The History of Cuba Volume V Part 2

CHAPTER III

THE CLIMATE OF CUBA

Since on the climate of country depends largely its healthfulness, nothing perhaps is of greater importance, especially to the man who wishes to find some place where he may build his permanent home and raise his family; to him this feature above all demands careful consideration.

The most striking and perhaps the most important fact in regard to the climate of Cuba is its freedom from those extremes of temperature which are considered prejudicial to health in any country. The difference between the mean annual temperature of winter and that of summer is only twelve degrees, or from 76 degrees to 88 degrees. Even between the coldest days of winter, when the mercury once went as low as 58 degrees, and the extreme limit of summer, registered as 92 degrees, we have a difference of only 34 degrees; and the extremes of summer are seldom noticed, since the fresh northeast trade winds coming from the Atlantic sweep across the Island, carrying away with them the heated atmosphere of the interior.

The fact that the main axis of the Island, with its seven hundred mile stretch of territory, extends from southeast to northwest, almost at right angles to the general direction of the wind, plays a very important part in the equability of Cuba's climate. Then again, the Island is completely surrounded by oceans, the temperature of which remains constant, and this plays an important part in preventing extremes of heat or cold.

Ice, of course, cannot form, and frost is found only on the tops of the tallest mountain ranges. The few cold days during winter, when the thermometer may drop to 60 after sundown, are the advance waves of "Northers" that sweep down from the Dakotas, across Oklahoma and the great plains of Texas, eventually reaching Cuba, but only after the sting of the cold has been tempered in its pa.s.sage of six hundred miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

A temperature of 60 degrees in Cuba is not agreeable to the natives, or even to those residents who once lived in northern climes. This may be due to the fact that life in the Tropics has a tendency to thin the blood, and to render it less resistant to low temperature; and also because Cuban residences are largely of stone, brick or reinforced concrete, with either tile or marble floors, and have no provision whatever against cold. And, although the walls are heavy, the windows, doors and openings are many times larger than those of residences in the United States, hence the cold cannot readily be excluded as in other countries. There is said to be but one fire-place in the Island of Cuba, and that was built in the beautiful home of an American, near Guayabal, just to remind him, he said, of the country whence he came.

Again in the matter of rainfall and its bearing on the climate of a country, Cuba is very fortunate. The rains all come in the form of showers during the summer months, from the middle of May until the end of October, and serve to purify and temper the heat of summer. On the other hand, the cooler months of winter are quite dry, and absolutely free from the chilling rains, sleets, snows, mists and dampness, that endanger the health, if not the life, of those less fortunate people who dwell in lat.i.tudes close to 40 degrees.

Cloudy, gloomy days are almost unknown in Cuba, and the sun can be depended upon to s.h.i.+ne for at least thirty days every month, and according to the testimony of physicians nothing is better than suns.h.i.+ne to eliminate the germs of contagious diseases. Hence we can truthfully says that in the matter of climate and health, Cuba asks no favor of any country on earth.

CHAPTER IV

PROVINCE OF HAVANA

The Province of Havana, with its area of 3,171 square miles, is the smallest in Cuba, and yet, owing to the city of Havana, capital of the Republic, it plays a very important part in the social, political and economic life of the Island.

Geographically, it is the pivotal province of Cuba, since the narrowest place across the long arch-like stretch of the Island is found along the border between Havana and Pinar del Rio, where only twenty-two miles lie between the Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean Sea. The province proper measures about thirty miles from north to south, with an average width of fifty-five.

The topography of Havana includes a varied a.s.sortment of hills, ridges, plateaus, valleys and plains, so that the scenery never becomes monotonous; and with the numerous automobile drives that radiate from the Capital, shaded with the luxuriant foliage of royal palms, bamboo and other forms of tropical vegetation, it offers to the tourist and traveler an almost endless panorama of charming change and pleasant surprise. The average alt.i.tude of Havana province is slightly lower than that of either Matanzas or Pinar del Rio, bordering on the east and west.

Columbus, on his second voyage of discovery, cruised along the southern coast of Cuba until he reached a point a little west of the Indian village of Batabano. Here he heard of another island not far to the south. Leaving the coast he threaded his way through shoals and scattered keys, that even up to the present time have been only imperfectly charted, and finally, on July 12, 1494, landed at some place on the northern sh.o.r.e. He called this island the Evangelist. It is the largest of a chain of keys running parallel with this part of the south coast, irregular in form with an area of approximately eight hundred square miles, and forms the southern half of the judicial district of Havana.

Columbus remained here, taking on fresh water and wood, until July 25, and then began his return voyage east, sailing over shoals that displayed so many varying shades of green, purple and white, that his mariners are said to have become alarmed.

Some twenty years later Diego Velasquez cruised along the southern coast to a point west of the Guines River, where he founded a city, which he called San Cristobal de la Havana. The fifty odd colonists whom he left behind soon became dissatisfied with the general surroundings of the spot which he had selected for their abiding place and moved over to the north sh.o.r.e of the Island near the mouth of the Almandares River, which they found in every way more agreeable as a place of permanent residence. In 1519 a second move was made to the Bay of Carenas, where they located permanently on the harbor, destined soon after to become the most important port of the West Indies.

The inhabitants of that irregular group of palm thatched huts little dreamed that four centuries later the Port of Havana would have a foreign commerce whose tonnage is excelled by only one other in the Western Hemisphere.

With the exception of the low, gra.s.s-covered plains of the southern sh.o.r.e, the topography of the Province of Havana is undulating and picturesque. The northern sh.o.r.e, throughout most of its length, especially from the City of Havana west to Matanzas, rises more or less abruptly from the beach until it reaches a rather uneven plateau, several hundred feet above the level of the sea.

In the northwestern corner, some two miles back from the sh.o.r.e line, the "Pan" or "Loma of Guayabon," which is really a continuation of the Organ Mountains of Pinar del Rio, forms a palm covered, picturesque ridge, six hundred feet in height, extending from east to west for several miles. Along the southern edge of this range of hills, runs a beautiful automobile drive, connecting the capital with the city of Pinar del Rio, the wonderful valley of the Vinales, Guane and the extreme western end of the Island. A drive leading from the city of Guanajay extends fifty miles northwest to the Bay of Bahia Honda, chosen originally as a coaling station for the Navy, but never occupied.

In the east central part of the province lie two small mountains known as the Tetas de Bejucal, and from them, extending in an easterly direction into the Province of Matanzas, are broken ridges, plateaus, and hills that form one of the connecting links between the Organ group of mountains in the west, and the still higher cordilleras of the Province of Oriente in the extreme east.

With the exception of the coastal plain running along the southern boundary, the remainder of the province is undulating, more or less hilly, and quite picturesque in its contour. A little east of the Tetas de Bejucal, from the top of the divide that forms the water shed of the province, looking south, one sees below him the Valley of the Guines, known as the Garden of Havana. Thousands of acres are here spread out before the view, all irrigated by the Guines River, whose source is in the never failing springs that gush from the base of a mountain ridge in the east center of the Province.

The rich soil of this section, furnished as it is with water throughout the year, produces a marvelous yield of sugar cane, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, egg plants and other vegetables, affording an inexhaustible supply during the winter to the capital, forty miles north. Engineers are making a study of this river so that its water may be more economically distributed and the acreage of irrigated lands greatly increased.

In the southwestern quarter of Havana Province, known as the Tumbadero District, experiments were first made in growing tobacco under cheese cloth. These were so successful that in a few years Tumbadero, or Havana wrappers, became famous for their fineness of texture, and within a short time thousands of acres in that section were converted into fields, or vegas, whose returns in tobacco leaf product were excelled in value only by those of the celebrated Vuelta Abajo district of Pinar del Rio. The towns of Alquizar and Guira de Melina were built and sustained by the reputation of the Tumbadero wrapper, and the tobacco district was soon extended well up into the center of the province, including Salud, Rincon, San Antonio de los Banos, and Santiago de las Vegas. In the northwestern corner of the Island, the rich valley extending south and east of the "Pan de Guayabon," including the towns of Caimito, Hoyo Colorado, and Guayabal, has recently rivaled the Tumbadero district in the excellence of its tobacco, and excels in citrus fruit.

Over three-fourths of Havana Province have been blessed with a remarkably fertile soil, and although much of it has been under cultivation for three centuries or more, with the judicious use of fertilizers, the returns, either in fruit or vegetables, are very gratifying to the small farmer.

Along the delightfully shaded automobile drives that radiate from the Capital in nearly all directions, the price of land within thirty miles of the city has risen so rapidly that it is being given over almost entirely to suburban homes and country estates, maintained by the wealthy residents of the capital. In a climate where frost is unknown, where the foliage remains fresh and green throughout the winter, it is comparatively easy to convert an ordinary farm into a veritable garden of Eden.

One of the most beautiful places on the Island within the last few years has been created by General Mario G. Menocal, President of the Republic.

It covers several hundred acres and is known as "El Chico," or the "Little One." A commanding residence of Cuban colonial architecture, standing a little back from the road, has been surrounded with beautiful drives, lined with every variety of fruit tree, flower and ornamental plant known to Cuba. The green lawn sweeps up to the stately building occupied by President Menocal as a residence or country seat in summer.

On this place may be found many varieties of poultry, recently imported from the United States for experimental purposes, in which the President is deeply interested. Competent gardeners and caretakers are maintained, with the result that "El Chico," where General Menocal and his family spend much of their time, has become one of the show places of the Province.

Col. Jose Villalon, Secretary of Public Works, and Col. Charles Hernandez, Director of Posts and Telegraph, have pretty country estates located west of Havana, not far from El Chico.

The soil of the Province, throughout most of its extent, has been formed through the erosion of tertiary limestone, colored in many places a reddish brown of oxide of iron that has impregnated most of the soils of Cuba. Just south of Havana, serpentine has obtruded through the limestone along a belt some two or three miles in extent, and forms the round topped hills in evidence from the bay.

The greater part of Havana Province, when found by the Spaniards, was covered with forests of hard woods, that were gradually cut away during the centuries in which the land has been tilled. The trees, according to early records, included cedar, mahogany, acana, majagua and others, still found in the mountainous districts and those sections of Cuba not yet brought under cultivation. These valuable hard woods formed the posts, joists, rafters, doors and windows of nearly all the old-time residences of early days. Many buildings that have remained standing through centuries, have ceilings that are supported by heavy carved timbers of mahogany and give promise still of long years of service if permitted to remain.

The basic wealth of the province, as in nearly all other sections of Cuba, is dependent on agriculture, although since the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, manufacturing and various other industries are beginning to play a prominent part in her economical wealth.

In agricultural products, the Guines Valley previously referred to undoubtedly produces greater returns than any other similar lands in Cuba. Hundreds of thousands of crates of tomatoes, egg plants and other vegetables, that have been raised through the whiter month by irrigation, are s.h.i.+pped to the United States from December to April.

Thousands of barrels of Irish potatoes from the Guines Valley, also, are sold in Philadelphia, New York and Boston during the month of March, at prices averaging four dollars per hundred weight.

In the Valley of Caimito, Guayabal and Hoyo Colorado, large crops of vegetables are s.h.i.+pped to the northern markets during the winter months, when good prices are a.s.sured. A certainty of profit, however, can only be depended on where irrigation from wells is secured.

Large acreages of pineapples are grown in the same district, although the center of the pineapple industry in Havana today is located about thirty miles east of the City, on the road to Matanzas. Over a million crates every year are s.h.i.+pped out of Havana to the northern markets between the middle of May and the middle of July.

It is probable that no section of either the West Indies or the United States offers greater opportunities for the canning industry than is found in Cuba at the present time, especially in the Province of Havana, where facilities for transportation are plentiful. A general canning and preserving plant, intelligently conducted, could be operated in this province throughout the entire year. In this way all of the surplus pineapples not s.h.i.+pped abroad could be utilized.

During the last few years several manufacturing industries have sprung up on the outskirts of Havana, all of which seem to be yielding satisfactory returns. Three large breweries are turning out a very good grade of beer that is disposed of throughout the Island. The plants are located in the suburbs of Havana, each surrounded by grounds rendered attractive by landscape gardeners and furnis.h.i.+ng places for recreation and rest to both rich and poor on holidays, which are plentiful in Cuba.

A large up-to-date bottling plant, located just west of the City, manufactures the containers for the output of the breweries.

Between the city of Havana and the suburb of Ceiba, a modern rubber tire and tube factory has been established, and is said to be working on full time with very satisfactory profits. Several large soap and perfume factories, recently established, are supplying the demand for these products with satisfaction, it is said, both to the manufacturer and the consumer.

A number of brick yards and tile factories are located not far from the City, the combined output of which is large. The erection of wooden buildings within the city limits of Havana is not tolerated. In fact they are not at all popular in Cuba since the climate is not conducive to the preservation of wood, aside from cedar and mahogany or other hard woods, which are too expensive for construction work. Limestone, easily worked, and of a fine quality for this climate, is found in abundance, hence it is that the vast amount of building going on at the present time in Cuba makes heavy demands on both this material and brick, for all constructive purposes.

Nature has again favored this Island in her large deposits of excellent cement-clay, limestone and sand, which are essential to the manufacture of cement. The Almandares factory located on the west bank of that river has long been in successful operation. Within the last year another large modern cement factory has been established on the eastern sh.o.r.es of the harbor of Mariel, twenty-five miles west of Havana, and today is turning out high-grade cement at the rate of six hundred barrels per day.

Local factories have had a monopoly of the match-making industry in Cuba for many years. Few, if any matches are imported from abroad, and may never be, owing to the fact that the people of Cuba prefer the wax taper match. Although short and rather inconvenient to those who are not accustomed to this miniature candle, the flame burns longer and persists more successfully in a breeze, hence it is probable that the Cuban match will hold its own against all compet.i.tors. Quite a revenue is derived from the penny stamp tax placed on each box of matches.

Large quant.i.ties of pine lumber are imported into Cuba from the Gulf cities, especially from South Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile. This material is used throughout the island for interior work, sash, doors, blinds, etc. Unless covered with paint, hard pine is not very lasting in this climate, for which reasons, perhaps, show cases, fancy work and ornamental doors are usually built of the native cedar and majagua, which are practically impervious to either decay or attack from boring insects.

The most important industry of the Province, from the monetary viewpoint, at least, is the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes, which are produced in greater quant.i.ty in Havana and throughout the province than in any other part of the world. It is needless to state that the cigars made in Havana from the celebrated Vuelta Abajo leaf are s.h.i.+pped from this capital to all parts of the world, and may be found, it is said, on the private desk of every crowned head in Europe. Large s.h.i.+pments are made every year, also, to j.a.pan and the Orient. Thousands of men and girls are employed in this industry, the value of which, in the export trade alone, amounts to over $30,000,000 a year.

The Province has but one harbor of any importance, the Bay of Havana, located near the center of the north coast. It covers several square miles, and although the entrance between the promontory of Morro and the Punta is only a few hundred yards across, the channel is deep, perfectly protected, and leads to an anchorage sufficient for large fleets of vessels. The sh.o.r.e portions of the main body of the harbor were rather shallow in early times, but during recent years have been well dredged up to the edge of the surrounding wharves, thus reclaiming a large amount of valuable land, and greatly increasing the capacity of the Bay for s.h.i.+pping purposes.

Since the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, a series of large, modern, perfectly equipped piers, built of concrete and iron, have been extended out from the sh.o.r.e line of the western side of the bay, so that the largest s.h.i.+ps may now discharge and take on cargoes, eliminating thus, to a great extent, the custom of lightering which prevailed only a few years ago. Owing to the fact that nearly all the princ.i.p.al railroad systems of Cuba radiate from the Capital, each with a terminal system connecting with the wharves, the transportation facilities of this port are superior to any others in Cuba.