Baracoa, an open roadstead, celebrated owing to the fact that here the Spanish conquerors made their first settlement in the Pearl of the Antilles in 1512, is a very picturesque bay, but unfortunately with almost no protection from northerly winds that prevail during the winter months. Cocoanuts form the chief article of export from Baracoa, which is the last port of any note on the north coast of Cuba. Although the south coast of Cuba contains some of the finest harbors in the world, Dame Nature was not quite so generous with her commercial gateways along the Caribbean as along the shores bordering on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Some 85 miles west of Cape Maisi we come to the Bay of Guantanamo, a long, deep indentation from the Caribbean, extending ten or twelve miles straight up into the land, and in its upper extension opening out into quite a wide sheet of water. Guantanamo is deep, well protected, and of sufficient area to furnish excellent anchorage for the navy of the United States. That which for naval purposes gives Guantanamo especial strategic value is the fact that its mouth, free from obstructions, is so wide that three first-class battleships can leave or enter at full speed, without danger of collision or interference, either with each other or with the inclosing shores. This feature of the bay, which is not often found in well protected harbors, together with the fact that it practically commands the Caribbean Sea, and lies almost in a direct line between the Atlantic Coast and the Panama Canal, were the reasons why Guantanamo was selected in preference to all other bays as the United Naval Station in the Republic of Cuba. During the last ten years many improvements have taken place in Guantanamo and today its importance is not excelled by that of any other naval station in the Western Hemisphere. The Guantanamo Valley, one of the richest in the Island, furnishes a large amount of cane that supplies seven or eight sugar mills located a little back from the shore of the Bay.