CHAPTER XII.

AN ISLE OF JUNE--A CONTRAST.

It was early on a bright winter morning that our good ship "San Jacinto"

steamed into the harbour of Nassau, the capital of New Providence. As I

leaned over the side and looked down into the waters over which our

vessel moved, I could scarcely believe my eyes. It seemed impossible

that water deep enough to float the ship should be so marvellously

clear. We appeared to be gliding over a sheet of sea-green crystal. Not

a pebble, bit of sponge, shell, fish, crab, or coral, but was distinctly

visible, as if but a few inches below the surface. It was like floating

in ether, for the glint of shimmering sunlight alone proved it was

fluid. But water it was, and nothing else, for, as we neared the wharf,

a score or so of dusky forms splashed into the briny mirror, breaking up

its glassy surface, sent a spray of diamonds into the air, and then

dived into its pellucid depths in quest of coppers liberally scattered

by the amused passengers. "Please, Boss, deeve (give) us a small dive,"

was the entreaty shouted by a good dozen or so of dusky urchins, who, on

the least encouragement, jerked off their coats and shirts and plunged

into the sea. Sometimes they caught the coin before it touched the

bottom, at others the diver remained quite a time searching for his

prize, looking, as seen from above, with his wriggling arms and legs,

like a huge black spider.

When Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of "GuanahanA"," on

October 17th, 1492, and named the present island of New Providence San

Salvador, he wrote a letter to the Spanish Sovereigns, full of his usual

expressions of delighted enthusiasm. "The loveliness," says he, "of this

island is like unto that of the CampaA+-a de Cordoba. The trees are all

covered with ever-verdant foliage, and perpetually laden with flowers or

fruit. The plants in the ground are full of blossom. The breezes are

like those of April in Castille." Due allowance made for the

exaggeration of an explorer, in love with the treasure he has found, it

must still be confessed that his words, all glowing as they are,

scarcely overpraise the charm of the peaceful scenery which so stirred

his poetic ardour. For truly the Bahamas are islands like unto that

chosen by Shakespeare for the scene of the "Tempest,"--

"Full of infinite delight."

New Providence is about twenty miles long by seven in breadth, and is

the most important, though by no means the biggest, of the Bahama group,

which numbers over 600 islands and cays, and contains some 45,000

inhabitants, of whom 20,000 reside in Nassau and its neighbourhood.

The history of the island since its discovery by Columbus, down through

the Buccaneer period, is only interesting to its government and

inhabitants. However dark may be the memories of its old pirate days, it

is now a remarkably respectable place, not even a murder having thrown a

shadow during the past twenty-five years on its nearly untarnished

reputation. It would be difficult to imagine a quieter spot. On Sundays,

especially, is it peaceful, when not only all the shops, but the

majority of the house-shutters also, are closed, and the tranquil air is

laden with church music of the most sober and orthodox description.

The impression produced upon the tourist arriving from Cuba is very

striking, for it brings the different influences of the Spanish and the

Anglo-Saxon races, upon the negroes, into vivid contrast. Personal

observation only can, as I have already said, give any idea of the filth

of the dwellings of the lower classes of Cubans, and especially of the

blacks. The coloured folk of Nassau are, generally speaking, clean and

tidy. Most of the Cuban towns are more or less squalid. The city of

Nassau is, if anything, too prim, and its inhabitants are models of

order both in their dress and habits. A glance reveals the fact that the

coloured people here have been disciplined and trained by a race which

is as certainly superior to the Spanish, in all that concerns

practicality and common sense, as it is inferior to it in natural

artistic instinct. I never saw anything--no, not even in the Whitechapel

and Drury Lane districts of London--to surpass the unutterable disorder

and general abomination of the interiors of the Cuban cottages. But as

you pass along the roads at Nassau, and glance into the windows of the

negroes' cottages, you will almost invariably see tidy interiors worthy

of the brush of a Teniers or a David Wilkie; a floor on which you could

eat your dinner; walls neatly papered with framed chromos symmetrically

arranged upon them; spotless curtains; shining brass lamps and cooking

utensils, and a bed covered with a counterpane as white as driven snow.

If you peep in at meal times you will note a clean cloth covered with

orderly-arranged plates and dishes. I am speaking of the dwellings of

the negroes, of those self-same coloured people who, in the same

climate, only a day and a half's journey away, in Cuba, dwell, under

another race and civilization, in a condition too nasty to be described

here.

Straws show how the wind blows. I saw a poor coloured woman, the day

after I arrived in Nassau, soundly box her little girl's ears because

she appeared in public with a few fluffs of cotton sticking in her wool.

The ordinary afternoon occupation of the coloured ladies in Havana is to

sit in the shade of the big plantain leaves, picking something rather

more animated than cotton fluffs off each other's heads. The Cuban

negresses dress flaringly. They trail a yard of skirt behind them in the

dust, cover their shoulders with a vivid embroidered China crape scarf,

and deck their heads with a mantilla. The effect is picturesque enough,

but look down at their ankles, and you will soon perceive untidy

petticoats and shoeless feet. The coloured girls at Nassau are

remarkably neat and clean, especially on Sundays. The influence of the

Sunday school teacher, preaching, and not in the desert, the gospel of

those four great evangelists, soap and water, comb and brush, is

everywhere manifest, even to the detriment of the picturesque.

As you drive through Grant's Town, the negro quarter of Nassau, you see

so much to gladden you that it does more real good to an invalid than

many a cunningly-prepared draught. Charmingly picturesque wooden huts,

thatched with palmetto, and as neat as you please, overshadowed by

cocoa-nut-trees and exquisite flowering creepers, border either side of

the road. On the thresholds are laughing groups of women and children of

every shade of black, mahogany, and "yullar." Then, when the shades of

evening grow long and deep in the thickets of the banyan-trees, coloured

Pyramus courts coloured Thisbe over the garden wall, and the roads swarm

with little darkies, romping, laughing, and chasing each other round and

about, whilst neatly-dressed women, standing at their doors, or leaning

out of their open windows, watch the return of their "men," as they

boldly call their husbands. The air is still and laden with the

penetrating perfume of the stephanotis, the white blossoms of which

gleam like stars amidst the dark foliage, and of the crimson and pink

oleander, which flowers here to great perfection. It is difficult to

imagine a more peaceful scene--the cheerful sounds of greeting, the

merry chatter of the negroes, the tuning of the banjoes, whilst overhead

the beautiful sunset-lit clouds shed rosy tints abroad, and set forth in

bold relief the tall stems of the waving palms and of the strange-named

trees, whose bizarre foliage arouses wonderment, and between whose

gnarled boughs we catch glimpses of the high-roofed houses of the city,

of the cathedral spire, and of a sea blue as a turquoise, now shivering

beneath the gentlest of breezes.

The town of Nassau itself is not particularly interesting, inasmuch

that, with the sole exception of the cathedral, it cannot boast of a

single monument of artistic importance. The houses, mostly built of

stone, faced with wood, have high slated roofs and wide verandahs, which

surround each storey, and afford some shade during the sunny hours of

the day. The public buildings are clean, but unpretentious, and

evidently modelled after those of some English county town, in which the

sturdy Georgian architecture predominates. There are few traces,

anywhere, of the influence of the higher art, although the cathedral

itself is a fairly handsome Gothic building, wherein the services of the

Church of England are admirably conducted.

The gardens are trim and pretty, but, notwithstanding their profusion of

tropical plants, they lack the luxuriant charm which renders the

ill-kept gardens of Havana so romantic and picturesque. Very few of the

gardens belonging to private houses are of great size, and even

Government House is a modest-looking dwelling, erected on the highest of

the surrounding hills, and commanding a fine view of the town and

harbour.

The chief monument of Nassau is not one built by hand, but a

silk-cotton-tree, planted, some two hundred years ago, by one John

Miller, Esq., opposite the present "public buildings." It is a

stupendous tree of Titanic proportions. The roots, unable to find their

way down through the rocky soil, swell up like buttresses, radiating

round the trunk some fifteen yards, and, rising six and eight feet from

the ground, form part of the actual bulk of the tree, and give the huge

veteran the appearance of a web-footed monster, standing in solemn

reverie. Amongst the gnarled and weird-looking roots are ravines, in

whose dark hollows a legion of elves might dwell and hold their revels.

High above this root-work spreads a canopy of leaves of the most

exquisite, tender green. Singular to say, the gigantic growth flattens

at the top, and is nearly squared off in correspondence with the aspect

the paucity of earth has forced the roots to assume. Had Shakespeare

seen this mighty monster,--which travellers from California declare to

be even more imposing than any of the Mammoth trees,--he would have

immortalised it in a few grand lines, or made it the background of some

quaint fairy scene, the home of another Herne the Hunter, Oberon and

Titania, Ariel, or Puck. There are several other fine silk-cotton-trees

on the island, and in Cuba this tree grows to perfection, but the

specimen I have attempted to describe is universally acknowledged to be

the finest known. I was much surprised to notice the rapidity with which

the silk-cotton tree burst into leaf. On my arrival I noticed one in the

grounds of the hotel which seemed to be dead. The rest were green, but

this one was quite barren. In three days it was lost to sight, hidden in

its own foliage, developed within the space of two nights. The

silk-cotton-tree is so called because it bears a pod full of flossy

silk, which is used instead of down for pillow cases, but the fibres are

too short to be woven.

Nassau and its neighbourhood are really not unlike an open-air museum of

botanical and marine curiosities. As you drive, or walk, through the

woods and lanes, your attention is constantly attracted to some tree or

shrub remarkable for its curious shape, leaves, and flowers. If you ask

its name you will be told it is either the gum-arabic-tree, the guava,

the banyan, the ipicac, the pimento, the spice, the cinnamon, the

pepper, the caper, the castor-oil, or, in short, any one of half the

plants which stock our drug or grocery shops. One day I noticed an

onion-like-looking plant, with somewhat curious leaves, and asked its

name. It turned out to be my old acquaintance "squills," of syrup-fame.

Lady Blake, who is not only a distinguished artist, but an exceptionally

learned botanist, has executed a complete series of exquisite drawings

of the flora of the Bahamas. It would be difficult to overpraise the

artistic, as well as the scientific value of this collection, exhibited

in the Bahama Court of the Colonial Exhibition of 1886. During the

Governorship of her husband, Sir Henry Blake, Lady Blake rendered a like

service to the flora of Jamaica.

The cocoa-nut tree is a recent introduction into the Bahamas. Forty

years back there were few in the whole island of New Providence. The

orange-tree is indigenous to the island, and there is other fruit of

exceedingly fine quality. A very extraordinary fact about the local

vegetation is, that the roots are entirely exposed. The island is of

coral formation, and only very lightly covered with earth; but such is

the abundance of the dews, and so great the fertilising quality of the

atmosphere, that a plant with one or two feelers caught in the pores of

the coraline rock will grow and flourish. There are big trees with all

their roots, save one, above ground. Some trees may be noticed growing

astride the public walks, with one half of their roots on one side and

the rest on the other. The immense amount of decayed animal matter in

the coraline makes it one of the richest of soils, and the heavy dews

which fall immediately after sunset, and of which I shall speak

presently, increase its fertility. A number of "air-plants" grow in the

woods, and of course derive their nourishment entirely from the abundant

dews. These curious plants are, for the most part, a species of wild

pine. One of the most remarkable of them is the "green snake," which

looks exactly like a long serpent. The common life-plant of the tropics

grows everywhere, and, together with the air-plants, rouses much

curiosity among visitors from Europe and North America. If you take one

of its thick, waxy leaves, and hang it on a nail, it will live for

months, and shoot forth others without needing either water or earth.

The useful sizel plant--a fibrous hemp yielding aloe--of great

commercial value, is now extensively cultivated, and with excellent

results. Great impetus was given to its culture by Sir Ambrose Shea

during his prolonged and popular Governorship.

The scenery round Nassau is of pancake flatness, and uninteresting,

except close to the town, where there are some little hills of

inconsiderable height, which might vie in altitude with a certain Mount

Cornelia near St Augustine, Florida, advertised as one of the

attractions of a watering-place called Mount George, because it is

ninety feet high. Verily a dwarf is a giant amongst pigmies, and Mount

Cornelia is a Mount Blanc in flat Florida. If it is ever planted with

the eucalyptus-tree, now extensively cultivated in the south, and which

often attain the extraordinary height of 300 and 400 feet, the trees

will in due time be taller than the mountain.

There are some pretty little lakes in the interior of the island. One of

these, Lake Killarney, is a very charming spot, with a fine view of the

western coast. The lake is about three miles long by one in breadth. All

along the shores are pineapple plantations, which are uncommonly

effective when the pines are in bloom. The plants are set in rows all

over the field, about one or two feet apart, and what with their

variegated foliage--bright green and deep purple--and their vivid

scarlet flowers, they make a striking foreground to any picture. The

Bahama pines are considered the best in these latitudes, and are shipped

in large quantities to Europe and North America.

The crowning glory of Nassau is the unrivalled bay, with its

enchantingly clear, crystal water. Many a happy day have I spent,

sailing round the pretty shores of this pleasant island. We usually had

for "captain" a certain remarkable darkie, by name "Cap'en" Tannyson

Stump, one of those sable worthies you read about, full of drollery,

shrewd and witty withal, and a capital sailor into the bargain. The

Cap'en is reputed wealthy, for he is a great favourite with the

visitors, and, moreover, is considered, by the inhabitants of Grant

Town, the greatest "dissentin' minister" on the island. Amongst other

natural wonders the "Cap'en" took us to see was the "sea garden." I wish

Victor Hugo could have studied it, for possibly he might have been

tempted to describe it, in his vivid language, as a pendant to his

sea-monster, the devil-fish of the "Toilers of the Sea." Thus should we

have had a glowing word picture of the beautiful instead of the

hideous--the paradise of the sea, and not its hell. They give you a box

with a glass bottom to look through. You put it over the side of the

boat, and dip it beneath the waves. Lo! you behold the garden of the

sea-nymphs, the home of Aphrodite. Beneath you, seen through the

pellucid waters of this vast aquarium, is a lovely sea-garden, full of

every imaginable delicate-tinted sea-flower. Some are pale pink, others

light yellow, and some brown as leaves in autumn, massed round the vivid

purple and scarlet sea-anemones, which cling to the summits of beds of

pearly coral. Here purple sea-fans wave gently to and fro. There are

groves of trumpet sponges, and beds of marine blossoms of all kinds and

shapes. Fish as brilliant as hummingbirds--red, blue, metallic-green,

and orange--peep knowingly in and out of the branches of this strange

submarine vegetation, which is crossed and recrossed in all directions

by pathways of sparkling, silver gravel. Nothing more fascinating, more

fairy-like, can be imagined. You expect at any moment to see Venus or

one of her nymphs--or, perchance, old Edward's Sable Aphrodite--rise

suddenly to the surface from this abode of cool delights.

Involuntarily the world-renowned description of the bottom of the sea

was brought to my mind,--

"Methought I saw ...

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,

Inestimable stones, unvalu'd jewels,

All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea.

Some lay in dead men's skulls, and, in those holes,

Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept

(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,

That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,

And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by."

A scene very similar to the one described by Shakespeare has been seen

in these clear waters after a wreck. Many years ago, when a hurricane of

unusual violence swept over the islands, and there were several ships

lost in the usually glassy harbour, people, when calm set in again, had

the horror of studying, from their boats, the tragic condition of the

wrecked vessels at the bottom of the bay. They could see the drowned

dead below, whom some weight oppressed and forbade to rise. I well

remember, though 'tis long years since, the dread impression produced

upon me by the sight of the "phantom ship." In the days of the

Spaniards, a vessel of importance, a man-of-war, was wrecked and sunk

opposite a place called Hog Island--Horace Greely's lovely daughter,

Gabriele, re-christened it Isle of Porcina. This vessel fell a victim in

due time to the greed of those wondrous ants of the sea, the coral

insects, who, with infinite industry, soon contrived to coat it with

their microscopic huts, and now you see it lying full five fathoms deep

beneath you, all white and hoary in its coraline encasement. The deck,

the hull, the tattered rigging, ropes and chains, are all white with

corals, and around the ghastly ship rise the pale blue walls of its sea

prison.

The moonlight nights at Nassau, although marvellously beautiful, are not

a little dangerous to fresh arrivals, on account of the heavy dews. I

remember one evening we all went out to see the ruins of the fort built

in 1788 by the Earl of Dunmore, memorably connected with the American

Revolution. It certainly was a lovely sight, and the old grey walls and

tower looked as well as any ruin on Rhine or Nile by that argentine

radiance, approaching sunlight in its tropical brilliance, which renders

things more or less romantic, be they ever so commonplace. The tall

palms rustled in the breeze, and the bay was like a sheet of shivering

quicksilver, just over where the imprisoned phantom ship rests, five

fathoms down, "woo'd for ever to the slimy bottom of the deep." The

sight was exquisite. The price more than one visitor ultimately paid in

aching head and stiff rheumatic bones was anything but light!

And with this glimpse at an Isle of June, as New Providence has been

aptly called--introduced into this book merely as a contrast--I take my

leave.

Vale--gentle reader!--fare thee well.

APPENDIX I.

THE BOYHOOD OF COLUMBUS.

No historical question has been more keenly disputed than that of the

real place where Christopher Columbus was born. The majority incline to

believe him to have been a native of Genoa, or else of the neighbouring

town of Savona. One learned gentleman has even asserted in a very

elaborate pamphlet, published not long ago, that he came from Cremona.

The Abate Casanova of Ajaccio, in another pamphlet, attempts, on the

strength of a very ancient but equally obscure tradition, to prove that

Columbus was a Corsican. He goes so far as to point out the very house

in the Vico del Filo at Calvi, in which he firmly believes the

Discoverer first saw light. His statements, ingenious as they are, lack

contemporary evidence to substantiate them, and very little research

suffices to scatter them to the winds. I have lately seen a curious and

rare French pamphlet, in which Columbus is declared to be a native of

Marseilles, and yet another, the author of which endeavours to convince

his readers that the Discoverer was born at Albenga. In short, a

voluminous literature has sprung out of this vexed question, but to the

serious student of the life and times of Columbus Genoa and Savona alone

appear worthy of respect.

To the Marquis Staglieno of Genoa, one of the most enterprising of

modern Italian historians, and to Mr Henry Harrisse, a learned and

indefatigable American student of the life of Columbus, the definite

determination of the great Navigator's birthplace is really due. He was

born in Genoa, in a house standing still, near the ancient and recently

restored gate of St Andrea, at the top of a long, steep street known as

the Portorio, in the parish of San Stefano.

Domenico Colombo, the father of the illustrious navigator, is described

by Washington Irving and other writers as a "wool comber," but in all

the contemporary documents discovered by the historians just named he is

invariably said to have been "a woollen manufacturer,"--a position very

different from that of a wool comber, the difference being that between

a mechanic and a tradesman. No wonder that Ferdinand Columbus

indignantly contradicted an assertion which most of us, even in this

democratic age, would keenly resent. Although never in affluent

circumstances, Domenico and Susanna Colombo, Christopher's parents, were

evidently highly respectable tradespeople, who spent the whole of their

lives between Genoa and Savona. Probably Domenico Colombo was born at

Quinto, a village not many miles distant from the capital of the Genoese

Republic. His father, Giovanni Colombo, undoubtedly lived there, for, in

a document dated 1439, he is described as "Giovanni Colombo of Quinto,

the father of Domenico of Genoa." This Giovanni was, it seems, according

to another and still more ancient deed, the son of a certain Giovanni

Colombo, of Fontanarossa, another village in the district. As the

inhabitants of this village were engaged in sheep-dealing, it is

probable that this Giovanni was a wool merchant, and since Fernando

Columbo, with the justifiable vanity of the son of a great man, seems to

have been always desirous of claiming a social position, and signs

himself, on more than one occasion, as "of Fontanarossa," we may go so

far as to conclude that the Colombo (or Columbus) family was, according

to its own tradition, the principal in that place. The family and

Christian names of the great-grandmother and grandmother of the

Discoverer of the New World are lost. His mother, however, was Susanna

of Fontanarossa, a native of the suburb of Bisagno. This is proved by a

document in the Savonese archives, whereby, on the 7th August 1743,

"Susanna, daughter of Giacomo of Fontanaruba (the Latin for

Fontanarossa), in the Bisagno, agrees to allow her husband, Domenico

Colombo of Genoa, to sell a house situated in that city, near the

Olivella Gate." It is described as a house with a pleasant garden, in

the parish of San Stefano, and next door to the house and property of

Nicola Paravagna, and adjacent to the property of Antonio Bondi. "The

house faces the principal street, and is close to the old wall of the

town." In this document Domenico Colombo is specially designated as a

citizen of Savona--because, as he had by this time resided there some

years, he was entitled to citizenship.

This house, however, is not, as has been so frequently and erroneously

stated, the one in which Columbus was born. It has long since

disappeared, to make way for the enlargement of the neighbouring

hospital. The Porta (or Gate) Olivella stood for centuries to the right

of the church of San Stefano. As this house is very often mentioned in

deeds of the period of the last half of the fifteenth century as

belonging to the family of Domenico Colombo, we are able to trace its

history with fair accuracy. It formed part of the dower of Susanna

Fontanarossa, for, as we have already seen, it could not be sold without

her permission. It is probable that the family, instead of living in it,

was in the habit of letting it. On more than one occasion the tenant did

not pay his rent, and in 1476 Domenico Colombo had to come from Savona

to Genoa to exact it. Unable to get the AL20 due to him for arrears, he

raised (through his notary, a certain Signer Camogli) a loan on the sum,

the tenant, Malio, becoming a guarantee for the amount of his unpaid

rent--"Occasione pensionis euiusdem domus ipsius Dominici quam tenet et

conducit, etc."

Domenico Colombo possessed yet another house, still standing, and

situated close to the recently restored Gate of Sant Andrea, at the top

of the long, steep street still called Portorio. In this venerable

building Christopher Columbus was unquestionably born, in 1451.

Four years before the discovery of America by his illustrious son,

Domenico Colombo, being in reduced circumstances, was obliged to

transfer this house to his son-in-law Bavarello, the husband of his only

daughter Bianchinetta. The papers relative to this proceeding are still

in existence, and bear the date July 30, 1489. Domenico Colombo

certainly lived here with his wife and family from 1435 to 1470, when

they went to Savona. This is proved by the register of the monastery of

San Stefano, in which they are regularly entered as paying a yearly

ecclesiastical tax to the Prior during the whole of this period. They

left Genoa in 1470, and resided at Savona until 1484. The Savonese

archives, however, contain frequent mention of Domenico until 1494, when

he again returned to Genoa, where, in all probability, he died, some

years later. In the deed authorising the sale of the house in Porta

Olivella, the witnesses are "Christopher Colombo and Giovanni

Pellegrino, sons of Domenico and Susanna Colombo."

Washington Irving was unaware of the existence of this son Giovanni

Pellegrino, for he states that "Christopher Columbus was the eldest of

three brothers only--Bartholomew and Giacomo, or James (written Diego in

Spanish)." Giovanni Pellegrino was the second brother, and died

unmarried in 1489. We have more than this proof of his existence. In

another document he is named together with his three brothers,--Christopher,

Bartholomew, and Giacomo. In 1501, ten years after his death, and some

time after that of his father, a man named Corasso Cuneo summoned the

sons of Domenico Colombo before the tribunals of Savona for non-payment

of the price due to him for lands purchased by their father Domenico

many years before his decease. In this curious document we read the

names of Christopher and James--"Christophorem et Jacobum, fratres de

Columbi, filiis et heredes quondam Dominici eorum patris." In the next

register concerning this affair, and dated the same month and year,

Bartholomew is mentioned--"Cristoferi, Bartolomei et Jacobi de Columbis,

quondam Domenici et ipsius heredem." There is no mention of

Bianchinetta, the only sister of the illustrious navigator. She, being a

married woman, was not, according to Genoese law, entitled to inherit

from her father. Here, then, we have the most positive contemporary

evidence that Domenico Colombo was the father of four sons, respectively

named Christopher, Giovanni Pellegrino or Pilgrim (a name sometimes

found in old English registers), Bartolomeo or Bartholomew, and Giacomo

or Diego,--and, therefore, the father of Christopher Columbus,

Discoverer of the New World, who, as everybody knows, had two brothers,

companions in his travels, named Bartholomew and Giacomo (or Diego). We

learn that, according to documents far too numerous to be quoted here,

the said Domenico was a taxpaying resident in the Via di Sant Andrea, in

the city of Genoa, between the years 1435 and 1470. Another and most

important paper, recently discovered by the Marquis Staglieno in the

Atti Notarilli of the city of Genoa, declares Christopher Columbus to be

nineteen years old in 1470. He was born then, we may presume, in October

1451, during the time of his father's residence in the house now

officially declared his birthplace, and situated hard by the noble old

Gate of Sant Andrea.

It is a fortunate thing for Italian history that, in accordance with a

very ancient custom, on the decease of a notary, his papers and

registers are taken charge of by the State, and carefully preserved in

an office specially set apart for the purpose. Although the enormous

accumulation of papers thus preserved from century to century may, in

many instances, be deemed of little importance, they have proved

invaluable funds of information for the historian. It was among the

papers of the notary Stella that Signor Bertolotti unearthed the

particulars of the life and trial of Beatrice Cenci. It was among those

of Pietro Belasio and Nicola Raggio that the Marquis Staglieno

discovered the following curious facts concerning Columbus:--

"In 1470, on the thirtieth of October, Domenico Colombo and his son

Christopher appeared before the above-named notaries of the city of

Genoa, in order to confirm and conclude a contract in which the

said Christopher Colombo declares himself, with his father's

endorsement, debtor to the said Belasio to the amount of Genoese

lire 48. 15. 6. (or about 300 francs) for wine procured by him on

credit for the supply of his ship, now in the harbour of Genoa.

Domenico, his father, holds himself security for his said son, who

is nineteen years of age. Christofferus de Colombo filius Domenico

Maior anni decemnovum."

And, according to Genoese law, of age.

Columbus tells us in his Autobiography that he went to sea when he was

fourteen. Hence, in 1470, he had been five years a sailor, but he had

not, as yet, wholly abandoned the paternal roof, to reside permanently

in Portugal. He did not do so until six years later. Now, if he went to

sea when he was fourteen, and was still at sea when he was nineteen,

what time had he for studying at the University of Pavia, where,

according to most historians, he acquired his proficiency in Latin, and

in such sciences as were then taught? In my opinion, he never was near

Pavia in his life. No document in Pavian archives proves that Columbus

was a student at that renowned University. The statement rests only on a

very slender local tradition, and on Las Casas' assertion that he

"completed his studies in Pavia." Possibly this writer made a slip of

the pen, and, meaning Patria, wrote Pavia--or did the printer's devil

make the blunder? Certainly Columbus' family was not in a position to

send him to a distant University, and, moreover, there was no necessity

for their so doing, as Genoa possessed famous colleges and schools of

her own.

At the bottom of the long, steep street Portorio, not very far from his

father's house, was a school, directed by the Servite fathers, whose

church, Santa Maria de' Servi, still exists. It strikes me as much more

probable that the boy Columbus attended there, and that some learned

monk taught him Latin, than that he should have been sent to Pavia, as

great a distance from Genoa, in those days, as Paris is now. Moreover,

the learned notary Andrea de Cario was a friend and neighbour of the

family. This gentleman was well off, and, although married, usually wore

an ecclesiastical habit, and acted as the archbishop's Chancellor for

close on half a century. Among his papers and registers, still

preserved, are several mentions of Domenico Colombo and his wife and her

family, the Fontanarosse. Possibly this learned personage may have

undertaken a part of the education of the precocious lad.

If further proof were required of the intimate connection which always

existed between Domenico Colombo and his illustrious son Christopher, I

need simply record the fact that, even when the Great Man was himself in

dire distress, he remembered his aged father, and sent him money to

relieve his pressing debts. The affection between the three brothers

seems to have been extended to certain cousins, for we find, in a

document dated 1476, that Giovanni, Matteo, and Amighetto Colombo, of

Quinto, signed a deed whereby money was raised to enable the eldest,

Giovanni, to go to Spain to serve under his cousin Christopher, who is

described as an Admiral. These men were the sons of Antonio, a brother

of Domenico.

Not one of the documents I have quoted is particularly interesting in

itself. They are very commonplace, and yet how wonderfully they help us

to reconstruct the past! A name here, an allusion there, an unpaid bill,

a summons before the tribunals on a pressing demand for payment of rent,

a receipt, a mere scrap of paper with a great name attached to it, opens

out an entirely new field of research, and dispels mountains of

controversy and theory. I felt myself in very intimate contact with

Columbus when my eyes first rested on the quaint, old-world documents

which he, and his father, and mother, and brothers, signed, four

hundred years ago.

Quite recently, three papers, enriched with the signatures of Columbus

and his father, were unearthed in the State archives of the city of

Genoa (L'Archivio di Stato). From them we gather that, in 1470, Domenico

Colombo, either because his affairs were going badly, or because he

perceived a better chance for himself and family elsewhere, determined

to leave Genoa and establish himself in Savona. He was then in the debt

of a certain Geronimo da Porto, to the amount of 25 lire, or 117 francs

modern money, and evidently could not pay him. Da Porto must have heard

of his intention to leave the city. He summoned him and his eldest son

Christopher before the tribunal, for non-payment of the debt in

question. The judge decided that Domenico and Christopher Colombo should

pay the amount within a year from that date. Whether they eventually

paid or not is doubtful, for, in a codicil to Columbus' will, made some

thirty years later, he leaves "to the heirs of Geronimo da Porto, of

Genoa, the father of Benito da Porto, 20 ducats"--which is nearly double

the amount originally claimed, and leads one to think that it includes

interest for a long period.

In these documents, Domenico Colombo is invariably described as

"Dominicus Columbus, lanerius de Janua, habitator in Saone,"--"a

wool-weaver, living in Savona." In addition to the evidence already

given that Columbus was born in Genoa, I will recall the facts that he

himself, three times in his biography, repeats that he was a native of

that town--"where I lived, and whence I came"--and that Andreo Bemaldez,

curate of Los Pallacios, who was his intimate friend, informs us that he

told him he was born in Genoa. His contemporaries, Agostino Giustinani,

Antonio de Herrera, and Antonio Gallo, the Chancellor of the Bank of St

George, who corresponded with Columbus, repeat the same assertion. Then,

again, it is to the city of Genoa that the dying Columbus leaves the

breviary given him by Pope Alexander VI. Where is it? Certainly not in

Genoa.

Genoa in 1451 presented an aspect different from that which it wears

now, although the street in which Columbus was born, and its

neighbourhood, have not sustained many changes. The ancient houses still

tower up six and eight stories on either side of the narrow and

picturesque thoroughfare of the Portorio, some of them preserving traces

of Gothic windows and doors, and of a sort of Moorish decoration,

running just below the projecting roof, which is peculiar to Genoa. This

street has been known as the Portorio, or _Porta Aurea_, for centuries.

It leads up the hill from the outer wall of the city, and the

characteristic church of San Stefano, with its black and white marble

faASec.ade, which gives its name to the suburb, to the inner gate of St

Andrea, and the second ring of walls, now destroyed. This gate is a

noble specimen of feudal architecture, recently somewhat over-restored.

A few years ago it was ten times more picturesque than now, with the

quaint, old houses clinging to its rough walls like barnacles on a

ship's side. These have been removed, and the grand proportions of the

arch, formerly attached on either side to stern and lofty walls, built

in 1155 to resist the attacks of Barbarossa, have been displayed. In

front of this ancient gate is a little platform, surrounded by tall and

irregular houses, coeval with the gate itself. No. 37, lately occupied

by a tinman, is the house in which Columbus was born, and spent his

childhood and youth. I believe, with Mr Harrisse and the Marquis

Staglieno, that he was born in the front room--the best bedroom--of the

first floor, between October 1446 and October 1451. The date must remain

uncertain, because, although the important paper I have mentioned

described him as being nineteen years of age in 1470, it must be

remembered that nineteen was the legal age of manhood under the old

Genoese law, which was identical with the ancient Roman code. The fact

that he was of age--that is nineteen--would never have been specified,

if he had not been a very young man at the time. He might perhaps have

been twenty-three or even twenty-four, but the probability is that he

had just come of age. In 1886 the Municipality of Genoa purchased this

house for 36,000 francs, and it is to be kept intact in memory of

Columbus for ever. Over the door is this inscription:--

Nulla. Domus. titulo, dignior

Heic

Paternis : in : aedibus.

Christophorus : Columbus.

Pueritium

Primioque . juvantam . trasegit.

I think, with Mr Harrisse, that "Forsam natus" might with propriety be

added.

The great Gothic arch of the stern old gate frowned down on the modest

dwelling, and the child Columbus must often have been told the story of

the chains, which in my own boyhood I remember to have seen, hanging on

the grim walls on either side of the arch. They were courteously

restored in 1862 to the Pisans (from whom they had been captured in

1290) in honour of Italian unity.

Not very far off stood, until quite the end of the last century, a

curious old house, with a figure of St Christopher painted upon it,

which doubtless had a lamp constantly burning before it. Possibly it was

in honour of the saint here represented that the future Discoverer of

the New World was christened Christopher. On entering the city proper,

through the arch of St Andrea, the prospect, in the days of Columbus'

youth, was by no means cheerful. The houses, like those of Edinburgh,

rose seven and even eleven storeys, making the narrow courts and

passage-like streets look not unlike dark openings in a Californian

caA+-on. The hilly position of the town, however, lent itself admirably to

picturesque effects, and the brilliance of the deep blue sky above, and

of the broad streaks of sunlight falling on the squares and little

piazza, brightened what might otherwise have been exceedingly gloomy and

depressing. The palaces of the nobility looked more like fortresses than

civic residences, with scarcely a window on the street. Each possessed a

tall, turreted watch-tower of red brick, picked out with marble, the

finest specimen of which, now existing, is that of the Imbriaci. The

churches and oratories were amazingly numerous, but they were nearly all

exactly alike, built in very plain Gothic architecture, with faASec.ades

streaked with alternated layers of black and white marble. A few have

escaped the vandalistic restorations of the 17th and 18th centuries, and

of these the best remaining specimens are the Cathedral, San Matteo

Doria, Santa Maria del 'Orto (desecrated), San Cosmo, San Donate, San

Stefano, and Sant Agostino (desecrated).

But in the 15th century they were to be met with at every turn of the

street, giving a very peculiar appearance to the city. The finest

palaces bordered the Ripa by the port, and these were so beautifully

decorated with frescoes and gilding that Petrarch declared that "nothing

could be imagined more magnificent." The Strade Nuova, Nuovissima, and

Balbi, with their splendid Renaissance palaces, did not come into

existence until late in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Cathedral was

in much the same condition as at present, and the Bank of St George, now

in process of restoration, was considered one of the wonders of the

world.

If the architecture of the city was picturesque, its population was

indescribably so. The streets teemed with life and colour. There were

men in armour, sailors from all parts of the world, guardsmen in the

Doge's liveries striped scarlet and white, ladies of rank proceeding to

church attended by their women, and escorted by little negro pages

bearing their trains, or screening them from the ardour of the sun with

immense, crimson silk parasols. Rich dames, lolling in litters hung with

painted Cordova leather, were carried to and fro on the shoulders of

stalwart African slaves. Veiled women of the people, with their children

clinging round them, sitting outside their doors, not infrequently

engaged in a hair hunt. Priests, monks, and nuns, in every imaginable

kind of ecclesiastical costume, mingled with herculean porters from the

quays, with soldiers and nobles, Levantines and Jews, each in their own

peculiar costume, so that if the houses were sombre, the streets were

ablaze with brilliant and varied dresses. At night, however, the city

looked desolate. Only the lamps burning before the images of the Madonna

and Saints lit up the gloomy thoroughfares and darksome piazzas. At "Ave

Maria," in winter time, everybody was indoors saying the Rosary. Three

times a day, as the "Angelus" tolled, the whole population stopped and

repeated the angelic salutation. This pious custom lasted until quite

late into the first half of the present century.

Unlike Venice, Genoa was no city of pleasure. On the other hand, its

population dearly loved pageantry. Religious processions of the utmost

splendour were of such everyday occurrence that people scarcely noticed

them. The Doge went about attended by at least a hundred officers and

servants. On great festivals the balconies were hung with brocades and

wreaths of fresh flowers, while half the town preceded the Host or the

images of the Madonna and Saints, to the admiration of the other half,

crowding the sidewalks and the overhanging balconies.

Such, then, was Genoa,--Queen of the Mediterranean, as Venice was Queen

of the Adriatic,--when Christopher Columbus first saw the light. His

parents were, as we have seen, people in a humble but eminently

respectable position. Their manner of life differed little from that of

their neighbours. Thus was passed, only fifty years ago, the life of an

honest Genoese family of the lower middle class. At five in the morning

the family, apprentices, and servants rose. After saying the "Angelus,"

they proceeded to the nearest church to Mass. A slice of bread, with

fruit in summer, or dried figs in winter, and a glass of wine, formed

the first meal or breakfast. Then came work until noon, when the frugal

dinner was served--meat once a week, and sweets only on great festivals.

As a rule, it consisted of a _minestrone_, a succulent and wholesome

sort of soup, made with all kinds of vegetables, rice, and bits of pork

cut up into square pieces, macaroni, ravioli, and other like dishes.

After this meal there was an hour for recreation. Then to work again

until sunset, when the whole household repeated the "Angelus," and said

the Rosary. In summer they would go processionally from street image to

image, singing their Aves and Paters with uncommon unction before the

holy figure, round which burned scores of little oil lamps, amid

cart-wheel-shaped bouquets. Sometimes one-half the people on the street

said the Rosary, while the other gave the responses. It is not

surprising if, after a regime of this sort, Christopher Columbus grew up

to be a very pious man. However, there were plenty of scandals going

the round of the town, even in 1451, and I am afraid religiosity rather

than piety was the true characteristic of this singular population.

Still, the evidence in favour of Columbus and his family is so greatly

to their advantage that we may feel sure they were really people of

exceptional integrity and sincere piety.

Little Genoese boys and girls were brought up rather sternly, and the

_ferrula_ was much in use. Often, no doubt, did the small Columbus, both

at home and at school, hold out his chubby hand to receive the strokes.

The mother and sister appeared in public very rarely, and were

invariably veiled. The church was the principal object of these

excellent people's existence. It is so to this day with a majority of

the lower and middle-class Genoese, who spend half their time in church,

and are quite as well pleased to go and hear a sermon as their

neighbours at Turin are to attend a new play. I am quite sure that more

than once a year the infant Columbus and his brothers, dressed up as

saints, and very artistically too, walked in the processions of the

three or four confraternities attached to the church and convent of St

Stefano. I daresay Christopher often impersonated the infant St John, or

even the Child Jesus, and was carried on the shoulders of some gigantic

brother disguised as St Christopher:

"San Cristofero grosso,

Porta il mondo a dorso."

--"the big St Christopher carries the world on his back."

In Holy Week, what a time these pious folks had, to be sure! There was

so much to see that people were fain to leave their business to take

care of itself, and either to walk in the processions or else watch them

wend their way along the tortuous streets. There were the flagellants to

see, who whipped themselves until their bare backs were red. As to the

Guilds and Corporations: they were a source of infinite interest and

excitement! Each had its _Cassaccia_ or shrine to carry, and, above all,

its tremendous crucifix, which people wagered would never reach its

destination, so terrific was its weight. If the wretched man who carried

it staggered and fell, hundreds of lire changed hands, and if he managed

to restore it to its place in the Oratory belonging to the Guild, he was

acclaimed as great a hero as a victorious modern jockey. And the

Sepulchres on Holy Thursday, and the Procession of the Passion on Good

Friday, all these wonderful things, and many others too numerous to

describe, did the youthful Columbus admire, enjoy, and venerate,[21] we

may be sure.

The boy Columbus had his sports, too, like any other lad in every part

of the world, old and new. He played boccie or bowls, and _palla_, a

sort of football, and, like all other Genoese urchins, he was, I doubt

not, an excellent diver and swimmer. His character in after life, so

full of noble courage, gentleness, piety, and justice, speaks volumes

for the education he received at his mother's knee. His devotion to

parents is proved by his frequent mention of them, and he loved the

beautiful city "where he was born, and whence he came" with patriotic

ardour.

Although there is no positive proof that such was the case, we may

safely conclude that, together with all the Genoese of his period, he

was imbued from the earliest age with a love of the sea and of

adventure. In the gloom of his father's cavernous shop he must often

have heard foreign and native merchants, captains, and sailors, who came

to purchase woollen goods, relate tales of extraordinary discoveries

made in the unknown seas beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Vast, indeed,

was the commerce of Genoa at this epoch. Her vessels roamed the seas as

far as the Caspian, where Marco Polo found them trading from port to

port. Genoa rivalled Venice in the Levant, and held the keys of the

commerce of North Africa. In Bruges her merchants had a hall of their

own; it still exists, with the effigy of St George over its Gothic

portal. Genoese merchants were well known in the crowded thoroughfares

of London city, and their velvets and silks were to be bought in the

High Street of Edinburgh and in the markets of Copenhagen and

Christiania.

In the last half of the 15th century the world talked much of

discoveries of magic isles of pearl, and of deceptive islands that rose

on the horizon of the Atlantic, and, syren-like, deluded venturesome

travellers to their doom. In Genoa lived the Vivaldi family,

descendants of Vadino and Guido Vivaldi, and of Ugolino and Tedesco

Vivaldi, who, between 1285 and 1290, discovered not only the Azores, but

also Madeira and the Canaries. The fact is mentioned very minutely in

records of the 13th century. Often must Columbus have heard of these

bold pioneers, and likewise of the ship and its crew of thirty men,

which, in 1467,--as we learn from Pietro d'Abano, in his

_Conciliatore_,--the Genoese Government equipped in Lisbon, at its

expense, and sent on a mission of discovery, from whence none ever

returned. Sailors, whose frail vessels had been driven out to sea far

beyond the coast of Spain towards "the new lands," had doubtless seen

the Azores, and, returning home, had spread the most fantastic stories

of cities of gold inhabited by a people whose heads grew beneath their

shoulders. In short, the imaginative child must often have listened to

tales of wonderment such as Othello poured out to Desdemona. At fourteen

he went to sea. He was in the prime of his glorious manhood on that

momentous morn of October 1492, when the verdant islands of San Salvador

and Cuba rose like emeralds out of the shining sea to delight his

thankful vision, and enriched European civilization by opening the gates

of a New World before its wondering eyes.[22]

APPENDIX II.

NOTES ON SOME OLD PAPERS CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF THE WEST INDIES.

IN 1886-7 the writer of these lines became closely connected with the

West Indian Section of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, South

Kensington. Sir Augustus Adderley, the Commissioner for the West Indies,

a gentleman of varied knowledge and experience, displayed an activity in

organising the Court for which he was responsible, which resulted in a

thorough and most satisfactory representation of the various West Indian

islands under British dominion. To add attraction to his Department, Sir

Augustus set himself to collect every historical document, book, print,

and MS., illustrative of the early history of the islands, which he

could procure. With this object, he entrusted the author with the

mission of obtaining whatever records of Columbus and his companions

existed in Rome and elsewhere, even in the Antilles. Thanks to letters

from Cardinal Manning, an interview with Cardinal Simeone, then Director

of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, was soon obtained, and his

introduction to the Secretary, Archbishop Jacobini, granted, in the most

friendly manner. A minute search of the archives of this famous

institution was immediately made, but nothing of any particular

importance connected with the subject of enquiry was found to exist.

Monsignore Jacobini, however, averred that he had heard a story to the

effect that in Napoleon I.'s time, the archives of the Propaganda were

roughly packed in carts, conveyed to CivitA Vecchia, and there embarked

for France and Paris. Whilst passing through the streets of Rome,

several bundles of most valuable papers were jolted out, picked up, and

some--but very few--restored to the Congregation. Of the rest, only a

part were returned to the College, whilst almost all the earlier papers

were retained in Paris, and are now stored in the BibliothA"que Nationale

and elsewhere. The existing archives of the Propaganda only date from

the first half of the present century. It was found impossible to obtain

permission for the exhibition of many treasures among the Vatican

MSS.--which, seen through glass cases, would have hardly, indeed,

produced the effect they deserved. All my attention, therefore, was

turned to the small but most interesting collection of parchments and

MSS. in the Borgian Museum. Pre-eminent among these are the far-famed

Borgian Maps, the first of which is probably the earliest existing

geographical record of Central America and the West Indies. Down this

famous sheet Pope Alexander VI.'s own hand traced the lines dividing the

whole of the New World into two equal portions, one for Spain, the other

for Portugal. Notwithstanding his evident desire to oblige the

Commissioner and the Committee, His Holiness decided that so precious

and historical a relic could not be allowed to leave its place, but he

courteously gave permission for the removal to the London Exhibition of

the second Borgian Map, known as "Diego Ribero," a document of the

highest archaeological value. The drawing, perfect and beautiful, was

executed by Diego Ribero, geographer to Charles V. from 1494 to 1529,

that is, during the lifetime of Columbus, and under his personal

supervision. Down the centre pass two slight lines, _facsimile_ of the

divisional lines traced by Alexander VI. on the first Borgian Map. The

map, though singularly clearly drawn, is full of absurd inaccuracies.

The West Indies are shown with precision, and the names given with

considerable elaboration. America, on the other hand, is barely

indicated, the coast alone being defined, and Africa is introduced with

the Nile wandering somewhat at random down to three lakes, situated just

above what is now known as Cape Colony. A number of very well-drawn

ships are introduced, of colossal dimensions, in comparison with the

land, and bearing inscriptions to the effect that they are either bound

for, or returning from, the "Maluccas," by which it would appear that

these were then considered the principal maritime port of the world. The

arms of Pope Julius II.--an oak-tree with twisted branches--are

introduced in a shield at the foot, notwithstanding the fact that the

map bears the date of Clement VII. As a specimen of Italian, or rather

Spanish, calligraphy, of the 16th century, it is superb, and in most

perfect preservation. The Congregation of the Propaganda also lent an

engraved reproduction of the famous Marco Polo Map, a curious specimen

of German geographical lore, at the commencement of the 15th century,

the original of which is engraved on brass. It was found to be far too

heavy for transportation. In this map the world is reproduced surrounded

by water, and the general appearance is not unlike that of a drop of

Thames water as seen through a powerful microscope, so confused are the

earth and water, and so mixed up with representations of extraordinary

living creatures.

A very interesting collection of books, maps, prints, and MSS.,

illustrative of the early history of the West Indies, belonging to Sir

Graham Briggs, Mr Audley C. Miles, Mr Henry Stevens, and the writer,

were also exhibited, and the following notes on this improvised library,

which will certainly never be gathered together again, will doubtless be

found of interest, as throwing considerable light on the bygone domestic

history of our colonies in the Antilles.

In the eighteenth century their prosperity was at its height, and a

surprising amount of luxury and magnificence existed in the capitals of

each of our settlements. In 1741, we find the Island of Montserrat

considerably exercised (_The Laws of Montserrat from_ 1640 _to_ 1788) by

many open "Breaches of the Sabbath," a general neglect of "Public

Worship," to the scandalizing of the Protestant religion, and by the

encroachments of the "Scarlet Whore of Rome." To remedy this state of

affairs, the rites and ceremonies of the Church are, according to the

authority mentioned above, to be immediately placed on a footing with

those practised in England, and "an able preaching minister is to be

maintained, at a cost to the public exchequer of 14,000 lbs. of sugar

per annum, or the value thereof in tobacco, cotton, wool, or indigo.

Moreover, the said minister can demand not exceeding 100 lbs. of sugar,

or the value thereof as above, for the joining together any of the

inhabitants of this island in the holy and lawful state of matrimony."

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Cuba, on the other hand, were gravely occupied

by the question of Protestant encroachments. These islands were still

Spanish, and the Inquisition was in full swing, occasionally roasting an

unhappy wight suspected of heresy or idolatry.

"The Laws of Montserrat" enlighten us as to the manner in which the

negroes were treated in some of the islands. Thus, in 1670, an Act was

passed forbidding the negro to enter any plantation save his master's

after nightfall, and should any be found, the owner or overseer of such

plantation was given full power to punish him as he chose. "And should

any negroes harbour or conceal any such loiterers in their cabins, they

shall be taken before the next Justice of the Peace, and there his or

her owner shall, in the presence of the said Justice, exercise the

punishment of forty lashes."

Slaves were not permitted to enter a field of cane with any lights or

fire whatsoever, as, "by their insufferable boldness in so doing, much

damage has been done, and more is likely to ensue, and this is enacted

to prevent future inconvenience, which may happen by such insufferable

boldness."

Should a slave, transgressing this law, happen to set fire to the canes,

he or she "shall not only be whipped, but, if it pleases their master,

be put to death in any fashion he shall devise." If a negro stole a cow

or any other head of cattle, he was to be brought before the next

Justice of the Peace and publicly whipped. This punishment did not

appear to have been sufficiently severe, for by the year 1693, theft had

grown so common that an Act was passed ordaining that "henceforth any

negro that shall be taken stealing or carrying away stock, cattle, or

provisions, amounting to the value of twelve pence, shall suffer such

death as his master shall think fit to award." If a negro was proved

guilty of a theft below the value of twelve pence current money of the

island, "he shall only suffer a severe whipping, and have both his ears

cut off for the first offence, but for the second offence he shall

suffer death in the form aforesaid ... and it shall be lawful to shoot

at, and if possible, kill any negro he shall find stealing his

provision, provided such provision be not within forty foot of the

common path, and that the party so killing hath not expressed hatred or

malice against the owner of such negro." The white servants might, it

appears, "be kicked, but not whipped," otherwise they were treated very

little better than the slaves. Negroes caught without tickets

authorising their absence from their own plantation, are to be whipped

with thirty-nine lashes by the constable who took them, for which

service, "in each case he receives six shillings." Should a slave absent

himself for the space of three months from his master's service, he was

to suffer death as a felon, the owner to be allowed 3500 lbs. of sugar,

out of the public stock, in compensation. Should a slave be killed or

maimed by another man's slave, his owner had his choice of the manner of

the offender's death for the first-named offence, and for the second he

could decide whether he should be whipped, or the offence be atoned by

compensation. From the _Acts and Statutes of Barbados_ (1652), we find

that the maker of a fraudulent and deceitful sale on that island of any

"servant, cattel, negroes, and other flock or commodities, shall suffer

six months' imprisonment, and stand in the Pillory two hours with his

ears nailed thereto, with a paper in his hat, signifying the cause of

his punishment ... and whosoever shall be convicted of carrying away any

goods whatsoever after the same have been legally attached, shall be

sent to prison during fourteen days, and if before the fourteenth day he

have not made satisfaction to his Creditor, he shall be put in the

Pillory and lose both his ears."

To turn to pleasanter things, we learn (from _A Short History of

Barbadoes_, published in 1742) that nothing can exceed the splendour of

the planters' manner of life. They have as fine houses as any in

England, and are attended upon by regiments of negroes, and white

servants in gorgeous liveries. "Their plate and their china, their fine

gowns and their genteel manners, eclipse anything that the writer has

ever seen on his travels, and their hospitality cannot be imagined--an

hospitality for which Great Britain was once so deservedly famed." At

the time when England was divided into two factions, Cavaliers and

Roundheads, the planters, though naturally favouring one side or the

other, made a law amongst themselves, forbidding the use of either of

the two words, on penalty of giving a dinner to their neighbours. Many

purposely made themselves liable to the penalty as a pretext for

entertaining their friends. In those good old times, the Governors,

notably those of Jamaica and Barbadoes, kept great state. When they went

to church, they were preceded by pages in silver and gold liveries, and

gorgeous officers--in fact, the splendour displayed recalled that of the

King himself, when he betook himself in State to St Paul's. A good deal

of jealousy was evinced, at times, between the citizens, as to who was

entitled to attend the Governor's entertainments. The scene round

Government House in James Street, Spanish Town on great ball nights,

must have been of the most picturesque description. The ladies arrived

in their Sedan-chairs, accompanied by armies of slaves, carrying

torches. There must have been some great beauties amongst them, for we

find the author of _Letters from Barbadoes_ deeply impressed with "the

majestic beauty of Miss Dolton," "the divine Miss Gordon," "the

celestial Miss Alleyne," while, he declares,

"Sisters Carter, as two meteors bright,

Shine glorious round, and diffuse light."

Balls and parties, routs and dinners, suppers and theatres, occupied the

attention of the West Indian ladies to an extent which would have amazed

their descendants.

The advertisements in the Colonial papers of the last century teem with

offers of "brocaded silk and satins, beaver hats, gold-headed canes,

snuff-boxes, costly china, plate, and patch-boxes," which were imported

on board every vessel, and found a ready sale amongst the luxury-loving

inhabitants. No wonder that occasionally, as we learn from the _Groans

of the Plantation_, the islanders fell into pecuniary embarrassment, and

that money grew so scarce that large cargoes of negroes had to be

exported for sale at Charlestown and New Orleans.

The streets of a West Indian city must have presented a very picturesque

spectacle at this period. Here groups of great ladies--in hoops and

sarsenets, with powdered hair and "patches," escorted by their spruce

cavaliers in the daintiest satin garments which the London or Paris

tailors could supply, their white clad servants at a respectful distance

behind them, carrying their parasols and fans, or lagging in the rear

with their heavily gilt Sedan-chairs--pass up and down under the shadow

of the tropical vegetation, hardly pausing, probably, to notice the

public flogging of a couple of runaway slaves, or the edifying spectacle

of a white servant caught in the act of stealing, seated with his legs

and arms in the pillory, and his nose and ears freshly cut off. Yon

learned-looking gentleman may be Dr Hans Sloane, the famous naturalist,

with his friend Dr Burton, a noted preacher, who occasionally goes the

round of the various islands to exercise his eloquence, and eat a series

of good dinners in return for his pious endeavours to save the souls of

his entertainers. The conversation is not of the most elevated

description. Little or no literature is consumed and canvassed, save

such as comes out in packages from England--_The Gentleman's Magazine_,

_The Lady_, _The Tatler_, Miss Frances Burney's latest novel, Oliver

Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_, or Fielding's _Tom Jones_. Through the

open windows of the roomy houses, with their broad verandahs, floats the

tinkling of the sempiternal spinette. Very occasionally, as we learn

from the _Grenada Gazette_ (of which a complete file for the years

1792-3 are exhibited by Mr. J. G. Wells), "a grand pianoforte" makes its

appearance, and is considered a great novelty, for which a very high

price is asked and paid.

The _History of the Barbadoes_ states that Lord Howe became Governor in

1733, but fortunately for the Colony, he did not hold the office long,

"for if he had remained a few years longer, he would have ruined

Barbadoes by his introduction of luxury."

In every island, perpetual war was waged between the Governor and the

people, and the people seem to have had good cause to protest, for

almost without exception, it would appear, the Governors sent from the

mother country were most tyrannical and cruel in their methods. This is

proved by the continual protests and "Articles of Complaint" that were

forwarded to England. Many of these temporary rulers seem to have

conceived their sole mission to be to extort money for their own private

pockets by every means in their power, legal or illegal. To rule the

country fairly, and to keep it in a settled condition--a by no means

easy matter in those times--appears to have been quite a secondary

matter in their eyes. A notable instance is that of a Mr Lowther, who

carried on the usual routine of extortion. He was sent out to Barbadoes

in 1711, and in justice to others it must be said, that for downright

wickedness, he far outstripped them. He "swallowed up the taxes as fast

as they were raised, ships forced on the island by stress of weather

were compelled to give him one half of their cargo to save the other; he

seized rich ships without cause; and he suspended Mr Skeen, the

Secretary, because he refused to allow him a pension of AL400 per annum

out of the fees in office. He kept a cause of Haggot v. King hanging up

in Chancery all the time he was Governor, only because Mr Haggot would

not consent to the marriage of a young lady under his guardianship to a

person to whom Mr Lowther _owned he had sold her for_ AL15,000. Again, in

order to accomplish his bargain, he was about taking her from Mr Haggot

when she was married, and he did actually despoil him of the

guardianship of her sister, declaring that no parent had a right to

appoint a guardian to his child." When officially remonstrated with for

some of his iniquities, Mr Lowther simply replied, "D---- n your laws,

don't tell me of the laws. I will do it, and let me see who dares

dispute it." Again, the Governor of the Bahamas in 1701-2--Mr Elias

Haskett--was, we are informed, such an iniquitous personage, that "he

seizes all the claret and brandy imported into our own port for his own

use, and most unmercifully doth whip the parish beadle (this is enough,

surely, to make the late Mr Bumble turn in his grave) and the tax

collector." This gentleman's evil doings are related in a curious MSS.

document of over twelve closely-printed pages, by one Captain Cole, who,

it appears, was deputed, on his return to England, by the people of New

Providence, to make an official complaint of their Governor.

A rare old pamphlet on the State of Jamaica, published early in the last

century, contains a curious account of the arrival in that island, in

1687, of Christopher, Duke of Albemarle, on his appointment to the

Governorship. He was the only son and heir of John Monk, who had helped

to restore Charles II., and who had been rewarded with a dukedom, the

Garter, and a princely fortune, which his successor completely

dissipated, and reduced himself to beggary. To rid himself of his

importunities, King James II. gave him the above-mentioned position in

Jamaica, where he died, childless, soon after his arrival, and his

honours became extinct. He seems, however, to have lived long enough to

collect a considerable sum of money for his creditors. He entered into

partnership with a Sir William Phipps, who, having discovered the wreck

of a Spanish plate-ship, which had gone down in 1559, provided skilful

divers to search for the sunken treasure, and the partners are reported

to have recovered twenty-six tons of silver. When Albemarle arrived at

Kingston, he behaved in a fashion as arbitrary as it was whimsical. He

immediately called an assembly, which he dissolved as promptly, because

one of the members, in a debate, repeated the adage "_Salus Populi

suprema lex_." His Grace took this member into custody, and caused him

to be fined 600 crowns for his offence. Evidently James II. had

entertained some hope of converting the island of Jamaica to the Roman

Catholic faith, for with Albemarle he sent out a missionary,--Father

Thomas Churchill, but the Duke's death and the Revolution of 1688 upset

the good Father's projects, and, after visiting Cuba, he returned to

England. The Duchess, who accompanied her husband, was a very remarkable

woman, and an exceedingly handsome one. The speaker of the assembly, in

his first address, expatiated upon her presence in the following

extraordinary strain of eloquence: "It is an honour," said he, "which

the opulent Kingdoms of Mexico or Peru could never arrive at, to be

visited by an English Duchess, and even Columbus' ghost would be

appeased, could he but know that his own beloved soil was hallowed by

such footsteps." In a very old private letter, included among the

exhibits, was a singular account of the subsequent career of this

Duchess. It seems that on the death of the Duke, she possessed herself

of all the treasures he had rescued from the Spanish plate-ship, and

refusing to part with a shilling, even to pay his legitimate debts,

prepared to embark for England. But the creditors seized her person in

the King's house, in Spanish Town, and attempted to carry her off. She

contrived, however, to escape, and communicated her distress to the

House of Assembly, who thereupon appointed a formidable committee of

their ablest members to guard her day and night. After some delay, she

was safely embarked for England, on one of the King's ships, and arrived

in this country with all her fortune, on board the "Assistance"

man-of-war, in the beginning of June 1688. For a year or so she made a

great show in London society, gave her friends sumptuous entertainments,

and herself, it would seem, incredible airs. At last the poor lady's

mind gave way. She imagined herself destined to become the wife of the

Emperor of China, who, having heard of her immense wealth, was

hastening, she declared, to come to England, and pay her his addresses.

She dwelt in Montague House, on the site of which the British Museum now

stands, and she furnished the mansion sumptuously for the reception of

her august suitor. She appears to have been a gentle and good-humoured

person, even in her lunacy, and her attendants encouraged her in her

delusions. They did more. They tried to turn her folly to good account

by assisting a certain needy peer, the Duke of Montague, to personate

his Chinese Majesty. "Here," continues the letter, "is the prettiest

piece of business that has ever been. My Lord of Montague, disguised as

the Chinese Emperor, has won the hand of that worthy, silly old woman

the Duchess of Albemarle, and will, doubtless, soon confine her as a

lunatic." She certainly was carefully enough guarded, but she seems to

have been allowed to indulge her mania to her heart's content. She was

wont to stride about her vast apartments, attired as a Chinese Empress,

her attendants taking good care to kneel as she passed, and to address

her in language befitting so transcendant a personage as the consort of

the supreme ruler of the celestial Empire. Her Grace the Duchess of

Albemarle and Empress of China survived her husband, the pretended

Emperor, for many years, and died in 1734, at the vast age of

ninety-eight. She was, it seems, served upon the knee to the end of her

long career, and expired in the full belief that she was a Celestial

Empress.

The _Grenada Gazette_, a curious old newspaper to which I have already

alluded, throws considerable light on the manners and customs of the

period between 1792 and 1799. The details of the French Revolution are

recorded with great minuteness, and it was evidently a subject of deep

interest to the _Gazette's_ numerous readers. The editor can scarcely

contain his indignation as he relates the sufferings of the unfortunate

French king and queen, and he feels sure God will punish the French

people "for their barbarity and utter godlessness." He is certain a

judgment will fall upon them "for their iniquitous conduct, their

cruelty, and their general viciousness." "Oh!" he exclaims, "I have

scarce the power to tell the terrible news of this day: the French king

and queen are in prison. The French, by their own madness and folly,

have thereby prepared themselves and their heirs for the bitterest

punishment of God." When at length he reaches the execution of Marie

Antoinette, he is "prostrate with horror, and dumb with fear." He can no

longer proceed: "his pen is dry from sheer terror, and refuses to

write." The poor gentleman is "thrown into a consternation" as he thinks

of the fate in store for the afflicted little Dauphin. The series of

slave advertisements which disgrace every number of the _Chronicle_ are

curious in their way. Thus the cargo of the ship "Ellen," consisting of

203 Gold Coast negroes, and that of another ship containing 343 young

slaves, are both offered for sale. "Both cargoes are in high health,

and the terms of sale will be made as agreeable as possible to the

purchaser." An estate in St Lucia, placed on the market, comprises

amongst its stock "250 negroes, large and small, and six horses and five

mules." "There are among the negroes twenty tradesmen of great value."

One person wants "a complete washerwoman. Anyone having one to dispose

of may hear of a purchaser." There are many advertisements for the

recovery of runaway slaves, "for whom a genteel reward will be offered,"

to be recognized by their backs, still sore from recent whippings, their

cropped ears and split noses. These horrors seem to make no impression

on the editor--the humane gentleman who so deplores the imprisonment of

the French royal couple. He is not ashamed to advertise "a pretty boy,

nearly white, for sale, price, AL20," nor to call attention to Madame

Marchand's announcement that she is about to leave the colony, and

wishes to dispose of her stock-in-trade, consisting of "hardware,

haberdashery, dry goods, a complete collection of the works of the best

French authors, an excellent washerwoman, and two bedsteads." However,

men should be judged, to some extent at all events, according to their

lights, and it must be remembered that although, in the year of grace

1792, slavery was held throughout the West Indies to be a right divine,

the papers above alluded to contained constant appeals to slave-owners

to treat their human property with kindness. And perhaps, after all, the

bulk of the negroes were a good deal happier than many free men are

to-day, for plenty of kindness was shown them. They were allowed three

wives--many, perhaps, will think this was no very kind concession--and

we read of parties given to the negroes, at which servants dressed up in

their mistresses' finery, and danced to a most unreasonable hour of the

night, to the sound of the sackbut and the tabor. I exhibited in the St

Vincent Court of the Exhibition a delightful series of old engravings,

representing negro festivities in the olden times. The darkies had all

Sunday to themselves, and raised pandemonium in the principal streets of

Spanish Town and Nassau, until the nuisance grew unendurable, and was

put down. They used to sing, dance, and wrestle, at which last exercise

they "were marvellously expert," to their hearts' content. When their

behaviour in the streets became unbearable, they were prohibited from

singing or dancing in the vicinity of churches or genteel folks' houses.

Their food was good, and their huts were waterproof, at all events,--for

it was to the interest of the owners, of course, to keep their slaves in

perfect health. Nevertheless, the negroes always felt themselves an

oppressed race, and many were their struggles for freedom. They

concocted various plans for a general rising, which was to make them

masters and the Christians slaves. But the plots were always discovered,

and the ring-leaders tortured and put to death, as an example to the

rest. At one time owners had great difficulty in preventing their slaves

from hanging themselves, either out of fear of possible punishment for

some small fault, or dread of vengeance threatened by masters or

overseers. Consequently no owner ever delayed a punishment. The darkies

all had a firm belief in a resurrection, and were convinced they would

return after death to their own country and begin their lives anew. This

conviction led them to endeavour to expedite their release from slavery.

An owner who had lost several useful slaves in this manner, "caused one

of their heads to be cut off and fixed on a pole 12 feet high, and

obliged all his slaves to come forth and march round this head, to show

the poor creatures that they were in error in thinking the dead returned

to their own country, for this man's head was here, as they all plainly

saw, and how was it possible the body could go without the head?" This

simple theory was quite sufficient to convince them, and thenceforth

that owner never lost another slave by suicide.

Sometimes there was a theatrical performance in one or other of the

capitals of the various islands. Companies from England or France paid

the principal cities a visit, and occasionally amateurs undertook to

assist the professionals, or to supplement their efforts. The French

theatre at St George's, Grenada, had a great reputation throughout the

islands. It was opened about six times in the year, sometimes by an

English and sometimes by a French troupe. We read in the _Grenada

Gazette_ that "on Saturday, 31st August 1792, 'Douglas' was performed,

Lady Randolph by a lady--her first appearance on any stage--and old

Norval by a gentleman." "No admittance," the announcement goes on to

say, "on any account behind the scenes. The gentility is invited to send

their negroes early (to retain seats), who are to sit in their places

till five minutes before the curtain rises, when they are to give up

their places to the proper owners." The managers also remind the

audience to "bring their own candles." The negroes filled the galleries,

and were renowned for their judicious criticism, the warmth of their

applause, and the vehemence of their disapproval. Ladies of great

quality were accommodated with seats on the stage. We note that on one

occasion, in 1798, the French company gives "Nina Folle par Amour." This

must be either Copolla's or Paesiello's opera, composed about that time.

Cock-fighting, we learn from the same journal, was a fashionable sport

of the gentry. "On Saturday, the 31st September 1792, at 10 o'clock, a

match of twenty cocks will be fought by ten gentlemen. _N.B._--A genteel

dinner will be provided." In the same day's issue is announced the

appearance in England of "a new sect, called the Anti-Chartists," whom

it describes as "another branch of those iniquitous wretches who are

opposed to the slave-trade."

Jamaica, then said to be the "wickedest place on earth," is mentioned

with great detail in _The British Empire in America, or the History of

the Discovery, etc., of the British Colonies_ (published in London,

_1708_). The island probably deserved its name, for, in point of fact,

the inhabitants mainly gained their livelihood at that period by trading

with pirates, an enormous number of whom infested the neighbouring seas,

making raids upon the Spanish islands, and carrying off immense treasure

to Jamaica, where it was spent in debauchery.

The same book gives some interesting details of the earthquake in

Jamaica on 7th June 1692. In many of the streets of Port Royal there

were several fathoms of water, "a great mountain split and fell into the

level land, and covered several settlements and destroyed many people."

One settler's plantation was carried half a mile from the place where it

formerly stood. Part of the mountain, after having made several leaps,

overwhelmed a whole family and great part of a plantation, lying a mile

off; "and a large mountain is quite swallowed up, and in the place where

it stood there is now a vast lake, four or five leagues over." About

2000 people perished by this catastrophe.

Owners would never consent to allow their slaves to become Christians,

as will be seen by the following extract:--

"I took a great interest in a certain slave, Sambo, who wanted much to

become a Christian, and spoke to the master of the plantation on his

behalf. His answer was, that were Sambo once a Christian he could no

longer be accounted a slave, and thus owners would lose hold on their

slaves. Were he in this case to do so, such a gap would be opened that

all the planters in the isle would curse him."

We learn from another old volume (_An Account of the Island of Domingo,

1668_) that "there are several old mountains in the midst, which

encompass an inaccessible bottom, where from the top of certain rocks

may be seen an infinite variety of reptiles of dreadful bulk and length.

The natives were wont to tell of a vast monstrous serpent that had its

abode in the said bottom. They affirmed that there was in the head of

it a very sparkling stone, like a carbuncle, of inestimable price, that

the monster commonly veiled that rich jewel with a thin moving skin like

that of a man's eyelid, and when it went to drink, and sported itself in

the deep bottom it fully discovered it, and the rocks all about received

a wonderful lustre from the fire issuing out of that precious gem."

The original entry of the marriage of Lord Nelson in the register of the

parish church where it took place was exhibited in the Nevis Court. Very

singular also is the sales-list of the Byam estate in Antigua, from

which we learn the prices of slaves to have varied from AL10 to AL150,

"warranted sound." Some elderly ladies and gentlemen of colour are

occasionally "thrown in gratis." Several copies of the slave Bible were

also shown, in which all verses calculated to disturb the idea that

slavery is an institution by right Divine are carefully eliminated.

THE END.

INDEX

A.

Adderley, Sir Augustus, 257.

Advertisements for the sale of slaves, 271.

Albemarle, Duke of, captures Havana and Matanzas, 60.

" Duke of, Governor of Jamaica, 268.

" Duchess of, 269;

remarkable behaviour of, 270;

believes herself to be Empress of China, 270.

Amedeo, Prince, accepts the Spanish crown and resigns it again, 90.

American Revolution, the, 62.

Americans, influence of the, upon Cuba, 19;

settlements in the island, 26;

help the insurgents, 87.

Amusements in Havana, 129;

during Carnival, 139.

Animals found by Columbus in Cuba, 6;

animals of the forests, 106.

Antomarchi, Dr to Napoleon I., 203;

his death and monument, 203.

Apiculture introduced by French colonists, 61.

Aquelera, Don Francisco, elected President of the Cuban Republic, 93.

Aristocracy, Havanese, 126.

_Aristolochia pelicana_, the, 149.

Army, the rebel, its number and organization, 101.

_Autos da fA(C)_, the frequency of, 56;

description of an, 59.

B.

Bahamas first sighted by Christopher Columbus, 38;

New Providence, 224.

Bananas, 4;

used as vegetables, 154.

Banyan tree, the, 148.

Baracoa founded by Diego Velasquez, 49.

Barbadoes, 263;

governorship of Lord Howe, 266.

Bats, enormous size of, 7.

Bayamo, founded by Diego Velasquez, 49;

taken by the Spaniards from the rebels, 85.

Beggars in Havana, the, 137.

Bellamar Caves, the, 158.

Berriz, Colonel, accusations brought against, by Miss Cisneros, 118.

Birds, 8.

Blake, Lady, 231.

Bobadilla, DoA+-a Isabella de, Governess of Cuba, 181.

Bolivar, 67.

Borgian Maps, the, 258.

Botanical Gardens of Havana, the, 127.

British interests in Cuba, 26.

Buccaneers, the, and their romantic history, 51;

their hatred of the Spaniards, 52;

their rugged life, 52;

Henry Morgan, the Welshman, 52;

they burn Havana, 53;

enactments against the, 52;

the adventures of Jacob Sores, 53.

Buchanan, President, threatening message to Spain, 78.

Bull-baiting, 145.

Butter, lack of, in Cuba, 154.

C.

Cactus, the enormous size of the, 126.

CafA(C)s and restaurants, Cuban, 155.

Campos, Marshal Martinez, agrees to the Treaty of Zanjou, 94;

his good intentions, 116.

Canga, the, 141.

Canovas, SeA+-or, de Castillo, signs Treaty of Zanjou, 95.

Cardenas, called the "American City," 26;

its population, 192 (in note).

Carnival, dances given during, 23;

the Havanese Carnival, 139;

its end on Shrove Tuesday, 142.

Caruba tree, the, 190.

Cattle used as horses, 167 (in note).

Cauto River, the, navigable for small craft, 5.

Caves of the Bellamar, the magnificent, 158.

Cays, the, dangerous to vessels, 5;

their beauty, 174.

Cemeteries, Cuban, 202.

Cereals, exported from Spain, 4.

Cerro, the, 125.

Cespedes, Carlos Manuel, begins the rebellion, 83;

his character, 83;

the burning of his plantation, 85;

elected President of the Cuban Republic, 87;

his tragic death, 91.

Chinese, the wretched condition of the, in Cuba, 37;

the Chinese in the ranks of the rebels, 37;

their religious practices, 110.

Churches, the, of Havana, 132;

music in the, 138;

flirtation in church, 138.

Cienfuegos, the town and harbour, 161;

the surrounding country, 162.

Cipango, Columbus thinks Cuba is, 42.

Cisneros, Miss Evangelina, story of, 117.

Cisneros y BA(C)tancourt, Don Salvador, elected

President of the Cuban Republic, 93.

Clergy, the, of the rebel army, 109.

Cleveland, President, tries to prevent filibustering

expeditions to Cuba, 99.

Climate, 2 (in note);

is tolerable, 10;

108.

Coaches in Havana, 131.

Cock-fighting in Cuba, 145;

a century ago, 275.

Cocoa, 4;

the plant, 213.

Coffee, was one of the principal products, 3;

replaced by the sugar cane, 69;

a coffee plantation, 213.

Columbus, Christopher, first sights the New World, 38;

lands at Fernandina, 39;

the wonders he encounters, 39;

his followers grow clamorous for gold, 40;

the imaginery Quinsai, 40;

he discovers Cuba, 40;

and takes possession of it in the names of the Spanish sovereigns, 41;

convinced that it is the Cipango described by Marco Polo, 42;

believes Cuba to be a part of the mainland, 43;

said to have landed at British Honduras, 44;

Columbus and the native, 46;

visits the island twice again, 49;

the journeyings of his remains, 133;

his enthusiastic description of New Providence, 225;

his birthplace, 237;

and parents, 238;

the house in which he was born, 240;

his brothers, 241;

first goes to sea, 244;

his education, 244;

the sports he played when a child, 254.

Columbus, Diego, Governor of Hispaniola, 49.

Cook, the Cuban, 124.

Cookery, Cuban, 155.

Coolie labour, 36.

Cuba, Island of, its shape and size, I;

mountains, 2;

position and weather, 2 (in note);

coffee and tobacco once the chief articles of cultivation, 3;

French settlers persuade the Cubans to extend their sugar plantations, 4;

other products, 4; navigable rivers, 5;

animals and reptiles, 7;

disagreeable insects, 8;

flora, 10;

climate, 10;

filthy drains, 11;

its prehistoric inhabitants, 14;

present population and inhabitants, 16;

laws, 17;

first appearance of the Inquisition on the island, 18;

Las Casas gives an impetus to education, 18;

state of chaos in, during the Napoleonic period, 19;

overrun by Americans, 19;

society in, 23;

first sighted by Columbus, 40;

its numerous names, 41 (in note);

its beauties in the eyes of its Discoverer, 41;

first circumnavigated, 49;

Diego Velasquez sent to, 49;

he founds Havana, Santiago de Cuba, etc., 49;

Hernando Cortez in, 49;

C. during the buccaneering period, 51;

Drake appears off, 54;

prosperity of, at the beginning of the 18th century, 59;

taken by the English under the Duke of Albemarle in 1762, 60;

large French emigration to, 61;

administration of Don Luis Las Casas, 63;

effect of the Revolution upon, 66;

bad times for, 68;

opening of the Cuban ports, 68;

"Cuba la Sempre Fiel," 69;

the beneficent government of Tacon, 72;

the prosperity of, declining, 73;

the first indications of rebellion, 74;

offers to purchase C., 77;

C. in 1860, 79;

the state of the island going from bad to worse, 81;

result of the work of the Commission appointed to enquire

into the affairs of, 81;

Maximo Gomez, Commander-in-Chief of the rebel army, 93;

U.S. trade with Cuba, 97, 113;

Cuban forests, 104;

economic condition of, 114;

C. Spain's death-trap, 115;

description of Havana, 121;

Marianao, 148;

the cafA(C)s and restaurants of Cuba, 155;

Cienfuegos, 161;

Trinidad, 172;

backward state of the plantations, 174;

Santiago de Cuba, 179;

the newspapers of, 189;

a Cuban plantation, 205;

the beauty of the Cuban night, 212;

a Cuban household, 214.

_Cubana_, the dance, 141.

Cubanos, or Cubans, filthy habits of the, 11;

descent from early Spanish settlers, 17;

characteristics of the, 18;

Voltarian and free-thinking works read by the, during

the Napoleonic Era, 19;

many, educated, 19;

the C. not permitted to share in the Government until

twenty years ago, 20;

C. who live for generations on one plantation, 20;

a very domestic people, 21;

isolation of the children, 21;

premature marriages, 21;

laxity of morals among the, 21;

morbid literature read by the, 21;

the drama, 22;

their love of music, 23;

their large families, 24;

the piety of the women, 24;

insincerity of the, in their religion, 24;

their contract with foreign ideas, 71;

their wish to be represented in the Cortes at Madrid, 71;

they petition Queen Isabella to appoint a Commission to

enquire into the state of the island, 81;

C. in official positions, 112;

the Carnival in Havana, 139;

their theatricals, 144;

the Guajiros, 162;

early habits of the C. 168;

why they differ with the Spaniards, 176;

a Cuban funeral, 200;

a young Cuban lady, 215;

their partiality for smoking, 222.

Cucullo, the, 8.

D.

DECKER, MR, and the Miss Cisneros incident, 118.

Dinner, a Cuban, 154.

Dogs, 6;

the tiny spaniel and the colossal molasso, 6.

Drains, abominable condition of the, 11.

Drake, Sir Francis, appears off Cuba, 54.

Duck-hunt, a, 170.

"Dutchman's pipe," the, 150.

Dysentery among European colonists, 10.

E.

EARTHQUAKES, 3.

Eastern Province, the wholesomest part of the island, 11.

Education, impetus given to, by Las Casas, 18;

the education given by the Jesuits, 19.

Emancipation of the slaves, first steps towards the, 29;

its horrible results, 29.

Estates, the large, given to Spaniards, 20;

rarely if ever visited by the latter, 20;

curious custom on many Cuban estates, 20.

F.

FAN, the language of the, 138.

Ferdinand the Catholic, his opinion of the Spanish people, 70.

Fernandina, 39.

Filharmonia Theatre, an incident in the, 76;

the first appearance of Mme. Patti at the, 143.

Fish, 6; tropical, 8.

Flora, beauty and variety of the, 10;

in the forests, 105;

some strange flowers, 128;

the banyan tree, etc., 148;

ferns, 151, 184;

the moon-flower, 213;

the silk-cotton-tree, 229;

the vegetation of New Providence, Bahamas, 231.

Florida, failure of Hernando de Soto's expedition to, 50;

given to the English in exchange for Cuba, 60.

Foreign residents, 20.

Forests, Cuban, 4, 104.

Fossils of prehistoric fauna, 6;

of human remains, 14.

France wishes to purchase Cuba, 77.

French Revolution, effects of the, upon the West Indies, 64;

remarks upon the, 271.

French settlers, persuade the Cubans to enlarge their sugar plantations, 4;

large emigration of, in 1765, 61;

they introduce the art of apiculture, 61.

Fruits of Cuba, 4; oranges, bananas, etc., 154.

Funeral rites, 200.

G.

GALEGOS, immigration into Cuba of, 17 (in note).

_Galleria_, the, 145.

Gambling in Cuba, 144.

Game, prehistoric, 6.

Garcia, Manuel, the brigand, 101.

Genoa, the birthplace of Columbus, 238;

description and appearance of, 247;

the trade of, 255.

Genoese, the, 252;

the piety of the, 253.

Ghosts, Cuban belief in, 198.

Gomez, Maximo, Commander-in-Chief of the rebel forces, 93;

he retires to San Domingo, 95.

Government of Cuba, 74 (in note);

the bad, 77;

its backwardness, 115.

Governors, magnificence of the, 54;

their rapacity, 74.

Grant's Town, 228.

"Green snake," the, 232.

_Grenada Gazette_, 266, 271.

Guajiros, manners and customs of the, 162;

their supposed relationship with our own costers, 165.

Guanajay, 219.

Guava jelly, 217.

H.

HASKETT, MR ELIAS, Governor of the Bahamas, 267.

Hatuei, the Cacique, bravery of, 15 (in note).

Havana, the city of, society in, 23;

founded by Diego Velasquez in 1519, 49;

obtains civic rights under Las Casas, 50;

burnt by the buccaneers in 1528, 53;

rebuilt by Hernando de Soto, 53;

sacked afresh by the buccaneers, 54;

attacked by the Dutch under Admiral Jolls, who is repulsed, 54;

first theatre opened in, 56;

attacked and taken by the English under the Duke of Albemarle, 1762, 60;

Tacon rebuilds part of the town, 72;

Diego Velasquez calls Havana "La llave del Nuevo Mondo," 121 (in note);

view of the town from the harbour, 121;

the houses of, 123;

the Cerro, 125;

aristocracy of, 126;

cathedral, churches, promenades, gardens, streets, etc., 126;

mode of shopping in, 127;

the Botanical Gardens, 127;

eventide in, 129;

coaches, 131;

the churches, 132;

charitable institutions, 137;

the beggars of, 137;

the Carnival, 139.

Havana University established in 1721, 18;

several chairs created by Las Casas, 19;

almost entirely governed by Cubans, 112.

Heredia, JosA(C) Maria, Cuba's greatest poet, 184.

Holy Week in Santiago, 181.

Horses, scarcity of, in Cuba, 55.

Hotels in Matanzas, the, 152.

Houses of Havana, the, 123; of Matanzas,

157.

Howe, Lord, Governor of Barbadoes, 266.

Hurricanes, 2 (in note).

I.

IGUANA, the harmless but hideous, 9;

roast, 217.

Indian and Colonial Exhibition, 257.

Indigo, 4.

Inhabitants, earliest, 14.

Inquisition, or Holy Office, first introduced into Cuba, 18;

used against State prisoners, 58.

Insects, disagreeable, 8; several insects first introduced

into Europe from Cuba, 8;

the cucullo, 8;

mosquitoes, 126.

Institutions, charitable, 137.

J.

JAMAICA, 275; an earthquake, 276.

Jesuits, the education given by the, 19;

persecution of the, 34;

their first appearance in Cuba, 57.

Jewellery, quantity of, in Havana, 125.

Jews, the, in Cuba, 27.

Junta, Gran, in New York, 98;

excites the Americans against Weyler's atrocities, 117.

L.

LANGUAGE of the early natives, 15.

Las Casas, aid given to education by, 18;

his good government, 50.

Las Casas, Don Luis, the good administration of, 63.

_Leyes de Indias, Las_, 18, 31.

Litterateurs of Cuba, 184.

Lizards, variety of, 9.

Louisiana, expedition to, under O'Reilly, 61.

Lowther, Mr, Governor of Barbadoes, 267.

M.

MACEO, cruelty of, 101;

his character and appearance, 110;

doubts as to whether he is shot, 111.

Mahogany, a once valuable product, 4.

"Maine" disaster, the, 120.

Maize, always been a necessity of life, 4.

Mangoes, 4.

Mantis, 207.

Marco Polo, 38.

Marianao, 148.

Matanzas taken by the English in 1762, 60;

its foundation and name, 152;

"The Golden Lion," 152;

description of M., 157;

its attractions, 158;

the Yumurri Valley, 159.

Mayas, importation into Cuba of, to take the place of coolie labour, 37.

Merced, 132; the curious picture in the, 135;

its orchestra, 138.

Mexico, the Revolution in, 68.

Milanes, the poet, 186.

Monserrat, condition of the island of, in

the 17th century, 260.

Moon-flower, the, 213.

Morgan, Henry, the Welsh buccaneer, 52.

Morro Castle, 121.

Mosquitos, swarms of, 126.

Mountains of Cuba, 2;

unhealthy condition of the mountain regions, 4.

Music, Cuban, 190.

N.

NASSAU, the city of, 226;

Grant's Town, 228;

the silk-cotton-tree, 229;

its magnificent bay, 233.

Natives, language of the, at the time of Columbus, 15;

their appearance and manners of life, 15;

extermination of the, 15 (in note);

modesty of the native ladies, 39;

condition of the, at the time of the discovery, 44;

their affinity with the natives of the neighbouring

islands and the mainland, 44;

their number, 45;

their quiet life, 45;

and religion, 46;

Spanish cruelty to the, 47;

their few descendants, 48;

reduced to slavery, 49.

Narvaez starts from Santiago for Yucatan, 180.

Negroes introduced to replace the aborigines, 27;

the free blacks, 35;

their liking for gaudy dresses, 35;

in church, 35;

their love of music, 36;

rebellion of the, 64;

barbaric state of the rebel negroes, 109;

how the blacks enjoy themselves during the Carnival in Havana, 140;

piety of the, 142;

the n. at the opera, 142;

their superstitions, 193;

the n. of the Bahamas, 224;

their cleanly habits, 226;

the n. of Monserrat, 261.

Nelson, marriage of Lord, 277.

New Providence, Bahamas, 225;

a contrast after Cuba, 226;

its vegetation, 231;

the flatness of the island, 233;

the heavy dews, 236.

Newspapers, the, of Cuba, 189.

O.

OBI, the worship of, 193;

strange rites of, 194.

Ojo del Toro, Mountain of, 2.

Oranges, 4.

O'Reilly, Marshal, his expedition to Louisiana, 62.

P.

PALMA, SEA'OR THOMASO ESTRADO,

President of the Gran Junta in New York, 98.

Palm-trees, 205.

_Patria, La_, the Revolutionary journal, 98.

Payrete Theatre, the, 141.

Petition to the Queen-Regent of Spain, 119.

Philip II., laws framed by, 18;

fortifies Cuba, 54.

Philippe, Louis, wishes to buy Cuba, 77.

Pico Turquino, Mountain, 3.

Pine-apple, the, 4;

a plantation, 233.

Pinos, La Isla dos, a health resort, 5 and 11.

Plantations, or Haciendas, backward state of the, 174;

description of a, 205.

Population, sparse, in mountain regions, 4;

early inhabitants, 14;

present, 16;

the rural, 176.

Prim, General, proposes to sell Cuba to the U.S., 88;

assassination of, 90.

Procession, a religious, 169.

Propaganda, the archives of the, 258.

Puentes Grandes, 149.

Puerto Principe, founded by Diego Velasquez, 49;

description of, 192.

Punta, La, the fortress, 121.

Q.

QUESADA, MANUEL DE, brother-in-law to Cespedes, elected

Commander-in-Chief of the insurgent army, 87.

Quinsai, the imaginery city, 40.

R.

RAILWAYS, mainly in British hands, 26;

Cuban, 150.

Rainy season, 2 (in note).

Rebellion, the Cuban, real commencement of the movement, 64;

first steps towards open, 75;

open revolt under Cespedes, 82;

the holder of the funds decamps, 84;

want of money and arms, 84;

rebels worsted at Bayamo, 85;

the horrors which resulted, 85;

tragic death of Cespedes, 91;

Maximo Gomez elected Commander-in-Chief, 93;

the Treaty of Zanjou, 94;

abstention of the towns from taking part in the, 100;

organization of the, 101;

an encampment, 107.

Rebels, cruelty of the, 101;

number and organization of the, 101;

amusements of the, 109;

their priests, 109.

_Reconcentrados_, the miserable lot of the, 108.

Religion, insincerity of the Cubans in their, 24;

present religious awakening, 24;

toleration, 26;

religion and slavery, 34;

Catholicism in Cuba, 56;

ceremonies of the Church, 57;

an Archbishopric created, 58;

reaction in favour of, 138;

a procession, 169;

state of, in Monserrat, 260.

Reptiles: the red asp, 7;

scorpions, 7;

cure for the bite of a Cuban scorpion, 7.

Republic, the Cuban, proclaimed by, and Cespedes elected President, 87;

send envoys to England, France, and the United States, 87;

tragic death of Cespedes, 91;

Don Cisneros y BA(C)tancourt elected President, 93;

Don Francisco Aquelera, third President, 93;

the Treaty of Zanjou, 94;

the Republican Parliament dissolved in 1879, 95.

Rincon, 151.

Rosario waterfalls, 6.

S.

SAN DOMINGO, revolt of the negroes in, 63.

San Francisco, the church of, 136.

San Salvador, first sighted by Columbus, 38.

Santiago, the province of, earthquakes in, 3;

healthiest half of the island, 11.

Santiago de Cuba, founded by Diego Velasquez in 1516, 49;

its bay, 178;

most historical city in the island, 180;

the cathedral, 181;

Holy Week in, 181;

a literary centre, 184.

Santoveneo, the late Countess of, 125.

Secret societies formed, 67;

branches in America, 98.

Shea, Sir Ambrose, Governor of the Bahamas, 232.

Shopping in Havana, mode of, 127.

Sierra de Cobre, 3.

Sierra Maestra, 1;

resemblance to Genoese Riviera, 2;

its peaks, 2.

Silk-cotton-tree, the, 229.

Slaves, female, 28;

the trade, 29;

the first steps towards their emancipation, and its

horrible consequences, 29;

continued sale of, notwithstanding the law, 30;

their idea of freedom, 30;

laws to protect the, 31;

inhuman torture of, 32;

the household slaves, 33;

their long hours of labour, 34;

slavery and religion, 34;

slavery replaced by coolie labour, 37;

large importation of, 73;

an arrangement for freeing them, 82;

laws against them, 261;

advertisements for the sale of, 271;

good treatment of the, 270.

Society, Cuban, 23.

Sores, Jacob, the adventures of, 53.

Soto, Hernando de, his ill-fated expedition to Florida, 50;

he rebuilds Havana, 53.

Spain aids the American revolutionists, 62;

mistaken policy of, with regard to Cuba, 66;

her revolting colonies, 67;

revolution in S., 90;

maladministration of, in Cuba, 112.

Spaniards in the island, 17;

bigotry of, 18;

S. and Cubans compared, 18;

their way of living, 25;

their cruelty, 47;

hatred in which they were held in the West Indies, 51;

dissipation of the Spanish landowners, 175.

Springs, fresh, 6.

Stories of the Obi, strange, 194.

Sucking-pig, the universal love of, 217.

Sugar, French colonists persuade greater growth of, 4;

sugar canes take the place of coffee, 69;

depreciation in value of, 114;

backward state of the plantations, 174;

description of a s. plantation, 208;

how sugar is made, 211.

Superstitions, Cuban, 193.

T.

TACON, the good administration of, 72.

Tacon, Theatre, the orchestra of the, 36;

the Carnival ball at the, 140;

description of the, 142;

great singers at the, 143.

Theatres in the West Indies, 274.

Tobacco, one of the chief products, 3;

some of the best plantations in British hands, 26;

the trade in a bad state, 114;

the story of, 218;

Cuban, 219;

the tobacco industry, 221.

Tom-tom, the, 36.

Torrecillas Theatre, the, 144.

Tortoise-hunting, 8.

Tortuga, Island of, the headquarters of the buccaneers, 52.

Torture of slaves, inhuman, 32.

Trinidad de Cuba, founded by Diego Velasquez in 1513, 171;

the starting place of Cortez on his expedition to Mexico, 171.

Turquino, the highest point in Cuba, 178.

Twilight, no, in Cuban latitudes, 174.

U.

UNITED STATES, the, wish to annex Cuba by purchase, 78;

will not recognise the Cuban Republic, 88;

another proposal for the purchase of the island, 88;

indignation in, over the "Virginius" affair, 89;

importance of Cuba to the, 95;

her trade with Cuba, 97, 113.

University of Havana established in 1721, 18;

several chairs created by Las Casas, 19;

almost entirely governed by Cubans, 112.

V.

VALDES, GABRIEL DE LA CONCEPCION, the mulatto poet, and his works, 186.

Varona, Don Enrique Jose, editor of _La Patria_, 98.

Vegetation of Cuba, 104.

Velasquez, Diego, sent to Cuba, 49;

founds Havana, Santiago, and other towns, 49;

impressed by the harbour of Havana, 121 (in note).

Villa Clara, 192.

"Virginius," affair of the, 89.

Volante, first appearance of the, 55;

how it looked, 131.

_Vomito nigro_, the deadly, 10;

whites attacked by, 104.

W.

WATERFALLS, the Rosario, 6.

West Indies, general condition of the, during the 17th century, 260;

different Governors of the, 266.

Weyler, General, Marquis of Tenerife, administration of, 116.

Y.

YAMS, 4.

Yellow fever, said to have first appeared in 1761: the

quickness with which its victims succumb, 12;

statistics of, 103 (in note).

Yumurri Valley, the, 159.

Z.

ZAMBRANA, RAMON, the poet, 188.

Zanjou, Treaty of, 94.

[Illustration: Map of Cuba]

Etext transcriber's typgraphical corrections made:

caligraphy=>calligraphy

ansado=asado

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The island of Cuba lies between the Caribbean Sea on the S., and the

Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Florida, and Bahama Channel on the N., being

nearly equidistant from the peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida and the

islands of Hayti and Jamaica. It stretches in N. lat. from 19A deg. 50' to

23A deg. 9', and in W. long. from 74A deg. 8' to 84A deg. 158'. The rainfall at Havana

is said to be 92.68 inches, or more than double that of the opposite

coast of Florida. The atmospheric tendencies are less violent than in

the other islands. Hurricanes are frequent, but not so terrible as

elsewhere in the same zone. However, one of them, in October 1846,

destroyed a third of Havana, while hundreds were killed and thousands

injured. The north wind blows with more or less strength throughout the

entire winter months. In summer, when the sun is at its zenith,

torrential rains, lasting for days at a time, are frequent. Hail is

rare, but, once or twice in this century, snow has fallen on the upper

plateaus of the Sierra Maestra. According to the proverbial "oldest

inhabitant," the rainfall has considerably diminished of late years

through the burning down of some of the forests in the central district

of the island. It has also been observed that in the past twenty-five

years the rainy season begins much later than it did in the good old

times--in June instead of April; and ends earlier--in July instead of in

October.

[2] The American Racoon--_Procyon lotor_.

[3] The rainfall of Havana is said to be 92.68 ins., more than double

that of the opposite part of Florida. Very heavy, and in certain

districts, dangerous dews, fall immediately after sunset. The

thunderstorms are of tremendous violence, the lightning being often so

incessant as to give quite a steady light.

[4] Between the years 1512-15 the whole island had been explored, and

the aborigines had already disappeared. The poor, timid, harmless

creatures offered no resistance to their conquerors. One chief alone,

the Cacique Hatuei, tried to escape. He refused baptism lest it might

lead to his being condemned to spend eternity in heaven, in the company

of his pious persecutors, who consequently tormented him to death. This

anecdote, related as it is by the Spaniards themselves, gives the

measure of their conception of Christian charity. There are, however,

two sides to every question, and I remember to have read in a very old

Spanish work, on the West Indies, an assertion that the aborigines of

Cuba were afflicted with a certain fell disease which rendered their

disappearance imperative. This may account for the persistence with

which their extermination was carried out, and also for the recorded

fact that in 1554 a number of native families were brought to Havana,

and isolated in a Lazaretto built for their reception near Guanabacoa.

[5] Statistics of Cuban population are very unreliable. The prolonged

rebellion, frequent epidemics and other causes have considerably

diminished the number of inhabitants, especially of late years.

Probably, the actual population does not exceed 1,300,000. According to

EliseA(C) Reclus, in his splendid _Universal Geography_ (admirably

translated into English, and published by Messrs Virtue & Co.), "Despite

revolutions, wars, and epidemics, the population of Cuba has increased

at least sixfold since the beginning of the last century. Enforced

immigration of whites, negroes, Chinese and Mayas has ceased, and free

immigration is now encouraged by grants of land. But independently of

this movement, there is considerable natural increase by the excess of

births over deaths. In time of peace, the annual increase may be

estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000, a rate according to which the whole

population might be doubled in fifty years. It rose from 600,000 in

1811, and 1,000,000 in 1841, to 1,521,000 in 1887 (last census), and may

now (1891) be estimated at 1,600,000." As to the coloured population, it

is estimated as amounting to between 600,000 and 700,000 all told, but I

very much doubt if it at present reaches anything like that figure,

owing to the number of deaths from starvation, epidemic, etc., which

have occurred during the last ten years, and the cessation of all

coloured immigration into the country.

[6] Since the abolition of slavery, some few Galegos have emigrated from

Spain, mainly to seek employment in the houses of the wealthy. It may

interest the reader to know that the peasantry of Galicia have for many

ages supplied Spain and Portugal with their best domestic servants. They

are an honest and frugal race, faithful to their employers, and

excellent cooks to boot. They are much sought after in Cuba, where they

obtain higher wages than they can earn in the Peninsula.

[7] According to Las Casas and Herrera, the point first touched by

Columbus was situated at the extreme east of the island, at Baracoa.

Navarreto, on the other hand, declares that Columbus landed at the bay

of Nipe; and Washington Irving is of opinion that it was at Nuevitas,

the port of Puerto Principe. Cuba has been called Fernandina, Santiago,

and Ave-Maria Alfa y Omego, but its original native name of Cubican or

Cuba has alone been retained.

[8] Unfortunately, when we come to examine the matter closely, we soon

discover that similar atrocities have always accompanied discoveries of

new lands and peoples. The swarming native populations of North and

South America have nearly all disappeared, and not precisely on account

of an advancing civilization. The unhappy aborigines of Africa have

suffered a similar fate.

[9] Perhaps it were as well if I here remind the reader that Cuba is

ruled by a Governor or Captain-General, whose despotic authority is

derived directly from the Crown. He is supreme head of the island's

civil, military, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and is, surrounded by

a crowd of dependents of every degree, beginning with thirty-four

lieutenant-governors, who preside over as many cantons or divisions of

the island, each of whom, in his turn has a host of underlings. Judicial

affairs are in the hands of the "Real Audienca Pretorat or Superine

Court." The judicial districts, of which there are twenty-six, are

presided over by an Alcalde or Mayor, who has a numerous staff of

salaried satellites. The Maritime division of Cuba is subject to a

Commander-General, who is at the head of five stations with centres at

Havana, Trinidad, San Juan de los Remedios, Matanzos, and Santiago de

Cuba. As almost every member of this army of functionaries is Spanish

born, and as the Yankees would express it, "on the mash," some idea may

be conceived of the waste of public money in the way of salaries, paid

to men who, more often than not, have no duties to perform. But it is

quite untrue to assert that no Cubans "need apply" when a vacancy occurs

in this multitudinous burocracy. Quite the contrary. Many Cubans are in

the civil service of the island, but they are powerless to reform

abuses, and frequently are even less scrupulous than the Spaniards.

[10] The price offered was AL40,000,000. The Yara rebellion, which broke

out in 1868, cost Spain over 100,000 men, and certainly not less than

AL40,000,000, the sum named for the purchase of the island by the United

States.

[11] In an exceedingly interesting letter from the New York

correspondent of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, dated May 24th, I found the

following valuable statistics on the subject of epidemics in Cuba:--

"The dread of yellow fever might reasonably have discouraged the

enlistment of volunteers, who could foresee that they would be needed in

Cuba during the rainy season, but the offers and applications show that

the Government could take into the service to-morrow 500,000 men,

instead of the 125,000 already called, if it should consent to accept

them. The mortality reports of the Spanish army are appalling, but

yellow fever has not been the most deadly of the diseases with which the

Spanish soldiers have contended. The number of deaths in the military

hospitals on the island last year was 32,534, and of the 30,000 sick men

sent back to Spain at least 10 per cent. must have died, for many of

them were beyond cure. The reported deaths were distributed as follows,

in round numbers: Typhoid fever and dysentery, 14,500; malarial fever,

7000; yellow fever, 6000; other diseases, 5000. And 2583 persons died of

small-pox in Havana. But the resident inspector of our Marine Hospital

Bureau (which is a kind of National Board of Health) reports that only

one of the five large military hospitals in Havana is in good sanitary

condition; the others are little better than pest-houses, and one of

them is characterised by the inspector as 'the filthiest building in the

city.' The Spanish soldiers have been sacrificed to the greed and

corruption of their commanders and the prevailing mediaeval ignorance of

sanitation.

In the recent official indictments of Spanish misrule in Cuba, scarcely

anything has been said about the perpetual menace of yellow fever

infection to which this country has been subjected, and to the enormous

actual cost in the United States of fever epidemics, the seeds of which

were introduced from the island. Of late years all our yellow fever

epidemics have come from Cuba, and the infection has entered our

Southern States in spite of the most elaborate precautions and defences.

Many years ago the disease was sometimes brought from Vera Cruz; but

Mexico, under the effective and progressive rule of Diaz, has cleansed

her infected ports, and they are no longer to be feared. An epidemic of

this fever on our southern seaboard, even if it be of short duration and

attended by slight mortality, causes very great alarm--because the

ravages of memorable visitations are recalled by the people--and

paralyses commerce and industry throughout a wide area. The actual cost

of such an epidemic may be 100,000,000 dols. The epidemic of last year

entailed a loss of a third or a half of that sum. No relief can be

expected so long as the island shall suffer under Spanish misrule. But

now we may look forward with confidence to the time, not far distant,

when this nuisance shall be abated."

[12] According to the best authorities, Diego Valasquez, the Conqueror

of Cuba, founded the famous city of San Christobal de la Habana in 1519,

and being immensely impressed by the width and depth of the harbour, and

its generally favourable position for trade purposes, he called it _la

llave del Nuevo Mondo_, the key to the New World.

[13] See on this subject the following works: (1) _Los restos de Colon_,

per Don JosA(C) Manuel de Echeverry, Santander, 1878; (2) _Cristofero

Colombo e San Domingo_, per L. T. Belgrano, Genova, 1879; (3) _Los

Restos de Cristobal Colon_, by Tejera, Santo Domingo, 1879; (4) _Los

restos de Colon_, Emiliano Tejera, Madrid, 1878.

[14] The Tacon Theatre was built in 1830 by a man who made his fortune

selling fish. Having saved up a large sum, he invested it in land, and

built the first market upon the site, and finally, as an act of

gratitude to his fellow-citizens for having assisted him in making some

millions of dollars, he built them their largest theatre.

[15] In a great many parts of the Eastern Province, cattle are used as

horses.

[16] Literally God's Baby.

[17] Exhibited by the writer in the West Indian Court of the Colonial

Exhibition.

[18] From notes made some years ago of the conversation in question.

[19] The two other important Cuban cities which I did not visit are

Cardenas, which is known as the American city, and which is situated

immediately on the seaboard, and has a population of about 20,000

inhabitants, and Villa Clara, which is situated on Jagua Bay, a noble

expanse of water which could easily accommodate and shelter half the

fleets of Europe. Both these cities are remarkably well drained and

prosperous, and give evidence at every turn that they are in the hands

of an enterprising and energetic people. Between the two towns there

must be between five and ten thousand residents, all of whom are engaged

in commerce.

[20] Those who wish to obtain a more perfect knowledge of tobacco and

its cultivation will do well to read the two exhaustive chapters on the

subject, in "Cuba with Pen and Pencil," by Samuel Hazzard, by far the

best book ever written on Cuba.

[21] Then, in all probability, he witnessed the coronation of the Doge

Paul of Novi, a dyer who certainly did business with his father, and

lived in the same neighbourhood. The romantic and tragic history of this

Doge recalls that of Marino Faliero. Deposed by the mob, he was

decapitated.

[22] This Appendix and the following one respectively appeared in

another and less elaborate form in the _National Review_ and the

_Antiquary_, and are reproduced here, with additional matter, by the

courteous consent of the editors of these reviews.--R. D.