ithout
any doubt, there is a large amount of copper there, and more in other parts
of Oriente. So is there copper in Camaguey, Santa Clara, and Matanzas
provinces. There are holes in the ground near the city of Camaguey that
indicate profitable operations in earlier years. The metal is spread over
a wide area in Pinar del Rio, and venturous spirits have spent many good
Spanish pesos and still better American dollars in efforts to locate
deposits big enough to pay for its excavation. Some of that class are at it
even now, and one concern is reported as doing a profitable business.

The bitumens are represented in the island by asphalt, a low-grade coal,
and seepages of petroleum. At least, several writers tell of coal in the
vicinity of Havana, but the substance is probably only a particularly hard
asphaltum. The only real coal property of which I have any knowledge is a
quite recent discovery. The story was told me by the man whose money was
sought to develop it. It was, by the way, an anthracite property. In
response to an urgent invitation from a presumably reliable acquaintance,
my friend took his car and journeyed westward into Pinar del Rio, through a
charming country that he and I have many times enjoyed together. He picked
up his coal-discovering friend in the city of Pinar del Rio, and proceeded
into the country to inspect the coal-vein. At a number of points
immediately alongside the highway, his companion alighted to scrape away
a little of the surface of the earth and to return with a little lump of
really high-grade anthracite. Such a substance had no proper business
there, did not belong there geologically or otherwise. The explanation
soon dawned upon my friend. They were following the line of an abandoned
narrow-gauge railway, abandoned twenty years ago, along which had been
dumped, at intervals, little piles of perfectly good anthracite, imported
from Pennsylvania, for use by the portable engine used in the construction
of the road. My friend declares that he is entirely ready at any time to
swear that there are deposits of anthracite in Cuba. A very good quality
of asphalt is obtained in different parts of the island, and considerable
quantities have been shipped to the United States. Signs of petroleum
deposits have been strong enough to induce investigation and expenditure.
An American company is now at work drilling in Matanzas Province. The most
extensive and promising mineral industry is iron, especi