is near the northern coast on a river of the same
name, twelve miles from its mouth. I t is connected
with Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, and Havana b y rail
and is a place of some importance, with a population
of about 14,000. This is where the auriferous sands
of the river were first worked, but the yield of gold
was so scanty that the effort to collect it was long
ago given up. .
T h e only towns in the province of Puerto Principe
worth noticing are Nuevitas and the capital,
Puerto Principe, and the former is important only
as the seaport of the latter, with which it is connected
by railroad. The harbour of Nuevitas is in
a deep bay, sheltered by promontories and entered
by a narrow and winding channel. I t was visited
by Columbus, who called it Puerto Principe. T h e
name was inappropriately transferred to the interior
town, founded on the site of a native village called
Camaguey. T he native name still clings to the
place. Puerto Principe is on a broad plain midway
between the two coasts, and has a population of
about 45,000. _
Santiago de Cuba, capital of the province of the
same name, was founded by Diego Velasquez in
15x5, three years after the first settlement of the
Spaniards from Santo Domingo at Baracoa; and
for some years it was the capital of the colony.
I t now has a population of over 70,000, and ranks
third in commercial importance among the cities
and seaports of Cuba. I t is on a bay which is
reached by a winding channel only one hundred and
eighty yards wide in its narrowest part. T he bay