Large quantities of pine lumber are imported into Cuba from the Gulf cities, especially from South Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile. This material is used throughout the island for interior work, sash, doors, blinds, etc. Unless covered with paint, hard pine is not very lasting in this climate, for which reasons, perhaps, show cases, fancy work and ornamental doors are usually built of the native cedar and majagua, which are practically impervious to either decay or attack from boring insects. The most important industry of the Province, from the monetary viewpoint, at least, is the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes, which are produced in greater quantity in Havana and throughout the province than in any other part of the world. It is needless to state that the cigars made in Havana from the celebrated Vuelta Abajo leaf are shipped from this capital to all parts of the world, and may be found, it is said, on the private desk of every crowned head in Europe. Large shipments are made every year, also, to Japan and the Orient. Thousands of men and girls are employed in this industry, the value of which, in the export trade alone, amounts to over $30,000,000 a year. The Province has but one harbor of any importance, the Bay of Havana, located near the center of the north coast. It covers several square miles, and although the entrance between the promontory of Morro and the Punta is only a few hundred yards across, the channel is deep, perfectly protected, and leads to an anchorage sufficient for large fleets of vessels. The shore portions of the main body of the harbor were rather shallow in early times, but during recent years have been well dredged up to the edge of the surrounding wharves, thus reclaiming a large amount of valuable land, and greatly increasing the capacity of the Bay for shipping purposes. Since the inauguration of the Republic in 1902, a series of large, modern, perfectly equipped piers, built of concrete and iron, have been extended out from the shore line of the western side of the bay, so that the largest ships may now discharge and take on cargoes, eliminating thus, to a great extent, the custom of lightering which prevailed only a few years ago. Owing to the fact that nearly all the principal railroad systems of Cuba radiate from the Capital, each with a terminal system connecting with the wharves, the transportation facilities of this port are superior to any others in Cuba. Steam and sail vessels are leaving Havana for different parts of the world every day in the year, and it is a fact of which the Republic has reason to be proud, that under normal conditions, or up to the beginning of the great war, a greater amount of tonnage entered and left the Harbor of Havana than that of any other city of the Western hemisphere, with the exception of New York. Dredging is still going on with new wharves in process of construction and projected, so that today frontage on the bay is valuable and hard to secure at any price.