to deal with him, and so far I have had no reason to
repent. The boxes with which he provided me bettered the sample, and the
price, duty at home included, was a third below what I should have paid
in London for an article which I would rather leave unconsumed. A broker
whom I fell in with insisted to me that the best cigars all went to
London, that my preference for what I got from my senor was mere fancy
and vanity, and that I could buy better in any shop in Regent Street. I
said that he might but I couldn't, and so we left it.

I tell all this, not with the affectation of supposing that tobacco or
my own taste about it can have any interest, but as an illustration of
what can be done in the West Indies, and to show how immense a form of
industry waits to be developed in our own islands, if people with
capital and knowledge choose to set about it. Tobacco as good as the
best in Cuba has been grown and can be grown in Jamaica, in St. Domingo,
and probably in every one of the Antilles. 'There are dollars in those
islands,' as my Yankee said, and many a buried treasure will be brought
to light there when capitalists can feel assured that they will not be
at the mercy of black constitutional governments.

My letter of introduction to the Captain-General was still undelivered,
and as I had made use of it on landing I thought it right at least to
pay my respects to the great man. The Marques M---- kindly consented to
go with me and help me through the interview, being of course acquainted
with him. He was at his country house, a mile out of the town. The
buildings are all good in Havana. It was what it called itself, not a
palace but a handsome country residence in the middle of a large
well-kept garden. The viceroyalty has a fair but not extravagant income
attached to it. The Captain-General receives about 8,000_l._ a year
besides allowances. Were the balls and dinners expected of him which our
poor governors are obliged to entertain their subjects with, he would
not be able to make much out of it. The large fortunes which used to be
brought back by the fortunate Captains-General who could connive at the
slave trade were no longer attainable; those good days are gone. Public
opinion therefore permits them to save their incomes. The Spaniards are
not a hospitable people, or rather their notion of hospitality differs
in form from ours. They are ready to dine with you themselves as often
as you will ask them. Nothing in the s