Culm anb \\t ^a\\\\)tx\\ states, ^^0. 



LLUSION has already been made to an American board- 

 ing-house in the country. A few days passed there, 

 realized to our party the blessings of the English lan- 

 guage ; most of us were lamentably deficient in Spanish, 

 and though one or two professed to translate to the others 

 the smairamount of information contained in the Havana 

 papers (which are mostly filled with long love stories, 

 and give, for foreign news, the price of sugar and the 

 rate of exchange, to the exclusion, almost, of everything 

 which would inform the inhabitants of how the world wags 

 beyond the Gulf of Mexico), it was a relief to find landlord, 

 major domo, chambermaid, and a fine boy who brought us 

 our daily baskets of oranges, &c., all speaking undisguised 

 English. Their information regarding the trees was rarely such as would do to 

 print, for they confounded pines and dates with bread fruit, and so on ; but we 

 had to confess that a common language was a great bond of good fellowship. 

 This house is on a plantation of four hundred acres, once devoted to the cultiva- 

 tion of coffee, but the owner dying, it has been rented to Mr. Monson. The 

 dwelling is a hybrid, meant to embody indulgences for some of our habits, while 

 it conformed to the climate. It bears no resemblance to the generality of houses 

 on the island, which are more like Mrs. Almy's (before inserted), and only of one 

 low story. Framed in the United States, Mr. Monson's house has glass windows, 

 and somewhat of an American air, and visitors may here feel quite at home, and 

 make pedestrian, railroad, or equestrian excursions to the fine scenery and the 

 sugar and coffee plantations with great satisfaction. 



There are a few other places where English is spoken ; among them is Mrs. 

 Lawrence's, at Guines, where some comfort is to be had, but if you ask the hotel 

 keepers in Havana for such places, they will sometimes flatly deny their existence, 

 in the hope of keeping you within their own grasping charges. _ 



From this point, an expedition was got up to procure some air-plants for send- 

 ing home. A black was hired to climb trees, and a white man for guide. The 

 laziness of both was characteristic of the climate. The black was about to ascend 

 a tree, when his master wanted to smoke a cigar; no matches being found on any 

 of the party, the lazy fellow left us all in the heat, while he went away for half an 

 hour, to get a light for his master ; offer which, he concluded that particular tree 

 was utterly inaccessible, and a new search near the house where he procured fire, 

 had to be undertaken ! Truly, it is difficult, with such tools, to get along, or 

 accomplish much. 



Fortunately, there are men in existence, in every age, who depend upon them- 

 selves, and who take the exertion necessary into their own hands. The name of 

 Frofessor Philip Poey is well known to all men of science. He resides in Havana, 

 and is attached to the College, all his leisure being devoted to natural history. 

 With so wide a field for research, and with true enthusiasm, it may be well im- 

 agined that his correspondence with the learned societies of other countries is of 

 the most valuable kind. 



John Gundlach is a name also well known to European and American natu- 

 ralists, his collections being found in the best museums wherever science is culti- 

 vated. His great topic is ornithology, l)ut he does not confine himself exclusively 

 to birds. He starts out with a meagre scrip and wallet, and traversing the island 

 like a true devotee of science, reminds one of the votaries who have sacrificed 



