Don Antonio de Chavez assumed the government in 1547, and he it was who gave Havana its first regular supply of water, bringing it a distance of about six miles from the river Chorrera.

The early settlers devoted themselves principally to the raising of cattle, paying very little attention to agricultural pursuits, or in fact to any means of livelihood that called for manual labor.  Much time and money was wasted in explorations for gold and silver, but these were invariably unsuccessful, for while the precious metals have occasionally been found in the island, the quantity has never been sufficient to repay the labor of the search.

A letter written by Columbus.

Nothing more interesting for the conclusion of this chapter can be offered than Columbus’ own account of his first view of the island of Cuba.  It is as follows

“When I reached Juana, I followed its coast to the westward, and found it so large that I thought it must be mainland, the province of Cathay; and as I found neither towns nor villages on the sea coast, but only some hamlets, with the inhabitants of which I could not hold conversation, because they all immediately fled, I kept on the same route, thinking that I could not fail to light upon some large cities or towns.  At length, after the proceeding of many leagues, and finding that nothing new presented itself, and that the coast was leading me northwards (which I wished to avoid, because the winter had already set in, and it was my intention to move southwards; and because moreover the winds were contrary), I resolved not to wait for a change in the weather, but to return to a certain harbor which I had remarked, and from which I sent two men ashore to ascertain whether there was any king or large cities in that part.  They journeyed for three days, and found countless small hamlets, with numberless inhabitants, but with nothing like order; they therefore returned.  In the meantime I had learned from some other Indians, whom I had seized, that this land was certainly an island; accordingly, I followed the coast eastward for a distance of 107 leagues, where it ended in a cape.  From this cape I saw another island to the eastward, at a distance of eighteen leagues from the former, to which I gave the name of La Espanola.  Thither I went and followed its northern coast, (just the same as I had done with the coast of Juana), 118 full miles due east.  This island, like all others, is extraordinarily large, and this one extremely so.  In it are many seaports, with which none that I know in Christendom can bear comparison, so good and capacious that it is a wonder to see.  The lands are high, and there are many lofty mountains, with which the islands of Teneriffe cannot be compared.  They are all most beautiful, of a thousand different shapes, accessible, and covered with trees of a thousand kinds, of such great height that they seem to reach the skies.  I am told