n by carrying on
extensive sugar plantations. These are sneeringly designated by the
humble classes as sugar noblemen, and not inappropriately so, as
nearly all of these aristocratic gentlemen have purchased their titles
outright for money. Not the least consideration is exercised by the
Spanish throne as to the fitness of these ambitious individuals for
honorary distinction. It is a mere question of money, and if this be
forthcoming the title follows as a natural sequence. Twenty-five
thousand dollars will purchase any title. Such things are done in
other lands, but not quite so openly. And yet the tone of Cuban
society in its higher circles is found to be rather aristocratic and
exclusive. The native of Old Spain does not endeavor to conceal his
contempt for foreigners of all classes, and as to the Creoles, he
simply scorns to meet them on social grounds, shielding his
inferiority of intelligence under a cloak of hauteur, assuming the
wings of the eagle, but possessing only the eyes of the owl. Thus the
Castilians and Creoles are ever at antagonism, both socially and
politically. The bitterness of feeling existing between them can
hardly be exaggerated. The sugar planter, the coffee planter, the
merchant, and the liberal professions stand in the order in which we
have named them, as regards their relative degree of social
importance, but wealth, in fact, has the same charm here as elsewhere
in Christendom, and the millionaire has the entree to all classes.

The Monteros or yeomanry of the island inhabit the less cultivated and
cheaper portions of the soil, entering the cities only to dispose of
their surplus produce, and acting as the marketmen of the populous
districts. When they stir abroad, in nearly all parts of the island,
they are armed with a sword, and in the eastern sections about
Santiago, or even Cienfuegos, they also carry pistols in the holsters
of their saddles. Formerly this was indispensable for self-protection,
but at this time weapons are more rarely worn. Still the arming of the
Monteros has always been encouraged by the authorities, as they form a
sort of militia at all times available against negro insurrection, a
calamity in fear of which such communities must always live. The
Montero is rarely a slaveholder, but is frequently engaged on the
sugar plantations during the busy season as an overseer, and, to his
discredit be it said, he generally proves to be a hard taskmaster,
entertaining an intu