The streets through which the traveler passes are picturesque, but hardly practical, from the American point of view. Some of them are so narrow that carriages cannot pass, and all traffic must go in one direction. Nearly all of the business streets have awnings extending from one side to the other, between the roofs, as a protection from the tropic sun. The sidewalks on some of the most pretentious streets are not wide enough for three persons to walk abreast, and on others two cannot pass. On every hand one gets the impression of antiquity, and antiquity even greater than the four hundred years of Spanish occupancy actually measures. Spanish architecture, however modern it may be, sometimes adds to that impression and one might believe himself, with little stretch of the imagination, to be in one of the ancient cities of the old world. The streets are paved with blocks of granite and other stone, roughly cut and consequently exceedingly noisy, but upon these narrow streets front some shops as fine as one might expect to discover in New York or Paris. It is true that they are not large, but they do not need to be, for nearly all are devoted to specialties, instead of carrying stocks of goods of the American diversity. The one who wants to shop will not lack for temptations. The selection is ample in any line that may be named, the styles are modern and in exquisite taste, and altogether the shops are a considerable surprise to one who judges them first from the exterior. Stores devoted exclusively to fans, parasols, gloves, laces, jewels, bronzes, silks and the beautiful cloth of pineapple fiber known as nipe cloth, are an indication of the variety that may be found. The shoes and other articles of men's and women's clothing are nearly all direct importations from Paris, and where Parisian styles dominate one may be assured that the selection is not a scanty one. Clerks are courteous even to the traditional point of Castilian obsequiousness, and altogether a shopping expedition along this Obispo street is an experience to be remembered with pleasure. HAVANA HOMES. You notice that everything is made to serve comfort and coolness. Instead of having panes of glass, the windows are open and guarded by light iron railings, and the heavy wooden doors are left ajar. You see into many houses as you pass along, and very cool and clean they look. There are marble floors, cane-seated chairs and lounges, thin lace curtains, and glimpses of courts in the center of each building, often with green plants or gaudy flowers growing in them between the parlor and the kitchen.