Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/83

Rh in advance of the other two. One sees such often on the public drives in the afternoon, or in the evening on La Plaza de Armas, where there is music and a great concourse. It is only seldom that a veil is seen worn over the head and shoulders, and scarcely ever a bonnet, which seems to belong to the foreigner.

When I first saw the rocking motion of the volante as it drove along the streets, I thought “that must be an extremely disagreeable carriage!” but when I was seated in one I seemed to myself rocked on a cloud. I have never felt an easier motion.

The Creole ladies, that is the native ladies of the island, do not make use of any defence from sun or wind; neither do they need it. After the hour of noon, when the breeze comes in from the sea, the air is not hot, neither does the sun burn here as on the continent. The complexion of the Creoles is pale, but perfectly healthy, and has a soft, light olive tint, which, together with their beautiful dark, but at the same time soft eyes, gives a piquancy to their appearance. The priests, in their long cloaks and queer, large hats, go about on foot. The greater number of the people in the streets are negroes and mulattos; even in the shops one sees mulattos, especially in the cigar-shops. Cigars are smoked universally, especially a small kind called cigaritos. The coloured population seem to intoxicate themselves with tobacco-smoke. I frequently see negroes and mulattos sitting dozing before the shops with cigars in their mouths. The calashero, when he waits before a house, alights, seats himself by the carriage, smokes and shuts his eyes in the sunshine. But where goes all the smoke? How can it be? It must be absorbed by the sea-air.

I must, however, make an end of my day. After I have walked about or sate upon the azoteon till towards midnight, enjoying the air, which, it seems to me, is possessed of a peculiarly sanative, beneficial life, and a banana which