The United States is the chief customer of Cuba, and in turn supplies the Cubans with flour, textile goods, hardware, and coal-oil. Smoked meat from Latin America and preserved fish from Canada and Newfoundland are the remaining imports. There are no manufactures of importance. The railways are mainly for the purpose of handling the sugar-crop. _Havana_, the capital and financial centre, is connected with New York, New Orleans, and Key West by steamship lines. _Santiago_, _Matanzas_, and _Cienfuegos_ are ports having a considerable trade. The British possessions in the West Indies are commercially the most important of the European possessions. The Bahamas are low-lying coral islands, producing but little except sponges, fruit, and sisal-hemp. _Nassau_, the only town of importance, is a winter resort. Fruit, sugar, rum, coffee, and ginger are exported from _Kingston_, the port of Jamaica. _St. Lucia_ has probably the strongest fortress in the Caribbean Sea. Barbados produces more sugar than any other British possession in the West Indies. The raw sugar, muscovado, is shipped to the United States. Bermuda, an outlying island, furnishes the Atlantic states with onions, Easter lilies, and early potatoes. From Trinidad is obtained the asphaltum, or natural tar, that is used for street paving. Brea Lake, the source of the mineral, is leased to a New York company. Sugar and cacao are also exported from Port of Spain. The products of St. Vincent and Dominica are similar to those of the other islands. The French own Martinique (_Fort de France_) and Guadeloupe (_Basse Terre_). St. Thomas (_Charlotte Amalie_), St. Croix, and St. John are Danish possessions. Various attempts to transfer the Danish islands to the United States have failed. They are admirably adapted for naval stations. The island of Haiti consists of two negro republics, Haiti and San Domingo. The only important product is coffee. Most of the product is shipped to the United States, which supplies coal oil and textiles in return. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION What part of the United States was formerly a possession of Mexico, and how did it become a possession of the United States? From a cyclopedia learn the character of the political organization of Mexico and the Central American states. From the report listed below find what commercial routes gain, and what ones lose in distance by the Nicaragua, as compared with the Panama canal. From a good atlas make a list of the islands of the West Indies; name the country to which each belongs, and its exports to the United States. FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE The Statesman's Year-Book. Great Canals of the World--pp. 4058-4059. [Illustration: SOUTH AMERICA] CHAPTER XXIII SOUTH AMERICA--THE ANDEAN STATES