e war with Spain, in 1898, come under the protection of this
government, and is, therefore, entitled to a place in this volume. In
the hand of Providence, this island became the doorway to America. It
was here that Columbus landed, October 28, 1492. True, he touched
earlier at one of the smaller islands to the north; but it was merely a
halting before pushing on to Cuba. "Juana" Columbus called the island,
in honor of Isabella's infant son. Afterward it was successively known
as Fernandina, Santiago, and Ave Maria; but the simple natives, who were
there to the number of 350,000, called it _Cooba_, and this name
prevailed over the Spanish titles, as the island has finally prevailed
over Spanish domination, and it has come under the protection of America
with its Indian name, slightly changed to _Cuba_, remaining as the sole
and only heritage we have of the simple aborigines who have utterly
perished from the face of the earth under Spanish cruelty.

[Illustration: TOMB OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IN THE CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA.

The ashes of the great discoverer were removed from this tomb to Spain
in December, 1898.]

In 1494 Columbus visited Cuba a second time, and once again in 1502. In
1511 Diego Columbus, the son of the great discoverer, with a colony of
between three and four hundred Spaniards, came, and in 1514 he founded
the towns of Santiago and Trinidad. Five years later, in 1519, the
present capital Havana, or _Habana_, was founded. The French reduced the
city in 1538, practically demolishing the whole town. Under the
governor, De Soto, it was rebuilt and fortified, the famous Morro Castle
and the Punta, which are still standing, being built at that early date.

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

The natives, whom Columbus found in Cuba, were agreeable in feature, and
so amiable in disposition that they welcomed the white man with open
arms, and, besides contributing food, readily gave up their treasures to
please the Spaniards. Unlike the warlike cannibal tribes of the Lesser
Antilles, known as the Caribs, they lived in comparative peace with one
another, and had a religion which recognized the Supreme Being. Columbus
held several conferences with these simple natives, who numbered,
according to his estimate, from 350,000 to half a million souls, and his
associations and dealings with them on his first visit were always
friendly and of a mutually pleasing nature. But when he returned to
Spain he left soldiers, who brut