That this press was not identical with the government printing establishment is inferred from the fact that in this number of the _Papel Periodico_ as well as other issues are contained many advertisements referring to the printing office, where information will be given. The _Gaceta de la Habana_ was a weekly, which probably contained the government announcements and news of the most important events of the time. The space of the _Gaceta_ was too limited to admit of the publication of communications from readers on matters concerning the community, hence such effusions, as also the lyrics coming from the pens of poetically inclined dilettanti, were published on separate sheets to be circulated among their admiring friends. But at the time of Governor Las Casas the desire of improving this publication of the government made itself felt; the space was enlarged and the old time _Gaceta_ seems to have been merged in the _Papel Periodico_, which began to circulate from the twenty-fourth of October, 1790. It appeared once a week and was edited by D. Diego de la Barrera. This publication was the only medium through which those desirous of knowing something of the current life of the island at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century could obtain a fair picture of the customs and occupations of that time, described by the individual contributors with the warmth and the florid exuberance then in style and occasionally, when coming from a more critical mind, with a touch of satire. The following extract from the periodical will give an idea of its contents and character. In an issue of the year 1792, the writer speaks of the lamentable ignorance reigning in the country districts of Cuba and hampering the development of agriculture. He attacks the current opinion that the climate is the source of the Cuban's indifference and indolence, saying that this assumption would give ground to deny even the possibility of progress. He says: "Many opine that the laziness of the inhabitants of this country is the effect of the climate. They take it for granted that the lassitude of the muscles and tendons is due to the heat and makes the bodies lose their tenseness and hence their capacity for exertion. They also give as cause the excessive evaporation of elements needed for the growth and the strength of the organism, asserting that this loss owing to weak constitution of the stomach cannot be repaired by fatty and abundant food.