A Village Street, Calvario, Havana Province Street and Church, Camaguey Cobre, Oriente Province Hoisting the Cuban Flag over the Palace, May 20,1902

A Spanish Block House Along the Harbor Wall, Havana Country Road, Havana Province Street in Camaguey Palm-Thatched Roofs A Peasant's Home CUBA OLD AND NEW I OLD CUBA Christopher Columbus was a man of lively imagination.

Puerto Principe (now Camaguey) and Santa Clara are broken regions of low mountain relief, diversified by extensive valleys.

In Santa Clara and Camaguey, the range is represented by crest lines and plateaus along the north shore, and finally runs into the hill and mountain maze of Oriente.

There are many other caves in the island, like Cotilla, in the Guines region not far from Havana, others in the Cubitas Mountains in Camaguey Province, and still others in Oriente, but in comparison with Bellamar they are little else than holes in the ground.

About one-third of the total is reported as in Oriente, another third in Camaguey, and the remainder scattered through the four remaining provinces.

VII AROUND THE ISLAND: Continued The next city, eastward, is Camaguey, in many ways doubtless the best worth a visit, next to Havana, of any city on the island.

To get to Camaguey, then known as Puerto Principe, we took the steamer at Cienfuegos and journeyed along the coast to Jucaro.

Through personal acquaintance with the railway officials, we obtained permission to travel over the line, on any and all trains, as far as it was then built, some forty miles or so toward Camaguey.

[Illustration: STREET AND CHURCH Camaguey] Early in the morning, we resumed our journey, plodding along as best we could over a half-graded "right-of-way."

I have driven over many miles of South African veldt, straight "across lots," in all comfort, but while the general topography of Camaguey puts it somewhat into the veldt class, its immediate surface did not in the least remind me of the South African plateau.

We got to Camaguey sore and bruised but, as far as we could discover, physically intact, and, having arrived, may now return to its history and description.

This developed into the city that was afterward given the name of Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe, now very properly changed to the old Indian name of Camaguey.

In his book, published in 1871, Mr. Hazard says: "Puerto Principe (the present Camaguey) is, probably, the oldest, quaintest town on the island,in fact, it may be said to be a finished town, as the world has gone on so fast that the place seems a million years old, and from its style of dress, a visitor might think he was put back almost to the days of Columbus."

I do not mean to say that all of Camaguey, "the city of the plain," is lovely, or picturesque or even interesting.

If I could see only one place outside of Havana, I would see Camaguey.

Perhaps I should have been more impressed had it not been for the impressions of Camaguey.

On the 10th of October, 1868, Carlos Manuel Cespedes and his associates raised the cry of Cuban independence at Yara, in the Province of Puerto Principe (now Camaguey).

Immediately after the death of Marti, Maximo Gomez crossed that barrier and organized an army in Camaguey.

Early in the operations Gomez issued the following proclamation: GENERAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF LIBERATION Najasa, Camaguey, July 1, 1895.

The Cubans carried the contest westward from Oriente and Camaguey, through Santa Clara, and into the provinces of Matanzas, Havana, and Pinar del Rio.

An assembly met, at Jimaguayu, in Camaguey, on September 13, 1895.

[Illustration: STREET IN CAMAGUEY]

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.