[32] "This favored land wants nothing but _men_ to turn its advantages to account, and enjoy their results, to be acknowledged as the garden of the world."--_Alexander H. Everett._
[33] Humboldt tells us that he has often heard the herdsmen in South America say, "Midnight is past--the Southern Cross begins to bend."
[34] "No such extent of taxation, as is now enforced in Cuba, was ever known or heard of before in any part of the world; and no community, relying solely on the products of its own labor, could possibly exist under it."--_Alexander H. Everett._
The volante and its belongings--The ancient town of Regla--The arena for the bull-fights at Havana--A bull-fight as witnessed by the author at Regla--A national passion with the Spanish people--Compared with old Roman sports--Famous bull-fighters--Personal description of Cuban ladies--Description of the men--Romance and the tropics--The nobility of Cuba--Sugar noblemen--The grades of society--The yeomanry of the island--Their social position--What they might be--Love of gambling.
The volante, that one vehicle of Cuba, has been several times referred to in the foregoing pages. It is difficult without experience to form an idea of its extraordinary ease of motion or its appropriateness to the peculiarities of the country.[35] It makes nothing of the deep mud that accompanies the rainy season, but, with its enormous wheels, six feet in diameter, heavy shafts, and low-hung, chaise-like body, it dashes over and through every impediment with the utmost facility. Strange as it may seem, it is very light upon the horse, which is also bestridden by the postilion, or _calisero_. When travelling any distance upon the road, a second horse is added on the left, abreast, and attached to the volante by an added whiffletree and traces. When there are two horses in this style, the postilion rides the one to the left, leaving the shaft horse free of other weight than that of the vehicle.
When the roads are particularly bad and there is more than usual weight to carry, of baggage, etc., a third horse is often used, but he is still placed abreast with the others, to the right of the shaft horse, and guided by a bridle rein in the hands of the calisero. The Spaniards take great pride in these volantes, especially those improved for city use, and they are often to be met with elaborately mounted with silver, and in many instances with gold, wrought with great skill and beauty. There were volantes pointed out to the writer, of this latter character, in Havana, that could not have cost less than two thousand dollars each, and this for a two-wheeled vehicle. A volante equipped in this style, with the gaily dressed calisero, his scarlet jacket elaborately trimmed with silver braid, his high jack-boots with silver buckles at the knee, and monstrous spurs upon his heels, with rowels an inch long, makes quite a dashing appearance, especially if a couple of blackeyed Creole ladies happen to constitute the freight. Thus they direct their way to the Tacon Paseo, to meet the fashion of the town at the close of the day--almost the only out-door recreation for the sex.