112 CUBA AND PORTO RICO 



Coquelin and Hading. The audience was brillianl with all 

 that dress, jewels, and fair women could make it. One 

 could readily believe himself in Paris. The next night was 

 the closing Sunday of the carnival season. The fashiona- 

 ble world, which had filled the Tacon the week before, trans- 

 ferred its presence to the grand balls in the various club- 

 houses, and the Tacon was filled by a frightful canaille, that 

 indulged in the most licentious orgies. Negresses and mu- 

 lattos from the smallpox and fever-laden slums, drunken 

 sailors of all nations, and the scum of the male population 

 of the city held wild revelry. 



Other notable buildings are the large markets, the opera- 

 house, the captain-general's palace, the hospitals, the uni- 

 versity, the city prison, and several churches, including 

 the cathedral. The many immense cigar-factories are by 

 no means unattractive features. These are large buildings, 

 resembling the factories of the village towns of New Eng- 

 land, although more ornamental in architecture and sur- 

 roundings. 



The churches of Havana are not particularly numerous. 

 The largest is the Merced, a cathedral in the rococo style, 

 with handsome marble altars, mahogany and dark-colored 

 marble furnishings, and a superb choir. It is sur- 

 mounted by a large central dome and two short towers. 

 This edifice is principally interesting because of the fact 

 that it is one of the alleged resting-places of Columbus. 

 The disputed remains are in a small urn deposited in a 

 niche in the west wall of the chancel, and sealed up with a 

 marble slab surmounted by an excellent bust wreathed with 

 laurel. The inscription is as follows : 



O Restos e Ymagen del grande Colon ! 

 Mil ciglos durad guardados en la Vrna ; 

 Y en la remembransa de nuestra Nacion. 1 



1 The literal interpretation of this poorly constructed inscription is : 



Oh, rest thou, image of the great Colon ! 

 Thousand centuries remain guarded in the urn, 

 And in the remembrance of our nation. 



