PART III 

 HOME BY THE SPANISH MAIN 



I 



CUBA 



When the valiant Ponce de Leon went back to 

 Havana from Florida, whither, misguided warrior, 

 he had voyaged in search of the fountain of 

 perpetual youth, he took with him in his side as a 

 souvenir from the Indians an arrow-wound of which 

 shortly he died in the true faith. 



I took even less, for a month in the States had 

 brought the exchequer to such a state of coma that 

 it had to be resuscitated by fresh cablegrams im- 

 mediately on my arrival in the Cuban capital. 



I have already related how the all-water route 

 originally planned from Useppa Island to South- 

 ampton broke down at the first stage, and twice 

 more on the return journey I found myself con- 

 signed to the railroad, with in both cases the solace 

 of most interesting views of typical inland scenery 

 of the Caribbean. 



After the crudities of Florida, which, however 



delightful its sport, is, apart from its few civilised 



hotels and resorts, a land of savagery, Havana 



impressed me with its Spanish picturesqueness. 



Here, once more, the eye rejoiced in gaiety and 



i8o 



