AEEIVAL AT THE HAVANNAH. 
153 
■Violence. 1 nevertTieless obtained some altitudes of tbe 
■^un, at tbe moment when me believed ourselves, though 
"twelve miles distant, in tho meridian of the centre of the 
Grreat Cayman, which is covered with cocoa-trees. 
The weather contimred bad, and the sea extremely rough. 
The wind at length fell, as we neared Cape St. Antonio. I 
Jound the northern extremity of tho cape 87° 17' 22°, or 
34' 14°, eastward of the Morro of the Havaiinah : this is 
the longitude now marked on the best charts. AV^e were 
at the distance of three miles from land, but Ave w^ere 
®ade aware of the proximity of the island of Cuba, 
hy a delicious aromatic odour. The sailor.s affirjn that 
this odour is not perceived when they approach from Cape 
*^<itoehe, on the barren coast of IMexico. As tho weather 
?rew clearer, the thermometer rose gradually in the shade 
27°: we advanced rapidly northward, carried on by a 
current from south-soirth-east, the temperature of which 
^ose at the surface of the water to 26’7° ; while out of the 
Current it was 24’6°. AVe anchored in the port of the 
"avannah, on the 19th December, after a passage of 
twenty-five days in continuous bad weather. 
CHAPTEE XXIX. 
t*oUtical Essay on the island of Cuba- — The Havannah. — Hills of Guana- 
vacoa, considered in their geological relations. — Valley of Los Guines. 
batabano, and Port of Trinidad. — The King and Queen’s Gardens. 
Cuba ow'es its political importance to a variety of circum- 
stances, among which may bo enumerated the extent of its 
surface, the fertility of its soil, its naval establishments, 
^hd the nature of its population, of which three-fifths are 
tree men. All these advantages are heightened by the 
admirable position of the Havannah. The northern part 
Wr Caribbean Sea, known by the name of the Gulf of 
Hexico, forms a circular basin more than two hundred and 
utty leagues in diameter: it is a Mediterranean with two 
outlets. The island of Cuba, or rather its coast between 
Cape 8t. Antonio and the town of Matanzas, situated at 
