Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/196

Rh Cuba, Texas, and Mexico, and who has, in consequence, a touch of the Spaniards' grace of speech and manner, has since that time been a very agreeable companion to me, and I have to thank him for presenting me, through conversation, with living pictures of the scenery, population, and manners, of these Southern lands. The other, Mr. F., a merchant of New York, is grave and simple in his manners, one of those men with whom I always am at ease, and to whom I feel a sort of sisterly relationship.

This gentleman has accompanied me with noble American simplicity, and as kindly and with as little sense of impropriety as if he had been a brother, in various of my little excursions, making all the needful arrangements for me in the pleasantest manner. Thus we took a sail together to-day in the beautiful bay, crossed over to the heights Casa Blanca, which are covered with the wild candelabra-like aloes, and saw from thence a glorious sunset; after which we rowed round in the dark, clear shadows of the hills on the water, and saw it drip in gold and silver drops from the oars. It was a beautiful excursion, which had only one shadow, that was the company of a German gentleman, who had a great deal of that imperiousness which one frequently finds in European gentlemen, but seldom or never in Americans. His inflated manner formed on this occasion a great contrast to the single-mindedness of the American, who, in his simplicity, was so far his superior. But this is merely en passant.

I was in reality going to tell you of a visit which I and my two American gentlemen had made to the Cabildos de Negros, or to the assemblies of the free negroes of the city. It was not possible for me to go alone. These two gentlemen offered to escort me, and Mr. C., who spoke Spanish like a native, undertook to obtain admission for us, although the free negroes, in general, do not admit of