The History of Cuba Volume V Part 24

In view of the rapidly increasing demand for Guinea pullets in all of the big hotels in the United States, where they seem to be taking the place of the prairie chicken of the past, it would seem that the raising of Guinea hens for the American market should certainly prove extremely profitable. Fields of the short or white millet planted on any farm will serve to keep them satisfied, and at the same time diminish the tendency to wander away from home. In a country where neither shelter or food is needed, and where the birds command very remunerative prices, Guinea raising ought to be tempting.

Very few have gone into poultry raising along scientific or intelligent lines, which seems rather odd when we consider that fresh eggs vary in price from four to five cents, under normal conditions, all the year round, and chickens of the most scrawny type bring from sixty cents to one dollar.

The poultry business offers many advantages in Cuba; first of which may be mentioned, an excellent local market for both chickens and eggs; second, that green food and insects may be found in abundance throughout the year; that open or wire screen houses alone are necessary for protection, the necessity for artificial heat being, of course, non existent.

In a country free from frost and where flowers bloom more or less continuously throughout the year, we might expect to find and do find a Bee paradise. Often, in seeking shelter either from a tropical sun or a threatening shower, in the shade of one of the Magotes of Pinar del Rio, or while pa.s.sing through the deep, rock-walled pa.s.s of the Paredones, in the Sierra de Cubitas, one will find pools of a strange looking substance in the dust at his feet. Investigation discloses the fact that it is honey, fallen from overhanging rocks where wild bees have made their homes in the cavities above, the warmth of the sun having melted an overfilled comb so that the honey collected at the foot of the cliff below.

Native wild bees are very plentiful in Cuba, and strange to say possess no sting, but produce a honey that is very sweet. During the latter part of the 16th century a German variety of bee was introduced, from the Spanish colony of Saint Augustine, Florida. About the middle of the 19th century the Italian bee was introduced, and is probably more productive of honey than any other in Cuba. With the coming of American colonists in 1900, modern hives were introduced and the business of gathering and exporting both honey and wax was systematized for the first time.

Many large apiaries exist, especially in the province of Pinar del Rio.

Those who devote their time to the culture of bees naturally seek the various localities where flowers are plentiful, sometimes moving the hives from one section to another in order to take advantage of the presence of honey-bearing flowers in various localities. The bloom of the royal palm, so plentifully scattered over the Island, especially in those mountainous districts where the soil is deep and rich, furnishes an excellent food for bees, as do the morning glory, the flowering majagua and hundreds of other plants whose local Spanish names cannot be interpreted.

In the location of bee colonies the character and quant.i.ty of the food is a matter of prime importance. The honey yielding flowers, on which the bees depend for their sustenance, vary greatly with the locality, especially with its proximity to the coast or to the mountains. The sources of wax, too, vary greatly with the location. As an ill.u.s.tration, foundation comb in Cuba should never be supplied to bees located near the coast, since experience has proved that they will build up comb much faster near the coast without the a.s.sistance of artificial foundation.

The quality of honey, too, depends much upon the nature of the flowers found in any given locality. In the interior nearly all honey is of excellent quality, while on the coast, quite a large percentage will lack more or less in flavor, and is almost subject to danger from fermentation. It has been noted too that colonies in the interior, when young queens are available, will swarm, even when not crowded for room; whereas on the coast bees do not swarm so readily, probably because they have such an abundance of wax with which to build comb.

During the month of January bees secure an abundance of food throughout the interior from the Aguinaldo Blanco, or white morning-glory. On the coast a large amount of honey is derived from the bloom of a small tree, not botanically cla.s.sified, during a short period of seldom more than a week. In February, throughout the interior, bees derive large quant.i.ties of honey from flowers of the Rapitingua and from the Mango, while on the coast, during this month, food is not abundant.

In March, throughout the interior, the flowers of many fruit trees, found wild in the forest, give an abundance of honey, while on the coast the Roble Blanco, or so called white oak, furnishes food. In April, in the interior, food is derived from many plants then in bloom, while on the coast the flowers of the Salsa, Pelotajo, Bacuaya and the Guana Palm furnish an abundance of food. The months of May and June, in the interior, contribute comparatively few honey yielding flowers, while on the coast the mangroves, the Guana Palm, and one or two other plants yield food in great quant.i.ties.

In July and August the scarcity of honey bearing flowers continues in the interior while on the coast the Guamo yields food. In September and October, throughout the interior, honey is derived from the Toruga and a few other flowers. On the coast, during these months, the same flowers yield honey but in less quant.i.ty. In the months of November and December, throughout the interior, a heavy flow of honey is derived from a plant known as the Bellflower, while on the coast at this season, food is scarce.

Where groves of citrus fruit abound excellent honey is derived from the flowers of the orange and grape fruit throughout much of the winter.

As a result of experience in apiculture during the past fifteen years, $2 per hive is the average annual income derived when located under favorable circ.u.mstances. One bee keeper who cares for a colony of 1200 hives has found that by adding 25 to 30 pounds of sugar towards the support of each hive, during the months when food is scarce, this average of $2 per hive in annual profit is increased to $5 and even more.

The exportation of wax for the fiscal year 1916-17 amounted to approximately 1,300,000 pounds, valued at $340,000. Of this amount about a million pounds was exported to the United States, while 300,000 pounds went to Great Britain. In the same year over 12,000,000 pounds of honey were shipped abroad, valued at $650,000. Nearly 10,000,000 pounds of this went to the United States, Great Britain taking the larger part of the remainder.

Most of the honey exported from Cuba is strained and sells in bulk for about five cents per pound. To those fond of bees, apiculture in Cuba will always form for the settler a source of added pleasure and profit, especially in those sections where coffee, cacao and citrus fruit form the chief source of income.

Next to the Bahama Islands, surrounded as they are by hundreds of square miles of shoal water, the sh.o.r.es of Cuba probably produce more good sponges than any other part of the western hemisphere. In the quiet waters protected by out-lying barrier reefs that in places stretch for hundreds of miles along the sh.o.r.es of Cuba, many varieties of sponges are found. The longest of the sponge zones is found in the shallow waters protected by the Islands and reefs that stretch along the north coast of Cuba from Punta Hicaco opposite Cardenas, to the harbor of Nuevitas, some 300 miles east. Both sponges and green turtles are found here but never have been extensively hunted except by the Bahama Islanders, who before the inauguration of the Cuban revenue service used to sneak across the old Bahama Channel in the darkness of the night and back of the uninhabited keys reap rich rewards in the sponge fields of the northern coast.

Batabano on the south coast, opposite the city of Havana, is the great center of the sponge fisheries that cover the shallow flats between the mainland and the Isle of Pines and extend from the Bay of Cochinos in the east to the extreme western terminus of the Island at Cape San Antonio.

The domestic consumption of sponges in Cuba is very large and in the year 1916-17 only 261,800 pounds were exported which had a value of $230,000.

CHAPTER XXVIII

PLACES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST

To the lover of romance or student of history, few spots in the western hemisphere, perhaps, have greater charm and interest than Morro Castle, high perched on the promontory that guards the eastern entrance of Havana Harbor. Seen at early dawn from the open port of an entering steamer, its great, rugged, picturesque bulk seems to a.s.semble from the spectral mists of a legendary past, while all those intensely dramatic scenes of which El Morro has been the center, pa.s.s before one like the dreamy reality of a moving picture play.

Resurrected from the tales of centuries, gone and almost forgotten, one sees the lonely old watch tower that back in the early days of the 16th century stood guard on the hill top of Morro, so that the pirates and cruel rovers of the sea during those days of greed, l.u.s.t and crime, could not take the little community of Havana unawares. Then come the later days, when the ever recurring wars of Europe cast their ugly shadows over even remote points on the western sh.o.r.e of the Atlantic, and corsairs of foreign nations were ever anxious to pounce on the Pearl of the Antilles, and seize within the harbor some of the rich Spanish galleons, laden with Aztec gold and loot.

Through this panorama of the past comes the picture of England's fleet of 200 ships manned by 32,000 men under Albemarle and Poc.o.c.ke, lying in a semicircle off the entrance of the harbor, with old Morro now well equipped for battle. Its thick walls, rugged embattlements, fighting turrets, embrasures, emergency bridges, powder magazines, store rooms, ammunition dumps, secret pa.s.sages and dark dungeons, and bristling guns, were Spain's chief bulwark in the defense of Havana. Solid shot and sh.e.l.l from a thousand guns crisscrossed between sea and land, and in the center of the turmoil, defending the fort and the honor of Spain, stood one courageous young officer, Commander Luis Velasco, surrounded by a little group of volunteers, who had sworn to hold the fort or die in its defense.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PABLO DESVERNINE.

Born in Havana in 1854, and educated at the University of Havana and at Columbia University, New York, Pablo Desvernine y Galdos has long ranked among the foremost members of the Cuban bar. During General Brooke's Military Governorship at the beginning of the first American intervention he was Secretary of Finance; he was President of the Agricultural Expositions of 1911 and 1912; was Minister to the United States in 1913; and in 1914 was made by President Menocal Secretary of State. Since 1900 he has been Professor of Civil Law in the University of Havana. He is the author of several works on Civil and International Law.]

Then, after a month of continuous fighting, came the note from the British, stating that El Morro was undermined and an offer of 24 hours in which to surrender, and Velasco's reply, in which he informed his enemy that the match might be applied and the walls blown up, but within the breach he would be found still defending the castle.

The mine was exploded and the south wall torn asunder, while Velasco, fighting to the last, received the wound that sent him over the Great Divide and soon brought to an end Havana's defense against the British.

Imagination easily recalls the salute of cannon on the following day, announcing the death of one of Spain's most courageous fighters, while every shot of the defending guns was echoed by one of the British ships, firing as a tribute to the courage of the young officer who had defied their entire fleet for nearly a month.

Morro was begun in 1589 by the Italian engineer, J. Bautista Antonelli, and completed in 1597. Little change has occurred during the last two centuries, and its rugged old walls will probably continue to resist the winter storms of the Gulf for centuries to come. Many of Cuba's patriots and heroic figures have been confined in the dungeons of Morro, including the first President of the Republic, that kind hearted, genial old gentleman of letters, Don Tomas Estrada Palma, who died the victim of base ingrat.i.tude on the part of men for whose freedom and happiness he had devoted all of the best years of his life.

El Morro is still occupied, as in the olden days, by the coast artillery of Cuba, and is well worth a trip across the bay, where one may pa.s.s a pleasant afternoon in interesting introspection, and enjoy at the same time one of the most delightful views of land and sea from any point in the West Indies.

Just within the entrance, and on the sh.o.r.e at the foot of Morro, are located 12 huge, old-time muzzle loading cannon, known as the Twelve Apostles, that sweep the opposite sh.o.r.e and were supposed to render impossible the entrance of any hostile ship, or any effort to cut away the heavy iron cable that in earlier days stretched across the entrance to the harbor from El Morro to the fortress of La Punta on the other side. These curious old iron guns, dedicated to the saints, were cast by Don Juan Francisco de Guenes and installed by him in the form of a crescent, that boded destruction to all invaders from the sea.

Some 500 yards further east, along the coast, is installed a similar group of cannon, 12 in number, that forms a battery known as La Pastora.

These guns were made by Francisco Cagigal de la Vega and were placed on the lower shelf of the outside coast at a point not easily seen from the sea where they were supposed to render a forced entrance to the bay practically impossible.

A little further within the narrow entrance to the harbor of Havana, and stretching for a half a mile along the eastern sh.o.r.e, lies the largest and most impressive ancient fort of the western hemisphere. This fortress is known as la Cabana, owing to the fact that several cabins once stood along this ridge, some 200 feet in height, overlooking the City of Havana. La Cabana is ma.s.sive in its structure, built of stone and earth on the crest of the ridge, with a steep descent to the water's edge. It is surrounded on all sides by a wide deep moat, across which no enemy, even in modern times, could possibly pa.s.s. The destruction of the fort with high explosives and long range guns would, of course, be easily accomplished, but as an example of 18th century military engineering and architecture, it has no rival in the western world. Some 50 acres are covered with the walls, patios, surface and underground dungeons, prisons, buildings, moats and outer defenses of this fortification.

The work was begun on November 4, 1763, shortly after the evacuation of Havana by the British, and was concluded in 1774. The cost of the work is said to have been $14,000,000, although much of it was probably done by slaves, for whose services little or nothing was paid, nor could the value of their labor be easily estimated. The same engineer Antonelli, of Italian origin, who built El Morro, displayed his military genius in the plans of La Cabana.

The original approach of this fortress was over a cobbled path that wound up a steep incline, from a little landing opposite the foot of O'Reilly Street, terminating finally in the southern opening to the moat. This path was known during the long years of the Ten Years' War, and the War of Independence, as "El Camino sin Esperanza" or the Road without Hope, since those who climbed its winding way as prisoners seldom descended to the plain below, unless in rude boxes on the way to their last resting place. Even this privilege was denied to the great majority of political prisoners who were executed under the laurels that shade the first part of the moat.

This wide deep moat, varying in width from sixty to a hundred feet, with a depth that will average fifty, extends from one end of the fortress to the other, paralleling the harbor on which it fronts, and separating the main body of the fortress from well planned and easily defended outer works. Stone stairways were built at different places against the walls of these outer ramparts to facilitate the movement of troops in defense of the citadel, but with wide gaps crossed by wooden bridges that once knocked away would render the stairways useless to the enemy.

A few hundred feet beyond the avenue of laurels, and close by an opening of the wall into the main fortress, a bronze placque, some six feet by twelve, marks one of the places where political prisoners were executed throughout the latter half of the 19th century. The bronze was cast in France and represents the execution of a group of insurgent soldiers. In the left half of the placque is represented a squad of Spanish soldiers in the act of firing. Above all floats the figure of an angel endeavoring to shield the martyrs who are giving up their lives for the cause of Cuban Liberty.

Pa.s.sing through this great eastern wall of the citadel the visitor steps into an interior, gra.s.s covered court, several hundred feet in length by eighty or more in width. Along the southern end of the court may be seen the remnant of a painted line at about the height of a man's breast. On this spot, it is said, over a thousand men were executed during the period of the Ten Years' War and the three years' War of Independence.

Most of the old line has been dug away by knife points of visitors in search of bullets that were imbedded in the wall during the many executions that took place at its base. At the further, or northern end of this tranquil plot of ground, heavily barred iron gates cover a series of steps which formed an emergency entrance from the moat into the main body of the fortress.

A quarter of a mile further north, along the main extension of the moat, is a wide wooden bridge that connects the outer ramparts with the citadel, the roadway pa.s.sing through a ma.s.sive and impressive gate or portal, over which a carved inscription gives the dates in which the work was begun and concluded, together with the name of its founders and the Spanish officers in command at the time of its construction.

The grounds within are ample for military drill and instruction and are well equipped for the care and maintenance of a defending force. When Spain's army retired from Cuba in the last days of 1899, both Cabanas and Morro presented a very different appearance from that of today. Long lines of cells had been built into the stone walls, in which hundreds, if not thousands, of political prisoners had spent years of confinement. Each of these dreary, cheerless abodes was about 30 feet in width by 60 in length, with a low arched ceiling and ma.s.sive barred doors, facing the west.

Each cell was supposed to accommodate fifty men, and some of them contained long parallel wooden bars, between which prisoners might swing hammocks if they were fortunate enough to possess them. Many men prominent in Cuban political and military life have occupied these cells of Cabanas and also those of its companion, El Morro. General Julio Sanguily, among others, pa.s.sed three years in cell No. 57, until, through the urgent intercession of the American Government, he was finally set at liberty and permitted to enter the United States, of which he claimed citizenship.

Stretching along the western face of the fortress is a wide stone parapet overlooking the bay and the City of Havana opposite. Planted on its surface is a long line of interesting bra.s.s cannon, ornamented with Spanish coats of arms and bearing inscriptions that tell of their making in Seville, at various periods throughout the 18th century. These cannon are used today for saluting purposes when foreign men of war enter the harbor on friendly visits.

Near the center of the citadel stood a small stone chapel that would accommodate 50 or 100 men. Near one end was built a round paG.o.da-like altar before which the condemned could kneel in prayer during their last night on earth, since those who entered its tragic portals well knew that at sunrise the following morning they would face the firing squad that would pa.s.s them on to eternity. This historically tragic apartment has recently been converted into a moving picture hall for the benefit of Cuban soldiers who are at present stationed in Cabanas.

Visitors at Cabanas during normal times of peace will find soldier guides quite willing to carry one down into the subterranean depths of the fortress and along the narrow dark pa.s.sageways that were tunneled into the earth, supposedly to detect possible mining operations of the enemy from the outside. During the War of Independence, however, extending from 1895 to 1899, these underground tunnels were occupied by prisoners, most of whom dying in the dismal depths were given burials so shallow by their companions, who must have dug the graves with their fingers, that in pa.s.sing along by lantern light, shortly after American occupation, one frequently stumbled over skulls and bones that protruded from the earthen floor below.

The aspect of Cabanas today, with its well cleaned, whitewashed walls, with its comfortable officers' quarters and shady grounds, is quite cheerful, and one can hardly believe that less than a quarter of a century ago Cabanas fortress was one of the modern horrors that cried out to the civilized world for the abolition of Spanish control in America.

Occupying the low rocky ledge immediately opposite Morro is the picturesque little fort known as the Castillo de Punta, or Fortress on the Point, begun in 1589, and intended to complete the protection to the entrance of the harbor. The style of architecture is identical with that of El Morro, but far less pretentious in size and plan. The fort is protected from the sea by several outlying shelves of coral rock, and was at one time surrounded by a moat as was La Fuerza, the first stone fortress constructed in the Western Hemisphere. The walls are not over 20 feet in height and over the main entrance a tablet gives the name of Governor-General Tejada, during whose period of office it was built, together with the date of its construction.

La Punta afforded efficient aid to its companion El Morro, on the opposite side of the bay, during the siege by the English in 1762, and in one corner of the reception room may be seen the fragment of an iron sh.e.l.l, fired from the British fleet during the siege of Havana.