good deal of poultry, but from personal observation I cannot say that
they eat much of it. The hens and the eggs are small, but the former
sell for one dollar apiece and the latter for about forty cents a dozen.
The Cubans in the rural parts of the province of Puerto Principe eat
very little beef, but this may be because it is not easy to get it,
while lamb and mutton are unheard of. The Cubans make excellent coffee
of their own raising, which they invariably drink without milk. Coffee
alone forms the early breakfast, the substantial breakfast being at ten
o'clock, and the dinner (la comida) at three or four o'clock. There is
nothing to eat after this, but there may be coffee in the evening. In
fact, the Cubans are liable to drink coffee at any hour of the day, and
they always wind up their two regular meals with it. They are fond of
sweets, particularly a sort of preserved orange (dulce naranja). It may
be that they eat fresh fruit, but when I do not know, for I never saw a
Cuban eating an orange, a banana, or a pineapple. These they sold to us
at rather excessive prices. The Cubans nearly all drink, but very little
at a time, and rarely get drunk. Their favorite drinks are wine, rum,
and brandy (aguardiente). In a holiday week in the city of Puerto
Principe, the only two men I saw intoxicated were Americans. One was a
soldier, the other a camp follower.

The Cubans of the rural districts did not appear to be religious,
although there was apt to be a rude wooden cross fixed in the ground in
front of their dwellings, possibly with a superstitious idea of thus
averting evil. These crosses were nothing more than a slender pole,
eight or ten feet high, stripped of its bark, with a cross piece near
the top. They were dry and weather beaten, and looked more like a roost
for birds than a religious emblem. Smaller wooden crosses were to be
found in the little graveyards that we occasionally came upon. These
seldom contained more than two or three graves, which were unmarked by
any visible name or inscription. In the villages there were, of course,
larger cemeteries, but the country I am writing of was very sparsely
settled, averaging scarcely more than one or two families to the square
mile.

The natives appeared to have very few amusements. They hunted somewhat,
and in the villages and cities had occasional dances of rather a weird
character. They had cock fights, too, I suppose, but these did not seem
to be a feature of the