260 VEGETATION, CLIMATE, POPULATION, 



rise to the most varied and beautiful landscapes. 

 The hills and savannas are decorated by palms of 

 several species, trees of other families, and shrubs 

 constantly covered with flowers. Wild orange-trees 

 ten or fifteen feet in height, and bearing a small fruit, 

 are common, and probably existed before the intro- 

 duction of the cultivated variety by Europeans. A 

 species of pine {Pinus occidentalis) occurs here and 

 in St. Domingo, but has not been seen in any of the 

 other West India islands. 



The climate of Havana, although tropical, is 

 marked by an unequal distribution of heat at different 

 periods of the year, indicating a transition to the 

 climates of the temperate zone. The mean tem- 

 perature is 78-3°, but in the interior only 73-4°. The 

 hottest months, July and August, do not give a 

 greater average than 82'4°, and the coldest, Decem- 

 ber and January, present the mean of 69-8°. In 

 summer the thermometer does not rise above 82° 

 or 86°, and its depression in winter so low as 50° or 

 53'5° is rare. When the north wind blows several 

 weeks, ice is sometimes formed at night at a little 

 distance from the coast, at an inconsiderable eleva- 

 tion above the sea. Yet the great lowerings of 

 temperature which occasionally take place are of so 

 short duration, that the palm-trees, bananas, or the 

 sugar-cane do not suffer from them. Snow never 

 falls, and hail so rarely that it is only observed dur- 

 ing thunder-storms, and Avith blasts from the S.S.W. 

 once in fifteen or twenty years. The changes how- 

 ever are very rapid, and the inhabitants complain 

 of cold when the thermometer falls quickly to 70°. 

 Hurricanes are of much less frequent occurrence in 

 Cuba than in the other West India islands. 



In 1817 the population was estimated at 630,980. 

 There were 290,021 whites, 115,691 free copper- 

 coloured men, and 225,268 slaves. The original 

 inhabitants have entirely disappeared, as in all the 

 other Wes. India islands. Intellectual cultivation 



