I Fully Believe That This Effect, And Their General
Health, In Spite Of The Inaction In Which They Pass Their Lives, Is Owing
To The Free Circulation Of Air Through Their Apartments.
For in Cuba, the women as well as the men may be said to live in the open
air.
They know nothing of close rooms, in all the island, and nothing of
foul air, and to this, I have no doubt, quite as much as to the mildness
of the temperature, the friendly effect of its climate upon invalids from
the north is to be ascribed. Their ceilings are extremely lofty, and the
wide windows, extending from the top of the room to the floor and guarded
by long perpendicular bars of iron, are without glass, and when closed are
generally only closed with blinds which, while they break the force of the
wind when it is too strong, do not exclude the air. Since I have been on
the island, I may be said to have breakfasted and dined and supped and
slept in the open air, in an atmosphere which is never in repose except
for a short time in the morning after sunrise. At other times a breeze is
always stirring, in the day-time bringing in the air from the ocean, and
at night drawing it out again to the sea.
In walking through the streets of the towns in Cuba, I have been
entertained by the glimpses I had through the ample windows, of what was
going on in the parlors.
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