in the Havana) that the inhabitants
of Santiago determine to make at least holiday--if not to profit--out of
the occasion. The merchants and shopkeepers are especially interested in
exhibiting their loyalty; for in this manner they hope to obtain many
mercantile concessions. Certain little nefarious transactions connected
with the custom-house may through the captain-general's benevolence be
forgiven or ignored, while other matters, connected with the landing of
negroes, may also pass censorship. A number of petitions for various
local favours have been also prepared, and in short the inhabitants hope
to derive many advantages from the visit of their colonial King.

The merchants' contribution towards the festivities will be a public
ball in the theatre, and a grand triumphal arch, which they propose to
erect in the principal thoroughfare. But a triumphal arch, such as these
gentlemen contemplate, is not so easily obtained in Cuba. Los Senores
Bosch Brothers--who are appointed to direct this work--have, however, no
difficulty in providing architects qualified to undertake the
fabrication required. The followers of the divine art of Apelles no
doubt 'deal' in triumphal arches, and the 'job' is accordingly offered
to them.

Our experience in the manufacture of triumphal arches is not wide, but
our patrons are so very pressing, and their terms are, moreover, so
very liberal, that we are finally induced to embark in the enterprise.

A plan of the proposed structure having been drawn and submitted for
approval to Don Elijio, who is the head of the firm of Bosch Brothers,
our operations begin. The order of architecture which we adopt partakes
of the Norman and the early Gothic, with a 'dash,' so to speak, of the
Byzantine, to give it a cheerful aspect. It might remind the learned in
these matters of York Minster, Temple Bar, or a court in the Crystal
Palace; but the Senores Bosch Brothers--whose acquaintance with
architectural master-pieces is confined to the governor's palace of lath
and plaster, and the white-washed cathedral--are easily satisfied.

Our labours are conducted in the extensive store-room of Messrs. Bosch
Brothers, which, in order to facilitate our operations, is cleared of
its cumbersome contents. The arch is destined to stand in that part of
the street which divides the warehouse from the market-place. The latter
stands at an elevation of more than forty feet above the pavement, and
is reached by a wide