tle else than barren rock, I could not imagine.

The day after arriving at Matanzas we made an excursion on horseback to
the summit of the hill, immediately overlooking the town, called the
Cumbre. Light hardy horses of the country were brought us, with high
pommels to the saddles, which are also raised behind in a manner making it
difficult to throw the rider from his seat. A negro fitted a spur to my
right heel, and mounting by the short stirrups, I crossed the river Yumuri
with my companions, and began to climb the Cumbre. They boast at Matanzas
of the perpetual coolness of temperature enjoyed upon the broad summit of
this hill, where many of the opulent merchants of the town have their
country houses, to which the mosquitoes and the intermittents that infest
the town below, never come, and where, as one of them told me, you may
play at billiards in August without any inconvenient perspiration.

From the Cumbre you behold the entire extent of the harbor; the town lies
below you with its thicket of masts, and its dusty _paseo_, where rows of
the Cuba pine stand rooted in the red soil. On the opposite shore your eye
is attracted to a chasm between high rocks, where the river Canimar comes
forth through banks of romantic beauty--so they are described to me--and
mingles with the sea. But the view to the west was much finer; there lay
the valley of the Yumuri, and a sight of it is worth a voyage to the
island. In regard to this my expectations suffered no disappointment.

Before me lay a deep valley, surrounded on all sides by hills and
mountains, with the little river Yumuri twining at the bottom. Smooth
round hillocks rose from the side next to me, covered with clusters of
palms, and the steeps of the southeastern corner of the valley were
clothed with a wood of intense green, where I could almost see the leaves
glisten in the sunshine. The broad fields below were waving with cane and
maize, and cottages of the _monteros_ were scattered among them, each with
its tuft of bamboos and its little grove of plantains. In some parts the
cliffs almost seemed to impend over the valley; but to the west, in a soft
golden haze, rose summit behind summit, and over them all, loftiest and
most remote, towered the mountain called the _Pan de Matanzas_.

We stopped for a few moments at a country seat on the top of the Cumbre,
where this beautiful view lay ever before the eye. Round it, in a garden,
were cultivated the most showy plants