is no more unhealthy than our own cities in summer.
It is doubtful if Havana, even in the fever season, is any more
unhealthy than New Orleans at the same period of the year. Fevers of
different degrees of malignity prevail from May to November, and
occasionally throughout the year. Among these the yellow fever is the
most dangerous, and sooner or later all resident foreigners seem to
suffer from it, as a sort of acclimation; once experienced, however,
one is seldom attacked a second time. In the ports yellow fever is
often induced by carelessness and exposure; excesses on the part of
foreign sailors are frequently the cause of its fatal attack upon
them. The thermometer is never known to rise so high in Havana or
Santiago, the opposite extremes of the island, as it does sometimes in
New York and Boston. The average temperature is recorded as being 77 deg.,
maximum 89 deg., minimum 50 deg. Fahrenheit. We have been thus elaborate as
regards this matter because it is of such general interest to all
invalids who annually seek an equable clime.

The principal cities are Havana, with a population of nearly three
hundred thousand; Matanzas, with fifty thousand; Puerto Principe,
thirty thousand; Cienfuegos, twenty-five thousand; Trinidad, fourteen
thousand; San Salvador, ten thousand; Manzanillo, Cardenas, Nuevitas,
Sagua la Grande, and Mariel. Among its largest and finest harbors
those of Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Nipe, and Nuevitas are the best;
the bay of Matanzas is also large, but shallow. This city stands next
to Havana in population, but not in commercial importance. It is said
to be healthier than the capital, but it lacks those attractions of
life and gayety which are essential even to invalids to render them
contented. The streets are wide, and many of the Moorish
characteristics of Spanish cities, so common in both this island and
the European peninsula, are wanting here. It was built much later and
more under foreign direction than Havana. The secret of the superior
health of Matanzas over that of the capital is undoubtedly because of
its better drainage and general cleanliness.

Located in one of the most fertile portions of the island, the city
extends up the picturesque and verdant hills by which the bay is
surrounded, in the form of an amphitheatre. The fortifications are of
rather a meagre character, and could not withstand a well organized
attack for half an hour. Modern improvements in the construction of