The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

Fishing is a sport that furnishes most enjoyable entertainment for those who are fond of it. Handsome specimens of the finny tribe are frequently brought in by men and boys, who drift in small boats along the coast, a mile or so out, and fish both for the table and for profit. Tourists often find amusement in going out in motor launches at night and fishing for shark off the mouth of the harbor. Since sharks are usually plentiful, and of sufficient size to give the angler a tussle before being brought up to the boat and dispatched, this form of amusement appeals as a novelty to many who come from the interior of the United States.

The markets of Havana are full of excellent fish that are caught all along the Gulf Stream, between Cuba and the coast of Florida. These are brought in sloops provided with the usual fish well, which keeps them fresh until thrown on the wharf just before daylight. The varieties most sought for, or prized, are the red snapper, known in Spanish as the “Pargo,” the sword fish, and the baracuta, which are splendid fish, from two to three feet in length and very game, when caught with hook and line.

Of the smaller fish, the Spanish mackerel, the mullet, the needle fish, and scores of other varieties are always found in abundance. The pompano, peculiar to the Gulf of Mexico, owing to its delicious flavor and its entire lack of small bones is probably the most prized of all, and commands a very high price when it reaches the table of fashionable hotels in the United States.

The game of Jai Alai was introduced here from the Basque Provinces of Spain, during the first Government of Intervention in 1900, and became very popular with both Cubans and visitors from the United States. General Leonard Wood and his aides soon acquired the habit of visiting the Fronton and spending an hour or so in practice every morning.

Jai Alai is played in a building erected for the purpose with a court some two hundred feet in length, inclosed on three sides by smooth stone walls, perhaps forty feet in height, and having a concrete floor. It is played with two opponents on each side known as the blues and the whites. The ball is similar to that of the tennis court, made in Spain with a high degree of resiliency and costing five dollars. It is thrown from a long narrow wicker basket, or scoop, slightly curved at the point, to retain the ball while swung to the head or end wall. The gloved part of the instrument is firmly strapped to the forearm of the player. The ball is caught in this sling-like scoop, and from its length of some thirty inches or more is driven with great force from the further end of the court to the opposite wall. On the rebound it must be caught by one of the two opponents, on either fly or first bound, otherwise a point is scored against the side that falls.

A three-inch band is painted around the end of the court, parallel with the floor and about four feet above it. The ball must strike the wall above this band, and the science of the play is to drive it into the corner at such an angle that your opponents will find it impossible to catch it as it caroms back.

Once the game starts, the ball never stops its flight through the air, from the wicker scoop to the end of the wall and back, until an error is made which counts against the side that fails to catch it. And since the player cannot hold the ball in his wicker sling for an instant, the action is decidedly rapid and the excitement soon becomes intense.

A player may occasionally be seen to leap into the air, catch and fire the ball back to the end of the court, he himself falling flat on his back, leaving his partner to take care of the return. Thirty points constitute the usual game and about an hour is required in which to play it. Jai Alai was suspended during the latter part of President Estrada Palma’s term, on account of the heavy betting that accompanied it, but owing to insistent popular demand, it was again installed at the Fronton in the Spring of 1918.

The game of baseball, brought to Cuba in the year 1900, from the very start gained a popularity among the natives that has never ceased for a moment. It is today the national sport of Cuba, and quite a number of high-priced players from Cuba have occupied prominent places in the big league clubs of the United States. The local clubs of Havana play a splendid game, as several crack teams from the United States have discovered to their surprise and cost, many of them having been sent home badly beaten.

The king of sports, however, in Havana, is horse racing, first introduced from the United States in 1907. Such was its popularity that capitalists some four years ago, were encouraged to erect in the suburb of Marianao the finest racing pavilion in the West Indies. The mile track and the beautiful grounds which surround it are all that lovers of the sport could desire; while the view from the Grand Stand, across a tropical landscape whose hillsides are covered with royal palms, with dark green mountains silhouetting the distant horizon, gives us one of the most picturesque and attractive race tracks in the world.