16 



THE CU r. A REVIEW 



Building a Cuban fishing sloop at Batabano. While no difficulty is experienced by Cubans in 

 designing and building these coasting vessels, a steamboat even of small tonnage offers more difficulties 

 and plans giving all details must be provided. 



Hotel at Camp Columbia. 



Mr. L. F. Lorce, president of the Dela- 

 ware & Hud.son Company, who was for 

 some time recently in Cuba, regards the 

 future of the Island as a great com- 

 mercial factor. Havana especially ap- 

 pealed to him as a most attractive win- 

 ter resort. In this connection he sug- 

 gested the building of a large hotel on 

 the lines of those in Florida, outside of 

 the city. To a Havana Post representa- 

 tive he said: 



"Out in the vicinity of Camp Columbia 

 there are any number of places that 

 would be suitable for this. The Gulf of 

 Mexico stretches out to the west ana 

 north and the gently undulating country 

 surrounds it on the other sides. Ofi to 

 the west lie the Plaza and the club 

 house of the Havana Yacht Club. In 

 such surroundings life would be most at- 

 tractive and a hotel which would ofl^er 

 accommodations of 400 or 500 rooms 

 there would be just the thing." 



Fauna of Cuba. 



The fauna is somewhat limited. The 

 deer, though not a native, flourishes and 

 multiplies. The so-called wild boar, hog 

 and cat, are simply domestic animals 

 gone wild. Rabbits abound and are de- 

 structive to vegetation, as in other lands. 



The only native animal is the jutia or 

 hutia, rat-like in form and habit, w^ith a 

 l)ody from sixteen to eighteen inches 

 long. Although it is used for food, there 

 has never been anj' urgent demand for 

 it in the market. 



The swampy places give food and shel- 

 ter to crocodiles and caymans, which 

 often attain enormous size, but are little 

 feared by the natives. There are also 

 chameleons, small lizards, tree toads and 

 iguanas. Of the reptiles, poisonous or 

 otherwise, the maia, ten to fourteen feet 

 long, is semi-domestic, being fond of 

 ensconcing itself in the thatched roofs 

 of huts and frame buildings. Like the 

 juba, one-third as large, its bite is not 

 poisonous to a fatal degree. There are 

 smaller varieties, seldom seen and not 

 poisonous. There are land crabs, scor- 

 pions, centipedes and tarantulas, all but 

 the first having a septic sting, rarely with 

 a fatal result, if ever. 



Of the game birds are ducks, pigeons, 

 pheasants, quail and snipe and wild tur- 

 keys. The wild guinea fowl is hunted 

 also. There are more than two hundred 

 kinds of birds, including the ones men- 

 tioned, many of beautiful plumage, but 

 only a few WMth melodious songs. — Dr. 

 .A.. Pease in the Pittsburg (Pa.) Dispatch. 



