opportunities for
instruction. But at the present writing, the Egyptian fellah is not
more ignorant than the rural population of Cuba, who as a mass possess
all the indolence and few of the virtues of the aborigines.

There is one highly creditable characteristic evinced by the Monteros
as a class, and that is their temperate habits in regard to indulgence
in stimulating drinks. As a beverage they do not use ardent spirits,
and seem to have no taste or desire for the article, though they drink
the ordinary claret--rarely anything stronger. This applies to the
country people, not to the residents of the cities. The latter quickly
contract the habit of gin drinking, as already described. There is one
prominent vice to which the Monteros are indisputably addicted;
namely, that of gambling. It seems to be a natural as well as a
national trait, the appliances for which are so constantly at hand in
the form of lottery tickets and the cock-pits that they can hardly
escape the baleful influences. There are some who possess sufficient
strength of character and intelligence to avoid it altogether, but
with the majority it is the regular resort for each leisure hour. One
of their own statesmen, Castelar, told the Spaniards, not long since,
that gambling was the tax laid upon fools.

Perhaps the best place at which to study the appearance and character
of the Monteros is at the Central Market, where they come daily by
hundreds from the country in the early morning to sell their produce,
accompanied by long lines of mules or horses with well-laden panniers.
It is a motley crowd that one meets there, where purchasers and
salesmen mingle promiscuously. From six to nine o'clock, A. M., it is
the busiest place in all Havana. Negroes and mulattoes, Creoles and
Spaniards, Chinamen and Monteros, men and women, beggars, purchasers,
and slaves, all come to the market on the Calzada de la Reina. Here
the display of fruits and vegetables is something marvelous, both in
variety and in picturesqueness of arrangement. This locality is the
natural resort of the mendicants, who pick up a trifle in the way of
provisions from one and another, as people who do not feel disposed to
bestow money will often give food to the indigent. This market was the
only place in the city where it was possible to purchase flowers, but
here one or two humble dealers came at early morn to dispose of such
buds and blossoms as they found in demand. A blind Chinese cooli