140 CUBA AND POBTO 1UCO 



settlement of the present troubles, and it will doubt]' 

 gain in security with time. 



NO electric loads exist in Cuba at the present time, but 

 their immediate institution may be looked for. It is a 

 singular fact that the travel on the various coasting- 

 Bteamers, ou the vessels running up the small rivers, on the 

 railroads, and ou the few busses that run to the suburbs 

 of the larger towns, is very much larger than one would 

 expect from the apparent nature of the people and their 

 means. The writer has constantly been surprised at the 

 overcrowding of these means of travel, and understands, 

 on the best authority, that the business pays handsomely. 

 The rates charged are usually exorbitant. 



The extension and improvement of steam-railways, open- 

 ing up the country and. giving better service, is sure to be 

 a very paying business in the future, while there are a 

 number of towns, besides Havana, in which electric roads 

 could be run to advantage. 



Municipal improvements will also give much work to 

 engineers. First among these is the drainage of the towns. 

 The sewers, where any exist, are horrible things, built 

 without the most elementary knowledge, in which the con- 

 gested filth of years breeds disease and vile odors. Means 

 of flushing them do not exist, and undoubtedly the dump- 

 ing of house-refuse and emptying of substitutes for water- 

 closets along the curbstone are less dangerous to health 

 than such a sewerage system. To this abominable condi- 

 tion of the towns may be traced the prevalence of fevers, 

 smallpox, and dysentery. These diseases are uncommon 

 on the isolated estates, and the writer firmly believes they 

 may be almost entirely eliminated from the island by 

 giving attention in the towns to the ordinary rules of 

 sanitation. 



Another and equally important need in Cuban towns is 

 water. Havana is pretty well supplied, but in most other 

 towns there is very little or none besides the rain-water 

 stored, during the wet season, in great stone cisterns be- 



