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NUEVITAS 
By Consul John S. Calvert 
The Province of Camaguey (formerly Puerto Principe), which forms the 
Nuevitas consular district, is the second in size of the six provinces of Cuba, having 
an area of about 10,190 square miles. It is, however, the most thinly populated of 
them all. According to the 1907 census it ranked sixth in population, with 118,000 
people, of whom 91.8 per cent. were Cubans, 7.1 per cent. Spaniards, and 1.6 per cent. 
of other nationalities. In race 81.7 per cent. were white, and 18.8 per cent. negro. 
The present population is estimated at about 200,000, with the foreign element, 
especially that composed of other West Indians, proportionately larger. The capital, 
Camaguey, has now about 35,000 people, Ciego de Avila, the second town, about 
15,000, and Nuevitas and Moron between 5,000 and 10,000. 
Camaguey is located inland, 45 miles by rail from Nuevitas, which latter town 
bas become one of the most important sugar-exporting ports on the island, and bids 
fair to become in the immediate future one of the two or three leading ports in this 
regard. The district was formerly noted for cattle raising, but within the past half 
dozen years the raising of sugar cane and the grinding of it into raw sugar has be- 
come the important industry. Nuevitas has no other important manufacturing in- 
dustries, and it imports practically everything consumed. 
ALTITUDH THMPHRS THH HHAT IN THIS DISTRICT 
The greater part of the district is a central plain several hundred feet above 
sea level. The climate is tropical and insular, and the heat, while not extreme for 
the tropics, extends throughout the year, there being very few days which are really 
eool. The mean temperature for the year at Camaguey City is 77.3° F. The rainy 
season usually occurs during May and the summer months, but even at other seasons 
there is considerable humidity in the atmosphere. At Nuevitas the prevailing wind 
is northeast. 
The customs and manners of the district are those of Latin America, influenced, 
to a certain degree, by its proximity to the United States. The standards of living 
ereate a demand for the better grades of food and clothing, and, to some extent, 
luxuries. Houses are generally of the one-story type, and not modern in their 
arrangements. 
UNITED STATES FIRST IN TRADE WITH NUEVITAS 
The Nuevitas district has always enjoyed a large trade with the United States, 
this country taking most of its exported products, and furnishing the larger share 
of its imports. Since the outbreak of the Huropean war, however, owing to. the 
restricted production in Huropean lands and the difficulties of transportation, the 
United States has practically absorbed the import trade of the district in all com- 
petitive lines, and takes all of its exports, except such raw sugar as is now by 
arrangement exported to the United Kingdom. 
For instance, during: the calendar year 1918, of the total value of imports 
through the port of Nueyitas, amounting to $2,946,875, according to custom house 
figures, $2,816,461 represented American goods, and the balance, $130,414, repre- 
sented imports from foreign countries by way of the United States. Of these trans- 
shipped goods, Spain and England furnished the larger portion, which consisted 
mostly of wine and canned goods from Spain, and jute sacks from England (British 
India). 
. In 1913, the last pre-war year, $867,716 of the total imports of $1,155,262 came 
from the United States, $152,831 from Great Britain, $27,169 from Spain, $255 from 
other countries, and $107,291 from foreign countries shipping through American 
ports. At that time a certain, though not considerable, amount of foreign goods 
