



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