14 



T H E CUBA REVIEW 



fore accounted too shallow for large vessels 

 to use. 



One of the interesting sections plotted by 

 the surveyors was the "White Sea," so 

 called on account of the unusually white 

 sand found on the bottom, the reflection 

 from which almost completely overcomes 

 the natural blue color of the tropic water. 

 It is said that Columbus found this stretch, 

 and was so taken by its oddity that he took 

 a bottle of the water back to Queen 

 Isabella. 



Cuba's Fresh-Water Fish 



The fresh waters of Cuba are inhabited 

 by fishes unlike those found in the' fresh 

 waters in the United States. Some of these 

 are evidently indigenous, derived in the 

 waters they now inhabit directly from ma- 

 rine forms. Two of these are eyeless 

 species, inhabiting streams in caverns. 

 They have no relatives in the fresh waters 

 of any other origin, the blind fishes in 

 American caves being of a wholly differ- 

 ent type. Some of the Cuban fishes are 

 common to the fresh waters of the other 

 West Indies. Of northern types, only one, 

 the alligator gar, is found in Cuba, and 

 this is evidently a filibuster immigrant 

 from the coast of Florida. 



When Tobacco Was Discovered 



When Columbus landed in Cuba in No- 

 vember, 1492, he was surprised to find 

 natives "puffing smoke from their mouths 

 and noses." Their crude cigars consisted 

 of leaves of tobacco rolled within the 

 sheaths of maize heads. The discoverer of 

 the New World was also the first from the 

 Old World to discover tobacco. 



Spai:^ards who invaded Paraguay in 1503 

 were met by the natives, whose weapons 

 were small tubes through which they 

 squirted tobacco juice to blind the white 

 men. One of the Spaniards. Gonzalo de 

 Oviedo, went back to Spain with some to- 

 bacco plants which he cultivated. This 

 was the first occasion on which tobacco 

 was brought to Europe, says London 

 "Answers." 



The origin of the word nicotine is in- 

 teresting. In 155Q Jean Nicot, an ambas- 

 sador of France, bought some tobacco seed 

 at Lisbon from a Flemish captain just 

 back from Florida. Nicot cultivated the 

 plant and presented some specimens to his 

 queen, Catherine de Medici. For some 

 time the plant was known as "herbe de la 

 raine" (the queen's plant), but this name, 

 being too long, gave place to nicotiana. 

 which survives among botanists to this day. 



Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis 

 Drake brought tobacco to England in 1586. 

 but they were not the first to introduce it, 

 although Sir Walter is generally given 

 credit for having done much to popularize 

 smoking at that time. 



Cuban-Dominican Sugar May Earn $1 

 Share on Common 



Cuban-Dominican Sugar Company ex- 

 pects to earn dividend requirements this 

 year on its $8,196,220 8 per cent, non- 

 cumulative preferred stock, with a balance 

 of possibly $1 a share for the 1,056,287 

 shares of no-par common stock. While no 

 dividend is expected this year, ploughing in 

 of earnings may make it possible to initi- 

 ate preferred stock dividends in 1924. 



Production next season is estimated at 

 750,000 bags, an increase of about 25 per 

 cent. A large part of increased output will 

 come from San Domingo, where the 

 weather has been favorable for the grow- 

 ing crop. This season's production in San 

 Domingo was cut by drought. 



Isle of Pines Cave 



Plans for a scientific expedition to study 

 markings in a cave on the Isle of Pines, off 

 Cuba, were being made at the Smithsonian 

 Institution recently as the result of a re- 

 port received from Professor Fernando 

 Ortiz of the University of Havana. 



The expedition will leave the United 

 States this autumn and will pick up Doctor 

 Ortiz and other Cuban investigators at 

 Havana. 



The report received from Dr. Ortiz in- 

 dicates that the cave was used by aborig- 

 inal Indians several hundred years before 

 Columbus discovered the New World. The 

 markings are the first of their kind found 

 in America. 



