He Told Us
That Its Three Thousand Inhabitants Had Four Places Of Worship - An
Episcopal, A Catholic, A Methodist, And
A Baptist church; and the
drinking-houses which we saw open, with such an elaborate display of
bottles and decanters,
Were not resorted to by the people of the place,
but were the haunt of English and American sailors, whom the disasters, or
the regular voyages of their vessels had brought hither. He gave us an
account of the hurricane of September, 1846, which overflowed and laid
waste the island.
"Here where we stand," said he, "the water was four feet deep at least. I
saved my family in a boat, and carried them to a higher part of the
island. Two houses which I owned were swept away by the flood, and I was
ruined. Most of the houses were unroofed by the wind; every vessel
belonging to the place was lost; dismasted hulks were floating about, and
nobody knew to whom they belonged, and dead bodies of men and women lay
scattered along the beach. It was the worst hurricane ever known at Key
West; before it came, we used to have a hurricane regularly once in two
years, but we have had none since."
A bell was rung about this time, and we asked the reason. "It is to
signify that the negroes must be at their homes," answered the man. We
inquired if there were many blacks in the place. "Till lately," he
replied, "there were about eighty, but since the United States government
has begun to build the fort yonder, their number has increased. Several
broken-down planters, who have no employment for their slaves, have sent
them to Key West to be employed by the government. We do not want them
here, and wish that the government would leave them on the hands of their
masters."
On the fourth morning when we went on deck, the coast of Cuba, a ridge of
dim hills, was in sight, and our vessel was rolling in the unsteady waves
of the gulf stream, which here beat against the northern shore of the
island. It was a hot morning, as the mornings in this climate always are
till the periodical breeze springs up, about ten o'clock, and refreshes
all the islands that lie in the embrace of the gulf. In a short time, the
cream-colored walls of the Moro, the strong castle which guards the
entrance to the harbor of Havana, appeared rising from the waters. We
passed close to the cliffs on which it is built, were hailed in English, a
gun was fired, our steamer darted through a narrow entrance into the
harbor, and anchored in the midst of what appeared a still inland lake.
The city of Havana has a cheerful appearance seen from the harbor. Its
massive houses, built for the most part of the porous rock of the island,
are covered with stucco, generally of a white or cream color, but often
stained sky-blue or bright yellow. Above these rise the dark towers and
domes of the churches, apparently built of a more durable material, and
looking more venerable for the gay color of the dwellings amidst which
they stand. The extensive fortifications of Cabanas crown the heights on
that side of the harbor which lies opposite to the town; and south of the
city a green, fertile valley, in which stand scattered palm-trees,
stretches towards the pleasant village of Cerro.
We lay idly in the stream for two hours, till the authorities of the port
could find time to visit us. They arrived at last, and without coming on
board, subjected the captain to a long questioning, and searched the
newspapers he brought for intelligence relating to the health of the port
from which he sailed. At last they gave us leave to land, without
undergoing a quarantine, and withdrew, taking with them our passports. We
went on shore, and after three hours further delay got our baggage through
the custom-house.
Letter XLVI.
Havana.
Havana, _April_ 10, 1849.
I find that it requires a greater effort of resolution to sit down to the
writing of a long letter in this soft climate, than in the country I have
left. I feel a temptation to sit idly, and let the grateful wind from the
sea, coming in at the broad windows, flow around me, or read, or talk, as
I happen to have a book or a companion. That there is something in a
tropical climate which indisposes one to vigorous exertion I can well
believe, from what I experience in myself, and what I see around me. The
ladies do not seem to take the least exercise, except an occasional drive
on the Paseo, or public park; they never walk out, and when they are
shopping, which is no less the vocation of their sex here than in other
civilized countries, they never descend from their _volantes_, but the
goods are brought out by the obsequious shopkeeper, and the lady makes her
choice and discusses the price as she sits in her carriage.
Yet the women of Cuba show no tokens of delicate health. Freshness of
color does not belong to a latitude so near the equator, but they have
plump figures, placid, unwrinkled countenances, a well-developed bust,
and eyes, the brilliant languor of which is not the languor of illness.
The girls as well as the young men, have rather narrow shoulders, but as
they advance in life, the chest, in the women particularly, seems to
expand from year to year, till it attains an amplitude by no means common
in our country. I fully believe that this effect, and their general
health, in spite of the inaction in which they pass their lives, is owing
to the free circulation of air through their apartments.
For in Cuba, the women as well as the men may be said to live in the open
air. They know nothing of close rooms, in all the island, and nothing of
foul air, and to this, I have no doubt, quite as much as to the mildness
of the temperature, the friendly effect of its climate upon invalids from
the north is to be ascribed.
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