Puerto Principe, or to give it its full name in the Spanish tongue, Santa Maria de Puerto Principe, is the capital of the Central department, and is situated about midway between the north and south coasts, 305 miles southeast of Havana, and forty-five miles southwest of Nuevitas, its port, with which it is connected by railroad.  Its population is about 30,000 and it is surrounded by a rich agricultural district, the chief products of which are sugar and tobacco.  The climate is hot, moist and unhealthy.  It was at one time the seat of the supreme court of all the Spanish colonies in America.

One of the most attractive cities of Cuba is Trinidad, which lies near the south coast, three miles by rail from the port of Casildas.  It is beautifully situated on high land overlooking the sea, and on account of its mild and very equable climate it is a favorite resort for tourists and invalids.

Nuevitas, Sancti Espiritu, Baracoa and Cienfuegos are all centers of population with many natural advantages, and with a just form of government, and the advent of American enterprise and capital, they might become prosperous, attractive, and of great commercial importance.

CHAPTER XI.

Mutterings of insurrection.

Slavery in Cuba—­Horrible Tortures Inflicted—­The Conspiracy of Lopez—­The United States Interferes—­Lopez Captured and Executed —­Seizure of American Ships—­Our Government Demands and Secures Indemnity From Spain—­Enormous Salaries of Cuban Officials—­ Oppressive Taxation.

Slavery was a demoralizing influence to Cuba as it has been, to every other country in which the system has existed, and to its presence was traced one of the most sensational episodes in all the sensational history of the unhappy island.  It is impossible to know to what extent the suspected insurrection of slaves on the sugar plantations about Matanzas was an actual threat.  So horrible were the charges made by the accusers that it is almost impossible to believe them.  At any rate, such an insurrection was anticipated, and the authorities took measures to crush it out, more severe than any such governmental movement has been since the days of the Spanish Inquisition itself.  It was impossible to obtain witnesses by ordinary methods, so the most shocking forms of torture were employed.  Those who refused to confess whatever charges happened to be brought against them were tortured till they did confess, and then probably executed for the crimes which they admitted under such circumstances.  By such “judicial” processes, 1,346 persons were convicted, of whom seventy-eight were shot and the others punished less severely in various ways.  Hundreds of others died from the tortures to which they were subjected, or in the foul prisons in which they were confined, and of these we have no record.  Of those convicted and punished under the alleged forms of law, fourteen were white, 1,242 were free negroes, and fifty-nine were slaves.  The negroes of Cuba have never forgotten the barbarities to which their parents were subjected in that trying year.