Fuerza was intrusted not only the keeping of the city, but the protection as well of the cargoes of gold and silver destined for the Spanish treasury. In 1544 a royal decree was issued requiring war ships coming into the harbor to salute the fortification in recognition of its dignity and importance.

La Fuerza was for a long period the official residence of the Governors and Captains-General of the island; among them, in 1568, that Pedro de Menendez d'Aviles, who three years before in 1563 had founded St. Augustine in Florida. Writing in 1761, Arrete records that the Governors of that period did much to adorn La Fuerza, providing reception parlors and luxurious sculpture in the interior, and ornamental round balconies on the outside. Originally called La Fuerza, meaning "The Fort," after other forts were built it was known as La Vieja Fuerza, "The Old Fort," and from its use for a residence as "Governors' Fort." This name appears on the plan of 1762, which is reproduced on another page.

The work is a quadrilateral fortress, having a bastion at each of the corners. It is 25 yards in height; the walls are double, and the terrepleins are supported on arches. It was surrounded by a deep moat. The bell in the tower sounded the hours through day and night, and was rung by the sentinel always posted here to alarm the town of the approach of a hostile sail. Later the signal flags of La Fuerza repeated the messages of those of the Morro, to announce the arrival of ships. The bronze figure of the Indian girl on the tower, holding a cross and facing the Gulf,

was known to the sailors of the world as "La Habana," and they carried her fame into every sea.

Originally occupying a point of vantage and standing out in front of the town it was put here to defend, the fort was in course of time surrounded by the growing population, and its utility superseded by other and more powerful fortifications. The moat was filled up; barracks were built about it, and high walls shut it in. It was even debased to the office of a jail. In 1900, during the government of intervention, the Americans demolished the encompassing walls, excavated the moat, and rebuilt the moat wall, replaced the drawbridge, repaired the bastions, parked the grounds, and thus restored to Havana this most prized memorial of the old days. Havana has grown away from La Fuerza and put it aside as a relic, but it still serves a useful purpose as a hall of records for the safe keeping of the national archives. In the ancient armor room in an angle of the moat a dynamo plant has been installed for lighting the Senate and the Palace; thus from out the sixteenth century comes illumination for the twentieth. The building is open to the public. The tower should be visited for its view of the harbor. Our illustration is from a photograph in 1902, and shows the American flag over the building Tacon 1, which was at that time occupied by the United States engineers. The flag of the Cuban Republic is the third which gazers from this old tower have seen flying there as symbols of sovereignty. The bell now in the tower bears the date 1706. With the exception of the fort at Santo Domingo, La Fuerza is the oldest fortification in America.

THE CATHEDRAL is on Empedrado street at the corner of Ignacio. It is commonly known to visitors in Havana as the Columbus Cathedral; but the name is La Catedral de la Virgen Maria de la Concepción-Cathedral of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception. The edifice, which is of the Hispano-American style, with two towers and a dome, is built of the native limestone, which is yellowish-white when quarried, but soon darkens and grows dingy, and the surface disintegrating gives an appearance of great antiquity. The Cathedral was built by the Jesuits. two centuries ago, in 1704. It occupies the site of an older church. Two of the bells in the tower are dated 1664 and 1698 respectively. The entrance through a gate at the right of the chapel admits to the triangular courtyard. On the right of this is the ecclesiastical courtroom, the walls of which are hung with portraits of Bishops of the Island. Beyond are the cloisters and the patio of the Theological Seminary of San Carlos. The door on the left opens into the robing room, where may be shown the rich vestments of the clergy, magnificent examples of embroidery in gold and silver. On the walls are some very old paintings. From this room steps lead to the high altar and the chancel. The interior walls are finished in dark marbles; the columns are of highly polished mahogany with gilt-bronzed capitals; the choir stalls are of mahogany, beautifully carved. The high altar is of Carrara marble.

The baldachin contains a sculptured image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. The floor in front of the altar is a mosaic of colored marble. The fine organ was built in Germany.

There are many paintings to engage the attention. Those in the dome are of Moses and Prophets and Evangelists. Among the paintings on the walls are: Abraham and Sarah, to whom the promise is given: Sara