372 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



west and east and terminating in the Morro headland, which commands the 

 entrance to the harbour, scarcely 370 yards wide at its narrowest part. On the 

 opposite side of the channel rise the strongly -fortified Cabanas hills, whose guns 

 produce a cross fire with those of Fort Principe commanding the city on the 

 west side, and with other military works round the harbour. 



Beyond the peninsula new quarters have sprung up westwards, while the 

 ever-growing suburbs are gradually covering all the encircling heights. The 

 popuhition already exceeds a quarter of a million, or about one sixth of that of 

 the whole island. But although the general effect of the picture is pleasing for 

 its brightness and animation, there is nothing very imposing either in the aspect 

 of the place or in the character or grouping of its public buildings. The houses, 

 mostly low, are painted in vivid green, sky blue, pink or yellow colours ; the open 

 spaces are relieved with clumps of palms, while the various quarters are separated 

 by broad leafy avenues. Conspicuous amongst the public monuments are the 

 university, Government palaces and several churches, including the cathedral, 

 which, like Santo Domingo, claims to possess the remains of Columbus. Thus the 

 great navigator has two resting-places, as he has had several native towns. 



Till recently Havana Avas badly supplied with water, hence was generally 

 unhealthy and frequently ravaged by epidemics, although visited in winter by 

 thousands of invalids from the States. The public fountains were fed by a stream 

 derived from the Rio Almendares, which, after tumbling over a series of pictu- 

 resque cascades on the west side, winds round Fort Principe through a pleasant 

 valley to the sea. Now the city is supplied by an aqueduct which taps the Rio 

 Vento, an upper affluent of the Almendares, and which yields over 5,000,000 cubic 

 feet daily to the reservoirs 120 feet above the highest quarters. 



The harbour, although partly made a receptacle for the sewage, is still 

 one of the finest in the world, with several square miles of good anchorage, and 

 accommodation for a thousand vessels. The foreign trade, averaging £8,000,000 

 yearly, is chiefly carried on by American steamers, which here ship coffee, sugar 

 and tobacco, the three staple exports of the island. This agricultural produce 

 is brought down from the rural districts by three main lines of railway, which 

 also serve to distribute the foreign wares over the western and central parts of the 

 island. Havana is connected by submarine cables with the United States by Key 

 "West and with Mexico and Central America by Vera Cruz. 



A few ports presenting a remarkable analogy in their formation follow along 

 the coast west of Havana. Such are Mariel, Cahahas and B'lhia Honda, all, 

 however, inferior in size to Guanajay and Phmr del .E/o, the largest inland towns 

 in the Yuelta de Abqjo, or western extremity of the island. Guanajay is sur- 

 rounded by coffee plantations, while the Pinar del Rio district yields the finest 

 tobacco in the whole world. The mineral waters of San Diogo, in the Organos 

 Hills north-east of Pinar, are much frequented in summer. 



South and south- oast of Havana are several flourishing places, the largest of 

 which is Gnanahacoa, crowning a hill which commands a fine panoramic view of 

 the capital, its roadstead and environs. Giiines, the chief agricultural centre south 



