nestly at the
approaching stranger. Beyond is the sugar-house, and the smoking
chimney, and the ox carts, and the field hands. Through the wide, open
door of the mansion, I see two gentlemen at dinner, an older and a
younger--the head of gray, and the head of black, and two Negro women,
one serving, and the other swinging her brush to disperse the flies. Two
big, deep-mouthed hounds come out and bark; and the younger gentleman
looks at us, comes out, and calls off the dogs. My Negro stops at the
path and touches his hat, waiting permission to go to the piazza with
the luggage; for Negroes do not go to the house door without previous
leave, in strictly ordered plantations. I deliver my letter, and in a
moment am received with such cordial welcome that I am made to feel as
if I had conferred a favor by coming to see them.

X.

A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Labor

At some seasons, a visit may be a favor, on remote plantations; but I
know this is the height of the sugar season, when every hour is precious
to the master. After a brief toilet, I sit down with them; for they have
just begun dinner. In five minutes, I am led to feel as if I were a
friend of many years. Both gentlemen speak English like a native tongue.
To the younger it is so, for he was born in South Carolina, and his
mother is a lady of that state. The family are not here. They do not
live on the plantation, but in Matanzas. The plantation is managed by
the son, who resides upon it; the father coming out occasionally for a
few days, as now, in the busy season.

The dinner is in the Spanish style, which I am getting attached to. I
should flee from a joint, or a sirloin. We have rice, excellently
cooked, as always in Cuba, eggs with it, if we choose, and fried
plantains, sweet potatoes, mixed dishes of fowl and vegetables, with a
good deal of oil and seasoning, in which a hot red pepper, about the
size of the barberry, prevails. Catalonia wine, which is pretty sure to
be pure, is their table claret, while sherry, which also comes direct
from the mother-country, is for dessert. I have taken them by surprise,
in the midst of the busiest season, in a house where there are no
ladies; yet the table, the service, the dress and the etiquette, are
none the less in the style of good society. There seems to be no letting
down, where letting down would be so natural and excusable.

I suppose the fact that the land and the agricultural capital of the
interior are i