essly been chosen for the purpose a stone which had the
advantages of being plentiful and so soft as to be easily worked.
Unhappily it had also the very serious disadvantages of being so soft
that it would probably soon be battered to fragments by cannon balls,
and of being so porous that water soaked into and through it as through
a sponge. During the rainy season the place was flooded, water standing
in pools on the floor, and the magazine being so wet that gunpowder
could not be kept there without spoiling; wherefore another building, of
wood, had to be provided for that purpose. The same kind of stone was
used, moreover, for the reservoir which was to provide fort and city
with water, with the result that its contents quickly leaked out. There
arose a proverbial saying in the city that the powder magazine was
always wet and the water reservoir was always dry; and it was
sarcastically proposed that the functions of the two be exchanged. The
powder would be kept dry in the reservoir, and there would always be
plenty of water in the magazine! Nor was this the only error in
construction. The whole structure was said to be dangerously weak, so
that if all its guns should be fired simultaneously, the shock might
tumble the walls into ruin. The guns were available for use in only a
narrow zone; they were of too short range to carry to the other
extremity of the harbor, and they were so placed that they could not be
depressed so as to hit vessels which had come close in toward the water
front of the city. Therefore a hostile ship with long range guns could
lie out of reach of La Fuerza and bombard the fort and city at will. Or
one could sail swiftly in, running the gantlet of the narrow zone of
fire, and gain a place under the walls of the fort where it would be
quite safe for the guns of the latter while it could use its own at
short range with deadly effect. It was also complained that the parapet
was too low to afford shelter to the men serving the guns, and that the
four big wooden gates were a source of fatal weakness.

It was presently perceived, too, that fortifications elsewhere than in
the heart of the city were needed for adequate defence of the place.
Especially were such works needed at the headlands commanding the
entrance to the harbor. Without them, a daring enemy might seize one of
those spots, bring up some long range guns from his ships, and have not
only Havana but La Fuerza itself at his mercy. Montalvo a