Guanabacoa
GUANABACOA (an Indian name meaning " site of the waters "), a town of Cuba, in Havana province, about 6 m. E. of Havana. Pop. (1907) 14,368. Guanabacoa is served by railway to Havana, with which it is connected by the Regla ferry across the bay. It is picturesquely situated amid woods, on high hills which furnish a fine view. There are medicinal springs in the town, and deposits of liquid bitumen in the neighbouring hills. The town is essentially a residence suburb of the capital, and has some rather pretty streets and squares and some old and interesting churches (including Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, 1714- 1721). Just outside the city is the church of Potosi with a famous " wonder-working " shrine and image. An Indian pueblo of the same name existed here before 1555, and a church was established in 1576. Already at the end of the 17th century Guanabacoa was the fashionable summer residence of Havana. It enjoyed its greatest popularity in this respect from the end of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century. It was created a villa with an ayuniamiento (city council) in 1743. In 1762 its fort, the Little Morro, on the N. shore near Cojimar (a bathing beach, where the Key West cable now lands), was taken by the English.
6UANACO, sometimes spelt Huanaca, the larger of the two wild representatives in South America of the camel tribe; the other being the vicugna. The guanaco (Lama huanacus), which stands nearly 4 ft. at the shoulder, is an elegant creature, with gracefully curved neck and long slender legs, the hind-pair of the latter bearing two naked patches or callosities. The head and body are covered with long soft hair of a fawn colour above and almost pure white beneath. Guanaco are found throughout the southern half of South America, from Peru in the north to Cape Horn in the south, but occur in greatest abundance in Patagonia. They live in herds usually of from six to thirty, although these occasionally contain several hundreds, while solitary individuals are sometimes met. They are exceedingly timid, and therefore wary and difficult of approach; like many other ruminants, however, their curiosity sometimes overcomes their timidity, so as to bring them within range of the hunter's rifle. Their cry is peculiar, being something between the belling of a deer and the neigh of a horse. The chief enemies of the guanaco are the Patagonian Indians and the puma, as it forms the principal food of both. Its flesh is palatable although wanting in fat, while its skin forms the chief clothing material of the Patagonians. Guanaco are readily domesticated, and in this state become very bold and will attack man, striking him from behind with both knees. In the wild state they never defend themselves, and if approached from different points, according to the Indian fashion of hunting, get completely bewildered and fall an easy prey. They take readily to the Head of Guanaco.
water, and have been observed swimming from one island to another, while they have been seen drinking salt-water. They have a habit of depositing their droppings during successive days on the same spot a habit appreciated by the Peruvian Indians, who use those deposits for fuel. Guanaco also have favourite localities in which to die, as appears from the great heaps of their bones found in particular spots.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
