, and a considerable trade in the shipping of
sugar and fruits to this country. The population at present numbers
about six thousand. Five years after the settlement of Baracoa, the
capital was moved to Santiago de Cuba, where it remained until 1589,
when Havana was formally declared to be the capital of the island, its
first Captain-General being Juan de Tejada. The city was captured and
partially destroyed by a French pirate in 1638, and afterwards
suffered a like catastrophe at the hands of the buccaneers of combined
nationality, embracing some disaffected Spaniards. So late as 1760
Havana was captured and held by the English, under the Duke of
Albemarle, but was restored to Spain, after a brief occupancy, in
1763. The first grand impulse to the material prosperity of the city,
anomalous though it may seem, was given through its capture by the
British. It is true that the victors seized everything by force, but
they also taught the listless people how to repair their losses, and
how to multiply prosperity. The port of Havana, accustomed heretofore
to receive the visits of half a score of European vessels annually,
suddenly became the rendezvous of a thousand ships in the same period
of time, much to the surprise of the inhabitants. Bourbon in nature as
the Spaniards were and still are, they could not but profit by the
brilliant example of their enemies, and from that time forward the
city grew rapidly in commercial importance, and has continued to do
so, notwithstanding the rivalry of Matanzas, Santiago, Cienfuegos, and
other ports, as well as the drawbacks of civil war and business
stagnation.

These buccaneers of the West Indies, to whom we have so often alluded,
were composed mostly of English, French, and Dutch adventurers, whose
bitter hatred the Spaniards early incurred. They were for a long time
their terror and scourge, being the real masters of the ocean in these
latitudes. They feared no enemy and spared none, while by shocking
acts of needless cruelty they proved themselves fiends in human shape.
Among these rovers there were often found men particularly fitted for
the adventurous career they had adopted, men who combined remarkable
executive ability with a spirit of daring bravery and a total
disregard of all laws, human and divine. By a few such leaders the
bands of freebooters were held in hand, and preserved their
organization for many years; obedience to the word of their chief,
after he was once cho