Rambles by Land and Water; or, Notes of Travel in Cuba and Mexico

by Benjamin Moore Norman

Owing to its fine harbor, and its facilities of communication with the rich tract of country lying behind it, this place will become a formidable rival to Matanzas, when its port shall be thrown open to foreign commerce. At present, there is no custom house here, and all the produce is transported in lighters to Matanzas or Havana, to be sold. It has not depth of water for the largest class of vessels, but the greater part of those usually employed in the West India trade, can be well accommodated.

Puerto del Principe, situated in the interior of the island, about midway between its northern and southern shores, and more than four hundred miles eastward from Havana, contains a population of twenty-four thousand—fourteen thousand being whites, and about six thousand slaves. This district is celebrated for the excellent flavor of its cigars. It is a place of considerable importance, and the residence of a lieutenant-governor.

Santiago de Cuba, is on the southern coast, about one hundred miles from the eastern extremity of the island, and nearly seven hundred south-east of Havana. Its population is twenty-five thousand, of whom nearly ten thousand are whites, and eight thousand slaves. It has a fine, capacious harbor, scarcely second to that of Havana, and strongly defended by a castle, and several inferior batteries. It has a large trade in sugar, coffee, and molasses. About twelve miles from the city, westward, is the town of Santiago del Prade, near which the rich copper mines, before mentioned, are situated, giving employment in one way or another, to nearly all of its two thousand inhabitants.

Bayamo, or St. Salvador,—sixty miles west of Santiago, numbers nearly ten thousand souls. Manzanilla, thirty miles south from this, has three thousand.

Trinidad de Cuba, two hundred miles further west, and about two hundred and fifty from Havana, has a population of thirteen thousand, of whom six thousand are whites, and four thousand five hundred, free colored.

Espiritu Santo, thirty-five miles eastward from Trinidad, has less than ten thousand inhabitants in the city, and thirty-four thousand in the whole district, of whom twenty-two thousand are whites, a very unusual proportion in these islands.

In their general features, in the style of the buildings, in the character of the people, their occupations, modes of living, customs of society, etc., etc., all these places bear a close resemblance to each other, varying only in location, and the lay of the land, and the forms of the rivers and bays about them.

The government of Cuba is a military despotism, whose edicts are enforced by an armed body of more than twelve thousand soldiers. The Captain General is appointed by the crown of Spain, and is a kind of vice-roy, exercising the functions of commander-in-chief of the army, Governor of the western province of the island, President of the provincial assembly, etc. The present incumbent, Don Leopold O'Donnell, enjoys a great share of popularity. He holds no civil jurisdiction over the eastern province, of which Santiago is the capital. The governor of that province is entirely independent of the Captain General, except in military matters, and is amenable only to the court of Madrid.

The Intendente, Count Villa Nueva, recently re-instated in that office, is said to be very desirous to ameliorate the burdens of the planting interest; and in his efforts to secure this result, he has evinced the good sense and prudence, which are usually followed with success. His integrity and talents, together with the fact that he is the only "native" who was ever exalted to high official rank, have secured for him the unbounded confidence and affection of the people. His power is distinct from that of the Governor, and is in no way dependent upon it. He exercises certain legal rights, such as the entire control of the imports and exports, and is, in fact, the sole manager of all the financial concerns of the colony. By this arrangement, the purse and the sword are entirely separated, and the dangers to be apprehended from the abuse of power, greatly diminished.

No attempt to illustrate the position, resources, and character of Cuba, at the present time, would do justice to its subject, or to the feelings of its author, without an honorable and grateful mention of the name of Tacon. And no one who has visited the island, or who feels any interest in its welfare, or any regard for the lives and fortunes of those who hold commercial intercourse with its inhabitants, can withhold from the memory of that truly great and good man, the well-earned tribute of admiration and gratitude. He was a rare example of wisdom and benevolence, firmness and moderation, and seems to have been raised up by Providence, and qualified for the peculiar exigency of his time. He has, no doubt, been eminently useful in other stations in his native land; else he would never have been known to his monarch, as fitted for the difficult task assigned him here. But, if he had never acted any other part on the stage of life—if the term of his public and private usefulness had been limited to the brief period of his chief magistracy in Cuba, he had won a fame nobler than that of princes, fairer, worthier, and more enduring than that of the proudest conquerors earth ever saw. The memorial of such a man can never be found in marble, or in epitaph. It is written in the prosperity of a people, and of the nations with whom they hold commercial intercourse. It lives, and should for ever live, in the gratitude, admiration and reverence of mankind.