

iTHA. 



not A mere patch surrounded by a prickly hedge 

 serves to Mipply hi* immediate wants of sweet 

 potatoes and yams. The necessity of work and 



tin- form of a hollow square with cell-like apart- 

 ments opening int.. tin- inner court, is termed the 

 Imrriron. Since the abolition of slavery ti 



ecoromv is incomprehensible to him. and his idea or apartment.- t<> tin- negro and t hmese 



of happiness aoomi to consist in lotting things run laborer! employed <>n thr plantation. Th. 

 a* smoothly as posM f. s>o<lly a residence is often little e 



Roman Catholic, he little understands the n 

 and cant leas. He is apt to look upon the priest 

 and the gmnrdia ciril with an eiual amount ..f 

 fear, they both being Span mrd-. His only vice be- 

 sides incfolrnce is his love for oookfighttaf and a 

 mild form of gambling, lie i- fond of |M*.try and 

 song. and. when n.>t t--- indolent, he may be found 

 composing verses of N I to ".- ..km 



peasant r> in numbers come* the negro. The i 

 ha* bean badly represented in Cuba, and as a real 



ic*I factor he has counted for much U>ss than 

 is generally supposed. N. -it her the white creole 



the Sf'ianianl has taken very kindly to him. 

 and he looks on both with -u-picion. Although 

 many negroes had obtained their liberty long be- 



the final aU.lition of slavery, in 18$6, they do 

 not seem to have followed the example of the 

 Spanish colonists and taken to the occupation of 

 the rural districts as small farmers; they have pre- 

 ferred to labor in the field for 

 hare looked for employment within the tn\\i, 

 Cities. Standing between the iieasant and the ne- 

 gro is the mulatto, who usually lives in the towns 

 and follows occupations that require skilled labor 

 as the rank _:ars, shoes, clothes. ;m<l carpen- 



ter work. The really industrious class of Cuba are 

 the Spanish colonists. They are encouraged to 

 immigrate from Spain under" such indu< 

 exemption from military duty, and they come to 

 Havana usually as apprent ices determined to work 

 their WHY to the front. and for a generation at least 

 they form a small class of hard-working and indu-- 

 trkmi j-eople. Then follow the Intelligent, well- 

 educated Cubans, who are mostly sons of rich fami- 

 lies, not so far removed from Spanish ancestry a- 

 the peasants usually are. These are the Cubans 

 mostly met with in the United States. 



Kc-ouree-. T.', qrieoitanl IWOUTOM "f Cuba. 

 though generally ui o be great, are really 



_: when it i- ron-idered how little they 

 have been developed. While tobacco and 

 have been considered the great wealth pp.,. 

 of the island, little attention has been given to the 

 other products of its abundant fertility. Of the 

 85.000,000 acres composing Cuba, it it eatimated 

 that oaJT IgOOOjOOO - i-.ri under cultiva- 



tion. There are 17,000,000 acres of virgin forest 

 and 9,000.000 acres of fertile plains, which have 

 only served as natural pa-tun-s. of Culm's com- 

 mercial wealth. $68,000,000 worth of sugar and 

 $9.0011.000 worth of tobacco have been exj 

 annually. Owing to the profitableness of the sugar 

 indu-try. when it was practically de-ir-.u-d in the 

 English West Indies by the , M of the 



slaves vast sums were invested in the Cuban sugar 

 estates, rendering many of them comparable to th. 

 abodes of Eastern princes. . <-t- of land 



were mapped out for the planting of the cane, which 

 could be cut year after year without replanting, as 

 it re| .in. i. In the . 



-Detracts were constructed tin- edifices con-n- 



'10 (as they are termed m Spanish) 



for the manufacture of the sugar, the guarding of 



residence of the owi be larger estate 



most elaborate and |*-rfcet machinery known for 

 the manufacture of sugar from the raw 

 was procured, and on many plantat ;..;,. a fortlike 

 edifice forming an angle with the other bin! 

 wasc :. in which were .jiiart. T -d tin 



help before its eman .ill in 



else than a palac. 



rounded u Q| of tropical plants and fruit 



trees. mienled with marble -tatuai) and 



fount .lined baths contributed to 



the enjoyment of t hese abodes, and then 

 of the lu\ n that did not 



ndil their -haiv to the comfort of the wealthy 

 planter. These estates Were Mouri-lun- m II 

 Matanzas. and - i ai the I 



"f the present outbreak, but during tlie \\i-\n- 

 :iiany of those in the extreme 

 east and south of t he la-l nani" d pro\ nice \\ . 

 -tro\ed. In the valley of San Luis there wer. |( 



of these estates. >upj.l\in- a lucrati\e oomn 



with the city ..f Trinidad and the ; 

 the harbor of which was then alive with A IIP 

 ships. Although, after cent", 

 there is no appreciable diminution in the fertility 

 of this valley, only two of its estates are still de- 

 voted to the sugar industry, and thes.- t\\i have 

 only been kept In-m d.-tnictioii during the 

 ent war by the continual presence ..f >i 

 diers. The tobacco indu-try ha- been confined 

 almost exclusively to the western iirovince of the 

 i>land known a- I'inar del liio. altlioiigh it- culti- 

 vation had been taken up -iicce-fully in that por- 

 tion of Santa ( 'lara lx>ruering \\\^ ^ moun- 

 tains. 



('..fTeewas at one time the principal sour- 

 Cuba's wealth. In the early part of the p: 

 century !H.<HMi,(H pounds of coffee were produced 

 in ( 'uki in a single \ . nl ini: a money value 



of $20,000,000. Thi- industry was originally 4 

 by the French, who made "their escap<- from t he 

 negro ,nd massacres in Santo homingo in 



the latter part of the laM century. With what they 

 had been able to rescue from their shattered for- 

 tunes they established themselves in Cuba, resort- 

 lite mountains, as resembling the spots ( 

 ously cultivated in coffee bv them in the other 

 island. It wan then supposed thai coiiec con. 

 grown only on the mountain-, but others found that 

 it would grow as well on the lowland-, and ext< 

 plantations were the result. The French pl.r 



driven from Culm while the Spanish < 

 was in power, but returned to their possessions when 



i. Tlie expulsion of 



the French settlers }\:^ been given as the cause of 



the decline of the coffee industry, but careful re- 



aled the fact that in !*',>* p 



xtended within a few miles ,,| lla- 



Aest \\ard, beautifully laid out and in a high 



state of cultivation, where to-day imthih. 



but vacant fields. Tlie-e plant/it i. .\ned 



by An .nd Spaniard-. th<.se <.f the French 



chiefly in the mountains. I atcd 



that ' '-ofTee estates to one of 



. and the tobacco industry was in it- in: 

 one plantation of ool 



million tree-, and the writer ha- found an authentic 

 .Mt <if a plantation containing ?-Vi.O<O t r <- and 



aves ina part of the island win-real pi- 

 there is neither the vestige of 

 nor . ro jK.pulation. The pn< 



had begun to decime in is-js. and it was undoubt- 

 edly this decline in price, with the. cart- 

 er bad roads, which caused it almost to di-ap- 

 pearas an art idr of commerce from the island. At 

 'itbreak of the la>t insurrection there still 

 ted many plantations j n the mountain- ol 



,d Trinidad, but the-, 

 during the ' i war that foil- 



