CAMAGUEYr—PUERTO PRINCIPE. 147 
assiduous to put in their chests the money brought by the overseers from 
their cattle farms, from whence they bring it forth only for the purposes 
of play or to carry on law suits which have been handed down from 
generation to generation.” Before the breaking out of the last war, the 
Puerto Principe cattle numbered 800,000. The city was the chief source 
of meat supply for the island. There were sent annually to Havana alone 
more than 60,000 head of beef. The meat was commonly jerked—that is, 
salted and dried in the sun; thus prepared, it is called tasajo. An 
attendant industry was the manufacture of bone-black used in sugar 
refining. The best bulls for the Havana bull ring came from Puerto 
Principe, and here were produced the finest horses on the island. The 
cattle were killed in the wars; but this is still the chief industry from 
which the town derives its support, and the country all about is still a 
cattle raising district. 
Among characteristic features of Camaguey houses are the tinajones or 
earthen jars for rain water. These are sometimes of immense size, stand- 
CAMAGUEY TINAJONES. 
