24 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



THE ISLE OF PINES. 



The American Spirit of Enterprise and Progress Prevails. 



A correspondent of the Havana Diario 

 visited the Isle of Pines in April last 

 and her bright description of conditions 

 people and places is entertaining and 

 informing. She says the land is a land 

 of contrasts, as Nature probably in- 

 tended it should be, when first she grew 

 a royal palm alongside a pine tree and 

 repeated the bizarre combination all 

 over the surface of this blest Isle. 



The general aspect of the country 

 hereabouts reminds one (if, indeed, it 

 can be compared to anything on earth) 

 of tablelands in northern altitudes, 

 where close approach to timberline 

 stunts and thins the conifers; but again 

 the presence of palms and palmettos 

 proclaims that this region lies well with- 

 in the tropics. 



The sun blazes down with vehement 

 intention to melt even the marble moun- 

 tains, peaked and picturesque, about 

 Nueva Gerona; but a never-failing 

 breeze keeps the mercury among the 

 70's and 80's month in and month out, 

 with very rare incursions on the 90's in 

 midsummertime. 



While the Isle shared in the drought 

 that afflicted all Cuba, yet in the citrus 

 orchards even the youngest orange trees 

 stand trim and green, with a new growth 

 showing. Harrows turn up damp soil at 

 a depth of but an inch and a half. Ex- 

 periment has proven that every vegetable 

 save those that demand frost for thor- 

 ough ripening, can be grown in this 

 sandy loam, with irrigation. Water is 

 found wherever dug for, and at no 

 great depth. 



Almost the entire Isle belongs to 

 Americans, and they have lost no Amer- 

 ican qualities in the process of trans- 

 planting from the United States. From 

 under the ragged jippijappis they have 

 adopted, sun-cooked, pugnacious Yankee 

 faces look out and Anglo-Saxon blue 

 eyes gleam all the bluer by reason of 

 their crimson setting of fair skin-burned 

 scarlet. 



Their energy takes no note of tropic 

 heat or indolent habits which "in Cuba" 

 include a siesta. They breakfast between 

 6 and 7, and work till noon, when din- 

 ner appears upon their tables. With 

 little rest after the hearty meal they fare 

 forth into the fields again, where they 

 work until nightfall, and supper time. 

 A Peep into the Homes. 

 They' build their own homes, and 

 these are monuments of contrast. The 

 houses are of native pine, and are built 

 in pretty bungalow style; they are airy, 

 with many windows, in which is set 



white cloth or very fine wire netting, in- 

 stead of glass. Inside, they are finished 

 most artistically with wallboard of cool 

 and comforting colors, or the natural 

 pine, oiled. Inside these houses the set- 

 tlers have collected their household 

 goods: the finest of American-made fur- 

 niture, velvety rugs soft under foot, pic- 

 tures of values varying from that of a 

 merely pretty chromo to an original by 

 an artist in water color or oil; pianos 

 everywhere, of the best makes; fine 

 chinaware, silver and table linen; bath- 

 rooms fitted out in accordance with sani- 

 tary requirements; and kitchens where 

 good American stoves respond to the 

 skill of the housewife, producing fare 

 dear to the heart of every American. 

 Your red-faced orange grower, when he 

 comes in from the field, removes at the 

 front door the hat he has filched from 

 the "native" and steps into a home that 

 would find its kind in any pleasant sub- 

 urb of Boston or Philadelphia. 



His wife, in gingham apron, has pre- 

 pared the dainty table that awaits his 

 arrival — where rolls and pie and hot- 

 cakes appear familiarly. 



Some settlers came for health's sake, 

 some others merely to make money; 

 some can't explain why they came, be- 

 cause they themselves don't know; others 

 were literally driven here by force of 

 a variety of circumstances. Some are 

 glad they came; others are frankly sorry; 

 others remain non-committal, while 

 those who have been blessed with per- 

 severance, physical endurance and a wil- 

 lingness to learn as they work, are fairly 

 jubilant: you can understand their state 

 of mind when you see their orange 

 groves flourishing, already beginning to 

 bear. 



The Americans, who appear to be the 

 majority of the inhabitants, consider this 

 Isle apart, removed, separate and dis- 

 tinct from Cuba and all things Cuban. 

 They refer to Cuba as a distant, for- 

 eign, unrelated land, not all together ad- 

 mirable, either, by the way. "In Cuba" 

 things are thus and so; 'in Cuba" this 

 and that transpire; "in Cuba" you know, 

 but not in the Isle of Pines. 



The Department of Public Works has 

 approved the' budgets for the following 

 roads in the Isle nf Pines: Road from 

 Jucaro to Nueva Gerona; Santa Fe to 

 Ceiba and from Nueva Gerona to Mc- 

 Kinley. There is also an appropriation 

 for the construction of a government pier 

 and warehouse at Juc'aro. Contractors 

 are hard at work on the roads which are 

 nearing completion. 



