OTHER CUBAN CITIES 133 



reef rock, at the top of which is a little star-shaped fort of 

 medieval structure. The inhabitauts show you where the 

 first cross was erected, and the ruins of the first house can 

 still be seen. The circular harbor is only a mile in diame- 

 ter, but has a picturesque setting of high hills to the south 

 and west, above which towers the gigantic flat-topped hill 

 known as El Junki, which is a notable landmark to the 

 mariner on approaching this coast. 



Baracoa is the center for banana shipments, and many 

 steamers here load with the finest and largest fruit grown 

 in the West Indies. Its chief industry is the grinding 

 of cocoanuts to extract oil. There are two establish- 

 ments, with a capacity of thirty thousand cocoanuts daily, 

 t-niploying about fifty workmen. There are also a petro- 

 leum-refinery (closed at present) and a chocolate-factory. 

 Bananas and cocoanuts are exported to the United States 

 ($628,811 worth in 1895). 



The other cities of this general region are also unique, 

 and, like Baracoa, each seems to be the metropolis of 

 a limited local region, cut off from the others by high 

 mountains, and connected with the outer world only by 

 the sea. 



