(the marquis) will
get another pintar-monos to complete the series. As Nicasio objects to
work gratis, our patron, true to his word, commissions a house decorator
to supply the missing season, and the result may be easily imagined!

The Cuban critics are, however, sufficiently intelligent to distinguish
between the good and the very bad; and thus while the local papers are
unanimous in their praises of Spring, Summer and Winter, they do not
hesitate to pronounce Autumn a failure and an 'unseasonable'
production.

The success which attends my companion's efforts, induces others to
embark in decorative enterprises, and among our patrons for this new
kind of work, is a 'botecario,' or chemist, who offers us a large amount
to paint and otherwise adorn his new shop in what he calls the
polychrome style.

We have the vaguest notions on that subject, but so have also the
chemist and the Cuban critics. We accordingly undertake the work, and
manufacture something in which the Pompeian, the Rafaelesque, the
Arabesque, and the French wall-paper equally participate. In the centre
of the ceiling is to be placed a large allegorical oil-painting,
representing a female figure of France in the act of crowning the bust
of the famous chemist Orfila. In the four angles of the ceiling are to
be painted portraits of the Spanish physician the Marquis of Joca, the
English chemist Faraday, the Italian anatomist Paganucci, and the French
chemist Velpeau. It takes exactly seven months to carry out our design,
in the execution whereof we are assisted by the native talent already
alluded to. Among our staff of operators are a couple of black
white-washers for the broad work, a master carpenter with his apprentice
for the carvings, and an indefatigable Chow-chow, or Chinaman, whom we
employ extensively for the elaborate pattern work. Our mulatto pupils
also help us in many ways.

The chief objects of attraction in this great undertaking are without a
doubt a pair of life-sized figures of two celebrated French chemists,
named Parmentier and Vauquelin, destined to stand in a conspicuous part
of the shop. As there are no sculptors in our town, it devolves as
usual upon the 'followers of the divine art of Apelles' to try their
hands at the art of Phidias. Confident of success, the chemist provides
us with a couple of plaster busts representing the French celebrities in
question, and bids us do our best. The fragments of drapery exhibited on
these