So careful is a creole to provide against these
casualties, that his residence serves less as an abode for comfort than
as a place of shelter. It has a single storey, and is roofed with Roman
tiles. The walls are of lath and plaster, or mamposteria, as it is
called, and the beams which support the roof are visible from the
interior as they are in a barn. Some of the apartments are paved with
marble, while others are paved with brick. In the centre of the spacious
reception-room, or sala, is laid a small square of carpet, like a
misplaced hearth-rug, on which stand twelve rocking-chairs, arranged
face to face like seats in a railway carriage. They are accompanied by
a few footstools and some spittoons. The rooms are not overcrowded with
furniture and ornaments, and these scarce commodities stand out in bold
relief against the white-washed walls and bare flooring. The chairs and
sofas are all cane-backed and cane-bottomed. Tables are not plentiful,
and curtains are employed as adornments for some of the doors instead of
the windows, which are also devoid of glass. An elegant gas chandelier
is suspended from one of the cross-beams of the sloping roof, and a
couple of unserviceable console tables, with their corresponding
pier-glasses, complete the decorations of the sala.

No fire-stoves are required in any chamber except the kitchen, and the
latter being situated in the patio, or court-yard, at the back of the
premises, the residents in a Cuban house are never troubled with any
other smoke than that which is generated by tobacco.

As for the dormitories--the one which I occupy might belong to a holy
friar. There is an aspect of cell and sanctity about everything in it.
The furniture is nothing to speak of, and the bed, which is called a
catre, closely resembles a tressled apple-stall with a canvas tray. When
not in use, the catre is shut up and whisked away into an obscure
corner. When required for sleeping purposes, it is opened, and the bed
having been 'made' with a couple of sheets and a pillow, it is planted
in a cool place, which often happens to be the centre of the apartment.

The monotonous appearance of the white-washed walls is relieved by
coloured lithograph drawings of saints and virgins, and against one of
the walls is placed a table decorated like a small altar with a white
lace-trimmed cloth upon which stand some gilded candlesticks, vases
containing artificial flowers, and a large wooden statuette, gorge