Large crocodiles abound in the Cuban Everglades, as well as a wide variety of waterfowl. Some of the streams that flow into the swamp allow excellent fishing. They abound in mangrove snappers and tarpon. The hutia, a rat-like animal that walks on trees, is found in large numbers. It is several times the size of a rat, and roasts to a most succulent dish. The deer introduced from Europe in the old Spanish haciendas are quite numerous. Boa constrictors inhabit the dry forests of the limestone sections, making their homes in the cavernous rock. Some of these are reported to be large. They are harmless, since their usual diet is whipped. One is sometimes kept as a rat catcher for the house and corn yard.
In November and December, mallards and blue-winged teals descend from the north, but usually leave by February. Sometimes the yagüesa, or tree whistling duck, is seen. Parrots are abundant along the south coast. White and blue herons are abundant, and egrets are occasionally seen. Mockingbirds sing merrily over the huts of the natives who live here and there through the rocky areas, and a songbird with notes somewhat like the North American thrush enlivens the shadowy depths of the royal palm swamps. Since much of the region has no economic value, there is an opportunity to establish an important wildlife reserve. The isolation of interior areas and the difficulties of travel combine to provide considerable protection.
To the north and west of Zapata is one of the great areas of Cuba’s famous red earth, the Red Plain of Matanzas. This region is occupied by one of the most remarkable soils in the world: red soil that shows no visible change from the surface to depths of twenty-five feet or more. The texture of this is finer grained than the average United States clay, yet the rain, amounting to seventy inches annually, is completely absorbed and passes down through the soil. It percolates so quickly that it can be plowed within a few hours after heavy downpours. Despite this thorough underdrainage, the soil retains enough moisture to produce good crops of sugarcane.
Much of this land has been in cane continuously for over a hundred years, and is still producing. Some fields, which have not been replanted in twenty years, are yielding twenty tons of cane per acre without fertilizer. It is difficult to understand how land subjected to years of leaching, such as this one, retains its fertility. It has a slight stickiness to it and is completely different from clay soil, as it is known in temperate zones. In the eastern part of this plain, there is an area of three hundred and fifty thousand acres that does not have a single stream or drainage depression, although the rainfall is more intense than in the eastern United States.