12 T H E CU B A RE V I EW 



of hills runs a beautiful automobile drive, connecting the capital with the City of 

 Pinar del Rio, the wonderful valley of the Vinales, Guane and the extreme western end 

 of the island. A drive leading from the city of Guanajai, extends fifty miles north- | 

 west to the Bay of Bahia Honda, chosen originally as a coaling station for the U. S. 

 Navy, but never occupied. 



In the east central part of the province lie two small mountains known as the Tetas 

 de Managua, and from them, extending in an easterly direction into the Province of 

 Matanzas, are broken ridges, plateaus, and hills that form one of the connecting links 

 between the Organ group of mountains in the west and the still higher Cordilleras of the 

 Province of Oriente in the extreme east. 



With the exception of the coastal plain running along the southern boundary, the 

 remainder of the province is undulating, more or less hilly, and quite picturesque in its 

 contour. A little east of the Lomas de Managua, from the top of the divide that forms 

 the watershed of the province, looking south, one sees spread out before him the Valley of 

 the Giiines, known as the Vegetable Garden of Havana. Thousands of acres within this 

 district are irrigated by the Giiines River, fed by never failing springs that gush from the 

 base of a mountain ridge in the east center of the province. 



The rich soil of this section, furnished as it is with water throughout the year, 

 produces a marvelous yield of sugar cane, Irish potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, egg plants 

 and other vegetables, affording a never ending supply during the winter to the capital, 

 forty miles north. Engineers are making a study of this river, so that its water may be 

 more economically distributed and the acreage of irrigated lands greatly increased. 



In the southwestern quarter of Havana Province, known as the Tumbadero District, 

 experiments were first made in growing tobacco under cheese cloth. These were so 

 successful that in a few years Tumbadero, or Havana wrappers, became famous for their 

 fineness of texture, and within a short time thousands of acres in that section were 

 converted into fields, or vegas, whose return in tobacco leaf product were excelled in 

 value only by those of the celebrated Vuelta Abajo District of Pinar del Rio. 



The towns of Alquizar and Guira de Melina were built and sustained by the reputa- 

 tion of the Tumbadero wrapper, and the tobacco district was soon extended well up into 

 the center of the province, including Salud, Rincon, San Antonio de los Baiios, and 

 Santiago de las Vegas. 



In the northwestern corner of the island the rich valley extending south and east of 

 the "Pan de Guayabon," including the towns of Caimito, Hoyo Colorado, Guayabal, etc., 

 has recently rivaled the Tumbadero District in the excellence of its tobacco and excels in 

 citrus fruit. 



Over three-fourths of Havana Province is remarkably fertile, and although much of 

 it has been under cultivation for three centuries or more, with judicious use of fertilizers 

 the returns, either in fruits or vegetables, are very gratifying to the small farmer. 



Several small streams plow to the north and south of the dividing ridge, passing 

 through the center of the island; one of them, either in length or depth, could well be 

 termed rivers. 



The Almendares, that has its origin in a group of magnificent springs near the 

 western center of the province, meanders through a comparatively level valley, emptying 

 into the Gulf of Mexico some three miles west of Havana harbor. The mouth of this 

 stream, with a depth of twelve or fourteen feet, accommodates schooners that come for 

 sand and cement at the factory. 



The Vento Springs, referred to above, have really made the City of Havana possible, 

 since the abundant flow of water that through skilful engineering has been conveyed 

 some eight miles into the city, is of excellent quality. The quantity of water, with 

 economy, is sufficient, according to engineering estimates, for a city of one or two 

 millions. 



About the end of the sixteenth century the Italian engineer Antoneli cut several 

 ridges and ditches across and brought water from the Almendares River into the city of 



