The installation of a good electric car system has made suburban life popular, and a large proportion of the population of Habana now enjoy breathing space and elbow room such as the former inhabitants never dreamed of. The newest and most attractive of the residence suburbs is Vedado by the sea. Here are handsome homes facing broad avenues and standing in gardens of beautiful plants and flowers. The greater number of resident Americans live out at Vedado. The modern streets beyond the old walls are laid out on liberal lines and with regularity. Habana, which used to be one of the most filthy cities on the earth, can now boast with justice of being among the cleanest centres in the Americas. It has a good water supply and is efficiently policed. One of the effects of this improvement has been to attract American tourists in constantly increasing numbers, until Habana has taken a prominent place among our winter resorts. CHAPTER XV THE PROVINCES OF CUBA The extensive railroad system of Cuba makes it possible to reach almost any part of the Island with little trouble. The Provinces of Habana and Matanzas, in particular, are completely covered by the ramifications of the United Railways of Habana. The majority of tourists confine their excursions from Habana to points which may be reached by this line. There are, however, on the Cuba railroad many cities and districts that will well repay a visit, whether the object be merely sightseeing, or a study of the resources and development of the country. It is a short run from the capital to Hoyo Colorado, the route traversing a rich tobacco district and the centre of the pineapple culture. Ten miles out, the line reaches the Playa of Marianao, Habana’s fashionable bathing resort and the headquarters of the yacht club. Marianao is to Habana what Waikiki Beach is to Honolulu. The trip to Guines is beginning to rival in popularity with tourists the excursion to the famous caves of Bellamar. The railroad is one of the oldest in the world, having been opened to traffic in 1837. The picturesque little town occupies a beautiful situation in an extensive valley, almost entirely surrounded by mountains. It is in the centre of a rich sugar district, but the lands in the immediate vicinity are devoted to truck farming, in which a number of Americans are engaged with marked success. Near by is the village of Madruga, famed long ago for the curative quality of its sulphur baths and mineral waters. Centuries ago, solitary invalids performed the tedious journey to the spot and sojourned in the peasants’ huts, whilst undergoing the cure. Nowadays Madruga is much frequented and has comfortable hotels, as well as several well-appointed bathing establishments.