Part 44

CTESIPHON, a large village on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite to Seleucia, of which it formed a suburb, about 25 m. below Bagdad. It is first mentioned in the year 220 by Polybius v. 45. 4. When the Parthian Arsacids had conquered the lands east of the Euphrates in 129 B.C., they established their winter residence in Ctesiphon. They dared not stay in Seleucia, as this city, the most populous town of western Asia, always maintained her Greek self-government and a strong feeling of independence, which made her incline to the west whenever a Roman army attacked the Parthians. The Arsacids also were afraid of destroying the wealth and commerce of Seleucia, if they entered it with their large retinue of barbarian officials and soldiers (Strabo xvi. 743, Plin. vi. 122, cf. Joseph. _Ant._ xviii. 9, 2). From this time Ctesiphon increased in size, and many splendid buildings rose; it had the outward appearance of a large town, although it was by its constitution only a village. From A.D. 36-43 Seleucia was in rebellion against the Parthians till at last it was forced by King Vardanes to yield. It is very probable that Vardanes now tried to put Ctesiphon in its place; therefore he is called founder of Ctesiphon by Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 6. 23), where King Pacorus (78-110) is said to have increased its inhabitants and built its walls. Seleucia was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 164. When Ardashir I. founded the Sassanian empire (226), and fixed his residence at Ctesiphon, he built up Seleucia again under the name of Veh-Ardashir. Later kings added other suburbs; Chosroes I. in 540 established the inhabitants of Antiochia in Syria, whom he had led into captivity, in a new city, "Chosrau-Antioch" (or "the Roman city") near his residence. Therefore the Arabs designate the whole complex of towns which lay together around Seleucia and Ctesiphon and formed the residence of the Sassanids by the name Madain, "the cities,"--their number is often given as seven. In the wars between the Roman and Persian empires, Ctesiphon was more than once besieged and plundered, thus by Odaenathus in 261, and by Canis in 283; Julian in 363 advanced to Ctesiphon, but was not able to take it (Ammianus xxiv. 7). After the battle of Kadisiya (Qadisiya) Ctesiphon and the neighbouring towns were taken and plundered by the Arabs in 637, who brought home an immense amount of booty (see CALIPHATE). From then, these towns decayed before the increasing prosperity of the new Arab capitals Basra and Bagdad. The site is marked only by the ruins of one gigantic building of brick-work, called Takhti Khesra, "throne of Khosrau" (i.e. Chosroes). It is a great vaulted hall ornamented with pilasters, the remainder of the palace and the most splendid example of Sassanian architecture (see ARCHITECTURE, vol. ii. p. 558, for further details and illustration). (Ed. M.)

CUBA (the aboriginal name), a republic, the largest and most populous of the West India Islands, included between the meridians of 74 deg. 7' and 84 deg. 57' W. longitude and (roughly) the parallels of 19 deg. 48' and 23 deg. 13' N. latitude. It divides the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico into two passages of nearly equal width,--the Strait of Florida, about 110 m. wide between Capes Hicacos in Cuba and Arenas in Florida (Key West being a little over 100 m. from Havana); and the Yucatan Channel, about 130 m. wide between Capes San Antonio and Catoche. On the N.E., E. and S.E., narrower channels separate it from the Bahamas, Haiti (50 m.) and Jamaica (85 m.). In 1908, by the opening of a railway along the Florida Keys, the time of passage by water between Cuba and the United States was reduced to a few hours.

The island is long and narrow, somewhat in the form of an irregular crescent, convex toward the N. It has a decided pitch to the S. Its length from Cape Maisi to Cape San Antonio along a medial line is about 730 m.; its breadth, which averages about 50 m., ranges from a maximum of 160 m. to a minimum of about 22 m. The total area is estimated at 41,634 sq. m. without the surrounding keys and the Isle of Pines (area about 1180 sq. m.), and including these is approximately 44,164. The geography of the island is still very imperfectly known, and all figures are approximate only. The coast line, including larger bays, but excluding reefs, islets, keys and all minute sinuosities, is about 2500 m. in length. The N. littoral is characterized by bluffs, which grow higher and higher toward the east, rising to 600 ft. at Cape Maisi. They are marked by distinct terraces. The southern coast near Cape Maisi is low and sandy. From Guantanamo to Santiago it rises in high escarpments, and W. of Santiago, where the Sierra Maestra runs close to the sea, there is a very high abrupt shore. To the W. of Manzanillo it sinks again, and throughout most of the remaining distance to Cape San Antonio is low, with a sandy or marshy littoral; at places sand hills fringe the shore; near Trinidad there are hills of considerable height; and the coast becomes high and rugged W. of Point Fisga, in the province of Pinar del Rio. On both the N. and the S. side of the island there are long chains of islets and reefs and coral keys (of which it is estimated there are 1300), which limit access to probably half of the coast, and on the N. render navigation difficult and dangerous. On the S. they are covered with mangroves. A large part of the southern littoral is subject to overflow, and much more of it is permanently marshy. The Zapata Swamp near Cienfuegos is 600 sq. m. in area; other large swamps are the Majaguillar, E. of Cardenas, and the Cienaga del Buey, S. of the Cauto river. The Isle of Pines in its northern part is hilly and wooded; in its southern part, very low, level and rather barren; a tidal swamp almost cuts the island in two. A remarkable feature of the Cuban coast is the number of excellent anchorages, roadsteads and harbours. On the N. shore, beginning at the W., Bahia Honda, Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas, Nuevitas and Nipe; and on the S. shore running westward Guantanamo, Santiago and Cienfuegos, are harbours of the first class, several of them among the best of the world. Mariel, Cabanas, Banes, Sagua la Grande and Baracoa on the N., and Manzanillo, Santa Cruz, Batabano and Trinidad on the S. are also excellent ports or anchorages. The peculiar pouch-shape of almost all the harbours named (Matanzas being a marked exception) greatly increases their security and defensibility. These pouch harbours are probably "drowned" drainage basins. The number of small bays that can be utilized for coast trade traffic is extraordinary.

In popular language the different portions of the island are distinguished as the Vuelta Abajo ("lower turn"), W. of Havana; the Vuelta Arriba ("upper turn"), E. of Havana to Cienfuegos--Vuelta Abajo and Vuelta Arriba are also used colloquially at any point in the island to mean "east" and "west"--Las Cinco Villas--i.e. Villa Clara, Trinidad, Remedios, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus--between Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus; and Tierra Adentro, referring to the region between Cienfuegos and Bayamo. These names are extremely common. The province and city of Puerto Principe are officially known as Camaguey, their original Indian name, which has practically supplanted the Spanish name in local usage.

Five topographic divisions of the island are fairly marked. Santiago (now Oriente) province is high and mountainous. Camaguey is characterized by rolling, open plains, slightly broken, especially in the W., by low mountains. The E. part of Santa Clara province is decidedly rough and broken. The W. part, with the provinces of Matanzas and Havana, is flat and rolling, with occasional hills a few hundred feet high. Finally, Pinar del Rio is dominated by a prominent mountain range and by outlying piedmont hills and mesas. There are mountains in Cuba from one end of the island to the other, but they are not derived from any central mass and are not continuous. As just indicated there are three distinctively mountainous districts, various minor groups lying outside these. The three main systems are known in Cuba as the occidental, central and oriental. The first, the Organ mountains, in Pinar del Rio, rises in a sandy, marshy region near Cape San Antonio. The crest runs near the N. shore, leaving various flanking spurs and foothills, and a coastal plain which at its greatest breadth on the S. is some 20 m. wide. The plain on the N. is narrower and higher. The southern slope is smooth, and abounds in creeks and rivers. The portion of the southern plain between the bays of Cortes and Majana is the most famous portion of the Vuelta Abajo tobacco region. The mountain range is capriciously broken at points, especially near Bejucal. The highest part is the Pan de Guajaibon, near Bahia Honda, at the W. end of the chain; its altitude has been variously estimated from 2500 to 1950 ft. The central system has two wings, one approaching the N. coast, the other covering the island between Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara. It comprehends a number of independent groups. The highest point, the Pico Potrerillo, is about 2900 ft. in altitude. The summits are generally well rounded, while the lower slopes are often steep. Frequent broad intervals of low upland or low level plain extend from sea to sea between and around the mountains. Near the coast runs a continuous belt of plantations, while grazing, tobacco and general farm lands cover the lower slopes of the hills, and virgin forests much of the uplands and mountains.

The oriental mountain region includes the province of Oriente and a portion of Camaguey. In extent, in altitude, in mass, in complexity and in geological interest, it is much the most important of the three systems. Almost all the mountains are very bold. They are imperfectly known. There are two main ranges, the Sierra Maestra, and a line of various groups along the N. shore. The former runs from Cape Santa Cruz eastward along the coast some 125 m. to beyond the river Baconao. The Sierra de Cobre, a part of the system in the vicinity of Santiago, has a general elevation of about 3000 ft. Monte Turquino, 7700-8320 ft. in altitude, is the highest peak of the island. Gran Piedra rises more than 5200 ft., the Ojo del Toro more than 3300, the Anvil de Baracoa is somewhat lower, and Pan de Matanzas is about 1267 ft. The western portions of the range rise abruptly from the ocean, forming a bold and beautiful coast. A multitude of ravines and gullies, filled with torrential streams or dry, according to the season of the year, and characterized by many beautiful cascades, seam the narrow coastal plain and the flanks of the mountains. The spurs of the central range are a highly intricate complex, covered with dense forests of superb woods. Many points are inaccessible, and the scenery is wild in the extreme. The mountains beyond Guantanamo are locally known by a variety of names, though topographically a continuation of the Sierra Maestra. The same is true of the chains that coalesce with these near Cape Maisi and diverge northwesterly along the N. coast of the island. The general character of this northern marginal system is much the same as that of the southern, save that the range is much less continuous. A dozen or more groups from Nipe in the E. to the coast N. of Camaguey in the W. are known only by individual names. The range near Baracoa is extremely wild and broken. The region between the lines of the two coastal systems is a much dissected plateau, imperfectly explored. The Cauto river, the only one flowing E. or W. and the largest of Cuba, flows through it westward to the southern coast near Manzanillo. The scenery in the oriental portion of the island is very beautiful, with wild mountains and tropical forests. In the central part there are extensive prairies. In the west there are swelling hills and gentle valleys, with the royal palm the dominating tree. The valley of the Yumuri, near Matanzas, a small circular basin crossed by a river that issues through a glen to the sea, is perhaps the most beautiful in Cuba.

A very peculiar feature of Cuba is the abundance of caverns in the limestone deposits that underlie much of the island's surface. The caves of Cotilla near Havana, of Bellamar near Matanzas, of Monte Libano near Guantanamo, and those of San Juan de los Remedios, are the best known, but there are scores of others. Many streams are "disappearing," part of their course being through underground tunnels. Thus the Rio San Antonio suddenly disappears near San Antonio de los Banos; the cascades of the Jatibonico del Norte disappear and reappear in a surprising manner; the Moa cascade (near Guantanamo) drops 300 ft. into a cavern and its waters later reissue from the earth; the Jojo river disappears in a great "sink" and later issues with violent current at the edge of the sea. The springs of fresh water that bubble up among the keys of the S. coast are also supposedly the outlets of underground streams.

The number of rivers is very great, but almost without exception their courses are normal to the coast, and they are so short as to be of but slight importance. The Cauto river in Oriente province is exceptional; it is 250 m. long, and navigable by small vessels for about 75 m. Inside the bar at its mouth (formed by a storm in 1616) ships of 200 tons can still ascend to Cauto. In Camaguey province the Jatibonico del Sur; in Oriente the Salado, a branch of the Cauto; in Santa Clara the Sagua la Grande (which is navigable for some 20 m. and has an important traffic), and the Damuji; in Matanzas, the Canimar; and in Pinar del Rio the Cuyaguateje, are important streams. The water-parting in the four central provinces is very indefinite. There are few river valleys that are noteworthy--those of the Yumuri, the Trinidad and the Guines. At Guantanamo and Trinidad are other valleys, and between Mariel and Havana is the fine valley of Ariguanabo. Of lakes, there are a few on the coast, and a very few in the mountains. The finest is Lake Ariguanabo, near Havana, 6 sq. m. in area. Of the almost innumerable river cascades, those of the Sierra Maestra Mountains, and in particular the Moa cascade, have already been mentioned. The Guama cascade in Oriente province and the Hanabanilla Fall near Cienfuegos (each more than 300 ft. high), the Rosario Fall in Pinar del Rio, and the Almendares cascade near Havana, may also be mentioned.

_Geology._--The foundation of the island is formed of metamorphic and igneous rocks, which appear in the Sierra Maestra and are exposed in other parts of the island wherever the comparatively thin covering of later beds has been worn away. A more or less continuous band of serpentine belonging to this series forms the principal watershed, although it nowhere rises to any great height. It is in this band that the greater part of the mineral wealth of Cuba is situated. These ancient rocks have hitherto yielded no fossils and their age is therefore uncertain, but they are probably pre-Cretaceous at least. Fossiliferous Cretaceous limestones containing _Rudistes_ have been found in several parts of the island (Santiago de los Banos, Santa Clara province, &c.). At the base there is often an arkose, composed largely of fragments of serpentine and granite derived from the ancient floor. At Esperanza and other places in the Santa Clara province, bituminous plant-bearing beds occur beneath the Tertiary limestones, and at Baracoa a Radiolarian earth occupies a similar position. The latter, like the similar deposits in other West Indian islands, is probably of Oligocene age. It is the Tertiary limestones which form the predominant feature in the geology of Cuba. Although they do not exceed 1000 ft. in thickness, they probably at one time covered the whole island except the summits of the Sierra Maestra, where they have been observed, resting upon the older rocks, up to a height of 2300 ft. They contain corals, but are not coral reefs. The shells which have been found in them indicate that they belong for the most part to the Oligocene period. They are frequently very much disturbed and often strongly folded. Around the coast there is a raised shelf of limestone which was undoubtedly a coral reef. But it is of recent date and does not attain an elevation of more than 40 or 50 ft.

Minerals are fairly abundant in number, but few are present in sufficient quantity to be industrially important. Traditions of gold and silver, dating from the time of the Spanish conquest, still endure, but these metals are in fact extremely rare. Oriente province is distinctively the mineral province of the island. Large copper deposits of peculiar richness occur here in the Sierra de Cobre, near the city of Santiago; and both iron and manganese are abundant. Besides the deposits in Oriente province, iron is known to exist in considerable amount in Camaguey and Santa Clara, and copper in Camaguey and Pinar del Rio provinces. The iron ores mined at Daiquiri near Santiago are mainly rich hematites running above 60% of iron, with very little sulphur or phosphorus admixture. The copper deposits are mainly in well-marked fracture planes in serpentine; the ore is pyrrhotite, with or without chalcopyrite. Manganese occurs especially along the coast between Santiago and Manzanillo; the best ores run above 50%. Chromium and a number of other rare minerals are known to exist, but probably not in commercially available quantities. Bituminous products of every grade, from clear translucent oils resembling petroleum and refined naphtha, to lignite-like substances, occur in all parts of the island. Much of the bituminous deposits is on the dividing line between asphalt and coal. There is an endless amount of stone, very little of which is hard enough to be good for building material, the greatest part being a soft coralline limestone. The best buildings in Havana are constructed of a very rich white limestone, soft and readily worked when fresh, but hardening and slightly darkening with age. There are extensive and valuable deposits of beautiful marbles in the Isle of Pines, and lesser ones near Santiago. The Organ Mountains contain a hard blue limestone; and sandstones occur on the N. coast of Pinar del Rio province. Clays of all qualities and colours abound. Mineral waters, though not yet important in trade, are extremely abundant, and a score of places in Cuba and the Isle of Pines are already known as health resorts. Those near San Diego, Guanabacoa and Santa Maria del Rosario (near Havana) and Madruga (near Guines) are the best known.

The soil of the island is almost wholly of modern formation, mainly alluvial, with superficial limestones as another prominent feature. In the original formation of the island volcanic disturbances and coral growth played some part; but there are only very slight superficial evidences in the island of former volcanic activity. Noteworthy earthquakes are rare. They have been most common in Oriente province. Those of 1776, 1842 and 1852 were particularly destructive, and of earlier ones those of 1551 and 1624 at Bayamo and of 1578 and 1678 at Santiago. Every year there are seismic disturbances, and though Santiago is the point of most frequent visitation, they occur in all parts of the island, in 1880 affecting the entire western end. Notable seismic disturbances in Cuba have coincided with similar activity in Central America so often as to make some connexion apparent.