Buildings about all uniform. The Churches are magnificent, and enrich'd with Gold and Silver, Lamps, Candlesticks, and Ornaments for the Altars. There are some Lamps curiously wrought, which weigh two hundred Marks of Silver, [each Mark being half a Pound.][1] The Revenue of the Bishoprick amounts to more than fifty thousand Crowns, and he who enjoy'd it in the Year 1703, as I was inform'd by my Friend, who gave me this Account of what he had seen, was the greatest Ornament of that City, for his Virtues and Charity, being satisfy'd with Necessaries, and spending all the rest upon the Poor, and in repairing decay'd Churches. Tho' Strangers are prohibited to trade there, yet it is easier carried on than at Veracruz. The Inhabitants are more familiar; the Women have more Liberty, yet they do not go Abroad without their Veils to wrap and hide them. Many of them speak French, and dress after the French Fashion, and some of our Nation have settled themselves there. When my Friend was there, a magnificent Festival was celebrated for fifteen Days successively, in Honour of K. Philip the Fifth, and Monsieur du Casse being then there, with his Squadron, the City desir'd him to join with them. To that Purpose, he set ashore five hundred Men, who perform'd the Martial Exercise in the great Square, which was much admir'd. The Havana is the Place, where the Galeons meet. By this word should not be understood ships of extraordinary size; for most of them are but very inconsiderable craft which Spanish vanity strives to magnify by a swelling name. But if these ships are not great, their precious freight is so. For all that, this city, the gateway to the treasures of the West Indies, is full of beggars—but it is by their own fault, and by their idleness that they are such. Provisions are dear there, especially Bread; but the Wine is not, tho' it is good. Fish and Flesh there, are unsavory. The Inhabitants are Spaniards.
- ↑ Bracketed words not in the French original.
