n, two of each sex, two of whom were white and two
mulatto, quite naked, and less than ten years of age, kept close to
the Montero's Creole wife, watching us with big, wondering eyes, and
fingers thrust into their mouths. What relationship they bore to the
household was not clearly apparent. On rising to depart and attempting
to pay for the entertainment, the master of the cabin, with true Cuban
hospitality, declined all remuneration; but a handful of small silver
divided among the children satisfied all, and we parted with a hearty
pressure of the hand.

The richest soil of the island is black, which is best adapted to
produce the sugar-cane, and is mostly devoted, if eligibly located, to
that purpose. To a Northerner, accustomed to see so much enrichment
expended upon the soil to force from it an annual return, this
profuseness of unstimulated yield is a surprise. The red soil of Cuba,
which is impregnated with the oxide of iron, is less rich, and is
better adapted to the coffee plantation. The mulatto-colored earth is
considered to be inferior to either of the others named, but is by no
means unproductive, being preferred by the tobacco growers, who,
however, often mingle a percentage of other soils with it, as we
mingle barnyard refuse with our natural soil. Some tobacco planters
have resorted by way of experiment to the use of guano, hoping to
stimulate the native properties of the soil, but its effect was found
to be not only exhausting to the land, but also bad for the leaf,
rendering it rank and unfit for delicate use.

Coal is found near Havana, though it is of rather an inferior quality,
and, so far as we could learn, is but little used, the planters
depending mostly upon the refuse of the cane with which to run their
boilers and engines. Trees have been only too freely used for fuel
while accessible, but great care is now taken to utilize the cane
after the juice is expressed. Trees, which are so much needed in this
climate for shade purposes, have mostly disappeared near Havana. When
Columbus first landed here he wrote home to Spain that the island was
so thickly wooded as to be impassable.

The lovely climate and beautiful land are rendered gloomy by the state
of oppression under which they suffer. The exuberant soil groans with
the burdens which are heaped upon it. The people are not safe from
prying inquiry at bed or board. Their every action is watched, their
slightest words noted and perhaps distorte