The volante and its belongings--The ancient town of Regla--The arena for the bull-fights at Havana--A bull-fight as witnessed by the author at Regla--A national passion with the Spanish people--Compared with old Roman sports--Famous bull-fighters--Personal description of Cuban ladies--Description of the men--Romance and the tropics--The nobility of Cuba--Sugar noblemen--The grades of society--The yeomanry of the island--Their social position--What they might be--Love of gambling, 131 CHAPTER XI. A sugar plantation--Americans employed--Slaves on the plantations--A coffee plantation--Culture of coffee, sugar and tobacco--Statistics of agriculture--The cucullos, or Cuban fire-fly--Novel ornaments worn by the ladies--The Cuban mode of harnessing oxen--The montero and his horse--Curious style of out-door painting--Petty annoyances to travellers--Jealousy of the authorities--Japan-like watchfulness--Questionable policy--Political condition of Cuba, 145 CHAPTER XII. Tacon's summary mode of justice, 161 CHAPTER XIII. Consumption of tobacco--The universal cigar--Lady smokers--The fruits of Cuba--Flour a prohibited article--The royal palm--West Indian trees--Snakes, animals, etc.--The Cuban blood-hound--Mode of training him--Remarkable instinct--Importation of slaves--Their cost--Various African tribes--Superstitious belief--Tattooing--Health of the negroes--Slave laws of the island--Food of the negroes--Spanish law of emancipation--General treatment of the slaves, 171 CHAPTER XIV. Pecuniary value of the slave-trade to Havana--The slave clippers--First introduction of slaves into Cuba--Monopoly of the traffic by England--Spain's disregard of treaty stipulations--Spanish perfidy--Present condition of Spain--Her decadence--Influence upon her American possessions--Slaves upon the plantations--The soil of Cuba--Mineral wealth of the island--The present condition of the people--The influences of American progress--What Cuba might be, 186 CHAPTER XV. Area of Cuba--Extent of cultivated and uncultivated lands--Population--Proportion between the sexes--Ratio of legitimate to illegitimate births--Ratio between births and deaths--Agricultural statistics--Commerce and commercial regulations--Custom-house and port charges--Exports and imports--Trade with the United States--Universities and schools--Education--Charitable institutions--Railroads--Temperature, 201 CHAPTER XVI.