ARBIVAL AT THE HAVANNAH. 153 



Tiolence. I nevertheless obtained some altitudes of the 

 sun, at the moment when we believed ourselves, though 

 twelve miles distant, in the meridian of the centre of the 

 Great Cayman, which is covered with cocoa-trees. 



The weather continued bad, and the sea extremely rough. 

 The wind at length fell, as we neared Cape St. Antonio. I 

 found the northern extremity of the cape 87 17' 22, or 

 2 34' 14, eastward of the Morro of the Havannah : this is 

 the longitude now marked on the best charts. "We were 

 at the distance of three miles from land, but we were 

 made aware of the proximity of the island of Cuba, 

 by a delicious aromatic odour. The sailors affirm that 

 this odour is not perceived when they approach from Cape 

 Catoche, on the barren coast of Mexico. As the weather 

 jjivw clearer, the thermometer rose gradually in the shade 

 to 27 : we advanced rapidly northward, carried on by a 

 current from south-south-east, the temperature of which 

 rose at the surface of the water to 26* 7 ; while out of the 

 current it was 24'6. "We anchored in the port of the 

 Havannah, on the 19th December, after a passage of 

 twenty-five days in continuous bad weather. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 



Political Essay on the island of Cuba, The Havannah. Hills o 



vacoa, considered in their geological relations. Valley of Los Guinea. 

 Batabano, and Port of Trinidad. The King and Queen's Gardens. 



CUBA owes its political importance to a variety of circum- 

 stances, among which may be enumerated the extent of its 

 surface, the fertility of its soil, its naval establishments, 

 and the nature of its population, of which three-fifths are 

 free men. All these advantages are heightened by the 

 admirable position of the Havannah. The northern part 

 of the Caribbean Sea, known by the name of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, forms a circular basin more than two hundred and 

 lift v leagues in diameter : it is a Mediterranean with two 

 outlets. The island of Cuba, or rather its coast between 

 Cape St. Antonio and the town of Matanzas, situated at 



