GAN-EDEN:

OR,

PICTURES OF CUBA.

"The place was called Gan-Eden, the Garden of Delight; and it be-
longed to the Caliph Haroun-Al-Raschid, who, when his heart was con-
tracted, used to come to that garden and sit there; so his heart became
dilated, and his anxiety ceased." — Noureddin and the Fair Persian.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.

CLEVELAND, OHIO:

JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON.

NEW YORK: SHELDON, LAMPORT AND BLAKEMAN.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1854, by

JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE:

ALLEN AND FARNHAM, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS

TO MY FRIEND

MRS. F. W. S.,

IN THE NAME OF ONE WHOSE MEMORY IS LINKED WITH THE

SWEETEST AND THE SADDEST RECOLLECTIONS

OF MY CUBAN JOURNEY,

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

IN calling Cuba a "Garden of Delight," I only express the sum of those bright memories, of a genial nature, and of more genial human friends, which I brought away from the tropics.

The title "Pictures of Cuba," indicates my intention in composing this volume. I have not attempted to write a history, or a gazetteer of Cuba. I have only sought to reproduce the sights and thoughts which passed before the eyes, and through the mind of one whose interest in Cuba is by no means recent, and who tried to see and to think for himself. Many mistakes of detail, I must have made. I have done my best to avoid them, but my chief wish has been, to preserve the aroma of those general impressions, which are the best things that an unscien