II 



however unpleasant may be its memories of the old 

 pirate days, it is a remarkably respectable place, not 

 even a murder having thrown a shadow on its nearly 

 untarnished reputation during the past fifteen years. It 

 would be difficult to imagine a quieter spot. On Sundays 

 especially, is it quiet, when not only are the shops all 

 closed, but the majority of the house-shutters also, and the 

 tranquil air is laden with church music of the most ortho- 

 doxly sober description. 



The first place you drive to on landing is the hotel — the 

 " Royal Victoria." This homelike and admirably organised 

 house can accommodate at least 300 persons. The rooms 

 are very clean and pleasant, and the board abundant and 

 varied. The charge per day is only ^3 (i2j-.), everything 

 included, except, of course, wine and spirits. The " Royal 

 Victoria " stands in a beautiful tropical garden, and, as it 

 is a picturesque building, produces a most favourable effect, 

 especially upon those who have just landed from New 

 York, which, perhaps, they left only four days previous, in 

 the midst of a snow-storm. 



" The first impression," continues Mr. Davey, " produced upon 

 our arrival in Nassau, from Cuba, was rather singular, and con- 

 cerned the marked difference of the influence of the Spanish and 

 the Anglo-Saxon races upon the African. Cuba is a Spanish colony, 

 and unhappily (although the cursed institution is slowly dying 

 out) still a slave country, with a large coloured population ; New 

 Providence has a population of 15,000 free negroes to only 4,000 

 whites. Personal observation only can give any idea of the filthi- 

 ness of the dwellings of the lower classes of Cubans, and especially 

 of those belonging to the blacks. The coloured folks of Nassau are 

 cleanly and tidy to a great degree. Most of the Cuban towns are 

 more or less squalid. The city of Nassau is, if anything, too 

 prim, and its inhabitants are models of order in their dress and 

 habits. I saw at a glance that the coloured people here have 



