



Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Leonard D Johnson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.





[Illustration: TOWER OF LA FUERZA

_Havana_]

CUBA

OLD AND NEW

BY

ALBERT G. ROBINSON

1915.





CONTENTS


CHAPTER

I.    OLD CUBA

II.   NEW CUBA

III.  THE COUNTRY

IV.   THE OLD HAVANA

V.    THE NEW HAVANA

VI.   AROUND THE ISLAND

VII.  AROUND THE ISLAND (_Continued_)

VIII. THE UNITED STATES AND CUBA

IX.   CUBA'S REVOLUTIONS

X.    INDEPENDENCE

XI.   FILIBUSTERING

XII.  THE STORY OF SUGAR

XIII. VARIOUS PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES

XIV.  POLITICS, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMERCE



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Tower of La Fuerza, Havana
The Morro, Havana
A Planter's Home, Havana Province
Iron Grille Gateway, El Vedado, suburb of Havana
Watering Herd of Cattle, Luyano River, near Havaria
Royal Palms
Custom House, Havana
Balconies, Old Havana
Street in Havana
Street and Church of the Angels, Havana
A Residence in El Vedado
The Volante (now quite rare)
A Village Street, Calvario, Havana Province
Street and Church, Camaguey
Cobre, Oriente Province
Hoisting the Cuban Flag over the Palace, May 20,1902
A Spanish Block House
Along the Harbor Wall, Havana
Country Road, Havana Province
Street in Camaguey
Palm-Thatched Roofs
A Peasant's Home




CUBA

OLD AND NEW




I

_OLD CUBA_


Christopher Columbus was a man of lively imagination. Had he been an
ordinary, prosaic and plodding individual, he would have stayed at home
combing wool as did his prosaic and plodding ancestors for several
generations. At the age of fourteen he went to sea and soon developed an
active curiosity about regions then unknown but believed to exist. There
was even then some knowledge of western Asia, and even of China as
approached from the west. Two and two being properly put together, the
result was a reasonable argument that China and India could be reached from
the other direction, that is, by going westward instead of eastward.

In the early autumn of the year 1492, Columbus was busy discovering islands
in the Caribbean Sea region, and, incidentally, seeking for the richest
of the group. From dwellers on other islands, he heard of one, called
Cubanacan, larger and richer than any that he had then discovered. A
mixture of those tales with his own vivid imagination produced a belief
in a country of wide extent, vastly rich in gold and gems, and already a
centre of an extensive commerce. Cruising in search of what he believed to
be the eastern coast of Asia, he sighted the shore of Cuba on the morning
of October 28, 1492. His journal, under date of October 24, states: "At
midnight I tripped my anchors off this _Cabo del Isleo de Isabella_, where
I was pitched to go to the island of Cuba, which I learn from these people
is very large and magnificent, and there are gold and spices in it, and
large ships and merchants. And so I think it must be the island of Cipango
(Japan), of which they tell such wonders." The record, under date of
Sunday, 28th of October, states: "Continued for the nearest land of Cuba,
and entered a beautiful estuary, clear of rocks and other dangers. The
mouth of the estuary had twelve fathoms depth, and it was wide enough for a
ship to work into." Students have disagreed regarding the first Cuban port
entered by Columbus. There is general acceptance of October 28 as the
date of arrival. Some contend that on that day he entered Nipe Bay, while
others, and apparently the greater number, locate the spot somewhat to the
west of Nuevitas. Wherever he first landed on it, there is agreement that
he called the island Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, taking possession "in
the name of Christ, Our Lady, and the reigning Sovereigns of Spain."

His record of the landing place is obscure. It is known that he sailed some
leagues beyond it, to the westward. While on board his caravel, on his
homeward voyage, he wrote a letter to his friend, Don Rafael Sanchez,
"Treasurer of their most Serene Highnesses," in which the experience is
described. The original letter is lost, but it was translated into Latin
and published in Barcelona in the following year, 1493. While the Latin
form is variously translated into English, the general tenor of all is the
same. He wrote: "When I arrived at Juana (Cuba), I sailed along the coast
to the west, discovering so great an extent of land that I could not
imagine it to be an island, but the continent of Cathay. I did not,
however, discover upon the coast any large cities, all we saw being a few
villages and farms, with the inhabitants of which we could not obtain any
communication, they flying at our approach. I continued my course, still
expecting to meet with some town or city, but after having gone a great
distance and not meeting with any, and finding myself proceeding toward
the north, which I was desirous, to avoid on account of the cold, and,
moreover, meeting with a contrary wind, I determined to return to the
south, and therefore put about and sailed back to a harbor which I had
before observed." That the actual landing was at or near the present port
of Nuevitas seems to be generally accepted.

Columbus appears to have been greatly impressed by the beauty of the
island. In his _Life of Columbus_, Washington Irving says: "From his
continual remarks on the beauty of scenery, and from his evident delight in
rural sounds and objects, he appears to have been extremely open to those
happy influences, exercised over some spirits, by the graces and wonders
of nature. He gives utterance to these feelings with characteristic
enthusiasm, and at the same time with the artlessness and simplicity of
diction of a child. When speaking of some lovely scene among the groves, or
along the flowery shores of these favored islands, he says, "One could
live there forever." Cuba broke upon him like an elysium. "It is the most
beautiful island," he says, "that ever eyes beheld, full of excellent ports
and profound rivers." A little discount must be made on such a statement.
Granting all that is to be said of Cuba's scenic charms, some allowance is
to be made for two influences. One is Don Cristobal's exuberance, and the
other is the fact that when one has been knocking about, as he had been,
for nearly three months on the open sea and among low-lying and sandy
islands and keys, any land, verdure clad and hilly, is a picture of
Paradise. Many people need only two or three days at sea to reach a similar
conclusion. In his letter to Luis de Santangel, Columbus says: "All these
countries are of surpassing excellence, and in particular Juana (Cuba,),
which contains abundance of fine harbors, excelling any in Christendom, as
also many large and beautiful rivers. The land is high, and exhibits chains
of tall mountains which seem to reach to the skies and surpass beyond
comparison the isle of Cetrefrey (Sicily). These display themselves in all
manner of beautiful shapes. They are accessible in every part, and covered
with a vast variety of lofty trees which it appears to me never lose their
foliage. Some were covered with blossoms, some with fruit, and others in
different stages according to their nature. There are palm trees of six or
eight sorts. Beautiful forests of pines are likewise found, and fields of
vast extent. Here are also honey and fruits of thousand sorts, and birds of
every variety."

Having landed at this indefinitely located point, Columbus, believing that
he had reached the region he was seeking, despatched messengers to the
interior to open communication with some high official of Cathay, in which
country he supposed himself to be, the idea of Cipango apparently having
been abandoned. "Many at the present day," says Washington Irving, "will
smile at this embassy to a naked savage chieftain in the interior of Cuba,
in mistake for an Asiatic monarch; but such was the singular nature of this
voyage, a continual series of golden dreams, and all interpreted by the
deluding volume of Marco Polo." But the messengers went on their journey,
and proceeded inland some thirty or forty miles. There they came upon a
village of about fifty huts and a population of about a thousand. They were
able to communicate only by signs, and it is quite certain that the replies
of the natives were as little understood by the messengers as the questions
were by the natives. The messengers sought something about which the
natives knew little or nothing. The communications were interpreted through
the medium of imagination and desire. Nothing accomplished, the commission
returned and made its disappointing report. Washington Irving thus
describes the further proceedings: "The report of the envoys put an end to
the many splendid fancies of Columbus, about the barbaric prince and his
capital. He was cruising, however, in a region of enchantment, in which
pleasing chimeras started up at every step, exercising by turns a power
over his imagination. During the absence of the emissaries, the Indians
had informed him, by signs, of a place to the eastward, where the people
collected gold along the river banks by torchlight and afterward wrought it
into bars with hammers. In speaking of this place they again used the words
Babeque and Bohio, which he, as usual, supposed to be the proper names of
islands or countries. His great object was to arrive at some opulent and
civilized country of the East, with which he might establish commercial
relations, and whence he might carry home a quantity of oriental
merchandise as a rich trophy of his discovery. The season was advancing;
the cool nights gave hints of approaching winter; he resolved, therefore,
not to proceed farther to the north, nor to linger about uncivilized places
which, at present, he had not the means of colonizing, but to return to the
east-south-east, in quest of Babeque, which he trusted might prove some
rich and civilized island on the coast of Asia." And so he sailed away for
Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) which appears to have become, a little later,
his favorite West Indian resort.

[Illustration: THE MORRO _Havana_]

He began his eastward journey on November 12th. As he did not reach Cape
Maisi, the eastern point of the island, until December 5th, he must have
made frequent stops to examine the shore. Referring to one of the ports
that he entered he wrote to the Spanish Sovereigns thus: "The amenity of
this river, and the clearness of the water, through which the sand at the
bottom may be seen; the multitude of palm trees of various forms, the
highest and most beautiful that I have met with, and an infinity of other
great and green trees; the birds in rich plumage and the verdure of the
fields, render this country of such marvellous beauty that it surpasses all
others in charms and graces, as the day doth the night in lustre. For which
reason I often say to my people that, much as I endeavor to give a complete
account of it to your majesties, my tongue cannot express the whole truth,
nor my pen describe it; and I have been so overwhelmed at the sight of so
much beauty that I have not known how to relate it."

Columbus made no settlement in Cuba; his part extends only to the
discovery. On his second expedition, in the spring of 1494, he visited and
explored the south coast as far west as the Isle of Pines, to which he gave
the name _La Evangelista_. He touched the south coast again on his fourth
voyage, in 1503. On his way eastward from his voyage of discovery on the
coast of Central America, he missed his direct course to Hispaniola, and
came upon the Cuban shore near Cape Cruz. He was detained there for some
days by heavy weather and adverse winds, and sailed thence to his unhappy
experience in Jamaica. The work of colonizing remained for others. Columbus
died in the belief that he had discovered a part of the continent of Asia.
That Cuba was only an island was determined by Sebastian de Ocampo who
sailed around it in 1508. Baron Humboldt, who visited Cuba in 1801 and
again in 1825, and wrote learnedly about it, states that "the first
settlement of the whites occurred in 1511, when Velasquez, under orders
from Don Diego Columbus, landed at Puerto de las Palmas, near Cape Maisi,
and subjugated the Cacique Hatuey who had fled from Haiti to the eastern
end of Cuba, where he became the chief of a confederation of several
smaller native princes." This was, in fact, a military expedition composed
of three hundred soldiers, with four vessels.

Hatuey deserves attention. His name is not infrequently seen in Cuba today,
but it is probable that few visitors know whether it refers to a man, a
bird, or a vegetable. He was the first Cuban hero of whom we have record,
although the entire reliability of the record is somewhat doubtful. The
notable historian of this period is Bartolome Las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa.
He appears to have been a man of great worth, a very tender heart, and an
imagination fully as vivid as that of Columbus. His sympathies were aroused
by the tales of the exceeding brutality of many of the early Spanish
voyagers in their relations with the natives. He went out to see for
himself, and wrote voluminously of his experiences. He also wrote with
exceeding frankness, and often with great indignation. He writes about
Hatuey. The inference is that this Cacique, or chieftain, fled from Haiti
to escape Spanish brutality, and even in fear of his life. There are other
translations of Las Casas, but for this purpose choice has been made of one
published in London about the year 1699. It is given thus:

"There happened divers things in this island (Cuba) that deserve to be
remarked. A rich and potent Cacique named Hatuey was retired into the Isle
of Cuba to avoid that Slavery and Death with which the Spaniards menaced
him; and being informed that his persecutors were upon the point of landing
in this Island, he assembled all his Subjects and Domestics together, and
made a Speech unto them after this manner. "You know, (said he) the Report
is spread abroad that the Spaniards are ready to invade this Island, and
you are not ignorant of the ill usage our Friends and Countrymen have met
with at their hands, and the cruelties they have committed at Haiti (so
Hispaniola is called in their Language). They are now coming hither with
a design to exercise the same Outrages and Persecutions upon us. Are
you ignorant (says he) of the ill Intentions of the People of whom I am
speaking? We know not (say they all with one voice) upon what account they
come hither, but we know they are a very wicked and cruel People. I'll tell
you then (replied the Cacique) that these Europeans worship a very covetous
sort of God, so that it is difficult to satisfy him; to perform the Worship
they render to this Idol, they will exact immense Treasures of us, and will
use their utmost endeavors to reduce us to a miserable state of Slavery,
or else put us to death." The historian leaves to the imagination and
credulity of his readers the task of determining just where and how he got
the full details of this speech and of the subsequent proceedings. The
report of the latter may well be generally correct inasmuch as there were
Spanish witnesses present, but the account of this oration, delivered prior
to the arrival of the Spanish invaders, is clearly open to a suspicion that
it may be more or less imaginary. But the historian continues: "Upon this
he took a Box full of Gold and valuable Jewels which he had with him, and
exposing it to their view: Here is (said he) the God of the Spaniards, whom
we must honor with our Sports and Dances, to see if we can appease him and
render him propitious to us; that so he may command the Spaniards not to
offer us any injury. They all applauded this Speech, and fell a leaping and
dancing around the Box, till they had quite tired and spent themselves.
After which the Cacique Hatuey resuming his Discourse, continued to speak
to them in these terms: If we keep this God (says he) till he's taken away
from us, he'll certainly cause our lives to be taken away from us; and
therefore I am of opinion it will be the best way to cast him into the
river. They all approved of this Advice, and went all together with one
accord to throw this pretended God into the River."

But the Spaniards came and encountered the resistance of Hatuey and his
followers. The invaders were victorious, and Hatuey was captured and burned
alive. Las Casas relates that while the poor wretch was in the midst of the
flames, tied to a stake, "a certain Franciscan Friar of great Piety and
Virtue, took upon him to speak to him of God and our Religion, and to
explain to him some Articles of Catholic Faith, of which he had never
heard a word before, promising him Eternal Life if he would believe and
threatening him with Eternal Torment if he continued obstinate in his
Infidelity. Hatuey reflecting on the matter, as much as the Place and
Condition in which he was would permit, asked the Friar that instructed
him, whether the Gate of Heaven was open to Spaniards; and being answered
that such of them as were good men might hope for entrance there: the
Cacique