island.

Club life prevails at Matanzas, as usual at the expense of domestic or
family ties; the same may be said of Havana, and both cities in this
respect are like London. It is forbidden to discuss politics in these
Cuban clubs, the hours being occupied mostly in playing cards, dominoes,
chess, and checkers, for money. Gambling is as natural and national in
Cuba as in China. Many Chinese are seen about the streets and stores of
Matanzas, variously employed, and usually in a most forlorn and
impoverished condition,--poor creatures who have survived their
"apprenticeship" and are now free. They were brought here under the
disguise of the Coolie system, as it is called, but which was only
slavery in another form. These Chinese are peaceful, do not drink
spirituous liquors, work hard, never meddle with politics, and live on
one-half they can earn, so as to save enough to pay their passage home
to their beloved land. Few succeed; eight-tenths of those imported into
the island have been not only cheated out of the promised wages, but
worked to death!

The famous afternoon drive and promenade of Matanzas was formerly the
San Carlos Paseo. It has fine possibilities, and is lined and
beautifully ornamented with thrifty Indian laurels. It overlooks the
spacious harbor and outer bay, but is now entirely neglected and
abandoned; even the roadway is green with vegetation, and gullied with
deep hollows. It is the coolest place in the city at the evening hour,
but the people have become so poor that there are hardly a dozen private
vehicles in the city. Matanzas, like all the cities of Cuba, is under
the shadow of depressed business, evidence of which meets one on every
hand.

Havana is a thoroughly representative city, and is the centre of the
talent, wealth, and population of the island. Moro Castle, with its
Dahlgren guns peeping out through the yellow stones, and its tall
lighthouse, stands guard over the narrow entrance of the harbor. The
battery of La Punta, on the opposite shore, answers to the Moro. There
are also the long range of cannon and barracks on the city side, and the
massive fortress of the Cabanas crowning the hill behind the Moro. All
these are decorated with the yellow flag of Spain,--the banner of gold
and blood. These numerous and powerful fortifications show how important
the home government regards this island, and yet modern gunnery renders
these defences comparatively useless.

The city presents a la