Aside from wide, deep indentations from the sea, and shallow landing places at the mouths of rivers, the south coast of Pinar del Rio has nothing to offer in the shape of harbors. Nevertheless, owing to the presence of long lines of outlying keys, and to the fact that northerly winds produce only smooth water off these shores, there is considerable local traffic carried on between various places on the south coast and Batabano, whence connection with Havana is secured by rail. A large part of the charcoal used in the capital is cut from the low lying forests that cover almost the entire length of Pinar del Rio’s south coast. Across the ankle-like connection between the mainland and the peninsula forming the western extremity of the Island a depression runs from Guardiana Bay on the west to the Bay of Cortez on the east. Numerous fresh water lagoons or inland lakes lie so close that a small amount of dredging would cut a canal from one shore to the other, and save thus over a hundred miles of travel for local coasting vessels. At the present time these lakes, with their rich growth of aquatic plants, furnish a retreat during the winter season for many varieties of wild ducks, which the game laws of Cuba are endeavoring to protect. Wild deer are also very plentiful throughout the greater part of the Province, especially in the mountainous districts and in the jungles of the south coast. The capital, Pinar del Rio, is a modern and rather attractive little city of some 12,000 inhabitants, located on a gentle rise of ground in the western center of the Province. Immediately surrounding it is the celebrated tobacco district known as the Vuelta Abajo, or Lower Turn, so called, perhaps, owing to the fact that the coast line of this section recedes rapidly towards the south and west. The choice lands of this locality cover a relatively small area, not over thirty miles from east to west and less than half that distance from north to south. And even within this circumscribed area, the best tobacco is grown only in little vegas, or oases, whose soil seems to contain mineral elements the character of which has never been discovered, but that nevertheless give to the plant a peculiarly delightful aroma and flavor, not known to the tobacco of any other part of the world. As a result, the price of these little vegas, so favored by Nature, is very high, often running into thousands of dollars per acre. Pinar del Rio is connected with Havana by the Western Railway, that traverses almost the entire length of the Province, terminating at the present time at the town of Guane within thirty miles of Guardiana Bay. This railroad furnishes transportation for the great level plains, together with the fertile foot hills that occupy the southern half of the Province.