PUBLISHED BY THE HARTFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY. PITKIN AND PARKER, CHICAGO, ILL.; MEEKS BROTHERS, NEW YORK; POWERS PREFACE. visit to Cuba, he went there. Some of the chapters in this book were written in Cuba, amidst the beautiful scenes they describe, which will account to the reader for what may appear to him as too glowing descriptions. As for the rest, the author feels he owes a debt of gratitude to at least the climate of Cuba. The fall of the year in which our great war closed found the writer with a constitution impaired by disease engendered during his service in the army, and ordered by his physician to a southern climate. Almost indifferent where he went, but having pleasant memories of a previous From the moment he landed, he gained new life,—such was the wonderful effect of that delicious climate. Like many others, he was "killing time" in Havana, supposing, from the lack of information and of books, there was nothing specially interesting outside of Havana, when fortunately he came across a little volume in Spanish, now out of print, called "Manual of the Island of Cuba." It is safe to say that had the author not found that book these pages would never have been written; but with this volume as his guide and teacher as to what was to be seen in the whole Island of Cuba, he spent his time during his stay on the island wandering from place to place, studying the people and their habits, and picking up, where possible, views and illustrations; or, where these were not to be had, resorting to his own pencil or the assistance of the photographer. The liberality of the publishers of this volume enables the author, therefore, to place before his readers the best of these illustrations; and believing that as "actions speak louder than words," so do cuts tell more than descriptions, he, wherever possible, permits the illustration to tell the story. "The general reader," says Livy, "cares little for the antiquities of a people." With this in view, the author has given only sufficient of the general history as may satisfy the majority of readers; but for the benefit of the more profound student of Spanish colonial history, he appends a list of valuable works pertaining to the Island of Cuba, of most of which he has made free use. To Don Jose Garcia, de Arboleya, author of "The Manual of the Island," the reader is indebted, as is the author, for the principal facts in this volume. In concluding these few words of preface, the author cannot do better than to use the words of an old writer* in saying: "An useful work needs no indelicate recommendation, nor can a bad one be supported by it, although a sonorous patron might happen to help the sale. *Latham's Essay on Tobacco. London: 1800. |