Cuba.

Since the close of the late American war, the Cuban sugar-trade has been immensely increased, and the quantity exported in good years has recently been valued at the prodigous sum of 15, or even 20 millions sterling. Fifteen per cent of this sugar goes to England, and 75 per cent to the United States. The exportation of tobacco forms still a large item of the exports from Cuba. The chief imports consist of flour, salted fish, manufactured goods, hardware, machinery.

The enormous development of Cuban commerce cannot be accounted for either by the enterprise of the inhabitants or to good government—and least of all to the latter, for the Spaniards have done nothing for C. but to make it supply Madrid with the largest possible revenue. It is due to the great demand for sugar in America, and the monopoly C. now enjoys of slave-labor.

The pop. of C., in 1872, was 1,370,211, of whom 730,750 were whites, about 34,000/ Chinese and Hindu coolies, and 605,461 blacks, or colored people of negro origin. Of the blacks, 225,938 were free, and 379,523 were slaves. Of the whites, about 600,000 were creoles, or natives of the island; while 120,000 were "peninsulares," or natives of Spain. The slaves of pure blood alone have the strength necessary to do the hard work of the sugar estates, and the prosperity of the island is dependent on them. Although the creoles and the " peninsulares" are of the same origin, the difference between them is most striking. They can be distinguished at a glance in the streets of Havana. The creoles are feeble and indolent, even when they are children of parents born in Spain. The Cuban Spaniards, on the other hand, are a sturdy and energetic body of men. Recruited from the north-eastern parts of Spain, they go to C. as adventurers, chiefly to find employment as traders and mechanics, but obtain the greater share of the wealth of the island. There are upwards of 200,000 adult male creoles, and half that number of Spanish Cubans; but the latter-all men-through the large volunteer force, which they almost exclusively recruit, and the favor of the Spanish government, which distrusts the creoles, have absolute control over the government of the island, which is administered in a manner scandalously unjust. They treat the creoles with a scorn and contempt only exceeded by the hatred, mixed with fear, with which the latter regard the dominant population. "Cuba for the Cubans," is the watchword of the creoles, whose most anxious desire is to be rid of the adventurers, who have secured for themselves the best share of the wealth of the island. If they could secure this object, they believe that even with emancipation they would be in a better position than now, and accordingly they manifest sympathy for the negroes, and join with them in opposition to the "peninsulares."

C. is divided into three intendencias-the western, middle, and eastern In the first, there were (1872) upwards of a million of inhabitants. It includes Havana with 200,000 inhabitants, Matanzas with 36,000, Cardenas with 13,000, and several other towns connected by railways. The middle division, which extends eastward to the n.e. corner of the Great bay and the Boca de Nuevitas, has only a pop. of 75,000, 30,000 of whom live in the capital, Puerto Principe. The eastern division has 249,000 inhabitants; the capital is Santiago, with a pop. of 37,000. The chief towns of the western division are connected by railways, and it is well settled and prosperous, the great sugar factories and tobacco plantations, which constitute the wealth of the island, lying there. The middle and eastern divisions are very partially cultivated, and, owing to civil war, are becoming much less productive than they were. Many of the land-owners of the eastern part of the island have sold their slaves to those of the Havana district, and have migrated to Jamaica and the United States.

In 1492, C., which is often spoken of as the "pearl" or "queen of the Antilles," was discovered by Columbus during his first voyage. In 1511, the island began to be permanently colonized, becoming, within ten years, the base of all the various operations against Mexico. While, in the first quarter of the present century, every continental portion of Spanish America established its independence, C. remaining like Puerto Rico, faithful to the mother country, largely profited by the intestine broils of the revolted provinces, for, when the old Spaniards were expelled in mass from the mainland, many of them naturally took refuge in the still loyal islands, enriching them with their capital, and energy, and skill. C. has long been coveted by other nations. In 1762, Havana was captured by a British armament, but was restored in the following year. During the present age, the island has been an object of cupidity to the United States-a cupidity checked more powerfully by jealousy on the part of France and England than by Spain's own resources; and, in fact, it has been twice attacked-in 1850 and 1851-by individual Americans without success. They were commanded by a Spaniard by the name of Lopez, who, being taken prisoner, was executed as a traitor. The termination of the American war had an unexpected effect on the position of Cuba. The island had been coveted because it was the only market from which slaves could be imported into the southern states, and this trade was at an end. This was not, however, the only effect of the war. It destroyed the production of sugar in the southern states, and C. supplied the want. Great interests were created in New York which favored

the perpetuation of slavery in C., and its existence as an independent state, or a dependency of a foreign power, became more desirable for the Americans than its annexation. The Spanish revolution of 1868, when queen Isabella was driven from the throne, effected another change in Cuban politics. The Madrid ministry. in 1870, passed a measure

Cuba.

known as the Moret law, from Senor Moret y Prendergast, the colonial minister at the time, which declared that every slave at the age of 60 should become free-and emancipated all the unborn offspring of slaves. This law never was enforced, its publication even having been prohibited by the "peninsulares;" and the Madrid government have never been in a position to enforce it or any other measure which meets the disapproval of the "loyal party" in Cuba. Instead of doing so, it has accepted their alliance, and aided them by sending troops to crush the creole and negro insurrection, which broke out in 1868. The struggle was carried on with varying success, and often with unexampled ferocity, for ten long years. It was not till the spring of 1878, that Martinez Campos, partly by military energy, partly by terms of compromise, succeeded in quelling the rebellion. He offered pardon to rebels laying down their arms, and restoration of confiscated property. See The Pearl of the Antilles, by A. Gallenga (Lond. 1873). For a picturesque description of Cuban life and manners, see another work also called The Pearl of the Antilles, by W. Goodman (1873). See also The Mambi-land, by James J. O'Kelly (1874).

CUBA (ante), "the ever-faithful isle," as it has been called by the Spaniards, has a remarkable history. Discovered by Columbus on his first voyage to the new world, and regarded by him at first as a part of the western continent, it was not long before the docile harmless race of Indians who inhabited it were overrun and reduced to slavery by the Spanish adventurers, who gained great wealth by their unpaid toil. Las Casas, the Roman Catholic apostle to the Indians, seeing that they were rapidly being exterminated by cruelty, was moved by compassion to appeal to the home government for their protection. Cardinal Ximenes, the Spanish regent, sent three monks to the island to correct the abuses complained of; but they did not accomplish much, and Las Casas procured for himself the appointment of universal protector of the Indians.' Finding it impossible, even with this additional authority, to check the cruelties which he deplored, and having observed in St. Domingo that the negroes had shown a capacity for endurance superior to that of the Indians, this humane missionary, in order to save the former from the swift extermination that threatened them, proposed that men and women of the latter race should be imported to take their places in the mines and cane-fields. The colonists were not slow to act upon this suggestion, and thus negro slavery, by sanction of religious authority, gained a foothold in the western world, which it did not lose until the slave power in the United States was overthrown in the war of 1861-65. The Indians of Cuba, however, did not escape the extermination which Las Casas was so anxious to avert, while the negroes were subjected to cruelties that checked their natural increase and made it necessary to recruit their numbers by constant importations. There was a period between the substantial extirpation of the Indians and the introduction of the negroes when the planters did not prosper, but the African slave-trade revived their drooping fortunes. Meanwhile Havana was twice destroyed by the French. In 1762, it was captured by the English, who retained possession for only one year; but prior to this date 60,000 slaves had been introduced, and they were imported at the rate of 1,000 annually for the next 25 years. The slave-trade up to this time had been a monopoly, but now, all restrictions being removed, importations rapidly increased. The whole number of slaves introduced into the island from that day to the present must be immense, for they die off with great rapidity. Even now the trade has hardly ceased. British statistical writers, making up their reports from authentic data, say the number imported between 1817-42 was 335,000; and between 1842-52, 45,000.

The government of the island has always been autocratic, being lodged in a captaingeneral, receiving his appointment from the home government, and therefore in no way responsible to the people over whom he rules. In the 18th c., there were two insurrections, both of which were suppressed, and twelve of the leaders in the last (1723) were hanged. Printing was introduced about 1724. From 1790, and onwards, under a captain-general named Las Casas (probably of the same family as the missionary before mentioned), the island enjoyed great prosperity. Tranquillity was preserved during the bloody revolution of St. Domingo; newspapers were established, and industry promoted. When the royal family of Spain was deposed by Bonaparte in 1808, Cuba took the side of the crown and made contributions of money and soldiers to sustain it. Since that day, the captain-generals have for the most part adopted the course which promised to advance their own particular interests, with only a subordinate regard for the powers at Madrid. By a royal order, ratified 1836, the captain-general was empowered to rule at all times as if the island were in a state of siege. At the same time a military commission was appointed, which took cognizance of offenses in general, and particularly of those involving disloyalty. The slave-trade was nearly suppressed by captain-general Valdez in 1845-47, but an increased demand for sugar soon afterwards revived it, and it was carried on more extensively than ever before.

The situation of the island is exceedingly favorable to commerce, while the extraor dinary fertility of its soil and the nature of its products give it unrivaled advantages. A range of mountains extends through the island from e. to w., with streams flowing to the sea from each side. Some of the elevations reach a height of 8,000 feet. Another range skirts a part of the southern coast for about 200 miles. Between the mountains lie fertile valleys. On the s. side, from Jagua to point Sabina, the land is a continuous

swamp for 160 miles. The rivers number over 250, but they are generally small, the only one that is navigable being the Cauto, which empties near Manzanillo. On this river, during the present civil war, several battles have been fought. The river Ay is broken by picturesque falls, some of them nearly 200 ft. high. Mineral springs, mostly of a sulphurous character, abound. Gold, silver, iron, copper, quicksilver, lead, antimony, arsenic, magnesia, copperas, and other metals exist, but not under conditions which render mining profitable. Rock salt abounds on both the n. and s. coasts. Marble and jasper of fine quality are found in some places. The average temperature of the island is about 77°. The mercury rarely rises higher than 100° or falls below 50°. The average in the hottest month is 82°, in the coldest 72°. The seasons are but two, the rainy and the dry; the former being in May or June and ending in Nov. In the dry season, dews are abundant. Thunder storms are violent from June to Sept. Earthquakes are frequent on the eastern side. The healthfulness of the climate is affirmed by some and denied by others. Yellow fever often prevails in the towns on the coast, but is unknown in the interior. The forests abound in woods of the hardest kind, among which may be mentioned lignum-vitæ, ebony, rosewood, and mahogany. The fruits are those generally found in the tropics, the pine-apple and the banana being prominent. Of the sweet potato there are several varieties, while cassava and Indian corn are raised for home consumption. Wild beasts are few and small, the wild dog being the most prominent. The indigenous birds number 200 species, some of which display a beautiful plumage. Birds of prey are hardly known. Of fishes there are more than 600 species. Turtles abound, oysters are small and poor, alligators are common, and snakes are few and mostly harmless. Among the insects are the tarantula, the scorpion, the sand-fly, a dozen varieties of mosquito, an ant which destroys all living vegetable matter, 300 varieties of the butterfly, and as many more of flies. The inhabitants of Cuba are mostly of Spanish or African descent. At first none but Castilians were allowed to settle, but now all classes of Spaniards are found upon the island. They are, however, separated from each other in the social scale, the pure Castilian blood asserting its superiority. The offspring of foreigners, of whatever color, are called creoles, between whom and the Spaniards there is a feeling of caste that is almost insurmountable. The Spaniards hold all the offices and regard themselves as a privileged race. The trade of the island is mainly in their hands, while the creoles are generally planters or land-owners. The island embraces three military departments-the western, the central, and the eastern. Owing to the insurrection, 1868-78, no reliable census of the inhabitants was taken until 1882, when (including 46,698 Chinese) they numbered 1,521,684; of whom over 1,000,000 were whites, over 464,000 free colored, and more than 30.000 slaves. Of the entire population, there were nearly 1,000,000 persons of Spanish origin, and 11,260 of foreign birth. On June 23, 1870, Spain enacted a law emancipating all slaves who should be born after that date, and also all those who had attained the age of 60 years; but a general decree of emancipation was not passed until the year 1886. The Chinese imported from 1847 to 1873, numbering over 46,000, have also been virtually reduced to slavery and treated with great cruelty. The chief industry of Cuba is the raising of sugar and tobacco. Coffee, formerly raised for exportation, is now produced for home consumption. Cotton is cultivated to a small extent. Oranges and pine-apples are the only fruit for exportation. The mulberry is raised for silkworms with success. Cattle-raising is carried on to a large extent. In the 18th c., the business of ship-building was carried on extensively, the forests furnishing an abundance of the best timber; but the mother country, desiring a monopoly of the business for herself, imposed restrictions which led to its discontinuance. Havana, the capital, is a city of over 200,000 inhabitants. There are a dozen smaller cities, as many towns, and over 300 villages and hamlets. The disturbed condition of the island during the last insurrection had a most unfavorable effect upon business, diminishing the production of the great staples and reducing trade in the same degree. During the first four years of the civil war, from 1868 to 1871, the average annual production of sugar and molasses was over 7,122.000 tons. The total exports of the island in 1870 were valued at $82,600,666; those of 1871, at $71,251,440. The exports are generally undervalued, but it is officially known that those received in the United States in 1883 amounted to $14,567,918. The imports amounted to $65,544,534.

The educational system of Cuba was at first conformed to that of Spain, but it has been changed for local reasons. Innocent XIII., with the approbation of Spain, estab lished the royal and pontifical university of Havana in 1772. The Franciscans had previously instructed classes in philosophy and theology in their convent. In 1842, the university, which had been administered by the Dominican friars, became a national establishment, and the study of the natural sciences was introduced; but in 1863, under the ministry of gen. Concha, the system of instruction was assimilated to that of Spain, and philosophical studies reduced to very narrow limits. There are two colleges for the clergy-one at Havana, the other at Santiago de Cuba. The expenses of education in the higher branches are defrayed from the general revenue; those of primary educa tion by the town councils. The statistics are not recent, but, according to the latest reports, there were over 200 public schools, of which less than 100 were for girls. The number of private schools was 245. The pupils numbered 22,200 of both sexes, of whom 21,000 were white, and 1200 were colored. Less than one half of the white pop

ulation (excluding the Chinese) can read and write. In 1868, there were 39 newspapers published on the island, 21 of them in Havana, 5 in Santiago de Cuba, 3 in Matanzas, and the others in places of less importance.

Until within a comparatively recent period, land communication between the different parts of the island was difficult; but railroads have been built between the capital and several of the most important towns, with an aggregate length of about 871 miles. The whole population, with the exception of a portion of the foreign residents, is Roman Catholic. An archbishop, residing at Santiago de Cuba, rules the eastern, and a bishop at Havana, the western diocese. The revenues of the island are derived in part from duties on importations, and in part from taxation: formerly they exceeded expenditures by a considerable sum annually; but the civil war has put the balance on the other side of the ledger. While slavery existed in the United States, there was a strong desire among a large portion of the people of this country for the annexation of Cuba. To accomplish this end, the supporters of slavery plotted from time to time, proposing now to wrest the island from Spain by filibustering operations, and now to purchase it. But Spain would not sell, and filibustering did not prosper. In 1848, president Polk, through the American minister at Madrid, without any constitutional authority whatever, offered $100,000,000 for it; but the offer was promptly rejected by Spain. Indeed, Spain was always as determined not to sell as American politicians were anxious to buy. The United States more than once gave Spain to understand that she would not permit the island to be transferred to any nation but herself, one reason for this being that if it should fall into the hands of England or France, the slaves might be emancipated, and so the island become a center of antislavery influences inimical to the existence of slavery in the southern states. In 1849, after the failure of the Lopez expedition, which had been mainly if not wholly organized on American soil, president Fillmore refused to unite with England and France in guaranteeing the possession of the island to Spain. In 1854, during the presidency of Franklin Pierce, when the government was almost wholly under slaveholding influences, three American ambassadors at European courts, Buchanan, Soule, and Mason, met in conference at Ostend, and joined in a manifesto, in which it was claimed that if Spain should refuse to sell the island to the United States, and the slaves there should be set free, the latter power would have a right to seize and annex it. Fortunately the slavery question, as connected with the national government, assumed from this time forward an aspect which made the execution of this semi-official threat an impossibility. The Spanish revolution of 1868 led to a revolt in Cuba, which had in view the independence of the island and the abolition of slavery. The republican home government gave no countenance to this movement, but sent money and troops to resist it. The war was both bloody and cruel. In 1870, the United States, having no longer any desire to conserve the interests of slavery, tendered its good offices in behalf of peace, proposing the sale of the island to the Cubans; but Spain declined the offer. It is believed that Spain ordered no less than 100,000 soldiers to Cuba to aid in suppressing the insurrection. This war, which cost Spain and C. $700,000,000, was ended in 1878. Spain granted pardon and restoration of confiscated estates to submissive rebels and promised that C. should be represented in the Cortes by her own deputies. A liberal party was formed, 1878, to secure the fulfillment of this pledge, to encourage the immigration of white families, to bring about a complete abolition of slavery, and to promote free trade.

CUBA GUA, an island in the Caribbean sea, off the n.e. coast of Venezuela, in South America, is situated in the department of Maturin, between Margarita and the mainland, about 30 m. n. of the town of Cumana.

CUBE, a solid with six square faces, each of which is parallel to the one opposite to it. It is a form of frequent occurrence in nature, especially among crystals. See CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. In arithmetic, the C. of a number is the product of its multiplication three times by itself. This use of the term arises from the circumstance that the solid contents of a C. may be expressed by the third power of the number which expresses the length of one of its edges. Thus, if the edge of a C. be a line of 4 in., its solid contents are equal to 64 cubic inches. Conversely, the C. root of a number is that number which, multiplied three times by itself, produces the first number. See DOUBLING THE CUBE.

CU BEBS, or CUBEB PEPPER, the dried berries of cubeba officinalis and other species of cubeba, a genus of climbing shrubs of the natural order piperaceae, very closely allied to the true peppers, but distinguished at once by the contraction and elongation of the berries at the base, so that they appear to be stalked, upon which account C. are sometimes called piper caudatum, or tailed pepper. Cubeba officinalis is a native of Penang, Java, New Guinea, etc., and is said to be extensively cultivated in some parts of Java. Its spikes are solitary, opposite to the leaves, and usually produce about fifty berries, which are globular, and when dried, have much resemblance to black pepper, except in their lighter color, and the stalk with which they are furnished. Cubeba canina, a native of the Sunda and Molucca islands, is supposed also to yield part of the C. of commerce, and the berries of C. Wallichii possess similar properties. C. are less pungent, and more pleasantly aromatic than black pepper; they are used in the east as a condiment, but in Europe chiefly for medicinal purposes; they act as a stimulant, and are sometimes found

useful in cases of indigestion, also in chronic catarrhs, and in many affections of the mucous membrane, particularly those of the urino-genital system. C. contain a principle called cubebine, analogous to that contained in pepper (piperine). C. appear to have been known in Europe from ancient times. In 1305, Edward I. granted to the corporation of London the power of levying a toll of one farthing on every pound of C. passing over London bridge.

CU ́BICAL NITER is a commercial name applied to the nitrate of soda (NaONO5). See SODA.

CUBIC EQUATIONS. A cubic equation containing but one unknown quantity, is one in which the highest exponent of the quantity in any term is 3. Every such equation can be reduced to the general form 3+p+qo, in which the co-efficient of is 1, and that of 2 is zero. Every cubic equation of this form has three roots, all of which may be real, or one only may be real, and the other two imaginary. The roots will all p3 q2 be real, when p is essentially negative, and 7 numerically. One root only will 27 4

203 q2
27 4

be real when p is essentially positive, or when it is negative, and L numerically.

If p is essentially negative, and

=

27 4

two of the roots are equal. When one of the

roots only is real, the equation may be solved by the following formula, known as Cardan's formula:

When the roots are all real, this formula fails to give their values. Methods of solving C. E. are to be found in most books on trigonometry and algebra. They are all troublesome. The reader will find the theory of their solution admirably discussed in Young's Theory of Equations. See also EQUATIONS.

CU'BIT (Lat. cubitus), a measure employed by the ancients, equal to the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. The C. of the Romans was about 17 in., and that of the Hebrews, 22 in., but its length is now generally stated at 18 English inches.

CUCKING-STOOL. See DUCKING-STOOL.

CUCKOO, Cuculus, a genus of birds of the order of climbers (q.v.); the type of a family, cuculide, which contains a large number of species, mostly confined to the warmer regions of the globe, although some of them are summer visitants of cold climates. The beak is compressed and slightly arched, and the tail long and rounded, the wings rather long, the tarsi short, two toes directed forwards, and two backwards, the outer hind toe capable of being brought half round to the front. The feet are thus adapted for grasping and moving about upon branches, rather than for climbing, and the long tail is much used by many of the species for balancing the body, as they hop from branch to branch in the thick tropical woods which they frequent. See illus., BIRDS, vol. II., p. 574, fig. 11; DEER, ETC., vol. IV., p. 686, fig. 2. The name C. is derived from the note of the male of the common C. (cuculus canorus), which, although monotonous, is always heard with pleasure, being associated with all that is delightful in returning spring. A similar name is given to the bird in many languages. The C. is a very widely diffused bird; it is found in India and in Africa, and migrates northwards in summer, even to Lapland and Kamtchatka. It appears in Britain in April, and all except the young birds are believed to migrate southwards again before the middle of August. It frequents both cultivated districts and moors. There is no pairing or continued attachment of the male and female, and the female, after having laid an egg on the ground, deposits it, with her beak, in the nest of some other smaller bird, leaving the egg to be hatched and the young one to be fed by the proper owners of the nest. The egg of the C. is very small for so large a bird, being not larger than the skylark's, and the number she will lay is uncertain; but the young one soon acquires size and strength enough to eject from the nest any eggs which may remain in it, or unfortunate young birds, the true offspring of its foster-parents, and it seems restless and uneasy till this is accomplished. It works itself under them, and then jerks them out by a motion of its rump. Its back at this early age exhibits a peculiar depression between the shoulders, so that an egg or a young bird can easily be got to lie upon it; but this depression soon disappears, and along with it the singular instinct with which it is supposed to be connected. The hedge-sparrow, the yellow-hammer, the pied wagtail, and the meadow pipit, are among the birds most frequently selected by the C. as its substitutes in incubation and the care of its young. A pair of meadow pipits usually accompany the C. wherever it goes. The reason of this curious fellowship has not been ascertained.-Among the cuculida of North America, one of the most interesting is the yellowbilled American C., sometimes called from its note the cow-cow or cow-bird (coccyzus Americanus). It is among the rarest of British birds. It does not lay its eggs in the nests of other birds, but builds and hatches for itself-exhibiting, however, a remark