20 



THE CUBA REVIEW 



ALL AROUND CUBA 



INTERESTING NEWS NOTES REGARDING VARIOUS MATTERS PERTAINING 



TO THE ISLAND 



NEW LIGHT HOUSE 



A light house of the sixth order will soon 

 be erected at Manati, north goast of 

 Oriente Province. 



Other light houses projected on Cuba's 

 coast are four in number. They were in- 

 cluded in the works to be done by the Cu- 

 ban Ports Company, but these works be- 

 sides all others are now suspended by the 

 annulment of the company's concession. 

 The new light houses were to be placed at 

 the following points: (l) Buena Vista 

 Key, 1st class light; (2) Cayo Breton 

 (S.E. of Cienfuegos), 1st class light; (3) 

 Cayo Pepe (Isle of Pines), 2nd class light; 

 (4) Cayo Moa (on the N. E. coast), 2nd 

 class light. It is reported that it would be 

 impracticable to alter the San Antonio light 

 by putting it higher up. 



ICE COMPANY CHARGES 



The ice company in Guantanamo has 

 served notice to its patrons that the fol- 

 lowing prices will govern for stated quan- 

 tities of ice to be delivered as required : 

 150 pounds, $1.35, in 5 pound quantities ; 

 300 pounds, $2.70, in 10 pound quantities ; 

 750 pounds, $5.75, in 25 pound quantities ; 

 1,500 pounds, $10.80, in 50 pound quantities. 



The company issues coupons which must 

 be used under these contracts. 



THE ROQUE CANAL 



President Menocal has recently made a 

 tour of inspection of this great work in 

 Matanzas Province and found the enter- 

 prise going on satisfactorily. 



The contractors have already cut through 

 twelve kilometers of rock toward the 

 north, which represents about 20 per cent 

 of the work, the canal to be fifty kilo- 

 meters long. In this work there are em- 

 ployed three large rock cutters and four 

 dredges which pump the mud out to a 

 distance of two hundred meters on each 

 side of the canal which is twelve meters in 

 width. 



The effect of the work is already being 

 reaped in the Roque valley where already 

 more than 30 caballerias have been re- 

 claimed and are now devoted to cane plant- 

 ing. When the work is finished the famous 

 Majaguila and Guayabeque swamos which 

 have a surface of more than 800 caballerias 

 wiU be reclaimed. 



THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE 

 CARIBBEAN 



An exceedingly interesting article on the 

 "Geology of the Panama Isthmus and the 

 Caribbean Archipelago,'' appeared in En- 

 giiieering of the 22nd ult. In this it is 

 pointed out that had the geographical fea- 

 tures of the Caribbean remained as they 

 were at a time geologically not far distant, 

 to be exact at the beginning of the Tertiary 

 period, there would be no occasion for the 

 construction of the Panama Canal, for at 

 that time the Caribbean Sea was connected 

 with the Pacific Ocean and the Isthmus of 

 Panama did not exist. This fact is in- 

 dicated by the presence of identical fossils, 

 belonging to the early Tertiary period, on 

 both sides of the Isthmus. 



On the site of what are now the Antilles, 

 therefore, was, in every probability, the 

 isthmus which united North and South 

 America. 



The subsidence which brought about the 

 present physiographic condition of the An- 

 tilles was a gradual one. The distribution 

 of the flora and fauna shows that the first 

 result was the formation of a large island 

 occupying the site of Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti 

 and Porto Rico. One of the evidences of 

 this is the distribution of a group of birds, 

 which are called in Jamaica "Green todies." 

 The genus consists of only four species, 

 restricted to these four islands. The fact 

 that the tody is confined to these four 

 islands and that none are found elsewhere, 

 shows that at one time these islands were 

 included in one island, and the additional 

 fact that each of the four islands possesses 

 its own separate species evolved from the 

 common form, proves that separation took 

 place later on. Sea soundings, taken in the 

 locality, confirm this view. — West India 

 Committee Circular. 



An explosion followed by fire in Sagua 

 la Grande on August 30th destroyed the 

 warehouse of Messrs. Mufiis & Co., hard- 

 ware merchants. No explanation is given 

 as to the cause of the explosion. The losses 

 foot up to $80,000. 



President Menocal will prosecute one 

 Demetrio Perez, a Spaniard, for calumny. 

 The latter, who is secretary of the Glass 

 Makers' Union, wantonly attacked and 

 aspersed Cuba's President during a meet- 

 ing, and was immediately arrested. 



