Note 1 — Chapter I · The Island.

The island of Cuba lies between the Caribbean Sea on the S., and the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Florida, and Bahama Channel on the N., being nearly equidistant from the peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida and the islands of Hayti and Jamaica. It stretches in N. lat. from 19° 50' to 23° 9', and in W. long. from 74° 8' to 84° 158'. The rainfall at Havana is said to be 92.68 inches, or more than double that of the opposite coast of Florida. The atmospheric tendencies are less violent than in the other islands. Hurricanes are frequent, but not so terrible as elsewhere in the same zone. However, one of them, in October 1846, destroyed a third of Havana, while hundreds were killed and thousands injured. The north wind blows with more or less strength throughout the entire winter months. In summer, when the sun is at its zenith, torrential rains, lasting for days at a time, are frequent. Hail is rare, but, once or twice in this century, snow has fallen on the upper plateaus of the Sierra Maestra. According to the proverbial "oldest inhabitant," the rainfall has considerably diminished of late years through the burning down of some of the forests in the central district of the island. It has also been observed that in the past twenty-five years the rainy season begins much later than it did in the good old times—in June instead of April; and ends earlier—in July instead of in October.