The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1858-02-25
THE ISLAND OP cuRA

The following Information respecting the ex.
tent, population and resources Of the Island of
Cuba, we extract from the Washington Globe !:
Cuba is the largest and most important OF
the West lndia Islands. and commands the
entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, whence it hns
been called the Key of the West Indies. 1t is
about seven hundred miles in length aud sew
enty III breadth, aud contains, with it's depen-
denotes, 32,S07 square miles, being nearly equal
in extent to Great Britain.
The eli mate is delightful and very healthy,
for which reasons it s fnvorite resort for inva-
lids. Even on the top Of the Grand AntilIa, the
chief range Of mountains running through the
Islands from end to end there has scarcely ever
been ice, aud then only few lines thick. Tho
seasons are NOT dietng gushed us summer and
winter, but as the wet and the dry, though the
periods at WHICH they begin aud end are not very
we'll defined The rainy seasons commonly be.
gins in May, hut sometimes in y pril, and occa-
sionnlly not till June.
The soil in ve:y fertile, but, ns i'm many other
tropical countries, the people are too sluggish to
cultivate il TO any great extent. The chief agri.
cultural productions are sugar. Coffee tobacco,
manioc. aud maize. The work the planla-
tons is done almost exclusively hy negroes,
whose condition is fnr worse than that of the
slaves in the United States. The whipping post
is in constant use. As M instance of the great
fertility of the soil, TrunlbulI states that in the
district of Sagua In Granle, II cnbellcria ofland,
which is nearly equal to thirty three acres, has
been known t" produce two hundred and eighty
thousand pounds Of the fair -colored MuscovaClo
sugar Of That country. being nearly equal to four
moderate sized h"gshends per
The population IS made up of Crenlcs and ne
grocs. the latter forming about one-third. The
creoes like their Spanish ancestors, are inte-
gent. bnt indolcnt the negroes are not allow cd
TO be either.
There are in the island several excellent cop.
IserI IFnst
ductivc if well worked. Small quantities of
gold and silver have also been found. Since the
introduction of bees, between sixty and seventy
years ago, honey and wax have been important
articles of trade. Manufactures have been mucl,
neglected.
The island is divided into several jurisdictions
civil, Judicial ecclesiastcaI and military. The
civil Jurisdiction consists of two provisions, with
two distinct governors, entirely independent of
each other; the supreme n' chief Of the
whole island with the title vi L.p,an General,
being the civil Governor Of the province only,
called San Christopher lie In Havana while the
other, Santiago de Cuba has Il separate Governor,
who, in affairs purely political or civil s not in
amy way subject to The Captain General BE.
.dcs, the island is divided into three military
divisions whose chiefs take their orders from the
Captain & encral.
Some attention has been paid to education by
The government. but very little has been accom-
plisied. In lS4D there were 99.599 free chill
dren i'll the island. between the age Of five and
ten. of whom only onc-trnth were sent to
school
Authorities differ as to the population of Cuba
According to the census Of 1927, which
was, We believe, the last taken, the population
was 130.562. Of these. the whites numbered
3ll, ,05l ; the free negroes, 575l4 and the free
people of color, not negroes. 1880. The mum
Der Of slaves WIS 2S6,9i:; OF whom 49,, $50 WAS
males. AID lQ3,652 females, Since 1927, the
population has, Of course, greatly increased, as is
shown by the amount Of imports since then, aud
the constantly increasing production Of the is.
land IL now amounts, ,probably, to about !, 500,
900.
The trade Of Cuba is excellent It's situation,
the fertility of the SOIL and the short distance
not more than thirty mes-lrom any point in
the interior to the shore, all tend to give 1t
great commercial prosperity und, if the many
injurious restraints no" imposed upon it's trade
were removed, it W. uld soon become Que of the
richest spots on earth.
Within the last ten years the interior of the
country has been much mpr owed, and the means
Of communication increased by railroads, &c
The first railnH, ever laid in the island, running
from Havana to the mos, important Of III. sugar.
Districts, was constructed by Alfred Cruger, Of
the United States.