The men are, also, generally speaking, manly and good-looking, though much lighter, smaller and more agile, than the Americans. The lazy life that is so universally led by them tends to make them less manly in physical development than a life of activity would do. It seems to be an acknowledged principle among them never to do that for themselves that a slave can do for them,--a fact that is very plainly demonstrated by the style of the volante, where the little horse is made not only to draw after him the vehicle and its contents, but also to carry upon his back a heavy negro, weighed down with jack-boots and livery, as a driver, when a pair of reins extending from the bridle to the volante would obviate all necessity for the negro's presence at all. But a Creole or Spaniard would think it demeaning to drive his own volante; the thing is never seen on the island. The climate, we know, induces to this sense of ease. With abundance of leisure, and the ever-present influences of their genial clime, where the heart's blood leaps more swiftly to the promptings of the imagination--where the female form earliest attains its wonted beauty and longest holds its sway over the heart--the West Indies seem peculiarly adapted for romance and love. The consequent adventures among the people are very numerous, and not, oftentimes, without startling interest, affording such themes and plots as a French _feuilletonist_ might revel in. An ungraceful woman is not to be found on the island; whether bred in the humble cottage of the Montero, or in the luxuriant mansion of the planter or citizen, she is sure to evince all the ease and grace of polished life. Your heart is bound to them at once, when on parting they give you kindly the Spanish benediction, "Go, señor, in a good hour."