culture and ability.

Just after passing this gang we found, lying by the road, two large
snakes, just killed, which I would gladly have preserved had it been
possible. They were, the Negroes told us, 'Dormillons,' or
'Mangrove Cascabel,' a species as yet, I believe, undescribed; and,
of course, here considered as very poisonous, owing to their
likeness to the true Cascabel, {268} whose deadly fangs are justly
dreaded by the Lapo hunter. For the Cascabel has a fancy for living
in the Lapo's burrow, as does the rattlesnake in that of the prairie
dog in the Western United States, and in the same friendly and
harmless fashion; and is apt, when dug out, to avenge himself and
his host by a bite which is fatal in a few hours. But these did not
seem to me to have the heads of poisonous snakes; and, in spite of
the entreaties of the terrified Negroes, I opened their mouths to
judge for myself, and found them, as I expected, utterly fangless
and harmless. I was not aware then that Dr. De Verteuil had stated
the same fact in print; but I am glad to corroborate it, for the
benefit of at least the rational people in Trinidad: for snakes,
even poisonous ones, should be killed as seldom as possible. They
feed on rats and vermin, and are the farmer's good friend, whether
in the Tropics or in England; and to kill a snake, or even an adder-
-who never bites any one if he is allowed to run away--is, in
nineteen cases out of twenty, mere wanton mischief.

The way was beguiled, if I recollect rightly, for some miles on, by
stories about Cuba and Cuban slavery from one of our party. He
described the political morality of Cuba as utterly dissolute; told
stories of great sums of money voted for roads which are not made to
this day, while the money had found its way into the pockets of
Government officials; and, on the whole, said enough to explain the
determination of the Cubans to shake off Spanish misrule, and try
what they could do for themselves on this earth. He described Cuban
slavery as, on the whole, mild; corporal punishment being restricted
by law to a few blows, and very seldom employed: but the mildness
seemed dictated rather by self-interest than by humanity. 'Ill-use
our slaves?' said a Cuban to him. 'We cannot afford it. You take
good care of your four-legged mules: we of our two-legged ones.'
The children, it seems, are taken away from the mothers, not merely
because the mother