of the town much frequented by the emancipated tribes.

Urriola and his son, together with Lino Boza and other black and brown
gentlemen, are great acquisitions in the orchestras of the theatre, the
cathedral, and the public balls; but their services are mostly in
request during the carnival season, and on certain fiestas. They are,
indeed, in such demand for the latter occasions, that engagements with
them are entered into days before these festivities take place, and not
unfrequently the same band is required to play at a dozen different
localities in one day.

The 'Danza Criolla' is the patriotic music of Cuba, and every fresh
carnival gives birth to a new set of these 'danzas.' When the air
happens to be unusually 'pegajoza,' or catching, a brief song is
improvised, and the words of this song chime so well with the music
which suggests them, as to form a sort of verbal counterpart of the
melody.

The merits of these songs are not, however, confined to a judicious
selection of words to suit the air. There is often a quaint local humour
conveyed in the doggerel verses; the charm being greatly enhanced by the
introduction of creole slang and mispronounced Spanish. Fragments of
these effusions occasionally degenerate into street sayings, which are
in everybody's mouth till the next carnival. One of the most popular
during a certain year was 'Tocolo mejor que tu!' which means Tocolo is a
better fellow than you. Other equally choice refrains--though not to be
rendered into corresponding English--are 'Amarillo! suenemelo
pinton,'and 'Calabazon, tu estas pinton.'

The following ditty, attached to a favourite Cuban danza, called 'La
Chupadera,' meets with many admirers. In the original it begins:--

iAy! si lo se, que yo estoy diciendo,
Que la chupadera a real esta vendiendose,
Cuando chupamos, cuando llueve, todo mojamos, &c.

which emphatically affirms that at a certain period of the (carnival)
day one may become comfortably tipsy for the small sum of five-pence,
and it further demonstrates how rain and rum can alike moisten the human
body.

Here is some wholesome advice for procrastinating people:--

iAy! Policarpio; toma la sopa,
Mientras que esta caliente;
Tomela, chino, que te se enfria!

in which Policarpio is recommended to drink his soup while it is hot,
and not to wait until the nourishment is cold and unpalatable.

iArrempuja! que por el hoyo se engarta la aguja.

is equa