A sugar plantation--Americans employed--Slaves on the plantations--A
coffee plantation--Culture of coffee, sugar and tobacco--Statistics
of agriculture--The cucullos, or Cuban fire-fly--Novel ornaments
worn by the ladies--The Cuban mode of harnessing oxen--The montero
and his horse--Curious style of out-door painting--Petty annoyances
to travellers--Jealousy of the authorities--Japan-like
watchfulness--Questionable policy--Political condition of Cuba.
The sugar plantations are the least attractive in external appearance,
but the most profitable, pecuniarily, of all agricultural investments in
the tropics. They spread out their extensive fields of cane without any
relief whatever to the eye, save here and there the tall, majestic and
glorious palm bending gracefully over the undergrowth. The income of
some of the largest sugar plantations in Cuba is set down as high as two
hundred thousand dollars per annum, the lowest perhaps exceeding one
hundred thousand dollars. Some of them still employ ox-power for
grinding the cane; but American steam-engines are fast taking the place
of animal power, and more or less are monthly exported for this purpose
from New York, Philadelphia and Boston. This creates a demand for
engineers and machinists, for whom the Cubans are also dependent upon
this country; and there are said to be at this time two hundred
Bostonians thus engaged, at a handsome remuneration, upon the island. A
Spaniard or Creole would as soon attempt to fly as he would endeavor to
learn how properly to run a steam-engine. As this happens to be a duty
that it is not safe to entrust to even a faithful slave, he is therefore
obliged to send abroad for foreign skill, and to pay for it in round
numbers.
During the manufacturing season a large, well-managed sugar plantation
exhibits a scene of the utmost activity and unremitting labor. The
planter must "make hay while the sun shines;" and when the cane is ripe
no time must be lost in expressing the juice. Where oxen are employed,
they often die of over-work before the close of the season, and the
slaves are allowed but five hours for sleep, though during the rest of
the year the task of the negroes is comparatively light, and they may
sleep ten hours if they choose.[43] In society, the sugar planter holds
a higher rank than the coffee planter, as we have indicated in the
classification already given; probably, however, merely as in the scale
of wealth, for it requires nearly twice the amount of capital to carry
on the former that is required to perfect the business of the latter,
both in respect to the number of hands and also as it relates to
machinery. But, as the sugar plantation surpasses the coffee in wealth,
so the coffee plantation surpasses, the sugar in every natural beauty
and attractiveness.
A coffee plantation is one of the most beautiful gardens that can well
be conceived of; in its variety and beauty baffling correct description,
being one of those peculiar characteristics of the low latitudes which
must be seen to be understood. An estate devoted to this purpose usually
covers some three hundred acres of land, planted in regular squares of
eight acres, and intersected by broad alleys of palms, mangoes, oranges,
and other ornamental and beautiful tropical trees.[44] Mingled with
these are planted lemons, pomegranates, cape jessamines, and a species
of wild heliotrope, fragrant as the morning. Conceive of this beautiful
arrangement, and then of the whole when in flower; the coffee, with its
milk-white blossoms, so abundant that it seems as though a pure white
cloud of snow had fallen there and left the rest of the vegetation fresh
and green. Interspersed in these fragrant alleys is the red of the
Mexican rose, the flowering pomegranate, and the large, gaudy flower
of the penon, shrouding its parent stem in a cloak of scarlet, with wavings
here and there of the graceful yellow flag, and many bewitchingly-fragrant
wild flowers, twining their tender stems about the base of these. In short,
a coffee plantation is a perfect floral El Dorado, with every luxury
(except ice) the heart could wish. The writer's experience was mainly
gained upon the estate of Dr. Finlay, a Scotch physician long resident
in Cuba, and who is a practising physician in Havana. He has named his
plantation, in accordance with the custom of the planters, with a fancy
title, and calls it pleasantly Buena Esperanza (good hope).
The three great staples of production and exportation are sugar, coffee
and tobacco. The sugar-cane (_arundo saccharifera_) is the great source
of the wealth of the island. Its culture requires, as we have remarked
elsewhere, large capital, involving as it does a great number of hands,
and many buildings, machines, teams, etc. We are not aware that any
attempt has ever been made to refine it on the island. The average yield
of a sugar plantation affords a profit of about fifteen per cent. on the
capital invested. Improved culture and machinery have vastly increased
the productiveness of the sugar plantations. In 1775 there were four
hundred and fifty-three mills, and the crops did not yield quite one
million three hundred thousand _arrobas_ (an arroba is twenty-five
pounds). Fifty years later, a thousand mills produced eight million
arrobas; that is to say, each mill produced six times more sugar. The
Cuban sugar has the preference in all the markets of Europe. Its
manufacture yields, besides, molasses, which forms an important article
of export. A liquor, called _aguadiente_, is manufactured in large
quantities from the molasses. There are several varieties of cane
cultivated on the island. The Otaheitian cane is very much valued. A
plantation of sugar-cane requires renewal once in about seven years. The
canes are about the size of a walking-stick, are cut off near the root,
and laid in piles, separated from the tops, and then conveyed in carts
to the sugar-mill, where they are unladen. Women are employed to feed
the mills, which is done by throwing the canes into a sloping trough,
from which they pass between the mill-stones and are ground entirely
dry. The motive power is supplied either by mules and oxen, or by steam.
Steam machinery is more and more extensively employed, the best machines
being made in the vicinity of Boston. The dry canes, after the
extraction of the juice, are conveyed to a suitable place to be spread
out and exposed to the action of the sun; after which they are employed
as fuel in heating the huge boilers in which the cane-juice is received,
after passing through the tank, where it is purified, lime-water being
there employed to neutralize any free acid and separate vegetable
matters. The granulation and crystallization is effected in large flat
pans. After this, it is broken up or crushed, and packed in hogsheads or
boxes for exportation. A plantation is renewed by laying the green canes
horizontally in the ground, when new and vigorous shoots spring up from
every joint, exhibiting the almost miraculous fertility of the soil of
Cuba under all circumstances.
The coffee-plant (_caffea Arabica_) is less extensively cultivated on
the island than formerly, being found to yield only four per cent. on
the capital invested. This plant was introduced by the French into
Martinique in 1727, and made its appearance in Cuba in 1769. It requires
some shade, and hence the plantations are, as already described,
diversified by alternate rows of bananas, and other useful and
ornamental tropical shrubs and trees. The decadence of this branch of
agriculture was predicted for years before it took place, the fall of
prices being foreseen; but the calculations of intelligent men were
disregarded, simply because they interfered with their own estimate of
profits. When the crash came, many coffee raisers entirely abandoned the
culture, while the wiser among them introduced improved methods and
economy into their business, and were well rewarded for their foresight
and good judgment. The old method of culture was very careless and
defective. The plants were grown very close together, and subjected to
severe pruning, while the fruit, gathered by hand, yielded a mixture of
ripe and unripe berries. In the countries where the coffee-plant
originated, a very different method is pursued. The Arabs plant the
trees much further apart, allow them to grow to a considerable height,
and gather the crop by shaking the trees, a method which secures only
the ripe berries. A coffee plantation managed in this way, and combined
with the culture of vegetables and fruits on the same ground, would
yield, it is said, a dividend of twelve per cent. on the capital
employed; but the Cuban agriculturists have not yet learned to develop
the resources of their favored island.
_Tobacco._ This plant (_nicotiana tabacum_) is indigenous to America,
but the most valuable is that raised in Cuba. Its cultivation is costly,
for it requires a new soil of uncommon fertility, and a great amount of
heat. It is very exhausting to the land. It does not, it is true,
require much labor, nor costly machinery and implements. It is valued
according to the part of the island in which it grows. That of greatest
value and repute, used in the manufacture of the high cost cigars, is
grown in the most westerly part of the island, known popularly as the
_Vuelta de Abajo_. But the whole western portion of the island is not
capable of producing tobacco of the best quality. The region of superior
tobacco is comprised within a parallelogram of twenty-nine degrees by
seven. Beyond this, up to the meridian of Havana, the tobacco is of fine
color, but inferior aroma (the Countess Merlin calls this aroma the
vilest of smells); and the former circumstance secures it the preference
of foreigners. From Consolacion to San Christoval, the tobacco is very
hot, in the language of the growers, but harsh and strong, and from San
Christoval to Guanajay, with the exception of the district of Las
Virtudes, the tobacco is inferior, and continues so up to Holguin y
Cuba, where we find a better quality. The fertile valley of Los Guines
produces poor smoking tobacco, but an article excellent for the
manufacture of snuff. On the banks of the Rio San Sebastian are also
some lands which yield the best tobacco in the whole island. From this
it may be inferred how great an influence the soil produces on the good
quality of Cuban tobacco; and this circumstance operates more strongly
and directly than the slight differences of climate and position
produced by immediate localities. Perhaps a chemical analysis of the
soils of the Vuelta de Abajo would enable the intelligent cultivator to
supply to other lands in the island the ingredients wanting to produce
equally good tobacco. The cultivators in the Vuelta de Abajo are
extremely skilful, though not scientific. The culture of tobacco yields
about seven per cent. on the capital invested, and is not considered to
be so profitable on the island as of yore.
Cacao, rice, plantains, indigo, cotton, sago, yuca (a farinaceous plant,
eaten like potatoes), Indian corn, and many other vegetable productions,
might be cultivated to a much greater extent and with larger profit than
they yield. We are astonished to find that with the inexhaustible
fertility of the soil, with an endless summer, that gives the laborer
two and three crops of some articles a year, agriculture generally
yields a lower per centage than in our stern northern latitudes. The
yield of a _caballeria_ (thirty-two and seven-tenths acres) is as
follows:
Sugar, $2,500
Coffee, 750
Tobacco, 3,000
Cacao, 5,000
Indigo, 2,000
Indian corn, 2 crops, 1,500
Rice, 1,000
Sago, 1,500
Plantains, 2,500
Yuca, 1,000
It must be remembered that there are multitudes of fruits and vegetable
productions not enumerated above, which do not enter into commerce, and
which grow wild. No account is taken of them. In the hands of a thrifty
population, Cuba would blossom like a rose, as it is a garden growing
wild, cultivated here and there in patches, but capable of supporting in
ease a population of ten times its density.
About the coffee plantations, and, indeed, throughout the rural parts of
the island, there is an insect called a cucullos, answering in its
nature to our fire-fly, though quadruple its size, which floats in
phosphorescent clouds over the vegetation. One at first sight is apt to
compare them to a shower of stars. They come in multitudes, immediately
after the wet or rainy season sets in, and there is consequently great
rejoicing among the slaves and children, as well as children of a larger
growth. They are caught by the slaves and confined in tiny cages of
wicker, giving them sufficient light for convenience in their cabins at
night, and, indeed, forming all the lamps they are permitted to have.
Many are brought into the city and sold by the young Creoles, a
half-dozen for a paseta (twenty-five cents). Ladies not unfrequently
carry a small cage of silver attached to their bracelets, containing
four or five of them, and the light thus emitted is like a candle. Some
ladies wear a belt of them at night, ingeniously fastened about the
waist, and sometimes even a necklace, the effect thus produced being
highly amusing. In the ball-rooms they are sometimes worn in the
flounces of the ladies' dresses, and they seem nearly as brilliant as
diamonds. Strangely enough, there is a natural hook near the head of the
Cuban fire-fly, by which it can be attached to any part of the dress
without any apparent injury to the insect itself; this the writer has
seen apparently demonstrated, though, of course, it could not be
strictly made clear. The town ladies pet these cucullos, and feed them
regularly with sugar cane, of which the insects partake with infinite
relish; but on the plantations, when a fresh supply is wanted, they have
only to wait until the twilight deepens, and a myriad can be secured
without trouble.
The Cubans have a queer, but yet excellent mode of harnessing their
oxen, similar to that still in vogue among eastern countries. The yoke
is placed behind the horns, at the roots, and so fastened to them with
thongs that they draw, or, rather, push by them, without chafing. The
animals always have a hole perforated in their nostrils, through which a
rope is passed, serving as reins, and rendering them extremely
tractable; the wildest and most stubborn animals are completely subdued
by this mode of controlling them, and can be led unresisting anywhere.
This mode of harnessing seems to enable the animal to bring more
strength to bear upon the purpose for which he is employed, than when
the yoke is placed, as is the case with us, about the throat and
shoulders. It is laid down in natural history that the greatest strength
of horned animals lies in the head and neck, but, in placing the yoke on
the breast, we get it out of reach of both head and neck, and the animal
draws the load behind by the mere force of the weight and impetus of
body, as given by the limbs. Wouldn't it be worth while to break a yoke
of steers to this mode, and test the matter at the next Connecticut
ploughing-match? We merely suggest the thing.
The Cuban horse deserves more than a passing notice in this connection.
He is a remarkably valuable animal. Though small and delicate of limb,
he can carry a great weight; and his gait is a sort of _march_,
something like our pacing horses, and remarkably easy under the saddle.
They have great power of endurance, are small eaters, and very docile
and easy to take care of. The Montero inherits all the love of his
Moorish ancestors for the horse, and never stirs abroad without him. He
considers himself established for life when he possesses a good horse, a
sharp Toledo blade, and a pair of silver spurs, and from very childhood
is accustomed to the saddle. They tell you long stories of their horses,
and would make them descended direct from the Kochlani,[45] if you will
permit them. Their size may readily be arrived at from the fact that
they rarely weigh over six hundred pounds; but they are very finely
proportioned.
The visitor, as he passes inland, will frequently observe upon the
fronts of the clustering dwelling-houses attempts at representations of
birds and various animals, looking like anything but what they are
designed to depict, the most striking characteristic being the gaudy
coloring and remarkable size. Pigeons present the colossal appearance of
ostriches, and dogs are exceedingly elephantine in their proportions.
Especially in the suburbs of Havana may this queer fancy be observed to
a great extent, where attempts are made to depict domestic scenes, and
the persons of either sex engaged in appropriate occupations. If such
ludicrous objects were met with anywhere else but in Cuba, they would be
called caricatures, but here they are regarded with the utmost
complacency, and innocently considered as ornamental.[46] Somehow this
is a very general passion among the humbler classes, and is observable
in the vicinity of Matanzas and Cardenas, as well as far inland, at the
small hamlets. The exterior of the town houses is generally tinted blue,
or some brown color, to protect the eyes of the inhabitants from the
powerful reflection of the ever-shining sun.
One of the most petty and annoying experiences that the traveller upon
the island is sure to meet with, is the arbitrary tax of time, trouble
and money to which he is sure to be subjected by the petty officials of
every rank in the employment of government; for, by a regular and
legalized system of arbitrary taxation upon strangers, a large revenue
is realized. Thus, the visitor is compelled to pay some five dollars for
a landing permit, and a larger sum, say seven dollars, to get away
again. If he desires to pass out of the city where he has landed, a
fresh permit and passport are required, at a further expense, though you
bring one from home signed by the Spanish consul of the port where you
embarked, and have already been adjudged by the local authorities.
Besides all this, you are watched, and your simplest movements noted
down and reported daily to the captain of police, who takes the liberty
of stopping and examining all your newspapers, few of which are ever
permitted to be delivered to their address; and, if you are thought to
be a suspicious person, your letters, like your papers, are
unhesitatingly devoted to "government purposes."
An evidence of the jealous care which is exercised to prevent strangers
from carrying away any information in detail relative to the island,
was evinced to the writer in a tangible form on one occasion in the
Paseo de Isabella. A young French artist had opened his portfolio, and
was sketching one of the prominent statues that grace the spot, when an
officer stepped up to him, and, taking possession of his pencil and
other materials, conducted him at once before some city official within
the walls of Havana. Here he was informed that he could not be allowed
to sketch even a tree without a permit signed by the captain-general. As
this was the prominent object of the Frenchman's visit to the island,
and as he was really a professional artist sketching for
self-improvement, he succeeded, after a while, in convincing the
authorities of these facts, and he was then, as a great favor, supplied
with a permit (for which he was compelled to pay an exorbitant fee),
which guaranteed to him the privilege of sketching, with certain
restrictions as to fortifications, military posts, and harbor views; the
same, however, to expire after ninety days from the date.
The great value and wealth of the island has been kept comparatively
secret by this Japan-like watchfulness; and hence, too, the great lack
of reliable information, statistical or otherwise, relating to its
interests, commerce, products, population, modes and rates of taxation,
etc. Jealous to the very last degree relative to the possession of Cuba,
the home government has exhausted its ingenuity in devising restrictions
upon its inhabitants; while, with a spirit of avarice also goaded on by
necessity, it has yearly added to the burthen of taxation upon the
people to an unparalleled extent. The cord _may_ be severed, and the
overstrained bow will spring back to its native and upright position!
The Cubans are patient and long-suffering, that is sufficiently obvious
to all; and yet Spain may break the camel's back by one more feather!
The policy that has suppressed all statistical information, all
historical record of the island, all accounts of its current prosperity
and growth, is a most short-sighted one, and as unavailing in its
purpose as it would be to endeavor to keep secret the diurnal
revolutions of the earth. No official public chart of the harbor of
Havana has ever been issued by the Spanish government, no maps of it
given by the home government as authentic; they would draw a screen over
this tropical jewel, lest its dazzling brightness should tempt the
cupidity of some other nation. All this effort at secrecy is little
better than childishness on their part, since it is impossible, with all
their precautions, to keep these matters secret. It is well known that
our war department at Washington contains faithful sectional and
complete drawings of every important fortification in Cuba, and even the
most reliable charts and soundings of its harbors, bays and seaboard
generally.
The political condition of Cuba is precisely what might be expected of a
Castilian colony thus ruled, and governed by such a policy. Like the
home government, she presents a remarkable instance of stand-still
policy; and from one of the most powerful kingdoms, and one of the most
wealthy, is now the humblest and poorest. Other nations have labored and
succeeded in the race of progress, while her adherence to ancient
institutions, and her dignified scorn of "modern innovations," amount in
fact to a species of retrogression, which has placed her far below all
her sister governments of Europe. The true Hidalgo spirit, which wraps
itself up in an antique garb, and shrugs its shoulders at the advance of
other countries, still rules over the beautiful realm of Ferdinand and
Isabella, and its high-roads still boast their banditti and worthless
gipsies, as a token of the declining power of the Castilian crown.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] According to the Spanish slave code, the slave can be kept at work
in Cuba only from sunrise till sunset, with an interval for repose at
noon of two hours. But this is not regarded in the manufacturing season,
which, after all, the slaves do not seem to dread, as they are granted
more privileges at this period, and are better fed, with more variety of
meats and spices, with other agreeable indulgences.
[44] The coffee-tree requires to be protected, at least partially, from
the sun; hence the planting of bananas and other trees in their midst.
[45] "Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written
genealogy has been kept for two thousand years. They are said to derive
their origin from King Solomon's steeds."--_Niebuhr._
[46] "On the fronts of the shops and houses, and on plastered walls by
the way-side, you continually see painted birds, and beasts, and
creeping things, men and women in their various vocations and
amusements, and some things and some images not strictly forbidden by
the letter of the commandment, being like nothing in heaven above, or in
the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth!"--_Rev. Abiel
Abbot's Letters._