millions of treasure to the national wealth.
But we have seen how sure is retribution. One by one those ill-gotten
possessions have escaped the grasp of the mother country; and now, in
her old age, poor, and enfeebled, and worn out, she clings, with the
death-gripe of a plundered and expiring miser, to her last earthly
possession in the New World.

Moved in some degree by the same spirit that actuates the home
government, the Cubans have heretofore viewed anything that looked like
an attempt at improvement with a suspicious eye; they have learned to
fear innovation; but this trait is yielding, as seen in the introduction
of railroads, telegraphs, and even the lighting of the city of Havana by
gas,--all done by Americans, who had first to contend with great
opposition, and to run imminent risks and lavish energy and money; but
when these things are once in the course of successful experiment, none
are more ready than the Cubans to approve. This same characteristic, a
clinging to the past and a fear of advancement, seems to have imparted
itself to the very scenery of the island, for everything here appears
to be of centuries in age, reminding one of the idea he has formed of
the hallowed East. The style of the buildings is not dissimilar to that
which is found throughout the Orient, and the trees and vegetable
products increase the resemblance. Particularly in approaching Havana
from the interior, the view of the city resembles almost precisely the
Scriptural picture of Jerusalem. The tall, majestic palms, with their
tufted tops, the graceful cocoanut tree, and many other peculiarities,
give to the scenery of Cuba an Eastern aspect, very impressive to the
stranger. It is impossible to describe to one who has not visited the
tropics, the bright vividness with which each object, artificial or
natural, house or tree, stands out in the clear liquid light, where
there is no haze nor smoke to interrupt the view. Indeed, it is
impossible to express fully how _everything_ differs in Cuba from our
own country, so near at hand. The language, the people, the climate, the
manners and customs, the architecture, the foliage, the flowers and
general products, all and each afford broad contrasts to what the
American has ever seen at home. But a long cannon-shot, as it were, off
our southern coast, yet once upon its soil, the visitor seems to have
been transported into another quarter of the globe, the first impression
being, as we have