it by well-designed and +constructed fortresses. So great was the terror inspired by the +buccaneers, that special laws were enacted in Cuba to protect the +seaports from their predatory attacks. People were ordered to keep +within their doors after certain hours of the night. Every man was +commanded to wear his sword, not only by day, but by night, and it was +death to assist any buccaneer who attempted to escape, after falling +into the hands of the Spaniards. In 1556, Jacob Sores, a famous pirate, +whose much-dreaded name was used by the Cuban women to frighten their +unruly children, again attacked Havana, reduced the fortress, and sacked +the church and city.<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> Terrible stories are told of the outrages and +murders which he committed, and of his hair-breadth escape from being +captured, which he owed to a Spanish lady who had fallen desperately in +love with him. After the departure of Sores and his gang, Havana and the +other growing cities of the island were fortified afresh, so that when +Drake arrived in 1555, he thought twice before attacking the capital, +and sailed away without firing a shot. In 1589 Philip II. built two +castles, the Morro and Los tres Reyes (The Three Kings), designed by +Giovanni Batista Antonelli, an Italian architect in his employ. These +exist to this day, though, of course, greatly modified, especially of +late years, by being adapted to modern purposes of warfare. Havana now +had become too strong for the buccaneers, and although they frequently +threatened it, they dared not venture near enough to do much harm. The +town repulsed the persistent attack of the Dutch Admiral, Jolls, who +menaced it from August to September 1628.</p> + +<p>During the seventeenth century, Havana and the other large towns of Cuba +were greatly extended, surrounded by walls (portions of which, as well +as the picturesque old gates, were recently standing), and soon became +renowned throughout the West Indies for their wealth and luxury. The +long series of Spanish Governors, or Captains-General, as they were and +are still called, made a point of importing splendid equipages, plate, +china, and even pictures by the great Spanish masters. When His +Excellency went abroad, it was in a gilded coach, not unlike that of our +Lord Mayor, drawn by twelve mules, caparisoned in yellow, red, and<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a> +gold, the national colours of the kingdom. A host of slaves of every +tint, wearing gorgeous liveries, followed, some on horseback, others +running by the side of the sumptuous vehicle. Trumpeters preceded, and +men in armour closed the procession. His Excellency's consort, who had +to enact the part of Vice-Queen, was instructed, before leaving Madrid, +in all the formidable etiquette of the Spanish court. Those members of +noble Spanish families who had established themselves, at an early +period, in the colony, continued to bear their titles, and formed an +aristocracy which held aloof from the untitled planters, and attended +the court of the Governor with all the state it could possibly assume. +These magnates, likewise, went abroad in gilded coaches, drawn by four, +six, and even eight richly caparisoned mules, and had their trains of +gaily liveried slaves. Horses were at one time scarce in the island, but +before the end of the seventeenth century they were numerous enough, and +the volante, a picturesque carriage, evidently a modification of a +similar vehicle then in use in the Peninsula, made its first appearance. +Another feature of those days, which has long since disappeared, was the +state barges which served to convey the rich and highly-born across the +harbour, and which, if I may rely on a contemporary engraving now before +me, were richly carved and gilded, and rowed by as many as twenty +oarsmen in gaudy costumes. In another print, dated 1670, representing +the market-place at Havana, a number of ladies are seen wearing the old +Spanish costume, farthingale and mantilla <i>au grand complet</i>, as we see +them in the pictures of<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> Velasquez, and attended by slaves carrying +China silk parasols with deep fringes, to shield their mistresses from +the sun. In one corner a slave is being sold, while in another a sacred +image is carried in procession by a number of friars. Half-naked negroes +are running about hawking bananas, oranges, and pineapples. To the left +of the market-place is a church, now no longer in existence, which must, +I presume, have been that of San Domingo, annexed to which were the +prisons of the Holy Office, which undesirable institution was +established early in the 16th century, soon after the foundation of the +colony. It worked in Cuba with as much fierce cruelty as in all the +other Spanish dominions, and <i>autos da fé</i> of heretics and heathens were +a frequent form of entertainment. Early, too, in the 17th century, a +good-sized theatre, where the plays of Calderon and Lope de Vaga were +doubtless performed, was opened in Havana. In Holy Week, <i>autos</i>, or +sacred dramas, were given in the open, "weather permitting." In a word, +Havanese life, in those far-off times, was a reflection of life in Spain +as it has been depicted by Cervantes and Lesage, and the Countess +d'Aulnoy.</p> + +<p>Very soon after the Conquest, the Church obtained large grants of +valuable property, and down to the first quarter of the present century +a good fifth of the island was Church property. Most of the great +religious orders were represented—including the Benedictines and the +Carthusians. The Franciscan and Dominican friars had a number of +priories in various parts of the island, and were much esteemed by the +people, whom they steadily befriended. To their credit, be it recorded,<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> +the Dominican friars occupied themselves a great deal with the condition +of the slaves, obtained the freedom of many, and redressed the wrongs of +thousands. The Jesuits made their first appearance very soon after the +creation of their celebrated order. They established themselves in +Havana, Santiago, Matanzas, and Puerto Principe, where they opened +Colleges for the education of the sons of the upper classes. There were +also many nunneries, peopled generally by sisters from Europe, who +educated the daughters of the wealthy, and gave primary instruction to +the children of the people. As is usually the case in Catholic +countries, numbers of churches were built, some of them of considerable +architectural pretensions, in the well-known Hispano-American style, of +which many excellent examples are still extant, not only in Havana, but +throughout the whole of South America. Some of the more popular shrines, +like that of Neustra Seņora de Cobre, the Lourdes of Cuba, were, and are +still, rich in <i>ex votos</i>, in gold, silver, and even jewels.</p> + +<p>The Holy Week ceremonies still remain rather crude reproductions of +those which annually attract so many hundreds of visitors to Seville. +But notwithstanding the existence of many learned and estimable prelates +and priests, the general character of the clergy in Cuba has been +indifferent, and I am afraid the Cubans have ever held the gorgeous +ceremonies of their Church in greater affection than her moral +teachings.</p> + +<p>Up till 1788, the Cuban Church was ruled by a<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> single bishop, but in +that year it was divided into two dioceses, each covering about one half +of the island. In 1804, Santiago, the eastern diocese, was raised to the +dignity of an archbishopric. The other, which contains the city of +Havana, still remains a bishopric.</p> + +<p>The European revolutions of the end of the last and the beginning of the +present centuries had their effect on Cuba, and a great number of +monasteries and convents were closed, their inmates scattered, and their +property confiscated.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the Inquisition, which had been implanted at an early +period everywhere in the Spanish colonies, with the object of compelling +the aborigines and the imported slaves to embrace Catholicism, was used +as a means of overawing refractory colonists, who were soon made aware +that either open or covert disapprobation of the proceedings of their +rulers was the most deadly of all heresies. From the middle of the 17th +century until the close of the 18th, the annals of the Havanese +Inquisition contain endless charges of heresy against native-born +Spaniards—charges which were in reality merely expressions of political +displeasure, and had nothing whatever to do with religion.</p> + +<p>The palace of the Holy Office and its prisons, which stood close to the +Church of San Domingo, were destroyed many years ago, and are now +replaced by the old market-place of Cristina, once the scene of an +unusual number of <i>autos da fé</i>—a favourite form of religious +entertainment in South America, it would<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> appear, for in a curious old +book, dated 1683, which I picked up in Havana for a few pence, the +author complains of the dull times, "nobody, not even a negro, having +been burnt alive for nearly six months." A Havanese <i>auto da fé</i>, in the +palmy days of Spanish supremacy, must have been quite a pretty sight, +including, as it did, an allegorical procession to the place of +execution, with children dressed in white as angels, and little nigger +boys as devils, tails and horns complete, dancing before the condemned, +who, of course, wore the traditional <i>san benito</i>, a sort of high mitre +and shirt, embellished with demoniacal representations of Satan and his +imps, capering amid flames and forked lightning. Then came the Governor +and his court, the civil and military officials, the clergy, the monks, +and the friars singing the seven penitential psalms—in a word, +everything "<i>muy grandiose y espectacolos</i>."</p> + +<p>The early years of the 18th century were exceedingly prosperous for +Cuba. The buccaneers and pirates had almost entirely ceased from +troubling. The sugar trade was at its zenith, and although the Spanish +administration was vile, the governors rapacious, and the taxation +preposterous, colossal fortunes were made by the Cuban planters, and the +name of the island was synonymous with the idea of wealth and riotous +living. The Havanese carnival was almost as brilliant in its way as that +of Venice, and public and private gambling was tolerated on a scale +which attracted adventurers from all parts of the southern hemisphere. +Those were halcyon days, disturbed in 1762 by the rather<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> unexpected +appearance, in the port of Havana, of an English war squadron of 32 +sail, with 170 transports, bearing a considerable body of troops under +the command of his Grace of Albemarle and Sir George Picknell. This +formidable armament, altogether the largest America had yet seen, laid +siege to the city, which surrendered after an heroic defence of two +months' duration. The British troops were landed and marched on +Guanacaboa, from the heights of which place they fired down upon Morro +Castle and the city proper. The Spaniards made a fatal mistake—blocking +up the harbour by sinking two vessels at its mouth. This they did to +exclude the English and prevent the destruction of the Spanish fleet. +But though they did shut out the English they also imprisoned +themselves, and the enemy, seeing it was impossible for the Dons to +escape, even if they would, directed their whole attention to their land +attack. After a gallant struggle, the Spaniards, who numbered some +27,600 men, surrendered, and were permitted to march out of the city +with the honours of war, the spoil divided by the British amounting to +Ģ736,000. The English troops next took Matanzas, and remained in +possession of this portion of the island of Cuba for nine months, when, +by the Treaty of Paris, it was restored to Spain, in exchange for +Florida. During the British occupation the trade of the country was +greatly improved by the importation of slaves from other British +possessions and by the newcomers' superior knowledge of agriculture; so +that the invasion proved, on the whole, a distinct benefit to the +country, opening out a new era of prosperity for the Spaniards and +other<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> colonists. It has been said, indeed, that the real prosperity of +the islands dates from our occupation, which ended July 18, 1763.</p> + +<p>About 1765 there was a remarkable emigration of Frenchmen, partly from +Martinique and partly from the mother-country into Cuba. The new +colonists brought improved agricultural implements, and not a few of +them opened shops in the chief cities, and did a large trade in French +goods. Some French missionaries also arrived about the same time. These +were mostly Jesuits, who, when they had acquired the language, began to +preach practical sermons, which were greatly relished by the +inhabitants. The French introduced apiculture, a branch of industry +which has flourished ever since, and which has enabled the Cubans to +supply the neighbouring islands with wax candles at a much cheaper rate +than those hitherto imported from Europe. It is curious to notice, in +some of the old log-books still preserved, the numerous entries as to +the importation of wax candles made at Havana, to Jamaica, Trinidad, and +Nassau. In the log-book of the ship "Royal George," which was in the +harbour of Havana on 16th June 1810, I find this entry—"Sent two men +over to the town to purchase wax candles, which are very well made in +this city, and also 20 bars of French bees-wax, and some soap for +friends of mine in the Bahamas."</p> + +<p>In 1763, France having ceded Luisiana to Spain, Don Antonio Alloa sailed +for New Orleans, to take possession in the name of Their Catholic +Majesties. He was so ill received as to be obliged to return forthwith +to Havana, where Marshall O'Reilly, an exile of<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> Irish origin, organized +an expedition to Luisiana, and seized the capital, which, however, was +not held for very long.</p> + +<p>A very interesting incident took place in 1776. The United States were +struggling for their independence, when their first embassy, headed by +the famous Benjamin Franklin, arrived in Paris in the spring of that +year, and solicited authorization from Louis XVI. to proceed to Madrid, +to implore Don Carlos III. to grant them the aid and protection of +Spain. Two members of the embassy, Messrs Arthur and Charles Lee, were +allowed to present themselves at court, and the king accorded them a +most gracious reception, and cordially promised them his support. His +Majesty permitted Mr John Jay, a prominent representative of the +American Congress, to remain in Madrid to continue negotiations, which +resulted in Spain's affording the Americans truly practical assistance +in the shape of money and men, the Spanish Minister for the Interior, +Conde de Florida-Blanca, making them several grants of money out of the +treasury. Permission was also given them to raise a corps of Spanish +volunteers, who proceeded to Cuba, where they were reinforced by Cubans, +and embarked thence for the States. These services were rewarded by the +Americans with expressions of unbounded gratitude. "The people of +America can never forget the immense benefit they have received from +King Carlos III.," said Washington, and a few years later, in 1780, a +messenger was sent from Congress to the Spanish King, carrying with him +an illuminated address of thanks and a new bill for Ģ100,000, which<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> +they begged him to accept, "in the name of an everlastingly grateful +people." But even in those days there were doubts cast upon the "lasting +gratitude" of the American people. The Conde d'Aranda, the Ambassador at +Paris, wrote a letter to Florida-Blanca containing these significant +words:—"This American Republic was born a dwarf, but one day she will +become a giant. She will then forget the blessings she received from +France and Spain, and only think of her own aggrandisement."</p> + +<p>The administration of Don Luis Las Casas, who arrived as Captain-General +in 1790, was one of the most brilliant epochs of Cuban history. With +indefatigable industry he promoted a number of public works of the first +importance, introduced the culture of indigo, extended the commercial +importance of the island by removing, as far as his authority permitted, +the trammels imposed upon it by the old system of ecclesiastical and +aristocratic privileges, and has left a glorious name in the long list +of Captains-General, only equalled by that of Tacon in our own century.</p> + +<p>The great French Revolution produced a prodigious impression throughout +the whole of the West Indies. In many of the neighbouring islands, +especially in Jamaica and San Domingo, the negroes revolted, and the +action of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who had started as a Royalist, but who, +on the emancipation of the slaves in 1794, went over to the Republic, +was a subject of common talk in Havana, where the Spaniards had great +difficulty in suppressing a popular rising on the part of the Cubans, +who were already heartily disgusted<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> with their maladministration. On +many of the plantations the more intelligent negroes, discovering that a +decree for the emancipation of slavery had been passed in the French +colonies, clamoured in vain for a like act of grace from the Spanish +Government, and finally rebelled, escaping into the woods, where they +formed themselves into bands, which soon became a dangerous nuisance, +and were ruthlessly suppressed by the cruel methods which have ever +characterised Spanish rule. Throughout the last quarter of the 18th +century the Cubans, as distinguished from the Spanish, manifested a +strong desire to free themselves from the oppression of the +mother-country, and not a few ardent spirits were made to feel the power +of the Holy Office, their patriotism being skilfully interpreted as +heresy, and punished accordingly. I think I am correct in considering +the year 1766 as the date of the commencement of the Cuban Independence +movement, which has lately culminated in a breach of the prolonged peace +of two continents. But this is a subject which will require another +chapter, and this brief history of Cuba must close, for the present, on +the threshold of the century which has only two more years to run—years +destined, in all probability, to witness the opening of a new era, one, +let us hope, of peace and prosperity for the Pearl of the Antilles.<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Beginnings of the Rebellion</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> difficulties of governing a colony blessed with so heterogeneous a +population as Cuba, are, as may well be conceived, great and manifold. +The ordinary newspaper reader is apt to conclude that his favourite +daily fully instructs him as to the Hispano-Cuban question, and takes +the Spaniards for a set of damnable inquisitors, who harry, torture, and +starve the angelic Cubans out of sheer devilry, precisely as the unlucky +Abd'ul' Hamid is supposed to have given his personal supervision to the +Armenian massacres. The Cuban business, like all other great political +and social questions, is a very complex one, and, in order to gain even +a general idea of its intricacies, some knowledge of its origin must be +obtained.</p> + +<p>Spain's greatest mistake has been the persistent obstinacy with which +she has attempted to govern her colonies by the sword and the crozier—a +combination of military and ecclesiastical methods which, successful as +it may have been in the earlier periods of her history, has proved +ominously fatal in our times, and especially so in Cuba, where, since +the end of the last century, education has made considerable strides, +and the better<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> class of colonists have watched, with rising enthusiasm, +the great revolutionary wave which has swept over Europe and America +alike.</p> + +<p>The youth of Cuba entered heartily into the spirit of the times. Yet, +when the Great Revolution affected Spain, and spread to her colonies, +which, for the most part, rose in open rebellion against her, Cuba +remained faithful to the mother country,—in spite of her keen sympathy, +expressed and actively testified, for the United States in their late +struggle for independence. At the same time, Cubans were beginning to +realise the fact that they themselves were none too well governed; and +indeed for over a century and a half the Spanish islanders had been +chafing against official exactions, and against the obsolete form of +government established in the island. The famous colonial code, <i>Las +leyes de Indias</i>, already mentioned, was still in force, and unmodified, +as yet, to suit the exigencies of a newer civilization. In 1766 there +had been a distinct movement against the then Captain-General,—so the +Governor of the island was called,—who had taken upon himself to levy a +tax on all slaves imported, which tax he was accused of applying to his +own benefit. Then came the incident in the reign of Charles III., when +Spain afforded active assistance to the American insurgents, and a +number of Spanish and Cuban volunteers started from Havana, where they +had assembled, to join the rebellion against Great Britain. The words +"freedom and independence" were thus early rendered familiar to Cuban +ears. A little later, following the example of the great Anglo-Saxon<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> +colony of the North, all the Spanish settlements in South America broke +into open revolt, and clamoured for their liberty. The name of Bolivar +was soon to set men's pulses beating under the Southern Cross, even as +that of Washington had lately stirred all hearts in the Northern +Hemisphere. The Spanish empire in the New World was tottering to its +fall. One by one Spain's colonies were torn from her feeble grasp. The +long-drawn revolution in Mexico, which, after fermenting for nearly half +a century, tossed the unhappy country to and fro from 1810 to 1824, had +a definite effect on the destiny of Cuba, which for over three centuries +had been partially dependent on the government of that once opulent +colony.</p> + +<p>In a Catholic country, when priestly influence becomes apparently +paramount, it is frequently opposed by an under-current of surreptitious +free-thought. This condition of things began, in the case of Cuba, quite +early in the present century. A number of secret societies were then +formed, the majority of them affiliated to the great Masonic +Brotherhood, which has worked so mightily to undermine Spanish dominion +in the Southern Americas. For the Cuban lodges, like those of Italy and +France, have always occupied themselves with the religious and political +questions so rigorously avoided by English Masons. Their influence has +always been opposed to that of the clergy, and therefore to that of a +Government which has ever encouraged the interference of the Church in +temporal matters. For many years, Cuba has been covered by a network of +mysterious revolutionary associations, such as the<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> <i>Rationales +Caballeros</i>, <i>Soles de Bolivar</i>, <i>Aguila Nigra</i>, and a host of others, +too numerous to mention. But these, for a considerable time, showed no +prominent activity—a circumstance accounted for by a sudden change in +the fortunes of the island. I have said that, until 1800, Cuba had been +dependent upon the Vice-royalty of Mexico, which was bound to pay all +the expenses of the maintenance of her public institutions, ports, and +roads. As the Spanish power in Mexico declined, the island, as may be +imagined, suffered; her ports soon fell into a deplorable condition, +and, owing to absolute monopolies imposed upon her trade,—held partly +by the Mexican Government, and partly by a chartered company established +at Seville,—the visits of merchantmen to her harbours grew few and far +between. The Revolution, which set a Bonaparte on the Spanish throne, +temporarily removed this incubus, and in 1805 the Cuban ports were +thrown open to general commerce, with the result that, whereas in 1804 +less than a dozen ships, all belonging to the Seville company, passed +the Morro Castle at Havana, in 1806 over a thousand vessels from all +parts of the world cast anchor in the harbour. And further, the French +emigrants who had fled, twenty years earlier, from the San Domingo +massacres, had persuaded their Cuban hosts to devote their attention to +the sugar trade. Cane planting had for some years increased, in all +directions, and so rapidly, that travellers declared they scarcely +recognised the country, once so beautiful with its scores of dainty +green coffee plantations,—so exquisitely lovely when the star-like +blossoms scent the air,—now <a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a>replaced by far-stretching acres of +unsightly cane. Be this as it may, sugar and tobacco were soon grown in +great abundance, and Cuba, with her ports freed from all the mediæval +trammels which had hitherto shackled her commercial capacities, was soon +able to supply more than half the total amount of sugar then consumed in +Europe. This commerce resulted in an era of exceptional prosperity, +which lasted until 1825. Meanwhile the Cubans proved their passionate +affection for their mother country by refusing to acknowledge the +Napoleonic supremacy, and even by openly joining the enemies of their +deposed sovereigns. Every member of the Cuban National Assembly took the +oath to preserve his country for his former king. Such ardent patriotism +won the island the proud title of "Cuba la sempre Fiel!"—"Cuba the ever +Faithful."</p> + +<p>The restoration of the Spanish monarchy, in 1814, was hailed with the +utmost enthusiasm by the colonists. Nevertheless, even at this time, +feuds between the Spaniards and the Cubans were frequent, the latter +lampooning the former as Godas or Goths; and it is even said that when +the Spanish ladies wore their hair long, the Cuban Senōras cropped +theirs short—whence the name of pelonas (croppies) given them by their +rivals to this day. Well would it have been for Spain had she availed +herself of this outburst of loyalty in the richest corner still left to +her of her once prodigious empire! But insensate counsels prevailed, and +the mother country, by her ruthless abuse of Cuban confidence, gave +fresh and lamentable proof of her incapacity for colonial government.<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a></p> + +<p>It must be admitted that, whether at home or abroad, the Spaniards have +never been an easily governed people. The renowned Guicciardini, +Florentine ambassador to Ferdinand the Catholic, reports a very +interesting conversation with that monarch concerning his subjects.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the father of our Katherine of Aragon, "the Spaniards were +ever essentially a nation of warriors, and also most undisciplined! +Everybody wants to be at the top of the tree, and nobody consents to +obey. The soldiers are better than their officers. Every Spaniard knows +how to fight, but none knows how to command either himself, or others." +Whereupon the Florentine historian adds, by way of rider—"This, in all +probability, is because discord is natural to the Spaniards,—an +illustrious, but arrogant, irritable, and turbulent, though generous, +race!"</p> + +<p>If they were unmanageable in the days of their grandeur, when they had +all the wealth of the Indies at command, we may easily conceive what +they must be now, when they have fallen from the position of the +richest, to that of the poorest, nation in Europe.</p> + +<p>The Cubans, the descendants of Spaniards, have inherited the Spanish +tendency to anarchy. When the army in Spain—as was of almost yearly +occurrence, earlier in this present century—made a Pronunciamento, +their Cuban brethren forthwith raised an insurrection, on some pretext +or another, of their own; and, as M. Charles Benoit says in his deeply +interesting work, <i>L'Espagne, Cuba, et les Etats-Unis</i>, "this natural +tendency on the part of the Spanish population<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> in Cuba has been, if +anything, augmented by the influx of emigrants from all parts of the +world, who have brought with them all kinds of ideas and theories on the +subjects of morals and politics, and have thereby rendered the existing +confusion tenfold greater than in the good old times, when there were +only Cubans—that is to say, Spanish and negroes—on the island, and +everybody thought more or less alike." For all this, deep in his heart +the Cuban retains an intense love of the mother country,—a passionate +affection, indeed, which, should the Americans be victorious in the +present war, may eventually cause them considerable trouble.</p> + +<p>In spite of the high sounding but empty title of "Faithful Cuba," +bestowed on her generous island sons, Spain subtly reverted to her old +methods, and used their country as a sort of conquered El Dorado, the +quickly developed resources of which she was determined to turn to her +selfish account, regardless of possible consequences. The Cubans, +however, who had learnt many things since the opening of the century, +soon showed a distinct disinclination to submit to this process. The era +of prosperity already alluded to had attracted numbers of emigrants to +the island, from every quarter of the world,—more especially from the +United States; and constant contact with different races and varied +religions, added to the influence of the secret societies previously +mentioned (which had by this time become both wealthy and flourishing), +soon made their impression upon the better educated and more intelligent +classes, and therefore upon the masses, who, losing that extreme respect +for religious<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> authority, ordinarily so characteristic of the Spanish +race, learnt to despise a feeble Government, which openly used its +clergy for its own ends and purposes.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for Spain, and also for her Cuban subjects, the island was +administered, during the early years of the nineteenth century, by +Tacon, a man of exceptional ability and energy, who recognised the +immense capabilities of the country, and did his utmost to develop them. +He passed many laws of a beneficent and useful nature, and, in a word, +covered himself with honour, his name being even yet synonymous, +throughout the island, with ideas of justice and good government. Even +in his days some feeble attempts at insurrection were made, and a +certain Lorenzo placed himself at the head of some 3000 rebels, mostly +escaped negroes. Tacon had not much difficulty in routing him and his +ill-disciplined troops. The Havana of that period was by no means a safe +place of residence. It had become the gambling hell of the Americas, and +it was dangerous to walk its darksome streets at night, without a +considerable escort. Tacon availed himself of the opportunity created by +the great fire of 1802 (April 25-26) to rebuild the quarter of the city +then destroyed in a more regular style, and prohibited the future +erection of wooden houses, as dangerous to the public safety. He lighted +the city, suppressed the gambling saloons, prohibited the national game +of <i>Monte</i>, and established a well-organized police force and a fire +department. To sum it up, he proved, even in those far-off times, that +under a firm hand and common-sense administration,<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> Cuba can be as well +and as easily governed as any other country under the sun. The great +Governor was guilty, however, of one dark deed: he encouraged the slave +trade. Hands were needed all over the Colony, on account of the +marvellous impetus which had been given to the sugar industries, and the +unfortunate Africans were used, so to speak, to pay the piper. In less +than ten years, over a hundred thousand negroes were imported into Cuba; +and as the masters never seriously attempted to civilize their field +hands, the present descendants of these slaves have added not a little +to the general anarchy now existing in the troubled island.</p> + +<p>In 1812, the Cubans, still faithful to Spain, notwithstanding her many +sins of omission and commission, assisted in putting down a revolt among +the slaves in the neighbourhood of Bayamo, captured Aponte, the rebel +chief, and hanged him, together with eight of his associates. Hundreds +of negroes were massacred, or else driven into the forest, to die of +want.</p> + +<p>The era of prosperity, which for nearly a quarter of a century, staved +off open revolt, began to decline between 1822 to 1837. The United +States had consolidated, and their increasing trade interfered +considerably with that of the whole West Indian Archipelago. Spain, +meanwhile, had gradually settled back into her old mediæval +ways—enlivened by palace scandals and military <i>Pronunciamentos</i>. The +series of governors who succeeded Tacon were, with but few exceptions, a +worthless set, and the crowd of minor officials who accompanied them +were mere leeches, whose sole<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> object was to seize every possible +opportunity, legitimate or illegitimate, for lining their own pockets. +Ridiculous taxes, unreasonable dues and fees, were invented and imposed. +When the unfortunate Cubans raised an outcry against this wholesale +robbery, they were treated as rebels, and not a few,—chiefly members of +the various secret societies,—were arrested and imprisoned, and even +executed, without trial.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>In 1835 the Cubans claimed to have their interests represented in the +National Cortes by native members. The request was treated with a +contempt that will never be forgotten nor forgiven. From that day, a +feeling of bitter hatred and distrust has utterly severed the Cuban +population from its Spanish brethren. Ties of blood have been torn +asunder, and the sad truth that<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a> a family feud exceeds all others in +bitterness, has received fresh and inevitable confirmation. The earlier +insurrections of the century were invariably accompanied by the same +cruel reprisals on both sides. But they brought about no permanent +improvement in the condition of the people. Spain continued her obsolete +and selfish policy; Cuba never ceased to rebel.</p> + +<p>The revolutionary period of 1848 did not, as may well be imagined, pass +without leaving its mark on the island. Strange as it may seem, the +starting point of the fresh series of rebellions was the pretty +Filarmonia Theatre, at Santiago de Cuba, where, some forty years ago, +the fascinating Adelina Patti made her début. In the winter of 1850 +General Lopez led a filibustering expedition from the United States, +with the object of seizing Cuba, and proclaiming her independence. That +his attempt was favoured, and even financially assisted, by many +Americans, is an undoubted fact; but, unfortunately for its promoters, +it was a signal failure. A number of hot-headed young men,—some of them +belonging to the best families in the island—suspected of favouring +Lopez and his companions, were arrested, and several were shot, without +form of trial. As may well be imagined, the impression produced in the +ancient capital of the Eastern Province, and indeed throughout the +island, by this violent action on the part of the Spanish authorities, +was profound, and the feeling soon reached such a pitch that no +native-born Cuban would be seen speaking to a Spaniard. The Carnival +gaieties were suspended, and the city was thrown into deep mourning. +The<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> Spaniards, resolved to mark their contempt for the islanders, gave +a ball at the Filarmonia. Groups of young Cubans forced their way +through the terrified dancers, and proceeded to insult and disfigure a +portrait of Queen Isabella II. The confusion was terrible, and many +ladies were severely hurt. Yet the incident was allowed to pass without +any attempt being made to discover and punish the offenders, who, +by-the-way, were masked. A few weeks afterwards, a Cuban lady of high +rank and great wealth, hoping to cast oil on troubled waters, hired the +same hall, and sent out invitations for a <i>tertullia</i>, to which she bade +representatives of both the belligerent parties. The consequences were +ghastly. The Spanish officers and the Cuban <i>jeunesse dorée</i> found +themselves, suddenly and unexpectedly, face to face. An unlucky jest, at +the expense of an old Spanish officer, fired the mine, and in a moment +the ball-room was in an uproar, and the scene of gaiety changed to one +of combat. Ladies fainted, and were trampled under foot, chandeliers +fell smashing to the ground, and the most awful and horrible confusion +ensued. Five or six people were killed—amongst them a Spanish lady of +distinction—and nearly a hundred persons were seriously hurt. As to the +luckless hostess, she betook herself to Europe at the earliest possible +opportunity, and there remained; but from that day to this the incidents +at the Filarmonia Ball have never been forgotten in Cuba. Some of the +young brawlers were arrested, and certain of them,—youths belonging to +the richest families in the city,—were imprisoned in the Morro Castle, +and thence transported<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> to Ceuta, the Spanish penal station in Morocco, +whence they never returned.</p> + +<p>For some years after this gloomy event, Cuba went from bad to worse, <i>de +mal em peyor</i>. But it would be useless, and, indeed, merely confusing, +at this date, to enter into the details of what is, after all, merely +the local history of a bye-gone time. The weak Government of Queen +Isabella, which lacked even the faintest sense of providence, continued +to exploit Cuba in every possible manner, and to send out needy +generals, and pauper nobles, to act as Governors. In the meantime, as it +may be interesting, at this juncture, to recall, the United States had +already cast longing eyes on the fair Queen of the Antilles. An almost +forgotten episode of this period was brought to light, but the other +day, in the pages of the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>. In a most interesting +article, Mme. Colmache, the venerable and distinguished widow of +Talleyrand's last secretary, gives a terse and singularly interesting +account of an intrigue, all the details of which are in her personal +recollection. It seems that fifty years ago, Louis Philippe, seized with +a desire for territorial aggrandisement, took advantage of Spain's +poverty to make overtures for the purchase, not only of Cuba, but of +Puerto Rico and the Philippines. As a matter of fact, the deal would +have been actually concluded, but for the French monarch's parsimony. +Queen Christina's representative in Paris, Seņor Campanuzo, was +instructed to ask 30,000,000 reals for Cuba, and 10,000,000 for Puerto +Rico and the Philippines. The terms for the purchase of Cuba and Puerto +Rico having been agreed, the treaty was to have been signed<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> at the +Tuileries. But at the last moment, the Bourgeois King demanded that the +Philippines should be thrown in free; and so firmly did he insist, that +the Spanish representative could only declare that the treaty had better +be thrown into the fire. This course was actually pursued.</p> + +<p>Twenty years later another offer for the purchase of Cuba, and a far +more offensive one, was made by the United States. In the year 1860, +President Buchanan greatly alarmed the Spanish Government, by a message +as threatening in its nature as that recently despatched by President +M'Kinley to the advisers of Queen Christina, at Madrid. Its purport may +be expressed as follows, although, to be sure, the matter was not quite +so plainly couched, but the inference could not be misunderstood. +"Circumstances and destiny absolutely require that the United States +should be masters of the island of Cuba. That we should take it by +filibustering or violence is not in accordance with our national genius. +It will suit our character and honesty much better to obtain it by +purchase. Let us therefore offer a fair price for it. If that fair +price<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> shall be refused, we, of course, shall have a <i>casus belli</i>. +Spain will have injured us, and we may declare war. Under these +circumstances, we should probably obtain the place without purchase, but +we will hope for better things."</p> + +<p>This domineering proposal to annex Cuba by purchase was indignantly +refused at Madrid; but Mr Anthony<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> Trollope, who happened to be in the +island at the time the proposition was made, tells us it elicited the +greatest possible enthusiasm there. "The plea," he writes, "under which +Mr Buchanan proposes to quarrel with Spain, if she will not sell that +which America wishes to buy, is the plea under which Ahab quarrelled +with Naboth. A man is individually disgusted that a President of the +United States should have made such an utterance. But looking at the +question from a broader point of view, one can hardly refrain from +rejoicing at any event which will tend to bring about that which in +itself is so desirable." After all, California had been purchased from +Spain by the United States, and Texas had been annexed by filibustering +incursions. There can be no question that both these States, though +peopled by Spaniards, precisely as Cuba was, had flourished exceedingly +under the star-spangled banner. Mr Trollope gives us a picture of the +public mind in Cuba in 1860, which convinces us the local opinion has +undergone very little change since his day. That which he wrote +thirty-eight years ago reads exactly as if it had been penned yesterday. +He says—"From such information as I could obtain, I am of opinion that +the Cubans themselves would be glad enough to see the transfer well +effected. How, indeed, can it be otherwise? At present they have no +national privilege, except that of undergoing taxation. Every office is +held by a Spaniard. Every soldier in the island—and they say there are +25,000—must be a Spaniard. The ships of war are commanded and manned by +Spaniards. All that is shown before their eyes of brilliance, and +power,<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> and high place, is purely Spanish. No Cuban has any voice in his +own country. He can never have the consolation of thinking that his +tyrant is his countryman, or reflect that, under altered circumstances, +it might possibly have been his fortune to tyrannize. What love can he +have for Spain? He cannot even have the poor pride of being slave to a +great lord. He is the lackey of a reduced gentleman, and lives on the +vails of those who despise his manners. Of course the transfer would be +grateful to him."</p> + +<p>"But no Cuban will himself do anything to bring it about. To wish is one +thing, to act is another. A man standing behind his counter may feel +that his hand is restricted on every side, and his taxes alone +unrestricted, but he must have other than Hispano-Creole blood in his +veins if he do more than stand and feel. Indeed, wishing is too strong a +word to be fairly applicable to his state of mind. He would gladly +consent that Cuba should be American, but he would prefer that he +himself should lie in a dormant state while the dangerous transfer is +going on."</p> + +<p>The United States, whose hands were soon busied by the outbreak of their +own Civil War, dropped the Cuban proposal, and the whole question +remained in abeyance for some considerable time. Meanwhile matters had +reached an unendurable pitch. It was almost impossible for a Cuban to +obtain justice, and the Governor and his Spanish satellites continued +their systematic methods of bribery and corruption. Yet money was +plentiful in the island, where the commercial class had been immensely +swelled by numerous American and English fortune-hunters<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a>, who had +purchased large estates from impoverished Cubans, and had started sugar +and tobacco-growing on an improved system in various parts of the +island. In 1865, the Cubans, driven to despair by the vexatious +treatment of their rulers, addressed a petition to Queen Isabella II., +which bore not less than 20,000 signatures, and implored Her Majesty to +consider the pitiable condition into which Spain's most splendid +possession had fallen, and to send out a Commission to inquire into the +abuses which rendered their lives unendurable, and prevented them from +earning an honest living for themselves and their children. Not the +least of these abuses were capricious and questionable management of the +Banca Espanōl, the only bank in the island. In answer to this +petition, the Junta created a body of twenty-two Cuban commissioners and +twenty-two Spanish, which original number, however, was unjustly +increased by the admission of a perfect army of Spanish nobles and +officials. The Cuban members, thus left in a minority, were not very +hopeful of obtaining much benefit from the Commission. They made a +sensible proposal for the gradual diminution of the taxes, especially +those connected with the export trade, and submitted a plan for the +gradual emancipation of the slaves. One of their principal schemes for +diminishing taxation,—by the substitution of a direct tax on the total +revenue, instead of the existing vexatious system of indefinite and +capricious taxes on the export and import trades,—was rejected, or +rather it was turned against their real interests. The Custom House +duties were cunningly diminished, and the tax<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> on the total revenue of +the island raised from five to ten per cent,—a clear case of robbing +Peter to pay Paul, which exasperated the island population beyond +measure. The arrangement of the question of the abolition of negro +slavery was also eminently unsatisfactory. A decree provided that +newly-born slave children should be considered free, and that all slaves +over fifty years of age should be immediately emancipated. I have +elsewhere pointed out the unfortunate results of this system. The slave +trade continued in Cuba up till 1886, and during that time, +notwithstanding all the treaties signed between England and Spain, +several hundred thousand African negroes are said to have been imported +into Cuba, and sold with the connivance of the officials, who levied a +private tax of a gold doubloon, or about Ģ3, on every woolly head so +purchased. To quote Mr Trollope once more—"The bribery and corruption +that goes on in Cuba is known to everyone, and best known to the +Government of Spain. Under these circumstances, who can feel sympathy +with Spain, or wish that she should retain her colonies? Does she not +daily show she is unfit to hold them? There must be some stage in +misgovernment which will justify the interference of bystanding nations, +in the name of humanity. That rule in life which forbids a man to come +between a husband and wife is a good rule. But, nevertheless, who can +stand by quiescent, and see a brute half murder the poor woman whom he +should protect?"</p> + +<p>At last the insurrection broke out in earnest at Yara, in the Eastern +District. A number of determined men,<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> assisted, undoubtedly, by the +secret societies to which I have drawn attention in an earlier part of +this chapter, commenced a systematic propagation of the theory that +unless force were used, and the assistance of the United States and of +the already emancipated States of South America secured, there was no +chance of justice for Cuba. At the head of the movement was a man of +very remarkable character, Carlos Manuel Cespedes. He was no penniless +adventurer, but a Cuban gentleman of large means,—one of the wealthiest +planters in the island. He was not at first inclined to sever the island +from the mother-country, for he was, by nature, essentially loyal. Even +before embarking upon his undertaking he warned the Spanish Government +of his intention, and of the danger it ran by persisting in its old +methods. A sincere Catholic, he refused to join in any of the overt +anti-religious propaganda then so greatly in vogue among revolutionists. +He desired to remain on friendly terms with the clergy of the island, +but at the same time he hoped that, under a more liberal form of +government, the Cuban clergy would administer the Catholic Church in the +same progressive spirit which has made her so respected and powerful in +the United States. To these fine qualities of heart and head Cespedes +added the advantages of a noble presence and of an extraordinary +oratorical talent.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of 1865—the year of the petition to Queen +Isabella,—Cespedes' plans were nearly matured, but for various reasons +he did not intend the rebellion should break out before the autumn<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> +season. Unfortunately, the individual to whom the funds destined for the +insurrection had been entrusted made off with the money, and betrayed +the secrets of the organization to the Spaniards on condition that he +was allowed to keep his booty. This act of treachery forced Cespedes' +hand, and he was obliged to move earlier than he had originally +intended. He found himself, not only without funds, but without arms. +When his troops inquired what weapons they were to use in the coming +struggle, he replied, with something of the spirit of an ancient Roman: +"With those of our enemies" ("<i>Con las de nos enemigos</i>.") The few guns +in his possession were distributed among his followers, and he, with his +band of some 500 men of all degrees and, indeed, of all colours, started +for Puerto de Buniatos, in the vicinity of Santiago. On the way they +seized all the fire-arms they could find in every plantation they came +across. For two months they remained encamped outside the city walls +without being attacked by the handful of Spanish troops which composed +the garrison. As a matter of fact, there were exceedingly few Spanish +troops in Cuba at that moment—barely enough to keep order in the +island. At the end of December, however, 30,000 troops were landed, and +presently augmented by a body of volunteers collected from various parts +of the island, among them a number of Catalan Cubans, who shortly proved +themselves absolute savages. A number of Spanish warships also arrived +in the ports of Havana and Santiago. Orders were sent from Madrid to use +the sternest measures for the immediate suppression of<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> the +insurrection. The first step taken in this direction was the burning of +the vast plantation owned by Cespedes himself. This was the signal for a +series of massacres and reprisals all over the island. As if by magic, +the absentee Spanish grandees' great plantations were set ablaze. Then +the Spaniards fired the Cuban plantations, and in a few weeks a quarter +of the island lay in ashes, and thousands of slaves and workmen wandered +about idle, homeless, and starving. The insurgents, who were almost +without arms, were obliged to take refuge in the interior of the island, +where they raised the Cuban flag—the American stripes with one solitary +star—and were soon joined by men, women, children, and slaves, all +flying before the Spanish soldiery. The rebels installed themselves in +the city of Bayamo, which for several weeks they contrived to hold +against the enemy. A conspiracy on the part of certain Catalans, who had +joined their forces, being discovered, the traitors were put to death. +On learning this the Spaniards, who had encamped some miles from the +city, suddenly appeared before its walls. Seeing resistance was +hopeless, Cespedes, with the consent of the inhabitants, set the city on +fire, rather than see it fall into the hands of the enemy. An awful +massacre ensued, in which the Spanish soldiers spared neither man, +woman, nor child. On the other hand, the rebels, it must be confessed, +were guilty of the most horrible atrocities. In vain did Cespedes and +his lieutenant, Ignacio Agramonte, implore their followers to remember +that those who fought for liberty and progress must set the example of +mercy. The rebel<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> bands were not men like unto their leaders, gently +born and carefully educated, but a horde gathered together out of every +social class and every race, indeed, for thousands of plantation hands +had fled their burning hovels, and taken up arms in a cause which they +believed would lead them to liberty. Words fail to describe the scenes +of horror which ensued. The dogs of war were let loose upon the unhappy +island. Up and down it, from one end to the other, the plantations +flamed. Towns and villages were laid in ruins, and to add to the terrors +of the situation, famine and pestilence stalked the land, even as at the +present moment. Hundreds of young Cubans, suspected of favouring the +revolution, were arrested on the most flimsy pretexts. A jest, the +wearing of a certain coloured flower, the whistling of a popular tune, +were sufficient to work a man's ruin. The prisoners were shot in dozens, +and shipped off by hundreds into penal servitude. By the end of 1868, +the Spanish garrison consisted of not less than 80,000 men, all well +armed, and whose officers, in their mad desire to stamp out the +rebellion which had now assumed formidable proportions, laid no +restraint on their subordinates' licence. In April of the following year +a proclamation was issued by the Spanish Commander-in-Chief at Bayamo, +which decreed that any individual over fifteen years of age found beyond +the limits of his property and unable to give an account of himself, +should be forthwith shot. All deserted houses, or all houses over which +a white flag of truce did not float, in sign of peace and devotion to +the Government, were to be immediately reduced<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> to ashes. This order +only increased the horrors of the situation. Scores of planters who were +ignorant of its existence, and who were going peaceably on business +intent between their plantations and the neighbouring towns, were shot +by the soldiers, who were only too delighted to display their zeal and +rob their victims, and hundreds of houses were pillaged.</p> + +<p>At this juncture Cuban affairs began once more to attract universal +attention in the United States. The interest taken in the rebellion and +the rebels by our American cousins was not, in all probability, +exclusively platonic. Whether this was the case or not, they contrived +to supply the insurgents, not with money only, but with men and arms, so +that the insurgent army rose in a short time to 55,000 well-armed men, +mainly entrenched in the mountainous districts, whence they were able to +make successful raids. On the 10th of April 1869, at the city of +Guaimaro, in the very heart of the island, the first Cuban Chamber of +Deputies was opened by Cespedes, and the new assembly forthwith +proclaimed Cuban independence and the establishment of a republic. +General Cespedes was unanimously elected President, and his +brother-in-law, Manuel de Quesada, who had served under Juarez, of +Mexican fame, assumed the name of commander-in-chief of the Cuban army. +Slavery was formally abolished. Freedom of worship was established, and +equality of all in the eyes of the law affirmed. The young Republic even +ventured to send envoys to the three countries which had shown her most +sympathy,—England,<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> France, and the United States. The Envoy +Extraordinary of Cuba to the United States of America, Morales Lumus, +was, however, received with great coolness by General Grant, who +steadfastly refused to recognise the new Government. As a matter of +fact, whilst Cuba had been fighting for her independence, Spain had +dethroned the kindly Queen Isabella, and replaced General Prim at the +head of the Iberian Republic. The great Republic of the New World had +naturally hailed the chief of a revolution which had driven Isabella II. +from one of the oldest thrones in the Old World; while Prim, who was +anything but the visionary he is generally supposed to have been, had +arrived at the conclusion that Cuba cost the mother country far more +than she was worth, and had actually proposed—through Hamilton Fish, +then Secretary of State—the sale of the island of Cuba to the United +States Government for a sum of 100,000,000 pesetas! It is only fair to +add that, by the suggested agreement, America was to grant the island +its independence, abolish slavery, and proclaim an armistice, pending +the proclamation of peace. Poor Lumus' heart sank within him, for he +knew the Spanish character by heart, and was perfectly well aware of +what Prim was driving at. If he himself remained in power, the United +States would be allowed to do with Cuba pretty much as they thought fit. +Otherwise, if the ex-Queen or her son were restored, the Marshal hinted +an intention of securing the island for himself. With a heart like lead, +Lumus returned to Cespedes. The outlook was of the darkest, for the fate +of the mother country<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a> as well as that of the newly-born island Republic +hung in the balance.</p> + +<p>General Sickles proceeded at once to Madrid, with full powers from the +United States Government, to conclude the proposed sale of Cuba to the +American Republic. The negotiations proved much more difficult than +President Grant had believed possible, Prim placing a thousand obstacles +in the way of the final conclusion of the bargain. Many believed that he +had been won over to the pro-slavery party. After a wearisome and +fruitless mission, Sickles was recalled. Later on an incident +occurred—that of the <i>Virginius</i>—too lengthy to recapitulate here, +which resulted in the capture by the Spaniards of that filibustering +vessel, which was proceeding from the United States to assist the rebels +with arms, ammunition, and men. The <i>Virginius</i> was taken to Havana, and +sixty-one prisoners, including several Englishmen and twenty-two +Americans, were ultimately shot. On November 5th, 1869, the leaders of +the adventure, Navaro, Ryan, Jesus del Sol, and Pedro Cespedes—the +President's brothers—were put to death by the Spaniards, and their +heads carried in triumph through the streets. All this is far-off +history nowadays,—interesting, nevertheless, if only as a record. The +indignation excited throughout the United States by the <i>Virginius</i> +business was indescribable, and very nearly ended in a declaration of +war. Spain eventually thought it wise to make, through Seņor Castelar, +an abject apology, and granted an indemnity to the families of the +unfortunate men who had been executed. The <i>Virginius</i> was formally<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> +handed back to the Americans, but the luckless vessel, which had been +severely damaged, began to leak, and sank on her way home from Bahia de +Honda to New York. This closed, and somewhat tamely, an incident which +was within an ace of bringing about, some thirty years earlier, the +events now taking place.</p> + +<p>Whilst the negotiations for the release of the disabled <i>Virginius</i> were +dragging their slow length along—they were conducted by the Spaniards +with all the dilatoriness which distinguish them—that nation underwent +a weird series of political changes and intrigues. The Republican party, +although flattered by Prim, who wished in his heart to be the first +President of the Iberian Republic, was evidently distasteful to the +majority of Spaniards, accustomed to the pageantry of the solemnest and +most stately of European Courts. It was therefore deemed necessary to +establish an interregnum with Marshall Serano as Regent, and to cast +about for some Catholic prince to place upon the vacant throne of the +Bourbons. Choice fell upon Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen—a +most luckless selection, since, by offending the susceptibilities of +France, it led to the Franco-Prussian war. King Victor Emmanuel's son, +Amedeo, was now offered the crown of Spain, and accepted it, swearing to +observe the Constitution over the body of Prim, who had been +assassinated on December 28, 1870, by an unknown hand. How Amedeo failed +to satisfy his new subjects, and finally was compelled to resign his +ill-fitting crown and return-to Italy; how an abortive attempt to +establish a Republic failed, and degenerated into anarchy; how<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> Don +Carlos and his followers caused useless shedding of blood in the +Northern Provinces; and how, finally, Queen Isabella's son was restored +in 1874, under the title of Alfonzo XII., are matters of history +doubtless well-known to every reader of this book, and therefore only +need to be recorded as reflecting upon Cuban affairs. When the Cespedes' +Republic fell, the victorious Monarchy reappeared. But rebellion, overt +and covert, still disturbed the distracted island until 1874, when the +tragic death of Cespedes broke down the revolutionary spirit and brought +about a temporary lull.</p> + +<p>The adherents of Cespedes had by this time dwindled to a mere handful; +and, driven desperate by hunger and despair, the forlorn but still +bold-spirited band took refuge in a fastness on the Eastern coast, +whence they hoped to escape to Jamaica. A slave betrayed their +hiding-place to the Spaniards. A fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued. +Cespedes fought like a lion against overwhelming odds. His friends fell +dead or wounded at his feet; but still he battled on, slaying seven of +his opponents with his own hand, and wounding many others. At last, +seeing all hope was lost, he fought his way through the Spaniards, and, +mortally wounded as he was, flung himself over the rocks, and thus +escaped his hated captors. His mangled body was recovered, carried to +Santiago, and there secretly buried. The dead man was mourned, and is +mourned even to this day, by all true Cubans. The stage on which he +played his part was, it may be said, a little one. His life and doings +may be forgotten<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> beyond the limits of the country he strove to serve. +But such qualities of head and heart, such fervour of self-sacrifice and +steadiness of purpose, as marked the career of Carlos Manuel Cespedes, +must surely entitle him to an honoured place on the golden roll of the +world's true heroes. May he rest in peace!<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br /> +THE HISTORY OF THE REBELLION UP-TO-DATE.</h3> + +<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> dying Cespedes bequeathed his honours to his friend and henchman, +Don Salvador Cisneros y Bétancourt, Marquez de Santa Lucia, who was +forthwith elected President of the Republic. He displayed exceptional +ability, endeavoured to bring some discipline into the ranks of his more +or less disorderly followers, and succeeded for a time, not only in this +attempt, but also in reviving the dashed spirit of the rebels in the +Eastern Province. At length he wearied of what ultimately proved a +thankless task, and retired to make room for Don Francisco Aquelera, who +became third President of this essentially rural Republic, whose +Parliament was wont to assemble in the heart of a dense forest, or in +some mountain solitude.</p> + +<p>Aquelera, although a man of marked ability, was no longer in the prime +of life, and soon grew tired of the roving existence circumstances +compelled him to lead. After his retirement, a new name begins to figure +prominently in Cuban affairs,—that of Maximo Gomez, who was elected +Commander-in-Chief of the rebel forces, <i>L'Ejercito libertador de la +Republica de Cuba</i>, some twenty years ago. With a comparatively small +following,<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> he managed, by sheer dint of audacity and profound +strategical knowledge, to keep 20,000 Spaniards at bay. Gomez is a +thorough soldier, one of the best the New World has possessed. I met him +once, and was greatly struck by his martial bearing and his fiery black +eyes, rendered still more conspicuous by his perfectly white hair, and +long moustachios. He was born in 1837. Although afflicted with a +terrible ulcer in his right leg, and unable to sit a horse except in a +side saddle like a woman's, he is an intrepid rider, and knows not the +meaning of the words fear or fatigue.</p> + +<p>The other leader of the present rebellion is not less remarkable, +Calixto Garcia Iņiguez, who began his career as a bank clerk, and who, +therefore, combines with soldierly qualities of a high order, +considerable financial and business knowledge.</p> + +<p>The treaty of Zanjou, signed February 10th, 1878, put a stop, for some +years, to anything like rebellion on a serious scale. A good deal of +mystery surrounds this treaty, to which the President of the Republic +and his secretary, only, affixed their signatures, without the formal +consent of the other rebel generals, officers, and deputies. However, +Marshal Martinez Campos, Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish army, +approved it, although the enemies of the Cuban cause describe the +document, somewhat sarcastically, as being more of a deed of +capitulation than a treaty. The clauses proposing that the political +organization of the island should be placed on the same footing as that +of Puerto Rico, that a general amnesty for all political offences should +be forthwith promulgated, that political prisoners<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a> should be pardoned, +and that coolies and fugitive slaves who had served in the Cuban army +should be emancipated, met with the approval of Seņor Canovas de +Castillo, and the treaty was officially signed and accepted at Madrid. +For some time afterwards, peace nominally existed in almost every part +of the island. The rebels were not, however, wholly inactive. +Notwithstanding the accepted treaty, there was still a President of the +Cuban Republic, Vicente Garcia, and a Parliament, which sat in the +wilderness, at stated periods of the year. In 1879 this "Parliament" was +dissolved, and with its dissolution the period of the "big rebellions" +closes, and that of the little wars, <i>la guerra chiquita</i>, opens. +Meanwhile, Maximo Gomez, seeing there was no immediate work for him to +do, betook himself to San Domingo, to bide his time, and to place +himself in active correspondence with the Gran Junta, or principal Cuban +Revolutionary Association, in New York.</p> + +<p>And here it may be as well to examine rather closely two matters +connected with Cuban affairs. The first is the assistance afforded to +the Cuban rebels by the United States, and the second, the conditions of +the rebel army, as it stood three years since, when the insurrection +began to assume alarming proportions.</p> + +<p>As far back as 1823, John Quincy Adams said: "From a multitude of +considerations, Cuba has become an object of transcendent importance to +the commercial and political interests of our Union. Its commanding +position, ... the nature of its productions and of its wants, furnishing +the supplies and needing the returns<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a> of a commerce immensely profitable +and mutually beneficial, give it an importance in the sum of our +national interests with which that of no other foreign territory can be +compared, and little inferior to that which binds the different members +of the Union together."</p> + +<p>The reasons which induced Adams to make this statement have not +diminished in late years; far from it, especially since the enormous +development of the Mississippi valley, and of the Gulf Coast. Although +there can be no question that the vast majority of the people of the +United States have expressed an unselfish sympathy for the unfortunate +Cubans, their politicians, and, above all, their financiers, have added +to this sentiment a profound knowledge of the great value which Cuba +must eventually prove to the Union, were she more firmly governed, and +her American interests better protected. Among the advocates for the +annexation of Cuba have been the following Presidents: Jefferson, +Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Jackson, Polk, Fillmore, Pierce, and +Buchanan.</p> + +<p>A remarkably interesting article on Cuban Diplomacy from 1795 to 1898 +appeared recently in <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, in which Professor Albert +Bushnell traces the rise of the sympathy of the American people for +Cuban independence or annexation, and points out very plainly that +"when, as in 1886, slavery was definitely abolished, the Spanish +Government promised other excellent reforms, but, as usual, very soon +things fell back into their old rut. The Captain-General was still +practically absolute; the island was saddled with the debt created to +hold it in subjection; it was still<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> exploited for the benefit of Spain, +and the same wearisome impediments were laid on foreign traders. For +example, in 1880 several vessels were fired upon by Spanish gunboats +outside the jurisdiction of Cuba; in 1881 an American cattle steamer, +subject to a tax of $14.90, was taxed $387.40, because she had some +lumber on board. In 1882 began a long drawn-out correspondence on +overcharges and illegal exactions by Spanish consuls over vexatious +fines for small clerical errors, and over annoying passport regulations. +The most serious trouble arose out of the refusal of the Spanish +authorities, to return estates confiscated during the war to American +citizens of Cuban birth.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile trade between the United States and Cuba was advancing by +leaps and bounds. In 1850 the sum of the Cuban trade into and out of the +United States was $20,000,000; in 1880 $76,000,000; in 1894 +$105,000,000. American capital became engaged in sugar and other +industries. The two countries tried to put their tariffs on a better +footing by the Convention of 1884, for the mutual abandonment of +discriminating duties; in 1893 Spain accepted reciprocity under the +tariff of 1890; but the Cuban authorities evaded the privileges thus +conferred, on the ground that they were governed by a special Spanish +translation from the English version of the treaty, and not by the +original Spanish version; and it was three years before the Home +Government could straighten out this petty snarl.</p> + +<p>"In 1884-5 came some filibustering expeditions; the United States +exerted itself to stop them, and there was no Cuban insurrection. On the +whole, the years<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> from 1879 to 1894 were freer from diplomatic +controversy than any like period since 1845. Meanwhile the Cubans in the +United States had accumulated a revolution fund of a million dollars."</p> + +<p>I have already stated that a network of secret societies has covered +Cuba, ever since the beginning of this century. Branches of these +mysterious associations have been established in nearly every city on +the seaboard of the two Americas, from New York to Buenos Ayres, at +Boston, Savanah, Charlestown, Norfolk, Tampa, Kingston (Jamaica), etc. +Their headquarters have been established, for some five and forty years, +in the American metropolis, and are known as the Gran Junta, or Cuban +Revolutionary Agency.</p> + +<p>From this centre, the rebellion has been mainly worked. It is presided +over, at the present time, by Seņor Thomaso Estrado Palma, who was born +at Bayamo, some sixty-seven years ago, and who for a short time acted as +President of the Cuban Republic. He was captured by the Spaniards, and +imprisoned for several years. About 1895 he reappeared in New York, as +headmaster of a Hispano-American College, and as one of the leading +members of the Junta. He is not only thoroughly well aquainted with all +the secrets of the rebels, but is also by no means ignorant of the +movements of the Spaniards. He bears an eminently respectable character, +is a man of considerable literary attainments, and, considering his age, +may be described as remarkably active. The New York Junta publishes a +bi-weekly paper, entitled <i>La Patria</i>, edited by Don Enrique José +Varona, who, if<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> I mistake not, is a brother of that Varona who was shot +during the affair of the "Virginius." The line of Presidents of the +Cuban Republic is still unbroken, and the gentleman who at present fills +the position is a man of considerable culture, and, moreover, a wealthy +planter, whose estates, however, he has neglected for some years, in +order the better to serve his country.</p> + +<p>One of the great grievances of the Spaniards is the fashion in which the +American Government has tolerated the existence of this Gran Junta, and +the formation of branch offices, all over the States. And, when you come +to think of it, it does seem somewhat intolerable that a power which +calls itself friendly,—since it has a representative at the court of +Madrid,—should encourage a whole network of conspiracy against a +Government, with which it keeps up a constant interchange of official +courtesies; but at the same time, it should be remembered that these +associations cannot be suppressed, in a free country like America, so +long as the members take care not to go beyond the letter of the law. +Under President Cleveland, matters were otherwise. The United States +Government made some pretence of moderating the zeal of the Juntas, and +spent many million dollars in endeavours to prevent the departure of +filibusters, to join the rebel forces. But notwithstanding the dignified +policy of President Cleveland, which for some years gave the Spaniards a +fair chance of pacifying the distracted island, they utterly failed to +avail themselves of the opportunity.</p> + +<p>The task of restoring order in such an island as<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a> Cuba is one demanding +almost superhuman energy and tact, and these are qualities in which the +Spanish race, a naturally excitable one, is absolutely deficient. Yet it +must be allowed that the Cuban civil war resembles none other that has +ever been fought in any part of the world, or at any period of recorded +history. Revolution, as a rule, starts from the large cities, and thence +penetrates by degrees into the villages and rural districts. It is quite +otherwise in Cuba. With the exception of one or two easily quelled riots +in Havana, Cienfuegos, Santiago, and Bayamo, the capital cities and +towns of the island have scarcely participated in the rebellion; their +citizens, although for the most part Cuban born, have apparently +remained aloof,—possibly because the rebellion has proved exceedingly +injurious to their trade and commerce. This accounts for the curious +fact that while we hear so much about the terrible sufferings of the +Cuban people, and their deadly hatred of their Spanish masters, we see +in numberless photographs, reproduced in our illustrated papers, and +representing the departure or arrival of Spanish troops at Havana or +other leading cities, such a display of enthusiasm on the part of the +citizens, as we should have little expected.</p> + +<p>The long streets are thronged, the balconies are crowded, Spanish flags +float in all directions, and the troops march along under a shower of +flowers, whilst young ladies are seen rushing forward to offer them +refreshments. Now it must be remembered that at least two-thirds of +these enthusiastic spectators are quite as Cuban as the most ardent of +the rebels; but<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> they are people who have something to lose by the +continuance of the civil war, and a good deal to gain by its cessation, +therefore they eagerly welcome the Spanish soldiers, in the hope that +they may suppress the rebellion, without the intervention of the +Americans, a people who, however well-intentioned they may be, are, from +the Cuban point of view, aliens in race, and even in religion. We should +never lose sight of the fact that the rebels are not the angels some +writers would lead us to believe them. Even enthusiasts, who see their +budding wings, acknowledge that they have destroyed, burnt, pillaged, +and retaliated, quite as barbarously as their Spanish enemies.</p> + +<p>I remember hearing, from the lips of one who saw the outrage +perpetrated, a story of some eight or ten Spanish women who, in the war +of 1873, went to the rebel camp to beg the lives of their captured +fathers, brothers, and husbands.</p> + +<p>The unhappy women were treated in the most revolting manner, and +subsequently butchered. Hundreds of other stories, just as horrible, +have been told of Maceo, and above all, of Manuel Garcia, the ex-brigand +chief, who joined the rebel army, and boldly styled himself Manuel Ist, +King of the Cuban highwaymen. He surrounded himself with a gang of +picked ruffians, and became the terror of all the peaceful planters of +both parties, from whom he used to levy tribute, and whom he never +hesitated to murder, if they refused to submit to his extortions. This +abominable personage was killed on February 24th, 1895, by the sacristan +of the parish church of Arcos de Canosina.<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a></p> + +<p>Last year the rebel army was composed, so far as I have been able to +ascertain, very much as follows: 25,000 infantry without transport; +14,000 cavalry, with 13,000 horses and mules; artillery,—22 guns, 190 +mules or horses, and about 800 men; the whole regular and irregular +army, amounting to about 70,000 men, some 10,000 of whom are absolutely +unarmed. During the last two years these numbers have probably been +greatly reduced. The duty of the unarmed men consists in going round the +field after a battle, and gathering up the arms dropped by the wounded +and the dead. Behind this regular army, if so it can be called, is +another, consisting of a horde of civilized and uncivilized adventurers, +recruited from all parts of the island, and indeed from the four +quarters of the globe; among them you will find field hands out of +employment, the riffraff turned out of the neighbouring islands, +Americans, Mexicans, Germans, Italians, and even a few Englishmen. Yet a +third band follows behind this extraordinary mass of heterogenous +humanity,—a mob of ex-slaves, reinforced by coolies, who may be +described as camp followers, and bring their women and children with +them. This formidable and incessantly moving army is divided into +sections, and distributed over various parts of the island, in camps (by +courtesy so called, for their tents are exceedingly few in number, and +the majority have to sleep in the open, unless they have time and skill +to make themselves huts with palm branches). These Cuban rebels, being +acclimatized, have a great advantage over the Spaniards in pursuit of +them, who, as often<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> as not, are trapped by "Yellow Jack." They are less +easily overwhelmed by the deadly miasmas which hang over the desolate +places where, for safety's sake, they are compelled to pitch their +tents.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Still thousands<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> of them do perish, for though the <i>vomito +nigro</i> does not attack the blacks, it carries off thousands of whites +and coolies, while other loathsome diseases decimate the uncleanly +negroes and their coolie brethren.</p> + +<p>The wildest imagination can scarcely conceive a more wonderful scene +than that presented by an encampment of Cuban rebels in one of the +virgin forests which still cover a considerable portion of the island, +or else on those level marsh lands, called Manigua, which bear so strong +a resemblance to the Roman Campagna.</p> + +<p>Only those who have been in a tropical forest can form any idea of what +it is like. I remember once being taken by two excellent guides a few +hundred yards into one of these jungles. An English forest generally +consists of one, or, at the most, four or five varieties of tree—the +oak, the pine, the ash, the birch, the beech—with an undergrowth of +wild nuts and bramble, and a still lower one of bracken fern and grass. +In a tropical forest almost every tree and shrub is wholly different +from its neighbour.</p> + +<p>The first impression made upon me, as I sauntered into this green maze, +was one of absolute amazement, not unmingled with a certain sense of +terror. The vegetation around me was of such unusual proportions that I +felt myself a mere pigmy, a sort of Jack the Giant-Killer wandering in +quest of the Ogre's Castle.<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> And indeed the thick growth of tree trunk +and palm stems, absolutely leafless for some forty or fifty feet, might +easily be mistaken for the dead walls of some enchanted fortress. +Looking up, however, one beheld, instead of blue sky, an aerial canopy +of the densest foliage, varying in tint from the deepest to the +tenderest green.</p> + +<p>These Cuban forests are pathless: to traverse them you must cut or burn +your way; their labyrinths remind you at every turn of the opening lines +to Dante's <i>Inferno</i>:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"Nel mezzo de cammin di nostra vita</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Mi ritrovai per una selva, oscura</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Chč la diritta via era smarrita."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>As you pass along, clouds of winged creatures rise out of the grass, +some of them infamously unkind and pernicious, others beautiful and +harmless. In the openings the most inconceivably lovely flowers bloom, +and humming birds flash hither and thither, sparkling like variegated +jewels in the few rays of sunshine that penetrate the massive canopy of +leaves.</p> + +<p>Now and again their passage is barred by the rope-like branches of some +uncanny creeper, that come pouring down from above like the tangled +rigging of a wrecked ship. You draw back in alarm, lest the strange +thing should suddenly come to life, and turn into a chain of angry +serpents. To your surprise you perceive one side of it to be literally +blazing with flame-coloured orchids, red and orange. In the centre of +yonder little open space is a dead tree that some huge parasite has +seized upon, dragged out of earth and imprisoned in a woody cage, every +bar of which is tapestried with<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a> the most exquisite orchids. Yonder +growth, which reaches far above your knees, consists of the great +wheel-shaped maiden-hair fern, whose fronds are so exquisite and so +brittle that you feel remorse at trampling so tender and delicate a +carpet under foot. Presently you find yourself ascending a rocky +eminence, crowned by half a dozen soaring cabbage palms, and thence you +plunge into a shrubbery where the exquisite Tabernæ-montana, or the +resplendent Calycophyllum, fills the hot moist air with an overpowering +perfume, recalling that of our homely syringa. On and on you go, through +groves of palm trees, tied together by entwined lianas, looking, for all +the world, like motionless boa constrictors, and on which countless tiny +lizards, or harmless little snakes, glisten in the sunlight. Now and +then a flying squirrel flashes past, or a monster bat is disturbed, or +you form the acquaintance of an ugly old iguana, who winks at you with a +knowing eye, and withdraws, as suddenly as he appeared, behind a trap +door of broad glossy leaves. Here are clusters of begonias, there a +veritable cataract of morning glory, the deep blue flowers so thickly +set together that not a green leaf is to be seen, for many yards. When +you least expect it, the wooden walls open, and discover a glimpse of +some placid lake, embedded like a jewel in a frame of dark green orange +trees laden with golden fruit, and covered with every sort of water +lily, varying from the most dazzling white to the deepest crimson and +violet. The heat is so great that you feel an irresistible impulse to +throw off your clothes and jump into the pellucid water; but your guide, +divining<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> your intention, soon makes you alter your mind, assuring you +that the bed of the lakelet swarms with uncanny aquatic snakes, while +perchance that unpleasant individual, the ugly caiman, lurks in the +dark, under yon mass of arum lilies, ready to pounce upon you, and snap +off your leg. Yonder is a turtle scudding along, and round the shores of +an islet, covered with delicate bamboo cane, sails a whole fleet of +gorgeous water fowl. The impulse to push forward and discover new +wonders and beauties for yourself is swiftly checked by your guide, who +warns you that, as the sun begins to drop, noxious vapours presently +will rise,—vapours charged with deadly fevers and incurable agues. And +so you hurry back, thanking heaven, all the time, that you have a guide +with you, for without his friendly aid you might wander round and round +in this maze of luxuriant vegetation, never straying far from the point +whence you started, and sink at last, exhausted, to die of hunger and +thirst, with, it may be, a cluster of tempting poison peaches dripping +luscious but death-dealing syrup just above your parched lips. In +forests such as these, stretching for leagues across the island, do the +Cuban rebels pitch their camps.</p> + +<p>Through these wild forsaken regions there are neither roads nor paths, +and the enemy has concealed the trace of his footsteps with the utmost +precaution. Every bush may mask an ambuscade, and behind every rock some +danger lurks. Sometimes the Spaniards—to whom experience has taught +many things—may mark the exact position of the rebels by the whirl of +the vultures, circling high above it, watching the time<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> when, after the +camp has broken up, they may make a descent upon the scanty fragments of +victuals left behind, or upon the dead bodies of those who have perished +of wounds, of starvation, perchance, or of some malignant fever. +Overhead is a brazen black-blue sky, through which the sun darts red-hot +rays, or else a black stretch of dense clouds, belching cataracts of +water from week's end to week's end, and frequently torn by the most +terrific storms of thunder and lightning. The marvel of it is that so +many men, and even women, are able to live at all, under such dreadful +conditions, more often than not lacking the veriest necessaries of life, +and depending for their daily food on their knowledge of the qualities, +poisonous or harmless, of the various fruits, berries, and herbs they +find about their path. I wonder if it ever occurs to people who talk so +glibly of Cuban affairs, over their well-spread tables, that at this +very moment there are considerably over a hundred thousand human beings +encamped, under these appalling conditions, in various districts of +Cuba, not to mention the miserable <i>reconcentrados</i>, or men out of +employment, whom the towns-people reject, whom the rebel army is not +allowed to absorb into its ranks, and who, between the two camps, have +been systematically starved to death, especially under the merciless and +cruel rule of General Weyler.</p> + +<p>In the dry season matters are a trifle better, the fevers diminish, and +it is possible to sleep in the open air without serious risk. The +insects, too, are a trifle less vicious, and the brilliant moonlit +winter's nights are often pleasant enough. Then the bivouac becomes<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> +endurable, and if the enemy is sufficiently distant, a certain element +of gaiety lends a picturesque, even romantic, character to the barbaric +gathering. The negroes twang their banjos, blow their horns, and dance +in rings, and the white adventurers gather round the camp fires, to tell +old-world stories, or dream, perchance, of their childhood, spent under +more temperate skies,—and in their heart of hearts, as their +recollection slips back to home, to regret they ever embarked on such +pitiful adventures as these. Suddenly the alert is called, the trumpet +blows, an order is hoarsely shouted, and the motley crowd moves on +elsewhere, or is commanded to make a descent on some plantation to +demand provisions, and, may be, if the owner does not comply, to fire +his sugar canes. Not unfrequently, to screen their flight, they set +light to the prairie or to the forest, and the grass and the trees burn +on for days and nights on end. Some of these bands have a chaplain with +them—a priest of the sort called in England, before the Reformation, a +"hedge-priest"—who, on Sundays and feast days, celebrates Mass at an +improvised altar, in some forest glade. But, on the other hand, the +negroes, of whom there are thousands, seem, as a result of the free life +they lead, to have reverted, in most cases, by a species of atavism, to +their old savage habits.</p> + +<p>I have said elsewhere that in the olden days their Cuban masters only +gave them a veneer of Christianity; they soon relapse into the obscene +and bloody creed of Voudism, the traditions of which they have never +lost. And in almost every rebel camp there are a number of<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> coolies who, +although—to please the Cubans—they prostrate themselves before the +images of Neustra Seņora de Cobre, and of Our Lady of Guadalupe, +secretly practise the lowest forms of Buddhism.</p> + +<p>It is now time to turn our attention to an extremely interesting +personage, who, in his day, has given the mother country more trouble, +probably, than any other of the numerous leaders of the rebellion—the +famous Maceo. He was a true son of the revolution, born at Santiago di +Cuba in that great year of universal revolt, 1848. He was not, as has +been so frequently stated in English newspapers, a gentleman of noble +family. As a matter of fact, he began life as a muleteer. Hence his +wonderful knowledge of the Cuban ravines and passes, which has been so +precious both to his followers and to himself. He never made any +pretence of being a "Caballero," but gave himself out for what he was, a +blunt man of the people (egregiously vain, let me add, and astonishingly +ignorant!). Four years ago the following description of Maceo was +written me from Cuba by a friend who knew him well. "This wonderful man, +though short of stature, looks the very incarnation of a Spadassin of +the good old times of Calderon and Lope, and this notwithstanding his +strong evidences of negro blood. True, his features are none too +regular, but his complexion is, to say the best of it, swarthy. His eyes +are splendid, and he has formidable moustachios, which would have roused +the envy of a musketeer. He is scrupulously neat in his dress, and wears +his much belaced gold uniform with a gallant air. His broad-brimmed +white felt hat sets<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> off his face to advantage. On the whole, he at +first impressed me very favourably. Suddenly, however, something annoyed +him, and he turned round on one of his men, and burst into a storm of +oaths. Then he showed his white teeth, shook with nervous fury, and +looked very fierce." For a good many years, Maceo was the hero of the +day. Even in the towns, where interest in the rising is apt to flag, +people liked to talk of his adventures. He bore the marks of twenty-five +wounds,—twenty caused by bullets, and five by sword thrusts. He +possessed a quality of ubiquity which at times seemed almost miraculous. +When the Spaniards were perfectly certain that Maceo and his men were in +the west, they were tolerably certain to turn up in the east. A dozen +times, at least, he was reported killed, but sooner or later he always +reappeared, and in a condition altogether too lively for Spanish taste. +Some persons even now believe he was not shot, as reported, on December +9th, 1895. But there can be but little doubt his adventurous career is +ended, otherwise he would have certainly reappeared ere this, especially +as he is sorely needed, no one having as yet risen up to take his place. +General Gomez and Maceo have been by far the most interesting figures in +the Cuban rebellion. In the time to come he will, I feel sure, be the +hero of a score of novels, as startling and sensational as any of those +of Mayne Reid or Fenimore Cooper.</p> + +<p>Far be it from me to disparage the motives of the men who have conducted +this revolt against a distinctly vicious and obsolete government. The +saddest fact<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> connected with the present struggle is that Spain's +punishment has come upon her at a time when she least deserves it, for +during the last ten years, though all too late, a great deal has been +done for the island by the mother country. In the first place, it is not +true that Cubans are not admitted to any official position in the +administration of their country. At this present time at least one-half +of the Government employés, high and low, are Cubans. There are some +scores of Cuban officers in the Spanish army. Cuba is represented at the +Cortes by thirteen Senators, and thirty Deputies. The University of +Havana is almost entirely in the hands of Cubans; the Rector, Don +Joaquim F. Lastres, and the Vice-Rector, are both of them natives of the +island. All the Deans are Cubans, and out of eighty Professors, sixty +are Spaniards born in the island, <i>ergo</i> Cubans. All the Advocates of +the Supreme Court are Cubans, many belonging to families which have +resided for generations in the island. Still there is widespread and +well-founded discontent. The island is not properly administered. +Everything is in a state of confusion. Red-tapeism—the curse of Spanish +bureaucracy—is rampant, and the system of petty backsheesh is almost as +universal as in Turkey.</p> + +<p>There is much truth, too, in Mr Gossip's statement in his article in the +May number of the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, entitled "The Mournful Case of +Cuba," which runs as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Spain has placed an almost insuperable barrier in the way of +American merchants, should they attempt to enter her ports with<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> +American products, in the form of a protective tariff, which +resembles in many respects, the policy once pursued by England +against her American colonies, of which the 'Boston tea party' was +the direct result, has proved very detrimental to American +interests. For while the United States purchases, at least, more +than seventy per cent. of everything Cuba has to sell, Cuba in +return buys from the United States less than twenty per cent. of +the articles she imports—chiefly flour, petroleum, and other +non-competitive articles, which Spain is unable to furnish; so that +it is to the land of the Stars and Stripes that Cuba must look, +since, as long as beets are grown in Europe, the product of the +sugar cane will find no market on the European side of the +Atlantic. Thus, the mother country pockets annually, through her +antiquated institutions, the Yankee millions, which, under proper +conditions of trade, would be returned to the people of the United +States in payment for American coal, iron, and manufactured goods, +which are often sent to Spain and then re-shipped to Cuba, as the +only practical method of getting into the latter country. Owing to +the backwardness of Spanish industries, and the inability of Spain +to supply Cuba with the products she requires, the Cubans have to +consume Spanish articles of inferior quality, or pay exorbitant +prices for foreign goods, owing to the prohibitive duties imposed, +which merely place large sums in the Spanish exchequer. Spanish +merchants practise a novel fraud by nationalising foreign products +for importation into Cuba, and thus the senseless commercial policy +of Spain is the cause of inextinguishable discontent.</p> + +<p>"It is true, also, that Cuba is within the economic orbit of the +United States, and that the commerce of the island is a strong +factor in the Cuban problem, inasmuch as it is the active agent of +civilization everywhere; and sugar is omnipotent from the purely +commercial American point of view. There are certain fixed economic +laws, which are as sure in their operation as gravitation, and must +inevitably affect the ultimate destiny of Cuba."</p></div> + +<p>I do not think sufficient attention has been paid by students of the +Cuban question to facts wholly unconnected with bad government and of a +purely<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> economic nature. First and foremost of these is the depreciation +in the commercial value of local produce, especially the loss on sugar, +which is mainly due to the popularity and cheapness of beetroot sugar on +the continent of Europe. Without undue entering into details, I would +point out that Cuba is in this respect going through precisely the same +financial and commercial crisis as the other and better-governed West +Indian Islands. The tobacco trade, I hear, is less flourishing than it +used to be. It has to contend with the prodigious development which has +recently taken place in the tobacco markets of Asia Minor, Egypt, +Europe, and the United States. In a word, Cuba has been doing very badly +now for over twenty years, and families which were not very long ago +amongst the richest of our period, are now paupers, eager to sell their +few remaining jewels, bric-ā-brac, and even their fans, lace, and +brocades, to the passing stranger. To add to the general distress came +the completion of the abolition of slavery, with its usual result—the +negroes refused to work. Coolies were imported, but the climate did not +suit them. White labour has not been tried, for the simple reason that +it is a foredoomed failure. Masters who have had to deal with negroes +all their lives are never able to manage poor whites. Hundreds of +plantations have gone out of cultivation, and thousands of half savage, +coloured folk, have gone to swell in the all-pervading anarchy which the +Spanish Government is not strong enough to suppress.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the rebellion has absorbed an incredible<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> amount of Spanish +capital, and drained the mother country of hundreds of thousands of +young men, the great majority of whom will never see their homes again. +Cuba, in her present condition, is Spain's ruin, and it would have been +well for the Spaniards if they had sold the island half a century ago.</p> + +<p>"Cuba," said a Spanish writer the other day, "is a sort of bottomless +waste-paper basket. The women of Cadiz and its neighbourhood hold the +very name of Cuba in execration, they have seen so many of their sons +and sweethearts depart thither, never to return."</p> + +<p>I am not one of those who see an angel in every Cuban rebel, and a devil +in every Spaniard; I hold that in this, as in almost every other human +concern, the case, to put it vulgarly, is "six to the one, and half a +dozen to the other." There are grave faults, nay, crimes, on both sides, +and the condition of the island in the present half of the century, and +especially during the last five years, is a disgrace to civilization. +When individual Spaniards have tried to do their best for the Cubans, +their good intentions have not received much response from their +superiors. Take, for instance, Martinez Campos, who was sent out to the +island some years back as Commander-in-Chief; he was an honourable and +humane man, desirous of doing the best he could to reduce bitterness and +evolve peace. But his efforts were frequently baulked by the home +Government, which was for ever pressing him to take active measures. He +knew the island, having been there twenty years before, and under +exceptional circumstances, but he was powerless to plant the olive +branch<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a> he had brought with him from Spain, whence he had started amidst +the most enthusiastic expectations, and to which he returned, not unlike +the proverbial rocket that went up in a blaze of glory, to fall a flat, +burnt stick. I cannot forbear thinking that the gravest mistake of the +Spanish Government in the whole of this Cuban business was its +peremptory recall of Martinez Campos, and, above all, the despatch of +such a man as General Weyler, with the strictest orders to put the +rebellion down at any cost.</p> + +<p>Weyler, Marquis of Tenerife, is an extraordinary individual. He has been +charged with appalling cruelty, and although, in a recent interview in +the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>, he is described as bringing forward some +justification for certain of his acts, still the fact remains, that +since the dreadful days of Alva, the horrors he has perpetrated in Cuba +have rarely been equalled in human history. Indeed, with his Belgian +descent, he seems to have inherited something of the unrelenting nature +of those cruel bigots who transformed the Sablon Square in Brussels into +a sort of permanent furnace, for the roasting of human beings. He might +be Caesar Borgia come to life again, in a modern Spanish uniform. He +conceived it his duty to extinguish the civil war at any cost, and he +used the self-same methods which made the fame (or shame) of Hernando +Cortez and of Alva. I have waded through a mass of evidence against him, +and must confess, even allowing for considerable exaggeration, that he +stands out in unpleasant relief against an ugly background of massacre +and starvation. His desperate struggle to<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> stamp out the revolt seems to +have driven him to frenzy, and the rebels were roused, on their side, to +reprisals of an equally shocking character. But the rebellion was not to +be quelled even by General Weyler's bloody methods. Like some gaunt +skeleton, it rose up again, in its marshes and its forests, and defied +him. The wretched <i>reconcentrados</i> were starved to death, or shot down +by scores, but the undaunted resistance still waved its scarlet and +white striped banner, with the solitary "star of hope" glittering in its +corner. At last, and none too soon, in response to the indignant +outcries of Europe and America, Weyler was recalled. Meanwhile the New +York Junta availed itself of the excitement produced by the harrowing +stories of Weyler's inhuman methods, to work up the easily excited +Americans to the very verge of hysteria.</p> + +<p>An incident occurred in Havana some little while back, which, although +trivial enough when reduced to its true proportions, has had a vast +influence in bringing about the present war. Miss Evangelina Cisneros, a +daughter of that Marquis de Santa Lucia who was second President of the +Cuban Republic, effected her escape from a Cuban prison under +exceptional circumstances. We are assured that she is exceedingly +lovely, and, judging by her numerous photographs, she certainly must be +very pretty. Her aged father has been in a State prison at Havana for +some years. His dutiful daughter, hearing that his health was breaking +down under the prolonged confinement, went one day to the governor of +the prison,<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> Colonel Berriz, and throwing herself upon her knees before +him, implored him to use his influence to obtain her parent's +liberation. If we are to believe Miss Evangelina Cisneros' account of +the affair, the colonel offered her the same vile conditions that the +Count de Luna suggests to Leonora (in <i>Il Trovatore</i>), when that +operatic heroine begs him to release Manrico. The fair Evangelina +scorned the proposal, and, in a whirlwind of indignation, fled from her +insulter's presence. According to the Colonel, there is not a word of +truth in the whole story; he vows he is the victim of an hysterical +girl, who had been caught carrying letters to the rebel army. Be this as +it may, Seņorita Cisneros was arrested and sent to prison, and to what +seems to have been a very undesirable one, in which she was given scanty +fare, and forced to associate with the very lowest females. Here she +remained for many months, in the greatest agony of mind, until she +managed, one fine day, to communicate with Mrs Lee, the wife of the +United States Consul, by means of a few words scratched on a bit of +paper with a pin, dipped in her own blood. Mrs Lee contrived to visit +her, and does not seem, to tell the truth, to have had much difficulty +in obtaining admission to her cell. The sad story was soon afterwards +published broadcast all over the United States and England, thanks +mainly to the arch-millionaire journalist, Mr W. E. Hearst, who, +perceiving that Evangelina's adventures would make excellent copy for +his paper, and considerably help the Cuban cause, commissioned Mr +Deckar, a young gentleman connected with his staff, to go to Cuba and +effect her<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> release, which exploit was duly performed with splendid +courage and skill. The fair Evangelina was enabled, thanks to Mr +Deckar's intervention, to stupefy her companions with sweetmeats infused +with laudanum, and, whilst they lay in a profound slumber, to squeeze +herself through the bars of her cell window, to cross a ladder stretched +from roof to roof, and finally, after many hairbreadth perils and +dangers, to effect her escape from Cuba like another Rosalind, in the +disguise of a boy—all of which tends to prove that the Cuban prisons +are not particularly well guarded.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, a petition to the Queen of Spain, signed by hundreds of +American ladies, headed by the President's mother, was sent from New +York to Madrid, and yet another to the same purpose was forwarded from +London, where two ladies, famed for their instinctive horror of anything +approaching self-advertisement—Mrs Ormiston Chant and the fair author +of <i>The Sorrows of Satan</i>—warmly espoused the fate of the hapless +Evangelina, whose adventures, in spite of a monster reception in Madison +Square, attended by not less than 250,000 persons, with appropriate +banners, flowers, and bands of music, fell rather flat in New York. Her +gallant rescuer being a married man, Evangelina remains to this day in +"maiden meditation, fancy free."</p> + +<p>But the sensation produced by this interesting case was immense. +Portraits of Mlle. Cisneros were sold by the thousand, and from New York +to San Francisco execration of the Spaniards rose to fever heat.<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a></p> + +<p>Soon afterwards occurred the terrible "Maine" disaster, which, coming on +the top of the Cisneros business, drove the American masses, egged on by +the clamours of the "yellow press," to force the reluctant President +into a strangely sudden declaration of war,—a struggle, the fate of +which, even as I write, yet hangs in the balance.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p><i>P.S.</i>—Even as these pages go to press, a telegram announces the +marriage of "Miss Evangelina Cisneros to one of her rescuers."<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/havana_lg.png"> +<img src="images/havana.png" width="600" height="409" alt="HAVANA." title="HAVANA." /></a> +<span class="caption">HAVANA.</span> +</div> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap"> Havana and the Havanese</span>.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></h3> + +<p class="nind">N<small>OTWITHSTANDING</small> the mosquito nuisance and indifferent drainage, the +traveller's first impression of Havana is distinctly agreeable, and the +pleasing illusion is never completely destroyed. The harbour is +wonderfully picturesque. Opposite the entrance stands the Morro Castle, +built by Philip II. of Spain in 1573. It was formerly almost a +<i>facsimile</i> of that curious little castellated Moorish fortress which +faces the beautiful Monastery and Church of Belem, at Lisbon, but has +been considerably altered of late years in the process of adaptation to +uses of modern warfare. Then comes in view the other historical +fortress, La Punta, also erected by our Queen Mary's sinister consort. +To the left are two rather sharp promontories, crested by several fine +churches, one "Los Angeles," fully two hundred years old—an age in the +New World corresponding to hoar antiquity in the Old. Beyond these, upon +a number<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> of low-lying hills, rises the city, an irregular mass of +one-storied dwellings, painted a vivid ochre, and interspersed with +church domes and towers, with here and there tall, lank cocoa palms, or +a tuff of banana leaves waving over some garden wall. Vessels from every +part of the world, feluccas, with their swallow-shaped sails, some +dazzling white, others a deep-red brown, fill up the foreground—whilst +canoe-like market boats, laden with tropical fruits, fish, vegetables, +and flowers, and rowed by negroes naked to the waist, scud in all +directions over the deep-blue waters.</p> + +<p>Arriving, as I did, from New York, which I had left deep in snow, this +summer scene was most exhilarating, and the exceeding transparency of +the Cuban atmosphere added considerably to its beauty. Everything seemed +unusual, novel, and, above all, utterly unlike what I expected. The +impress of the mother-country, Spain, is felt and seen everywhere, and +modern American influences are barely perceptible as yet. From the sea, +Havana might be Malaga or Cadiz, but when you land, memories of Pompeii +immediately crowd upon you. What we should call the city proper, the +commercial quarter of the Cuban capital, consists of a labyrinth of +narrow lanes, traversed by one or two broadish streets, the two +principal of which are known all over Southern America and the West +Indies as Calle O'Reilly and Calle O'Bisbo, and run from the Governor's +Palace right out to the walls of the city. Few of the houses which line +these lanes and alleys are<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> more than one storey high, but that one +storey is so exceedingly lofty that it would make three in an average +London dwelling. The lower half of every house is painted either a deep +darkish blue, a deep Egyptian red, or a vivid yellow ochre; the upper +part is always a dazzling white. As in Pompeii, you notice rows of +stucco columns, painted half one colour half another. Peeping through +the ever-open doorways you may, as you pass along, obtain something more +than a mere casual glimpse of the interior of the dwellings. If you are +early enough, you may behold the family at its toilet, for there is very +little privacy anywhere in Cuba, every act, from entry into life to its +final exit, from baptism to burial, being serenely performed in the +utmost publicity. The lower windows, overlooking the street, are +protected by heavy iron bars, and behind these you may, in certain +quarters of the town, see lively groups of Havanese Geishas, their faces +thickly powdered with rice flour, their long black hair plaited, and +their opulent charms displayed to liberal advantage—"sono donne che +fano all'amore!"</p> + +<p>The frequent curious overhanging windows, with their iron bars, would +give the place a prison-like appearance, were they not painted in the +most brilliant colours—orange, scarlet, and pea-green. More frequently +than not, the fragrance of the family dinner falls pleasantly on your +olfactory nerve, and you may even catch a glimpse of the cook, a +negress, invariably presiding over the charcoal stove in the kitchen, +turban on head, a long calico skirt<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> streaming behind her, and in her +mouth the inevitable cigarette, without which no Cuban coloured lady can +be happy.</p> + +<p>There is no West End, so to speak, in Havana, the mansions of the +wealthy being scattered through every part of the city. Some of the +better sort of houses are exceedingly handsome, but they are all built +on one plan, in the classical style, with an inner courtyard, surrounded +by handsome marble or stucco columns. I imagine them to be designed much +on the same plan as the villas of ancient Rome. You first look into a +fine hall—generally either built of white marble or else stuccoed to +look like it. Here the family Victoria or old-fashioned Volante is +usually stowed away. Here also stands, rather for ornament than use, a +sedan-chair, which is, more often than not, richly painted and gilded. +Beyond this hall is the Pateo, in the centre of which there is usually a +garden rich in tropical vegetation, shading either a fountain or a large +gilded aviary full of brilliant parrots and parrakeets. In some houses +there is a picture or statue of the Virgin, or some Saint, with a lamp +burning before it day and night. In the Pateo, the family assembles of +an evening, the ladies in full dress; and as it is generally brilliantly +illuminated, the pleasant domestic scene adds greatly to the gay +appearance of the streets, which fill with loungers in the cool of the +evening.</p> + +<p>The Havanese shops are plentifully supplied with European and native +goods, but, as in almost all tropical countries, very few of them have +windows, and the wares are exposed in the open, as in an Eastern<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> +bazaar. Only a few years ago the jewellers' and goldsmiths' shops were +renowned throughout the Western world, but now, unfortunately, they are +entirely ruined. Even in 1878, when the shoe first began to pinch in +Cuba, many fine jewels, and some beautiful specimens of old Spanish +silver, Louis XV. fans, snuff-boxes, and bric-ā-brac of all kinds, were +offered for sale. Often a negress would come to the hotel bearing a +coffer full of things for inspection; the mistress who sent the good +woman must have had implicit trust in her servant, for she frequently +sold her wares for very considerable sums. Few of the Havanese magnates +and rich planters have anything worth selling left them nowadays, but +only a few years ago Havana was a happy hunting-ground for bargain +seekers.</p> + +<p>The handsomest street in Havana is the Cerro, a long thoroughfare +running up a hill at the back of the town, bordered on either side by +enormous old villas, in the midst of magnificent gardens. The finest of +these mansions belongs to the very old Hernandez family, and is built of +white marble in the usual classical style. The adjacent villa, +Santoveneo, has a lovely garden, and used to be famous for its +collection of orchids, the late Countess de Santoveneo, a very wealthy +lady, being a great collector. She was a clever, agreeable woman, well +known in Paris, where she usually spent the summer and autumn. In the +midst of a perfect forest of cocoa palms stands the former summer villa +of the Bishops of Havana, now a private residence.</p> + +<p>Then, one after the other, follow the handsome dwellings<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> of the +Havanese aristocracy—of the Marquese dos Hermanos, of the Duque de +Fernandina, of the Conde Penalver, of the Marqueza d'Aldama, etc. The +cacti in these villa gardens are of amazing size and shape, some showing +leaves thick and strong enough to bear the weight of a full-grown man. +In the gardens of the Conde de Penalver there is a glorious mangoe +grass, the first I ever saw, and the finest. Unfortunately, these Havana +Edens are infested all the year round by swarms of mosquitos. The +residents seem skin-proof, and do not appear to suffer from the insects' +attacks. But woe waits on the unwary new-comer who tempts fate by +lingering in these lovely gardens!</p> + +<p>There are several delightful public promenades in the city and its +suburbs, the Paseo de Isabel for instance, with its wide pavement and +its stately central avenue of flowering trees. Here stands an +exceedingly imposing monument, the Fontana de India, which would put our +all too notorious "shaving-brushes" in Trafalgar Square to shame. On the +summit of a snow-white marble pedestal is a fine statue of the Antilles, +represented by an Indian maiden airily attired in robes of nihil, and +adorned with beads and a head-dress of plumes. Cornucopias full of +tropical fruits and flowers rest at her feet, and four monstrous +dolphins cast down volumes of foaming water into a spacious marble +basin. Forming a background to this remarkable work of art are the +public gardens of La Glorietta, with their oleander groves and towering +palm trees. In the great pond the Victoria Regia floats its colossal<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> +silver cups. Hard by is the Campo de Marte, or Mars' field, where the +soldiers drill, and beyond which stands the splendid palace of the +Aldama family, in the midst of a glorious tropical garden.</p> + +<p>The Calzada de la Reina is another wide street, running from the Campo +de Marte, to the Calzada Belancion and the Paseo de Tacon. This is the +fashionable shopping street, and, as a rule, crowded with carriages in +the early morning hours, when the Cuban ladies make their purchases. No +Havanese lady ever condescends to leave her victoria to enter a +shop—the shopman invariably brings out his wares for her inspection, +and the bargaining takes place in the open street, and is often very +animated and amusing.</p> + +<p>The Paseo de Tacon is, however, by far the finest promenade in the city, +and quite worthy of any capital in the world. A very broad drive passes +between a double row of splendid acacias of the "peacock" variety—so +called on account of their huge tufts of crimson and yellow flowers. The +Paseo dates back to 1802, and is adorned by several handsome statues and +memorial columns. Of an evening it blazes with electric light, and, +moreover, boasts an interminable switchback railway, a great source of +amusement to the young fry of Havana. At the extreme end of Tacon, +which, by the way, is sometimes as animated with carriages and +pedestrians as the Champs Elyseés, are the Botanical Gardens, which are +surprisingly fine. Imagine all the conservatories of Kew and the Crystal +Palace without their glass roofs, and you may then<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> form a vague notion +of the glories of these gardens. There is an avenue of cocoa palms here +which is of almost unearthly beauty. I remember seeing these Gardens +illuminated for a <i>fiesta</i> with myriads of coloured lights, and +surpassing in fairylike beauty any transformation scene ever devised at +dear old Drury. The stems of the palm trees, "all set in a stately row," +seemed converted into pillars of gold, and, far above, a good hundred +feet and more, scintillated clusters of tiny lamps, like jewels among +their waving fronds.</p> + +<p>Of an early winter morning—a winter morning in Cuba is like an ideal +one in late May in our latitudes, Tacon Gardens are delightful, they are +so well arranged and so full of interest. In the centre is the Quinta, +or summer-house, which you reach by a very long verdant tunnel, formed +of Pacific roses and the clustering yellow banksia. Here also I first +made the acquaintance of the duck plant, or <i>Aristolochia pelicana</i> of +which more anon, and of the divinely beautiful Cuban morning glory, +<i>convolvulus major</i>—with its immense bunches of the deepest blue +flowers. In the evening the moon-flower opens its colossal white disks, +and the night-blooming cerus is also a perennial attraction to those who +have never seen it burst into glory at a given hour, and shed around an +almost too powerful odour of attar of roses.</p> + +<p>Take Havana for all in all, in times of peace it is by far and away the +pleasantest city in the Southern Hemisphere—the most resourceful, for +it has capital public libraries, museums, clubs, and theatres. Of an +evening it is quite charming. Then the streets<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> are thronged with people +until early morning. The bands play selections from the latest +operas—even Wagnerian airs—the seņoras and seņoritas parade up and +down with their attendant cabaleros, and mostly in evening, nay, full +ball dress, with only a lace veil over their heads. A brilliant double +line of equipages fills the central drive, and very smart many of them +are—as well turned out as any in Hyde Park or the Bois. The cafés, and +there are hundreds of them, are dazzling with electric and incandescent +light, and packed by a motley crowd as picturesque as it is animated. +Negresses, in gaudy cast-off finery, offer you <i>dulce</i> or sweetmeats, +and coloured boys cry "limonata" and ice water. Everybody has a +cigarette between their lips or their fingers. Banjos twang and +mandolines tinkle in all directions, and if you chance to get a good +seat at the Café Dominico, or the Louvre, where the world of fashion is +wont to assemble to suck ice drinks through long straws, smoke +cigarettes, and criticise their neighbours, you can pass many an amused +hour, watching the passing show of this West Indian Vanity Fair.</p> + +<p>If it please you to leave the gay throng to its devices, its cigarettes, +and its scandal, to quit the flaring thoroughfares and betake yourself +to the semi-deserted bye streets, you will find plenty to attract and +amuse you. Here, for instance, is a street so narrow, you might shake +hands across it. The mellow tropical moonlight falls only on the roofs +of its tall one-storied houses, and on the tapering campanile of some +church or convent, which it transforms for<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a> the time being into a column +of burnished gold. A vivid glare across the street attracts your +attention. It proceeds from a cavernous-looking tavern, whose otherwise +gloomy interior is lighted up by strings of Chinese lanterns. A crowd of +negroes, smoking cigars or cigarettes, stand in a confused group round a +couple, consisting of a huge Congo black naked to the waist, and a lady +of a few shades lighter hue, dancing the obscene Cubana, to the intense +gratification of the dusky spectators. Down another still narrower +street, across a little Plaza, and we find ourselves in a sort of +covered gallery, where whole families of respectable citizens, gran'pa +and gran'ma included, are supping <i>al fresco</i>—by the light of a number +of curious brass lamps, such as the old Romans used. Not far off you +catch a glimpse of the sea glistening in the moonlight, which turns the +distant suburb of Regla, on the opposite side of the harbour, into rows +of ivory dice, the square one-storied houses looking for all the world +like those pernicious toys on a colossal scale. Resisting the pressing +invitation of a party of gaudily dressed ladies seated in the huge +cage-like window of a house hard by, we find ourselves, by a sudden +turn, in the Cathedral Square. Although late, the great church is open +and brilliantly illuminated, and within we can see the pious throng, +kneeling before the high altar, chanting Ave Maria—</p> + +<p><i>Ora pro nobis, nunc et in ora mortis nostris.</i></p> + +<p>Commend to me a city of the Latin race for delightful contrasts, and I +assure you Havana is no exception to the rule.<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a></p> + +<p>The picturesque <i>volante</i>, once as essentially Cuban as the gondola is +Venetian, has entirely disappeared, at all events from the streets of +the capital. It is, or perhaps I should say it was, a very +singular-looking vehicle, with its wonderful spider-web-like wheels, its +long shafts, and its horse or mule, upon whose back the driver should +perch in a clumsily-made saddle. It had something of the litter on +wheels, and was usually occupied of an afternoon on Sundays and +holidays, by two or three ladies, magnificently dressed in full ball +costume, and blazing with jewels, the fairest of the trio sitting on the +knees of the other two. The <i>volante</i> was sometimes splendidly decorated +with costly silver platings and rich stuffs. The negro driver wore a +very smart dark blue and red cloth livery, covered with gold lace, high +jack-boots coming almost up to his waist, and carried a long +silver-mounted whip in his hand; victorias and landaus have usurped the +place of these old-world coaches, excepting in the country, where they +are often to be met with on the high roads.</p> + +<p>For its size (the population is about 230,000) Havana is exceptionally +well supplied with public and private carriages. You can hire an +excellent <i>victoria de plaza</i> for 1 fr. 50 the hour, and a custom, which +the London County Council might imitate and introduce with advantage, +has long been in use in the Cuban capital. To avoid extortion from the +cab-drivers, the lamp-posts are painted various colours, red for the +central district, blue for the second circle, and green for the outer. +Thus, in a trice, the fare becomes<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a> aware when he gets beyond the +radius, and pays accordingly. Trouble with the Havanese hack coachman, +usually a coloured man, and very civil, is of the rarest occurrence.</p> + +<p>Although an eminently Catholic city, Havana cannot be said to be rich in +churches. A goodly number have been destroyed during the various +rebellions, especially those of the middle of the century (1835), when +the religious orders were suppressed. The largest church is the Merced, +a fine building in the <i>rococo</i> style, with handsome marble altars and +some good pictures. It is crowded on Sundays and holidays by the +fashionable world of the place, the young men forming up in rows outside +the church as soon as Mass is over, to gaze at the seņoritas and their +chaperons. The Cathedral is the chief architectural monument of interest +in Havana. It was erected for the Jesuits in 1704 on the site of a much +older church built in 1519, and dedicated to St Cristobal, the patron of +the city. The first Bishop of Havana was an Englishman, a Franciscan +named Fray José White. He occupied the See from 1522 to 1527. The old +cathedral being considered too small, this church was converted into a +cathedral in the present century. It is built in the usual +Hispano-American style, with a big dome, and two stumpy towers on either +side of the centre. Internally the effect is rather heavy, owing to the +dark colour of the marbles which cover the walls, but compared with most +churches in these latitudes, the edifice is in exceptionally good taste, +with a remarkable absence of the<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> tawdry images and wonderful +collections of trumpery artificial flowers and glass shades which, as a +rule, disfigure South American churches. The choir would be considered +handsome even in Rome, and the stalls are beautifully carved in +mahogany. Almost all the columns in the church are also mahogany, highly +polished, producing the effect of a deep red marble, most striking when +relieved, as in this case, by gilt bronze capitals. In the choir is the +tomb of Columbus. The great navigator died, as most of my readers will +doubtless be aware, at Valladolid, in Spain, on Ascension Day 1506, and +his body was at first deposited, after the most pompous obsequies, in +the church of San Francisco, in that city.</p> + +<p>In 1513, the remains were conveyed to the Carthusian monastery of Las +Cuevas, at Seville, where King Ferdinand erected a monument over them, +bearing the simple but appropriate inscription:—</p> + +<p class="c"> +"A C<small>ASTILE Y</small> L<small>EON</small><br /> +N<small>UEVO MUNDO DIO</small> C<small>OLON</small>." +</p> + +<p>Twenty-three years later, the body of Columbus, with that of his son +Diego, was removed to the island of San Domingo, or Hayti, and interred +in the principal church of the capital; but when that island was ceded +to the French, the Spaniards claimed the ashes of the Discoverer, and +they were carried to Havana and solemnly interred in the Cathedral on +the 15th January 1796. The remains, which by this time, it seems, were +scanty enough, were placed in a small urn, deposited in a niche in the +left wall of the<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> chancel, and sealed up with a marble slab, surmounted +by an excellent bust of the bold explorer, wreathed with laurel. The +inscription, a very poor one, excited considerable ridicule, and a +pasquinade was circulated lamenting the absence of the nine Muses on the +occasion of its composition.</p> + +<p>Of late years, however, the inhabitants of San Domingo<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> have set up a +protest in favour of certain bones which have been discovered in their +own cathedral, and declare by their gods, or by their saints, that never +a bone of Columbus left their island, and that the relics of the great +Christopher in the Cathedral of Havana, unto which so many pilgrimages +have been made, are as apocryphal as were those of certain saints +mentioned by Erasmus.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, so far as I can make out after the perusal of a +number of pamphlets on the subject, only half the bones of Columbus were +taken to Havana. The priests at San Domingo kept back a portion of the +body and hid it in the south of the sacristy of their Cathedral, where +it was discovered with many evidences of its authenticity in 1877.</p> + +<p>Of the other numerous Havanese churches there is not much to be said, +except that nearly all have remarkable ceilings, decorated in a sort of +mosaic work in rare woods, often very artistic in design. Columns of +mahogany are frequently seen, and nearly<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> all the churches are lined +with very old Spanish or Dutch tiles. The Church of Santa Clara, +attached to a very large nunnery, is a favourite place of devotion with +the fashionable ladies, who squat on a piece of carpet in front of the +Madonna, with their negro attendant kneeling a few feet behind them. +When the lady has performed her devotions, the sable footman takes up +her carpet, and follows her out of the church, walking solemnly a few +feet behind her. In the Church of the Merced there is a very curious +picture representing a group of Indians being slaughtered by a number of +Spaniards. In the centre is a wooden cross, upon the transverse portions +of which Our Lady is seated, holding the infant Jesus in her arms. In +the corner is a long inscription of some historical importance. It runs +thus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Admiral, Don Christopher Columbus, and the Spanish Army, being +possessed of the 'Cerro de la Vega,' a place in the Spanish island, +erected on it a cross, on whose right arm, the 2nd of May, 1492, in +the night there appeared with her most precious Son, the Virgin, +Our Lady of Mercy. The Indians, who occupied the island, as soon as +they saw Her, drew their arrows, and fired at Her, but as the +arrows could not pierce the sacred wood, the Spaniards took +courage, and, falling upon the said Indians, killed a great number +of them. And the person who saw this wonderful prodigy was the V. +R. F. Juan."</p></div> + +<p>The Jesuits have an important college for boys in Havana. Annexed to it +is the Observatory, said to be the best organised in South America. The +church is handsome, and over the high altar hangs a famous holy family, +by Ribeira. In connection with this college there is also a museum and +library, especially<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> rich in drawings and prints, illustrating Cuban +life and scenery, from the sixteenth century down to our own times.</p> + +<p>The wooden images of saints on the altars in the Havanese churches are +most picturesque, and their costumes often very quaint. St Michael, for +instance, may appear in white kid dancing shoes and a short velvet +frock, and the Madonna is usually attired in the cumbersome Spanish +court dress of the sixteenth century; with farthingale and ruff +complete.</p> + +<p>A remarkably fine old church is San Francisco, long since desecrated and +converted into the custom-house. It has a noble tower, and stands in a +conspicuous position down by the harbour. In the suppressed monastery is +a vast room with a glorious cedar-wood ceiling. San Francisco is famous +in the annals of Havana for a triple murder, which took place upon its +altar in 1833, before the Church was converted to profane purposes, and +was still one of the most popular shrines in the city. Hard by is an +old-world café—the Leon de Oro—which in those days was tenanted by an +Italian with a pretty wife. The worthy man got jealous of her, and, +finding out that her paramour was the Secretary of the Captain-General, +Don Alonzo Vales y Sandoval—watched his opportunity to avenge himself. +It chanced that the noble Don was ordered to watch by the Sepulchre in +this church on Holy Thursday evening. Dressed, therefore, in his scarlet +robes, as a member of the Confraternity of the Sacred Blood, the unlucky +gentleman was apparently absorbed in prayer before the altar, when the +infuriated Italian<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> dealt him a blow in the back with a stiletto, which +killed him there and then. Before the horrified congregation could +arrest him, he murdered his wife, who was kneeling in prayer close by +her lover, and then stabbed himself—all of which uncanny tragedy I +found solemnly related in choice Spanish in an old Havana journal, dated +June 17, 1833.</p> + +<p>The numerous charitable institutions in the capital, and throughout the +island, are well managed, and generally clean. The Casa de Beneficencia, +founded by the famous Las Casas, as an asylum for the extremes of life, +the very young and very old, is especially interesting. It is managed by +those admirable women, the Little Sisters of the Poor. Nothing can +exceed the exquisite cleanliness of the Lazar House, situated at some +distance from the city, in which six nuns and two priests have banished +themselves from the world in order to tend the many hapless lepers on +the island.</p> + +<p>But admirably managed, roomy, and well endowed though they undoubtedly +are, the charitable establishments of Havana do not supply the demand, +for the place swarms with beggars, especially in these recent hard +times. Never, no, not even in Spain or Italy, have I seen such terrible +beggars as those of Cuba. They haunt you everywhere, gathering round the +church doors, whining for alms, insulting you if you refuse them, and +pestering you as you go home at night, never leaving you till you either +bestow money on them, or escape within your own or some friendly door.<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a></p> + +<p>Kingsley described Havana as "the Western Abomination," so low was his +opinion of the moral tone of its inhabitants. Whether his judgment was +right or wrong, I dare not say, but I know enough to convince me that +the average Havanese drawing-room can provide quite as much ill-natured +gossip as any in London. Here, as elsewhere in Southern America, +religion has become a mere affair of ceremony and outward observance, +with little or no moral influence. I am assured that of late years there +has been a considerable reaction, and that numerous missions have been +preached by priests and friars, imported from Europe in the hope of +exciting the zeal of the native clergy, which has very possibly been +affected by the enervating influence of the climate. Be this as it may, +the churches in Cuba are a never-failing source of interest, by reason +of the quaint and everchanging scenes their interiors exhibit. In some +of them the music is admirable in its way, although entirely of an +operatic character. At the Merced there is a full orchestra, and the +principal singers from the opera may often be heard at High Mass.</p> + +<p>Church has always, in Latin countries, been the scene of a good deal of +quiet flirtation, and I remember one Sunday morning, in the Cathedral of +Havana, being initiated by a friend into the mysteries of fan language. +We watched an extremely good-looking and richly apparelled young lady, +who, after she had said her preliminary devotions, looked round her as +if seeking somebody. Presently she opened her fan very wide, which, as +the Cuban who was with us at<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a> the time assured us, meant "I see you." +Then she half closed it; this indicated "Come and see me." Four fingers +were next placed upon the upper half of the closed fan, signifying, "At +half-past four." The fan was next dropped upon the floor, which, we were +told, signified the fact that the lady would be alone. A Havanese lady, +who is expert in this system of signalling, can talk by the hour with +the help of her fan, and of a bunch of variously coloured flowers, each +of which has some special meaning.</p> + +<p>Amongst so pleasure-loving a people as the Cubans, public amusements +hold a far more prominent place than they do in any of the United +States, with, perhaps, the sole exception of New Orleans, and the +carnival at Havana was at one time the most brilliant in the Americas. +For many years, however, its glories have been declining, and during the +last few decades the upper and middle classes have taken scant part in +the festivities. I can remember, however, many years ago, seeing the +famous ribbon dance performed by people of quality in the open streets. +A gaily-dressed youth walked in front of the company, holding a pole, +from which floated a number of coloured ribbons, which the various +couples held in their hands, and threaded into a kind of plait as they +moved gracefully round the leader of this <i>al fresco</i> cotillon. It was a +very pretty sight to see hundreds of masqueraders parading the streets, +engaged in this graceful pastime, and each band accompanied by a group +of musicians. Throughout the carnival the negroes are allowed to mingle +with the white population in all festivities, and even in the great<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a> +gala procession of carriages, which passes round the gaily decorated +city during three successive afternoons, the negroes' donkey tandems and +brilliantly draped waggons are permitted to take their places among the +equipages of their masters. The negroes formerly went about the streets +masked and disguised, and as they formed one-third of the population, +there was no lack of variety of costume, but neither bon-bons nor flower +throwing had any place in this somewhat formal pageant. The Cubans +evidently do not appreciate cut blossoms, for you rarely, if ever, see a +bouquet in their houses, although their gardens simply blaze with every +sort of flowers.</p> + +<p>After sunset the revel begins in earnest. The negroes come out in their +thousands, carrying lighted Chinese lanterns hanging from the top of +bamboo poles. They shout and leap, and at every open space they dance to +the sound of tom-toms and horns, their two chief musical instruments. +All the theatres have a masked ball, that of the <i>Tacon</i><a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>, which is +the finest and largest theatre in the Southern Hemisphere, being +exclusively devoted to the upper and middle classes. Here there is a +great display of jewellery, the ladies, as in Italy, wearing the little +loup mask and a domino, while most of the gentlemen are in evening +dress. Of recent years, the ball at the <i>Tacon</i> has greatly diminished +in gaiety and local colour. The usual<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a> European dances fill the entire +programme, and there is very little difference between this <i>veglione</i> +and any in Nice, Rome, or Naples.</p> + +<p>At the "Payrete," an immense theatre near the <i>Tacon</i>, matters are quite +otherwise, and the coloured element largely prevails. An outlandish +orchestra, consisting of the usual horns and tom-toms, bangs a wild, +savage melody, with a kind of irregular rhythm, marking time, but +without the faintest vestige of tune. The couples stand and jig, facing +each other,—occasionally in a manner which is better left undefined, +but usually with a solemnity defying all description. Now and again the +male dancers utter a piercing whoop, and the couples forthwith change +sides. It is impossible to conceive that fun or amusement can be +extracted from such a monotonous performance. But that these good people +do find enjoyment in it cannot be questioned, since they frequently +continue performing this dance, which is known as the "Cubana," for many +hours at a stretch, without moving a yard from the spot where they +began. Another popular dance is the Canga, a sort of slow waltz, which, +when danced by the class which dances in public in Havana, is the most +indecent spectacle conceivable. Meanwhile the barbaric orchestra bangs +ever, making noise enough to raise the dead—tom-tom whack, tom-tom +wick, tom-tom whoop—<i>e da capo</i>. It ends by maddening the European ear, +and the onlooker is forced to bolt or risk an epileptic seizure, or some +such misfortune. This weird carnival ball, as seen from a box, is one of +the most singular sights imaginable, but the spectator<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> must make up his +mind to evil smells as well as noise—all the perfumes of Araby would +not sweeten the theatre. The scenes in the brightly lighted streets +outside struck me as infinitely preferable. The crowded cafés, before +which groups of smartly dressed young negro mandolinists play, and very +creditably, selections from popular operas, in the confident hope of +being treated to ices, or something stronger, have a distinct and +original charm. Punctually at twelve o'clock on Shrove Tuesday the +cannon boomed from Morro Castle, announcing that King Carnival had just +expired. On the morrow, the pious crowded the churches to receive the +penitential ashes. Lent began in earnest, and was very rigorously kept, +so far as the eating of flesh was concerned. An average Cuban negro +would sooner take poison than a mouthful of meat on the abstinence days, +although, I fear, his moral sense might easily be weighed and found +wanting in other particulars.</p> + +<p>The Cubans, notwithstanding their worship of the tom-tom and the horn, +and the popularity of noisy music, possibly imported from Africa by the +Congo slaves who swarm on the big plantations, are a very musical race. +The <i>Tacon</i> opera-house, which can accommodate 5,000 persons, is, in its +way, a very fine theatre, built in Italian fashion with tiers of boxes, +one above another. They are separated by gilded lattices, so as to +afford every possible means of ventilation. Round each tier of boxes is +a sort of ambulatory or verandah, overlooking the great Square. The +upper gallery is exclusively devoted to the coloured people,<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> who, on a +Sunday, fill it to suffocation. They are considered the most critical +part of the audience, and their appreciation or disapproval is generally +well founded, and liberally demonstrated. The first two rows of boxes +belong to the aristocracy and wealthy merchants, and the display of +jewellery on a gala night used to be quite amazing. The lower part of +the house is divided into a pit and orchestra stalls. When crowded, the +<i>Tacon</i> presents a really fine appearance. The stage is, I should say, +as large as that at Covent Garden, and the operas are perfectly mounted +and staged. A great peculiarity of this theatre is the orchestra, which +is of almost unrivalled excellence, although at least one half of its +performers are coloured, and some of them full-blooded negroes. I think +I am correct in saying that on several occasions the conductor himself +has been a coloured gentleman. Two of the very best performances of +<i>Aïda</i> (with Campanini and Volpini) I ever enjoyed, I saw at the +<i>Tacon</i>, where some of the greatest vocalists of the present century +have appeared, including Malibran, Grisi, Mario, Alboni, Tedesco, Patti, +Nilsson, Nevada and Guerrabella (Miss Genevieve Ward). I have seen it +stated that Mme. Adelina Patti made her début in the Filarmonia of +Havana. This is an error. This theatre is at Santiago, and it was there +the fascinating prima donna won her first laurels. Her mother and +father, Signor and Signora Barili Patti, both of them singers of the +first rank, made, if I am not misinformed, their last appearance on the +stage at the Tacon theatre. The Cubans do not care for the Spanish +national drama. They prefer adaptations from the French and Italian;<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> +and Havana, unlike Mexico, has not produced a single dramatist of note. +Spanish companies come every year from Madrid, but they are rarely well +patronised. On the other hand, Ristori, Salvini, Duse, and Sarah +Bernhardt have received almost divine honours in the Cuban capital.</p> + +<p>One night I dropped into the <i>Torrecillas</i>, a little fourth-rate house, +and on going to the box-office to pay for my seat, to my utter +astonishment I found the employee absent, although the theatre was open, +and a crowd thronging in to attend a gratuitous rehearsal of a piece +which was to be performed on the following evening for money. The house +was dimly lighted. The orchestra consisted of a piano, and the back +scene was formed of odds and ends of scenery jumbled together in the +funniest confusion. A stoutish young fellow, a sort of Sancho Panza, was +rehearsing the company, the ladies of which lounged about in various +parts of the house, smoking incessant cigarettes. The play was one of +the kind known in Spain as a "Zarzuela," or farce. The plot was simple +enough, dealing with the adventures of a runaway negro, who tried to +become manager of a strolling troupe of players. The fun consisted in +admirable delineation of each character, and the spirited acting. One +scene, representing the appearance of the troupe at Mocha, a country +village, was irresistibly droll. Some of the actors went down among the +audience, pretending to be country spectators, and cracked excellent +jokes at the expense of the troupe on the topics of the day, and popular +abuses in general. In the last scene the<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> national "Garacha" was +admirably danced. It is as objectionable, in itself, as the "Cubana," +but it was quite transformed by the grace of the artists.</p> + +<p>The bull-ring and the cock-pit are still national institutions +throughout Cuba. Each city has its ring and its cock-pit. I drove out +one Sunday to the "Galleria," as it is called, at the corner of the +Calle Manuel, in a rather low quarter of Havana. I found a motley +assembly of beggars, cake-vendors, and negroes, hanging about the entry +and the box office, if so I may call it, which was neat and smart enough +for a metropolitan theatre. The price of admission to the best seats was +only two shillings. Passing a bar, before which a noisy crowd was +drinking gin and <i>aguardiente</i>, blaspheming and quarrelling, I found +myself in the "Galleria," which is of circular form built of open +wood-work, exactly like two large round hen-coops placed one on top of +another. There were four galleries, with several rows of chairs, +thronged by an excited betting crowd, which included the usual +proportion of negroes, but no women. As I entered, a fight had just come +to a close, and the noise was deafening. Everybody was shouting and +gesticulating at once. In a few moments the bell rang, and comparative +silence ensued. The ring was cleared, and two men appeared in the +centre, each holding a beautiful bird in his hands. The Cuban breed of +cocks, although small, is remarkably well-proportioned and elegant. I am +no expert in cock-fighting and will simply jot down my impressions of +the combat. At first I found it interesting enough, but, by and by,<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a> +when the stronger bird crippled its antagonist, the poor, bleeding +creature was artificially excited to continue the battle to the bitter +end, by being "restored" with spoonfuls of Santa Cruz rum blown in a +spray from the mouth of its owner over its head, and the sight grew +simply disgusting. I was relieved when it was all over, and the poor, +beautiful bird lay dead. The audience interested me far more than the +fight. The people around me were so absorbed in the death struggle that +some faces grew ashen pale, others flushed, their eyes rolled, they +roared, they bellowed, and they pantomimed from the lower to the upper +galleries. Doré alone could have done justice to the scene, but, +picturesque though it was, it was a degrading exhibition of cruelty and +base passion. The upper classes, I am glad to say, have long ceased to +frequent the "Galleria," and some of the best houses have even closed +their doors to young men known to be frequenters of these cock-pits. I +did not see a bull-fight while I was in Cuba. They were, I suppose, not +in season, otherwise they are as frequent and as popular there as in +Spain and the south of France. They are conducted in exactly the same +ceremonious and pageantic manner as in Spain, and almost as +magnificently, and, needless to say, they are as bloody, if not more so, +and quite as demoralizing. If it were not hypocrisy on the part of an +Englishman in these days of "general bookmaking," when the "special," +announcing the names of the "winners," is more eagerly bought up than +any containing political news of the highest importance, I might descant +on the immorality of the Cuban weekly lottery. Everybody<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a> is interested +in it, and I am assured it is "a curse" to the country. Doubtless it is +so, and so, indeed, are our own "winners." Gambling in some shape or +other seems inherent in the human race, and I cannot see much difference +between the Havanese lottery and our own racecourse. Both are equally +dangerous to those who cannot afford to bet. In Cuba the wretched negro +starves himself to put his last penny on some favourite number, and in +London the bootblack goes without his dinner in the hope of doubling the +"winner."<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Matanzas</span>.</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/matanzas_lg.png"> +<img src="images/matanzas.png" width="600" height="406" alt="MATANZAS." title="MATANZAS." /></a> +<span class="caption">MATANZAS.</span> +</div> + +<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> immediate environs of Havana are disappointing, although some of the +neighbouring villages are pretty enough. Every visitor to Havana is sure +to be taken to three places—Puentes Grandes, Marianao, and Carmelo. A +little railway carries you, as slowly as steam can do it, in about an +hour, out to Marianao. If it were not for the groups of palm trees and +the huge plantain leaves, generally very dusty and tattered, hanging +over the garden walls, you might easily mistake the country for certain +districts in Northern France. It undulates, just as it does in Normandy, +up and down over low-lying hills, and the straight roads, bordered with +coca palm trees, reminded me forcibly of the poplar avenues round Rouen. +Before very long, however, you are made aware that you are under the +Southern Cross, for, just before you reach your destination, you form +your first acquaintance with the banyan tree, of which there is a +celebrated group, considered one of the finest in the West Indies, +standing in the middle of a field. The central tree, which must be of +great age, is of vast size. From its upper branches it has cast down +numerous feelers, which, in<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> their turn, have become big trees, and so +the one growth contrives to cover some four or five acres of ground. +After you have amused yourself by walking in and out of the innumerable +arches and avenues formed by this grand specimen of perhaps the most +extraordinary species of tree in existence, you follow a narrow path, +and walk on to Marianao, a Cuban village boasting an odd-looking church +painted a vivid blue, and some very nice country houses, embedded in +orange and banana orchards. There are a number of restaurants in the +place, and on Sundays the foreign residents, especially the Germans, +come out here to eat supper and drink lager-beer. What pleased me most +about Marianao were the country lanes, which are bordered by hedgerows +covered with delightful creepers, the coral,—with its clusters of pink +and white flowers,—the morning glory, with its wealth of azure +blossoms,—the scarlet passion flower,—the blue sweet pea,—and a +species of wild stephanotis, with an overpowering scent.</p> + +<p>Puentes Grandes lies half-way between Marianao and Havana. It possesses +the only nail factory in the country, worked by several hundred coolies. +Carmello is a village of restaurants and cabarets, situated at the head +of a little sandy bay glorified by a tradition that it was once visited +by Columbus. Hither people drive out of an evening from Havana, to eat +oysters, lobsters, and other crustacea, and, above all, to enjoy the +cool sea breeze. Here I first beheld the most astonishing of all +flowers—the <i>aristolochia pelicana</i>. It is a variety of the +<i>aristolochia sėpho</i>, which has been<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> recently brought over to England +from America and acclimatised, and which is popularly known as the +"Dutchman's pipe," on account of the peculiar shape of the flower, which +is exactly like a little tobacco-pipe. The Cuban variety is a sturdy +creeper, with enormous, heart-shaped leaves. This flower must be seen to +be appreciated. When open, it presents the appearance of a huge porous +plaster about a foot in diameter. The edge is perfectly white and waxy, +the centre a dark brown, with a slit in the middle, opening into a +pod-shaped cup, and furnished with sharp bristles, usually garnished +with drops of syrup, to allure the flies and other insects, which, when +once they enter that little "parlour," find themselves in a veritable +ogre's castle, whence no escape is possible, for the hungry flower soon +absorbs and devours them. When the pouch is full,—and it will contain +several hundred insects,—the enormous flower closes, and assumes the +exact shape of a beautiful white duck. Severed from its stem, and placed +in the centre of a bouquet of flowers, or on a sheet of looking-glass in +the centre of a dining-table, this weird flower produces a very +startling effect. It is the custom in Havana to place one of these +strange freaks of nature in the centre of a bouquet, which is always +offered to a successful prima-donna on her first appearance at the +National Theatre.</p> + +<p>One fine morning towards the middle of Lent I left Havana with a friend, +to make a tour of the other cities of the island, beginning with +Matanzas.</p> + +<p>A Cuban railway is unlike any other railway in the world. The carriages +are built on the American plan,<a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a> with a promenade from end to end, but +there are no glass windows, and when one considers the heat, one is +thankful that there are no cushions, to harbour dust and insects. The +conductor stands in front, and is perpetually ringing a bell, which does +not seem to help on the speed of the train in the very least degree.</p> + +<p>Havana has no far-stretching suburbs, like most European cities, and you +very soon find yourself quite in the open country. It chanced that, on +this particular morning, a thick, low fog hung like a misty veil over +the fields, and the lofty palm trees shot up into the clear atmosphere +above in the most fantastic manner. However, by-and-bye, as the sun grew +stronger, the mist lifted entirely, and towards midday we found +ourselves passing through an extremely pretty country, traversed in +every direction by interminable lines of coca palm trees, which wound +through the sugar-cane fields, otherwise not particularly picturesque. +We stopped for luncheon at a village called, I think, Rincon, where +there is a regular Cuban buffet. The principal dish, I remember, was +roast sucking-pig, cold but succulent. Coolies and negroes came round +with baskets of fruit—bananas, pineapples, oranges, mangoes, and +zapadillos. After this station, we travelled between rocky cliffs, in +the fissures of which grew the most exquisite ferns I have ever seen out +of a hot-house, the hardy, glossy, oak-leaf fern, so sought after in +Covent Garden Market being especially plentiful. At last, after a +pleasant, but deadly slow journey, we arrived safely at Matanzas, which, +after the capital and Santiago, is by far the most<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> flourishing city in +the island. Its real name is San Carlos, though it is popularly known as +Matanzas, or the "Butcheries." Most of the encyclopædias inform you that +it is so called after a frightful massacre of Caribbees, which took +place early in the 16th century. This is an error. There was no city +here till 1649, when the town was founded on the site of an old +slaughter-house, owned by the Havana butchers.</p> + +<p>We drove straight from the station to the "Leon de Oro," reputed the +best hotel in the island. Cuban hotels, even those in the capital, are +none of them of superlative excellence, and although in all that +concerns the elegances of life the "Inglaterra", the "Louvre" and the +"Pasage" at Havana are infinitely superior to the old "Leon de Oro," +they are distinctly its inferiors in point of cleanliness, and, above +all, in the matter of cooking.</p> + +<p>Very brilliantly painted in fresco are the walls of the "Golden Lion" of +Matanzas. Venus rises from the sea in your bedroom, or rather in that +portion of an enormous dormitory which is allotted to you. Paris offers +the golden apple to the three goddesses in the dining-room, and the +whole court of Olympus, more or less successfully limned by an Italian +artist, occupies the lofty walls of the general sitting-room on the +first and only floor. The waiters are nearly all Coolies, and very clean +and tidy they are. The landlady, in the days of my youth, was a French, +coloured dame of enormous size, but also of almost preternatural +activity. "Madame" was everywhere, upstairs and downstairs, and never +seemed to go to sleep. It<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> mattered little at what hour of the day or +night you happened to come in, you were sure to find the old lady, with +a huge turban on her head, ready to bid you welcome, with the very +broadest of smiles. As my friend and myself had brought her a letter, +which, by-the-way, she could not read, of introduction from one of her +Havanese patrons, she made a prodigious fuss in our honour. She felt +sure, she said, that, being Englishmen, we should like to have a bedroom +all to ourselves, to which reasonable proposition we very naturally +assented. Presently she took us upstairs to a very long and very lofty +dormitory, furnished with about a dozen brass bedsteads, arranged +against the walls in a double line, each duly protected by mosquito +curtains, and supplemented by a table, a chair, an iron tripod, bearing +a basin and jug, and a flat candlestick. Having paraded us once or twice +up and down this apartment, she suddenly stopped in front of two neat +little bedsteads standing side by side, and, pointing to them, informed +us in Creole French (she came from Martinique) that she destined them +for our accommodation. But what about the proffered privacy? Were we to +dress and undress in the presence of the strange occupants of the other +dozen beds, and were we to be soothed, or otherwise, throughout the +dreary watches of the night, by their combined snores. We resolved, +between ourselves, to make no comment, to leave fate and Madame to work +out our destiny. We descended to our dinner without venturing the least +observation. When we went upstairs again to unpack our travelling +trunks, we were heartily amused to find that the<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> worthy old soul had +fenced us off from our future companions, with four long sheets, +fastened by old-fashioned washing-pegs, to a rope stretched tightly +across the room.</p> + +<p>I remember we had an excellent dinner, the best we had yet eaten in +Cuba. There was a very good broth—<i>sopa de pan</i>—followed by a fair +preparation of fresh fish—<i>pescado frito</i>. Then came a great national +dish—sheeps' brains fried in butter, with tomato sauce, succeeded by a +reasonably fat and tender chicken, <i>a la Creola</i>, that is to say, with a +delicious sauce made with various vegetables; and a dish of <i>ternero +asado</i> (roast veal) ended what might be termed the serious portion of +the meal. Then came guava jelly, eaten with little cakes, and a splendid +dessert of fresh bananas,—the small, stumpy, fat one, <i>plantano de +Guinea</i>, is the only one which is eaten as a fruit in Cuba. The large +ones, of the sort sent to England, are considered as vegetables, and +either fried as a separate dish, like potatoes, or cut up in slices and +used in salads. The Cuban oranges are magnificent, very large, pale in +colour, and innocent of seeds. The pine-apples are, of course, splendid, +and are cooked as sweet dishes, in a variety of ways. There is one +necessary of life which you are obliged to dispense with, and that is +butter, which is only likely to appear in the houses of the very rich, +or at one or two of the best hotels in Havana. There is an appalling +decoction called <i>mantiquella</i>, which is kept in a bottle, and poured +out for the benefit of American and English visitors, who are asked to +believe it is butter! God save the mark, it's exactly<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> like train-oil. +Everything is fried in olive oil, but of excellent quality, so you soon +learn to do without butter to your bread, and, indeed, with as little +bread as may be, for nowhere is it very good. Otherwise, Cuban cooking +is not bad when once the traveller knows the ropes, and what to order. +It is certainly much better than the Spanish <i>cuisine</i>. There is a Cuban +cookery book in the British Museum, printed and published in Havana in +the year 1879, the perusal of which I commend to those of my readers who +are interested in such matters. They will learn how to make some +excellent and very succulent dishes. Cuban cooks are not strong on +sweetmeats, and they rarely, if ever, attempt pastry. On the other hand, +their fruit cheeses, especially the famous guava jelly, are worthy of +their world-wide renown. Ice was only introduced into the island about +forty years ago, and is even now considered a great luxury; but a +cocoa-nut gathered before dawn, and kept as much in the shade as +possible until wanted, is the most refreshing of drinks. The milk which +it contains is icy cold, and with a few spoonfuls of rum or brandy, and +a little sugar thrown in, is really excellent. Then, too, wherever you +go, you are sure to be offered <i>narangiata</i>, or orangeade, which all +Cubans make to perfection. Excellent Spanish and French wines and lager +beer are to be had in almost all the inns.</p> + +<p>The lower part of every Cuban hotel is used as a café and restaurant, +and stands open to the four winds of heaven. It begins to fill +immediately after sunset, and in warm weather is never empty until four +o'clock<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> in the morning. In the middle of the café is the kitchen, and +in the centre of the kitchen will be found an indispensable retreat +which does not add to the sanitary advantages of the establishment. +Otherwise, a Cuban kitchen affords much interest and amusement to those +in search of the picturesque. Round it are arranged little open charcoal +stoves, above which are suspended an endless number of copper saucepans. +Sometimes, up in a corner, is an image of our Lady of Guadaloupe, +blessing, apparently, from the interior of her glass case, the motley +gathering of cooks of all ages and colours, who are intently busy doing +nothing. Here on the floor sits a little darkie shelling peas, and near +him another small sable urchin howls because his ears have just been +boxed for licking his fingers. Yonder is a group of chattering +mulatresses whipping a cream, and there "Madame" herself roars at the +top of her voice at the chief cook, standing frying chicken livers, +strung on a skewer, over one of the innumerable charcoal fires, whose +fumes would suffocate the whole noisy party, if this weird kitchen were +not, but for its ceiling, quite an open air arrangement, for there are +no glass windows anywhere in the house, the only protection against a +storm being the green venetian blinds.</p> + +<p>Our first night at the "Leon de Oro" was a memorable one. The hotel was +packed, and, notwithstanding the seclusion of our canvas walls, it was +impossible to get a wink of sleep,—in the first place, on account of +the mosquitoes, and in the second on that of the chorus of snores which +resounded on all sides after two<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> o'clock in the morning, when our +neighbours, after chattering among themselves like so many magpies, and +even singing in chorus, finally succumbed to the claims of nature, and +tumbled to sleep. The next day Madame found us two small rooms at the +top of the house, where we were quite comfortable for the rest of our +visit.</p> + +<p>Matanzas is a well-built city, situated on a very beautiful bay, and +backed by an admirable range of hills. Two rivers flow through it, the +Yumurri and San Juan. The fine Plaza de Armas, in front of the +Cathedral, and in the very centre of the town, is planted with a double +row of magnificent acacias. The church, dedicated to St Charles, is fair +sized, and has an imposing tower, but is not otherwise interesting. +There are two other smaller churches in the town, but Matanzas is looked +upon, throughout the country, as anything but orthodox. There are, +however, several convents, and two very well managed hospitals. The +fashionable quarter of the city is called "Versailles." Here the +wealthier citizens have built themselves a number of beautiful villas, +in the usual classical, one-storied style. These dazzling white marble +columns, elaborate iron-work balconies, mosaic pavements and handsome +porticoes, are doubtless a very accurate reproduction of the sort of +house which lined the Via Appia in the palmy days of ancient Rome. Most +of these houses are frescoed with mythological subjects, and painted in +bright colours, whose somewhat garish tones are subdued by the deep +green of the wonderful vegetation which surrounds them, and<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> by the +dazzling glare of the sunlight, which, pouring down from the deepest of +blue skies, seems to mellow even the gaudiest colours into delightful +harmony.</p> + +<p>The chief attractions of Matanzas are not, however, within the city +walls, but a pleasant drive's distance beyond its gates. The first of +these are the far-famed caves of Bellamar. There are certain +much-talked-of wonders of nature, the first sight of which is apt to +disappoint you,—Niagara Falls, for instance, and even the Mammoth Caves +of Kentucky; but the Matanzas caverns are so dazzlingly beautiful that +you are both astonished and delighted. They surprise by their size, they +fascinate by the clearness and brilliance of their crystal walls. The +first chamber, called the "Gothic Temple," is 250 feet in length by 83 +in width. Its walls are of pure crystal. From the lofty roof hang +monster stalactites covered with millions of flashing crystals full of +prismatic hues. Following the guide, who carries a limelight, you next +enter a large hall, or chamber, which looks absolutely as if it had been +made of whipped cream. Then, after passing through endless crystal +halls, you reach the <i>fuente de nieve</i>, the snow-fountain, in which the +stalactites have assumed the semblance of a cascade of frosted snow. +These caves extend for about three miles, and are between 300 and 500 +feet below the surface of the earth, and may therefore be reckoned +amongst the largest in the world. They were discovered quite +accidentally, some fifty years ago, by the workmen of a certain Don +Manuel Santos Parga, who, whilst digging in this vicinity, fell into +what afterwards proved to be one of<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a> the principal of the thirty-eight +halls, or caves, which have subsequently been discovered. To the credit +of their proprietor, they are most beautifully kept, no one being +allowed to use smoky torches, or defile the crystals in any way, and +commodious bridges and foot-paths, which add considerably to the comfort +of the visitor, have been built at the owner's expense.</p> + +<p>The next attraction of Matanzas is the famous valley of the Yumurri. To +see it to perfection, it should be visited, not by pale moonlight, but +at the decline of day, when the sun is setting behind the low-lying +hills on the opposite side of the fertile valley, through which the +Yumurri river meanders like a silver ribbon, fringed with innumerable +tiny tributary streams, which immensely increase the productive powers +of this magnificent expanse of richly cultivated land. The vegetation is +indescribably beautiful and varied. Every sort of palm tree grows, and +as the land is undulating in character, the panorama is broken up in the +most charming manner, by groups of slender columns, surmounted by waving +plumes, which intercept, without impeding, the view of golden cane +fields and the tender green coffee plantations which stretch in all +directions, until it fades into the delicate mauve tint of approaching +evening. The view over the valley of the Yumurri is one of those +glorious things which a Milton might have described, a Turner or a +Martin might have painted. It baffles the efforts of my humble pen. All +I can say is that I have seen a good half of the fair world in which man +is called to spend his petty span, but never have my eyes rested on any<a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a> +scene which could equal this in poetic loveliness. It is a fragment, +surely, left of that Paradise from which our first parents managed +between them to shut out their descendants for ever. We lingered long, +wondering at the beauty of it all, quite unable to tear ourselves away. +The sun, having passed through the closing phases of its daily course, +became a ball of glowing fire, and quenched itself within a violet +cloud. The moon rose and flooded the happy valley with golden radiance, +so brilliant that only the stars in the larger constellations, such as +the Southern Cross, were visible.<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Cienfuegos</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">T<small>O</small> my mind, Cienfuegos is the Cuban port which should, under a sensible +and progressive administration, offer the finest prospect for future +development and prosperity. The bay is extremely beautiful, and on its +deep expanse the combined fleets of the nations might anchor in perfect +security. Four rivers, which might easily be rendered navigable, the +Damuji, the Salado, the Caonao, and the Orimao, flow into its waters. +Here, in the brighter times to come, when the Spaniards shall cease from +troubling and the rebels be at rest, will surely be the capital of a new +Cuba.</p> + +<p>Cienfuegos is on the direct line to Panama, and, once the isthmus is +cut, must become of vast commercial importance. At present it contains +less than 20,000 inhabitants, and its trade is of no exceptional value. +It is not an ancient city. It only dates from the beginning of the +present century, and derives its name from the celebrated Cuban general, +Cienfuegos. The church, a very hideous edifice, much older than the +town, contains a famous Madonna, whose robes of cloth of gold and violet +velvet were presented by Queen Isabella II., and who is the object of +many<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a> pious pilgrimages. The inns are fairly good, for Cuba. In one of +them, La Fonda de Paris, I was nipped by a scorpion, and that hotel is +consequently bound up, as far as I am concerned, with very unpleasant +associations.</p> + +<p>The country round Cienfuegos is far more interesting than the town, and +a long drive enabled me to form the acquaintance of a very interesting +type of Cuban—the Guajiro, or white peasant, who abounds in this part +of the island, where many of them cultivate a few acres, and live a life +quite distinct from that of the rest of the world. The Guajiro is +generally of Catalonian or Andalusian origin. Many trace their descent a +long way back to ancestors who came over to Cuba a century or two ago. +As a rule, the men are handsome, manly fellows. They sit a horse as if +born on its back, and seem, like the centaurs of yore, to form part and +parcel of the animal. Their dialect, a mixture of Spanish and of +African, picked up among the negroes, is exceedingly difficult to +understand. The Guajiro used to be a slave-owner, and a terribly hard +task-master was he, for if there is one thing he hates more than +another, it is work. He enjoys sitting in the shade, smoking his +cigarette, and lazily, drowsily, watching his female belongings at their +labour. On the other hand, when roused to effort, he can perform +miracles: ride heaven only knows how many miles, in the blazing sun, and +build a palm hut in a few hours. Living from hand to mouth, rarely, if +ever, taking the trouble to cultivate his tiny domain properly, the true +Guajiro is a perfect<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a> illustration of the fact that "man wants but +little here below." His chief food consists of bananas hot, and bananas +cold, of tomatoes, and other vegetables and fruits unknown in European +markets, which are said to be both excellent and nourishing. He rarely +touches meat, except pork, on which he mainly feeds, but he often +catches fish for his dinner, and looks upon an iguana or a bull-frog as +a desirable delicacy. When he is not a liliputian landowner, he earns +his living as a herdsman, for, from childhood up, he has acquired a vast +experience in the management of cattle and horses—and, above all, of +niggers. Under these circumstances he is obliged to work. He hires +himself out by the week or month, during the harvest season, like any +other labourer, and thereby earns a fair wage, which he spends freely, +on Sundays and <i>fiestas</i>, in the taverns, or in betting at cock-fights +or at the bull-ring.</p> + +<p>The Guajiro who owns a few acres of land is a far more interesting +individual than his fellow, the hired labourer. He is so gloriously, +insolently, independent. What cares he for the luxuries of life, if he +have but a dish of bananas for his dinner, and a smart suit of clothes +in his chest to wear o' Sundays? Six days out of the seven see him +pottering about his farmyard, a magnificent dunghill, on which his brood +of dark-eyed urchins flourishes in primitive costumes, and spends its +time in festive sports, together with the family dogs, pigs, and cows. +On high days and holidays he makes himself very smart, dons his white +"ducks" and his untanned pig-skin boots, his gaudy waistband, and his +broad-brimmed<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> straw hat. The rest of the time he wears his pants and +his jacket only. A born musician, he plays the guitar, and often sings +charmingly. Sometimes that modern wandering Jew, the Italian +organ-grinder, accompanied by a monkey, stops in the dusty road in front +of the Guajiro's domicile, and tunes up "Il Baccio," or the "Blue Danube +Waltz," whereupon the Guajiro and his wife and their brood fall into an +ecstacy of wonderment, and reward the musician liberally, being under +the impression that his music is due to his skill and not to mere +mechanical contrivance.</p> + +<p>The Guajira (the Missis) is also a character in her way. On her +shoulders, poor soul, falls the burden of the heavier work, all except +tending the cattle. She does the cooking, such as it is! She mends the +family rags, and washes them, and looks after the skinny fowls—nothing +on earth will fatten a Cuban fowl! Above all she keeps a vigilant eye on +her mischievous flock of Guajiritos, who never learn to read or write, +but sprawl about the filthy yard, or, when they are old enough, depart +on joyous expeditions in the woods, to search for natural curiosities +fit for food, such as iguanas, lizards, a large fat black snake, said to +be very tender, and better than an eel, frogs as big as your head, and +other such horrors, which the Guajira converts into succulent dishes.</p> + +<p>The family mansion is built of palm branches, and has a rickety, +earthquaky appearance about it, that may be very picturesque, but must +be very uncomfortable. The whole family sleeps on the straw-littered<a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a> +floor. Such Guajiros as I visited seemed to be happy enough, but in the +rainy season they often suffer from rheumatism, ague, and other like +diseases. Thousands of them have joined the rebellion, in the hope of +its eventually leading to a betterment in their condition, which, as +they get into closer contact with civilization, grows daily less +endurable.</p> + +<p>The Guajiro of bygone times, with his bright eyes and his guitar, is the +starving reconcentrado of to-day. I like to think of him as he was, not +as he is. Let us, therefore, behold the Seņor and the Seņora Guajiro in +all the glory of their war-paint, <i>en route</i> for the procession of the +Angel, for instance, in their village church of Santa-Fé. The Seņor is +dressed up in all his Sunday go-to-meeting best, a costume very like +that of our own coster-boys, and the same blood doubtless courses +through their veins, for I am assured, on authority, that Whitechapel +'Arry and his "donah" originally came from the sunny land of Spain, in +Merry King Charles II.'s time, to sell oranges to benighted Britishers, +and that, liking us and our ways, he then and there condescended to take +up his abode amongst us. Certainly the Cuban Guajiro shares 'Arry's +propensity for mother-of-pearl and silver buttons, with which he covers +every available part of his clothing, his jacket, his waistcoat, and his +trousers. By her lord's side tramps the faithful Guajira, a very +beautiful young matron, frequently, with delicate, regular features and +soft brown eyes with sweeping lashes. Her gown is made of gaudy chintz, +patterned with flaring bunches of roses. Most probably the<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a> fabric was +made in England in the tasteless early Victorian days, and intended as +furniture covering. Its train sweeps up a cloud of dust, for it would be +derogatory for any respectable Guajira to lift her skirts like those +miserable English and American women, who hold up their petticoats to +their knees, and go picking their way along as if they were treading on +eggs and were afraid of breaking them. The very negresses know better. +Nevertheless, the Guajira takes good care to display her very small, +brown, stockingless feet, thrust into a pair of green or red zapatos, or +slippers, in which she intends to dance the Creola. Over her shoulders +is a China crape shawl, either white or rose-coloured—a wedding +present,—and her raven tresses are set off by a bunch of wax-like +stephanotis or of scarlet hibiscus. Before and behind their parents trot +the "family," some dozen of them, the baby borne in the arms of a small +but very gorgeous negress. As to these little brown ones, I have seen +them trotting along without a stitch of clothing, with their hair very +neatly brushed and their small tawny feet encased in patent leather +shoes, the whole shaded by an old scarlet parasol. Sometimes, however, +the Guajiro and the Guajira may be particularly well-to-do, and in this +case they do not condescend to trapese along the dusty roads like the +common of mortals, negroes and mulattoes and "sich'z," but make a +triumphal entry on horseback, or on a little Cuban pony, gloriously +bedecked with silver and brass bells and buttons, and long tags of +yellow and red worsted balls. Or else they come along on bullock-back, +the Guajira<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a> sitting sideways on the beast's back, keeping her position +by clinging to her husband's waistband. Nothing quainter or more +picturesque can be imagined than this, to European ideas, queerest of +methods of locomotion. The bullock gallops clumsily enough, but seems to +fancy himself immensely in his rather novel character of horse. If, +perchance, you meet a dozen or so of these singular equestrians, you are +likely to retain a pleasant recollection of their picturesqueness to +your dying day.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>But let us hasten, or else we shall lose our Guajiro and Guajira in the +crowd in the <i>fiesta</i>, and that would be a sad pity. Their first duty is +to go to church, where we shall see them praying with pathetic sincerity +before the illuminated shrine of Our Lady of the Cobre or of Guadalupe. +No philosophical doubt haunts the consciences of these good folk. God +and His Blessed Mother hear every word they say to Them, and, as they +are on very friendly terms with the Powers that be, they place their +affairs most frankly before Them, firmly believing that if they do their +best to keep straight, according to their lights, their prayers will +surely be heard, else why pray at all? They have a good deal to pray +for. The Guajiro slily asks that he may be inspired to bet on the +winning cock, and the Guajira has a yellow lottery ticket in her bosom, +the number of which was selected at the instance of a notorious African +witch. Now that was very wrong, and the Guajira's mind is not at all +easy on the subject, for the new Cura, Padre<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> Pablo has told her over +and over again that Lolla, the witch, is a black limb of Satan, and that +if things were as they ought to be, she would long ago have been burnt +at the stake. But still, if Our Lady would but make that number win, +there would be ten or twenty dollars to the good, and see what a lot of +comforts that would enable her to get. And, besides that, is not the old +Guajiro's grandmother, who is nearly a hundred, ill at home, and is she +not always wanting medicine, and things that poor people cannot afford +to buy, and, the children are really getting too old to go about without +any clothing, especially Cassandrina, who is nearly seven years of age. +But how is one to buy dresses, in these hard times, for growing wenches, +even if they are one's own children, unless a little windfall drops into +one's lap? Therefore, "O Most Pitiful Lady of the Cobre, ask your Son, +whose image wears such a pretty frock of sky blue satin, with a golden +fringe, to let old black Lolla's number win. <i>Por amor de Dios.</i>"</p> + +<p>Being perfectly satisfied that their prayers are duly registered in the +Court of Heaven, the worthy couple and their brood, who, by-the-way, +have been staring all the time, with eyes as big as halfpence, at the +gorgeous robes of Our Lady of the Cobre, flock out of church into the +broad, sunny plaza, where, although it is only six o'clock a.m. +(everything in Cuba is done at an unearthly hour on account of the +heat), the Procession is already beginning to form, so as to be over +before High Mass begins. Bless me, how magnificent it all is! So much +better done than in the<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a> days of the old Cura, a dreadful old person, +concerning whom there were so many queer stories. Since our blessed +Pope, Leo XIII., has come to the throne, things <i>have</i> changed for the +better.</p> + +<p>First come the confraternities of the Precious Blood and of Our Lady of +the Cobre, all very decently dressed, the blacks and the whites mixed +up, on a footing of perfect equality, holding candles in their hands, +without any distinction of caste or colour. Then the Children of Mary, +not a few of them dressed up as Saints,—St Agnes with her lamb, St John +with sheep-skin wound round his chubby limbs, St Francis as a little +monk, and so forth. And lastly, the priests in their showiest vestments, +and the choir boys with their incense, and the climax of the function, +the Angel,—that is to say, a chariot drawn by two white oxen, whose +sweeping horns are tipped with gold foil, in which, on a throne made of +leaves and artificial roses, sits a little girl attired as an angel with +a flaxen wig, for in tropical countries, where mortals are generally +black-haired, all Celestial beings are supposed to be blondes. The +angel's wings are made of coloured bits of paper, cut in the shape of +feathers, arranged with a distinct eye to artistic effect. When the +angel and her chariot arrive in front of the Church the priests bring +forth the statue of Our Lady of the Cobre, and place it under a gorgeous +canopy, where it remains, whilst the terrestrial angel recites a <i>loja</i> +or sonnet, in honour of the Blessed Lady. Then the Benediction is given, +all the motley crowd drops on its knees, and afterwards everybody +hurries into the Church to hear Mass, and so the<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> religious part of the +fiesta ends. Later in the day after the mid-day siesta, we shall find +the Guajiro at the cockpit, which women are prohibited by law from +attending, so that the Guajira will be discovered sitting outside the +village fonda, gossiping with her cousins and friends, and sipping +tamarind water, whilst her numerous progeny disport themselves in the +middle of the square, where there is a sort of fair in progress. If the +favourite cock wins,—and it must surely win on this special +occasion,—the Guajiro will be in the best of humours, and he and his +wife will dance the Creola until the small hours, for a Cuban dances +even when he is half-dead. Long before the sun rises our friends will +have wended their way home, and there will be but little joy in their +lives until the next fiesta comes round. But as there happen to be +seventy-two of them besides fifty-two Sundays, the chintz dress with the +big roses will stir up the dust between the farm and Santa-Fé on many an +occasion yet, before Christmas comes round again, and everybody goes to +pray before the Infante de Dios<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> in the Parish Church.</p> + +<p>In the neighbourhood of Cienfuegos, I had the questionable pleasure of +beholding a Cuban "duck hunt." In the diary of our good Boy-King, Edward +VI., appears the following entry:—</p> + +<p>"1550, June 4. Sir Robert Dudley, eldest (surviving) son to the Earl of +Warwick, married Sir John Robsart's daughter, Amy, after which marriage, +there were certain gentlemen that did strive who should<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a> first take away +a goose's head which was hanged alive on two cross posts."</p> + +<p>The cruel sport, at one time considered a courtly pastime in England, is +still a favourite in Cuba. Two posts are set up, some three yards apart, +and to the centre of the cross beam a live duck or goose is tied by the +legs, head downwards. Then some ten or twenty men on horseback dash +under the posts, and the victor is he who "takes away the goose's head" +as he gallops through. The wretched bird's head being well greased, it +often happens that the poor creature's sufferings are prolonged for many +minutes, whilst the wild crew of horsemen strive to wrench it off, +without losing their balance or falling from horseback. The hubbub is +deafening, everybody shouts at once, and, above the din, you can hear +the piercing shrieks of the half-strangled fowl. As all the horses must +pass under the comparatively narrow gangway, many are thrown down, while +others take fright and gallop off, frequently leaving their <i>caballeros</i> +sprawling, and perhaps badly damaged, on the ground. It is a disgusting +and most cruel exhibition, and makes one feel sorry that it should have +been included among the wedding festivities of so interesting and much +to be pitied a heroine as Amy Robsart. +<a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> next place of importance on our tour was Trinidad de Cuba, a queer +little city of about 18,000 inhabitants, with funny old-fashioned +houses, their windows protected by thick iron gratings, like those of a +mediæval Italian city, scrambling in somewhat disorderly fashion up and +down the sides of a steepish hill called the Vija, or Watch Tower. +Trinidad is situated about ten miles inland from the sea-shore, and is +said to be one of the oldest and quaintest towns in this part of the +West Indies, having been founded by Diego Velasquez in 1513. +Historically speaking, its chief interest centres round Cortez, who +started on his famous expedition to Mexico from the neighbouring bay of +Casilda.</p> + +<p>In a little shop in Trinidad, where ink and paper and a few old books +were sold, I picked up an almost contemporary engraving of Hernando +Cortez, which represents him as a fine-looking warrior, attired in a +most elaborate suit of richly damascened mail, over which he wears a +striped petticoat-like garment reaching below his knees. His feet are +encased in plate armour. On his head he wears a splendid helmet,<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a> +from which float a score of prodigiously long ostrich feathers. In his +hand he bears a spear. The background is a view of a distant city, with +several palm trees. The features are perfectly regular, and the +illustrious Lothario sports a sweeping moustache, and has a dare-devilry +expression which the ancient and skilful limner has reproduced with +apparently scrupulous fidelity. It is evidently an original portrait, +and is dated 1542. It was copied, in all probability, from some +contemporary oil-painting, and engraved, of course, in Europe—probably +in Flanders.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a href="images/santiago_lg.png"> +<img src="images/santiago.png" width="600" height="408" alt="SANTIAGO." title="SANTIAGO." /></a> +<span class="caption">SANTIAGO.</span> +</div> + +<p>We had early dinner here, at the hospitable residence of a rich American +planter, who has built himself a large and handsome house, just outside +the town, and furnished it sumptuously. It was very pleasant to meet +cultivated and intellectual women in such an out-of-the-way part of the +world, and we took leave of our host and hostess—the lady an excellent +botanist—regretfully, bearing away with us big baskets of luscious +fruit and a bouquet of exquisite flowers.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon we embarked for Santiago on board a neat little +steamer which plies along the coast from Havana twice a week. We should +gladly have stayed a little longer at Trinidad; but the following was +Palm Sunday, and I was anxious to reach Santiago for Holy Week, although +my companion, being nothing like so indefatigable a sightseer as myself, +was much put out by my persistence.</p> + +<p>The coast line between Trinidad and Santiago is <a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a>extremely pretty—at +least what we saw of it, for darkness soon sets in in these latitudes, +there being absolutely no twilight, as in more northern regions. We were +able, however, to admire the very beautiful cluster of "cays" which rise +out of the sea in all directions, some of them large enough to be +habitable, though they are left desolate, and others mere barren rocks, +with a palm tree or so growing on their crests. The effect they produced +in the setting sunlight was exquisite enough to excuse the enthusiastic +encomiums of Christopher Columbus when he first beheld them, and mistook +them for the islands mentioned by Marco Polo as being off the coast of +Asia.</p> + +<p>At last the sun went down in a glorious blaze of purple and gold; a blue +darkness enveloped the enchanting scene. The night air was delightfully +balmy, so we sat on deck until quite late, being joined by several +American and Cuban ladies and gentlemen who were going our way. A +remarkably intelligent Bostonian, Major B——, said in the course of +conversation, that he felt sure Cuba would, within a few years, have +passed out of Spanish hands into those either of England or America. He +had apparently great interests in the island, knew every inch of it, and +assured us that its fertility and resources were incalculably great. It +was, he said, in a very backward state.</p> + +<p>"On the majority of the plantations," he continued, "there are no +improved implements of husbandry—no labour-saving machines—nothing, +indeed, which indicates an advanced or advancing agriculture, although<a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a> +the machinery for grinding the cane and making sugar is often of the +best and latest pattern. With the most generous of soils, there is worse +culture in Cuba than anywhere else in the civilized world, except, +perhaps, in the southern parts of Italy or Spain, and in both instances +from like causes—that is, from the consolidation of immense landed +estates in the hands of a few, mainly absentees—and the consequent +withdrawal of the sources of national wealth from general circulation.</p> + +<p>"There are, comparatively speaking, only a small number of acres of +cultivable land held by small proprietors, who work on their own soil. +The largest number of acres are owned by Spanish and Cuban grandees, +some of whom have not been in the island for twenty years. They draw +their revenue hence to dissipate it in a whirl of frivolity, either in +Paris or Madrid. This system of accumulation in mortmain has hung for +generations like a millstone around the necks of the Cuban people, and +will, I am afraid, continue so to do. The abolition of slavery will, +however, surely make a difference. Very soon the large estates will have +to be cut up for want of sufficient hands; and the raising of cane, the +grinding of it and the making of it into sugar, will become two +different occupations, similar to the plan adopted in Germany, where the +sugar-maker either buys the beet crop entirely from the farmer, or +grinds the beets on shares of the sugar made. Then, again," remarked our +new friend, "I cannot help alluding to the vast difference in +characteristics,—though they spring from the same race,—between the +Cubans and the Spaniards. The<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a> aggregation of men into cities for +purposes of trade, though necessary, does not tend to develop their +intellectual faculties. The habit of acting in masses, or with masses, +as every urban population must do, breeds a tendency to sacrifice duty +to political expediency. Principles are continually yielded to the will +of others, and lose their sacredness. In a rural population there is +more isolation and more individuality. This is peculiarly the case with +the Cuban planters, farmers, guarijos, and labourers. An agricultural +population has always been deemed the most simple-minded, and its +character, whatever it may be, the most unchangeable. So here, also, the +Creoles are more unsophisticated than the Spaniard, and have fewer of +the vices and needs of modern society.</p> + +<p>"After all, nations, like individuals, grow up under the influence of a +vast body of experiences. Not one cause, but a multitude of causes, +extending through many years, make people different from each +other,—even those of the same race, as is the case here in Cuba. They +may be gradually moulded, by these experiences, into absolute +antagonism. The Spaniards are well aware of the fact, and do not +hesitate to say so. They acknowledge that they can raise almost +everything in this beautiful and fertile isle—except Spaniards. Though, +year after year, there is a steady stream of immigration from the home +country, it does not change the characteristics of the natives. It +appears to be a law of immigration that, if not the immigrant himself, +his children at all events, are sure to adopt the modes of thought of +the people among<a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> whom their parents have made their home. How could it +be otherwise? The children grow up with the children of the country, and +it becomes their country. The most durable of all associations—those of +childhood—make the children of the immigrant as faithful and as +patriotic as those of the men who have lived for generations in the +country. All in vain does Spain pour her troops into this island. +Granted that by superior numbers she maintains her sway over this +people,—what a barren conquest it is, when you come to think of it! The +Cubans hate those who govern them, and the Spaniards never feel secure. +True, history tells us of but one way by which the national character of +a people can be modified, and that is by conquest; but even conquest, +without beneficial administration, producing assimilation, fails, as it +must fail where there is an absolute rule by one antagonistic people +over another, which engenders hatred, and foments a passionate +rebellion, even at the risk of martyrdom. The Spaniards are a fine race, +but they utterly misunderstand the difference which has grown up between +themselves and the Cubans. Although they acknowledge them their own +children, they persist in treating them as inferiors, and governing them +accordingly. Every attempt at improvement on the part of the Cubans is +systematically stamped out by the Government.</p> + +<p>"The abolition of slavery has not proved a blessing either to the slaves +or their late owners. Like everything Spanish, it has been badly +planned, and has brought ruin to thousands without benefiting the +negroes.<a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a></p> + +<p>"The island is cruelly overtaxed, to keep up a garrison fifty times more +numerous than would be necessary if it were properly administered. I am +quite sure Spain will eventually lose this rich possession. I assure +you, and without the least prejudice, I think her quite incapable of +keeping it. She has had any amount of experience, but of the wrong sort; +and as to her men, her governors and commanders, however honest they may +be in their own country, so soon as they land here they grow either +corrupt or tyrannical."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Morning found us running along some of the grandest coast scenery in the +world: at this point the Macaca or Sierra Maestra Mountains rise boldly +from the sea, to the height of 5000 and 6000 feet. The Ojo del Toro, one +of the highest peaks of the range, is fully visible far away in the +extreme distance, and towering above it you perceive the sharp peak of +Turquino, the loftiest in the whole island, 6800 feet high. I was much +struck by the resemblance between this coast-line and that between Nice +and Monte Carlo. The colouring is almost identical, the sea as deep a +blue as the Mediterranean; and the slopes of the rocky mountains are +clothed with the same rich tints, shading from indigo to the palest +grey. At about ten o'clock we were informed we were nearing Santiago, +but it was a considerable time before the city rose in sight, long, +even, after we had passed Cabanas, the first fort.</p> + +<p>Santiago Bay is shaped like a champagne bottle, with<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a> a narrow neck and +an oblong body. It is a most difficult harbour to enter, and the town +ought to be impregnable; but the fortresses, although architecturally +imposing,—especially the Morro, which looks like a mediæval castle, its +walls rising straight out of the rocks,—are, I am assured, mere toys so +far as modern warfare is concerned. The bay itself, on which the city is +built, spreads out, once you have passed the straits, like a glorious +lake, circled by green hills, thickly covered by the most varied +vegetation, with groups of tall palm-trees standing out conspicuously +here and there. Presently, a turn brings you in front of the city, with +its lofty cathedral towers, and its brightly painted houses, terraced up +the hill to a height of about 500 feet above the level of the sea.</p> + +<p>There is no more picturesque bay in the world than this, unless, indeed, +it be that of Naples. The scene is so enchanting, so brilliant, that one +is perfectly enraptured, and feels inclined to burst into open applause, +as if in the presence of some grand stage effect. Everything seems to +have been arranged by nature for some pageant. Nor is the illusion lost +on landing, for as you climb the steep streets you are constantly +attracted by some picturesque and unusual object or view. Here, for +instance, facing you, as you step to earth, is a fruit stall such as you +can only see in Santiago. Thousands of huge bunches of bananas, varying +in colour from the deepest apple-green to the palest gold, cover its +lofty walls. These green ones are unripe, and are intended for +exportation. Then come countless rows of pineapples, pyramids of<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> +oranges, baskets of crocodile pears and custard apples, and enormous +clusters of purple plums.</p> + +<p>We put up at an hotel kept by an old Cuban, who, understanding European +ways, gave us two separate though very tiny bedrooms, and made us as +comfortable as possible. For luncheon he sent us up an excellent +omelette, the first we had tasted since we left New York. I remember, +too, we had ripe mangoes here, for the first time, and liked them only +fairly well. Tropical fruit, barring bananas, oranges, and pineapples, +is, to my thinking, mighty insipid. The Cuban mango, however, has its +charms.</p> + +<p>Santiago de Cuba is by far the most historical city in the country. It +was founded in 1515 by Diego Velasquez, who landed here, in obedience to +the commands of Diego Columbus, on his first voyage from Hayti, to take +formal possession of the island. From the port of Santiago, too, Juan de +Grijalva started in 1518 on his famous expedition for the conquest of +Yucatan. Hitherto also came Hernando Cortez, bent on the same +undertaking.</p> + +<p>Less than a quarter of a century after these memorable visits, the place +had become so peopled with new settlers that it was elevated to the +dignity of a city, and, in 1527, was created a bishopric. A year later, +Narvaez set forth hence on his memorable expedition for the conquest of +Florida, whence "he never more returned." Later in the same year +Hernando de Sotto arrived, accompanied by over a thousand armed men, to +assume the command of the entire island. He brought with him his wife, +Doņa Isabella<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a> de Bobadilla, a lady who was famous for her beauty and +her virtues. During his celebrated expeditions into the Americas, he +left her here, in the responsible position of Governess of the island. +She was the only woman who ever ruled in Cuba. Her sway was beneficent +and mild, but the chroniclers relate that when months and even years +passed without her receiving any letters from her husband, she "pined +and languished, and fell into a lethargic state, so that her life was +despaired of." Whether Doņa Isabella Bobadilla died in Cuba or returned +to Spain, I have never been able to ascertain. There is no mention of +her having been buried in the Cathedral here, where Velasquez was +certainly entombed, for in 1810 his body was found by some workmen in a +stone coffin, at a distance of about twenty feet below the soil.</p> + +<p>The rest of the history of the town is a repetition of that of Havana, a +series of sieges by pirates and buccaneers. In 1662 it was attacked by +Lord Windsor, and bombarded by a squadron of fifteen vessels. The +English landed, destroyed the Morro Fort, blew up the Cathedral, and +otherwise behaved themselves more like Pagans than Christians.</p> + +<p>On Palm Sunday morning, we went to the Cathedral to see the great +function of the blessing of the palms. The church is very large—the +largest in the island—and built in the usual Hispano-American style, +with a squat dome in the middle, and two rather fine towers on each side +of the faįade. The nave is of unusual width, and the side chapels, of +which there are a<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a> great number, are full of rare marbles, and splendid +mahogany woodwork. The stalls in the magnificent choir and the seats +throughout the church are all made of solid deep red mahogany; the +edifice otherwise presents nothing of interest, excepting the priestly +vestments, very fine specimens of old Spanish needlework. We found the +church packed, most of the ladies being in deep mourning, but in +low-necked dresses, which, at so early an hour, produced a startling +effect. It afforded us an opportunity for a most interesting study of +feminine shoulders, varying in tint from the snowy white of the Creola, +to the dainty olive of the mulatress, and the ebony black of the ladies +who originally hailed from the Congo. The stately ceremonies, on this +solemn occasion, were exactly the same as those in all other Catholic +churches throughout the world. The priests, however, carried some very +fine palm branches, their long fronds tipped with gold tinsel. In the +afternoon there was a sermon preached by a fiery little Capuchin monk, +who banged his hands on the edge of the pulpit with such force that I am +sure they must have been black and blue by the time he had finished.</p> + +<p>In the evening we went for a long drive through some of the most +beautiful scenery I have ever seen. On the following day there was not +much in the way of sacred pageantry. On Holy Thursday the whole town +turned out in deep mourning to visit the Sepulchre in the Churches. +Meanwhile the opera house, the theatres, and all other places of public +amusement were hermetically closed, and Santiago<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a> did not present a very +lively appearance, but as we had plenty to see in the neighbourhood, +this did not trouble us much. The Good Friday procession was well worth +seeing. It was a miniature edition of the procession which takes place +in Seville, and was of interminable length. All the confraternities took +part in it. At intervals, life-sized groups made in carved wood, +representing episodes in Our Lord's Passion, were carried on the +shoulders of ten or a dozen negroes. Then came the image of Our Lady of +Sorrows, dressed in the full Court costume of the sixteenth century, +made of cloth of silver, with a mantle of the richest purple velvet. +This was followed by the Archbishop and his clergy, and the grandees of +the place, wearing their decorations, officers in uniform, and gentlemen +in evening dress. The effect of the procession winding through the +narrow streets was extremely picturesque, and it was received on all +sides with profound respect, for the people of Santiago are the most +orthodox on the island, and also, by-the-way, the most intelligent and +the best-looking. Their good looks are said to be due to their numerous +inter-marriages with French women, daughters of emigrants from San +Domingo, who made their appearance here at the end of the last century. +Many of the ladies of Santiago are quite beautiful, and would be much +more so if they did not plaster their faces with cascaria powder to such +an extent that many of them make themselves look like female clowns.</p> + +<p>On Holy Saturday morning we were awakened, very early, by the most +hideous noises, firing off of pistols,<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> squibs, and rockets. The +population were busily engaged in hanging Judas Iscariot, an effigy of +this archtraitor being actually suspended to a lamp-post opposite our +hotel, while a vast assembly round it yelled excitedly, insulting it +with an earnestness that might have been intelligible had it been Judas +in the flesh instead of a sham, stuffed presentment.</p> + +<p>Santiago was at one time quite a literary centre. Some years back one or +two learned priests devoted themselves there to the study of botany and +astronomy, among them being Padre Luis de Montes, who made a complete +catalogue of the flora of the island. Doņa Luisa Perez de Montes de Oca, +a native of Santiago, has written some of the finest sonnets in +contemporary Spanish literature, and Doņa Gertrude Gomez de Avellanda, +also born at Santiago, is another delightful poetess, whose name is well +known where-ever the Spanish language is spoken. One name, however, +towers, in Cuban literature, over all others—that of José Maria +Heredia, who was born at Santiago in 1803. His father, a gentleman of +considerable position and wealth, and ardent patriot, was exiled to +Mexico, and carried with him his motherless child, then only three years +of age. At sixteen Heredia lost his father, and returned to Havana, +where, in 1823, he was admitted to the bar, and sent to practise at the +Supreme Court of Puerto Principe. His open expressions of indignation at +the manner in which his country was mishandled, and his well-known +liberal opinions on political and social subjects, eventually roused the +suspicions of the Government, and he was<a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a> privately advised to leave the +island with all speed, unless he wished to end his days in prison. He +took the hint, abandoned Cuba for America, and settled in New York. In +1825 he published his first volume of poetry, which contained the +celebrated "Exiles' Hymn," the opening lines of which are singularly +appropriate to present circumstances.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"Fair land of Cuba! on thy shores are seen</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Life's far extremes of noble and of mean,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The world of sense in matchless beauty dress'd,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> And nameless horrors hid within thy breast.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Ordain'd of Heaven the fairest flower of earth,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> False to thy gifts, and reckless of thy birth,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The tyrant's clamour, and the slave's sad cry,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> With the sharp lash in insolent reply,—</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Such are the sounds that echo on thy plains</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> While virtue faints, and vice unblushing reigns.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Rise, and to power a daring heart oppose!</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Confront with death these worse than deathlike woes,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Unfailing valour chains the flying fate,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Who dares to die shall win the conqueror's state!"</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Another very remarkable poem, published a little later (1833), is the +famous "Niagara," made familiar to English readers by the late Mr Cullan +Bryant's noble blank-verse translation. Never has the grandest of +cataracts been more magnificently described, but, even in the presence +of its overwhelming majesty, Heredia could not forget the mournful +beauty of his beloved Cuba, and through the tremendous sound of its +waters he thought he detected the rustling of the palms of his native +forests, when tossed about by some overwhelming storm. Heredia died in +Mexico in 1838. He was<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a> a man of exceeding integrity, and most generous +and amiable. As a poet, he is acknowledged among the greatest who have +cast honour on the tongue of Calderon and Cervantes.</p> + +<p>Milanes is another poet who first saw light at Santiago. He was a man of +humbler origin than Heredia, and of more subtle and refined genius. He +died young, of consumption, but his works, which were published some +years after his death, are considered classics by the Spanish. They are +perfect in form, exquisite in thought, but intensely melancholy. It has +been said of Milanes that "he saw life through tears." The greatest poet +Cuba has produced after Heredia, Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdes, better +known by his <i>nom-de-plume</i> of Placido, was born, not at +Santiago,—although he passed some years of his life there,—but at +Matanzas. He was a mulatto by birth. Nature and fortune were against +him. His origin was of the lowest; his father was a half-cast slave, and +he was hideously ugly, miserably poor, and very imperfectly educated. +Yet he triumphed over every obstacle, and has left a great name in +Hispano-American literature. In 1844, rumours of an intended rebellion +among the slaves having reached the ears of the Captain-General at +Havana, a number of negroes and even poor whites (Guajiros), suspected +of sympathising with the slaves, were arrested, and some scores of them +suffered death under the lash. The poet Placido, of whom the whole +coloured population was intensely proud, was accused of having fermented +this rebellion by his eloquence. He was forthwith arrested, and<a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> thrown +into prison, and, though he protested his innocence, he was tried, found +guilty, and sentenced to be shot. Fortunately for literature, some time +elapsed between the passing of the sentence and its execution, and the +delay enabled him to compose his two finest poems—the sublime "Prayer +to God" and the touching "Farewell to his Mother." These fine works +would alone suffice to make the name of any poet in any language. +Placido met his fate on 8th June 1844, in the Great Square of Matanzas, +together with nineteen other persons, accused of abetting the negro +rebellion. He walked from his prison with a firm step and unbandaged +eyes, and himself gave the signal to fire. Unfortunately, he was only +wounded, and fell in great agony to the ground. The crowd was moved to +horror and pity, but Placido silenced his many friends present, and, +rising to his feet, said firmly, "Farewell, world,—ever pitiless to +me." Then, pointing to his own brow, he cried, "Soldiers, fire here." In +another instant he fell dead—shot through the head.</p> + +<p>Placido addressed several graceful sonnets to the Queen Regent of Spain, +Christina, mother of Isabella II., who took some interest in his fate, +and openly expressed her indignation when she learnt of his tragic +death. Mr William Hurlbut, in his <i>Pictures of Cuba</i>, gives an admirable +study of the works of this remarkable poet. "Placido's images," says he, +"are often pathetic in their originality, as, for instance, when he +compares the sudden passing of the moon from behind the cliffs into the +open starlit sky, to the advent<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a> into the ball-room of a beautiful +woman, superbly dressed, and wearing a cashmere shawl. Quaintly barbaric +this image seems, yet how charged it is with the sad history of gorgeous +dreams and warm visions, prisoned in the poet-brain of an outcast and a +Pariah."</p> + +<p>It would be scarcely just to Havana, if I were to create an impression +that Cuban literary genius was peculiar to the Eastern Province. Havana +has also produced several fine poets. Ramon Zambrana, who, by-the-way, +married the poetess Doņa Luisa Perez de Monte de Oca, is a lyrist of the +first rank. His story is quite a romance. The poems of Doņa Luisa de Oca +were published under a manly <i>nom-de-plume</i>. Admiring them exceedingly, +Zambrana entered into a correspondence with the author, then living at +Santiago. It was only after keeping up a very lively and interesting +correspondence for over a year that he accidentally discovered he had +been writing to a woman. A very trivial incident revealed the truth. In +one of her letters the lady enclosed, by mistake, a note intended for +her milliner. On this the gentleman determined to proceed to Santiago +and make the acquaintance of his fair correspondent, whom he discovered +to be both beautiful and wealthy. Very soon after the marriage, +unfortunately, Zambrana fell ill, and died in the flower of early +manhood.</p> + +<p>Don José de la Luz y Caballero, who was for a long time Director of the +College of San Salvador, was also the author of some excellent poetry, +and of a very valuable work on Cuban folk-lore. His views were +altogether too advanced to suit the Government, and he<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a> was considerably +persecuted in consequence. He joined the insurrection under Cespedes, +and was killed in the engagement off Bayanno in 1866. Among the minor +poets of Havana may be mentioned Zequeira, Lecares, Palma, Mendira, and +Pina.</p> + +<p>In a country where the censorship weighs so heavily on the press, and on +literature in general, as it does in Cuba, prose writers find little or +no scope for their talent. Poetry, especially high class poetry, does +not appeal to the masses so readily as prose, and being considered less +dangerous is more leniently dealt with. Besides, it is generally +published "for private circulation alone." Cuba has produced a few good +local historians, among them the compiler of a work which has been of +the greatest assistance to me in the historical portion of this +book—<i>Los tres historiadores de la Isla de Cuba</i>—a collection of the +chronicles of Herrera, Valdes, and Urietta, with copious notes and +additions.</p> + +<p>Although local journalism dates from the middle of the last century, the +Cuban newspapers of the present day are of the flimsiest and most stupid +description. They are even worse than those published in Constantinople, +the censorship being, if anything, more childishly interfering than that +of Abd'ul Hamid. Barring a few telegrams from Madrid and New York, the +great political events in Europe and America are barely noticed at all. +On the other hand, you will find plenty of information concerning the +life of the calendar saint of the day, of St Rosa of Lima, for instance, +or of the Blessed Filomena.<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a></p> + +<p>Although music is universally popular in Cuba, I know of no +distinguished Cuban composer, musician, or vocalist. Yradié has +collected and elaborated a number of Cuban popular airs, and Bizet has +immortalised the Habanera in <i>Carmen</i>, but the first ten bars of that +air are the only ones he has retained without alteration, though +characteristic rhythm is well preserved. The less celebrated <i>Paloma</i>, +by Yradié, is, I think, more genuinely Cuban. The negro melodies of the +island are absolutely barbaric, and devoid of time and tune. They have +nothing in common with the charming plantation airs of the Southern +States of America.</p> + +<p>Before leaving Santiago de Cuba we drove out to the celebrated Cobre +Mines, some four hours distant from the city, but unfortunately there +had been some accident on the previous day, and we were unable to +descend into them. The scenery along the road, from Santiago, is +magnificent. We went a little beyond the mines, and visited the shrine +of Nuestra Seņora de la Caridad de Cobre, a famous place of pilgrimage, +which, however, has lost a good deal of its picturesque interest since +the erection of the brand new church, large and garish, in which the +holy image is enshrined. As it was not a <i>fiesta</i> there were very few +pilgrims, and I, having seen many other like shrines in Europe, was much +more interested in the enormous Caruba trees growing abundantly in the +neighbourhood, which were hung with giant pods, a yard long, containing +<i>casia</i>, a dark brown paste, which is made into a syrup, and said to be +very beneficial in cases of sore throat. We<a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a> brought back a wonderful +collection of pods and giant beans of all sorts, and some beautiful +ferns and flowers, which I contrived to press as soon as I reached the +hotel. However, before leaving Santiago I was presented with a large +album containing a complete set of the ferns of the island. Among the +commonest I noticed are our much prized gold and silver ferns, and some +exquisite maiden-hairs, which, I am assured, have never been +successfully transplanted. Whenever I turn over the pages of this album +with its faded fern leaves, the memories of a delightful week spent in +Santiago crowd into my mind, and I seem to see, as in a vision, the +exquisite bay and the kindly denizens of the old City, built by Diego +Velasquez, a good four hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>The steamer which had brought us from Cienfuegos also took us to +Nuevitas. The coast scenery is marvellously fine, and full of interest +on account of its association with Columbus, who was familiar with every +yard of it. We passed Baracoa, the oldest city in the island, with its +picturesque, castle-crowned hill and its splendid mountain background.</p> + +<p>Nuevitas is said to be the place where Columbus landed, though recent +students think he really first stepped on shore at Carmello, in the +neighbourhood of Havana. It is now the port of Puerto Principe, an +important town some forty miles distant. The bay of Nuevitas is very +fine, but we miss the lofty mountains of Santiago—this country being +more or less flat, but very rich in vegetation, and beautifully green. +Nuevitas does a good trade in sponges and<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a> turtles, and is the depot for +the shipment of sugar and molasses, this being a great cane country.</p> + +<p>Puerto Principe itself is the counterpart of any other Cuban town. They +are all exactly alike—the same narrow streets of one-storied, +brightly-painted Pompeian-looking houses, the same wide Plaza with the +same rococo church with its twin towers and flat dome, and the same +formal Almeida full of tropical plants, where the people parade of a +Sunday evening, to the strains of the local band. It is a fairly lively +place, and is reported to be a well-known centre of rebellion.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a><a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Some Weird Stories</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">N<small>O</small> account of Cuba would be quite complete without some reference to the +superstitious observances of the negro population, which have not failed +to affect, by a kind of reflex action, the ideas and customs of the +white inhabitants of the island.</p> + +<p>The negroes have a smattering, of course, of Catholic teaching, and a +tincture of the superstitions which affect the lowest order of Catholic +mind. Super-added to these—or perhaps I should rather say, underlying +them—we find a great mass of Voudistic legend and tradition, and a +consequent observance and practice of those dark, weird, and +blood-curdling mysteries known as the worship of Obi. The origin of this +form of idolatry is lost in antiquity. It was known in ancient Egypt, +where the serpent was called <i>Ob</i> or <i>Aub</i>. Traces of it appear even in +Holy Writ. Moses charges the Israelites "not to inquire of the demon +<i>Ob</i>"—described in the Vulgate as "divinator" and "sorcilegus." The +Witch of Endor is called <i>Oub</i> or <i>Ob</i> in the original, and the word +appears translated as <i>Pythonessa</i>, or Witch.</p> + +<p>The African slaves imported their strange rites into<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a> the West Indies +when they were carried into slavery, and clung to them with all the +tenacity of an oppressed and cruelly handled race.</p> + +<p>The occult power possessed by the Obi man or woman is believed to be +hereditary, but it rarely develops until the individual attains an +advanced age. Fetish worship is a fundamental doctrine, and the Obi man +has the power of causing the Obi, or evil spirit, to pass into any +object he may select, such as the jaw-bone of a horse, or the body of a +monkey. To these objects, living or dead, the worshippers offer fruit, +fowls, and flowers. The ceremony of calling the spirit into its new +abode is full of mystery and horror, and is generally performed at dead +of night, and in some lonely and sequestered spot, far from Christian +and profane eyes.</p> + +<p>Many a curious story have I heard, of strange fate and cruel misfortune, +connected with the dark practices of negro witchcraft. The following +tale, which was related to me by a relative of the victim, will serve as +an instance of Obi power. I need scarcely say I do not ask my readers to +believe it, but I am quite sure my informant, by no means an uneducated +man, placed the most implicit faith in every word he spoke.</p> + +<p>A certain wealthy Cuban planter, whom I will call Don Pablo, once +suspected an old negro in his service of being an Obi man. He had but +recently returned to his estates, from a long sojourn in Europe, and was +determined to suppress, so far as in him lay, the diabolical ceremonies +which, his overseer assured him, were frequently performed by certain of +the negroes on<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a> his plantation, who had thus acquired a vast influence +over their fellows. One night, Don Pablo followed his overseer into the +forest, and reached a deserted hut, evidently used as a fetish temple, +just as the rites began. He hid himself among the jungle, and watched +his opportunity. The assemblage consisted of some twenty to thirty +negroes, of both sexes, plentifully bedecked with beads, shells, and +feathers, but otherwise stark naked. They opened proceedings by +performing a sort of Pyrrhic dance, shouting as they whirled round and +round, and brandishing their torches. Presently the door of the hut +opened, and the Obi man appeared. He was very old, and quite greyheaded. +His naked body was marked with white paint to represent a skeleton, and +his appearance under the pale moonlight and the livid glow of the +torches was weird beyond description. Don Pablo half wished himself at +home—for, like all his race, he was both excitable and superstitious. +In due time, the Obi man brought forward a huge toad, in which, after +many ceremonies, he declared the Obi or fetish to be embodied. This +done, he began to worship it, and to indulge in certain strange and +obscene antics. Don Pablo, in his indignation, burst from his +hiding-place, pistol in hand, commanding the Obi man to desist, and +disperse the gathering, or take the consequences. To his surprise, the +old priest utterly defied him, and boldly told him that if he persisted +in disturbing the strange rites, the most fearful misfortunes would +befall him. The audacious speech was answered by a ringing shot, which +ended the Obi man's career, and broke up the meeting in<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a> wild confusion. +A few days afterwards, whilst Don Pablo sat at dinner, his wife fell +suddenly forward and expired. In less than a fortnight his only daughter +died, of some quickly developed and mysterious disease—probably poison. +Broken-hearted and alarmed by these crushing blows, following in such +swift and merciless succession, the unhappy man betook himself to a +neighbouring plantation, and sought to propitiate the offended deity +through another well-known and potent Obi man, but the attempt failed +absolutely. The wizard declared he had no power to undo the mischief, +for, he alleged, the deceased Obi man was far more influential with the +spirits than himself. The miserable Don Pablo returned to his desolate +home to find a letter announcing the death of his only son, who had been +suddenly carried off in Paris, whither he had been sent for his +education.</p> + +<p>The number thirteen is considered an unlucky and even fatal one in Cuba. +If you have a fever, the Obi man or woman will give you a little bag +containing twelve seeds of garlic, which you put under your pillow, and +in the morning you are sure to awake quite well,—unless, indeed, the +witch has maliciously inserted a thirteenth seed, in which case you may +as well order your coffin at once.</p> + +<p>The evil eye is as prevalent as in Naples, and most houses are protected +from it by a horseshoe, such as we often see, for the matter of that, in +non-superstitious England! An Obi man or woman always has the evil +eye—<i>mal de ojo</i>—and can do harm by mere force of will power, even if +the object be many miles<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> removed. If you have incurred the Obi man's +anger, your undertaking, whatever be its nature, is sure to fail; and on +your return home, you may find your favourite child has been stung by a +scorpion, or is dying of the fever, that your blacks are afflicted with +some fell disease, and your herds stolen, or decimated.</p> + +<p>Some Obi women are famous as prophetesses. There was a negro witch on +the plantation of Doņa Mary d'O——, an American lady, the widow of an +exceedingly rich Cuban planter, and a most kindly and hospitable lady. +One morning our hostess took us down to the negro quarters, to visit the +dusky pythoness, whom we found sitting in the shade of some huge banana +plants, smoking her cigarette. She rose to greet her mistress, and I was +struck at once by her tall, commanding figure, and the stately manner in +which she wore the long draperies of scarlet and white calico, which +fell in ample folds (none of the freshest, I am forced to add) down to +her feet. Her name was appropriate to her profession—Proserpina—Pina, +for short. In answer to our greeting and inquiries after her health, +Proserpina informed us she was well, but that owing to certain portents, +she dreaded the near approach of some misfortune. Sure enough, very +shortly afterwards, the <i>vomito nigro</i> appeared among the plantation +hands, and many of them were swept away. Proserpina was a skilful +palmist, and told us our future with a fair degree of success. She +informed my fellow-traveller, and quite truly, that he would die within +eight years, and assured me I should live to be very old and very rich. +I<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> would fain hope the oracle may yet come true! "Pina" persistently +refused to work, but her mistress, thinking it well to be on good terms +with a personage so greatly looked up to by her fellows, allowed her to +take her own way. She was in great demand among the plantation hands, in +cases of sickness and childbirth, and she was not above accepting her +fees, like any other lady doctor, exacted them, in fact, under threat of +awful penalties. This venerable dame, like most of her profession, was +an adept in the compounding of philtres and deadly poisons, the +ingredients of which recall, in some cases, the uncanny mixtures +prepared by the weird sisters in Macbeth—scorpion's blood six drops, +the head of a toad, the belly of a snake, the poison of a black spider, +and strange herbs gathered by moonlight. The whole mixed in a cauldron +over a fire fed with dead men's bones, and boiled between midnight and +dawn.</p> + +<p>Every thoroughbred Cuban believes in ghosts and haunted houses. To this +day certain plantations stand desolate, because nobody will face the +spirits which haunt them—proof, if proof were needed, of the awful +crimes committed within their walls. Before Tacon's time, such high +roads as there were in the interior of the island were very unsafe, and +gangs of banditti infested various parts of the country. They waylaid +travellers, murdered them, and stripped their bodies. Many years ago a +well-known lawyer at Porto Principe was arrested and charged with +organising and financing a gang of monteros who had turned highwaymen, +and killed and plundered various<a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a> wealthy travellers on their way to +certain plantations in the interior. In the course of his trial it +transpired that the bodies of the victims were buried under the kitchen +floor of a wayside <i>fonda</i> (inn), the precise spots having been revealed +to a negro seer by the ghosts of the slain. To this day, nobody will +pass that <i>fonda</i> on All Souls Eve, because they are sure to see the +spirits of the murdered men barring the road, and supplicating the +passer-by to have a mass and <i>de profundis</i> offered for the repose of +their unshriven souls.</p> + +<p>Divers plantations have an evil reputation because negroes have been +burnt there in days long gone by for practising the rites of Obi, or +because their cruel masters desired to get rid of them, for reasons of +their own. When the tempest is at its height, you may yet see, wandering +among the palm trees, a black form wreathed in flames, whose wailing +shriek rises even above the howling of the storm.</p> + +<p>The superstitions of the blacks affected the whites: it could hardly be +otherwise; for, however strong caste prejudice may be, the dominant race +must absorb some proportion of the prejudices inherent in those who have +nursed and waited on them in their tenderest and most impressionable +years. Cases have occurred, and may occur even now, in which white men +and women of the lowest class have joined in the strange and repellent +rites of the African religion, if so it can be called. But I need hardly +say that the more educated Cubans, though they admit the existence of a +strange and mysterious faculty in certain of the negro priests and<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a> +priestesses, hold themselves utterly aloof from such demoniac and +degrading practices.</p> + +<p>Whilst we are on gruesome subjects, I may be excused if I take the +opportunity of saying something about Cuban funeral customs, which have, +however, been greatly modified of late years, in the large towns, owing +to the advance of education, and to some slight improvement in the +popular appreciation of hygiene. Twenty years ago, however (and even +now, in the interior), the corpse used to be dressed up in its best +clothes, the man in his frock-coat, white cravat, and patent-leather +boots, the woman, if married, in her Sunday go-to-meeting best, or if +she were a young girl, in white, with a wreath of flowers round her +head. Thus arrayed, the body, after being exposed in a sort of lying in +state in one of the principal apartments of the house, would be conveyed +to the cemetery, with the lid of the coffin open, so that parents and +friends might be able to admire the final toilette. This custom, which +is still general among the Eastern orthodox Greeks, led in the course of +time to the formation of a singular band of resurrectionists, who, after +some wealthy person's funeral, were wont to steal away by night to the +cemetery, dig up the body and despoil it of its fashionable garments, +which constantly found their way to the second-hand clothiers. At +present, among the educated classes, and in the large cities, the coffin +lid is closed. But a compromise has been devised by the introduction of +a plate-glass lid, through which the pleasing spectacle of the deceased +lying at rest, bedecked with this world's finery, can be enjoyed without +risk. A Cuban funeral procession<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a> is generally of very great length, and +usually accompanied by a band of musicians, the town band for +preference, playing operatic airs and even dance music. I once saw a +young lady borne to her last home, her coffin covered with splendid +wreaths, and surrounded by weeping friends, to the tune of the then +popular Baccio waltz. Formerly, as in the East, men and women used to be +hired as mourners, and being trained for the purpose, howled dismally +enough to raise the dead. But they have been abolished, except in +country places, where, in Cuba as elsewhere, old fashions die hard.</p> + +<p>Among the guajiros, monteros, and poor whites generally,—and I believe +also amongst the Catholic negroes,—a ceremony takes place on the night +between the death and the funeral (which, by the way, always occurs +within twenty-four hours), which bears a strong resemblance to an Irish +wake: it is called a <i>velorio</i>; literally, watch or wake. The friends +and relatives gather round the coffin, and spend the night watching by +the body, which is placed in the centre of the chamber, the coffin being +unclosed, covered with wreaths of flowers and bouquets, and flanked by +six lighted candles. Originally this ceremony, like the Irish wake, was +doubtless intended to be of a highly devotional character, but it has +degenerated, by degrees, into a sort of orgie. A table covered with +viands is set at one end of the room, and close to it stands another of +still greater importance, bearing numerous bottles of aguardiente, gin, +and wine. Frequent libations to the health of the departed soul soon +produce their<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> effect, and the family begins to express its grief in the +most uproarious manner, by dismal exclamations, hair-tearing, and +breast-beating. They address the dead as if he were still living.</p> + +<p>"Ah! my poor darling," they say, "don't make any mistake. We are sorry +indeed to lose you, but at present you see we are preparing the funeral +baked meats for those who loved you less than we do. When they have all +got their drinks, we will return, so don't be impatient. By and by we +will howl dismally enough to please you." (<i>Luego te vamos gritar</i>.)</p> + +<p>As the night wanes, and the aguardiente grows lower in the queer-looking +bottles, the company can no longer restrain its grief. Everybody becomes +inconsolable at once. When dawn comes, and with it the confraternities +and the cura, to fetch the coffin, they not unfrequently find the +company singing, dancing, and shouting as if possessed. And here I may +observe that the Cubans can drink more aguardiente and gin, without +showing any unsteadiness, than any other people on the face of the +earth. They contrive to keep their legs at all events, though I am +afraid they very frequently lose their heads.</p> + +<p>Nothing more dismal can be imagined than a Cuban cemetery, which is +usually located in the most arid spot in the neighbourhood of town or +village. The Cubans never dream of planting a tree or a shrub near the +graves of their lamented, for whom, by the way, they wear official +mourning about six times as long as in any other country. At one +extremity of the cemetery invariably stands the unpretentious<a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a> chapel. +In the centre is the common field, where the poor and the coloured +Catholics are buried,—no heretic being allowed to rest in this +cheerless campo santo. The wealthier among the departed are commemorated +by funereal monuments and slabs inserted in the wall surrounding the +grave-yard, which give their titles at full length, and most +unstintingly commend their virtues.</p> + +<p>In the cemetery of Santiago, which, by the way, is one of the dreariest +fields of death I have ever beheld, there is a very interesting monument +erected to the memory of the celebrated Doctor Antomarchi, who attended +Napoleon I. at St Helena during his last illness. It is not remarkably +artistic, but is sufficiently imposing to attract attention. I must say +I felt greatly interested to learn why and wherefore Antomarchi elected +to pass the last years of his life in Santiago de Cuba. This is the +information I obtained concerning him. It seems that, shortly after the +Emperor's death, he made a tour of the world, in search of a missing +brother, whom he had not seen or heard of for many years. Chance threw +them together in the streets of Santiago, and Antomarchi determined to +take up his abode in the same town as the only other surviving member of +his family. As he had a considerable fortune, he took handsome +apartments in one of the best streets of the city, set up as oculist, +and received patients for eye diseases, in the treatment of which he +seems to have been fairly successful. He often spoke of his illustrious +patient, and described his last hours. Dr Antomarchi was a generous man +and<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a> charitable to the poor; and although he only lived a few years at +Santiago, where he fell a victim to the yellow fever in 1826, he was so +greatly esteemed that this monument was erected to his memory by public +subscription.</p> + +<p>The friend with whom I was travelling was, like myself, an ardent +admirer of Napoleon, and ordered a magnificent wreath to be placed on +the tomb of the man who closed the great Emperor's eyes, and who, like +his imperial master, was destined to end his days in a tropical island.</p> + +<p>In these Cuban cemeteries you may occasionally notice certain large land +crabs sidling along with a lazy air, as if they had had an exceedingly +good dinner. All I will say anent them is, that they are often +suspiciously covered with earth, and that I would not eat one of them to +save my life. The negroes, however, declare them to be of exquisite +flavour.<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Plantation Life</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">I<small>T</small> is only by visiting two or three of the great plantations, of various +kinds, that one can form any idea, not only of the agricultural wealth +of the island, but of the extraordinary beauty of its flora.</p> + +<p>There are plantations and plantations in Cuba, just as there are country +houses and country houses in England: some (I am speaking of the island +before the present rebellion) are magnificent; others are distinctly +rough and tumbledown. The first sugar plantation I had the pleasure of +visiting was situated some miles from Havana, and belonged to an +American gentleman. The approach to the family residence (<i>casa de +vivienda</i>) was through handsome iron gates and an apparently +interminable avenue of magnificent Royal palms, which, by the way, +although they produced a most imposing effect, on account of the +exceeding height of the vault of deep green foliage, suspended some +eighty to ninety feet above our heads, afforded little or no shade, for +their superb trunks are as straight as darts, and as smooth as so many +greased poles at an old-fashioned English country fair.</p> + +<p>In front of the very large one-storied house was an open space, +converted into a garden by our charming<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a> hostess, a Bostonian lady, +devoted to floriculture. It was, I remember, conspicuous for the number +of its immense bushes of flaming hibiscus, then in full and glorious +bloom. Hiding modestly in the shade were some homely pale pink roses, +which had been imported from New England, and which, I was assured, +required the greatest possible care. Their sweetness seemed not a little +overpowered by their gorgeous and sturdy rivals, whose vivid flowers +were as large as the crown of my Panama hat. The drive up to the house +was fenced in by perfect walls of orange trees, whose strongly scented +starlike blossoms mingled with the ripe and golden fruit. On either side +of the door were the finest banana plants I have ever seen, their +velvety leaves being fully ten to fifteen feet in length. At the door +stood our host and hostess, eager to welcome us with true American +cordiality. Mr G—— insisted upon our taking a cocktail there and then, +and a most refreshing and grateful beverage it proved to be, after our +long and dusty drive. The hall of this <i>hacienda</i>, an enormous +apartment, with a highly polished floor, served also for drawing-room +and place of general meeting. It was most beautifully furnished, and at +every turn the careful supervision of a woman of culture was evident.</p> + +<p>Here were immense Chinese vases full of fresh cut flowers, trailing +boughs of the golden trumpet vine, huge bunches of the peacock acacia, +and other specimens of brilliant tropical bloom, such as my eyes had +never rested on before.<a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a></p> + +<p>"Ah," said our hostess, "you see I always have cut flowers in my rooms, +but you will never find them in the house of any Spaniard or Cuban. Even +the negroes seem to object to them, and are apt to throw them away as +soon as my back is turned. But what I want you to notice, whilst they +are getting breakfast ready for us, are some mantis which we caught this +morning in the garden;" and here the lady brought forward a box with a +glass lid, containing apparently four or five beautiful green leaves, +about the size and shape of a poplar leaf. But they were living insects, +so cunningly formed by Nature that even the birds disdain to touch them, +be they ever so hungry, fully believing them to be tasteless castaway +foliage. The manti family is largely represented throughout the whole of +the West Indies, from the sly gentleman who looks like a piece of broken +brown stick, some four or five inches in length, to the pale green leaf +we had just admired, and to yet another species which has all the +appearance, and even the indentures and veining, of an autumn-tinted oak +leaf, and which, moreover, the better to deceive its enemies, flutters +to the ground exactly as if the wind had detached it from the bough of +some tall tree.</p> + +<p>Everywhere in this fine <i>hacienda</i>, all that wealth could procure to +increase comfort had been introduced by a lavish and tasteful hand. The +lofty bedrooms, I remember, were deliciously clean and airy, and the +brass bedsteads—a real luxury in the tropics—were surrounded by the +whitest and most impenetrable<a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a> of mosquito netting. The coloured +servants, too, looked sleek and happy, and spotless, in their snowy +liveries.</p> + +<p>Our host informed us that although since the emancipation of the slaves +he paid his ex-slaves a weekly wage, he had purposely kept up the +numerous institutions in connection with the plantation which were +universal in the slave days, but which many of the native planters had +latterly dispensed with, much to the inconvenience and regret of the +poor black people, now left, with little or no experience, to their own +devices. There was a sort of hospital on this estate, where the sick +were looked after, and a nursery, in which the little black gentry were +screened from the blazing sun, and carefully watched over by several old +ebony and mahogany-tinted ladies deputed for the purpose. At certain +hours of the day the mothers were allowed to tend their little ones, and +to pass with them a half-hour or so of that supreme bliss which is so +dear to every mother's heart.</p> + +<p>After a well served and most enjoyable luncheon, and a cigarette, we +sallied forth to see the sights of the place.</p> + +<p>A sugar-cane field does not present a particularly inviting appearance, +not more so than the ordinary cane jungles you so frequently come across +in the Genoese Riviera. When green it is pretty enough; but ripe, it has +a distinctly disorderly appearance, and is not to be compared with an +English wheat field in the golden month of August.<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a></p> + +<p>There are two sorts of cane: the <i>criolla</i> or native cane, which, I was +told, was first imported from the Canaries by Columbus on his second +voyage. It is considered the least excellent in quality, and is not +largely cultivated by the planters. They leave it to the negroes, who +consume vast quantities of molasses—when they get the chance. The +<i>Otahite</i> is the finest cane. It is very thick, and grows to a height of +from six to sixteen feet. As in the case of all the cane family, the +stem is divided into angular joints, which vary in length as the cane +tapers upwards. The moist, soft pith contains the sweet juice, which, +when pressed out by machinery, is converted into sugar. The sugar +harvest commences late in January, and ends in May, the planting season +taking place during the breaks in the wet season, which lasts from June +to the end of November. The cane is not grown from seed, as is generally +stated, but from slips taken from the top of the plant, the lower leaves +of which are stripped off. When stuck in the ground at regular +intervals, to a depth of about two inches, the cane slips soon take +root, and in about six months grow to maturity, sometimes, but very +rarely, attaining a height of twenty feet.</p> + +<p>The field we first visited was a very large one, the ripe canes, of a +pale green turning to grey, undulating over it to a considerable +distance. There must have been some thirty or forty men, women, and +children working in this plot, under the supervision of a mounted +over-seer. The men cut the cane with a small hatchet, the women gathered +it together and tied it into bundles,<a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a> whilst some of the negroes and +most of the children peeled off the leaves, which are good for fodder, +or hoisted it on to the high-wheeled carts, each drawn by four +prodigiously long-horned oxen, of the breed so dear to the Roman art +student.</p> + +<p>The sky above was hazy, almost an English grey, and everything was +subdued to its tone, whereby for once we avoided that glare which, in +warm climates, so often destroys the effect of those soft and fleeting +tints of "middle distance." Some dozen carts piled with the silver-grey +canes filed off in a slow procession down the white-sanded road towards +the <i>hacienda</i>, the noble-looking oxen occasionally lifting their heads +to give vent to their feelings, and express their opinion of things in +general, by a prolonged bellow. Each team was led by a negro, with a +wide straw hat on his head, and wearing only a pair of white drawers. +Bobbing up and down among the uncut canes we could see the bright +turbans of the negresses, and occasionally a little ebony imp would turn +an impossible somersault right in front of us, and then drop on his +knees in the expectation, promptly realised, of a liberal donation, as +the price of his queer antic.</p> + +<p>The carts take the cane to the mill, where they are unloaded, and where +huge wheels, worked by steam, or latterly by electricity, press the +sugar out of them,—the engine never ceasing its evolutions night or +day. In the old times, the negroes were worked, as I have elsewhere +stated, as many as nineteen and even twenty hours a day, at this, to +them, terrible season. Even now, their hours are very long, but they are +at liberty<a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a> to strike for higher wages if they choose, and I am assured +they very often do so.</p> + +<p>It is very interesting to watch the cane being thrown into the mill, and +to observe the great wheels whirling round and round, while the +continuous river of pale green syrup flows into its wooden trough-like +receptacles, whence it is taken in buckets to the furnaces to be +clarified. In its first state it soon turns acid, and consequently has +to be boiled and clarified immediately, or else it would be ruined; and +this is one of the principal reasons why there is such a press of work +during the sugar harvest. It cannot be neglected for a single hour, and +relays of hands have to relieve each other constantly, rest being +impossible, even on the Sabbath. The juice, after being boiled and +clarified, is filtered through vats, which, up to the rim, are filled +with bone black and changed every six or eight hours, until the juice +turns colour. According to the punctuality and skill with which the bone +black is changed, so does the quality of the sugar increase in +excellence. This apparently simple process is one of the chief expenses, +as well as one of the subtlest arts, of sugar-making. Once clarified, +the sugar goes through a variety of mechanical processes—very absorbing +to the spectator, but not particularly so to the reader,—until it is +eventually converted into moist sugar. Some portion, however, is +retained, and sold as molasses, and golden syrup. When duly prepared for +exportation, it is tightly packed in wooden cases, which are sealed up +and strapped with slips of raw hide, ready for market.<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a></p> + +<p>Our first evening on this plantation was delightfully spent. After +dinner,—which, by the way, was served as it would have been in an +English country house, everybody being in full evening dress,—we had +some excellent music. A young Cuban lady and gentleman entertained us by +singing some of the national airs, as arranged by Yradié. The lady sang +with great spirit, and her rendering of <i>la Paloma</i> and of the +<i>Habanera</i> from Carmen was simply perfect. I have never heard the latter +song sung with greater spirit, except by the famous Madame Calvé. Then +two negro musicians were ordered to appear and give us a sample of their +skill. One of the men, who evidently belonged to some very black and +fierce Kaffir tribe, had a melodious baritone voice, and sang several +African melodies, which were recalled to my memory some years +afterwards, by some of the music so dear to the Asiatics of +Constantinople, which is of the same nasal and twangy description, with +endless cadences, and a certain absence of tune, which should win the +approval of all faithful Wagnerians.</p> + +<p>As the night was exceedingly clear, before retiring to rest we went for +a stroll in the gardens. It was my first experience of the transcendent +beauties of a full moon in the tropics. Even the glories of an Italian +moonlight must fade before such radiance as I now admired. The light +shed by this southern "orb of night" was almost as golden as that of the +sun, and yet the shadows remained quite dark; hence a vigorous contrast +of light and shade, such as I have never seen elsewhere. The effect as +we passed under the long<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a> avenue of palm trees was most striking. We +might have been in the nave of some giant Gothic cathedral,—its columns +were represented by the grey stems of the towering Royal palms, whose +interlaced foliage, high above our heads, suggested the wonderful roof +of Henry VII.'s chapel at Westminster. Some of the hedgerows in the +garden were quite white with the "moon flower," a sort of snowy +night-blooming convolvulus, the flowers of which are of immense size, +and as flat and thin as a sheet of paper. This flower is an annual; +several of its seeds which I carried back with me to England have +succeeded very well.</p> + +<p>The next sugar plantation we visited was near Matanzas; but although I +saw several other sugar estates, they did not particularly interest me, +as they were, though perhaps on a larger scale, almost exactly like the +first we had inspected. I was, however, delighted with my first coffee +plantation: I shall not easily forget its fresh beauty and delightful +odour. The coffee berry was introduced into Cuba from Hayti, in 1742, +and has flourished greatly, but the trade has of late considerably +diminished in importance. Nothing can exceed the beauty of a coffee +field. The plants are grown from seed, and are planted in rows sometimes +covering a thousand acres. To screen the shrubs from the prodigious +heat, they are carefully protected by other plants, such as the banana +and the pomegranate tree, under whose shade the shrubs grow freely. Very +often the cocoa plant is grown on the same plantation as the coffee +shrub. There are three kinds of chocolate-producing plants—the caracas, +the<a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a> pods of which are red; the guayaquil, which bears purple pods, +whereas those of the criolla are yellow. The tree is not pretty: it +looks too much like a small stunted pear-tree, and the fruit grows in a +very odd manner, not in clusters among the leaves, but along the trunk, +from the ground upwards, the seeds being protected by thick, heavy pods, +which, sticking out as they do at regular intervals, produce a most +whimsical appearance. The fruit is ripe for gathering between June and +December, at about the same time as the coffee, the blossoms of which +are in full glory early in February,—distinctly the best month in which +to visit a coffee estate, and enjoy its loveliness to the full.</p> + +<p>The <i>hacienda</i> to which the plantation I first visited was attached, +belonged to a Cuban gentleman, and was a great contrast to the +finely-appointed mansion we had recently left. There was no garden, and +the front door was usually encumbered by a noisy group of stark-naked +little darkies of both sexes, whom we generally caught tormenting some +queer-looking animal which they had caught in the fields—a land +tortoise or a baby iguana. They were always sprawling between our feet, +but though they sometimes got more kicks than ha'pence, they seemed +perfectly happy, and as jolly as sandboys. The entrance-hall was +occupied by a double row of rocking-chairs, and by a large deal table, +on which our breakfast and dinner were served, invariably without +tablecloth or napkins. There were, however, any number of +looking-glasses, gorgeous French clocks, artificial flowers under glass +shades, and stupendous bronze lamps, such as you buy at the<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a> Louvre or +the Bon Marché, by way of works of art; there was a collection of framed +but extremely primitive chromos, representing scenes in the life of the +Blessed Virgin, and others in gay Parisian life, as it appeared at +Mabile and at the Bal de l'Opera, in the golden days of Müger. No books +or newspapers were anywhere to be seen; on the other hand, there was a +plentiful supply of playing-cards and dominoes, with which we contrived +to amuse ourselves during the evening, or, as I ought rather to say, +throughout the night, for nobody dreamt of going to bed till two o'clock +in the morning. The planter was a very hospitable man, who gave us the +best of wines, and we had several very palatable Cuban dishes, the +dinner always winding up with the inevitable roast sucking-pig, strongly +flavoured with garlic. The Seņora was a very stout lady of forty, who +lolled about the house all day long in an old red flannel dressing-gown: +when she was not rocking in a chair, she was swinging in a hammock, with +four or five negresses in attendance on her. They all seemed on the best +of terms, but as they spoke patois, I could not understand their jokes, +possibly made at our expense, for they used to look at us slyly, and +then burst into roars of ill-suppressed laughter. Be that as it may, the +Seņora was a very different personage in the evening from the rather +disorderly-looking, middle-aged female, without shoes and stockings, who +was so busy doing nothing all day long. By supper-time she was gorgeous, +dressed up in the very latest of Parisian toilettes, her magnificent +glossy black hair carefully dressed, her podgy fingers<a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a> blazing with +diamond rings, and her face so thickly coated with rice flour that you +could scarcely distinguish her features, except her lips, which were +painted cherry red, and her eyebrows, which were artificially arched. +She had a rather pretty daughter, called Dolores, who spent her days +much after her mother's fashion. There was yet another daughter, at a +convent in Havana, and a third, about seven years of age, who played +with the little niggers on the doorstep. There was a really fine grand +piano in one corner of the room, every single note of which was out of +tune, and on this delightful instrument the Seņorita and a long, thin +young German, whose exact position in the family I never could +define,—I think he must have been the agent's son,—played airs from +Luisa Miller, Ernani, and other pre-historic operas, systematically +disarranged for the piano, for four hands, by a certain Signor Campara. +They were exceedingly proud of their performance, and, once started, +there was no possibility of stopping them until the cards were produced. +Then they flew to the table and took a most active interest in a game at +"Nap," at which I lost a considerable sum of money the first night, and +won it back again the second, to the Seņora's extreme and evident +annoyance.</p> + +<p>The most extraordinary part about this house was that there were no +single bedrooms. They were replaced by two dormitories on opposite sides +of the house, one for gentlemen and one for ladies. It was all very odd +and amusing, but the hospitality was unbounded. On the last evening of +our stay a<a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a> <i>baile</i> or dance was given in our honour, to which some of +the neighbours came, and danced the <i>creola</i>, and a very elaborate +country-dance in which I was forced to join. I am afraid I did not +acquit myself with much grace, for I was perpetually mistaking the +figures, which provoked much laughter. The ball ended at about two +o'clock in the morning, and most of the company went home on horseback, +after a supper at which no less than four infant pigs were consumed. I +never saw such a people as the Cubans for pork and sucking-pig,—about +the very last dish I should have expected to have come across in those +latitudes. We took leave of our friends with no little regret, for +though they were primitive and very superficially educated people, their +manners were excellent, most courteous, kindly, and well-bred. The +Seņora, however, could never keep herself from laughing at our Spanish, +and at the evident reluctance with which we endeavoured to make believe +we enjoyed certain impossible dishes,—a roast iguana among the number. +I did overcome my repugnance to partaking of so unpleasant-looking a +reptile, and found it tasted exactly like tough roast chicken.</p> + +<p>Whilst we were staying with this amiable family we were initiated into +the mysteries of guava jelly-making by a tall mulatress, who acted as +cook to the establishment, and who was evidently held in great respect +by every member of the community, especially by the darksome urchins, +who, although they haunted her kitchen in the hope of purloining +titbits, constantly received sharp raps on their woolly pates, from a<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a> +prodigiously long iron spoon. There was no very great mystery about the +guava jelly,—the process is exactly like that of compounding any other +fruit-jelly; and as to the paste or cheese, I think that between the +making of it and damson cheese there is only the difference which exists +between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee. However, I frankly admit my +devotion to guava paste. And as to the jelly,—the Easterns say we may +hope to enjoy in the next world those things which we like best to eat +in this,—therefore pray I, that when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I +need not relinquish all hope of an occasional treat of guava jelly!</p> + +<p>A sketch of Cuba which contained no mention of tobacco would be very +much like "Hamlet" without the Prince of Denmark. The name of the dusky +chief whom Christopher Columbus found inhaling the fragrant leaf of the +<i>tabaco</i>, as he called it, should have lived even to our days. But, like +that of many another unknown hero, his title is unrecorded, and probably +neither Columbus nor his savage friend ever imagined the prodigious +results that were to grow out of the conversation, in the course of +which the Indian instructed the discoverer of the New World as to the +value and properties of the strange weed, the soothing properties of +which he seemed so greatly to enjoy. Little did they foresee that within +a hundred years a Mahommedan Kaliph and a Christian Pope were both to +fulminate excommunication against such of their followers as ventured to +indulge a taste they deemed unworthy and unclean.<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a> The aboriginal +Indians did not smoke tobacco after our present fashion. They inhaled +the fumes through a forked cane, the two prongs of which they applied to +their nostrils, whilst the longer end was plunged among the burning +leaves. Such implements are still used, I am assured, by the negroes in +Cuba, and elsewhere, when they desire to forget their sorrows in the +dreamy sleep thus artificially produced.</p> + +<p>Like the vine, tobacco depends for its quality on certain peculiarities +of soil and climatic influences, which have hitherto baffled +investigation. Thus the Cuban tobacco grown in the Vuelta Abajo district +is the finest in the world; and, though the plant grows luxuriantly in +other parts of the island,—as at San Juan dos Remedeos and at +Rematos,—its quality never attains the perfection of that which ripens +in the immense fertile plain which extends westward from Havana. This +part of Cuba is known as the Vuelta Abajo, or "lower valley," in +contradistinction to the upper end of the island called Vuelta Arriba, +or "higher valley." Fortunately for the tourist, the best tobacco +plantations in the island are within an easy journey from the capital, +and close to a village called Guanajay, some twelve miles from the sea, +and accessible by train. It is situated in the midst of very pretty +scenery, of an essentially sylvan character, the numerous tobacco fields +being dotted with magnificent palms and tropical trees. Few tobacco +plantations exceed a size of thirty acres. Each is provided, as a rule, +with a dwelling-house, some cattle-sheds, and a few drying-houses. The +processes of growing and preparing the plant are<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a> of the simplest +character, and do not require any special machinery. The tobacco is not +sown in the open field, but in small prepared plots, whence the +seedlings are transplanted when they are a few inches high, and set out +at regular distances in the fields. The Nicotiana,—now common in most +English gardens,—grows taller in Cuba than in this country, usually +reaching a height of from 6 to 8 feet. Each plant is carefully tended +until it is ready for harvesting. All superfluous and ill-shaped leaves +must be removed, and the greatest care taken to protect the plants from +the <i>vivijagua</i>, a very large and malicious ant, which is quite capable +of destroying a whole crop within a few hours. The field hands employed +in this cultivation are almost all blacks, who possess an instinctive +knowledge of the needs of each plant, and gather the leaves with an +astonishing delicacy of touch, and absence of over-handling. When the +harvesting and curing time arrives, the leaves are gathered into bundles +of from thirty to forty each, for the best, and from twenty to thirty, +for the second quality.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Some eighty to a hundred of these bundles, +when pressed and tied together, form a tercio or bale, weighing about +200 lbs., in which form the tobacco is transported, on muleback, to +Havana. A tobacco plantation is a very pretty sight, and the fragrance +is delightful, for a certain number of plants in each plot are allowed +to flower for seeding purposes. The sowing-time lasts from June<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a> to +October; the harvest begins in December and goes on till May.</p> + +<p>Some idea of the importance of the tobacco trade is conveyed by the fact +that one hundred million cigars, valued at about two million sterling, +are annually imported into England alone. The earliest shipments take +place in June and July, and are mostly sold to Germany; the British +market being supplied in October and November, when the tobacco is +thoroughly mellowed.</p> + +<p>Almost all the Cuban tobacco planters are Spaniards, and the trade, with +few exceptions, is entirely in their hands. Two great foreign firms, +however, stand out prominently. The first, that of Messrs Bock & Co., is +English, and world renowned; the second is German, Messrs Behrens & Co., +who are the owners of the cigar connoisseur's latest "pet," the brand +"Sol." With hardly any exception, all the other brands of any +renown—the Flor de Cuba, Corona, Villa y Villa, Flor de J. S. Murias, +Pedro Murias—are in the hands of the Spaniards. It is a curious fact +that hitherto no American firm has risen to exceptional renown among the +cigar manufacturers of the world, although the neighbouring isle of Key +West has lately sprung into prominence as a tobacco land of much +promise, and several important firms have been established there with a +fair measure of success. The true Havana cigar is made in Havana only. +Some of the large firms, such as Bock & Co., employ from three to five +thousand hands, almost all Spaniards and Cubans, white labour being +preferred, on account of the delicate processes<a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a> through which the +tobacco has to pass before it is converted into a cigar. Although there +are certainly more than a hundred cigar manufacturers in Havana, only +two or three of the factories are really worth visiting. The <i>Corona</i> is +perhaps the most striking, because it is located in what was until quite +recently the gorgeous palace of the Aldama family, in the Campo Marte. +The magnificent marble staircases and saloons, with their splendidly +frescoed ceilings, are now turned "to viler purposes," the tesselated +pavements are trodden by the <i>zapatos</i> of the cigar makers, and the +Court of Olympus, in the vaulted roof of the state ballroom, looks down +upon busy groups of tobacco sorters and cigar makers. Each cigar maker +sits before a low table. He begins operations by taking the tobacco leaf +and spreading it smoothly before him. Then he cuts out certain hard +fibres which might interfere with the shape of the cigar. Next he rolls +up the leaf into the correct shape, and if he be a skilful workman he +will do this without further recourse to knife or scissors. The cigars +vary in length according to the brand: they were made much longer +formerly than they are at present. Some used to measure eight inches, +but now four inches is the most usual length. Prices vary from thirty to +one thousand dollars per thousand cigars.</p> + +<p>No women are employed in the manufacture except for arranging the cigars +in boxes and pasting down the lids with their well-known and brilliantly +printed labels. The boxes, which are made of cedar wood, form another +important branch of Havanese industry. The Cubans themselves never smoke +cigars: they all<a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a> use cigarettes, which most of them make and roll, with +a delicacy and grace peculiar to themselves. It is somewhat remarkable +that although the Cubans literally live with a cigarette between their +lips—they begin smoking the first thing in the morning, and continue +until they go to bed—they seem absolutely impervious to any form of +nicotine poisoning. May not its prevalence in European countries be the +result of smoking inferior and dirty tobacco? I was much struck, when +visiting the various tobacco factories in Havana, with the scrupulous +cleanliness everywhere observed. The cigar makers are obliged to wash +their hands constantly all through the day, and no dust or dirt is +tolerated anywhere.<a name="page_224" id="page_224"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">An Isle of June—A Contrast</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">I<small>T</small> was early on a bright winter morning that our good ship "San Jacinto" +steamed into the harbour of Nassau, the capital of New Providence. As I +leaned over the side and looked down into the waters over which our +vessel moved, I could scarcely believe my eyes. It seemed impossible +that water deep enough to float the ship should be so marvellously +clear. We appeared to be gliding over a sheet of sea-green crystal. Not +a pebble, bit of sponge, shell, fish, crab, or coral, but was distinctly +visible, as if but a few inches below the surface. It was like floating +in ether, for the glint of shimmering sunlight alone proved it was +fluid. But water it was, and nothing else, for, as we neared the wharf, +a score or so of dusky forms splashed into the briny mirror, breaking up +its glassy surface, sent a spray of diamonds into the air, and then +dived into its pellucid depths in quest of coppers liberally scattered +by the amused passengers. "Please, Boss, deeve (give) us a small dive," +was the entreaty shouted by a good dozen or so of dusky urchins, who, on +the least encouragement, jerked off their coats and shirts and plunged +into the sea. Sometimes they caught the<a name="page_225" id="page_225"></a> coin before it touched the +bottom, at others the diver remained quite a time searching for his +prize, looking, as seen from above, with his wriggling arms and legs, +like a huge black spider.</p> + +<p>When Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of "Guanahanč," on +October 17th, 1492, and named the present island of New Providence San +Salvador, he wrote a letter to the Spanish Sovereigns, full of his usual +expressions of delighted enthusiasm. "The loveliness," says he, "of this +island is like unto that of the Campaņa de Cordoba. The trees are all +covered with ever-verdant foliage, and perpetually laden with flowers or +fruit. The plants in the ground are full of blossom. The breezes are +like those of April in Castille." Due allowance made for the +exaggeration of an explorer, in love with the treasure he has found, it +must still be confessed that his words, all glowing as they are, +scarcely overpraise the charm of the peaceful scenery which so stirred +his poetic ardour. For truly the Bahamas are islands like unto that +chosen by Shakespeare for the scene of the "Tempest,"—</p> + +<p class="c">"Full of infinite delight."</p> + +<p>New Providence is about twenty miles long by seven in breadth, and is +the most important, though by no means the biggest, of the Bahama group, +which numbers over 600 islands and cays, and contains some 45,000 +inhabitants, of whom 20,000 reside in Nassau and its neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>The history of the island since its discovery by Columbus, down through +the Buccaneer period, is<a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a> only interesting to its government and +inhabitants. However dark may be the memories of its old pirate days, it +is now a remarkably respectable place, not even a murder having thrown a +shadow during the past twenty-five years on its nearly untarnished +reputation. It would be difficult to imagine a quieter spot. On Sundays, +especially, is it peaceful, when not only all the shops, but the +majority of the house-shutters also, are closed, and the tranquil air is +laden with church music of the most sober and orthodox description.</p> + +<p>The impression produced upon the tourist arriving from Cuba is very +striking, for it brings the different influences of the Spanish and the +Anglo-Saxon races, upon the negroes, into vivid contrast. Personal +observation only can, as I have already said, give any idea of the filth +of the dwellings of the lower classes of Cubans, and especially of the +blacks. The coloured folk of Nassau are, generally speaking, clean and +tidy. Most of the Cuban towns are more or less squalid. The city of +Nassau is, if anything, too prim, and its inhabitants are models of +order both in their dress and habits. A glance reveals the fact that the +coloured people here have been disciplined and trained by a race which +is as certainly superior to the Spanish, in all that concerns +practicality and common sense, as it is inferior to it in natural +artistic instinct. I never saw anything—no, not even in the Whitechapel +and Drury Lane districts of London—to surpass the unutterable disorder +and general abomination of the interiors of the Cuban cottages. But as +you pass along the roads at<a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a> Nassau, and glance into the windows of the +negroes' cottages, you will almost invariably see tidy interiors worthy +of the brush of a Teniers or a David Wilkie; a floor on which you could +eat your dinner; walls neatly papered with framed chromos symmetrically +arranged upon them; spotless curtains; shining brass lamps and cooking +utensils, and a bed covered with a counterpane as white as driven snow. +If you peep in at meal times you will note a clean cloth covered with +orderly-arranged plates and dishes. I am speaking of the dwellings of +the negroes, of those self-same coloured people who, in the same +climate, only a day and a half's journey away, in Cuba, dwell, under +another race and civilization, in a condition too nasty to be described +here.</p> + +<p>Straws show how the wind blows. I saw a poor coloured woman, the day +after I arrived in Nassau, soundly box her little girl's ears because +she appeared in public with a few fluffs of cotton sticking in her wool. +The ordinary afternoon occupation of the coloured ladies in Havana is to +sit in the shade of the big plantain leaves, picking something rather +more animated than cotton fluffs off each other's heads. The Cuban +negresses dress flaringly. They trail a yard of skirt behind them in the +dust, cover their shoulders with a vivid embroidered China crape scarf, +and deck their heads with a mantilla. The effect is picturesque enough, +but look down at their ankles, and you will soon perceive untidy +petticoats and shoeless feet. The coloured girls at Nassau are +remarkably neat and clean, especially on Sundays. The influence<a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a> of the +Sunday school teacher, preaching, and not in the desert, the gospel of +those four great evangelists, soap and water, comb and brush, is +everywhere manifest, even to the detriment of the picturesque.</p> + +<p>As you drive through Grant's Town, the negro quarter of Nassau, you see +so much to gladden you that it does more real good to an invalid than +many a cunningly-prepared draught. Charmingly picturesque wooden huts, +thatched with palmetto, and as neat as you please, overshadowed by +cocoa-nut-trees and exquisite flowering creepers, border either side of +the road. On the thresholds are laughing groups of women and children of +every shade of black, mahogany, and "yullar." Then, when the shades of +evening grow long and deep in the thickets of the banyan-trees, coloured +Pyramus courts coloured Thisbe over the garden wall, and the roads swarm +with little darkies, romping, laughing, and chasing each other round and +about, whilst neatly-dressed women, standing at their doors, or leaning +out of their open windows, watch the return of their "men," as they +boldly call their husbands. The air is still and laden with the +penetrating perfume of the stephanotis, the white blossoms of which +gleam like stars amidst the dark foliage, and of the crimson and pink +oleander, which flowers here to great perfection. It is difficult to +imagine a more peaceful scene—the cheerful sounds of greeting, the +merry chatter of the negroes, the tuning of the banjoes, whilst overhead +the beautiful sunset-lit clouds shed rosy tints abroad, and set forth in +bold relief the tall stems of the waving palms and of<a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a> the strange-named +trees, whose bizarre foliage arouses wonderment, and between whose +gnarled boughs we catch glimpses of the high-roofed houses of the city, +of the cathedral spire, and of a sea blue as a turquoise, now shivering +beneath the gentlest of breezes.</p> + +<p>The town of Nassau itself is not particularly interesting, inasmuch +that, with the sole exception of the cathedral, it cannot boast of a +single monument of artistic importance. The houses, mostly built of +stone, faced with wood, have high slated roofs and wide verandahs, which +surround each storey, and afford some shade during the sunny hours of +the day. The public buildings are clean, but unpretentious, and +evidently modelled after those of some English county town, in which the +sturdy Georgian architecture predominates. There are few traces, +anywhere, of the influence of the higher art, although the cathedral +itself is a fairly handsome Gothic building, wherein the services of the +Church of England are admirably conducted.</p> + +<p>The gardens are trim and pretty, but, notwithstanding their profusion of +tropical plants, they lack the luxuriant charm which renders the +ill-kept gardens of Havana so romantic and picturesque. Very few of the +gardens belonging to private houses are of great size, and even +Government House is a modest-looking dwelling, erected on the highest of +the surrounding hills, and commanding a fine view of the town and +harbour.</p> + +<p>The chief monument of Nassau is not one built by hand, but a +silk-cotton-tree, planted, some two hundred<a name="page_230" id="page_230"></a> years ago, by one John +Miller, Esq., opposite the present "public buildings." It is a +stupendous tree of Titanic proportions. The roots, unable to find their +way down through the rocky soil, swell up like buttresses, radiating +round the trunk some fifteen yards, and, rising six and eight feet from +the ground, form part of the actual bulk of the tree, and give the huge +veteran the appearance of a web-footed monster, standing in solemn +reverie. Amongst the gnarled and weird-looking roots are ravines, in +whose dark hollows a legion of elves might dwell and hold their revels. +High above this root-work spreads a canopy of leaves of the most +exquisite, tender green. Singular to say, the gigantic growth flattens +at the top, and is nearly squared off in correspondence with the aspect +the paucity of earth has forced the roots to assume. Had Shakespeare +seen this mighty monster,—which travellers from California declare to +be even more imposing than any of the Mammoth trees,—he would have +immortalised it in a few grand lines, or made it the background of some +quaint fairy scene, the home of another Herne the Hunter, Oberon and +Titania, Ariel, or Puck. There are several other fine silk-cotton-trees +on the island, and in Cuba this tree grows to perfection, but the +specimen I have attempted to describe is universally acknowledged to be +the finest known. I was much surprised to notice the rapidity with which +the silk-cotton tree burst into leaf. On my arrival I noticed one in the +grounds of the hotel which seemed to be dead. The rest were green, but +this one was quite barren. In three days it was lost to sight, hidden in +its own<a name="page_231" id="page_231"></a> foliage, developed within the space of two nights. The +silk-cotton-tree is so called because it bears a pod full of flossy +silk, which is used instead of down for pillow cases, but the fibres are +too short to be woven.</p> + +<p>Nassau and its neighbourhood are really not unlike an open-air museum of +botanical and marine curiosities. As you drive, or walk, through the +woods and lanes, your attention is constantly attracted to some tree or +shrub remarkable for its curious shape, leaves, and flowers. If you ask +its name you will be told it is either the gum-arabic-tree, the guava, +the banyan, the ipicac, the pimento, the spice, the cinnamon, the +pepper, the caper, the castor-oil, or, in short, any one of half the +plants which stock our drug or grocery shops. One day I noticed an +onion-like-looking plant, with somewhat curious leaves, and asked its +name. It turned out to be my old acquaintance "squills," of syrup-fame. +Lady Blake, who is not only a distinguished artist, but an exceptionally +learned botanist, has executed a complete series of exquisite drawings +of the flora of the Bahamas. It would be difficult to overpraise the +artistic, as well as the scientific value of this collection, exhibited +in the Bahama Court of the Colonial Exhibition of 1886. During the +Governorship of her husband, Sir Henry Blake, Lady Blake rendered a like +service to the flora of Jamaica.</p> + +<p>The cocoa-nut tree is a recent introduction into the Bahamas. Forty +years back there were few in the whole island of New Providence. The +orange-tree is indigenous to the island, and there is other fruit of +exceedingly<a name="page_232" id="page_232"></a> fine quality. A very extraordinary fact about the local +vegetation is, that the roots are entirely exposed. The island is of +coral formation, and only very lightly covered with earth; but such is +the abundance of the dews, and so great the fertilising quality of the +atmosphere, that a plant with one or two feelers caught in the pores of +the coraline rock will grow and flourish. There are big trees with all +their roots, save one, above ground. Some trees may be noticed growing +astride the public walks, with one half of their roots on one side and +the rest on the other. The immense amount of decayed animal matter in +the coraline makes it one of the richest of soils, and the heavy dews +which fall immediately after sunset, and of which I shall speak +presently, increase its fertility. A number of "air-plants" grow in the +woods, and of course derive their nourishment entirely from the abundant +dews. These curious plants are, for the most part, a species of wild +pine. One of the most remarkable of them is the "green snake," which +looks exactly like a long serpent. The common life-plant of the tropics +grows everywhere, and, together with the air-plants, rouses much +curiosity among visitors from Europe and North America. If you take one +of its thick, waxy leaves, and hang it on a nail, it will live for +months, and shoot forth others without needing either water or earth.</p> + +<p>The useful sizel plant—a fibrous hemp yielding aloe—of great +commercial value, is now extensively cultivated, and with excellent +results. Great impetus was given to its culture by Sir Ambrose Shea +during his prolonged and popular Governorship.<a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a></p> + +<p>The scenery round Nassau is of pancake flatness, and uninteresting, +except close to the town, where there are some little hills of +inconsiderable height, which might vie in altitude with a certain Mount +Cornelia near St Augustine, Florida, advertised as one of the +attractions of a watering-place called Mount George, because it is +ninety feet high. Verily a dwarf is a giant amongst pigmies, and Mount +Cornelia is a Mount Blanc in flat Florida. If it is ever planted with +the eucalyptus-tree, now extensively cultivated in the south, and which +often attain the extraordinary height of 300 and 400 feet, the trees +will in due time be taller than the mountain.</p> + +<p>There are some pretty little lakes in the interior of the island. One of +these, Lake Killarney, is a very charming spot, with a fine view of the +western coast. The lake is about three miles long by one in breadth. All +along the shores are pineapple plantations, which are uncommonly +effective when the pines are in bloom. The plants are set in rows all +over the field, about one or two feet apart, and what with their +variegated foliage—bright green and deep purple—and their vivid +scarlet flowers, they make a striking foreground to any picture. The +Bahama pines are considered the best in these latitudes, and are shipped +in large quantities to Europe and North America.</p> + +<p>The crowning glory of Nassau is the unrivalled bay, with its +enchantingly clear, crystal water. Many a happy day have I spent, +sailing round the pretty shores of this pleasant island. We usually had +for "captain" a certain remarkable darkie, by name<a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a> "Cap'en" Tannyson +Stump, one of those sable worthies you read about, full of drollery, +shrewd and witty withal, and a capital sailor into the bargain. The +Cap'en is reputed wealthy, for he is a great favourite with the +visitors, and, moreover, is considered, by the inhabitants of Grant +Town, the greatest "dissentin' minister" on the island. Amongst other +natural wonders the "Cap'en" took us to see was the "sea garden." I wish +Victor Hugo could have studied it, for possibly he might have been +tempted to describe it, in his vivid language, as a pendant to his +sea-monster, the devil-fish of the "Toilers of the Sea." Thus should we +have had a glowing word picture of the beautiful instead of the +hideous—the paradise of the sea, and not its hell. They give you a box +with a glass bottom to look through. You put it over the side of the +boat, and dip it beneath the waves. Lo! you behold the garden of the +sea-nymphs, the home of Aphrodite. Beneath you, seen through the +pellucid waters of this vast aquarium, is a lovely sea-garden, full of +every imaginable delicate-tinted sea-flower. Some are pale pink, others +light yellow, and some brown as leaves in autumn, massed round the vivid +purple and scarlet sea-anemones, which cling to the summits of beds of +pearly coral. Here purple sea-fans wave gently to and fro. There are +groves of trumpet sponges, and beds of marine blossoms of all kinds and +shapes. Fish as brilliant as hummingbirds—red, blue, metallic-green, +and orange—peep knowingly in and out of the branches of this strange +submarine vegetation, which is crossed and recrossed<a name="page_235" id="page_235"></a> in all directions +by pathways of sparkling, silver gravel. Nothing more fascinating, more +fairy-like, can be imagined. You expect at any moment to see Venus or +one of her nymphs—or, perchance, old Edward's Sable Aphrodite—rise +suddenly to the surface from this abode of cool delights.</p> + +<p>Involuntarily the world-renowned description of the bottom of the sea +was brought to my mind,—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"Methought I saw ...</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Inestimable stones, unvalu'd jewels,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Some lay in dead men's skulls, and, in those holes,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> (As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>A scene very similar to the one described by Shakespeare has been seen +in these clear waters after a wreck. Many years ago, when a hurricane of +unusual violence swept over the islands, and there were several ships +lost in the usually glassy harbour, people, when calm set in again, had +the horror of studying, from their boats, the tragic condition of the +wrecked vessels at the bottom of the bay. They could see the drowned +dead below, whom some weight oppressed and forbade to rise. I well +remember, though 'tis long years since, the dread impression produced +upon me by the sight of the "phantom ship." In the days of the +Spaniards, a vessel of importance, a man-of-war, was wrecked and sunk +opposite a place called Hog Island—Horace Greely's lovely daughter,<a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a> +Gabriele, re-christened it Isle of Porcina. This vessel fell a victim in +due time to the greed of those wondrous ants of the sea, the coral +insects, who, with infinite industry, soon contrived to coat it with +their microscopic huts, and now you see it lying full five fathoms deep +beneath you, all white and hoary in its coraline encasement. The deck, +the hull, the tattered rigging, ropes and chains, are all white with +corals, and around the ghastly ship rise the pale blue walls of its sea +prison.</p> + +<p>The moonlight nights at Nassau, although marvellously beautiful, are not +a little dangerous to fresh arrivals, on account of the heavy dews. I +remember one evening we all went out to see the ruins of the fort built +in 1788 by the Earl of Dunmore, memorably connected with the American +Revolution. It certainly was a lovely sight, and the old grey walls and +tower looked as well as any ruin on Rhine or Nile by that argentine +radiance, approaching sunlight in its tropical brilliance, which renders +things more or less romantic, be they ever so commonplace. The tall +palms rustled in the breeze, and the bay was like a sheet of shivering +quicksilver, just over where the imprisoned phantom ship rests, five +fathoms down, "woo'd for ever to the slimy bottom of the deep." The +sight was exquisite. The price more than one visitor ultimately paid in +aching head and stiff rheumatic bones was anything but light!</p> + +<p>And with this glimpse at an Isle of June, as New Providence has been +aptly called—introduced into this book merely as a contrast—I take my +leave.</p> + +<p>Vale—gentle reader!—fare thee well.<a name="page_237" id="page_237"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="APPENDIX_I" id="APPENDIX_I"></a>APPENDIX I.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">The Boyhood of Columbus</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">N<small>O</small> historical question has been more keenly disputed than that of the +real place where Christopher Columbus was born. The majority incline to +believe him to have been a native of Genoa, or else of the neighbouring +town of Savona. One learned gentleman has even asserted in a very +elaborate pamphlet, published not long ago, that he came from Cremona. +The Abate Casanova of Ajaccio, in another pamphlet, attempts, on the +strength of a very ancient but equally obscure tradition, to prove that +Columbus was a Corsican. He goes so far as to point out the very house +in the Vico del Filo at Calvi, in which he firmly believes the +Discoverer first saw light. His statements, ingenious as they are, lack +contemporary evidence to substantiate them, and very little research +suffices to scatter them to the winds. I have lately seen a curious and +rare French pamphlet, in which Columbus is declared to be a native of +Marseilles, and yet another, the author of which endeavours to convince +his readers that the Discoverer was born at Albenga. In short, a +voluminous literature has sprung out of this vexed question, but to the +serious student of the life and times of Columbus Genoa and Savona alone +appear worthy of respect.<a name="page_238" id="page_238"></a></p> + +<p>To the Marquis Staglieno of Genoa, one of the most enterprising of +modern Italian historians, and to Mr Henry Harrisse, a learned and +indefatigable American student of the life of Columbus, the definite +determination of the great Navigator's birthplace is really due. He was +born in Genoa, in a house standing still, near the ancient and recently +restored gate of St Andrea, at the top of a long, steep street known as +the Portorio, in the parish of San Stefano.</p> + +<p>Domenico Colombo, the father of the illustrious navigator, is described +by Washington Irving and other writers as a "wool comber," but in all +the contemporary documents discovered by the historians just named he is +invariably said to have been "a woollen manufacturer,"—a position very +different from that of a wool comber, the difference being that between +a mechanic and a tradesman. No wonder that Ferdinand Columbus +indignantly contradicted an assertion which most of us, even in this +democratic age, would keenly resent. Although never in affluent +circumstances, Domenico and Susanna Colombo, Christopher's parents, were +evidently highly respectable tradespeople, who spent the whole of their +lives between Genoa and Savona. Probably Domenico Colombo was born at +Quinto, a village not many miles distant from the capital of the Genoese +Republic. His father, Giovanni Colombo, undoubtedly lived there, for, in +a document dated 1439, he is described as "Giovanni Colombo of Quinto, +the father of Domenico of Genoa." This Giovanni was, it seems, according +to another and still more ancient<a name="page_239" id="page_239"></a> deed, the son of a certain Giovanni +Colombo, of Fontanarossa, another village in the district. As the +inhabitants of this village were engaged in sheep-dealing, it is +probable that this Giovanni was a wool merchant, and since Fernando +Columbo, with the justifiable vanity of the son of a great man, seems to +have been always desirous of claiming a social position, and signs +himself, on more than one occasion, as "of Fontanarossa," we may go so +far as to conclude that the Colombo (or Columbus) family was, according +to its own tradition, the principal in that place. The family and +Christian names of the great-grandmother and grandmother of the +Discoverer of the New World are lost. His mother, however, was Susanna +of Fontanarossa, a native of the suburb of Bisagno. This is proved by a +document in the Savonese archives, whereby, on the 7th August 1743, +"Susanna, daughter of Giacomo of Fontanaruba (the Latin for +Fontanarossa), in the Bisagno, agrees to allow her husband, Domenico +Colombo of Genoa, to sell a house situated in that city, near the +Olivella Gate." It is described as a house with a pleasant garden, in +the parish of San Stefano, and next door to the house and property of +Nicola Paravagna, and adjacent to the property of Antonio Bondi. "The +house faces the principal street, and is close to the old wall of the +town." In this document Domenico Colombo is specially designated as a +citizen of Savona—because, as he had by this time resided there some +years, he was entitled to citizenship.<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a></p> + +<p>This house, however, is not, as has been so frequently and erroneously +stated, the one in which Columbus was born. It has long since +disappeared, to make way for the enlargement of the neighbouring +hospital. The Porta (or Gate) Olivella stood for centuries to the right +of the church of San Stefano. As this house is very often mentioned in +deeds of the period of the last half of the fifteenth century as +belonging to the family of Domenico Colombo, we are able to trace its +history with fair accuracy. It formed part of the dower of Susanna +Fontanarossa, for, as we have already seen, it could not be sold without +her permission. It is probable that the family, instead of living in it, +was in the habit of letting it. On more than one occasion the tenant did +not pay his rent, and in 1476 Domenico Colombo had to come from Savona +to Genoa to exact it. Unable to get the Ģ20 due to him for arrears, he +raised (through his notary, a certain Signer Camogli) a loan on the sum, +the tenant, Malio, becoming a guarantee for the amount of his unpaid +rent—"Occasione pensionis euiusdem domus ipsius Dominici quam tenet et +conducit, etc."</p> + +<p>Domenico Colombo possessed yet another house, still standing, and +situated close to the recently restored Gate of Sant Andrea, at the top +of the long, steep street still called Portorio. In this venerable +building Christopher Columbus was unquestionably born, in 1451.</p> + +<p>Four years before the discovery of America by his illustrious son, +Domenico Colombo, being in reduced<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> circumstances, was obliged to +transfer this house to his son-in-law Bavarello, the husband of his only +daughter Bianchinetta. The papers relative to this proceeding are still +in existence, and bear the date July 30, 1489. Domenico Colombo +certainly lived here with his wife and family from 1435 to 1470, when +they went to Savona. This is proved by the register of the monastery of +San Stefano, in which they are regularly entered as paying a yearly +ecclesiastical tax to the Prior during the whole of this period. They +left Genoa in 1470, and resided at Savona until 1484. The Savonese +archives, however, contain frequent mention of Domenico until 1494, when +he again returned to Genoa, where, in all probability, he died, some +years later. In the deed authorising the sale of the house in Porta +Olivella, the witnesses are "Christopher Colombo and Giovanni +Pellegrino, sons of Domenico and Susanna Colombo."</p> + +<p>Washington Irving was unaware of the existence of this son Giovanni +Pellegrino, for he states that "Christopher Columbus was the eldest of +three brothers only—Bartholomew and Giacomo, or James (written Diego in +Spanish)." Giovanni Pellegrino was the second brother, and died +unmarried in 1489. We have more than this proof of his existence. In +another document he is named together with his three +brothers,—Christopher, Bartholomew, and Giacomo. In 1501, ten years +after his death, and some time after that of his father, a man named +Corasso Cuneo summoned the sons of Domenico Colombo before the tribunals +of Savona for non-payment of the price due to him for<a name="page_242" id="page_242"></a> lands purchased +by their father Domenico many years before his decease. In this curious +document we read the names of Christopher and James—"Christophorem et +Jacobum, fratres de Columbi, filiis et heredes quondam Dominici eorum +patris." In the next register concerning this affair, and dated the same +month and year, Bartholomew is mentioned—"Cristoferi, Bartolomei et +Jacobi de Columbis, quondam Domenici et ipsius heredem." There is no +mention of Bianchinetta, the only sister of the illustrious navigator. +She, being a married woman, was not, according to Genoese law, entitled +to inherit from her father. Here, then, we have the most positive +contemporary evidence that Domenico Colombo was the father of four sons, +respectively named Christopher, Giovanni Pellegrino or Pilgrim (a name +sometimes found in old English registers), Bartolomeo or Bartholomew, +and Giacomo or Diego,—and, therefore, the father of Christopher +Columbus, Discoverer of the New World, who, as everybody knows, had two +brothers, companions in his travels, named Bartholomew and Giacomo (or +Diego). We learn that, according to documents far too numerous to be +quoted here, the said Domenico was a taxpaying resident in the Via di +Sant Andrea, in the city of Genoa, between the years 1435 and 1470. +Another and most important paper, recently discovered by the Marquis +Staglieno in the Atti Notarilli of the city of Genoa, declares +Christopher Columbus to be nineteen years old in 1470. He was born then, +we may presume, in October 1451, during the time of his<a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a> father's +residence in the house now officially declared his birthplace, and +situated hard by the noble old Gate of Sant Andrea.</p> + +<p>It is a fortunate thing for Italian history that, in accordance with a +very ancient custom, on the decease of a notary, his papers and +registers are taken charge of by the State, and carefully preserved in +an office specially set apart for the purpose. Although the enormous +accumulation of papers thus preserved from century to century may, in +many instances, be deemed of little importance, they have proved +invaluable funds of information for the historian. It was among the +papers of the notary Stella that Signor Bertolotti unearthed the +particulars of the life and trial of Beatrice Cenci. It was among those +of Pietro Belasio and Nicola Raggio that the Marquis Staglieno +discovered the following curious facts concerning Columbus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"In 1470, on the thirtieth of October, Domenico Colombo and his son +Christopher appeared before the above-named notaries of the city of +Genoa, in order to confirm and conclude a contract in which the +said Christopher Colombo declares himself, with his father's +endorsement, debtor to the said Belasio to the amount of Genoese +lire 48. 15. 6. (or about 300 francs) for wine procured by him on +credit for the supply of his ship, now in the harbour of Genoa. +Domenico, his father, holds himself security for his said son, who +is nineteen years of age. Christofferus de Colombo filius Domenico +Maior anni decemnovum."</p></div> + +<p class="nind">And, according to Genoese law, of age.</p> + +<p>Columbus tells us in his Autobiography that he went to sea when he was +fourteen. Hence, in 1470, he had been five years a sailor, but he had +not, as yet, wholly<a name="page_244" id="page_244"></a> abandoned the paternal roof, to reside permanently +in Portugal. He did not do so until six years later. Now, if he went to +sea when he was fourteen, and was still at sea when he was nineteen, +what time had he for studying at the University of Pavia, where, +according to most historians, he acquired his proficiency in Latin, and +in such sciences as were then taught? In my opinion, he never was near +Pavia in his life. No document in Pavian archives proves that Columbus +was a student at that renowned University. The statement rests only on a +very slender local tradition, and on Las Casas' assertion that he +"completed his studies in Pavia." Possibly this writer made a slip of +the pen, and, meaning Patria, wrote Pavia—or did the printer's devil +make the blunder? Certainly Columbus' family was not in a position to +send him to a distant University, and, moreover, there was no necessity +for their so doing, as Genoa possessed famous colleges and schools of +her own.</p> + +<p>At the bottom of the long, steep street Portorio, not very far from his +father's house, was a school, directed by the Servite fathers, whose +church, Santa Maria de' Servi, still exists. It strikes me as much more +probable that the boy Columbus attended there, and that some learned +monk taught him Latin, than that he should have been sent to Pavia, as +great a distance from Genoa, in those days, as Paris is now. Moreover, +the learned notary Andrea de Cario was a friend and neighbour of the +family. This gentleman was well off, and, although married, usually wore +an ecclesiastical habit, and acted as the archbishop's Chancellor for +close<a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a> on half a century. Among his papers and registers, still +preserved, are several mentions of Domenico Colombo and his wife and her +family, the Fontanarosse. Possibly this learned personage may have +undertaken a part of the education of the precocious lad.</p> + +<p>If further proof were required of the intimate connection which always +existed between Domenico Colombo and his illustrious son Christopher, I +need simply record the fact that, even when the Great Man was himself in +dire distress, he remembered his aged father, and sent him money to +relieve his pressing debts. The affection between the three brothers +seems to have been extended to certain cousins, for we find, in a +document dated 1476, that Giovanni, Matteo, and Amighetto Colombo, of +Quinto, signed a deed whereby money was raised to enable the eldest, +Giovanni, to go to Spain to serve under his cousin Christopher, who is +described as an Admiral. These men were the sons of Antonio, a brother +of Domenico.</p> + +<p>Not one of the documents I have quoted is particularly interesting in +itself. They are very commonplace, and yet how wonderfully they help us +to reconstruct the past! A name here, an allusion there, an unpaid bill, +a summons before the tribunals on a pressing demand for payment of rent, +a receipt, a mere scrap of paper with a great name attached to it, opens +out an entirely new field of research, and dispels mountains of +controversy and theory. I felt myself in very intimate contact with +Columbus when my eyes first rested on the quaint, old-world documents +which<a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a> he, and his father, and mother, and brothers, signed, four +hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>Quite recently, three papers, enriched with the signatures of Columbus +and his father, were unearthed in the State archives of the city of +Genoa (L'Archivio di Stato). From them we gather that, in 1470, Domenico +Colombo, either because his affairs were going badly, or because he +perceived a better chance for himself and family elsewhere, determined +to leave Genoa and establish himself in Savona. He was then in the debt +of a certain Geronimo da Porto, to the amount of 25 lire, or 117 francs +modern money, and evidently could not pay him. Da Porto must have heard +of his intention to leave the city. He summoned him and his eldest son +Christopher before the tribunal, for non-payment of the debt in +question. The judge decided that Domenico and Christopher Colombo should +pay the amount within a year from that date. Whether they eventually +paid or not is doubtful, for, in a codicil to Columbus' will, made some +thirty years later, he leaves "to the heirs of Geronimo da Porto, of +Genoa, the father of Benito da Porto, 20 ducats"—which is nearly double +the amount originally claimed, and leads one to think that it includes +interest for a long period.</p> + +<p>In these documents, Domenico Colombo is invariably described as +"Dominicus Columbus, lanerius de Janua, habitator in Saone,"—"a +wool-weaver, living in Savona." In addition to the evidence already +given that Columbus was born in Genoa, I will recall the facts that he +himself, three times in his biography,<a name="page_247" id="page_247"></a> repeats that he was a native of +that town—"where I lived, and whence I came"—and that Andreo Bemaldez, +curate of Los Pallacios, who was his intimate friend, informs us that he +told him he was born in Genoa. His contemporaries, Agostino Giustinani, +Antonio de Herrera, and Antonio Gallo, the Chancellor of the Bank of St +George, who corresponded with Columbus, repeat the same assertion. Then, +again, it is to the city of Genoa that the dying Columbus leaves the +breviary given him by Pope Alexander VI. Where is it? Certainly not in +Genoa.</p> + +<p>Genoa in 1451 presented an aspect different from that which it wears +now, although the street in which Columbus was born, and its +neighbourhood, have not sustained many changes. The ancient houses still +tower up six and eight stories on either side of the narrow and +picturesque thoroughfare of the Portorio, some of them preserving traces +of Gothic windows and doors, and of a sort of Moorish decoration, +running just below the projecting roof, which is peculiar to Genoa. This +street has been known as the Portorio, or <i>Porta Aurea</i>, for centuries. +It leads up the hill from the outer wall of the city, and the +characteristic church of San Stefano, with its black and white marble +faįade, which gives its name to the suburb, to the inner gate of St +Andrea, and the second ring of walls, now destroyed. This gate is a +noble specimen of feudal architecture, recently somewhat over-restored. +A few years ago it was ten times more picturesque than now, with the +quaint, old houses clinging to its rough walls like barnacles on a +ship's side. These<a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a> have been removed, and the grand proportions of the +arch, formerly attached on either side to stern and lofty walls, built +in 1155 to resist the attacks of Barbarossa, have been displayed. In +front of this ancient gate is a little platform, surrounded by tall and +irregular houses, coeval with the gate itself. No. 37, lately occupied +by a tinman, is the house in which Columbus was born, and spent his +childhood and youth. I believe, with Mr Harrisse and the Marquis +Staglieno, that he was born in the front room—the best bedroom—of the +first floor, between October 1446 and October 1451. The date must remain +uncertain, because, although the important paper I have mentioned +described him as being nineteen years of age in 1470, it must be +remembered that nineteen was the legal age of manhood under the old +Genoese law, which was identical with the ancient Roman code. The fact +that he was of age—that is nineteen—would never have been specified, +if he had not been a very young man at the time. He might perhaps have +been twenty-three or even twenty-four, but the probability is that he +had just come of age. In 1886 the Municipality of Genoa purchased this +house for 36,000 francs, and it is to be kept intact in memory of +Columbus for ever. Over the door is this inscription:—</p> + +<p class="c">Nulla. Domus. titulo, dignior<br /> +Heic<br /> +Paternis : in : ædibus.<br /> +Christophorus : Columbus.<br /> +Pueritium<br /> +Primioque . juvantam . trasegit.</p> + +<p class="nind">I think, with Mr Harrisse, that "Forsam natus" might with propriety be +added.</p> + +<p>The great Gothic arch of the stern old gate frowned down on the modest +dwelling, and the child Columbus must often have been told the story of +the chains, which in my own boyhood I remember to have seen, hanging on +the grim walls on either side of the arch. They were courteously +restored in 1862 to the Pisans (from whom they had been captured in +1290) in honour of Italian unity.</p> + +<p>Not very far off stood, until quite the end of the last century, a +curious old house, with a figure of St Christopher painted upon it, +which doubtless had a lamp constantly burning before it. Possibly it was +in honour of the saint here represented that the future Discoverer of +the New World was christened Christopher. On entering the city proper, +through the arch of St Andrea, the prospect, in the days of Columbus' +youth, was by no means cheerful. The houses, like those of Edinburgh, +rose seven and even eleven storeys, making the narrow courts and +passage-like streets look not unlike dark openings in a Californian +caņon. The hilly position of the town, however, lent itself admirably to +picturesque effects, and the brilliance of the deep blue sky above, and +of the broad streaks of sunlight falling on the squares and little +piazza, brightened what might otherwise have been exceedingly gloomy and +depressing. The palaces of the nobility looked more like fortresses than +civic residences, with scarcely a window on the street. Each possessed a +tall, turreted watch-tower of red<a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a> brick, picked out with marble, the +finest specimen of which, now existing, is that of the Imbriaci. The +churches and oratories were amazingly numerous, but they were nearly all +exactly alike, built in very plain Gothic architecture, with faįades +streaked with alternated layers of black and white marble. A few have +escaped the vandalistic restorations of the 17th and 18th centuries, and +of these the best remaining specimens are the Cathedral, San Matteo +Doria, Santa Maria del 'Orto (desecrated), San Cosmo, San Donate, San +Stefano, and Sant Agostino (desecrated).</p> + +<p>But in the 15th century they were to be met with at every turn of the +street, giving a very peculiar appearance to the city. The finest +palaces bordered the Ripa by the port, and these were so beautifully +decorated with frescoes and gilding that Petrarch declared that "nothing +could be imagined more magnificent." The Strade Nuova, Nuovissima, and +Balbi, with their splendid Renaissance palaces, did not come into +existence until late in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Cathedral was +in much the same condition as at present, and the Bank of St George, now +in process of restoration, was considered one of the wonders of the +world.</p> + +<p>If the architecture of the city was picturesque, its population was +indescribably so. The streets teemed with life and colour. There were +men in armour, sailors from all parts of the world, guardsmen in the +Doge's liveries striped scarlet and white, ladies of rank proceeding to +church attended by their women, and escorted by little negro pages +bearing their trains, or screening them from the ardour of the sun<a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a> with +immense, crimson silk parasols. Rich dames, lolling in litters hung with +painted Cordova leather, were carried to and fro on the shoulders of +stalwart African slaves. Veiled women of the people, with their children +clinging round them, sitting outside their doors, not infrequently +engaged in a hair hunt. Priests, monks, and nuns, in every imaginable +kind of ecclesiastical costume, mingled with herculean porters from the +quays, with soldiers and nobles, Levantines and Jews, each in their own +peculiar costume, so that if the houses were sombre, the streets were +ablaze with brilliant and varied dresses. At night, however, the city +looked desolate. Only the lamps burning before the images of the Madonna +and Saints lit up the gloomy thoroughfares and darksome piazzas. At "Ave +Maria," in winter time, everybody was indoors saying the Rosary. Three +times a day, as the "Angelus" tolled, the whole population stopped and +repeated the angelic salutation. This pious custom lasted until quite +late into the first half of the present century.</p> + +<p>Unlike Venice, Genoa was no city of pleasure. On the other hand, its +population dearly loved pageantry. Religious processions of the utmost +splendour were of such everyday occurrence that people scarcely noticed +them. The Doge went about attended by at least a hundred officers and +servants. On great festivals the balconies were hung with brocades and +wreaths of fresh flowers, while half the town preceded the Host or the +images of the Madonna and Saints, to the admiration of the other half, +crowding the sidewalks and the overhanging balconies.<a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a></p> + +<p>Such, then, was Genoa,—Queen of the Mediterranean, as Venice was Queen +of the Adriatic,—when Christopher Columbus first saw the light. His +parents were, as we have seen, people in a humble but eminently +respectable position. Their manner of life differed little from that of +their neighbours. Thus was passed, only fifty years ago, the life of an +honest Genoese family of the lower middle class. At five in the morning +the family, apprentices, and servants rose. After saying the "Angelus," +they proceeded to the nearest church to Mass. A slice of bread, with +fruit in summer, or dried figs in winter, and a glass of wine, formed +the first meal or breakfast. Then came work until noon, when the frugal +dinner was served—meat once a week, and sweets only on great festivals. +As a rule, it consisted of a <i>minestrone</i>, a succulent and wholesome +sort of soup, made with all kinds of vegetables, rice, and bits of pork +cut up into square pieces, macaroni, ravioli, and other like dishes. +After this meal there was an hour for recreation. Then to work again +until sunset, when the whole household repeated the "Angelus," and said +the Rosary. In summer they would go processionally from street image to +image, singing their Aves and Paters with uncommon unction before the +holy figure, round which burned scores of little oil lamps, amid +cart-wheel-shaped bouquets. Sometimes one-half the people on the street +said the Rosary, while the other gave the responses. It is not +surprising if, after a regime of this sort, Christopher Columbus grew up +to be a very pious man. However, there were plenty of scandals<a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a> going +the round of the town, even in 1451, and I am afraid religiosity rather +than piety was the true characteristic of this singular population. +Still, the evidence in favour of Columbus and his family is so greatly +to their advantage that we may feel sure they were really people of +exceptional integrity and sincere piety.</p> + +<p>Little Genoese boys and girls were brought up rather sternly, and the +<i>ferrula</i> was much in use. Often, no doubt, did the small Columbus, both +at home and at school, hold out his chubby hand to receive the strokes. +The mother and sister appeared in public very rarely, and were +invariably veiled. The church was the principal object of these +excellent people's existence. It is so to this day with a majority of +the lower and middle-class Genoese, who spend half their time in church, +and are quite as well pleased to go and hear a sermon as their +neighbours at Turin are to attend a new play. I am quite sure that more +than once a year the infant Columbus and his brothers, dressed up as +saints, and very artistically too, walked in the processions of the +three or four confraternities attached to the church and convent of St +Stefano. I daresay Christopher often impersonated the infant St John, or +even the Child Jesus, and was carried on the shoulders of some gigantic +brother disguised as St Christopher:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"San Cristofero grosso,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Porta il mondo a dorso."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="nind">—"the big St Christopher carries the world on his back."<a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a></p> + +<p>In Holy Week, what a time these pious folks had, to be sure! There was +so much to see that people were fain to leave their business to take +care of itself, and either to walk in the processions or else watch them +wend their way along the tortuous streets. There were the flagellants to +see, who whipped themselves until their bare backs were red. As to the +Guilds and Corporations: they were a source of infinite interest and +excitement! Each had its <i>Cassaccia</i> or shrine to carry, and, above all, +its tremendous crucifix, which people wagered would never reach its +destination, so terrific was its weight. If the wretched man who carried +it staggered and fell, hundreds of lire changed hands, and if he managed +to restore it to its place in the Oratory belonging to the Guild, he was +acclaimed as great a hero as a victorious modern jockey. And the +Sepulchres on Holy Thursday, and the Procession of the Passion on Good +Friday, all these wonderful things, and many others too numerous to +describe, did the youthful Columbus admire, enjoy, and venerate,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> we +may be sure.</p> + +<p>The boy Columbus had his sports, too, like any other lad in every part +of the world, old and new. He played boccie or bowls, and <i>palla</i>, a +sort of football, and, like all other Genoese urchins, he was, I doubt +not, an excellent diver and swimmer. His character in after life, so +full of noble courage, gentleness, piety,<a name="page_255" id="page_255"></a> and justice, speaks volumes +for the education he received at his mother's knee. His devotion to +parents is proved by his frequent mention of them, and he loved the +beautiful city "where he was born, and whence he came" with patriotic +ardour.</p> + +<p>Although there is no positive proof that such was the case, we may +safely conclude that, together with all the Genoese of his period, he +was imbued from the earliest age with a love of the sea and of +adventure. In the gloom of his father's cavernous shop he must often +have heard foreign and native merchants, captains, and sailors, who came +to purchase woollen goods, relate tales of extraordinary discoveries +made in the unknown seas beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Vast, indeed, +was the commerce of Genoa at this epoch. Her vessels roamed the seas as +far as the Caspian, where Marco Polo found them trading from port to +port. Genoa rivalled Venice in the Levant, and held the keys of the +commerce of North Africa. In Bruges her merchants had a hall of their +own; it still exists, with the effigy of St George over its Gothic +portal. Genoese merchants were well known in the crowded thoroughfares +of London city, and their velvets and silks were to be bought in the +High Street of Edinburgh and in the markets of Copenhagen and +Christiania.</p> + +<p>In the last half of the 15th century the world talked much of +discoveries of magic isles of pearl, and of deceptive islands that rose +on the horizon of the Atlantic, and, syren-like, deluded venturesome +travellers to their doom. In Genoa lived the Vivaldi family,<a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a> +descendants of Vadino and Guido Vivaldi, and of Ugolino and Tedesco +Vivaldi, who, between 1285 and 1290, discovered not only the Azores, but +also Madeira and the Canaries. The fact is mentioned very minutely in +records of the 13th century. Often must Columbus have heard of these +bold pioneers, and likewise of the ship and its crew of thirty men, +which, in 1467,—as we learn from Pietro d'Abano, in his +<i>Conciliatore</i>,—the Genoese Government equipped in Lisbon, at its +expense, and sent on a mission of discovery, from whence none ever +returned. Sailors, whose frail vessels had been driven out to sea far +beyond the coast of Spain towards "the new lands," had doubtless seen +the Azores, and, returning home, had spread the most fantastic stories +of cities of gold inhabited by a people whose heads grew beneath their +shoulders. In short, the imaginative child must often have listened to +tales of wonderment such as Othello poured out to Desdemona. At fourteen +he went to sea. He was in the prime of his glorious manhood on that +momentous morn of October 1492, when the verdant islands of San Salvador +and Cuba rose like emeralds out of the shining sea to delight his +thankful vision, and enriched European civilization by opening the gates +of a New World before its wondering eyes.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a><a name="page_257" id="page_257"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="APPENDIX_II" id="APPENDIX_II"></a>APPENDIX II.<br /><br /> +<span class="smcap">Notes on some Old Papers connected with the History of the West Indies</span>.</h3> + +<p class="nind">I<small>N</small> 1886-7 the writer of these lines became closely connected with the +West Indian Section of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, South +Kensington. Sir Augustus Adderley, the Commissioner for the West Indies, +a gentleman of varied knowledge and experience, displayed an activity in +organising the Court for which he was responsible, which resulted in a +thorough and most satisfactory representation of the various West Indian +islands under British dominion. To add attraction to his Department, Sir +Augustus set himself to collect every historical document, book, print, +and MS., illustrative of the early history of the islands, which he +could procure. With this object, he entrusted the author with the +mission of obtaining whatever records of Columbus and his companions +existed in Rome and elsewhere, even in the Antilles. Thanks to letters +from Cardinal Manning, an interview with Cardinal Simeone, then Director +of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, was soon obtained, and his +introduction to the Secretary, Archbishop Jacobini, granted, in the most +friendly manner. A<a name="page_258" id="page_258"></a> minute search of the archives of this famous +institution was immediately made, but nothing of any particular +importance connected with the subject of enquiry was found to exist. +Monsignore Jacobini, however, averred that he had heard a story to the +effect that in Napoleon I.'s time, the archives of the Propaganda were +roughly packed in carts, conveyed to Civitā Vecchia, and there embarked +for France and Paris. Whilst passing through the streets of Rome, +several bundles of most valuable papers were jolted out, picked up, and +some—but very few—restored to the Congregation. Of the rest, only a +part were returned to the College, whilst almost all the earlier papers +were retained in Paris, and are now stored in the Bibliothčque Nationale +and elsewhere. The existing archives of the Propaganda only date from +the first half of the present century. It was found impossible to obtain +permission for the exhibition of many treasures among the Vatican +MSS.—which, seen through glass cases, would have hardly, indeed, +produced the effect they deserved. All my attention, therefore, was +turned to the small but most interesting collection of parchments and +MSS. in the Borgian Museum. Pre-eminent among these are the far-famed +Borgian Maps, the first of which is probably the earliest existing +geographical record of Central America and the West Indies. Down this +famous sheet Pope Alexander VI.'s own hand traced the lines dividing the +whole of the New World into two equal portions, one for Spain, the other +for Portugal. Notwithstanding his evident desire to oblige the +Commissioner and the Committee, His Holiness decided<a name="page_259" id="page_259"></a> that so precious +and historical a relic could not be allowed to leave its place, but he +courteously gave permission for the removal to the London Exhibition of +the second Borgian Map, known as "Diego Ribero," a document of the +highest archæological value. The drawing, perfect and beautiful, was +executed by Diego Ribero, geographer to Charles V. from 1494 to 1529, +that is, during the lifetime of Columbus, and under his personal +supervision. Down the centre pass two slight lines, <i>facsimile</i> of the +divisional lines traced by Alexander VI. on the first Borgian Map. The +map, though singularly clearly drawn, is full of absurd inaccuracies. +The West Indies are shown with precision, and the names given with +considerable elaboration. America, on the other hand, is barely +indicated, the coast alone being defined, and Africa is introduced with +the Nile wandering somewhat at random down to three lakes, situated just +above what is now known as Cape Colony. A number of very well-drawn +ships are introduced, of colossal dimensions, in comparison with the +land, and bearing inscriptions to the effect that they are either bound +for, or returning from, the "Maluccas," by which it would appear that +these were then considered the principal maritime port of the world. The +arms of Pope Julius II.—an oak-tree with twisted branches—are +introduced in a shield at the foot, notwithstanding the fact that the +map bears the date of Clement VII. As a specimen of Italian, or rather +Spanish, calligraphy, of the 16th century, it is superb, and in most +perfect preservation. The Congregation of the Propaganda also lent an +engraved reproduction<a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a> of the famous Marco Polo Map, a curious specimen +of German geographical lore, at the commencement of the 15th century, +the original of which is engraved on brass. It was found to be far too +heavy for transportation. In this map the world is reproduced surrounded +by water, and the general appearance is not unlike that of a drop of +Thames water as seen through a powerful microscope, so confused are the +earth and water, and so mixed up with representations of extraordinary +living creatures.</p> + +<p>A very interesting collection of books, maps, prints, and MSS., +illustrative of the early history of the West Indies, belonging to Sir +Graham Briggs, Mr Audley C. Miles, Mr Henry Stevens, and the writer, +were also exhibited, and the following notes on this improvised library, +which will certainly never be gathered together again, will doubtless be +found of interest, as throwing considerable light on the bygone domestic +history of our colonies in the Antilles.</p> + +<p>In the eighteenth century their prosperity was at its height, and a +surprising amount of luxury and magnificence existed in the capitals of +each of our settlements. In 1741, we find the Island of Montserrat +considerably exercised (<i>The Laws of Montserrat from</i> 1640 <i>to</i> 1788) by +many open "Breaches of the Sabbath," a general neglect of "Public +Worship," to the scandalizing of the Protestant religion, and by the +encroachments of the "Scarlet Whore of Rome." To remedy this state of +affairs, the rites and ceremonies of the Church are, according to the +authority mentioned above, to be immediately placed on a footing with<a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a> +those practised in England, and "an able preaching minister is to be +maintained, at a cost to the public exchequer of 14,000 lbs. of sugar +per annum, or the value thereof in tobacco, cotton, wool, or indigo. +Moreover, the said minister can demand not exceeding 100 lbs. of sugar, +or the value thereof as above, for the joining together any of the +inhabitants of this island in the holy and lawful state of matrimony." +Meanwhile, Trinidad and Cuba, on the other hand, were gravely occupied +by the question of Protestant encroachments. These islands were still +Spanish, and the Inquisition was in full swing, occasionally roasting an +unhappy wight suspected of heresy or idolatry.</p> + +<p>"The Laws of Montserrat" enlighten us as to the manner in which the +negroes were treated in some of the islands. Thus, in 1670, an Act was +passed forbidding the negro to enter any plantation save his master's +after nightfall, and should any be found, the owner or overseer of such +plantation was given full power to punish him as he chose. "And should +any negroes harbour or conceal any such loiterers in their cabins, they +shall be taken before the next Justice of the Peace, and there his or +her owner shall, in the presence of the said Justice, exercise the +punishment of forty lashes."</p> + +<p>Slaves were not permitted to enter a field of cane with any lights or +fire whatsoever, as, "by their insufferable boldness in so doing, much +damage has been done, and more is likely to ensue, and this is enacted +to prevent future inconvenience, which may happen by such insufferable +boldness."<a name="page_262" id="page_262"></a></p> + +<p>Should a slave, transgressing this law, happen to set fire to the canes, +he or she "shall not only be whipped, but, if it pleases their master, +be put to death in any fashion he shall devise." If a negro stole a cow +or any other head of cattle, he was to be brought before the next +Justice of the Peace and publicly whipped. This punishment did not +appear to have been sufficiently severe, for by the year 1693, theft had +grown so common that an Act was passed ordaining that "henceforth any +negro that shall be taken stealing or carrying away stock, cattle, or +provisions, amounting to the value of twelve pence, shall suffer such +death as his master shall think fit to award." If a negro was proved +guilty of a theft below the value of twelve pence current money of the +island, "he shall only suffer a severe whipping, and have both his ears +cut off for the first offence, but for the second offence he shall +suffer death in the form aforesaid ... and it shall be lawful to shoot +at, and if possible, kill any negro he shall find stealing his +provision, provided such provision be not within forty foot of the +common path, and that the party so killing hath not expressed hatred or +malice against the owner of such negro." The white servants might, it +appears, "be kicked, but not whipped," otherwise they were treated very +little better than the slaves. Negroes caught without tickets +authorising their absence from their own plantation, are to be whipped +with thirty-nine lashes by the constable who took them, for which +service, "in each case he receives six shillings." Should a slave absent +himself for the space of three months from his master's service, he was +to suffer death<a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a> as a felon, the owner to be allowed 3500 lbs. of sugar, +out of the public stock, in compensation. Should a slave be killed or +maimed by another man's slave, his owner had his choice of the manner of +the offender's death for the first-named offence, and for the second he +could decide whether he should be whipped, or the offence be atoned by +compensation. From the <i>Acts and Statutes of Barbados</i> (1652), we find +that the maker of a fraudulent and deceitful sale on that island of any +"servant, cattel, negroes, and other flock or commodities, shall suffer +six months' imprisonment, and stand in the Pillory two hours with his +ears nailed thereto, with a paper in his hat, signifying the cause of +his punishment ... and whosoever shall be convicted of carrying away any +goods whatsoever after the same have been legally attached, shall be +sent to prison during fourteen days, and if before the fourteenth day he +have not made satisfaction to his Creditor, he shall be put in the +Pillory and lose both his ears."</p> + +<p>To turn to pleasanter things, we learn (from <i>A Short History of +Barbadoes</i>, published in 1742) that nothing can exceed the splendour of +the planters' manner of life. They have as fine houses as any in +England, and are attended upon by regiments of negroes, and white +servants in gorgeous liveries. "Their plate and their china, their fine +gowns and their genteel manners, eclipse anything that the writer has +ever seen on his travels, and their hospitality cannot be imagined—an +hospitality for which Great Britain was once so deservedly famed." At +the time when England was divided into two factions, Cavaliers and +Roundheads,<a name="page_264" id="page_264"></a> the planters, though naturally favouring one side or the +other, made a law amongst themselves, forbidding the use of either of +the two words, on penalty of giving a dinner to their neighbours. Many +purposely made themselves liable to the penalty as a pretext for +entertaining their friends. In those good old times, the Governors, +notably those of Jamaica and Barbadoes, kept great state. When they went +to church, they were preceded by pages in silver and gold liveries, and +gorgeous officers—in fact, the splendour displayed recalled that of the +King himself, when he betook himself in State to St Paul's. A good deal +of jealousy was evinced, at times, between the citizens, as to who was +entitled to attend the Governor's entertainments. The scene round +Government House in James Street, Spanish Town on great ball nights, +must have been of the most picturesque description. The ladies arrived +in their Sedan-chairs, accompanied by armies of slaves, carrying +torches. There must have been some great beauties amongst them, for we +find the author of <i>Letters from Barbadoes</i> deeply impressed with "the +majestic beauty of Miss Dolton," "the divine Miss Gordon," "the +celestial Miss Alleyne," while, he declares,</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"Sisters Carter, as two meteors bright,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Shine glorious round, and diffuse light."</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Balls and parties, routs and dinners, suppers and theatres, occupied the +attention of the West Indian ladies to an extent which would have amazed +their descendants.</p> + +<p>The advertisements in the Colonial papers of the last<a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a> century teem with +offers of "brocaded silk and satins, beaver hats, gold-headed canes, +snuff-boxes, costly china, plate, and patch-boxes," which were imported +on board every vessel, and found a ready sale amongst the luxury-loving +inhabitants. No wonder that occasionally, as we learn from the <i>Groans +of the Plantation</i>, the islanders fell into pecuniary embarrassment, and +that money grew so scarce that large cargoes of negroes had to be +exported for sale at Charlestown and New Orleans.</p> + +<p>The streets of a West Indian city must have presented a very picturesque +spectacle at this period. Here groups of great ladies—in hoops and +sarsenets, with powdered hair and "patches," escorted by their spruce +cavaliers in the daintiest satin garments which the London or Paris +tailors could supply, their white clad servants at a respectful distance +behind them, carrying their parasols and fans, or lagging in the rear +with their heavily gilt Sedan-chairs—pass up and down under the shadow +of the tropical vegetation, hardly pausing, probably, to notice the +public flogging of a couple of runaway slaves, or the edifying spectacle +of a white servant caught in the act of stealing, seated with his legs +and arms in the pillory, and his nose and ears freshly cut off. Yon +learned-looking gentleman may be Dr Hans Sloane, the famous naturalist, +with his friend Dr Burton, a noted preacher, who occasionally goes the +round of the various islands to exercise his eloquence, and eat a series +of good dinners in return for his pious endeavours to save the souls of +his entertainers. The conversation is not of the most elevated +description.<a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a> Little or no literature is consumed and canvassed, save +such as comes out in packages from England—<i>The Gentleman's Magazine</i>, +<i>The Lady</i>, <i>The Tatler</i>, Miss Frances Burney's latest novel, Oliver +Goldsmith's <i>Vicar of Wakefield</i>, or Fielding's <i>Tom Jones</i>. Through the +open windows of the roomy houses, with their broad verandahs, floats the +tinkling of the sempiternal spinette. Very occasionally, as we learn +from the <i>Grenada Gazette</i> (of which a complete file for the years +1792-3 are exhibited by Mr. J. G. Wells), "a grand pianoforte" makes its +appearance, and is considered a great novelty, for which a very high +price is asked and paid.</p> + +<p>The <i>History of the Barbadoes</i> states that Lord Howe became Governor in +1733, but fortunately for the Colony, he did not hold the office long, +"for if he had remained a few years longer, he would have ruined +Barbadoes by his introduction of luxury."</p> + +<p>In every island, perpetual war was waged between the Governor and the +people, and the people seem to have had good cause to protest, for +almost without exception, it would appear, the Governors sent from the +mother country were most tyrannical and cruel in their methods. This is +proved by the continual protests and "Articles of Complaint" that were +forwarded to England. Many of these temporary rulers seem to have +conceived their sole mission to be to extort money for their own private +pockets by every means in their power, legal or illegal. To rule the +country fairly, and to keep it in a settled condition—a by no means +easy matter in those times—appears to have been quite a secondary +matter in their eyes. A notable instance<a name="page_267" id="page_267"></a> is that of a Mr Lowther, who +carried on the usual routine of extortion. He was sent out to Barbadoes +in 1711, and in justice to others it must be said, that for downright +wickedness, he far outstripped them. He "swallowed up the taxes as fast +as they were raised, ships forced on the island by stress of weather +were compelled to give him one half of their cargo to save the other; he +seized rich ships without cause; and he suspended Mr Skeen, the +Secretary, because he refused to allow him a pension of Ģ400 per annum +out of the fees in office. He kept a cause of Haggot v. King hanging up +in Chancery all the time he was Governor, only because Mr Haggot would +not consent to the marriage of a young lady under his guardianship to a +person to whom Mr Lowther <i>owned he had sold her for</i> Ģ15,000. Again, in +order to accomplish his bargain, he was about taking her from Mr Haggot +when she was married, and he did actually despoil him of the +guardianship of her sister, declaring that no parent had a right to +appoint a guardian to his child." When officially remonstrated with for +some of his iniquities, Mr Lowther simply replied, "D—— n your laws, +don't tell me of the laws. I will do it, and let me see who dares +dispute it." Again, the Governor of the Bahamas in 1701-2—Mr Elias +Haskett—was, we are informed, such an iniquitous personage, that "he +seizes all the claret and brandy imported into our own port for his own +use, and most unmercifully doth whip the parish beadle (this is enough, +surely, to make the late Mr Bumble turn in his grave) and the tax +collector." This gentleman's evil doings are related in<a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a> a curious MSS. +document of over twelve closely-printed pages, by one Captain Cole, who, +it appears, was deputed, on his return to England, by the people of New +Providence, to make an official complaint of their Governor.</p> + +<p>A rare old pamphlet on the State of Jamaica, published early in the last +century, contains a curious account of the arrival in that island, in +1687, of Christopher, Duke of Albemarle, on his appointment to the +Governorship. He was the only son and heir of John Monk, who had helped +to restore Charles II., and who had been rewarded with a dukedom, the +Garter, and a princely fortune, which his successor completely +dissipated, and reduced himself to beggary. To rid himself of his +importunities, King James II. gave him the above-mentioned position in +Jamaica, where he died, childless, soon after his arrival, and his +honours became extinct. He seems, however, to have lived long enough to +collect a considerable sum of money for his creditors. He entered into +partnership with a Sir William Phipps, who, having discovered the wreck +of a Spanish plate-ship, which had gone down in 1559, provided skilful +divers to search for the sunken treasure, and the partners are reported +to have recovered twenty-six tons of silver. When Albemarle arrived at +Kingston, he behaved in a fashion as arbitrary as it was whimsical. He +immediately called an assembly, which he dissolved as promptly, because +one of the members, in a debate, repeated the adage "<i>Salus Populi +suprema lex</i>." His Grace took this member into custody, and caused him +to be fined 600 crowns for his offence. Evidently James II. had +entertained<a name="page_269" id="page_269"></a> some hope of converting the island of Jamaica to the Roman +Catholic faith, for with Albemarle he sent out a missionary,—Father +Thomas Churchill, but the Duke's death and the Revolution of 1688 upset +the good Father's projects, and, after visiting Cuba, he returned to +England. The Duchess, who accompanied her husband, was a very remarkable +woman, and an exceedingly handsome one. The speaker of the assembly, in +his first address, expatiated upon her presence in the following +extraordinary strain of eloquence: "It is an honour," said he, "which +the opulent Kingdoms of Mexico or Peru could never arrive at, to be +visited by an English Duchess, and even Columbus' ghost would be +appeased, could he but know that his own beloved soil was hallowed by +such footsteps." In a very old private letter, included among the +exhibits, was a singular account of the subsequent career of this +Duchess. It seems that on the death of the Duke, she possessed herself +of all the treasures he had rescued from the Spanish plate-ship, and +refusing to part with a shilling, even to pay his legitimate debts, +prepared to embark for England. But the creditors seized her person in +the King's house, in Spanish Town, and attempted to carry her off. She +contrived, however, to escape, and communicated her distress to the +House of Assembly, who thereupon appointed a formidable committee of +their ablest members to guard her day and night. After some delay, she +was safely embarked for England, on one of the King's ships, and arrived +in this country with all her fortune, on board the "Assistance" +man-of-war, in the beginning of June<a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a> 1688. For a year or so she made a +great show in London society, gave her friends sumptuous entertainments, +and herself, it would seem, incredible airs. At last the poor lady's +mind gave way. She imagined herself destined to become the wife of the +Emperor of China, who, having heard of her immense wealth, was +hastening, she declared, to come to England, and pay her his addresses. +She dwelt in Montague House, on the site of which the British Museum now +stands, and she furnished the mansion sumptuously for the reception of +her august suitor. She appears to have been a gentle and good-humoured +person, even in her lunacy, and her attendants encouraged her in her +delusions. They did more. They tried to turn her folly to good account +by assisting a certain needy peer, the Duke of Montague, to personate +his Chinese Majesty. "Here," continues the letter, "is the prettiest +piece of business that has ever been. My Lord of Montague, disguised as +the Chinese Emperor, has won the hand of that worthy, silly old woman +the Duchess of Albemarle, and will, doubtless, soon confine her as a +lunatic." She certainly was carefully enough guarded, but she seems to +have been allowed to indulge her mania to her heart's content. She was +wont to stride about her vast apartments, attired as a Chinese Empress, +her attendants taking good care to kneel as she passed, and to address +her in language befitting so transcendant a personage as the consort of +the supreme ruler of the celestial Empire. Her Grace the Duchess of +Albemarle and Empress of China survived her husband, the pretended +Emperor, for many years, and died in 1734,<a name="page_271" id="page_271"></a> at the vast age of +ninety-eight. She was, it seems, served upon the knee to the end of her +long career, and expired in the full belief that she was a Celestial +Empress.</p> + +<p>The <i>Grenada Gazette</i>, a curious old newspaper to which I have already +alluded, throws considerable light on the manners and customs of the +period between 1792 and 1799. The details of the French Revolution are +recorded with great minuteness, and it was evidently a subject of deep +interest to the <i>Gazette's</i> numerous readers. The editor can scarcely +contain his indignation as he relates the sufferings of the unfortunate +French king and queen, and he feels sure God will punish the French +people "for their barbarity and utter godlessness." He is certain a +judgment will fall upon them "for their iniquitous conduct, their +cruelty, and their general viciousness." "Oh!" he exclaims, "I have +scarce the power to tell the terrible news of this day: the French king +and queen are in prison. The French, by their own madness and folly, +have thereby prepared themselves and their heirs for the bitterest +punishment of God." When at length he reaches the execution of Marie +Antoinette, he is "prostrate with horror, and dumb with fear." He can no +longer proceed: "his pen is dry from sheer terror, and refuses to +write." The poor gentleman is "thrown into a consternation" as he thinks +of the fate in store for the afflicted little Dauphin. The series of +slave advertisements which disgrace every number of the <i>Chronicle</i> are +curious in their way. Thus the cargo of the ship "Ellen," consisting of +203 Gold Coast negroes, and that of another ship containing 343 young +slaves, are both offered for<a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a> sale. "Both cargoes are in high health, +and the terms of sale will be made as agreeable as possible to the +purchaser." An estate in St Lucia, placed on the market, comprises +amongst its stock "250 negroes, large and small, and six horses and five +mules." "There are among the negroes twenty tradesmen of great value." +One person wants "a complete washerwoman. Anyone having one to dispose +of may hear of a purchaser." There are many advertisements for the +recovery of runaway slaves, "for whom a genteel reward will be offered," +to be recognized by their backs, still sore from recent whippings, their +cropped ears and split noses. These horrors seem to make no impression +on the editor—the humane gentleman who so deplores the imprisonment of +the French royal couple. He is not ashamed to advertise "a pretty boy, +nearly white, for sale, price, Ģ20," nor to call attention to Madame +Marchand's announcement that she is about to leave the colony, and +wishes to dispose of her stock-in-trade, consisting of "hardware, +haberdashery, dry goods, a complete collection of the works of the best +French authors, an excellent washerwoman, and two bedsteads." However, +men should be judged, to some extent at all events, according to their +lights, and it must be remembered that although, in the year of grace +1792, slavery was held throughout the West Indies to be a right divine, +the papers above alluded to contained constant appeals to slave-owners +to treat their human property with kindness. And perhaps, after all, the +bulk of the negroes were a good deal happier than many free men are +to-day, for plenty of<a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a> kindness was shown them. They were allowed three +wives—many, perhaps, will think this was no very kind concession—and +we read of parties given to the negroes, at which servants dressed up in +their mistresses' finery, and danced to a most unreasonable hour of the +night, to the sound of the sackbut and the tabor. I exhibited in the St +Vincent Court of the Exhibition a delightful series of old engravings, +representing negro festivities in the olden times. The darkies had all +Sunday to themselves, and raised pandemonium in the principal streets of +Spanish Town and Nassau, until the nuisance grew unendurable, and was +put down. They used to sing, dance, and wrestle, at which last exercise +they "were marvellously expert," to their hearts' content. When their +behaviour in the streets became unbearable, they were prohibited from +singing or dancing in the vicinity of churches or genteel folks' houses. +Their food was good, and their huts were waterproof, at all events,—for +it was to the interest of the owners, of course, to keep their slaves in +perfect health. Nevertheless, the negroes always felt themselves an +oppressed race, and many were their struggles for freedom. They +concocted various plans for a general rising, which was to make them +masters and the Christians slaves. But the plots were always discovered, +and the ring-leaders tortured and put to death, as an example to the +rest. At one time owners had great difficulty in preventing their slaves +from hanging themselves, either out of fear of possible punishment for +some small fault, or dread of vengeance threatened by masters or +overseers. Consequently no owner ever delayed a punishment.<a name="page_274" id="page_274"></a> The darkies +all had a firm belief in a resurrection, and were convinced they would +return after death to their own country and begin their lives anew. This +conviction led them to endeavour to expedite their release from slavery. +An owner who had lost several useful slaves in this manner, "caused one +of their heads to be cut off and fixed on a pole 12 feet high, and +obliged all his slaves to come forth and march round this head, to show +the poor creatures that they were in error in thinking the dead returned +to their own country, for this man's head was here, as they all plainly +saw, and how was it possible the body could go without the head?" This +simple theory was quite sufficient to convince them, and thenceforth +that owner never lost another slave by suicide.</p> + +<p>Sometimes there was a theatrical performance in one or other of the +capitals of the various islands. Companies from England or France paid +the principal cities a visit, and occasionally amateurs undertook to +assist the professionals, or to supplement their efforts. The French +theatre at St George's, Grenada, had a great reputation throughout the +islands. It was opened about six times in the year, sometimes by an +English and sometimes by a French troupe. We read in the <i>Grenada +Gazette</i> that "on Saturday, 31st August 1792, 'Douglas' was performed, +Lady Randolph by a lady—her first appearance on any stage—and old +Norval by a gentleman." "No admittance," the announcement goes on to +say, "on any account behind the scenes. The gentility is invited to send +their negroes early (to retain seats), who are to sit in their places +till five minutes<a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a> before the curtain rises, when they are to give up +their places to the proper owners." The managers also remind the +audience to "bring their own candles." The negroes filled the galleries, +and were renowned for their judicious criticism, the warmth of their +applause, and the vehemence of their disapproval. Ladies of great +quality were accommodated with seats on the stage. We note that on one +occasion, in 1798, the French company gives "Nina Folle par Amour." This +must be either Copolla's or Paesiello's opera, composed about that time.</p> + +<p>Cock-fighting, we learn from the same journal, was a fashionable sport +of the gentry. "On Saturday, the 31st September 1792, at 10 o'clock, a +match of twenty cocks will be fought by ten gentlemen. <i>N.B.</i>—A genteel +dinner will be provided." In the same day's issue is announced the +appearance in England of "a new sect, called the Anti-Chartists," whom +it describes as "another branch of those iniquitous wretches who are +opposed to the slave-trade."</p> + +<p>Jamaica, then said to be the "wickedest place on earth," is mentioned +with great detail in <i>The British Empire in America, or the History of +the Discovery, etc., of the British Colonies</i> (published in London, +<i>1708</i>). The island probably deserved its name, for, in point of fact, +the inhabitants mainly gained their livelihood at that period by trading +with pirates, an enormous number of whom infested the neighbouring seas, +making raids upon the Spanish islands, and carrying off immense treasure +to Jamaica, where it was spent in debauchery.<a name="page_276" id="page_276"></a></p> + +<p>The same book gives some interesting details of the earthquake in +Jamaica on 7th June 1692. In many of the streets of Port Royal there +were several fathoms of water, "a great mountain split and fell into the +level land, and covered several settlements and destroyed many people." +One settler's plantation was carried half a mile from the place where it +formerly stood. Part of the mountain, after having made several leaps, +overwhelmed a whole family and great part of a plantation, lying a mile +off; "and a large mountain is quite swallowed up, and in the place where +it stood there is now a vast lake, four or five leagues over." About +2000 people perished by this catastrophe.</p> + +<p>Owners would never consent to allow their slaves to become Christians, +as will be seen by the following extract:—</p> + +<p>"I took a great interest in a certain slave, Sambo, who wanted much to +become a Christian, and spoke to the master of the plantation on his +behalf. His answer was, that were Sambo once a Christian he could no +longer be accounted a slave, and thus owners would lose hold on their +slaves. Were he in this case to do so, such a gap would be opened that +all the planters in the isle would curse him."</p> + +<p>We learn from another old volume (<i>An Account of the Island of Domingo, +1668</i>) that "there are several old mountains in the midst, which +encompass an inaccessible bottom, where from the top of certain rocks +may be seen an infinite variety of reptiles of dreadful bulk and length. +The natives were wont to tell of a vast monstrous serpent that had its +abode in the said<a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a> bottom. They affirmed that there was in the head of +it a very sparkling stone, like a carbuncle, of inestimable price, that +the monster commonly veiled that rich jewel with a thin moving skin like +that of a man's eyelid, and when it went to drink, and sported itself in +the deep bottom it fully discovered it, and the rocks all about received +a wonderful lustre from the fire issuing out of that precious gem."</p> + +<p>The original entry of the marriage of Lord Nelson in the register of the +parish church where it took place was exhibited in the Nevis Court. Very +singular also is the sales-list of the Byam estate in Antigua, from +which we learn the prices of slaves to have varied from Ģ10 to Ģ150, +"warranted sound." Some elderly ladies and gentlemen of colour are +occasionally "thrown in gratis." Several copies of the slave Bible were +also shown, in which all verses calculated to disturb the idea that +slavery is an institution by right Divine are carefully eliminated.</p> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c">THE END.</p> + +<p><a name="page_278" id="page_278"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h3> + +<p class="cb"> +<a href="#letra_A">A</a> +<a href="#letra_B">B</a> +<a href="#letra_C">C</a> +<a href="#letra_D">D</a> +<a href="#letra_E">E</a> +<a href="#letra_F">F</a> +<a href="#letra_G">G</a> +<a href="#letra_H">H</a> +<a href="#letra_I">I</a> +<a href="#letra_J">J</a> +<a href="#letra_L">L</a> +<a href="#letra_M">M</a> +<a href="#letra_N">N</a> +<a href="#letra_O">O</a> +<a href="#letra_P">P</a> +<a href="#letra_Q">Q</a> +<a href="#letra_R">R</a> +<a href="#letra_S">S</a> +<a href="#letra_T">T</a> +<a href="#letra_U">U</a> +<a href="#letra_V">V</a> +<a href="#letra_W">W</a> +<a href="#letra_Y">Y</a> +<a href="#letra_Z">Z</a></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_A" id="letra_A"></a><b>A.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +Adderley, Sir Augustus, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Advertisements for the sale of slaves, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Albemarle, Duke of, captures Havana and Matanzas, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.<br /> +<br /> + " Duke of, Governor of Jamaica, <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br /> +<br /> + " Duchess of, <a href="#page_269">269</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarkable behaviour of, <a href="#page_270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">believes herself to be Empress of China, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Amedeo, Prince, accepts the Spanish crown and resigns it again, <a href="#page_090">90</a>.<br /> +<br /> +American Revolution, the, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Americans, influence of the, upon Cuba, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">settlements in the island, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">help the insurgents, <a href="#page_087">87</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Amusements in Havana, <a href="#page_129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">during Carnival, <a href="#page_139">139</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Animals found by Columbus in Cuba, <a href="#page_006">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">animals of the forests, <a href="#page_106">106</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Antomarchi, Dr to Napoleon I., <a href="#page_203">203</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death and monument, <a href="#page_203">203</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Apiculture introduced by French colonists, <a href="#page_061">61</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Aquelera, Don Francisco, elected President of the Cuban Republic, <a href="#page_093">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Aristocracy, Havanese, <a href="#page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Aristolochia pelicana</i>, the, <a href="#page_149">149</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Army, the rebel, its number and organization, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Autos da fé</i>, the frequency of, <a href="#page_056">56</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of an, <a href="#page_059">59</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_B" id="letra_B"></a><b>B.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +Bahamas first sighted by Christopher Columbus, <a href="#page_038">38</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Providence, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bananas, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">used as vegetables, <a href="#page_154">154</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Banyan tree, the, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Baracoa founded by Diego Velasquez, <a href="#page_049">49</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barbadoes, <a href="#page_263">263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">governorship of Lord Howe, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bats, enormous size of, <a href="#page_007">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bayamo, founded by Diego Velasquez, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken by the Spaniards from the rebels, <a href="#page_085">85</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beggars in Havana, the, <a href="#page_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bellamar Caves, the, <a href="#page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Berriz, Colonel, accusations brought against, by Miss Cisneros, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Birds, <a href="#page_008">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blake, Lady, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bobadilla, Doņa Isabella de, Governess of Cuba, <a href="#page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bolivar, <a href="#page_067">67</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Borgian Maps, the, <a href="#page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Botanical Gardens of Havana, the, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> +<br /> +British interests in Cuba, <a href="#page_026">26</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buccaneers, the, and their romantic history, <a href="#page_051">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their hatred of the Spaniards, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their rugged life, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henry Morgan, the Welshman, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they burn Havana, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enactments against the, <a href="#page_052">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the adventures of Jacob Sores, <a href="#page_053">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Buchanan, President, threatening message to Spain, <a href="#page_078">78</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bull-baiting, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Butter, lack of, in Cuba, <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_C" id="letra_C"></a><b>C.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +Cactus, the enormous size of the, <a href="#page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cafés and restaurants, Cuban, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Campos, Marshal Martinez, agrees to the Treaty of Zanjou, <a href="#page_094">94</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his good intentions, <a href="#page_116">116</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Canga, the, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Canovas, Seņor, de Castillo, signs Treaty of Zanjou, <a href="#page_095">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cardenas, called the "American City," <a href="#page_026">26</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its population, <a href="#page_192">192</a> (in note).</span><br /> +<br /> +Carnival, dances given during, <a href="#page_023">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Havanese Carnival, <a href="#page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its end on Shrove Tuesday, <a href="#page_142">142</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Caruba tree, the, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cattle used as horses, <a href="#page_167">167</a> (in note).<br /> +<br /> +Cauto River, the, navigable for small craft, <a href="#page_005">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Caves of the Bellamar, the magnificent, <a href="#page_158">158</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cays, the, dangerous to vessels, <a href="#page_005">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their beauty, <a href="#page_174">174</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cemeteries, Cuban, <a href="#page_202">202</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cereals, exported from Spain, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cerro, the, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, begins the rebellion, <a href="#page_083">83</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, <a href="#page_083">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the burning of his plantation, <a href="#page_085">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected President of the Cuban Republic, <a href="#page_087">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his tragic death, <a href="#page_091">91</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chinese, the wretched condition of the, in Cuba, <a href="#page_037">37</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Chinese in the ranks of the rebels, <a href="#page_037">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their religious practices, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Churches, the, of Havana, <a href="#page_132">132</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music in the, <a href="#page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flirtation in church, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cienfuegos, the town and harbour, <a href="#page_161">161</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the surrounding country, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cipango, Columbus thinks Cuba is, <a href="#page_042">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cisneros, Miss Evangelina, story of, <a href="#page_117">117</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cisneros y Bétancourt, Don Salvador, elected President of the Cuban Republic, <a href="#page_093">93</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clergy, the, of the rebel army, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cleveland, President, tries to prevent filibustering expeditions to Cuba, <a href="#page_099">99</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Climate, <a href="#page_002">2</a> (in note);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is tolerable, <a href="#page_010">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><a href="#page_108">108</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Coaches in Havana, <a href="#page_131">131</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cock-fighting in Cuba, <a href="#page_145">145</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a century ago, <a href="#page_275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cocoa, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the plant, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Coffee, was one of the principal products, <a href="#page_003">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replaced by the sugar cane, <a href="#page_069">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a coffee plantation, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Columbus, Christopher, first sights the New World, <a href="#page_038">38</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lands at Fernandina, <a href="#page_039">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the wonders he encounters, <a href="#page_039">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his followers grow clamorous for gold, <a href="#page_040">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the imaginery Quinsai, <a href="#page_040">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">he discovers Cuba, <a href="#page_040">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and takes possession of it in the names of the Spanish sovereigns, <a href="#page_041">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convinced that it is the Cipango described by Marco Polo, <a href="#page_042">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">believes Cuba to be a part of the mainland, <a href="#page_043">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">said to have landed at British Honduras, <a href="#page_044">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Columbus and the native, <a href="#page_046">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits the island twice again, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the journeyings of his remains, <a href="#page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his enthusiastic description of New Providence, <a href="#page_225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his birthplace, <a href="#page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and parents, <a href="#page_238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the house in which he was born, <a href="#page_240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his brothers, <a href="#page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first goes to sea, <a href="#page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his education, <a href="#page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the sports he played when a child, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Columbus, Diego, Governor of Hispaniola, <a href="#page_049">49</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cook, the Cuban, <a href="#page_124">124</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cookery, Cuban, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Coolie labour, <a href="#page_036">36</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cuba, Island of, its shape and size, <span class="smcap">I</span>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mountains, <a href="#page_002">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position and weather, <a href="#page_002">2</a> (in note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coffee and tobacco once the chief articles of cultivation, <a href="#page_003">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French settlers persuade the Cubans to extend their sugar plantations, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other products, <a href="#page_004">4</a>; navigable rivers, <a href="#page_005">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">animals and reptiles, <a href="#page_007">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disagreeable insects, <a href="#page_008">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flora, <a href="#page_010">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">climate, <a href="#page_010">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">filthy drains, <a href="#page_011">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its prehistoric inhabitants, <a href="#page_014">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present population and inhabitants, <a href="#page_016">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laws, <a href="#page_017">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first appearance of the Inquisition on the island, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Las Casas gives an impetus to education, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of chaos in, during the Napoleonic period, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">overrun by Americans, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">society in, <a href="#page_023">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first sighted by Columbus, <a href="#page_040">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its numerous names, <a href="#page_041">41</a> (in note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its beauties in the eyes of its Discoverer, <a href="#page_041">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first circumnavigated, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diego Velasquez sent to, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">he founds Havana, Santiago de Cuba, etc., <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hernando Cortez in, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. during the buccaneering period, <a href="#page_051">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drake appears off, <a href="#page_054">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosperity of, at the beginning of the 18th century, <a href="#page_059">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken by the English under the Duke of Albemarle in 1762, <a href="#page_060">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large French emigration to, <a href="#page_061">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">administration of Don Luis Las Casas, <a href="#page_063">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of the Revolution upon, <a href="#page_066">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad times for, <a href="#page_068">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opening of the Cuban ports, <a href="#page_068">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Cuba la Sempre Fiel," <a href="#page_069">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the beneficent government of Tacon, <a href="#page_072">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the prosperity of, declining, <a href="#page_073">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first indications of rebellion, <a href="#page_074">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers to purchase C., <a href="#page_077">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. in 1860, <a href="#page_079">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the state of the island going from bad to worse, <a href="#page_081">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result of the work of the Commission appointed to enquire into the affairs of, <a href="#page_081">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maximo Gomez, Commander-in-Chief of the rebel army, <a href="#page_093">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">U.S. trade with Cuba, 97, <a href="#page_113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban forests, <a href="#page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">economic condition of, <a href="#page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. Spain's death-trap, <a href="#page_115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of Havana, <a href="#page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marianao, <a href="#page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the cafés and restaurants of Cuba, <a href="#page_155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cienfuegos, <a href="#page_161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trinidad, <a href="#page_172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">backward state of the plantations, <a href="#page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Santiago de Cuba, <a href="#page_179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the newspapers of, <a href="#page_189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Cuban plantation, <a href="#page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the beauty of the Cuban night, <a href="#page_212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Cuban household, <a href="#page_214">214</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Cubana</i>, the dance, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cubanos, or Cubans, filthy habits of the, <a href="#page_011">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">descent from early Spanish settlers, <a href="#page_017">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics of the, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Voltarian and free-thinking works read by the, during the Napoleonic Era, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">many, educated, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the C. not permitted to share in the Government until twenty years ago, <a href="#page_020">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. who live for generations on one plantation, <a href="#page_020">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a very domestic people, <a href="#page_021">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">isolation of the children, <a href="#page_021">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">premature marriages, <a href="#page_021">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laxity of morals among the, <a href="#page_021">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">morbid literature read by the, <a href="#page_021">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the drama, <a href="#page_022">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their love of music, <a href="#page_023">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their large families, <a href="#page_024">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the piety of the women, <a href="#page_024">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insincerity of the, in their religion, <a href="#page_024">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their contract with foreign ideas, <a href="#page_071">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their wish to be represented in the Cortes at Madrid, <a href="#page_071">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they petition Queen Isabella to appoint a Commission to enquire into the state of the island, <a href="#page_081">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">C. in official positions, <a href="#page_112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Carnival in Havana, <a href="#page_139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their theatricals, <a href="#page_144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Guajiros, <a href="#page_162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early habits of the C. <a href="#page_168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why they differ with the Spaniards, <a href="#page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Cuban funeral, <a href="#page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a young Cuban lady, <a href="#page_215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their partiality for smoking, <a href="#page_222">222</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cucullo, the, <a href="#page_008">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_D" id="letra_D"></a><b>D.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Decker, Mr</span>, and the Miss Cisneros incident, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dinner, a Cuban, <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dogs, <a href="#page_006">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the tiny spaniel and the colossal molasso, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Drains, abominable condition of the, <a href="#page_011">11</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Drake, Sir Francis, appears off Cuba, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Duck-hunt, a, <a href="#page_170">170</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Dutchman's pipe," the, <a href="#page_150">150</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dysentery among European colonists, <a href="#page_010">10</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_E" id="letra_E"></a><b>E.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +EARTHQUAKES, <a href="#page_003">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Eastern Province, the wholesomest part of the island, <a href="#page_011">11</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Education, impetus given to, by Las Casas, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the education given by the Jesuits, <a href="#page_019">19</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Emancipation of the slaves, first steps towards the, <a href="#page_029">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its horrible results, <a href="#page_029">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Estates, the large, given to Spaniards, <a href="#page_020">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rarely if ever visited by the latter, <a href="#page_020">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curious custom on many Cuban estates, <a href="#page_020">20</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_F" id="letra_F"></a><b>F.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Fan</span>, the language of the, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ferdinand the Catholic, his opinion of the Spanish people, <a href="#page_070">70</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fernandina, <a href="#page_039">39</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Filharmonia Theatre, an incident in the, <a href="#page_076">76</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first appearance of Mme. Patti at the, <a href="#page_143">143</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fish, <a href="#page_006">6</a>; tropical, <a href="#page_008">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Flora, beauty and variety of the, <a href="#page_010">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the forests, <a href="#page_105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">some strange flowers, <a href="#page_128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the banyan tree, etc., <a href="#page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ferns, 151, <a href="#page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the moon-flower, <a href="#page_213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the silk-cotton-tree, <a href="#page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the vegetation of New Providence, Bahamas, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Florida, failure of Hernando de Soto's expedition to, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">given to the English in exchange for Cuba, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Foreign residents, <a href="#page_020">20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Forests, Cuban, 4, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fossils of prehistoric fauna, <a href="#page_006">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of human remains, <a href="#page_014">14</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +France wishes to purchase Cuba, <a href="#page_077">77</a>.<br /> +<br /> +French Revolution, effects of the, upon the West Indies, <a href="#page_064">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarks upon the, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +French settlers, persuade the Cubans to enlarge their sugar plantations, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large emigration of, in 1765, <a href="#page_061">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they introduce the art of apiculture, <a href="#page_061">61</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fruits of Cuba, <a href="#page_004">4</a>; oranges, bananas, etc., <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Funeral rites, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_G" id="letra_G"></a><b>G.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Galegos</span>, immigration into Cuba of, <a href="#page_017">17</a> (in note).<br /> +<br /> +<i>Galleria</i>, the, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gambling in Cuba, <a href="#page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Game, prehistoric, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Garcia, Manuel, the brigand, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Genoa, the birthplace of Columbus, <a href="#page_238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description and appearance of, <a href="#page_247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the trade of, <a href="#page_255">255</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Genoese, the, <a href="#page_252">252</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the piety of the, <a href="#page_253">253</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ghosts, Cuban belief in, <a href="#page_198">198</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gomez, Maximo, Commander-in-Chief of the rebel forces, <a href="#page_093">93</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">he retires to San Domingo, <a href="#page_095">95</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Government of Cuba, <a href="#page_074">74</a> (in note);<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the bad, <a href="#page_077">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its backwardness, <a href="#page_115">115</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Governors, magnificence of the, <a href="#page_054">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their rapacity, <a href="#page_074">74</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grant's Town, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Green snake," the, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Grenada Gazette</i>, 266, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Guajiros, manners and customs of the, <a href="#page_162">162</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their supposed relationship with our own costers, <a href="#page_165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Guanajay, <a href="#page_219">219</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Guava jelly, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_H" id="letra_H"></a><b>H.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Haskett, Mr Elias</span>, Governor of the Bahamas, <a href="#page_267">267</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hatuei, the Cacique, bravery of, <a href="#page_015">15</a> (in note).<br /> +<br /> +Havana, the city of, society in, <a href="#page_023">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded by Diego Velasquez in 1519, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains civic rights under Las Casas, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burnt by the buccaneers in 1528, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilt by Hernando de Soto, <a href="#page_053">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacked afresh by the buccaneers, <a href="#page_054">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by the Dutch under Admiral Jolls, who is repulsed, <a href="#page_054">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first theatre opened in, <a href="#page_056">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked and taken by the English under the Duke of Albemarle, 1762, <a href="#page_060">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tacon rebuilds part of the town, <a href="#page_072">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Diego Velasquez calls Havana "La llave del Nuevo Mondo," <a href="#page_121">121</a> (in note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of the town from the harbour, <a href="#page_121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the houses of, <a href="#page_123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Cerro, <a href="#page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aristocracy of, <a href="#page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cathedral, churches, promenades, gardens, streets, etc., <a href="#page_126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mode of shopping in, <a href="#page_127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Botanical Gardens, <a href="#page_127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eventide in, <a href="#page_129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coaches, <a href="#page_131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the churches, <a href="#page_132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charitable institutions, <a href="#page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the beggars of, <a href="#page_137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Carnival, <a href="#page_139">139</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Havana University established in 1721, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">several chairs created by Las Casas, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">almost entirely governed by Cubans, <a href="#page_112">112</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Heredia, José Maria, Cuba's greatest poet, <a href="#page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Holy Week in Santiago, <a href="#page_181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Horses, scarcity of, in Cuba, <a href="#page_055">55</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hotels in Matanzas, the, <a href="#page_152">152</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Houses of Havana, the, <a href="#page_123">123</a>; of Matanzas,<br /> +<a href="#page_157">157</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Howe, Lord, Governor of Barbadoes, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hurricanes, <a href="#page_002">2</a> (in note).<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_I" id="letra_I"></a><b>I.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Iguana</span>, the harmless but hideous, <a href="#page_009">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">roast, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Indian and Colonial Exhibition, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Indigo, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Inhabitants, earliest, <a href="#page_014">14</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Inquisition, or Holy Office, first introduced into Cuba, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">used against State prisoners, <a href="#page_058">58</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Insects, disagreeable, <a href="#page_008">8</a>; several insects first introduced into Europe from Cuba, <a href="#page_008">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the cucullo, <a href="#page_008">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mosquitoes, <a href="#page_126">126</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Institutions, charitable, <a href="#page_137">137</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_J" id="letra_J"></a><b>J.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Jamaica</span>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>; an earthquake, <a href="#page_276">276</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jesuits, the education given by the, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">persecution of the, <a href="#page_034">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their first appearance in Cuba, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jewellery, quantity of, in Havana, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jews, the, in Cuba, <a href="#page_027">27</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Junta, Gran, in New York, <a href="#page_098">98</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excites the Americans against Weyler's atrocities, <a href="#page_117">117</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_L" id="letra_L"></a><b>L.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Language</span> of the early natives, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Las Casas, aid given to education by, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his good government, <a href="#page_050">50</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Las Casas, Don Luis, the good administration of, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Leyes de Indias, Las</i>, 18, <a href="#page_031">31</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Litterateurs of Cuba, <a href="#page_184">184</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lizards, variety of, <a href="#page_009">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Louisiana, expedition to, under O'Reilly, <a href="#page_061">61</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lowther, Mr, Governor of Barbadoes, <a href="#page_267">267</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_M" id="letra_M"></a><b>M.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Maceo</span>, cruelty of, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character and appearance, <a href="#page_110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">doubts as to whether he is shot, <a href="#page_111">111</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mahogany, a once valuable product, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Maine" disaster, the, <a href="#page_120">120</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Maize, always been a necessity of life, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mangoes, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mantis, <a href="#page_207">207</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marco Polo, <a href="#page_038">38</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Marianao, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Matanzas taken by the English in 1762, <a href="#page_060">60</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its foundation and name, <a href="#page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The Golden Lion," <a href="#page_152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of M., <a href="#page_157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its attractions, <a href="#page_158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Yumurri Valley, <a href="#page_159">159</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mayas, importation into Cuba of, to take the place of coolie labour, <a href="#page_037">37</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Merced, <a href="#page_132">132</a>; the curious picture in the, <a href="#page_135">135</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its orchestra, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mexico, the Revolution in, <a href="#page_068">68</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Milanes, the poet, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Monserrat, condition of the island of, in<br /> +the 17th century, <a href="#page_260">260</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moon-flower, the, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morgan, Henry, the Welsh buccaneer, <a href="#page_052">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morro Castle, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mosquitos, swarms of, <a href="#page_126">126</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mountains of Cuba, <a href="#page_002">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unhealthy condition of the mountain regions, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Music, Cuban, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_N" id="letra_N"></a><b>N.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Nassau</span>, the city of, <a href="#page_226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grant's Town, <a href="#page_228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the silk-cotton-tree, <a href="#page_229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its magnificent bay, <a href="#page_233">233</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Natives, language of the, at the time of Columbus, <a href="#page_015">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their appearance and manners of life, <a href="#page_015">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extermination of the, <a href="#page_015">15</a> (in note);</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modesty of the native ladies, <a href="#page_039">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condition of the, at the time of the discovery, <a href="#page_044">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their affinity with the natives of the neighbouring islands and the mainland, <a href="#page_044">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their number, <a href="#page_045">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their quiet life, <a href="#page_045">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and religion, <a href="#page_046">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spanish cruelty to the, <a href="#page_047">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their few descendants, <a href="#page_048">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduced to slavery, <a href="#page_049">49</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Narvaez starts from Santiago for Yucatan, <a href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Negroes introduced to replace the aborigines, <a href="#page_027">27</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the free blacks, <a href="#page_035">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their liking for gaudy dresses, <a href="#page_035">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in church, <a href="#page_035">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their love of music, <a href="#page_036">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebellion of the, <a href="#page_064">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">barbaric state of the rebel negroes, <a href="#page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how the blacks enjoy themselves during the Carnival in Havana, <a href="#page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">piety of the, <a href="#page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the n. at the opera, <a href="#page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their superstitions, <a href="#page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the n. of the Bahamas, <a href="#page_224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their cleanly habits, <a href="#page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the n. of Monserrat, <a href="#page_261">261</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nelson, marriage of Lord, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New Providence, Bahamas, <a href="#page_225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a contrast after Cuba, <a href="#page_226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its vegetation, <a href="#page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the flatness of the island, <a href="#page_233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the heavy dews, <a href="#page_236">236</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Newspapers, the, of Cuba, <a href="#page_189">189</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_O" id="letra_O"></a><b>O.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Obi</span>, the worship of, <a href="#page_193">193</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strange rites of, <a href="#page_194">194</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ojo del Toro, Mountain of, <a href="#page_002">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Oranges, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +O'Reilly, Marshal, his expedition to Louisiana, <a href="#page_062">62</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_P" id="letra_P"></a><b>P.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Palma, Seņor Thomaso Estrado</span>,<br /> +President of the Gran Junta in New York, <a href="#page_098">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Palm-trees, <a href="#page_205">205</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>Patria, La</i>, the Revolutionary journal, <a href="#page_098">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Payrete Theatre, the, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Petition to the Queen-Regent of Spain, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Philip II., laws framed by, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fortifies Cuba, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Philippe, Louis, wishes to buy Cuba, <a href="#page_077">77</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pico Turquino, Mountain, <a href="#page_003">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pine-apple, the, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a plantation, <a href="#page_233">233</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pinos, La Isla dos, a health resort, 5 and <a href="#page_011">11</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Plantations, or Haciendas, backward state of the, <a href="#page_174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of a, <a href="#page_205">205</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Population, sparse, in mountain regions, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early inhabitants, <a href="#page_014">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present, <a href="#page_016">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the rural, <a href="#page_176">176</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Prim, General, proposes to sell Cuba to the U.S., <a href="#page_088">88</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassination of, <a href="#page_090">90</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Procession, a religious, <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Propaganda, the archives of the, <a href="#page_258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Puentes Grandes, <a href="#page_149">149</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Puerto Principe, founded by Diego Velasquez, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#page_192">192</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Punta, La, the fortress, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_Q" id="letra_Q"></a><b>Q.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Quesada, Manuel de</span>, brother-in-law to Cespedes, elected Commander-in-Chief of the insurgent army, <a href="#page_087">87</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Quinsai, the imaginery city, <a href="#page_040">40</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_R" id="letra_R"></a><b>R.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Railways</span>, mainly in British hands, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban, <a href="#page_150">150</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rainy season, <a href="#page_002">2</a> (in note).<br /> +<br /> +Rebellion, the Cuban, real commencement of the movement, <a href="#page_064">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first steps towards open, <a href="#page_075">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">open revolt under Cespedes, <a href="#page_082">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the holder of the funds decamps, <a href="#page_084">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">want of money and arms, <a href="#page_084">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebels worsted at Bayamo, <a href="#page_085">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the horrors which resulted, <a href="#page_085">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tragic death of Cespedes, <a href="#page_091">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maximo Gomez elected Commander-in-Chief, <a href="#page_093">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Treaty of Zanjou, <a href="#page_094">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abstention of the towns from taking part in the, <a href="#page_100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organization of the, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an encampment, <a href="#page_107">107</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rebels, cruelty of the, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number and organization of the, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amusements of the, <a href="#page_109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their priests, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Reconcentrados</i>, the miserable lot of the, <a href="#page_108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Religion, insincerity of the Cubans in their, <a href="#page_024">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present religious awakening, <a href="#page_024">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">toleration, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religion and slavery, <a href="#page_034">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Catholicism in Cuba, <a href="#page_056">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceremonies of the Church, <a href="#page_057">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an Archbishopric created, <a href="#page_058">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reaction in favour of, <a href="#page_138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a procession, <a href="#page_169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of, in Monserrat, <a href="#page_260">260</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reptiles: the red asp, <a href="#page_007">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scorpions, <a href="#page_007">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cure for the bite of a Cuban scorpion, <a href="#page_007">7</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Republic, the Cuban, proclaimed by, and Cespedes elected President, <a href="#page_087">87</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">send envoys to England, France, and the United States, <a href="#page_087">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tragic death of Cespedes, <a href="#page_091">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Don Cisneros y Bétancourt elected President, <a href="#page_093">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Don Francisco Aquelera, third President, <a href="#page_093">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Treaty of Zanjou, <a href="#page_094">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Republican Parliament dissolved in 1879, <a href="#page_095">95</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rincon, <a href="#page_151">151</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rosario waterfalls, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_S" id="letra_S"></a><b>S.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">San Domingo</span>, revolt of the negroes in, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +San Francisco, the church of, <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br /> +<br /> +San Salvador, first sighted by Columbus, <a href="#page_038">38</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Santiago, the province of, earthquakes in, <a href="#page_003">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">healthiest half of the island, <a href="#page_011">11</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Santiago de Cuba, founded by Diego Velasquez in 1516, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its bay, <a href="#page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">most historical city in the island, <a href="#page_180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the cathedral, <a href="#page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holy Week in, <a href="#page_181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a literary centre, <a href="#page_184">184</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Santoveneo, the late Countess of, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Secret societies formed, <a href="#page_067">67</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">branches in America, <a href="#page_098">98</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Shea, Sir Ambrose, Governor of the Bahamas, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Shopping in Havana, mode of, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sierra de Cobre, <a href="#page_003">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sierra Maestra, <a href="#page_001">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resemblance to Genoese Riviera, <a href="#page_002">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its peaks, <a href="#page_002">2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Silk-cotton-tree, the, <a href="#page_229">229</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Slaves, female, <a href="#page_028">28</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the trade, <a href="#page_029">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first steps towards their emancipation, and its horrible consequences, <a href="#page_029">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continued sale of, notwithstanding the law, <a href="#page_030">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their idea of freedom, <a href="#page_030">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laws to protect the, <a href="#page_031">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inhuman torture of, <a href="#page_032">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the household slaves, <a href="#page_033">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their long hours of labour, <a href="#page_034">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">slavery and religion, <a href="#page_034">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">slavery replaced by coolie labour, <a href="#page_037">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large importation of, <a href="#page_073">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an arrangement for freeing them, <a href="#page_082">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laws against them, <a href="#page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advertisements for the sale of, <a href="#page_271">271</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good treatment of the, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Society, Cuban, <a href="#page_023">23</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sores, Jacob, the adventures of, <a href="#page_053">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Soto, Hernando de, his ill-fated expedition to Florida, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">he rebuilds Havana, <a href="#page_053">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spain aids the American revolutionists, <a href="#page_062">62</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistaken policy of, with regard to Cuba, <a href="#page_066">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her revolting colonies, <a href="#page_067">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revolution in S., <a href="#page_090">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">maladministration of, in Cuba, <a href="#page_112">112</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spaniards in the island, <a href="#page_017">17</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bigotry of, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">S. and Cubans compared, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their way of living, <a href="#page_025">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their cruelty, <a href="#page_047">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hatred in which they were held in the West Indies, <a href="#page_051">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissipation of the Spanish landowners, <a href="#page_175">175</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Springs, fresh, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stories of the Obi, strange, <a href="#page_194">194</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sucking-pig, the universal love of, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sugar, French colonists persuade greater growth of, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sugar canes take the place of coffee, <a href="#page_069">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">depreciation in value of, <a href="#page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">backward state of the plantations, <a href="#page_174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of a s. plantation, <a href="#page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how sugar is made, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Superstitions, Cuban, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_T" id="letra_T"></a><b>T.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Tacon</span>, the good administration of, <a href="#page_072">72</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tacon, Theatre, the orchestra of the, <a href="#page_036">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Carnival ball at the, <a href="#page_140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of the, <a href="#page_142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great singers at the, <a href="#page_143">143</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Theatres in the West Indies, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tobacco, one of the chief products, <a href="#page_003">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">some of the best plantations in British hands, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the trade in a bad state, <a href="#page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the story of, <a href="#page_218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cuban, <a href="#page_219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the tobacco industry, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tom-tom, the, <a href="#page_036">36</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Torrecillas Theatre, the, <a href="#page_144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tortoise-hunting, <a href="#page_008">8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tortuga, Island of, the headquarters of the buccaneers, <a href="#page_052">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Torture of slaves, inhuman, <a href="#page_032">32</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Trinidad de Cuba, founded by Diego Velasquez in 1513, <a href="#page_171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the starting place of Cortez on his expedition to Mexico, <a href="#page_171">171</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Turquino, the highest point in Cuba, <a href="#page_178">178</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Twilight, no, in Cuban latitudes, <a href="#page_174">174</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_U" id="letra_U"></a><b>U.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">United States</span>, the, wish to annex Cuba by purchase, <a href="#page_078">78</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">will not recognise the Cuban Republic, <a href="#page_088">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">another proposal for the purchase of the island, <a href="#page_088">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indignation in, over the "Virginius" affair, <a href="#page_089">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of Cuba to the, <a href="#page_095">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her trade with Cuba, 97, <a href="#page_113">113</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +University of Havana established in 1721, <a href="#page_018">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">several chairs created by Las Casas, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">almost entirely governed by Cubans, <a href="#page_112">112</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_V" id="letra_V"></a><b>V.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Valdes, Gabriel de la Concepcion</span>, the mulatto poet, and his works, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Varona, Don Enrique Jose, editor of <i>La Patria</i>, <a href="#page_098">98</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Vegetation of Cuba, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Velasquez, Diego, sent to Cuba, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds Havana, Santiago, and other towns, <a href="#page_049">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impressed by the harbour of Havana, <a href="#page_121">121</a> (in note).</span><br /> +<br /> +Villa Clara, <a href="#page_192">192</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Virginius," affair of the, <a href="#page_089">89</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Volante, first appearance of the, <a href="#page_055">55</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how it looked, <a href="#page_131">131</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Vomito nigro</i>, the deadly, <a href="#page_010">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">whites attacked by, <a href="#page_104">104</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_W" id="letra_W"></a><b>W.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Waterfalls</span>, the Rosario, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +West Indies, general condition of the, during the 17th century, <a href="#page_260">260</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">different Governors of the, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Weyler, General, Marquis of Tenerife, administration of, <a href="#page_116">116</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_Y" id="letra_Y"></a><b>Y.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Yams</span>, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Yellow fever, said to have first appeared in 1761: the quickness with which its victims succumb, <a href="#page_012">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">statistics of, <a href="#page_103">103</a> (in note).</span><br /> +<br /> +Yumurri Valley, the, <a href="#page_159">159</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><a name="letra_Z" id="letra_Z"></a><b>Z.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Zambrana, Ramon</span>, the poet, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Zanjou, Treaty of, <a href="#page_094">94</a>.<br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<a name="cuba" id="cuba"></a> +<a href="images/cuba_lg.png"> +<img src="images/cuba.png" width="600" height="267" alt="Map of Cuba" title="Map of Cuba" /></a> +<span class="caption">Map of Cuba</span> +</div> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<p class="c"><small>PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDIBURGH.</small></p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="center">Etext transcriber's typgraphical corrections made:</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">caligraphy=>calligraphy</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">ansado=asado</td></tr> +</table> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The island of Cuba lies between the Caribbean Sea on the +S., and the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Florida, and Bahama Channel on +the N., being nearly equidistant from the peninsulas of Yucatan and +Florida and the islands of Hayti and Jamaica. It stretches in N. lat. +from 19° 50' to 23° 9', and in W. long. from 74° 8' to 84° 158'. The +rainfall at Havana is said to be 92.68 inches, or more than double that +of the opposite coast of Florida. The atmospheric tendencies are less +violent than in the other islands. Hurricanes are frequent, but not so +terrible as elsewhere in the same zone. However, one of them, in October +1846, destroyed a third of Havana, while hundreds were killed and +thousands injured. The north wind blows with more or less strength +throughout the entire winter months. In summer, when the sun is at its +zenith, torrential rains, lasting for days at a time, are frequent. Hail +is rare, but, once or twice in this century, snow has fallen on the +upper plateaus of the Sierra Maestra. According to the proverbial +"oldest inhabitant," the rainfall has considerably diminished of late +years through the burning down of some of the forests in the central +district of the island. It has also been observed that in the past +twenty-five years the rainy season begins much later than it did in the +good old times—in June instead of April; and ends earlier—in July +instead of in October.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The American Racoon—<i>Procyon lotor</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The rainfall of Havana is said to be 92.68 ins., more than +double that of the opposite part of Florida. Very heavy, and in certain +districts, dangerous dews, fall immediately after sunset. The +thunderstorms are of tremendous violence, the lightning being often so +incessant as to give quite a steady light.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Between the years 1512-15 the whole island had been +explored, and the aborigines had already disappeared. The poor, timid, +harmless creatures offered no resistance to their conquerors. One chief +alone, the Cacique Hatuei, tried to escape. He refused baptism lest it +might lead to his being condemned to spend eternity in heaven, in the +company of his pious persecutors, who consequently tormented him to +death. This anecdote, related as it is by the Spaniards themselves, +gives the measure of their conception of Christian charity. There are, +however, two sides to every question, and I remember to have read in a +very old Spanish work, on the West Indies, an assertion that the +aborigines of Cuba were afflicted with a certain fell disease which +rendered their disappearance imperative. This may account for the +persistence with which their extermination was carried out, and also for +the recorded fact that in 1554 a number of native families were brought +to Havana, and isolated in a Lazaretto built for their reception near +Guanabacoa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Statistics of Cuban population are very unreliable. The +prolonged rebellion, frequent epidemics and other causes have +considerably diminished the number of inhabitants, especially of late +years. Probably, the actual population does not exceed 1,300,000. +According to Eliseé Reclus, in his splendid <i>Universal Geography</i> +(admirably translated into English, and published by Messrs Virtue & +Co.), "Despite revolutions, wars, and epidemics, the population of Cuba +has increased at least sixfold since the beginning of the last century. +Enforced immigration of whites, negroes, Chinese and Mayas has ceased, +and free immigration is now encouraged by grants of land. But +independently of this movement, there is considerable natural increase +by the excess of births over deaths. In time of peace, the annual +increase may be estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000, a rate according to +which the whole population might be doubled in fifty years. It rose from +600,000 in 1811, and 1,000,000 in 1841, to 1,521,000 in 1887 (last +census), and may now (1891) be estimated at 1,600,000." As to the +coloured population, it is estimated as amounting to between 600,000 and +700,000 all told, but I very much doubt if it at present reaches +anything like that figure, owing to the number of deaths from +starvation, epidemic, etc., which have occurred during the last ten +years, and the cessation of all coloured immigration into the country.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Since the abolition of slavery, some few Galegos have +emigrated from Spain, mainly to seek employment in the houses of the +wealthy. It may interest the reader to know that the peasantry of +Galicia have for many ages supplied Spain and Portugal with their best +domestic servants. They are an honest and frugal race, faithful to their +employers, and excellent cooks to boot. They are much sought after in +Cuba, where they obtain higher wages than they can earn in the +Peninsula.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> According to Las Casas and Herrera, the point first touched +by Columbus was situated at the extreme east of the island, at Baracoa. +Navarreto, on the other hand, declares that Columbus landed at the bay +of Nipe; and Washington Irving is of opinion that it was at Nuevitas, +the port of Puerto Principe. Cuba has been called Fernandina, Santiago, +and Ave-Maria Alfa y Omego, but its original native name of Cubican or +Cuba has alone been retained.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Unfortunately, when we come to examine the matter closely, +we soon discover that similar atrocities have always accompanied +discoveries of new lands and peoples. The swarming native populations of +North and South America have nearly all disappeared, and not precisely +on account of an advancing civilization. The unhappy aborigines of +Africa have suffered a similar fate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Perhaps it were as well if I here remind the reader that +Cuba is ruled by a Governor or Captain-General, whose despotic authority +is derived directly from the Crown. He is supreme head of the island's +civil, military, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and is, surrounded by +a crowd of dependents of every degree, beginning with thirty-four +lieutenant-governors, who preside over as many cantons or divisions of +the island, each of whom, in his turn has a host of underlings. Judicial +affairs are in the hands of the "Real Audienca Pretorat or Superine +Court." The judicial districts, of which there are twenty-six, are +presided over by an Alcalde or Mayor, who has a numerous staff of +salaried satellites. The Maritime division of Cuba is subject to a +Commander-General, who is at the head of five stations with centres at +Havana, Trinidad, San Juan de los Remedios, Matanzos, and Santiago de +Cuba. As almost every member of this army of functionaries is Spanish +born, and as the Yankees would express it, "on the mash," some idea may +be conceived of the waste of public money in the way of salaries, paid +to men who, more often than not, have no duties to perform. But it is +quite untrue to assert that no Cubans "need apply" when a vacancy occurs +in this multitudinous burocracy. Quite the contrary. Many Cubans are in +the civil service of the island, but they are powerless to reform +abuses, and frequently are even less scrupulous than the Spaniards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The price offered was Ģ40,000,000. The Yara rebellion, +which broke out in 1868, cost Spain over 100,000 men, and certainly not +less than Ģ40,000,000, the sum named for the purchase of the island by +the United States.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> In an exceedingly interesting letter from the New York +correspondent of the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, dated May 24th, I found the +following valuable statistics on the subject of epidemics in Cuba:— +</p><p> +"The dread of yellow fever might reasonably have discouraged the +enlistment of volunteers, who could foresee that they would be needed in +Cuba during the rainy season, but the offers and applications show that +the Government could take into the service to-morrow 500,000 men, +instead of the 125,000 already called, if it should consent to accept +them. The mortality reports of the Spanish army are appalling, but +yellow fever has not been the most deadly of the diseases with which the +Spanish soldiers have contended. The number of deaths in the military +hospitals on the island last year was 32,534, and of the 30,000 sick men +sent back to Spain at least 10 per cent. must have died, for many of +them were beyond cure. The reported deaths were distributed as follows, +in round numbers: Typhoid fever and dysentery, 14,500; malarial fever, +7000; yellow fever, 6000; other diseases, 5000. And 2583 persons died of +small-pox in Havana. But the resident inspector of our Marine Hospital +Bureau (which is a kind of National Board of Health) reports that only +one of the five large military hospitals in Havana is in good sanitary +condition; the others are little better than pest-houses, and one of +them is characterised by the inspector as 'the filthiest building in the +city.' The Spanish soldiers have been sacrificed to the greed and +corruption of their commanders and the prevailing mediæval ignorance of +sanitation. +</p><p> +In the recent official indictments of Spanish misrule in Cuba, scarcely +anything has been said about the perpetual menace of yellow fever +infection to which this country has been subjected, and to the enormous +actual cost in the United States of fever epidemics, the seeds of which +were introduced from the island. Of late years all our yellow fever +epidemics have come from Cuba, and the infection has entered our +Southern States in spite of the most elaborate precautions and defences. +Many years ago the disease was sometimes brought from Vera Cruz; but +Mexico, under the effective and progressive rule of Diaz, has cleansed +her infected ports, and they are no longer to be feared. An epidemic of +this fever on our southern seaboard, even if it be of short duration and +attended by slight mortality, causes very great alarm—because the +ravages of memorable visitations are recalled by the people—and +paralyses commerce and industry throughout a wide area. The actual cost +of such an epidemic may be 100,000,000 dols. The epidemic of last year +entailed a loss of a third or a half of that sum. No relief can be +expected so long as the island shall suffer under Spanish misrule. But +now we may look forward with confidence to the time, not far distant, +when this nuisance shall be abated."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> According to the best authorities, Diego Valasquez, the +Conqueror of Cuba, founded the famous city of San Christobal de la +Habana in 1519, and being immensely impressed by the width and depth of +the harbour, and its generally favourable position for trade purposes, +he called it <i>la llave del Nuevo Mondo</i>, the key to the New World.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> See on this subject the following works: (1) <i>Los restos +de Colon</i>, per Don José Manuel de Echeverry, Santander, 1878; (2) +<i>Cristofero Colombo e San Domingo</i>, per L. T. Belgrano, Genova, 1879; +(3) <i>Los Restos de Cristobal Colon</i>, by Tejera, Santo Domingo, 1879; (4) +<i>Los restos de Colon</i>, Emiliano Tejera, Madrid, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The Tacon Theatre was built in 1830 by a man who made his +fortune selling fish. Having saved up a large sum, he invested it in +land, and built the first market upon the site, and finally, as an act +of gratitude to his fellow-citizens for having assisted him in making +some millions of dollars, he built them their largest theatre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> In a great many parts of the Eastern Province, cattle are +used as horses.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Literally God's Baby.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Exhibited by the writer in the West Indian Court of the Colonial +Exhibition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> From notes made some years ago of the conversation in +question.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> The two other important Cuban cities which I did not visit +are Cardenas, which is known as the American city, and which is situated +immediately on the seaboard, and has a population of about 20,000 +inhabitants, and Villa Clara, which is situated on Jagua Bay, a noble +expanse of water which could easily accommodate and shelter half the +fleets of Europe. Both these cities are remarkably well drained and +prosperous, and give evidence at every turn that they are in the hands +of an enterprising and energetic people. Between the two towns there +must be between five and ten thousand residents, all of whom are engaged +in commerce.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Those who wish to obtain a more perfect knowledge of +tobacco and its cultivation will do well to read the two exhaustive +chapters on the subject, in "Cuba with Pen and Pencil," by Samuel +Hazzard, by far the best book ever written on Cuba.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Then, in all probability, he witnessed the coronation of +the Doge Paul of Novi, a dyer who certainly did business with his +father, and lived in the same neighbourhood. The romantic and tragic +history of this Doge recalls that of Marino Faliero. Deposed by the mob, +he was decapitated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> This Appendix and the following one respectively appeared +in another and less elaborate form in the <i>National Review</i> and the +<i>Antiquary</i>, and are reproduced here, with additional matter, by the +courteous consent of the editors of these reviews.—R. D.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cuba Past and Present, by Richard Davey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CUBA PAST AND PRESENT *** + +***** This file should be named 35872-h.htm or 35872-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/8/7/35872/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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