F.'s have also again invited me to take up my former quarters in their house; but the house is full of children and guests, and I will not abuse their hospitality; besides, I so infinitely enjoy my solitude and my liberty.

This is Maunday-Thursday, a great holiday in the Christian Church, and I have this morning visited two churches in the city. There was great pomp in them. Ladies, dressed as for a ball, knelt upon splendid mats in silk attire, and satin shoes, jewels, gold ornaments, and flowers, with bare neck and arms, and every where the transparent black mantillas, and every where glittering, waving fans. Quite young girls, even, were so tricked out; and all around them stood gentlemen contemplating the ladies through their lorgnettes. The sight of all these adorned, only half-veiled women of all colors-for mulattoes also, very splendidly attired and with magnificent figures, were among them-prostrated in crowds on their knees in the centre aisle of the church, from the very end to the altar, is really beautiful, especially as the eyes and busts of the Spanish women are generally remarkably lovely.

the want of earnestness in every thing, excepting in vanity and the wish to be admired, was very striking, especially on a day such as this-the day of the Lord's Supper—that calm, unpretending, solemn day of initiation to the highest and holiest life of humanity. I called to remembrance a Maunday-Thursday in St. Jacob's Church at Stockholm; there simply called "Going to the Lord's Supper." Whole families assemble-father, mother, and children, assemble to drink together from the cup. I remembered the silence, the calm, deep devotion of all who filled that crowded church!

There is but one general voice in Cuba, among the strangers of various nations dwelling there, of the entire want of religious life on the island. The clergy live in open defiance of their vows; are respected by no one, nor deserve to be so; nor does morality stand any higher than religion.

"There is plenty of love and passion at Cuba," said a thoughtful young man, a resident there, to me, "but it is more frequently on the side of vice than of virtue."

The god of money is blindly worshiped. It is very seldom that a marriage takes place in which he has not been consulted before any other. Ladies who remain unmarried seldom continue blameless in their lives. Unmarried

men never are so.

People come to this beautiful island, like parasites, merely to suck its life and live at its expense. But it avenges itself, flings around them its hundred-fold, oppressive, snake-like arms, drags them down, suffocates their higher life, and changes them into a corpse in its embrace.

In the evening. I have again visited three or four churches. They are splendidly illuminated this evening, especially the choirs and around the altar-pieces. They were less crowded than at morning mass, and now principally by a lower class of people. Several seemed to be kneeling and praying with devotion. There sat, one on each side the entrance of the Cathedral, two magnificent Spanish dames entirely covered with jewels, each with a table before her, upon which a collection was made for the poor. One single jewel from all their splendor would richly have outweighed all the offerings of those humble people. I passed in and out without impediment, mingled with the crowds in the churches, or with the crowds. in the streets, and all was peaceable and quiet. The appearance was of a people going about to amuse themselves From this moment to Easter Sunday morning at about nine o'clock, a profound stillness prevails in Havana; not a single volante is seen in the streets. To-morrow afternoon they will be occupied by a great procession.

Easter Sunday. I witnessed the procession the day before yesterday, with two American acquaintances, from the piazza of La Plaza des Armas. Ladies dressed as for a ball, white, yellow, brown, and black, attended by

gentlemen, filled the square early in the afternoon, walking about, talking, and laughing. The mulatto ladies were particularly distinguishable by their showiness, brilliant flowers and ornaments in their hair and in their bosoms, and in these they flaunted about in the style of proud peacocks. It was evident that people were expecting a splendid show. In the twilight the procession approached with candles and blazing torches. The figure of the dead Christ is borne along lying upon a state-bed, beneath an immense chandelier, which lights up the pale, noble, wax countenance. Mary weeping is borne after in a gold-embroidered mantle, and with a golden crown on her head; and Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, have also their magnificent garments. The procession was large, and not without a certain pomp and dignity. Among those who took part in the procession, I observed a number of negroes with large white scarfs bound across the breast and shoulders. I was told that they belonged to a kind of order of Freemasons, who attached themselves to the church by the exercise of deeds of mercy, taking care of hospitals, &c.

Thousands of people streamed gayly along the streets and squares, and the colored portion especially brilliant, in all the colors of the rainbow. It was a splendid spectacle, but not at all suitable for the occasion. Not a particle of seriousness was observable among the masses of people. It was very evident by this procession that religion was dead in Cuba!

Nevertheless, yesterday was a great fast, and a deep stillness prevailed throughout the lively Havana. This morning the image of the arisen Christ was borne in great procession from the Cathedral to the Church of St. Catalina; and from St. Catalina, in the mean time, another procession was advancing, the weeping Mary Magdalene seeking for Christ. When the processions meet, and it is proclaimed that Mary Magdalene has met Christ, a shot is

fired, and all the bells of the churches begin to ring, flags to wave in the harbor and on the church towers, and trumpets to be blown. The fast is at an end. Volantes drive out of the gates, and negroes rush about also, shouting and laughing; a thoughtless, universal jubilation at once begins.

During all this I quietly betook myself to my favorite Cortina de Valdez. It was the loveliest morning that could be imagined. The bright blue sea, agitated by the wind, flung itself in lofty, silvery-crested waves around the feet of the rocks of the Moro, and the flags in the harbor fluttered cheerfully in the morning breeze. The atmosphere was full of regenerated life. White doves flew down to the white marble basin, and drank of its fresh spring waters; little green lizards darted about on the wall with love and delight; and as I walked along, my soul uttered these words:

She walks along lonely,

She comes from a foreign land;

She is distant from friends and from kindred;

She walks along lowly,

Lonely she walks among strangers;

They of her having no knowledge,

She not knowing them;

They look upon her

With cold and indifferent glances.

Yet still her spirit

O'erfloweth with joy,

With bliss gusheth over,

And bright are her eyes,

With warm tears of gladness.

She has one friend,

One friend who was dead,

And he has arisen,

And this is his day of arising,

The morning of Easter!

And fresh living breezes,⚫

And the bright sun ascending,

And the ringing of church-bells,

And the fluttering of banners,
And flowers unfolding,

And twittering of lizards,

And the beating of drums,

And the blaring of trumpets,

And the great ocean,

And white doves which drink at the rim of the fountain;

They all speak of Him,

They all bear His name,

That name so beloved,

And His name by the whole world is borne !

April 20th. Your birth-day!

which gave me my dear friend!

Blessings on the day
I can not to-day pre-

sent you with flowers, but I can sit down in thought with you, and tell you the history of the day, which was to me party-colored, but amusing, and which will perhaps amuse you more than a bouquet.

Two American gentlemen, of the chivalric species, whom I hope our Lord will bless with man's best reward—good and beautiful wives-had taken charge of me and my effects when I came by rail-way from Matanzas to Havana, and conducted me and mine, safe and sound, to Havana House. One of them, who has resided much in Cuba, Texas, and Mexico, and who has, in consequence, a touch of the Spaniards' grace of speech and manner, has since that time been a very agreeable companion to me, and I have to thank him for presenting me, through conversation, with living pictures of the scenery, population, and manners of these Southern lands. The other, Mr. F., a merchant of New York, is grave and simple in his manners, one of those men with whom I always am at ease, and to whom I feel a sort of sisterly relationship.

This gentleman has accompanied me with noble American simplicity, and as kindly and with as little sense of impropriety as if he had been a brother, in various of my little excursions, making all the needful arrangements for me in the pleasantest manner. Thus we took a sail together to-day in the beautiful bay, crossed over to the heights Casa Blanca, which are covered with the wild