ests, covered by valuable
wood, still remain untouched by the woodman's axe, especially on and
about the mountain range, which extends nearly the entire length of
the island, like the vertebrae of an immense whale.

About the coffee plantations, and indeed throughout the rural portions
of the country, there is a curious little insect called a cocuyo,
answering in its general characteristics and nature to our firefly,
though it is quadruple its size, and far the most brilliant insect of
its kind known to naturalists. They float in phosphorescent clouds
over the vegetation, emitting a lurid halo, like fairy torch-bearers
to elfin crews. One at first sight is apt to compare them to a shower
of stars. They come in multitudes immediately after the wet season
sets in, prevailing more or less, however, all the year round. Their
advent is always hailed with delight by the slave children, as well as
by children of a larger growth. They are caught by the slaves in any
desired numbers and confined in tiny cages of wicker, giving them
sufficient light in their cabins at night for ordinary purposes, and
forming the only artificial light permitted them. We have seen a
string of the little cages containing the glittering insects hung in a
slave-cabin in festoons, like colored lamps in fancy-goods stores in
America. The effect of the evanescent light thus produced is very
peculiar, but the number of insects employed insures a sufficiently
steady effect for ordinary purposes. These little creatures are
brought into Havana by young Creole children and by women, for sale to
the ladies, who sometimes in the evenings wear a small cage hung to
the wrist containing a few of the cocuyos, and the light thus produced
is nearly equal to a small candle. Some ladies wear a belt of them at
night, ingeniously fastened about the waist, others a necklace, and
the effect is highly amusing. In the ballroom they are worn in the
flounces of ladies' dresses, where they glisten very much like
diamonds and other precious stones. Strange to say, there is a natural
hook near the head of the firefly, by which it can be attached to the
dress without apparent injury to it. The town ladies keep little cages
of these insects as pets, feeding them on sugar, of which they appear
to be immoderately fond. On the plantations, when a fresh supply is
desired, one has only to wait until evening, when hundreds can be
secured with a thread net at the end of a pole. By holding