a pretty little calf which amuses itself by gazing at the process,
while it wears a leather muzzle to prevent its interference with the
supply of milk intended for another quarter. There are doubtless two
good reasons for this mode of delivering milk in Havana and the large
towns of Cuba. First, there can be no diluting of the article, and
second, it is sure to be sweet and fresh, this latter a particular
desideratum in a climate where milk without ice can be kept only a brief
period without spoiling. Of course, the effect upon the animal is by no
means salutary, and a Cuban cow gives but about one third as much milk
as our own. Goats are driven about and milked in the same manner.

Glass windows are scarcely known even in the cities. The finest as well
as the humblest town houses have the broad projecting window, secured
only by heavy iron bars (most prison-like in aspect), through which, as
one passes along the narrow streets, it is nearly impossible to avoid
glancing upon domestic scenes that exhibit the female portion of the
family engaged in sewing, chatting, or some simple occupation. Sometimes
a curtain intervenes, but even this is unusual, the freest circulation
of air being always courted in every way.[26] Once inside of the
dwelling houses there are few doors, curtains alone, shutting off the
communication between chambers and private rooms, and from the corridor
upon which they invariably open. Of course, the curtain when down is
quite sufficient to keep out persons of the household or strangers, but
the little naked negro slave children (always petted at this age), male
and female, creep under this _ad libitum_, and the monkeys, parrots,
pigeons, and fowls generally make common store of every nook and corner.
Doors might keep these out of your room, but curtains do not. One
reason why the Cubans, of both sexes, possess such fine expansive
chests, is doubtless the fact that their lungs thus find full and
unrestrained action, living, as it were, ever in the open air. The
effect of this upon the stranger is at once visible in a sense of
physical exhilaration, fine spirits and good appetite. It would be
scarcely possible to inhabit a house built after our close, secure
style, if it were placed in the city of Havana, or even on an inland
plantation of the island. The town houses are always accessible upon the
roofs, where during the day the laundress takes possession, but at
evening they are frequently the family