Page:EB1911 - Volume 07.djvu/619

Rh velatina) is remarkable for the magnificent purple flowers that cover it. The tamarind and banyan are also noteworthy. Utilitarian trees and plants are legion. There are at least forty choice cabinet and building woods. Of these, ebonies, mahogany (for the bird’s-eye variety such enormous prices are paid as $1200 to $1800 per thousand board-feet), cullá (or cuyá, Bumelia retusa), cocullo (cocuyo, Bumelia nigra), ocuje (Callophyllum viticifolia, Ornitrophis occidentalis, O. cominia), jigüe (jique, Lysiloma sabicu), mahagua (Hibiscus tiliaceus), granadillo (Brya ebenus), icaquillo (Licania incania) and agua-baría (Cordia gerascanthes) are perhaps the most beautiful. Other woods, beautiful and precious, include guayacan (Guaiacum sanctum), baría (varía, Cordia gerascanthoides)—the fragrant, hard-wood Spanish elm—the quiebra-hacha (Copaifera hymenofolia), which three are of wonderful lasting qualities; the jiquí (Malpighia obovata), acana (Achras disecta, Bassia albescens), caigarán (or caguairan, Hymenaea floribunda), and the dagame (Calicophyllum candidissimum), which four, like the cullá, are all wonderfully resistant to humidity; the caimatillo (Chrysophyllum oliviforme), the yaya (or yayajabico, yayabito: Erythalis fructicosa, Bocagea virgata, Guateria virgata, Asimina Blaini), a magnificent construction wood; the maboa (Cameraria latifolia) and the jocuma (jocum: Sideroxylon mastichodendron, Bumelia saticifolia), all of individual beauties and qualities. Many species are rich in gums and resins; the calambac, mastic, copal, cedar, &c. Many others are oleaginous, among them, peanuts, sun-flowers, the bene seed (sesame), corozo, almond and palmachristi. Others (in addition to some already mentioned) are medicinal; as the palms, calabash, manchineel, pepper, fustic and a long list of cathartics, caustics, emetics, astringents, febrifuges, vermifuges, diuretics and tonics. Then, too, there are various dyewoods; rosewood, logwood (or campeachy wood), indigo, manajú (Garcinia Morella), Brazil-wood and saffron. Textile plants are extremely common. The majagua tree grows as high as 40 ft.; from its bark is made cordage of the finest quality, which is scarcely affected by the atmosphere. Strong, fine, glossy fibres are yielded by the exotic ramie (Boehmeria nivea), whose fibre, like that of the majagua, is almost incorruptible; by the maya or rat-pineapple (Bromelia Pinguin), and by the daquilla (or daiguiya—Lagetta lintearia, L. valenzuelana), which like the maya yields a brilliant, flexible product like silk; stronger cordage by the corojo palms, and various henequén plants, native and exotic (especially Agave americana, A. Cubensis); and various plantains, the exotic Sansevieria guineensis, okra, jute, Laportea, various lianas, and a great variety of reeds, supply varied textile materials of the best quality. The yucca is a source of starch. For building and miscellaneous purposes, in addition to the rare woods above named, there are cedars (used in great quantities for cigar boxes); the pine, found only in the W., where it gives its name to the Isle of Pines and the province of Pinar del Rio; various palms; oaks of varying hardness and colour, &c. The number of alimentary plants is extremely great. Among economic plants should be mentioned the coffee, cacao, citron, cinnamon, cocoanut and rubber tree. Wheat, Indian corn and many vegetables, especially tuberous, are particularly important. Plantain occurs in several varieties; it is in part a cheap and healthful substitute for bread, which is also made from the bitter cassava, after the poison is extracted. The sweet cassava yields tapioca. Bread-trees are fairly common, but are little cared for. White and sweet potatoes, yams, sweet and bitter yuccas, sago and okra, may also be mentioned.

Fruits are varied and delicious. The pineapple is the most favoured by Cubans. Four or five annual crops grow from one plant, but not more than three can be marketed, unless locally, as the product deteriorates. The better (“purple”) varieties are mainly consumed in the island, and the smaller and less juicy “white” varieties exported. The tamarind is everywhere. Bananas are grown particularly in the region about Nipe, Gibara and Baracoa, whence they are exported in large quantities, though there is a tendency to lessen their culture in these parts in favour of sugar. Mangoes, though exotic, are extremely common, and in the E. grow wild in the forests. They are the favourite fruit of the negroes. Oranges are little cultivated, although they offer apparently almost unlimited possibilities; their culture decreased steadily after 1880, but after about 1900 was again greatly extended. Lemons yield continuously through the year, but like oranges, not much has yet been done with them commercially. Pomegranates are as universally used in Cuba as apples in the United. States. Figs and grapes degenerate in Cuba. Dates grow better, but nothing has been done with them. The coco-nut palm is most abundant in the vicinity of Baracoa. Among the common fruits are various anonas—the custard apple (Anona cherimolia), sweet-sop (A. squamosa), sour-sop (A. muricata), mamón (A. reticulata), and others,—the star-apple (Chrysophyllum cainito, C. pomiferum), rose-apple (Eugenia jambos), pawpaw, the sapodilla (Sapota achras), the caniste (Sapota Elongata), jagua (Genipa americana), alligator pear (Persea gratissima), the yellow mammee (Mammea americana) and so-called “red mammee” (Lucuma mammosa) and limes.

Fauna.—The fauna of Cuba, like the flora, is still imperfectly known. Collectively it shows long isolation from the other Antilles. Only two land mammals are known to be indigenous. One is the hutía (agouti) or Cuban rat, of which three species are known (Capromys Fournieri, C. melanurus and C. Poey). It lives in the most solitary woods, especially in the eastern hills. The other is a peculiar insectivore (Solenodon paradoxus), the only other representatives of whose family are found in Madagascar. Various animals, apparently indigenous, that are described by the early historians of the conquest, have disappeared. An Antillean rabbit is very abundant. Bats in prodigious numbers, and some of them of extraordinary size, inhabit the many caves of the island; more than twenty species are known. Rats and mice, especially the guayabita (Mus musculus), an extremely destructive rodent, are very abundant. The manatee, or sea-cow, frequents the mouths of rivers, the sargasso drifts, and the regions of submarine fresh-water springs off the coast. Horses, asses, cows, deer, sheep, goats, swine, cats and dogs were introduced by the early Spaniards. The last three are common in a wild state. Deer are not native, and are very rare; a few live in the swamps.

Of birds there are more than 200 indigenous species, it is said, and migratory species are also numerous. Waders are represented by more than fifty species. Vultures are represented by only one species, the turkey buzzard, which is the universal scavenger of the fields, and until recent years even of the cities, and has always been protected by custom and the Laws of the Indies. Falcons are represented by a score of species, at least, several of them nocturnal. Kestrels are common. The gallinaceous order is rich in Columbidae. Trumpeters are notably represented, and climbers still more so. Among the latter are species of curious habits and remarkable colouring. Woodpeckers (Coloptes auratus), macaws, parrakeets and other small parrots, and trogons, these last of beautifully resplendent plumage, deserve particular mention. The Cuban mocking-bird is a wonderful songster. Of humming-birds there are said to be sixty species, probably only one indigenous. Of the other birds mere mention may be made of the wild pigeon, raven, indigo-bird, English lady-bird and linnet.

Reptiles are numerous. Many tortoises are notable. The crocodile and cayman occur in the swampy littoral of the south. Of lizards the iguana (Cyclura caudata) is noteworthy. Chameleons are common. Snakes are not numerous, and it is said that none is poisonous or vicious. There is one enormous boa, the maja (Epicrates angulifer), which feeds on pigs, goats and the like, but does not molest man.

Fishes are present in even greater variety than birds. Felipa Poey, in his Ictiologia Cubana, listed 782 species of fish and crustaceans, of which 105 were doubtful; but more than one-half of the remainder were first described by Poey. The fish of Cuban waters are remarkable for their metallic colourings. The largest species are found off the northern coast. Food fishes are relatively not abundant, presumably because the deep sea escarpments of the N. are unfavourable to their life. Shell fish are unimportant. Two species of blind fish, of extreme scientific interest, are found in the caves of the island. Of the “percoideos” there are many genera. Among the most important are the robalo (Labrax), an exquisite food fish, the tunny, eel, Spanish sardine and mangua. Of the sharks the genus Squalus is represented by individuals that grow to a length of 26 to 30 ft. The hammer-head attains a weight at times of 600 ℔. The saw-fish is common. Of fresh-water fish the lisa, dogro, guayácón and viajocos (Chromis fuscomaculatus) are possibly the most noteworthy.

Molluscs are extraordinarily numerous; and many, both of water and land, are rarities among their kind for size and richness of colour. Of crustaceans, land-crabs are remarkable for size and number. Arachnids are prodigiously numerous. Insect life is abundant and beautiful. The bite of the scorpion and of the numerous spiders produces no serious effects. The nigua, the Cuban jigger, is a pest of serious consequence, and the mal de nigua (jigger sickness) sometimes causes the death of lower animals and men. Sand-flies and biting gnats are lesser nuisances. Lepidoptera are very brilliant in colouring. The cucujo or Cuban firefly (Pyrophorus noctilucus) gives out so strong a light that a few of them serve effectively as a lantern. The Stegomyia mosquito is the agent of yellow fever inoculation. Sponges grow in great variety.

Climate.—The climate of Cuba is tropical and distinctively insular in characteristics of humidity, equability and high mean temperature. There are two distinct seasons: a “dry” season from November to April, and a hotter, “wet” season. About two-thirds of the total precipitation falls in the latter. Droughts, extensive in area and in duration, are by no means uncommon. At Havana the mean temperature is about 76° F., with extreme monthly oscillations ranging on the average from 6° to 12° F. for different months, and with a range between the means of the coldest and warmest months of 10° (70° to 80°); temperatures below 50° or above 90° being rare. The mean rainfall at Havana is about 40.6 in. (sometimes over 80), and the mean absolute humidity of different months ranges from 70 to 80%. These figures represent fairly well the conditions of much of the northern coast. In the N.E. the rainfall is much greater. The equability of heat throughout the day is masked and relieved by the afternoon sea breezes. The trades are steady through the year, and