THE Province of Havana, with its area of 3,171 square miles, is the smallest in Cuba, and yet, owing to the city of Havana, capital of the Republic, it plays a very important part in the social, political and economic life of the Island.

Geographically, it is the pivotal province of Cuba, since the narrowest place across the long arch-like stretch of the Island is found along the border between Havana and Pinar del Rio, where only twenty-two miles lie between the Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean Sea. The province proper measures about thirty miles from north to south, with an average width of fifty-five.

The topography of Havana includes a varied assortment of hills, ridges, plateaus, valleys and plains, so that the scenery never becomes monotonous; and with the numerous automobile drives that radiate from the Capital, shaded with the luxuriant foliage of royal palms, bamboo and other forms of tropical vegetation, it offers to the tourist and traveler an almost endless panorama of charming change and pleasant surprise. The average altitude of Havana province is slightly lower than that of either Matanzas or Pinar del Rio, bordering on the east and west.

Columbus, on his second voyage of discovery, cruised along the southern coast of Cuba until he reached a point a little west of the Indian village of Batabano. Here he heard of another island not far to the south. Leaving the coast he threaded his way through shoals and scattered keys, that even up to the present time have been only imperfectly charted, and finally, on July 12, 1494, landed at some place on the northern shore. He called this island the Evangelist. It is the largest of a chain of keys running parallel with this part of the south coast, irregular in form with an area of approximately eight hundred square miles, and forms the southern half of the judicial district of Havana.

Columbus remained here, taking on fresh water and wood, until July 25, and then began his return voyage east, sailing over shoals that displayed so many varying shades of green, purple and white, that his mariners are said to have become alarmed.

Some twenty years later Diego Velasquez cruised along the southern coast to a point west of the Guines River, where he founded a city, which he called San Cristobal de la Havana. The fifty odd colonists whom he left behind soon became dissatisfied with the general surroundings of the spot which he had selected for their abiding place and moved over to the north shore of the Island near the mouth of the Almandares River, which they found in every way more agreeable as a place of permanent residence. In 1519 a second move was made to the Bay of Carenas, where they located permanently on the harbor, destined soon after to become the most important port of the West Indies.

The inhabitants of that irregular group of palm thatched huts little dreamed that four centuries later the Port of Havana would have a foreign commerce whose tonnage is excelled by only one other in the Western Hemisphere.

With the exception of the low, grass-covered plains of the southern shore, the topography of the Province of Havana is undulating and picturesque. The northern shore, throughout most of its length, especially from the City of Havana west to Matanzas, rises more or less abruptly from the beach until it reaches a rather uneven plateau, several hundred feet above the level of the sea.

In the northwestern corner, some two miles back from the shore line, the “Pan” or “Loma of Guayabon,” which is really a continuation of the Organ Mountains of Pinar del Rio, forms a palm covered, picturesque ridge, six hundred feet in height, extending from east to west for several miles. Along the southern edge of this range of hills, runs a beautiful automobile drive, connecting the capital with the city of Pinar del Rio, the wonderful valley of the Vinales, Guane and the extreme western end of the Island. A drive leading from the city of Guanajay extends fifty miles northwest to the Bay of Bahia Honda, chosen originally as a coaling station for the Navy, but never occupied.

In the east central part of the province lie two small mountains known as the Tetas de Bejucal, and from them, extending in an easterly direction into the Province of Matanzas, are broken ridges, plateaus, and hills that form one of the connecting links between the Organ group of mountains in the west, and the still higher cordilleras of the Province of Oriente in the extreme east.

With the exception of the coastal plain running along the southern boundary, the remainder of the province is undulating, more or less hilly, and quite picturesque in its contour. A little east of the Tetas de Bejucal, from the top of the divide that forms the water shed of the province, looking south, one sees below him the Valley of the Guines, known as the Garden of Havana. Thousands of acres are here spread out before the view, all irrigated by the Guines River, whose source is in the never failing springs that gush from the base of a mountain ridge in the east center of the Province.

The rich soil of this section, furnished as it is with water throughout the year, produces a marvelous yield of sugar cane, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, egg plants and other vegetables, affording an inexhaustible supply during the winter to the capital, forty miles north. Engineers are making a study of this river so that its water may be more economically distributed and the acreage of irrigated lands greatly increased.

In the southwestern quarter of Havana Province, known as the Tumbadero District, experiments were first made in growing tobacco under cheese cloth. These were so successful that in a few years Tumbadero, or Havana wrappers, became famous for their fineness of texture, and within a short time thousands of acres in that section were converted into fields, or vegas, whose returns in tobacco leaf product were excelled in value only by those of the celebrated Vuelta Abajo district of Pinar del Rio. The towns of Alquizar and Guira de Melina were built and sustained by the reputation of the Tumbadero wrapper, and the tobacco district was soon extended well up into the center of the province, including Salud, Rincon, San Antonio de los Banos, and Santiago de las Vegas. In the northwestern corner of the Island, the rich valley extending south and east of the “Pan de Guayabon,” including the towns of Caimito, Hoyo Colorado, and Guayabal, has recently rivaled the Tumbadero district in the excellence of its tobacco, and excels in citrus fruit.

Over three-fourths of Havana Province have been blessed with a remarkably fertile soil, and although much of it has been under cultivation for three centuries or more, with the judicious use of fertilizers, the returns, either in fruit or vegetables, are very gratifying to the small farmer.

Along the delightfully shaded automobile drives that radiate from the Capital in nearly all directions, the price of land within thirty miles of the city has risen so rapidly that it is being given over almost entirely to suburban homes and country estates, maintained by the wealthy residents of the capital. In a climate where frost is unknown, where the foliage remains fresh and green throughout the winter, it is comparatively easy to convert an ordinary farm into a veritable garden of Eden.

One of the most beautiful places on the Island within the last few years has been created by General Mario G. Menocal, President of the Republic. It covers several hundred acres and is known as “El Chico,” or the “Little One.” A commanding residence of Cuban colonial architecture, standing a little back from the road, has been surrounded with beautiful drives, lined with every variety of fruit tree, flower and ornamental plant known to Cuba. The green lawn sweeps up to the stately building occupied by President Menocal as a residence or country seat in summer. On this place may be found many varieties of poultry, recently imported from the United States for experimental purposes, in which the President is deeply interested. Competent gardeners and caretakers are maintained, with the result that “El Chico,” where General Menocal and his family spend much of their time, has become one of the show places of the Province.

Col. Jose Villalon, Secretary of Public Works, and Col. Charles Hernandez, Director of Posts and Telegraph, have pretty country estates located west of Havana, not far from El Chico.

The soil of the Province, throughout most of its extent, has been formed through the erosion of tertiary limestone, colored in many places a reddish brown of oxide of iron that has impregnated most of the soils of Cuba. Just south of Havana, serpentine has obtruded through the limestone along a belt some two or three miles in extent, and forms the round topped hills in evidence from the bay.

The greater part of Havana Province, when found by the Spaniards, was covered with forests of hard woods, that were gradually cut away during the centuries in which the land has been tilled. The trees, according to early records, included cedar, mahogany, acana, majagua and others, still found in the mountainous districts and those sections of Cuba not yet brought under cultivation. These valuable hard woods formed the posts, joists, rafters, doors and windows of nearly all the old-time residences of early days. Many buildings that have remained standing through centuries, have ceilings that are supported by heavy carved timbers of mahogany and give promise still of long years of service if permitted to remain.

The basic wealth of the province, as in nearly all other sections of Cuba, is dependent on agriculture, although since the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, manufacturing and various other industries are beginning to play a prominent part in her economical wealth.

In agricultural products, the Guines Valley previously referred to undoubtedly produces greater returns than any other similar lands in Cuba. Hundreds of thousands of crates of tomatoes, egg plants and other vegetables, that have been raised through the whiter month by irrigation, are shipped to the United States from December to April. Thousands of barrels of Irish potatoes from the Guines Valley, also, are sold in Philadelphia, New York and Boston during the month of March, at prices averaging four dollars per hundred weight.

In the Valley of Caimito, Guayabal and Hoyo Colorado, large crops of vegetables are shipped to the northern markets during the winter months, when good prices are assured. A certainty of profit, however, can only be depended on where irrigation from wells is secured.

Large acreages of pineapples are grown in the same district, although the center of the pineapple industry in Havana today is located about thirty miles east of the City, on the road to Matanzas. Over a million crates every year are shipped out of Havana to the northern markets between the middle of May and the middle of July.

It is probable that no section of either the West Indies or the United States offers greater opportunities for the canning industry than is found in Cuba at the present time, especially in the Province of Havana, where facilities for transportation are plentiful. A general canning and preserving plant, intelligently conducted, could be operated in this province throughout the entire year. In this way all of the surplus pineapples not shipped abroad could be utilized.

During the last few years several manufacturing industries have sprung up on the outskirts of Havana, all of which seem to be yielding satisfactory returns. Three large breweries are turning out a very good grade of beer that is disposed of throughout the Island. The plants are located in the suburbs of Havana, each surrounded by grounds rendered attractive by landscape gardeners and furnishing places for recreation and rest to both rich and poor on holidays, which are plentiful in Cuba. A large up-to-date bottling plant, located just west of the City, manufactures the containers for the output of the breweries.

Between the city of Havana and the suburb of Ceiba, a modern rubber tire and tube factory has been established, and is said to be working on full time with very satisfactory profits. Several large soap and perfume factories, recently established, are supplying the demand for these products with satisfaction, it is said, both to the manufacturer and the consumer.

A number of brick yards and tile factories are located not far from the City, the combined output of which is large. The erection of wooden buildings within the city limits of Havana is not tolerated. In fact they are not at all popular in Cuba since the climate is not conducive to the preservation of wood, aside from cedar and mahogany or other hard woods, which are too expensive for construction work. Limestone, easily worked, and of a fine quality for this climate, is found in abundance, hence it is that the vast amount of building going on at the present time in Cuba makes heavy demands on both this material and brick, for all constructive purposes.

Nature has again favored this Island in her large deposits of excellent cement-clay, limestone and sand, which are essential to the manufacture of cement. The Almandares factory located on the west bank of that river has long been in successful operation. Within the last year another large modern cement factory has been established on the eastern shores of the harbor of Mariel, twenty-five miles west of Havana, and today is turning out high-grade cement at the rate of six hundred barrels per day.

Local factories have had a monopoly of the match-making industry in Cuba for many years. Few, if any matches are imported from abroad, and may never be, owing to the fact that the people of Cuba prefer the wax taper match. Although short and rather inconvenient to those who are not accustomed to this miniature candle, the flame burns longer and persists more successfully in a breeze, hence it is probable that the Cuban match will hold its own against all competitors. Quite a revenue is derived from the penny stamp tax placed on each box of matches.

Large quantities of pine lumber are imported into Cuba from the Gulf cities, especially from South Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile. This material is used throughout the island for interior work, sash, doors, blinds, etc. Unless covered with paint, hard pine is not very lasting in this climate, for which reasons, perhaps, show cases, fancy work and ornamental doors are usually built of the native cedar and majagua, which are practically impervious to either decay or attack from boring insects.

The most important industry of the Province, from the monetary viewpoint, at least, is the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes, which are produced in greater quantity in Havana and throughout the province than in any other part of the world. It is needless to state that the cigars made in Havana from the celebrated Vuelta Abajo leaf are shipped from this capital to all parts of the world, and may be found, it is said, on the private desk of every crowned head in Europe. Large shipments are made every year, also, to Japan and the Orient. Thousands of men and girls are employed in this industry, the value of which, in the export trade alone, amounts to over $30,000,000 a year.

The Province has but one harbor of any importance, the Bay of Havana, located near the center of the north coast. It covers several square miles, and although the entrance between the promontory of Morro and the Punta is only a few hundred yards across, the channel is deep, perfectly protected, and leads to an anchorage sufficient for large fleets of vessels. The shore portions of the main body of the harbor were rather shallow in early times, but during recent years have been well dredged up to the edge of the surrounding wharves, thus reclaiming a large amount of valuable land, and greatly increasing the capacity of the Bay for shipping purposes.

Since the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, a series of large, modern, perfectly equipped piers, built of concrete and iron, have been extended out from the shore line of the western side of the bay, so that the largest ships may now discharge and take on cargoes, eliminating thus, to a great extent, the custom of lightering which prevailed only a few years ago. Owing to the fact that nearly all the principal railroad systems of Cuba radiate from the Capital, each with a terminal system connecting with the wharves, the transportation facilities of this port are superior to any others in Cuba.

Steam and sail vessels are leaving Havana for different parts of the world every day in the year, and it is a fact of which the Republic has reason to be proud, that under normal conditions, or up to the beginning of the great war, a greater amount of tonnage entered and left the Harbor of Havana than that of any other city of the Western hemisphere, with the exception of New York. Dredging is still going on with new wharves in process of construction and projected, so that today frontage on the bay is valuable and hard to secure at any price.

Owing to its excellent transportation facilities and to the local market furnished by the City of Havana itself, the growing of fruits and vegetables, within a radius of one hundred miles from the capital, has proved more profitable than in other parts of the Island.

Although several small streams flow to the north and south of the dividing ridge, passing through the center of the Island, none of them, either in length or depth, could well be termed rivers.

The Almandares, that has its origin in a group of magnificent springs near the western center of the Province, meanders through a comparatively level valley, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, some three miles west of Havana Harbor. The mouth of this stream, with a depth of twelve or fourteen feet, accommodates schooners that come for sand and cement at the factory.

The Vento Springs, already referred to, are a most valuable asset of the City of Havana, since the abundant flow of water, that through skilful engineering has been conveyed some eight miles into the City, is of excellent quality. The quantity of water, with economy, is sufficient, according to engineering estimates, for a city of one or two millions.

In the latter part of the 16th century the Italian engineer Antonelli cut several ditches across the intercepting ridges and brought water from the Almandares River into the city of Havana, not only for domestic purposes but in sufficient quantity to supply the ships that dropped into port on their long voyages between Spain and the eastern coast of Mexico.

On November 7, 1887, the famous Spanish engineer D. Francisco Albear y Lara completed the present aqueduct and system of water works by which the springs of Vento are made to contribute to the present Havana, with its 360,000 inhabitants, a supply of excellent drinking water, although only a small portion of the flow is utilized.

Owing to the peculiar coral and soft limestone formation on which the soil of this province has been deposited, numerous lagoons and rivers flow beneath the surface at various depths, ranging from 30 to 300 feet. These, when found and tapped, furnish an abundance of splendid fresh water, seldom contaminated with objectionable mineral matter. At the Experimental Station at Santiago tiago de las Vegas, a magnificent spring of water was discovered at a little over one hundred feet in depth.

Other springs have formed a shallow lagoon just south of the city of Caimito, the exit from which is furnished by a small swift running stream, that after a surface flow of five or six miles suddenly plunges down into the earth some forty feet or more, disappearing entirely from view and never reappearing, as far as is known. Like many other streams of this nature, it may come to the surface in the salt waters of the Caribbean, off the south coast.

The disappearance of this river takes place within a hundred yards of the railroad station, in the town of San Antonio de los Banos, and furnishes rather an interesting sight for the tourist who is not familiar with this peculiar phenomenon.

Although the City of Havana is considered one of the most delightful winter resorts in the Western Hemisphere, there are many who claim, and with reason perhaps, that the Capital has many advantages also as a place in which to spend the summer. Many visitors from the Gulf States in summer have been loath to leave Cuba.

The mean annual temperature of Havana varies only twelve degrees throughout the year. During the winter the mercury plays between the two extremes of 58 and 78 degrees, with an average of about 70. During the summer the temperature varies from 75 to 88 degrees, although there are occasional records where the mercury has reached 92 degrees. Even at this temperature, however, no great inconvenience is experienced, since the cool, strong, northeast winds, that blow from the Atlantic, straight across the Island, sweep into the Caribbean the overheated atmosphere that otherwise would hang over the land as it does in the interior of large continents, even in latitudes as high as northern Canada.

This continual strong current of air, that blows from the Atlantic during at least 300 days in the year, with its healthful, bracing influence, tempers the heat of the sun that in latitude 22 is directly overhead, and probably prevents sun strokes and heat prostrations, which are absolutely unknown in Havana at any time of the year.

During the first Government of Intervention, American soldiers in the months of July and August, 1900, put shingled roofs on barracks and quarters built at Camp Columbia, in the suburbs of Havana, without the slightest discomfort. Officers who questioned the men with more or less anxiety, since they were not accustomed to the tropics, were laughed at for their fears, the soldiers declaring that, “although the sun was a little hot, the breeze was fine, and they didn’t feel any heat.” Of the thousands of horses and mules brought from Kentucky and Missouri not one has ever fallen, or suffered from heat prostration in the Island of Cuba.

The nights are invariably cool, so much so that even in July and August, during the early morning hours, a light covering is not uncomfortable. There is every reason to believe that in the near future summer resorts will be successfully established on many of the elevated plateaus and mountainous parks in various sections of the Island.

The Province of Havana, even during the times of Spanish rule, had three or four fine military drives radiating to the south and west of the Capital. Since the inauguration of the Republic, these highways, shaded with the evergreen laurel, the almendra, flamboyant and many varieties of palm, including the royal and the cocoanut, have been converted into magnificent automobile drives, to which have been added many kilometers of splendidly paved roads known as carreteras, which connect the towns and villages of the interior with each other as well as the capital with the principal cities of other sections of Cuba.

Along these highways every three or four miles, are found road repair stations supported by the Department of Public Works, in which laborers to whom the keeping up of the road is assigned, live, and which shelter the necessary rollers and road builders under their direction. These stations are well built, well kept, and sometimes rather picturesque in appearance. Their presence should be a guarantee of the permanence and extension of good road-building in Cuba.

The political, social and commercial heart of the Republic of Cuba centers in the city of Havana, hence the province shares more directly in the national life and prosperity than any other. Cables, wireless stations and passenger ships of various lines coming and going every day in the year, maintain constant touch with outside world centers.

The Presidency, the various departments of the Federal Government, the Army, Navy, higher Courts, Congress and Universities all pursue their activities at the capital. The surrounding province, therefore, although the smallest of the Island, will probably always remain the most important political division of the Republic.