CUBAN CITIES: HAVANA 117 



tobacco districts. These, with the large set of military 

 officials, add interest to the social picture. 



Among the lower classes there is a large industrial popu- 

 lation, living in densely crowded houses, and employed 

 principally in the tobacco-factories. There are also manu- 

 factories of sweetmeats, candles, carriages, soap, perfu- 

 mery, and glycerin, and breweries, rum-distilleries, tanner- 

 ies, and gas-works. 



Among so pleasure-loving a people as the Cubans, 

 public amusements hold a far more prominent place than 

 they do in the United States, with, perhaps, the sole excep- 

 tion of New Orleans, and the carnival at Havana was at 

 one time the most brilliant in the Americas. For many 

 years its glories have been declining, and during the last 

 few decades the upper and middle classes have taken little 

 part in the outdoor festivities. 



There are many places of recreo adjacent to Havana, 

 including the sea-shore and the pretty villages, such as 

 Guines, Guanabacoa, Marianao, and Puentes Grandes. 

 Excursions to places of interest can be taken within a few 

 hours' ride from the city; all the country within railway 

 communication can be reached in a day's time. Two 

 hours will convey one southward by rail to Batabano, or 

 westward to the tobacco-fields of Pinar del Rio, or east- 

 ward through charming hills to Matanzas. The miserable 

 village of Batabano, twenty-five miles distant, is only 

 interesting as an entrepot for the city. Here the coastal 

 cable from Santiago touches, and from this point radiate 

 various lines of steamers along the coast and to the Isle of 

 Pines. 



All in all, Havana is a handsome, delightful, and charm- 

 ing city, where one capable of remembering that all the 

 world is not alike will find novel experiences and interest- 

 ing entertainment on every side. In spite of the frightful 

 mortality of Havana, the better parts of the city are, to 

 outward appearance, clean and beautiful. Prisoners sweep 

 the paved streets each morning, and the houses arc all kept 



