Part 76 (1/2)
THE EVACUATION OF HAVANA.
The complete transfer of authority in the island of Cuba from Spain to the United States took place on Sunday, January 1, 1899. At noon on that day Captain-General Castellanos and staff met the representatives of the United States in the hall of his palace, and with due formality and marked Spanish courtesy, in the name of the King and Queen Regent of Spain, delivered possession of Cuba to General Wade, head of the American Evacuation Committee, and he in turn transferred the same to General Brooke, who had been appointed by President McKinley as Military Governor of the Division of Cuba. No unpleasant incident marred the occasion. General Castellanos spoke with evident yet becoming emotion on so important an occasion. Three Cuban generals were present, who, at General Castellanos' request, were presented to him, and the Spaniard said, with marked grace and evident sincerity, ”I am sorry, gentlemen, that we are enemies, being of the same blood;” to which one of the Cuban patriots courteously responded, with commendable charity, ”We fought only for Cuba, and now that she is free we are no longer enemies.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTRANCE TO THE PUBLIC GROUNDS, HAVANA, CUBA.]
The formal transfer had scarcely taken place within the palace hall when the flag of Spain was lowered from Morro Castle, Cabanas Fortress, and all the public buildings, and the stars and stripes instantly arose in its place on the flagpoles of these old and historic buildings. As its graceful folds floated gently out upon the breeze, the crowds from the streets cheered, the band played the most appropriate of all airs, while voices in many places in the throng, catching up the tune, sang the inspiring words of the ”Star-Spangled Banner.”
OUR NEW POSSESSIONS (CONTINUED).
BEAUTIFUL PORTO RICO.
It was in November of the year 1493, on his second voyage to the New World, that Columbus landed upon a strange island in quest of water for his s.h.i.+ps. He found it in abundance, and called the place _Aquadilla_--the watering place. As he had done at Cuba the year before, the great discoverer held pleasant conferences with the natives, and with due ceremony took possession of the island for his benefactors and sovereigns--Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. From that day until it was ceded to the United States in 1898, as a result of the Spanish-American War, Porto Rico remained one of the most attractive and valuable of Spain's West Indian possessions.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A MARKET GIRL, PORTO RICO.]
The simple and friendly natives gladly welcomed their Spanish invaders, who, with the same promptness which was manifested in Cuba, proceeded to enslave and exterminate them. In 1510, Ponce de Leon founded the first settlement on the site of the present village of Puerto Viejo. The next year the noted invader founded San Juan, the present capital of the island. One of the most interesting sights of this old city to-day is the Casa Blanca, built at that period as the palatial residence of Ponce de Leon. It was there, perhaps, after he had finished his conquest of the island, that this famous old Spaniard listened to the wonderful story of the natives, who served him as slaves, concerning the mysterious country over the sea which had hidden in its forests a fountain wherein an old man might plunge and be restored to all the vigor of youth. It was there and thus, perhaps, while sitting at leisure in his palace, that de Leon planned the voyage in search of that ”fountain of youth” which resulted in the discovery and exploration of Florida.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SAN JUAN, PORTO RICO.
This city, the capital of Porto Rico, was founded by Ponce de Leon in 1511. It is a fine specimen of an old walled town, having portcullis, gates, walls and battlements which cost millions of dollars. It is built on a long, narrow island, connected with the mainland by a bridge. Its population in 1899, estimated at 31,000.]
ANCIENT INHABITANTS.
As to the number of natives in Porto Rico when the Spaniards came old chroniclers differ. Some say there were 500,000, others 300,000. It is all surmise. Probably the latter figure is an over-estimate, for Cuba, more than ten times as large, was not thought to contain more than half a million inhabitants at most. A detailed account of their manners and customs was written by one of the early Spaniards, and part of it is translated by the British Consul, Mr. Bidwell, in his Consular Report of 1880. Some of the statements in this old book are most peculiar and interesting. Within the last forty years archaeologists have discovered many stone axes, spear-heads and knives, stone and clay images, and pieces of earthenware made by the aboriginal Porto Ricans, and these are preserved in the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute at Was.h.i.+ngton, in Berlin, and elsewhere. It is curious that none of these remains had been found prior to 1856. On the banks of the Rio Grande there still stands, also, a rude stone monument, with strange designs carved upon its surface.
From the earliest times, the island, with its rich produce and commerce, was the prey of robbers. The fierce cannibal Caribs from the south made expeditions to it before the white men came; and for many decades after the Spanish conquest it suffered attacks from pirates by sea and brigands upon land, who found easy hiding within its deep forests.
ATTACKS AND INVASIONS BY FOREIGN FORCES.
In 1595, San Juan was sacked by the English under Drake, and again, three years later, by the Duke of c.u.mberland. In 1615, Baldwin Heinrich, a Dutchman, lost his life in an attack upon the governor's castle, and several of his s.h.i.+ps were destroyed by a hurricane. The English failed to capture it, fifty-three years later; and Abercrombie tried it again in 1797, but had to give up the undertaking after a three days' siege.
It was one hundred and one years after Abercrombie's siege before another hostile fleet appeared before and bombarded San Juan. That was done by Admiral Sampson, May 12, 1898, with the United States squadron of modern ironclad battles.h.i.+ps and cruisers. In this engagement Morro Castle, which, though impregnable a hundred years before, was unable to withstand modern guns, and was in a large part reduced to ruins.
General Nelson A. Miles landed his United States troops on the island in July, 1898, and on the 12th of August, before he completed his conquest, hostilities were closed by the protocol of peace, and amid the rejoicing of the natives ”Beautiful Porto Rico” became a province of the United States. The one and only attempt the Porto Ricans ever made to throw off the Spanish yoke was in 1820; but conditions for hiding from the soldiers were not so good as the Cubans enjoyed in their large island, and Spanish supremacy was completely re-established by 1823.
THE ISLAND AND ITS POPULATION.
Porto Rico is at once the most healthful and most densely populated island of the West Indies. It is almost rectangular in form--100 miles long and 36 broad. Its total area is about 3,600 square miles--a little larger than the combined areas of Rhode Island and Delaware. Its population, unlike that of Cuba, has greatly increased within the last fifty years. In 1830, it numbered 319,000; in 1887, 813,937--about 220 people to the square mile, a density which few States of the Union can equal. About half of its population are negroes or mulattoes, who were introduced by the Spaniards as slaves in the 16th and 17th centuries.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CUSTOM HOUSE, PONCE, PORTO RICO, AFTER THE RAISING OF THE AMERICAN FLAG BY GENERAL MILES.]
Among the people of European origin the most numerous are the Spaniards, with many Germans, Swedes, Danes, Russians, Frenchmen, Chuetos (descendants from the Moorish Jews), and natives of the Canary Islands.
There are also a number of Chinese, while the Gibaros, or small land-holders and day-laborers of the country districts, are a curious old Spanish cross with the aboriginal Indian blood. In this cla.s.s the aborigines are more fortunate than the original Cubans in having even a trace of their blood preserved.
The island is said to be capable of easily supporting three times its present population, the soil is so universally fertile and its resources are so well diversified. Though droughts occur in certain parts of the island, it is all extremely well watered, by more than one thousand streams, enumerated on the maps, and the dry sections have a system of irrigation which may be operated very effectually and with little expense. Of the 1,300 streams, forty-seven are considerable rivers.
TIMBER IN ABUNDANCE AND VARIETY.