126 
THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
time when the island was brought into trade relations with the rest 
of the world as a result of the expedition of Lord Albemarle. 
V.—Havana Within the Walls. 
In the years immediately following the restoration of Havana to 
Spanish dominion, renewed activity was manifested in enlarging and 
strengthening the defenses. Cabana, Atares and Principe were built, 
and batteries were established at all commanding points on the hills 
around the city. As the metropolis of one of the most fertile countries 
on the globe, the city grew in population and in riches. Vast wealth 
was concentrated here. In the early years of the last century Havana 
had become one of the gay capitals of the world. This is a picture of 
the city as Abiel Abbott saw it in 1829: 
“In the center of this city—a vast mass of stone and mortar, encircled by a high 
wall and the wall protected by a broad ditch of a hundred feet in width, which can 
be filled with water at pleasure for the safeguard of the city—it is impossible that a 
reflecting stranger should not be filled with deep interest. Every circumstance 
around him proclaims the importance of Havana. The turrets and portholes of the 
excavated rock of the Morro, frowning over the narrow entrance of the harbor; the 
strong battery answering to it on the opposite point; the long-range of cannon and 
barracks on the city side; the powerful fortifications that crest the opposite hill, all 
speak one language to the eye of the stranger—that Havana is the heart of Cuba, 
and must never be given up. It is evident, he perceives, that the city is worth all 
this care to preserve it. The bay, populous with vessels from the whole com¬ 
mercial world; the city a depot of mercantile and agricultural opulence; the im¬ 
mense extent of public buildings; the cathedral, churches, and convents; the Gov¬ 
ernor’s palace, post office, and other public buildings, with the palaces of nobles and 
opulent gentlemen, some of which buildings cover squares; in short, a spot wholly 
occupied with buildings, except a very scanty portion devoted to lanes, for as to 
streets we can hardly allow that they have any, proclaim Havana within the walls 
one of the richest and most important spots, for the number of its roods, on the 
face of the earth.” 
VI.—The Maine. 
In February, 1898, the United States battleship Maine, Captain Charles 
D. Sigsbee commanding, was ordered to Havana on a friendly visit, and 
to be in readiness to afford a refuge for American citizens, should occasion 
demand in the troubled condition of affairs then existing. The Maine, 
launched in 1890, was a second class battleship, 324 feet in length, 57 feet 
beam, 6,650 tons displacement. The officers numbered 26, the crew 328. 
The ship arrived at Havana on January 25, and was moored to a mooring 
buoy in the man-of-war anchorage off the Machina or naval sheers. At 
9:40 in the night of February 16, the ship was blown up by an explosion, 
which a board of inquiry subsequently determined was from the outside. 
Of the men, 254 were killed outright and others died afterward, making 
the total number of those killed 2^7; only nineteen of the crew were unin¬ 
jured. The ship was valued on her arrival at Havana at $5,000,000. On 
February 17 funeral services were held over nineteen bodies, the first 
