INTERNAX. COMMUNICATIONS. 



321 



eastern, 5 leagues from Havana. They are con- 

 structed by the Junta de Fomento, with funds 

 appropriated mostly by the government from the 

 general revenue. 



To Don Eduardo Fesser, a private gentleman of 

 Havana, belongs the honor of having first drawn 

 public attention in Cuba to the railroads for internal 

 communication. With unwearied exertion he pro- 

 cured and presented, in a well-digested form, the 

 fullest and most satisfactory information on the sub- 

 ject, and succeeded in establishing a joint stock 

 company for the purpose of carrying his plans into 

 execution. Experience has fully demonstrated the 

 great adaptability of this system of internal commu- 

 nication to the wants of Cuba. The difficulty and 

 great expense of building and keeping in repair 

 good common roads, under the intertropical torrent 

 rains, and the facilities afforded by the face of the 

 country for building railroads without deep cuts, 

 tunnels, or heavy grades, makes their cost compara- 

 tively small, while the practicability of constructing 

 short stretches inland, from the harbors, and their 

 becoming immediately profitable, has been favorable 

 to their extension. The wealth and production of 

 the Western department are now in a great measure 

 concentrated upon Havana by a well-devised system 

 of railroads. 



U* 



