n the cocoanut. What giant power is concealed within that
tiny ovule, apparently so soft and insignificant! Having pierced its
way through the first shell, it then gradually rends the outer coat of
fibrous covering and curves upward towards the light. Into the inner
shell which it has vacated, it throws little fibrous threads which
slowly absorb the albumen, and thus sustain its new life as it rapidly
develops. First a few leaves grow upward, which from the very outset
begin to assume the pinnate form of the cocoanut leaf, while,
stretching earthward, a myriad of little threads of roots bury
themselves in the ground. Though the tree will grow to a height of
sixty feet or more, these roots will never individually exceed the
size of the fingers on one's hand. In five or six years the tree will
produce its first cluster of cocoanuts, and for several years will go
on increasing in fruitfulness and yielding a bountiful crop for fifty
or sixty years. It was a constant wonder how these cocoanut trees
could sustain an upright position with such a weight of ripening fruit
clustered beneath the shade of their tufted tops.

As regards the cost of living in the island, it may be said to average
higher to the stranger than in the United States. At the city hotels
and large boarding houses the charge is modified from four or five
dollars per day; if a special bargain is made for a considerable
period, it is customary to give a reduction on transient rates of ten
or fifteen per cent. Among the small towns in the interior, at the
houses of entertainment, which are wretchedly poor as a rule, the
charges are exorbitant, and strangers are looked upon as fair game.
This, however, is no more so than in continental Europe, where, though
the accommodations are better, the general treatment is the same. The
luscious and healthful fruits of the country form a large share of the
provisions of the table in Cuba, and are always freely provided. A
fair quality of claret wine, imported from Spain, is also regularly
placed before the guest free of charge, it being the ordinary drink of
the people; but beware of calling for other wines, and particularly
champagne, unless you are prepared to be swindled by the price charged
in your bill. Of course you get only imitation champagne,--that is to
be expected; you do the same nearly everywhere. There is not enough
pure champagne manufactured in Europe to supply the Paris and London
markets alone. The mode o