e constructed after the American fashion. The
streets are wide and symmetrically arranged. The roads are all paved and
hilly. Every street leads to a fort, a gun and a sentry; and, in some
cases, to high cliffs with an extensive view of the open sea. In short,
San Juan is a strongly-fortified place. Everything is very clean, very
new, and very modern looking. The cathedral is a noble edifice, and the
theatre is in every way equal to the best buildings of the kind in
Europe.

Crossing an open square, in which appear a number of bronze statues, Don
Felipe conducts me back to the cafe, where we partake of refreshment,
and arrange the various items of news which we have collected during our
afternoon's ramble over the town.

Don Felipe advises me to dispatch the frail bark which had brought me
from Cuba, and return by the mail steamer which has just arrived from
St. Thomas, and is announced to sail for Cuba early next morning. As
this is by far the speediest way of getting home, I follow my friend's
advice, and accept his invitation to repose for the night at his humble
dwelling.

The rest of the day and evening is passed very agreeably.

The British consul--a fine military-looking old fellow--invites me to
dine with him and his charming family. It is pleasant to speak and hear
spoken one's native tongue again, after being comparatively deaf and
dumb in that language for nearly five years. It is still more
delightful to feel at home with one's countrymen and countrywomen in a
strange land, and thus, when I take leave of my hospitable English host
and his family, I sincerely regret, with them, the brevity of my visit.

I rise at a very early hour next morning, and, accompanied by Don
Felipe, I take my passage on board the 'Pajaro del Oceano,' that being
the name of the steamer which is to convey me to Cuba.

The naval agent of the English mail company, who is a young Cuban named
Fernandez, salutes me as I embark, for we had been slightly acquainted
with one another in Santiago. Before taking leave of Don Felipe, I
introduce him to the mail agent, for by the latter's means I hope for
the future to ensure the safe delivery of my dispatches from Porto Rico
and other islands. Don Fernandez touches at the port of Santiago at
least once a month, and if he can be pressed into the _Trigger's_
service, he will be invaluable to that newspaper.

The mail agent has a compartment on board all to himself, and invites me
to occupy