to carry Don Quixote." Of anything in the shape of a vehicle for the accommodation of human kind it bears the nearest resemblance perhaps to a sedan chair;-open in front and partly on each side; suspended by springs on the cumbrous shafts described; the body resting upon the springs between the wheels and the horses, the latter being considerably in advance of the carriage itself, which for the most part is supported by them. These vehicles are drawn by mules or small horses, and driven by negro slaves a la postilion,—the drivers ensconced in a grotesque livery, in one hand exhibiting a huge thong of bullock's hide, and with the other guiding their steeds. The harness of the animals is in perfect keeping with the habiliments of the drivers and the rest of the equipage.

Some of the private volantes are very elegant, though in the same style, and the liveries exceedingly rich, corresponding with the rank and wealth of the owner-such as an embroidered coat, cocked hat, and large hussar boots with silver spurs, the latter seeming to have been manufactured in the time of the crusades, the rowel of them an inch or more in diameter. The driver of one of these vehicles is called a calashero, and both he and the horse are sometimes richly caparisoned with silver to the value of several thousand dollars. Some of the mules and horses for riding are arrayed in the same grotesque style, with high demipique saddles, together with massive stirrups, and bridles with huge mamaluke bits. The spectacle, altogether, of man and beast, would form a study for a comic painter.

The cabriolets or bullock cars that are in common use in the country, are as rude in their construction as those represented in the illustrations of the "Georgics" of our oldest Virgils.

The trade of Havanna is immense. Upwards of one thousand vessels are supposed to enter it for purposes of commerce in a year. Its revenue is twenty millions of dollars, and its outward and inward trade sixty millions.

The principal products of the country-a very considerable part of which are exported from this city-are sugar and tobacco. The tobacco, as is well known, is of more exquisite flavour than that of any part of America. The very best quality is said to be the monopoly of royalty.

Among the lesser staples may be reckoned ginger, long pepper, mastic, cocoa or chocolate, coffee, bees' wax, honey, manioc, and aloes.

There are at present in Cuba 1650 sugar plantations, 5128

cattle farms, 13 chocolate plantations, 224 cotton plantations, 34,432 fruit and vegetable farms, 7979 tobacco plantations, and 2284 colmenaries or farms devoted exclusively to the production of honey and wax.

The amount of the products of the island in 1852 was as follows:

The entire exports of Cuba in 1851 amounted to 31,341,683 dollars, and the entire imports to 32,311,430 dollars.

The quantity of copper ore exported from the island from 1841 to 1850 inclusive was as follows:

The aggregate value of the imports and exports in 1850 are

thus reported:

United States

Thus, of the whole exportation 31.77 per cent. went to English ports, 28.09 to United States, 13.87 to Spanish, 7.60 to German, 5.41 to French, and the remainder to other ports ; and of the importations 29.18 per cent. were from Spanish

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ports, 24.99 from United States, 22.07 from English, 8.34 from Spanish-American, 6.91 from German, 6:03 from French, and the remainder from other ports.

The commerce of the United States with Cuba in 1850, according to the returns of the Federal Treasury, was valued at 15,282,695 dollars, of which the exports amounted to 4,990,297 dollars, and the imports to 10,292,398 dollars. The shipping employed in the trade consisted of "Shipping entered the United States American, 249,307 tons, and foreign, 33,030 tons;' and of "Shipping cleared the United States-American, 254,018 tons, and foreign, 29,703 tons.

The revenue of Cuba for the ten years from 1841, has been as follows:

The above sums have been disbursed in about the following proportions: Civil expenses of the island, 17 per cent.; Military, 45 per cent.; Naval, 13 per cent.; other expenses, 10 per cent.; and 15 per cent. to the Spanish government in Europe.

The circulating medium is entirely metallic. The weights, measures, and moneys are those of Spain, but the French metrical system is about to be introduced.

The number of cattle on the island is 898,199: in the Occidental department, 267,033; in the Central, 458,166; and in the Oriental, 173,000.

The following is a statement of the value of the principal articles of Cuban produce in 1850:—

The quantities of the principal productions of Cuba, exported from the island in the ten years ending with 1850, have been as follows:

pipas.+ bocayes.‡

1841...13,272,902.....11,302...131,390...1,235,006...32,024...230,303..... 850,856 1842...13,082,288...10,227...119,138...1,998,846...33,384...237,713... 751,445 1843...14,225,660...13,810...191,093...1,630,782...48,101...230,303...1,289 985 1844...16,153,052... 6,326...172,431...1,240,032...34,276...237,713... 792,525 1845... 7,604,580... 4,120...121,322... 559,322...39,251...288,329...1,022.525 1846...15,803,884... 9,032...203,597... 817,662...41,716...353,041... 766,782 1847...20,396,976...19,432...252,840... 932,154...54,995...372,780...1,224 060 1848...19,659,488...16,339...228,726... 694,137...50,110...251,025... 807,403 1849...17,598,144...11,640...246,570... 877,137...35,691...160,765... 618,600 1850...19,993,808...11,825...269,044... 520,134.....58,194...319,125...1,068,200

Notwithstanding the unsettled state of Cuba and her cloudy future, internal improvements have been progressing. Railroads have been constructed in several localities. There are at present lines of railway extending over three hundred and fiftyone miles, connecting some of the most important places. They unite Havanna to Matanzas and Cardenas, and extend to Botobano, St. Fillipe, Puerto Principe, &c.

The electric telegraph is also in operation in several parts. of Cuba. The wires in general follow the railroads, and may be said to intersect the country, embracing east, west, and south, to Botobano, Havanna, St. Jago de Cuba, Matanzas, and Cardenas.

* An arroba is 25 lbs.-the Spanish and American pound nearly equal.
↑ Pipa, about 115 gallons.

A bocay is equal to 36 gallons.

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CHAPTER XXX.

CLIMATE, SCENERY, &c.- Description of hurricane in the tropical seas. Vegetable productions. Rivers. Mountains. Domestic and wild animals. General geological formations. Mineral riches. Principal objects of attraction to a stranger. Architecture and general description of churches. Cathedral. Church of San Domingo. palace. Chapel of Columbus. Statue of Ferdinand. Admiralty. Arsenal. Post office. Inquisition. American hotel. Alamadas. Plazas. Royal tobacco manufactory. Convent at Regla. Plaza del Toros or colosseum for bull fights. Reflections. Conclusion.

Vice regal

The climate of Cuba, especially in the suburbs of Havanna, is considered the most salubrious of any of the West India Islands, with the exception of Puerto Rico. It is impossible to convey to those who have never been among the beautiful islands of these tropical seas any idea of the fragrant delightfulness of the early dawn. The exquisite freshness of the morning, and the soft coolness of the breezy evening, when the very soul seems refreshed and strengthened, and the pulse of life beats fuller and clearer, produce sensations to be enjoyed only-never to be described.

Havanna itself, however, is unhealthy, partly from a want of drainage and general cleanliness, but principally from its being situated near a wide-spreading morass, pregnant with malaria, generating fever and the other pestilent diseases so fatal to European strangers. The climate differs considerably from that of Jamaica in temperature, although the difference of position in the two islands does not exceed five degrees. In the cold season the thermometer almost every year descends in Havanna to 60°, and sometimes to 55°; whilst at Kingston and Spanish Town it is seldom seen below 67° or 68°. The meridian heat in Havanna is 77°; that of July, the hottest month, 84°; and that of the coldest, 70°. Ice is sometimes formed at about three hundred feet above the level of the sea; while in Jamaica, congelation does not take place but at an altitude of from seven thousand to eight thousand feet. Snow, however, never, or but very rarely, falls in Cuba, even on its highest mountains. The changes of the temperature are also greater and more sudden in Havanna than in Kingston and in Jamaica generally.