Part 45

_Flora._--The tropical heat and humidity of Cuba make possible a flora of splendid richness. All the characteristic species of the West Indies, the Central American and Mexican and southern Florida seaboard, and nearly all the large trees of the Mexican tropic belt, are embraced in it. As many as 3350 native flowering species were catalogued in 1876. The total number of species of the island flora was estimated in 1892 by a writer in the _Revista Cubana_ (vol. xv. pp. 5-16) to be between 5000 and 6000, but hardly one-third of this number had then been gathered into a herbarium, and all parts of the island had not then been explored. It was estimated officially in 1904 that the wooded lands of the island comprised 3,628,434 acres, of which one-third were in Oriente province, another third in Camaguey, and hardly any in Havana province. Much of this area is of primeval forest; somewhat more than a third of the total, belonging to the government, was opened to sale (and speculative exspoliation) in 1904. The woods are so dense over large districts as to be impenetrable, except by cutting a path foot by foot through the close network of vines and undergrowth. The jaguey (_Ficus_ sp.), which stifles in its giant coils the greatest trees of the forest, and the copei (_Clusia rosea_) are remarkable parasitic lianas. Of the palm there are more than thirty species. The royal palm is the most characteristic tree of Cuba. It attains a height of from 50 to 75 ft., and sometimes of more than 100 ft. Alone, or in groups, or in long aisles, towering above the plantations or its fellow trees of the forest, its beautiful crest dominates every landscape. Every portion, from its roots to its leaves, serves some useful purpose. From it the native draws lumber for his hut, utensils for his kitchen, thatch for his roof, medicines, preserved delicacies, and a long list of other articles. The corojo palm (_Cocos crispa_) rivals the royal palm in beauty and utility; oil, sugar, drink and wood are derived from it. The coco palm (_Cocos nucifera_) is also put to varied uses. The mango is planted with the royal palm along the avenues of the plantations. The beautiful ceiba (_Bombax ceiba_ L., _Ceiba pentandra_) or silk cotton tree is the giant of the Cuban forests; it often grows to a height of 100 to 150 ft. with enormous girth. The royal pinon (_Erythrina velatina_) is remarkable for the magnificent purple flowers that cover it. The tamarind and banyan are also noteworthy. Utilitarian trees and plants are legion. There are at least forty choice cabinet and building woods. Of these, ebonies, mahogany (for the bird's-eye variety such enormous prices are paid as $1200 to $1800 per thousand board-feet), culla (or cuya, _Bumelia retusa_), cocullo (cocuyo, _Bumelia nigra_), ocuje (_Callophyllum viticifolia_, _Ornitrophis occidentalis_, _O. cominia_), jigue (jique, _Lysiloma sabicu_), mahagua (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_), granadillo (_Brya ebenus_), icaquillo (_Licania incania_) and agua-baria (_Cordia gerascanthes_) are perhaps the most beautiful. Other woods, beautiful and precious, include guayacan (Guaiacum sanctum), baria (varia, _Cordia gerascanthoides_)--the fragrant, hard-wood Spanish elm--the quiebra-hacha (_Copaifera hymenofolia_), which three are of wonderful lasting qualities; the jiqui (_Malpighia obovata_), acana (_Achras disecta_, _Bassia albescens_), caigaran (or caguairan, _Hymenaea floribunda_), and the dagame (_Calicophyllum candidissimum_), which four, like the culla, are all wonderfully resistant to humidity; the caimatillo (_Chrysophyllum oliviforme_), the yaya (or yayajabico, yayabito: _Erythalis fructicosa_, _Bocagea virgata_, _Guateria virgata_, _Asimina Blaini_), a magnificent construction wood; the maboa (_Cameraria latifolia_) and the jocuma (jocum: _Sideroxylon mastichodendron_, _Bumelia saticifolia_), all of individual beauties and qualities. Many species are rich in gums and resins; the calambac, mastic, copal, cedar, &c. Many others are oleaginous, among them, peanuts, sun-flowers, the bene seed (sesame), corozo, almond and palmachristi. Others (in addition to some already mentioned) are medicinal; as the palms, calabash, manchineel, pepper, fustic and a long list of cathartics, caustics, emetics, astringents, febrifuges, vermifuges, diuretics and tonics. Then, too, there are various dyewoods; rosewood, logwood (or campeachy wood), indigo, manaju (_Garcinia Morella_), Brazil-wood and saffron. Textile plants are extremely common. The majagua tree grows as high as 40 ft.; from its bark is made cordage of the finest quality, which is scarcely affected by the atmosphere. Strong, fine, glossy fibres are yielded by the exotic ramie (_Boehmeria nivea_), whose fibre, like that of the majagua, is almost incorruptible; by the maya or rat-pineapple (_Bromelia Pinguin_), and by the daquilla (or daiguiya--_Lagetta lintearia_, _L. valenzuelana_), which like the maya yields a brilliant, flexible product like silk; stronger cordage by the corojo palms, and various henequen plants, native and exotic (especially _Agave americana_, _A. Cubensis_); and various plantains, the exotic _Sansevieria guineensis_, okra, jute, _Laportea_, various lianas, and a great variety of reeds, supply varied textile materials of the best quality. The yucca is a source of starch. For building and miscellaneous purposes, in addition to the rare woods above named, there are cedars (used in great quantities for cigar boxes); the pine, found only in the W., where it gives its name to the Isle of Pines and the province of Pinar del Rio; various palms; oaks of varying hardness and colour, &c. The number of alimentary plants is extremely great. Among economic plants should be mentioned the coffee, cacao, citron, cinnamon, cocoanut and rubber tree. Wheat, Indian corn and many vegetables, especially tuberous, are particularly important. Plantain occurs in several varieties; it is in part a cheap and healthful substitute for bread, which is also made from the bitter cassava, after the poison is extracted. The sweet cassava yields tapioca. Bread-trees are fairly common, but are little cared for. White and sweet potatoes, yams, sweet and bitter yuccas, sago and okra, may also be mentioned.

Fruits are varied and delicious. The pineapple is the most favoured by Cubans. Four or five annual crops grow from one plant, but not more than three can be marketed, unless locally, as the product deteriorates. The better ("purple") varieties are mainly consumed in the island, and the smaller and less juicy "white" varieties exported. The tamarind is everywhere. Bananas are grown particularly in the region about Nipe, Gibara and Baracoa, whence they are exported in large quantities, though there is a tendency to lessen their culture in these parts in favour of sugar. Mangoes, though exotic, are extremely common, and in the E. grow wild in the forests. They are the favourite fruit of the negroes. Oranges are little cultivated, although they offer apparently almost unlimited possibilities; their culture decreased steadily after 1880, but after about 1900 was again greatly extended. Lemons yield continuously through the year, but like oranges, not much has yet been done with them commercially. Pomegranates are as universally used in Cuba as apples in the United. States. Figs and grapes degenerate in Cuba. Dates grow better, but nothing has been done with them. The coco-nut palm is most abundant in the vicinity of Baracoa. Among the common fruits are various anonas--the custard apple (_Anona cherimolia_), sweet-sop (_A. squamosa_), sour-sop (_A. muricata_), mamon (_A. reticulata_), and others,--the star-apple (_Chrysophyllum cainito_, _C. pomiferum_), rose-apple (_Eugenia jambos_), pawpaw, the sapodilla (_Sapota achras_), the caniste (_Sapota Elongata_), jagua (_Genipa americana_), alligator pear (_Persea gratissima_), the yellow mammee (_Mammea americana_) and so-called "red mammee" (_Lucuma mammosa_) and limes.

_Fauna._--The fauna of Cuba, like the flora, is still imperfectly known. Collectively it shows long isolation from the other Antilles. Only two land mammals are known to be indigenous. One is the hutia (agouti) or Cuban rat, of which three species are known (_Capromys Fournieri_, _C. melanurus_ and _C. Poey_). It lives in the most solitary woods, especially in the eastern hills. The other is a peculiar insectivore (_Solenodon paradoxus_), the only other representatives of whose family are found in Madagascar. Various animals, apparently indigenous, that are described by the early historians of the conquest, have disappeared. An Antillean rabbit is very abundant. Bats in prodigious numbers, and some of them of extraordinary size, inhabit the many caves of the island; more than twenty species are known. Rats and mice, especially the guayabita (_Mus musculus_), an extremely destructive rodent, are very abundant. The manatee, or sea-cow, frequents the mouths of rivers, the sargasso drifts, and the regions of submarine fresh-water springs off the coast. Horses, asses, cows, deer, sheep, goats, swine, cats and dogs were introduced by the early Spaniards. The last three are common in a wild state. Deer are not native, and are very rare; a few live in the swamps.

Of birds there are more than 200 indigenous species, it is said, and migratory species are also numerous. Waders are represented by more than fifty species. Vultures are represented by only one species, the turkey buzzard, which is the universal scavenger of the fields, and until recent years even of the cities, and has always been protected by custom and the Laws of the Indies. Falcons are represented by a score of species, at least, several of them nocturnal. Kestrels are common. The gallinaceous order is rich in _Columbidae_. Trumpeters are notably represented, and climbers still more so. Among the latter are species of curious habits and remarkable colouring. Woodpeckers (_Coloptes auratus_), macaws, parrakeets and other small parrots, and trogons, these last of beautifully resplendent plumage, deserve particular mention. The Cuban mocking-bird is a wonderful songster. Of humming-birds there are said to be sixty species, probably only one indigenous. Of the other birds mere mention may be made of the wild pigeon, raven, indigo-bird, English lady-bird and linnet.

Reptiles are numerous. Many tortoises are notable. The crocodile and cayman occur in the swampy littoral of the south. Of lizards the iguana (_Cyclura caudata_) is noteworthy. Chameleons are common. Snakes are not numerous, and it is said that none is poisonous or vicious. There is one enormous boa, the maja (_Epicrates angulifer_), which feeds on pigs, goats and the like, but does not molest man.

Fishes are present in even greater variety than birds. Felipa Poey, in his _Ictiologia Cubana_, listed 782 species of fish and crustaceans, of which 105 were doubtful; but more than one-half of the remainder were first described by Poey. The fish of Cuban waters are remarkable for their metallic colourings. The largest species are found off the northern coast. Food fishes are relatively not abundant, presumably because the deep sea escarpments of the N. are unfavourable to their life. Shell fish are unimportant. Two species of blind fish, of extreme scientific interest, are found in the caves of the island. Of the "percoideos" there are many genera. Among the most important are the robalo (_Labrax_), an exquisite food fish, the tunny, eel, Spanish sardine and mangua. Of the sharks the genus _Squalus_ is represented by individuals that grow to a length of 26 to 30 ft. The hammer-head attains a weight at times of 600 lb. The saw-fish is common. Of fresh-water fish the lisa, dogro, guayacon and viajocos (_Chromis fuscomaculatus_) are possibly the most noteworthy.

Molluscs are extraordinarily numerous; and many, both of water and land, are rarities among their kind for size and richness of colour. Of crustaceans, land-crabs are remarkable for size and number. Arachnids are prodigiously numerous. Insect life is abundant and beautiful. The bite of the scorpion and of the numerous spiders produces no serious effects. The nigua, the Cuban jigger, is a pest of serious consequence, and the mal de nigua (jigger sickness) sometimes causes the death of lower animals and men. Sand-flies and biting gnats are lesser nuisances. Lepidoptera are very brilliant in colouring. The cucujo or Cuban firefly (_Pyrophorus noctilucus_) gives out so strong a light that a few of them serve effectively as a lantern. The _Stegomyia_ mosquito is the agent of yellow fever inoculation. Sponges grow in great variety.

_Climate._--The climate of Cuba is tropical and distinctively insular in characteristics of humidity, equability and high mean temperature. There are two distinct seasons: a "dry" season from November to April, and a hotter, "wet" season. About two-thirds of the total precipitation falls in the latter. Droughts, extensive in area and in duration, are by no means uncommon. At Havana the mean temperature is about 76 deg. F., with extreme monthly oscillations ranging on the average from 6 deg. to 12 deg. F. for different months, and with a range between the means of the coldest and warmest months of 10 deg. (70 deg. to 80 deg.); temperatures below 50 deg. or above 90 deg. being rare. The mean rainfall at Havana is about 40.6 in. (sometimes over 80), and the mean absolute humidity of different months ranges from 70 to 80%. These figures represent fairly well the conditions of much of the northern coast. In the N.E. the rainfall is much greater. The equability of heat throughout the day is masked and relieved by the afternoon sea breezes. The trades are steady through the year, and in the dry season the western part of the island enjoys cool "northers." Despite this the interior is somewhat cooler than the coast, and in the uplands frost is not uncommon. The southern littoral is also (except in sheltered points such as Santiago, which is one of the hottest cities of the island) somewhat cooler than the northern.

More than eight or ten years rarely pass without tornadoes or hurricanes of local severity at least. Notably destructive ones occurred in 1768, 1774, 1842, 1844, 1846, 1865, 1870, 1876, 1885 and 1894. Those of 1842 and 1844 caused extreme distress in the island. In 1846, 300 vessels and 2000 houses were destroyed at Havana; in 1896 the banana groves of the N.E. coast were ruined and the banana industry prostrated; and in 1906 Havana suffered damage. The autumn months, particularly October and November, are those in which such storms most frequently occur.

_Health._--Convincing evidence is offered by the qualities of the Spanish race in Cuba that white men of temperate lands can be perfectly acclimatized in this tropical island. As for diseases, some common to Cuba and Europe are more frequent or severe in the island, others rarer or milder. There are the usual malarial, bilious and intermittent fevers, and liver, stomach and intestinal complaints prevalent in tropical countries; but unhygienic living is, in Cuba as elsewhere, mainly responsible for their existence. Yellow fever (which first appeared in Cuba in 1647) was long the only epidemic disease, Havana being an endemic focus. Aside from the recurrent loss of life, the pecuniary loss from such epidemics was enormous, and the interference with commerce and social intercourse with other countries extremely vexatious. The Cuban coast was uninterruptedly full of infection, and the danger of an outbreak in each year was never absent, until the work of the United States army in 1901-1902 conclusively proved that this disease, though ineradicable by the most extreme sanitary measures, based on the accepted theory of its origin as a filth-disease, could be eradicated entirely by removing the possibility of inoculation by the _Stegomyia_ mosquito. Since then yellow fever has ceased to be a scourge in Cuba. Small-pox was the cause of a greater mortality than yellow fever even before the means of combating the latter had been ascertained. The remarkable sanitary work begun during the American occupation and continued by the republic of Cuba, has shown that the ravages of this and other diseases can be greatly diminished. Leprosy is rather common, but seemingly only slightly contagious. Consumption is very prevalent.

_Agriculture._--Soils are of four classes: calcareous-ferruginous, alluvial, argillous and silicious. Calcareous lands are predominant, especially in the uplands. Deep residual clay soils derived from underlying limestones, and coloured red or black according to the predominance of oxides of iron or vegetable detritus, characterize the plains. A red-black soil known as "mulatto" or tawny is perhaps the best fitted for general cultivation. Tobacco is most generally cultivated on loose red soils, which are rich in clays and silicates; and sugar-cane preferably on the black and mulatto soils; but in general, contrary to prevalent suppositions, colour is no test of quality and not a very valuable guide in the setting of crops. Almost without exception the lands throughout the island are of extreme fertility. The lowlands about Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Mariel and Matanzas are noted for their richness. The census of 1899 showed that farm lands occupied three-tenths of the total area; the cultivated area being one-tenth of the farms or 3% of the whole. At the end of 1905 it was officially estimated that 16% was in cultivation. In 1902 it was officially estimated that the public land available for permanent agrarian cultivation, including forest lands, was only 186,967 hectares (416,995 acres), almost wholly in the province of Oriente. The average size of a farm in 1899 was 143 acres. More than 85% of all cultivated lands were then occupied by whites; and somewhat more than one-half (56.6%) of all occupiers were renters. Holdings of more than 32 acres constituted only 7% of the total. As regards crops, 47% of the cultivated area was given over to sugar, 11% to sweet potatoes, 9% to tobacco and almost 9% to bananas. But owing to the disturbed conditions created by the war it is probable that these figures by no means represent normal conditions. The actual sugar crop of 1899-1900, for example, was not a quarter of that of 1894. With the establishment of peace in 1898 and the influx of American and other capital and of a heavy immigration, great changes took place in agriculture as in other industrial conditions.

Sugar.

Sugar has been the dominant crop since the end of the 18th century. Before the Civil War of 1895-1898 the capital invested in sugar estates was greater by half than that represented by tobacco and coffee plantations, live-stock ranches and other farms. Since that time fruit and live-stock interests have increased. The dependence of the island on one crop has been an artificial economic condition often of grave momentary danger to prosperity; but generally speaking, the progress of the industry has been steady. The competition of the sugar-beet has been felt severely. During and after the war of 1868-1878, when many Cuban estates were confiscated, many families emigrated, and many others were ruined, the ownership of plantations largely passed from the hands of Cubans to Spaniards. Under the conditions of free labour, the development of railways abroad, the improvement of machinery both in cane and beet producing countries, the general competition of the beet, and the fall of prices, it was impossible for the Cuban industry to survive without radical betterment of methods. About 1885 began an immense development of centralization (the tendency having been evident many years before this). Plantations have increased greatly in size (and also diminished in number), greater capital is involved, bagasse furnaces have been introduced, double grinding mills have increased by more than a half the yield of juice from a given weight of cane, and extractive operations instead of being carried on on all plantations have been (since 1880) concentrated in comparatively few "centrals" (168 in Feb. 1908). Three-fourths of all are in the jurisdictions of Cienfuegos, Cardenas, Havana, Matanzas and Sagua la Grande, which are the great sugar centres of the island (three-fourths of the crop coming from Matanzas and Santa Clara provinces). Caibarien, Guantanamo and Manzanillo are next in importance. A comparatively low cost of labour, the fact that labour is not, as in the days of slavery, that of unintelligent blacks but of intelligent free labourers, the centralized organization and modern methods that prevail on the plantations, the remarkable fertility of the soil (which yields 5 or 6 crops on good soil and with good management, without replanting), and the proximity of the United States, in whose markets Cuba disposes of almost all her crop, have long enabled her to distance her smaller West Indian rivals and to compete with the bounty-fed beet. The methods of cultivation, however, are still distinctly extensive, and the returns are much less than they would be (and in some other cane countries are) under more intensive and scientific methods of cultivation. Indeed, conditions were relatively primitive so late as 1880, if compared with those of other sugar-producing countries. More than four-fifths of the total area sown to cane in the island is in the three provinces of Santa Clara, Matanzas and Oriente (formerly Santiago), the former two representing two-thirds of the area and three-fourths of the crop. The majority of the sugar estates are of an area less than 3000 acres, and the most common area is between 1500 and 2000 acres; but the extremes range from a very small size to 60,000 acres. Only a part of the great estates is ever planted in any one season. The most profitable unit is calculated to be a daily consumption of 1500 tons of cane, or 150,000 in a grinding season of 100 days, which implies a feeding area not above 6000 acres. In the season of 1904-1905, which may be taken as typical, 179 estates, with a planted area of 431,056 acres, produced 11,576,137 tons of cane, and yielded--in addition to alcohol, brandy and molasses--1,089,814 tons of sugar. Of this amount 416,862 tons were produced by 24 estates yielding more than 11,000 tons each, including one (planting 28,050 acres) that yielded 33,609, and 4 others more than 22,000 tons each. The production of the island from 1850 to 1868 averaged 469,934 tons yearly, rising from 223,145 to 749,000; from 1869 to 1886 (continuing high during the period of the Ten Years' War), 632,003 tons; from 1887 to 1907--omitting the five years 1896-1900 when the industry was prostrated by war,--909,827 tons (and including the war period, 758,066); and in the six harvests of 1901-1906, 1,016,899 tons. Prior to 1902 the million mark, was reached only twice--in 1894 and 1895. Following the resuscitation of the industry after the last war, the island's crop rose steadily from one-sixth to a full quarter of the total cane sugar output of the world, its share in the world's product of sugar of all kinds ranging from a tenth to an eighth. Of this enormous output, from 98.3% upward went to the United States;[1] of whose total importation of all sugars and of cane sugar the proportion of Cuban cane--steadily rising--was respectively 49.8 and 53.7% in the seasons of 1900-1901 and 1904-1905.

Tobacco.