230 ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS OF CUBA. 



on the east, by the names Cayo Breton, Cayos de las docs 

 Leguas, and Bancos de Buena Esperanza. On all this 

 southern line the coast is exempt from danger with the 

 exception of that part which lies between the strait of 

 Cochinos and the mouth of the Rio Guaurabo. These 

 seas are very difficult to navigate. I had the opportunity 

 of determining the position of several points in latitude 

 and longitude during the passage from Batabano to Trini- 

 dad of Cuba and to Carthagena. It would seem that the 

 resistance of the currents of the highlands of the island 

 of Pines, and the remarkable out-stretching of Cabo Cruz, 

 have at once favoured the accumulation of sand, and the 

 labours of the coralline polypes which inhabit calm and 

 shallow water. Along this extent of the southern coast a 

 length of 145 leagues, only one-seventh affords entirely free 

 access ; viz. that part between Cayo de Piedras and Cayc 

 Blanco, a little to the east of Puerto Casilda. There are 

 found anchorages often frequented by small barks ; for ex- 

 ample, the Surgidero del Batabano, Bahia de Xagua, and 

 Puerto Casilda, or Trinidad de Cuba. Beyond this latter 

 port, towards the mouth of the Rio Cauto and Cabo Cruz 

 (behind the Cayos de doce Leguas), the coast, covered with 

 lagoons, is not very accessible, and is almost entirely desert. 

 At the island of Cuba, as heretofore in all the Spanish 

 possessions in America, we must distinguish between the 

 ecclesiastic, politico-military, and financial divisions. We 

 will not add those of the judicial hierarchy, which have 

 created so much confusion amongst modern geographers, 

 the island having but one Audiencia, residing since the year 

 1797 at Puerto Principe, whose jurisdiction extends from 

 Baracoa to Cape San Antonio. The division into two 

 bishoprics dates from 1788, when Pope Pius VI. nominated 

 the first bishop of the Havannah. The island of Cuba was 

 formerly, with Louisiana and Florida, under the jurisdiction 

 of the archbishop of San Domingo, and from the period of 

 its discovery, it had only one bishopric, founded in 1518, in 

 the most western part, at Baracoa, by Pope Leo X. The 

 translation of this bishopric to Santiago de Cuba, took 

 place four years later ; but the first bishop, Pray Juan de 

 LI bite, arrived only in 1528. In the beginning of the nine* 



