the island, met at Santa Cruz del Sur, on the 24th of
October, to take the preliminary steps toward the
organisation of a permanent government for the republic.
Early in November, President Masso and
other officers of the “ Provisional Administrative
Council ” resigned their offices, and the assembly
appointed a committee of five, of which Rafael M.
Portuondo was president, to take charge of affairs
until the reassembling of the constituent body, for
which no date was fixed. One of the functions of
the committee was to secure the disbandment of the
Cuban army and a general submission of the people
to the temporary authority of the United States,
pending the organisation of an independent civil
government. Before its work began, Domingo
Mendez Capote, late vice-president of the “ Cuban
R epublic ,” took the place of Portuondo as the presiding
officer. T he assembly also created a commission
of five members, with General Calixto
Garcia at its head, to visit Washington and represent
the interests of Cuba and the wishes of its people
before the President and Congress of the United
States, with reference to proceedings for the organisation
of a permanent system of administration.
Captain-General Blanco resigned after the arrangements
for evacuation were concluded, and his successor,
General A d olfo Jimenez Castellanos was
the last Spanish governor-general. Thus the long
struggle for the independence of Cuba was brought
to a close, and four hundred years of Spanish sovereignty
in the western world ended almost where
it began after the first discoveries of Columbus.
C H A P T E R X V I I I
NATURAL ASPECTS AND RESOURCES OF JAMAICA
A L I T T L E less than ninety miles south of the
eastern part of Cuba lies the island of Jamaica,
third in size of the Greater Antilles. I t is about
one hundred and forty-five miles long from South-
East Point at the eastern end to South Negril Point
in the west. Its extreme width, where it runs down
into the promontory of Portland Point on the south,
is fifty-three miles, but the general width of the
middle section is about forty-five miles. I t falls
away to the east to twenty miles' and then tapers to
a point, and toward the western end it narrows
more abruptly, chiefly on account of a north-westerly
trend of the southern coast. Its shape is sometimes
compared to that of a huge turtle, and its area is
about 4200 square miles. On the southern shore
and well toward the east, in the angle between the
wide and narrow parts, is a deep inlet, or lagoon,
almost inclosed on its southern side by a long sand
spit which leaves a channel barely one hundred and
sixty feet wide. AVithin this nearly land-locked
bay is Kingston, the capital and chief city, and on
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