of the Gulf. We long to see it peopled by men who
can appreciate the gifts of nature, men who are willing to do their
part in recognition of her fruitfulness and who will second her
spontaneous bounty.

Nowhere on the face of the globe would well-directed, intelligent
labor meet with a richer reward, nowhere would repose from labor be so
sweet. The hour of rest here sinks upon the face of nature with a
peculiar charm; the night breeze, in never-failing regularity, comes
with its gentle wing to fan the weary frame, and no danger lurks in
its breath. It has free scope through the unglazed windows, and
blowing fresh from the broad surface of the Mexican Gulf, it bears a
goodly tonic to the system. Beautifully blue are the heavens and
festally bright the stars of a tropical night, where familiar
constellations greet us with brighter radiance and new ones charm the
eye with their novelty. Preeminent in brilliancy among them is the
Southern Cross, a galaxy of stars that never greets us in the North.
At midnight its glittering framework stands erect. That solemn hour
past the Cross declines. How glorious the nights where such a heavenly
sentinel indicates the watches! "How often have we heard our guides
exclaim in the savannas of Venezuela," says Humboldt, "or in the
deserts extending from Lima to Truxillo, 'Midnight is past, the Cross
begins to bend.'" Cuba is indeed a land of enchantment, where nature
is beautiful and bountiful, and where mere existence is a luxury, but
it requires the infusion of a sterner, a more self-reliant,
self-denying and enterprising race to test its capabilities and to
astonish the world with its productiveness.

CHAPTER XII.

Traveling by Volante. -- Want of Inland Communication. --
Americans Profitable Customers. -- The Cruel National Game.
-- The Plaza de Toros. -- Description of a Bull-Fight. -- The
Infection of Cruelty. -- The Romans and Spaniards Compared.
-- Cry of the Spanish Mob: "Bread and Bulls!" -- Women at the
Fight. -- The Nobility of the Island. --The Monteros. --
Ignorance of the Common People. -- Scenes in the Central
Market, Havana. -- Odd Ideas of Cuban Beggars. -- An Original
Style of Dude. -- A Mendicant Prince.

The volante, the national vehicle of Cuba, and until latterly the only
one in common use upon the island, has been several times spoken of.
It has been superseded, especially in Havana, just