any visitor ever saw one of this class in the least
intoxicated. This being the fact, they are a very reliable people, and
can be counted upon in an emergency. As to the matter of temperance, it
needs no missionaries in the island, for probably there is not so large
a tract of territory in Europe or America, as this island, where such a
degree of temperance is observed in the use of intoxicating drinks.
Healths are drunk at table, but in sparing draughts, while delicious
fruits fill up the time devoted to dessert.

There is probably but one vice that the Monteros may be said to be
addicted to, or which they often indulge in, and that is one which is so
natural to a Spaniard, and the appliances for which are so constantly
at hand, in the shape of the cock-pit, that it is not a wonder he should
be seduced by the passion of gambling. Many of the more intelligent
avoid it altogether, but with others it appears to be a part and parcel
of their very existence. In the cities, as we have already shown, the
government encourage and patronize the spirit of gaming, as they derive
from its practice, by charging exorbitant licences, etc., a heavy sum
annually.

FOOTNOTES:

[35] "When I first saw the rocking motion of the volante as it drove
along the streets, I thought 'that must be an extremely disagreeable
carriage!' but when I was seated in one, I seemed to myself rocked in a
cloud. I have never felt an easier motion."--_Miss Bremer's Letters._

[36] Regla new contains some seven thousand inhabitants, and is chiefly
engaged in the exportation of molasses, which is here kept in large
tanks.

[37] An intelligent letter-writer estimates the present annual
importation of slaves at not less than 10,000 souls, direct from Africa.

[38] "One of the chief features in this sport, and which attracted so
many, myself among the number, was a young and beautiful girl, as lovely
a creature as Heaven ever smiled upon, being one of the chief actresses
in the exciting and thrilling scene."--_Rev. L.L. Allen's Lecture._

[39] "The waist is slender, but never compressed by corsets, so that it
retains all its natural proportions."--_Countess Merlin's Letters._

[40] "They have plump figures, placid, unwrinkled countenances,
well-developed busts, and eyes the brilliant languor of which is not the
languor of illness."--_W.C. Bryant's Letters._

[41] "The broadsword dangles by the side of the gentleman, and holsters
are inseparable from his s