Our first evening on this plantation was delightfully spent. After dinner,--which, by the way, was served as it would have been in an English country house, everybody being in full evening dress,--we had some excellent music. A young Cuban lady and gentleman entertained us by singing some of the national airs, as arranged by Yradié. The lady sang with great spirit, and her rendering of _la Paloma_ and of the _Habanera_ from Carmen was simply perfect. I have never heard the latter song sung with greater spirit, except by the famous Madame Calvé. Then two negro musicians were ordered to appear and give us a sample of their skill. One of the men, who evidently belonged to some very black and fierce Kaffir tribe, had a melodious baritone voice, and sang several African melodies, which were recalled to my memory some years afterwards, by some of the music so dear to the Asiatics of Constantinople, which is of the same nasal and twangy description, with endless cadences, and a certain absence of tune, which should win the approval of all faithful Wagnerians. As the night was exceedingly clear, before retiring to rest we went for a stroll in the gardens. It was my first experience of the transcendent beauties of a full moon in the tropics. Even the glories of an Italian moonlight must fade before such radiance as I now admired. The light shed by this southern "orb of night" was almost as golden as that of the sun, and yet the shadows remained quite dark; hence a vigorous contrast of light and shade, such as I have never seen elsewhere. The effect as we passed under the long avenue of palm trees was most striking. We might have been in the nave of some giant Gothic cathedral,--its columns were represented by the grey stems of the towering Royal palms, whose interlaced foliage, high above our heads, suggested the wonderful roof of Henry VII.'s chapel at Westminster. Some of the hedgerows in the garden were quite white with the "moon flower," a sort of snowy night-blooming convolvulus, the flowers of which are of immense size, and as flat and thin as a sheet of paper. This flower is an annual; several of its seeds which I carried back with me to England have succeeded very well.