movements of the Negro, who made a separate journey to the yard for each
thing the room needed, I got to bed by four o'clock, on the usual piece
of canvas stretched over an iron frame, in a room having a brick floor,
and windows without glass closed with big-bolted shutters.

After coffee, walked out to deliver my letters to Mr.----, an American
merchant, who has married the daughter of a planter, a gentleman of
wealth and character. He is much more agreeable and painstaking than we
have any right to expect of one who is served so frequently with notice
that his attentions are desired for the entertainment of a stranger.
Knowing that it is my wish to visit a plantation, he gives me a letter
to Don Juan Chartrand, who has an ingenio (sugar plantation), called La
Ariadne, near Limonar, and about twenty-five miles back in the country
from Matanzas. The train leaves at 2.30 P.M., which gives me several
hours for the city.

Although it is not yet nine o'clock, it is very hot, and one is glad to
keep on the shady side of the broad streets of Matanzas. This city was
built later and more under foreign direction than Havana, and I have
been told, not by persons here however, that for many years the
controlling influences of society were French, English, and American;
but that lately the policy of the government has been to discourage
foreign influence, and now Spanish customs prevail--bull-fights have
been introduced, and other usages and entertainments which had had no
place here before. Whatever may be the reason, this city differs from
Havana in buildings, vehicles, and dress, and in the width of its
streets, and has less of the peculiar air of a tropical city. It has
about 25,000 inhabitants, and stands where two small rivers, the Yumuri
and the San Juan, crossed by handsome stone bridges, run into the sea,
dividing the city into three parts. The vessels lie at anchor from one
to three miles below the city, and lighters, with masts and sails, line
the stone quays of the little rivers. The city is flat and hot, but the
country around is picturesque, hilly, and fertile. To the westward of
the town, rises a ridge, bordering on the sea, called the Cumbre, which
is a place of resort for the beauty of its views; and in front of the
Cumbre, on the inland side, is the deep rich valley of the Yumuri, with
its celebrated cavern. These I must see, if I can, on my return from the
plantation.

In my morning walk, I see a company of coo