Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-02-28

CUBA AND HER PEOPLE.
The Rochester Union makes the following
extracts from letter delivered by Hon. Zadock
Pratt, before the Kingston Literary Association,
on the 18th Jan. 1t viii be found interesting
to those who visitthat Island either for business,
pleasure or health:
THE HOTELS IN CUBA.
Whoever expects to find the hotel of his
imagination in Cuba, will be sadly disappointed.
A cot, with no bed, and only a simple quilt q
bureau, washstand and rocking chair, form the
whole furniture of even the best bed rooms, and
the living in as different from our own as can
be imagined.
Very little can be said in favor of the
sleeping arrangements at most of the hotels.
One is never safe from intrusion; bed after bed
is filled up in your room, as new guests flock in
after every other available place has been
occupied, if you have been put into the double
bed in honor Of being the first conner it is ten
chances to one if you have not companion;
and if he is not ready to die of fever or some
other disease you may think yourself fortunate.
HOW THE cUBANs LIVE
You rise early and drink cup or two of
coffee while you are dressing, and also eat two
or three oranges, after which you pass away the
time to the best advantage till o'clock, when
you have breakfast. This is the regular hour
all over the city, and more than one-half of the
days work is accomplished before it. The
Havana merchant goes to his business and
then home to breakfast, as we in the city go
home to our dinner, and many of them do no
business after that meal. Fish, flesh and FOUL
of almost all kinds, cover the table, together
with cucumbers, green corn, and all the fruits
which are 80 luxuriant in tropics, but flour is q
scarce and expensive luxury, the duty charged
being almost prohibitory; the excellence and
variety of vegetables do away, to some extent,
with the want of it, and he who has roughed
the world for himself can live very comfortably.
Catalonia wine is generally used at breakfast
and dinner, but no coffee. 1t is soft and plea
SAINT, about as strong rs cider, and when taken
with alump Of ice from Boston is very palatabe.
The cooking is generally good, but even OH the
tables of the wealthiest planters the best sugar
is the coarse brown; the process of refining is
not considered necessary where it is made. In
fact, they seek to live with the least expenditure
Of labor, and though it may suit them very well,
must confess to a temperament suited to
working little harder and having things
little better.
COFFEE PLANTATION IN FULL BLOOM.
One Of the most beautiful sights that ever
attracted my eye was a coffee plantation in full
bloom. The coffee plant is an evergreen tree
from fifteen to twenty feet high with large
and smooth bright green leaf; the flowers are
white and sweet scented. ard grow in punches
at the base of the leaf 1t is usually planted
in lots of about eight acres, laid out in wide
walks, the borders of which are planted with
orange, banana, mango and other tropical
trees the partial shade of which is necessary
to preserve the coffee tree from injury. The
luxurant climbing plants of the tropics inter
Irvine the branches, and offer every shade Of
beautiful flower, and when the coffee plant is
also in blossom they are so large and abundant
that it seems as if cloud of snow had rested
upon each tree, and the whole forms scene
Of natural spendor, fully equal to the most
exalted idea of the garden of Eden. The
sugar plantations, however, though the least
beautiful of any, are by far the most profitable,
some of the largest yielding an income of over
two hundred thousand dollars per annum, while
the smallest produces about one hundred thou
sand. Sugar, coffee, and tobacco are the three
great staples of the island, but sugar yields
about double the per centage of profit that
either Of the others, and in fact the culture of
both coffee and tobacco has very much de-
creased.
EVENING on THE AVENUES.
The avenues out of the city extend for miles
as they stretch toward the plantations, lined on
each side with the unequalled royal palm, in
terspersed with other trees. The palm over
tops all the others, many of them rising to a
height of one hundred and twenty feet. The
leaves are from eight to ten feet long, and the
trunk is as round and smooth as if they had
been turned in lathe. These avenues were
much improved by the exertions Of Governor
General Tacon, who with all his faults, was
an iron-willed man, and did much for the i'm
proyement of the island. There is one street
or avenue, the Paseo Isabella, that does credit
to the taste of any man, and equals in beauty
that of the farfamed one in Madrid. 1t is in
terspersed with fountains, statues, and inter
lined with those magnificent palms, dividing it
into FIVE separate drives, two narrow ones on
either side ofthe main avenue. Snowy gardens
everywhere load the air with perfumes. Here
the wealth and fashion of the island slowly
pass and repass in their volantes every even
ing, the postiion Of each in silver livery, with
boots and spurs, The walks are crowded with
the admirers of those Cuban bellies, exchanging
the courtesies Of the day, while the graceful
movement of the. costly far. keeps time with
the music of the bands near by; yet, to break
the harmony Of the scene, sportsman on
horseback, or a soldier with fixed bayonet on
foot, are always in sight.
THE LADIES OF CUBA.
The ladies seldom wear bonnets, caps or
carry parasol-they sometimes throw over
their faces dark, rich veil.
1t is not considered breach Of etiquette to
stand for moment and gaze in at the window,
if you see pretty face, and If you lift your hat
and say beautiful you will be very likely re-
warded by sweet smile as you pass on. Any
attempt at what they would deem rudeness,
however, would be infallbly returned by few
inches Of a stiletto between the ribs. To avoid
gazing into room or into beautiful lady's
face, would be looked on as desire to inhict
slight / must say that compliment Of the
kind ! have mentioned from an American is
esteemed more highly than from their own
countrymen, as they consider ours to come
from the heart, while they know their own is
mere empty courtesy. So too if you see lady
going from church to her carriage, she is glad
to have you offer to assist her, even if you are
a stranger, and if she is pretty girl, and you
tell her so after she gets in. she pleasantly