es, San Ignacio, Obispo,
O'Reilly, and Oficios, and the pretty and fantastic names of the shops.
You think even the narrow streets have their advantages, as they are
better shaded, and the awnings can stretch across them, though, to be
sure, they keep out the air. No city has finer avenues than the Isabel
and the Tacon; and the palm trees, at least, we shall not see at the
North. Here is La Dominica. It is a pleasant place, in the evening,
after the Retreta, to take your tea or coffee under the trees by the
fountain in the court-yard, and meet the Americans and English--the only
public place, except the theater, where ladies are to be seen out of
their volantes. Still, we are quite ready to go; for we have seen all we
have been told to see in Havana, and it is excessively hot, and growing
hotter.

But no one can leave Cuba without a permit. When you arrive, the vise of
your passport is not enough, but you must pay a fee for a permit to land
and remain in the island; and when you wish to return, you must pay four
dollars to get back your passport, with a permit to leave. The
custom-house officials were not troublesome in respect to our luggage,
hardly examining it at all, and, I must admit, showed no signs of
expecting private fees. Along the range of piers, where the bows of the
vessels run in, and on which the labor of this great commerce is
performed, there runs a high, wide roof, covering all from the intense
rays of the sun. Before this was put up, they say that workmen used to
fall dead with sunstrokes, on the wharves.

On board the "Cahawba," I find my barrel of oranges from Iglesia, and
box of sweet-meats from La Dominica, and boxes of cigars from Cabana's,
punctually delivered. There, once more, is Bullock, cheerful, and
efficient; Rodgers, full of kindness and good-humor; and sturdy,
trustworthy Miller, and Porter, the kindly and spirited; and the pleased
face of Henry, the captain's steward; and the familiar faces of the
other stewards; and my friend's son, who is well and very glad to see
me, and full of New Orleans, and of last night, which he spent on shore
in Havana. All are in good spirits, for a short sea voyage with old
friends is before us; and then--home!

The decks are loaded and piled up with oranges: oranges in barrels and
oranges in crates, filling all the wings and gangways, the barrels cut
to let in air, and the crates with bars just close enough to keep in the
oranges. The delays from want o