r, spouse, and compatriot' will drive with her to the Alameda
to-morrow! He shall have a cigar and a cup of coffee now, and his
portrait shall not be painted!

'Go,' says the Senora to me in a tone of authority; 'we don't want you
any more. Panchito will accompany me to the photographer's, and save you
the trouble!'

Fortunately the lady's friends intercede at this moment; for finding
that I do not obey her commands, the exasperated Senora makes a wild
dash at my sketch-book; over-turning in her movements my box of colours
and one of the long candlesticks! Convinced, however, of the truth, the
poor lady is pacified, and resumes her place behind me.

On the morning of the second day of the velorio, as I am putting the
finishing touches to my sketch, certain strange ceremonies are observed.

An undertaker's man is announced, and, apparently with no other object
in view than to provide becoming robes of sable for the bereaved,
proceeds to take the general dimensions of everybody present. But I
observe that a separate length of white tape is employed in each case,
and that when a sufficient number have been thus collected, the measures
are consigned to the dead man's pockets, together with the mourners'
white cambric handkerchiefs.

When these and other curious ceremonials--the precise object of which I
cannot for the life of me penetrate--have been enacted, more
undertakers arrive and proceed to prepare the body for decent burial.
There is much lamentation when the coffin is finally borne from the
house. The women shriek and swoon, grovel on the ground, and tear their
hair. As for Dona Dolores--she is inconsolable, and continues to
harangue the remains until her speech is inarticulate and she is carried
away in a fainting condition to her chamber.

A procession, consisting of upwards of seventy mourners, follows on foot
the richly-gilded and ornamented hearse. Everybody is attired in the
deepest mourning, which, as fashions in Cuba go, includes a tall beaver
hat adorned with broad crape, a black cloth coat and white trousers. The
hired mutes, however, present a more sombre appearance, for not only are
their habiliments black, but also their faces and bare hands; mutes in
Cuba being represented by negroes of the darkest shade.

The funeral procession now leads on in the direction of the cathedral,
where mass for the dead is to be performed. Those who do not care to
enter the sacred edifice will light their cigars and