V.

VALDES, GABRIEL DE LA CONCEPCION, the mulatto poet, and his works, 186.

Varona, Don Enrique Jose, editor of _La Patria_, 98.

Vegetation of Cuba, 104.

Velasquez, Diego, sent to Cuba, 49; founds Havana, Santiago, and other towns, 49; impressed by the harbour of Havana, 121 (in note).

Villa Clara, 192.

"Virginius," affair of the, 89.

Volante, first appearance of the, 55; how it looked, 131.

_Vomito nigro_, the deadly, 10; whites attacked by, 104.

W.

WATERFALLS, the Rosario, 6.

West Indies, general condition of the, during the 17th century, 260; different Governors of the, 266.

Weyler, General, Marquis of Tenerife, administration of, 116.

Y.

YAMS, 4.

Yellow fever, said to have first appeared in 1761: the quickness with which its victims succumb, 12; statistics of, 103 (in note).

Yumurri Valley, the, 159.

Z.

ZAMBRANA, RAMON, the poet, 188.

Zanjou, Treaty of, 94.

[Illustration: Map of Cuba]

Etext transcriber's typgraphical corrections made:

caligraphy=>calligraphy

ansado=asado

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The island of Cuba lies between the Caribbean Sea on the S., and the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Florida, and Bahama Channel on the N., being nearly equidistant from the peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida and the islands of Hayti and Jamaica. It stretches in N. lat. from 19A deg. 50' to 23A deg. 9', and in W. long. from 74A deg. 8' to 84A deg. 158'. The rainfall at Havana is said to be 92.68 inches, or more than double that of the opposite coast of Florida. The atmospheric tendencies are less violent than in the other islands. Hurricanes are frequent, but not so terrible as elsewhere in the same zone. However, one of them, in October 1846, destroyed a third of Havana, while hundreds were killed and thousands injured. The north wind blows with more or less strength throughout the entire winter months. In summer, when the sun is at its zenith, torrential rains, lasting for days at a time, are frequent. Hail is rare, but, once or twice in this century, snow has fallen on the upper plateaus of the Sierra Maestra. According to the proverbial "oldest inhabitant," the rainfall has considerably diminished of late years through the burning down of some of the forests in the central district of the island. It has also been observed that in the past twenty-five years the rainy season begins much later than it did in the good old times--in June instead of April; and ends earlier--in July instead of in October.

[2] The American Racoon--_Procyon lotor_.

[3] The rainfall of Havana is said to be 92.68 ins., more than double that of the opposite part of Florida. Very heavy, and in certain districts, dangerous dews, fall immediately after sunset. The thunderstorms are of tremendous violence, the lightning being often so incessant as to give quite a steady light.

[4] Between the years 1512-15 the whole island had been explored, and the aborigines had already disappeared. The poor, timid, harmless creatures offered no resistance to their conquerors. One chief alone, the Cacique Hatuei, tried to escape. He refused baptism lest it might lead to his being condemned to spend eternity in heaven, in the company of his pious persecutors, who consequently tormented him to death. This anecdote, related as it is by the Spaniards themselves, gives the measure of their conception of Christian charity. There are, however, two sides to every question, and I remember to have read in a very old Spanish work, on the West Indies, an assertion that the aborigines of Cuba were afflicted with a certain fell disease which rendered their disappearance imperative. This may account for the persistence with which their extermination was carried out, and also for the recorded fact that in 1554 a number of native families were brought to Havana, and isolated in a Lazaretto built for their reception near Guanabacoa.

[5] Statistics of Cuban population are very unreliable. The prolonged rebellion, frequent epidemics and other causes have considerably diminished the number of inhabitants, especially of late years. Probably, the actual population does not exceed 1,300,000. According to EliseA(C) Reclus, in his splendid _Universal Geography_ (admirably translated into English, and published by Messrs Virtue & Co.), "Despite revolutions, wars, and epidemics, the population of Cuba has increased at least sixfold since the beginning of the last century. Enforced immigration of whites, negroes, Chinese and Mayas has ceased, and free immigration is now encouraged by grants of land. But independently of this movement, there is considerable natural increase by the excess of births over deaths. In time of peace, the annual increase may be estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000, a rate according to which the whole population might be doubled in fifty years. It rose from 600,000 in 1811, and 1,000,000 in 1841, to 1,521,000 in 1887 (last census), and may now (1891) be estimated at 1,600,000." As to the coloured population, it is estimated as amounting to between 600,000 and 700,000 all told, but I very much doubt if it at present reaches anything like that figure, owing to the number of deaths from starvation, epidemic, etc., which have occurred during the last ten years, and the cessation of all coloured immigration into the country.

[6] Since the abolition of slavery, some few Galegos have emigrated from Spain, mainly to seek employment in the houses of the wealthy. It may interest the reader to know that the peasantry of Galicia have for many ages supplied Spain and Portugal with their best domestic servants. They are an honest and frugal race, faithful to their employers, and excellent cooks to boot. They are much sought after in Cuba, where they obtain higher wages than they can earn in the Peninsula.

[7] According to Las Casas and Herrera, the point first touched by Columbus was situated at the extreme east of the island, at Baracoa. Navarreto, on the other hand, declares that Columbus landed at the bay of Nipe; and Washington Irving is of opinion that it was at Nuevitas, the port of Puerto Principe. Cuba has been called Fernandina, Santiago, and Ave-Maria Alfa y Omego, but its original native name of Cubican or Cuba has alone been retained.

[8] Unfortunately, when we come to examine the matter closely, we soon discover that similar atrocities have always accompanied discoveries of new lands and peoples. The swarming native populations of North and South America have nearly all disappeared, and not precisely on account of an advancing civilization. The unhappy aborigines of Africa have suffered a similar fate.

[9] Perhaps it were as well if I here remind the reader that Cuba is ruled by a Governor or Captain-General, whose despotic authority is derived directly from the Crown. He is supreme head of the island's civil, military, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and is, surrounded by a crowd of dependents of every degree, beginning with thirty-four lieutenant-governors, who preside over as many cantons or divisions of the island, each of whom, in his turn has a host of underlings. Judicial affairs are in the hands of the "Real Audienca Pretorat or Superine Court." The judicial districts, of which there are twenty-six, are presided over by an Alcalde or Mayor, who has a numerous staff of salaried satellites. The Maritime division of Cuba is subject to a Commander-General, who is at the head of five stations with centres at Havana, Trinidad, San Juan de los Remedios, Matanzos, and Santiago de Cuba. As almost every member of this army of functionaries is Spanish born, and as the Yankees would express it, "on the mash," some idea may be conceived of the waste of public money in the way of salaries, paid to men who, more often than not, have no duties to perform. But it is quite untrue to assert that no Cubans "need apply" when a vacancy occurs in this multitudinous burocracy. Quite the contrary. Many Cubans are in the civil service of the island, but they are powerless to reform abuses, and frequently are even less scrupulous than the Spaniards.

[10] The price offered was AL40,000,000. The Yara rebellion, which broke out in 1868, cost Spain over 100,000 men, and certainly not less than AL40,000,000, the sum named for the purchase of the island by the United States.

[11] In an exceedingly interesting letter from the New York correspondent of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, dated May 24th, I found the following valuable statistics on the subject of epidemics in Cuba:--

"The dread of yellow fever might reasonably have discouraged the enlistment of volunteers, who could foresee that they would be needed in Cuba during the rainy season, but the offers and applications show that the Government could take into the service to-morrow 500,000 men, instead of the 125,000 already called, if it should consent to accept them. The mortality reports of the Spanish army are appalling, but yellow fever has not been the most deadly of the diseases with which the Spanish soldiers have contended. The number of deaths in the military hospitals on the island last year was 32,534, and of the 30,000 sick men sent back to Spain at least 10 per cent. must have died, for many of them were beyond cure. The reported deaths were distributed as follows, in round numbers: Typhoid fever and dysentery, 14,500; malarial fever, 7000; yellow fever, 6000; other diseases, 5000. And 2583 persons died of small-pox in Havana. But the resident inspector of our Marine Hospital Bureau (which is a kind of National Board of Health) reports that only one of the five large military hospitals in Havana is in good sanitary condition; the others are little better than pest-houses, and one of them is characterised by the inspector as 'the filthiest building in the city.' The Spanish soldiers have been sacrificed to the greed and corruption of their commanders and the prevailing mediaeval ignorance of sanitation.

In the recent official indictments of Spanish misrule in Cuba, scarcely anything has been said about the perpetual menace of yellow fever infection to which this country has been subjected, and to the enormous actual cost in the United States of fever epidemics, the seeds of which were introduced from the island. Of late years all our yellow fever epidemics have come from Cuba, and the infection has entered our Southern States in spite of the most elaborate precautions and defences. Many years ago the disease was sometimes brought from Vera Cruz; but Mexico, under the effective and progressive rule of Diaz, has cleansed her infected ports, and they are no longer to be feared. An epidemic of this fever on our southern seaboard, even if it be of short duration and attended by slight mortality, causes very great alarm--because the ravages of memorable visitations are recalled by the people--and paralyses commerce and industry throughout a wide area. The actual cost of such an epidemic may be 100,000,000 dols. The epidemic of last year entailed a loss of a third or a half of that sum. No relief can be expected so long as the island shall suffer under Spanish misrule. But now we may look forward with confidence to the time, not far distant, when this nuisance shall be abated."

[12] According to the best authorities, Diego Valasquez, the Conqueror of Cuba, founded the famous city of San Christobal de la Habana in 1519, and being immensely impressed by the width and depth of the harbour, and its generally favourable position for trade purposes, he called it _la llave del Nuevo Mondo_, the key to the New World.

[13] See on this subject the following works: (1) _Los restos de Colon_, per Don JosA(C) Manuel de Echeverry, Santander, 1878; (2) _Cristofero Colombo e San Domingo_, per L. T. Belgrano, Genova, 1879; (3) _Los Restos de Cristobal Colon_, by Tejera, Santo Domingo, 1879; (4) _Los restos de Colon_, Emiliano Tejera, Madrid, 1878.

[14] The Tacon Theatre was built in 1830 by a man who made his fortune selling fish. Having saved up a large sum, he invested it in land, and built the first market upon the site, and finally, as an act of gratitude to his fellow-citizens for having assisted him in making some millions of dollars, he built them their largest theatre.

[15] In a great many parts of the Eastern Province, cattle are used as horses.

[16] Literally God's Baby.

[17] Exhibited by the writer in the West Indian Court of the Colonial Exhibition.

[18] From notes made some years ago of the conversation in question.

[19] The two other important Cuban cities which I did not visit are Cardenas, which is known as the American city, and which is situated immediately on the seaboard, and has a population of about 20,000 inhabitants, and Villa Clara, which is situated on Jagua Bay, a noble expanse of water which could easily accommodate and shelter half the fleets of Europe. Both these cities are remarkably well drained and prosperous, and give evidence at every turn that they are in the hands of an enterprising and energetic people. Between the two towns there must be between five and ten thousand residents, all of whom are engaged in commerce.

[20] Those who wish to obtain a more perfect knowledge of tobacco and its cultivation will do well to read the two exhaustive chapters on the subject, in "Cuba with Pen and Pencil," by Samuel Hazzard, by far the best book ever written on Cuba.

[21] Then, in all probability, he witnessed the coronation of the Doge Paul of Novi, a dyer who certainly did business with his father, and lived in the same neighbourhood. The romantic and tragic history of this Doge recalls that of Marino Faliero. Deposed by the mob, he was decapitated.

[22] This Appendix and the following one respectively appeared in another and less elaborate form in the _National Review_ and the _Antiquary_, and are reproduced here, with additional matter, by the courteous consent of the editors of these reviews.--R. D.