The lakes of the Island, which are numerous, are usually small, and if they are used at all for transportation purposes, it is by hunters and pleasure seekers, in canoes and small boats; though where it is possible to utilise them in rafting timber it is done.
As to the extent of the telegraph lines of Cuba, figures vary from 2300 to 2500 miles, but the latest Spanish report is to the effect that there are 2300 miles, with 153 offices, doing a business of 360,000 public messages a year. The lines have been controlled by the Government, and telegraphing has not been popular in Cuba, owing to the strict and annoying censorship of the Spanish authorities.
There are about one thousand miles of submarine cable connecting Cuban towns; the International Ocean Telegraph Company has a line from Havana to Florida, connecting with the Western Union Telegraph Company; the Cuba Submarine Telegraph Company has a line from Havana to Santiago and Cienfuegos; the West India and Panama Telegraph Company connects Havana with Santiago, Jamaica, Porto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and the Isthmus of Panama; the French Submarine Cable Company connects Havana with Santiago, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Venezuela, and Brazil. Nearly all of these cables were cut by the Americans during the war.
The telephone system of Cuba, like the telegraph, is in Government hands, with the exception of the lines in Havana, which are leased by a private company, the Red Telefonica de la Habana. Telephones have been in use for some time, and they exist in many of the towns, but their use through the interior has not become general, for the long-distance telephone is scarcely known as yet, and American capital may have the opportunity of introducing and developing the system without fear of Government interference to control the business.
It may be said, in explanation, in concluding this chapter, that the statistics herein presented refer to the time before the Hispano-American war, which naturally affected steamships, railways, and telegraphs more than any other business of the Island, owing to their semipublic character. Very radical changes may be made in the conditions hitherto existing, but it is safe to say that those changes will result in a vast improvement and extension of all these public conveniences and essentials to progress.
CHAPTER XXVI
NAVIGATION
NAVIGATION, with Cuba, may be considered under three division:
a—Navigation between Cuba and foreign countries other than the United States.
b—Navigation between Cuba and the United States, including Porto Rico.