cart is roughly made and it has a
tongue as thick as a railroad tie, nailed to the body of the cart,
and which extends to the heads of the oxen and is there fastened
by a great yoke directly to the horns. The Cuban ox pulls by his
head and not his shoulders. This yoke is strapped by ropes across
the foreheads of the oxen, and they move along with their heads
down, pushing great loads with their foreheads. They are guided
by rope reins fastened to a ring in the nose of the ox. Some of
the carts are for a single ox, and these have shafts of about the
same railroad tie thickness, which are fastened to a yoke which is
put over the horns in the same manner. Everything is of the rudest
construction and the Egyptians of to-day are as well off in this
regard.

"Prices of everything here seem to me to be very high, and the
money of the country is dirty, nasty paper, which is always below
par, and of which you get twelve dollars for five American ones.
A Cuban dollar is worth about forty American cents, and this Cuban
scrip is ground out as fast as the presses can print it. The lower
denominations are five, ten, twenty and fifty cent pieces, and you
get your boots blacked for ten Spanish cents. Even the gold of
Cuba is below par, about six per cent. below the American greenback,
and most of it and the silver in use has been punched or chipped
to make money off of the pieces thus cut out. The country is deeply
in debt, and the taxes are very heavy."

On the return voyage a strong northwest wind sprang up, and most
of the party, especially the ladies, experienced the disagreeable
effects of being on a small steamer in a rough sea. They had,
however, all recovered by the time we reached Tampa, and as soon
as we landed we started for Jacksonville.

In an interview shortly after my return from Cuba, I thus gave the
impression made upon my mind as to its condition:

"And how did you enjoy your visit to Cuba?"

"We spent four days in Havana. Nobody could be treated with greater
courtesy. You know Spanish courtesy is never surpassed anywhere.
But that cannot prevent me from saying that Cuba is in a deplorable
condition. I should judge from what I heard from intelligent Cuban
Americans living there, and even Spaniards themselves, that the
island is in a condition of ill-suppressed revolt. Natives are
nearly to a man in favor of annexation to us. I think they have
given over the idea of independence, for they begin to