A difficulty however arose here, for neither Mr.Lushington nor myself spoke a word of Spanish, although we understood tolerably well what others said to us; the paying our bill became therefore rather a matter of embarrassment.

One of the guides saw our distress and made signs that he would arrange matters for us; we accordingly gave him a dollar.

With this he paid the bill and I saw him receive some change, which he coolly pocketed; I afterwards asked him for it, but he pretended with the utmost nonchalance not to understand me; so we saw no more of it.
SCENERY NEAR ORATAVA.
In the ride from Matanzas to Oratava the road is wretched but the scenery compensates for this.

Upon arriving at the brow of the hill above Oratava, a beautiful prospect bursts upon the sight; directly in front rises the lordly Peak, whilst in the foreground are vineyards, cottages, and palm-trees; in the centre stands La Villa, the upper town of Oratava, encircled with gardens; on the right lies a rich slope running down to the sea which bounds the prospect on that side; and on the left rise rocky mountains, for the greater part clothed with wood.
We now spurred our horses on and, leaving the guides behind, soon reached La Villa, accompanied by a countryman who had joined us upon a pony; but, on getting into the town, the melancholy truth rushed upon my recollection that we could not speak Spanish: had we remained with our guides this would not much have signified, for they had been told at Santa Cruz to take us to a hotel.
EMBARRASSMENTS ON ARRIVAL THERE.
Nothing remained now but to do our best to open a communication; we accordingly accosted a variety of individuals in English, French, Italian, German--but in vain.

Spanish alone was understood or spoken here; our friend, the countryman, stuck to us most nobly, he understood us not a bit better than the rest but saw that we were in distress and would not desert us.
We at last deliberately halted under a house where we could get a little shade, for the sun was intensely hot and, a crowd having soon collected, we harangued them alternately and received long answers in reply; but, although able to make out a great deal of what they said, we could not get them to understand a single word on our part.