The History of Cuba Volume V Part 5

The surface as a whole is slightly rolling and has long been under cultivation, especially in the production of sugar cane, for which nearly all of this section is excellently adapted. There are forty sugar plantations in active operation in Matanzas Province, producing in 1917 over four million sacks. The cultivation of sugar cane, as in other provinces, is the chief source of wealth and yields the greatest revenue.

In recent years, or since revolutions have practically destroyed the industries of Yucatan, capital has been attracted to the cultivation of henequen, and to the extraction of the fibre known as sisal, from which not only rope and cables are made, but also binding twine, so essential to the wheat crop of the United States.

Leaving the city of Cardenas, which promises soon to be another great sisal center, and traveling west over the automobile drive towards Matanzas, a perfect panorama of growing henequen is spread out on both sides of the road as far as the eye can reach. The peculiar bluish green color of the fields of this valuable textile plant, dotted as they are with royal palms, produce a fascinating effect as one pa.s.ses through league after league of henequen.

There are many limestone hills, plateaus and plains in Matanzas Province, whose surface, covered with a thin layer of rich red soil, is especially adapted to the growth and cultivation of henequen, and it is quite possible that the sisal industry, in a short time, may equal if not excel in importance the sugar industry of the province.

Some twenty years ago a complete plant was established in the city of Matanzas for the manufacture of cables, cordage and binding twine for the local market. Thousands of acres of barren hillsides south of the city were planted in henequen at that time, and have since furnished enough raw material to keep this rope factory going throughout the entire year. The decortator, or machine by which the sisal is separated from the pulp of the leaves, is located near the crest of the hill, about a half a mile back of the factory. From this point down to the plain below, the green fresh sisal is conveyed by gravity in iron baskets, where it is received by women and spread out on wire lines to dry. Twenty-four hours later it is carried into the factory and there spun into rope of all sizes, from binding twine to the twelve-inch hawsers. Water was found alongside the factory only a few feet below the surface, where an underground stream furnishes an inexhaustible supply.

Several millions were invested in the Matanzas henequen industry, started by a company of Germans, who recently sold out to local and foreign capitalists. It is said that the capacity of the plant will be greatly increased.

The city of Matanzas, capital of the Province, is spread out over the side and along the base of the low hill that forms the western sh.o.r.e of the Bay. Although not possessing the wealth of Havana, the general appearance of the city, with its substantial stone buildings, gives every evidence of prosperity and comfort. Its population numbers approximately 40,000, the greater part of whom are interested in sugar, henequen and other local industries of the section.

Matanzas was first settled in 1693, but the modern city is laid out with wide streets, the oldest of which as usual radiate from the central plaza or city park, a quaint square ornamented with oriental palms and tropical flowers. The most pretentious drive of this provincial capital, however, has been built along the sh.o.r.e of the bay, a beautiful wide avenue lined with laurels and with statues of various local heroes, which add greatly to its interest. The view from the opposite side of the bay is excelled only by that of Havana from the heights of Cabanas.

Just back of the City, or rather on the edge of its northwestern boundary, perched on the front of a commanding promontory known as La Loma de Monserrate, is located a quaint little cathedral dedicated to the Virgin of El Cobre. The altar and background of the nave are constructed of cork, brought from Spain for that purpose many years ago.

From the crest of this flat topped hill, protected on the north by a stone wall, with s.p.a.cious seats of the same material, under the shade of laurel trees, the traveller has spread before him a beautiful view of the Yumuri Valley, over which Humboldt gazed with admiration some hundred years ago.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAN JUAN RIVER, MATANZAS

Second only to Havana itself on the northern coast of Cuba is the great commercial and residence city of Matanzas. Instead of standing upon the sh.o.r.e of a land-locked bay, however, Matanzas is built on the banks of the San Juan River, a broad, deep stream affording admirable facilities for navigation, and lined for a considerable distance partly with handsome houses and business buildings and partly with busy docks and wharves, thronged with vessels of all descriptions.]

Leading from the Capital are several very beautiful automobile drives; one reaching out towards the north and rounding the eastern terminus of the Yumuri Valley, gives a beautiful view of that charming basin as it stretches away toward the west.

Another delightful drive sweeps along the south sh.o.r.e towards Cardenas.

A few miles from Matanzas, however, a sharp turn to the right leads up on to the summit of the ridge south of Matanzas. The drive pa.s.ses through the long stretches of henequen fields whose plants furnish the fibre to the factory near the railway station.

On the crest of the plateau, under the shade of a small grove of trees, is found an odd little building that serves as the entrance to the Bellamar Caves. This famous underground resort is quite well known to tourists who visit Cuba in the winter season. Visitors are lowered by means of an elevator to a depth considerably below the level of the sea, after which guides take the party in charge and lead the way through several miles of interesting underground pa.s.sages, ornamented with stalact.i.tes, stalagmites and other beautiful formations peculiar to those old time waterways that forced their tortuous channels through the bowels of the earth thousands of years ago.

Many of these formations are of a peculiar pearl white with a delicate texture that resembles Parian marble and gives a metal-like ring when struck. The entire cave is lighted with electricity and entrance to the more inaccessible spots has been rendered possible through artificial steps and bal.u.s.trades. The city of Matanzas furnished an interesting and pleasant spot in which the tourist can spend a few days agreeably.

The harbor of Matanzas is a wide mouthed roadstead, cutting back from the Atlantic some five or six miles with a width varying from three to four. Dredging within recent years has greatly improved the port, although with deep draft vessels, lightering is still necessary to convey freight from the warehouses out to the various places of anchorage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CITY HALL AND PLAZA, CARDENAS]

The view of the City, covering the slopes of the hills on the west as you enter the bay, is very attractive. Since the Province of Matanzas has no harbors on the south coast, nearly all the sugar produced in her forty big mills is s.h.i.+pped from either Matanzas or Cardenas, both of which are connected with railroads that tap the various agricultural sections lying south of them.

The second city of the Province, Cardenas, is located on Cardenas Bay, a large and well protected harbor thirty miles east of Matanzas. In comparison with most of the harbors, however, it is comparatively shallow, needing a good deal of dredging to make it available for deep draft vessels. Cardenas, like Matanzas, is comparatively modern, with wide streets, regularly laid out. The old square, with its statue of Columbus, has been recently remodeled at considerable cost.

The first serious indication of revolt on the part of the Cuban people against the rule of Spain, was started here by General Narciso Lopez, who landed at Cardenas with 600 men, mostly Americans from New Orleans, on May 19, 1850. Within a few hours they had captured the Spanish garrison and made prisoners of Governor Serrute and several of his officials. The city was theirs, but to the unspeakable chagrin of General Lopez, only one man came to his aid on Cuban soil, and before nightfall, after defeating a Spanish column sent to oppose him, the disappointed revolutionist abandoned the city, and with his followers embarked for Key West.

It was on May 11, 1898, that Cardenas Bay became the scene of an engagement between blockading vessels of the United States fleet and the Spanish batteries, in which Ensign Worth Badgley was killed, he being the first officer to lose his life in the war.

The exportation of sugar from the rich lands tributary to this bay has always given Cardenas importance as a s.h.i.+pping point and rendered it, for a city of only 30,000, quite a wealthy and prosperous community.

Many beautiful residences have been built along its stately avenues, and the great henequen industry recently started in the great fields to the west will add, undoubtedly, to the wealth of the locality. Splendid stone warehouses line the sh.o.r.e for a mile or more, with a capacity sufficient to hold in storage while necessary the enormous crop of sugar that is produced in the province.

The presence of naphtha and many surface indications of oil deposits south and east of the City of Cardenas have rendered that section attractive as a field of exploration. Up to the present time, however, no paying wells have been found, although many expert oil men are still confident that the entire district from Cardenas to Itabo, and even further east, will some day prove a valuable field for petroleum products.

Midway between Cardenas and the City of Matanzas, just north of the beautiful highway connecting these two cities, rises a range of low serpentine hills, whose alt.i.tude is approximately five hundred feet.

These peculiarly symmetrical, round, loaf-like elevations above the level surface of the surrounding country, are covered with a short scrubby growth of th.o.r.n.y brush, and several varieties of maguey, of the century plant family. Nothing else will grow on these serpentine hills; hence in most respects they are decidedly unattractive. Since the beginning of the international war, however, and the great demand for chrome, some local mineralogists noted that little streams and rivulets running down these hills left deposits of a peculiar black, glistening sand. This sand, when a.n.a.lyzed, proved to come from the erosion of chromite, the mineral so much in demand by the smelting industry of the United States for hardening steel. In the spring of 1918 two well-known mining engineers and geologists, with instructions from Was.h.i.+ngton, visited several of these serpentine hills and found valuable deposits of chromite that will probably furnish a very profitable source of this much sought-for mineral and add greatly to the mining industry of this province.

During the War of Independence, Generals Antonio Maceo and Maximo Gomez led the invading columns of the Revolutionary Army into this Province for the first time, in the fall of 1896. The great beds of dead leaves lying between rows of cane, dried by the November winds, formed useful material for the insurgent armies. The torch once applied to this vast tinder box, with the prevailing easterly winds, all Matanzas was aflame.

Under cover of the great canopy of smoke which rose over the land, the invading armies of the Occident swept rapidly on through the Province, fighting only when compelled to, since the object of the invasion was to carry the war into Havana and Pinar del Rio, where Revolution had never before been known.

The vast cane fields that today line the railroad tracks on both sides, bear no evidence of the ravages of Revolution, while handsome modern mills, many of which have been erected since the beginning of the great European War of 1914, have helped to feed the world with sugar that could be obtained in sufficient quant.i.ties in no other place.

CHAPTER VII

PROVINCE OF SANTA CLARA

Probably in no part of Cuba is the topography more varied or the scenery more beautiful than in the Province of Santa Clara, with its area of 8,250 square miles. Mountain, valley, table land and plain seem to be thrown together in this, the central section of the Island, in reckless yet picturesque confusion. The main system of mountains, extending throughout the entire length of Cuba, disappears and reappears along the northern coast of Santa Clara, thus permitting easy communication between her rich central plains, covered with sugar estates, and her harbors on the coast.

In the southwestern center of this province, we have another group of mountains, foot hills and fertile valleys, in which are located some of the old coffee estates of slavery days, established at the close of the 18th century, shortly after the negro uprising in Santo Domingo. These cafetales, in the early half of the following century, made Cuban coffee famous throughout the world. Nestling within this mountain cradle lies the city of Trinidad, founded by Diego Velasquez in January, 1514. The presence of gold, which the Indians panned from the waters of the Arimo River, rendered Trinidad an important center for the early Spanish conquerors during the first years of Cuban history. Sancti Spiritus, lying on the edge of a fertile plateau, some forty-five miles to the northeast, was founded a few months later.

Gold was the G.o.d of the Spanish conquerors, and to secure it was their chief aim and ambition. Its discovery in this section of Santa Clara brought hope to them and despair to the Indians, on whom the former depended for labor with which to dig this precious metal from the earth.

Velasquez found the natives of Trinidad, like those of Oriente, a gentle, confiding people, who asked only permission to live as they had always done; tilling the soil, fis.h.i.+ng, visiting and dancing, at which they were most clever, an ideal and harmless life, suited to their tastes. They grew corn, sweet potatoes, tobacco and yucca, from which they made their cazaba bread, still used by the country people of the present day. The Spaniards, however, soon changed this earthly dream of ease and joy into one of arduous and repugnant toil, rather than to submit to which, many of them committed suicide by poison and by drowning.

Velasquez, enthusiastic over the locality of his newly founded city, Trinidad, despatched at once one of his caravels to La Espanola in Santo Domingo, with orders to bring back cattle, mares and other material necessary to further the interests of the new settlement. And so it came to pa.s.s that this section of southern Santa Clara, with its fertile lands, beautiful scenery and promise of gold, played an important part in the early colonization of the Island.

The desire to acc.u.mulate wealth through the toil of the unhappy Indians, of whom the Spaniards made slaves, tempted even Las Casas, the great defender of the Cuban aborigines, to accept a.s.signment of them as a gift from the crown, so that he might share something of the prosperity of the early conquerors. It is reported that Las Casas repented this departure from the path of rect.i.tude and afterwards was led to indorse the importation of African slaves in order to save the Cuban Indians from extermination.

It was on the banks of the beautiful Arimo, some twenty-five miles east of Trinidad, that this celebrated old historian and defender of the faith maintained his ranch and other worldly possessions. Throughout the sixteenth century this section of Santa Clara was an important station on the line of travel between Santiago de Cuba and Havana.

Caravels leaving "Tierra Firme," or the great continent of South America, that had been discovered, frequently made this sh.o.r.e, on the other side of the Caribbean, or were driven against it by storms, the crews afterwards reaching Santiago de Cuba by travel overland, along the south coast. Owing probably to the fact that all of this coast, from the mouth of the Zaza River east to the Cauto, is low, covered with dense jungle, reports reached Spain to the effect that the most of Cuba was a swamp, which is far from the truth, since by far the greatest portion of the Island is rolling and mountainous.

More than half of Santa Clara is hilly and broken, although owing to the fertility of the soil this interferes but little with the agricultural development of the Province.

The mountains of Santa Clara form the central zone of the great volcanic upheaval that raised Cuba from the depths of the Caribbean. A broad belt or double chain lies between the city of Santa Clara and Sancti Spiritus. Another ridge, just south of the latter city, extends from the Tunas de Zaza railroad to a point east of the Manatee River, near the harbor of Cienfuegos. A second group lies between the valleys of the rivers Arimao and Agabama, names taken from the original appellations given them by the Indians.

The highest peak of this central region, called Potrerillo, is located some seven miles north of Trinidad and reaches an alt.i.tude of about 3,000 feet. The mountains of this group extend northwest as far as the Manicaragua Valley. A third group, lying southeast of the city of Santa Clara, includes the Sierra del Escambray and the Sierra de Agabama. The average alt.i.tude of these latter hills is only about a thousand feet.

Another range of hills begins at a point on the north coast of the Province, twenty-five miles east of Sagua la Orande, and runs parallel with the north sh.o.r.e of the Island into the Province of Camaguey, in the western edge of which it disappears in the great level prairies of that region. The highest peaks of this group are the Sierra Morena, west of Sagua la Grande, and the Lomas de Santa Fe, near Camajuani. A little further east they are known as the Lomas de Las Sabanas.

With the exception of the northern coast range, the other ranges of Santa Clara have resulted from seismic forces, working apparently at right angles to the main line of upheaval, leaving the tangled ma.s.s of hills and valleys characteristic of this great central zone of the Province. What is known as the schistose or pre-cretaceous limestones of Trinidad, are supposed to be the oldest geological formations in the Island of Cuba.

From the foot of the Sierra de Morena, near the north coast, a wide, comparatively level plain sweeps across the province to the Caribbean Sea, broken only at a few points by one or two abrupt hills, northeast of Cienfuegos. Lying between the northern chain of mountains and the coast, we find quite a broad area of rich level land washed by the salt water lagoons of the north sh.o.r.e.

Again, in the extreme southeast corner of Santa Clara, is found another large tract comprising perhaps a thousand square miles, located between the Zaza and the two Jatabonico rivers that form the boundary between the province and Camaguey.

Between the various chains of mountains and hills that cut the province of Santa Clara into hundreds of parks and valleys, are exceptionally rich lands, sufficiently level for cultivation. The Manicaragua Valley, sloping towards the eastern edge of the Bay of Cienfuegos, is noted for an excellent quality of tobacco grown in that region.

Of navigable rivers, owing to the short plains between the various divides and the coast line, there are practically none in Santa Clara, although many of the streams have considerable length, and are utilized for floating logs to the coast during the rainy season. The Arimao, with its falls, known as the Habanillo, is a picturesque and beautiful stream, rising in the mountains of the southern central zone and flowing in a westerly direction, until it empties into the Bay of Cienfuegos.

The Canao, another small stream with its source near the city of Santa Clara, takes a southwesterly course and empties into the same bay. The Damiji flows south to and into Cienfuegos Harbor. The Hanabana rises in the northwestern extremity of the province, and, flowing south and west, forms much of its western boundary until it empties into a little lake a few miles north of the Bay of Cochinos, known as El Tesoro or Treasure Lake. From this a continuation of the river known as the Gonzalo runs due west throughout the entire length of the Cienaga de Zapata until it empties into Broa Bay, an eastern extension of the Gulf of Batabano.