found here, and of insects there is no end. T he
scorpion is not deadly but he can make his victim
extremely uncomfortable, and there is a very nasty
spider, while mosquitoes buzz and fireflies flicker
in multitudinous hosts. There is a vegetating
b e e ” afflicted with a chronic fungus, a pestilent
jigger, and an ant that never takes a siesta. Land
crabs march in hordes at certain times long distances
on a trocha of their own. Turtles and tortoises
luxuriate in the tepid waters and the sweltering a ir ;
fish roam in multitudes in the thousand coves and
crannies of the shore, and oysters and others of the
mollusc kind repose in soft beds of mud and marl.
Birds of the air are numerous, as in all the islands,
and have their kindred on both the northern and the
southern continent. There are two hundred species
now indigenous to Cuba, many of which have fine
plumage but few melodious notes. Among them
parrots and humming-birds are conspicuous. The
only birds of prey worth noting are a repulsive vulture
and a turkey buzzard, which are protected from
harm because they act as scavengers in towns where
the lazy inhabitants throw out their refuse and leave
it to rot and reek.
Climate has much to do with what the scientific
people call the flora and fauna of the country, or in
plain terms with its plants and animals; but the
effect upon its human inhabitants and its history is
not less important. The climate of Cuba is necessarily
that of the torrid zone, but climate varies
much with altitude as well as latitude. On the
coasts, where by far the larger proportion of the
people now dwell, it may be torrid, but in the uplands
it is temperate, and there are heights where
frost and ice are not unknown, though snow has
rarely been seen on the loftiest peaks. It is common
to divide the year into two seasons of equal
length, the warm and wet from May to October inclusive,
and the cool and dry from November to
A p r il; but the rainfall of the wet season is irregular
and is seldom heavy before the end of June or after
the end of September, while nearly one third of the
aggregate for the year comes in showers during
what is called the dry season. The rain, which is
brought by the north-east trade-winds, is heaviest
on the northern coast and toward the eastern end of
the island. The total fall in the year about Havana
is 40.5 inches, but the ratio of humidity in the atmosphere
is high a large part of the time.
T h e temperature even on the coast cannot be
called extreme at any time. T he hottest months
are July and August, and the range at Havana is
from 76° to 88°, with an average of 82° on the scale
of Fahrenheit. In December and January the minimum
is 58° and the maximum 78°, and the air is
generally soft and balmy. T h e climate is healthful
to the human constitution, except in swampy and
malarious districts where drainage and cultivation
are alike unknown, and in cities and towns where no
proper attention is given to sanitary requirements.
There is nothing like a troubling and a distributing
of water and a cultivation of the soil to dispel malarious
exhalations and extinguish the germs of fe v e r ;
and in thickly peopled places health is largely a