Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Opening Being Only From One Hundred And
Seventy To Two Hundred Toises Wide.
Having passed this narrow
entrance, leaving on the north the fine castle of San Carlos de la
Cabana and
The Casa Blanca, we reach a basin in the form of a trefoil
of which the great axis, stretching from south-south-west to
north-north-east, is two miles and one-fifth long. This basin
communicates with three creeks, those of Regla, Guanavacoa and Atares;
in this last there are some springs of fresh water. The town of the
Havannah, surrounded by walls, forms a promontory bounded on the south
by the arsenal and on the north by the fort of La Punta. After passing
beyond some wrecks of vessels sunk in the shoals of La Luz, we no
longer find eight or ten, but five or six fathoms of water. The
castles of Santo Domingo de Atares and San Carlos del Principe defend
the town on the westward; they are distant from the interior wall, on
the land side, the one 660 toises, the other 1240. The intermediate
space is filled by the suburbs (arrabales or barrios extra muros) of
the Horcon, Jesu-Maria, Guadaloupe and Senor de la Salud, which from
year to year encroach on the Field of Mars (Campo de Marte). The great
edifices of the Havannah, the cathedral, the Casa del Govierno, the
house of the commandant of the marine, the Correo or General Post
Office and the factory of Tobacco are less remarkable for beauty than
for solidity of structure. The streets are for the most part narrow
and unpaved. Stones being brought from Vera Cruz, and very difficult
of transport, the idea was conceived a short time before my voyage of
joining great trunks of trees together, as is done in Germany and
Russia, when dykes are constructed across marshy places. This project
was soon abandoned and travellers newly arrived beheld with surprise
fine trunks of mahogany sunk in the mud of the Havannah. At the time
of my sojourn there few towns of Spanish America presented, owing to
the want of a good police, a more unpleasant aspect. People walked in
mud up to the knee; and the multitude of caleches or volantes (the
characteristic equipage of the Havannah) of carts loaded with casks of
sugar, and porters elbowing passengers, rendered walking most
disagreeable. The smell of tasajo often poisons the houses and the
winding streets. But it appears that of late the police has interposed
and that a manifest improvement has taken place in the cleanliness of
the streets; that the houses are more airy and that the Calle de los
Mercadores presents a fine appearance. Here, as in the oldest towns of
Europe. an ill-traced plan of streets can only be amended by slow
degrees.
There are two fine public walks; one called the Alameda, between the
hospital of Santa Paula and the theatre, and the other between the
Castillo de la Punta and the Puerta de la Muralla, called the Paseo
extra muros; the latter is deliciously cool and is frequented by
carriages after sunset.
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