New-York daily tribune., 1857-04-15
A JOURNEY IN CUBA.
HAVANA.

Skph and for three h7hs OF miie next the sea, out
$50 to $50 yards in width, though in It's inner portion
L spreads into several bays On their southern and
eastern shores are small suburban towns, bearing the
sane relation to Havana which jersey City aud WIZ
Bsnsburgh bear TO New-York.
The City of Havana covers the western eide OF the
harbor. its suburbs without the walls (which comprise
avery large part Of the whole extending across 10 ''
Sea 20 that the whole town covers 'ort oi Pen","'
n noipt Of land bounded on one sde by the hafoo''
and on the other by the Gulf .,..t
The streets ore narrow many of them scaice'y d.
so,dinp room for the passage Of two vo"h'eS' o'cn
Sirty and abounding in i'll smells most P'e'ae",
among which is the rank odor oi the ta9o vi JoAeu
be.f which !. used for the food OF the negroes ana
forms an important staple of trade. lhe SidewaKS'
be,e they ARE found are mere ledges or shelves OF
stone. from which, when two pedestrians meet, one
nust usually step off into the carTageway. Walking
tbps become. intoerabe aud ladies rarely venture in
the streets on foot Fortunately, public carriages are
abundant and cheap, always 10 be had at hxeo
prce and in this feature Havana has greatly the ad-
vantage Of New-York, where one engages mack
only in the last resort knowing that the inevitable re-
snt is an inpos;tion or quarrel with the coachman
Everybody who has heard of Cuba has heard OF the
voante that strange cumbrous gig with shafts twelve
ny 6een feet long on which the body is perched far
in advance Of the six.foot wheels drawn by hor7e
which NOT only pulls the carriage and bears great part
of ,s weight on his back, but supports the burden
of the black po-tiion or ealeserO also The mo-
tion of the volante is easy enough, but the
comfort of ones ride is mared if he has any OF the
Apelo-Saxon's sympathy with the brute creation-a
feeling in which the Spanard seems to be quite de-
fcient. The price of single drive for any distance
within the city is but pesea or quarter-dolar but
il one engages voante from stable he may pay as
roupdy as for carriage in New-York We paid half
IN ounce, or IS 50, for two hours use of nice one
with two horses and learned too late, that such was
the regular charge for vOlante for the afternoon and
would entitle Us to its use from to 10 o'clock.
The general plan of the town is nearly regular and
rectangular but the streets wind or bend frequently,
bringing into more conspicuous view the striking pc
cuIarities Of their architecture.
In the poorer parts of the town. the buildings are of
but single story. Their lowness, the narTowness of
the streets and the bright coors used reminded us
constantly and fOrcibly of Pompeii Every window is
covered by iron gratings permitting air to he freely
admitted at all hours and excluding unwelcome in
truders; but this gives thoroughly prson-like ap-
pearance, and constantly feels as If the brown
faces and pointed Spanish eyes behind them be-
lopged TO culprits Of description This is true as
well of the lower windows of the better houses, which
are guarded as strongly those of the old palaces of
Florence.
In most of the good houses, the handsomer rooms
are in the second story the lower being roughly paved
with stone and used for the offices OF the establish
ment. Entering through huge portal, closed by
double doors of thick mahogany, bolted and rveted
with brass one finds himself in square court, around
which doors open into various rooms on the ground
while above gallery interior balcony runs all round
the interior and allows communication with the apart
mepts on the second story. The roof projects inward
10 far as to shelter this gallery and the rain is in great
part shed over into the inner area, in which
tank or impluyum to be constructed we should notice
another close analogy to the old Pompean houses.
In the broad entrance.arch stands usually the vo-
ante belonging TO the family, and close by flight OF
wide stone steps, rallied with iron or heavy mahogany
balustrade, gives access to the upper floor.
The apartments here are arranged in a form most
dissmilar to anything in our Northern States.
Usually large paror occupies the front on the street
separated from room Immediately in its rear fronting
on the court yard by three OF four columns or arches
The latter sometimes closed by iron gratmgs From
each end of the front paror open the best chambers
by double doors ten feet high; others are provided
around the gallery in the rear The paor opening on
the court is usually the dning-room. All the inner
walls are painted in rough fresco, or papered to im'
IL,
upper floor is usually paved with marble. square
niece of capeting or large mat lies side and on
this are usually ranged fronting each other two lines OF
rockingslars, stcles of furniture which seem inds-
pensable TO the comfort of the Cuban ladies.
The whole interior arrangement of the houses Is
made with a view to secure space and ventilation IN
this hot climate, and need not be surprised that
they differ widely from ours, constructed with re-
gard primarily to warmth. The apartments are far
ess separate and private than northern habits demand
Frequently the partition between the paror and ad-
Joining chambers reaches only TO the top of the walls
while the roof being open large space is left above
through which every sound is perfectly audible from
room TO room, and the galleries and balconies inside
and outside the courtyard permit almost every cham
Der TO be scrutinzed through its windows. The latter
are usually quite without sashes aud only once during
our stay in Cuba had glass window to our room
The grating excludes ntruders but if gazers also are
10 be kept out il is necessary TO shut out light and air
also by q curtain or heavy shutter. We were obliged
TO shut our windows closely in this way at our hotels,
for our apartment being usually on the ground floor,
we were visited not only by curious black and white
faces at our window bars, but nightly by cats which
entered through the gratngs, upset our pitchers and
bowls in the dark and walled horribly about our beds
We saw no 6replaces or chmneys, except of the
latter few which carried off the charcoal fumes
from the kitchen ranges. The roofs are usually of
tiles but not unfrequeny nearly fiat terraces made OF
brick and cement, forming pleasant place of family
assemblage in the evening; though the Creoes are
rather shy of exposing themselves either to the air
after dusk the during the middle of the day
There few priests to he seen in the streets of
Havana and the reputation Of the clergy the island