Santiago was at one time quite a literary centre. Some years back one or two learned priests devoted themselves there to the study of botany and astronomy, among them being Padre Luis de Montes, who made a complete catalogue of the flora of the island. Doña Luisa Perez de Montes de Oca, a native of Santiago, has written some of the finest sonnets in contemporary Spanish literature, and Doña Gertrude Gomez de Avellanda, also born at Santiago, is another delightful poetess, whose name is well known where-ever the Spanish language is spoken. One name, however, towers, in Cuban literature, over all others--that of José Maria Heredia, who was born at Santiago in 1803. His father, a gentleman of considerable position and wealth, and ardent patriot, was exiled to Mexico, and carried with him his motherless child, then only three years of age. At sixteen Heredia lost his father, and returned to Havana, where, in 1823, he was admitted to the bar, and sent to practise at the Supreme Court of Puerto Principe. His open expressions of indignation at the manner in which his country was mishandled, and his well-known liberal opinions on political and social subjects, eventually roused the suspicions of the Government, and he was privately advised to leave the island with all speed, unless he wished to end his days in prison. He took the hint, abandoned Cuba for America, and settled in New York. In 1825 he published his first volume of poetry, which contained the celebrated "Exiles' Hymn," the opening lines of which are singularly appropriate to present circumstances. "Fair land of Cuba! on thy shores are seen Life's far extremes of noble and of mean, The world of sense in matchless beauty dress'd, And nameless horrors hid within thy breast. Ordain'd of Heaven the fairest flower of earth, False to thy gifts, and reckless of thy birth, The tyrant's clamour, and the slave's sad cry, With the sharp lash in insolent reply,-- Such are the sounds that echo on thy plains While virtue faints, and vice unblushing reigns. Rise, and to power a daring heart oppose! Confront with death these worse than deathlike woes, Unfailing valour chains the flying fate, Who dares to die shall win the conqueror's state!"