Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/233

Rh bodies of the rich were interred in those lofty walls with their gilded inscriptions; those of the poor were buried in the earth without any token of memorial, without even a green sod over them, or a flower or shrub to speak of life above the grave; and there was one large quarter of the Campo Santo where the spectator beheld heaped-up mounds and walls of bones and skulls. This was the burial-place of the negro-slave. It is forbidden to bury a negro here in a coffin; the bodies are, therefore, thrown either wholly or half-naked into the ground, and lime, or some other kind of earth, which quickly consumes the flesh, is thrown upon them. In the course of from eight to fourteen days, the bodies are disinterred to make room for other corpses, and the bones are cast up in heaps to dry in the sun.

Whilst we stood here we witnessed the interment of some humble person in the neighbourhood of the negroes' quarter. I noticed that they laid cushions, coverlets, and articles of clothing with the dead in the grave.

During these, my last days at Havannah, I have visited, in company with my good Mrs. F., several beautiful private gardens in order to become acquainted with various flowers and fruits; I made the acquaintance, also, of Dr. Philippe Poé, the professor of botany, who has been so polite as to present me with some Cuban butterflies, amongst which is a specimen of the urania, the most beautiful butterfly of Cuba. It is of a splendid dark green colour, and has a gloss as of velvet.

I regret not having earlier become acquainted with the interesting and kind Alfredo S., because I should have gained much knowledge from him in Havannah, which the shortness of time does not now admit of.

Many things even in Cuba seem to have greatly improved of late years; in particular as regards police regulations and personal safety, as well in the whole island as in the city. Some years ago—I have been told this by