St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-03-27
MAP OF CENTRAL CUBA.

no to make crop and not nearly SC
much labor as is required in cultivation
elsewhere. Anything that grows I'M
der the tropical sun can be grown in Gu
ba, although during recent years the
soil has been given up to the production
Of sugar and tobacco.
Before the devastating torch of war
had laid waste the canefields and de-
stroyed factories and mills the busy
hum of fruitful labor stirred all the air.
The cost of making sugar was gradual
ly reduced by the introduction of labor
saving machinery, and the business set
tied down to paying basis, and by the
increased power of production the de-
mand for cane grew, planters were en-
couraged, and the fruitful island began
to wear prosperous air. The tobacco
planters and manufacturers also i'm
proved theiS methods, and this rival
product kept even pace with its saccha-
rine competitor. The annual sugar crop
was worth $45, 900, 900, the tobacco crop
100000. Then came the revolution.
Somehow, when one writes of Cuba,
everything comes back to that point and
strikes it as against dead wall after
clearing the cruel hurdles of Spanish
tyranny.
But let us revert to the first branch
of the subject-the island proper in its
entirety. The coast contour of Cuba is
broken with hundreds of inlets all of
them harhors in greater or less degree,
each having its small Notifications, its
villages and it's special industries. The
profile of the island, to quote the Ian
guage of the railroad engineer, is varied
and picturesque, here high peak,
there valley, there plain. Beginning
at Santiago de Cuba, the most easterly
of the six provinces, and proceeding
westward through Puerto Principe.
Santa Clara, Matanzas Habana and to
the lands end of Pinar del Rio, the
tourist traverses magnificent stretches
Of plateau and crosses innumerable val.
leys, skirts high mountains and follows
deep and picturesque gorges, but the
mountains become hills, and these are
gradually shaded down until in the ex-
treme west a surface, generally level, is
reached, although in the vicinity of the
Queen City, Havana, small but rugged
peaks, with PERCEPTIONS sides, may be-
seen IN many directions along the shore.
The Wrecks of War.
But it is not with the beauties that ma
ture has shed broadcast that the travel.
er's thoughts are occupied while he
threads his way among the wrecks that
war has made. His mind is charged
with melancholy as he views the burn
ed out canefelds, the neglected tobacco
plantations, the ruins of stately resi-
dences that lift up their blackened arms
in mute but penetrating cutlery against
tho barbarities Of conflict and the curse
of tyranny. There is no need, however.
to dwell upon this somber picture, for
we know what time can do in this land
of endless and indestructible resource.
and there are pleasanter topics to com
mand our attention, the greatest being
Havana, the capital and the very heart
of Cuba. To say that it is picturesque
and beautiful is but to give vent to the
first superficial expression that comes TO
your lips. Spain itself cannot show
more curious CT Interesting city. Study
1t as you approach it from the sea, with
mighty Moro set high upon tho head
land, time dyed in notified splotches of
yellow, gray and black, and the red and
yellow flags above, with La Junta across
the narrow channel, prim and white,
save where the ugly dahlgren guns flash
at you like venomous black eyes, and
the city is as interesting and impressive
a sight as human eye ever beheld.
AS the capital, metropolis and chief
seaport of Cuba, it is one of the best
known cities in the American hemi.
sphere. Its splendid harbor, its CONNER.