od and gold. So many and strong
fortifications show how important the home government regard the
place.

The harbor or bay is shaped like one's outspread hand, with the wrist
for an entrance, and is populous with the ships of all nations. It
presents at all times a scene of great maritime activity. Besides the
national ships of other countries and those of Spain, mail steamers
from Europe and America are coming and going daily, also coasting
steamers from the eastern and southern shores of the island, added to
regular lines for Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. The
large ferry steamers plying constantly between the city and the Regla
shore, the fleet of little sailing boats, foreign yachts, and
rowboats, glancing in the burning sunlight, create a scene of great
maritime interest.

The city presents a large extent of public buildings, cathedrals,
antique and venerable churches. It has been declared in its prosperity
to be the richest place for its number of square miles in the world,
but this cannot be said of it at the present time. There is nothing
grand in its appearance as one enters the harbor and comes to anchor,
though Baron Humboldt pronounced it the gayest and most picturesque
sight in America. Its multitude of churches, domes, and steeples are
not architecturally remarkable, and are dominated by the colossal
prison near the shore. This immense quadrangular edifice flanks the
Punta, and is designed to contain five thousand prisoners at a time.
The low hills which make up the distant background are not
sufficiently high to add much to the general effect. The few palm
trees which catch the eye here and there give an Oriental aspect to
the scene, quite in harmony with the atmospheric tone of intense
sunshine. Unlike Santiago or Matanzas, neither the city nor its
immediate environs is elevated, so that the whole impression is that
of flatness, requiring some strength of background to form a complete
picture. The martial appearance of the Moro and the Cabanas,
bristling with cannon, is the most vivid effect of the scene, taken as
a whole. It might be a portion of continental Spain broken away from
European moorings, and floated hither to find anchorage in the
Caribbean Sea. One is also reminded of Malta, in the farther
Mediterranean, and yet the city of Valetta, bright, sunny, and
elevated, is quite unlike Havana, though Fortress St. Angelo overlooks
and guards the place as the Moro does this tropical h