Sometimes they dance, which with them is a slow undulating
movement, suited to a marble floor and a thermometer at eighty degrees.
At a small village in the neighbourhood I saw a nigger hall,--the dance
was precisely the same, being a mixture of country-dance and waltz; and
I can assure you, Sambo and his ebony partner acquitted themselves
admirably: they were all well dressed, looked very jolly and
comfortable, and were by no means uproarious.

You must not imagine, from my observations on the fair tenant of the
Volante, that this is a land of beauty--far from it: one feature of
beauty, and one only, is general--good eyes: with that exception, it
is rare; but there are some few lovely daughters of Eve that would make
the mouth of a marble statue water. Old age here is anything but
attractive, either producing a mountainous obesity, or a skeleton on
which the loose dried skin hangs in countless wrinkles. But such is
generally the case in warm climates, as far as my observation goes. Any
one wishing to verify these remarks, has only to go on the Paseo a
little before sunset upon a Sunday evening, when he will be sure to meet
nine-tenths of the population and the Volantes all in gayest attire. The
weather on my arrival was very wet, and I was therefore unable to go
into the country for some days; but having cleared up, I got my passport
and took a trip into the interior.

[Illustration: "EL CASERO," THE PARISH HAWKER IN CUBA.]

The railway cars are built on the American models, i.e., long cars,
capable of containing about forty or fifty people; but they have had the
good sense to establish first, second, and third-class carriages; and,
at the end of each first-class carriage, there is a partition, shutting
off eight seats, so that any party wishing to be private can easily be
so. They travel at a very fair pace, but waste much time at the
stopping-places, and whole hours at junctions. By one of these
conveyances I went to Matanzas, which is very prettily situated in a
lovely bay. There is a ridge, about three miles from the town, which is
called the Cumbre, from the summit whereof you obtain a beautiful view
of the valley of the Yumuri, so called from a river of that name, and
concerning which there is a legend that it is famous for the slaughter
of the Indians by the Spaniards; a legend which, too probably, rests on
the foundation of truth, if we are to judge by the barbarities which
dimmed the brilliancy of all their