POTTERY AND HAMMOCK MARKETS.--HAMMOCKS IN YUCATAN; THEIR GENERAL USE FOR
SLEEPING PURPOSES.--YUCATEO SALUTATIONS.--AN AWKWARD
SITUATION.--FASHIONABLE, MESTIZO, AND INDIAN BALLS.--CHARACTERISTIC
INDIAN DANCES.--WORSHIP OF THE SUN AMONG THE ANCIENT YUCATEOS.--NATIVE
MUSIC.--ZOPILOTE DANCE.--VISIT TO A HENEQUIN HACIENDA.--THE _VOLAN
COCHÉ_; A VEHICLE OF THE COUNTRY.--A RACE AND HOW IT ENDED.--ARRIVAL AT
THE HACIENDA.--THE SCRAPING AND BALING MACHINERY.--STARTING A
PLANTATION.--PRICE OF THE FIBRE IN THE MARKET.--"NO MONEY IN THE
BUSINESS."--FIBRE-FACTORIES IN YUCATAN.--HOW THE OWNERS OF ESTATES LIVE.
[Illustration: HAMMOCK LODGINGS IN THE COUNTRY.]
"The market we have described," wrote Fred, "is for the sale of articles
of food only. There is another market where pottery, cotton fabrics, and
other miscellaneous wares are sold, and still another which is entirely
given up to the makers and venders of hats and hammocks. Hammock-making
is a great industry in Yucatan, and thousands of these articles are sent
to New York, London, and other foreign ports. A curious circumstance
about this industry is that the best hammocks are those for home
consumption; the foreign markets are unwilling to pay the prices of the
fine qualities, and consequently none are sent away except upon special
orders. When you next buy a Yucatan hammock in New York you may make up
your mind that it is one in which only a very poor man here would sleep.
[Illustration: VIEW ON A BACK STREET.]
"Hammocks are in use for sleeping purposes all through this country, and
the natives prefer them to beds. Our personal experience is that a
hammock is a very good thing to lounge in, or even to take a nap, but
for an all-night sleep it doesn't give the rest and refreshment to the
tired body that we find in a bed. But habit has a great deal to do with
this, as with many other things of life; a Japanese pillow is torture to
a European quite as much as the European one is to a Japanese.
"The advantages claimed for a hammock are that the sleeper is protected
from many insects that would trouble him in a bed, and the opportunity
for the air to circulate, which is a very desirable matter in a hot
country. Both these arguments are well founded, and so is the further
one that the hammock-sleeper can carry his bed with him, as it weighs
only a few ounces and can be rolled into a small parcel.
"We asked the prices and were staggered at the figures. In New York we
think $2 a good price, and the majority of the hammocks sold there bring
$1 or $1.50 each. The cheapest they showed us was $7, and they had them
all the way up to $15, $18, $20, $25, and even $30. The dealer said that
if these were not fine enough for our purpose we might have them made to
order, and he could give us something superb for $50. We bought some of
the cheapest kind, and they were far better than anything we ever saw at
home. The best qualities are made of very fine fibre, and if care is
taken with them they last for several years.
"While walking along the streets near the market we met some ladies to
whom we had been introduced. They recognized and saluted us; they were
on the opposite sidewalk, and at first we thought they were beckoning
for us to cross over to their side. Then we remembered what we had been
told about the Yucateo form of salutation, and replied by raising our
hats and bowing. This is what they did:
"Each lady raised her hand until it was on a level with her eyes, and
then she 'wiggled' her fingers back and forth in a way that is
impossible to describe in words. It is very much what one would do in
our country if she wished to speak to you, and we can readily believe
what we have been told, that this form of salutation is a great puzzle
to the stranger.
"One day an Englishman, who was thus saluted, went up to his fair
recognizer, a lady to whom he had been presented at a party on the
previous evening, and stood waiting for her to begin the conversation.
She was accompanied by another lady, neither of whom could speak
English, while the Englishman did not know a word of any language but
his own. The situation was awkward, and after both had pronounced
several phrases that the other side could not comprehend, the Englishman
bowed and proceeded to walk away. The lady repeated the Merida
salutation, and this puzzled the stranger more than ever, as he supposed
she wished him to follow. He gallantly complied, and walked demurely
along till he happened to meet the gentleman who had introduced him.
Explanations followed, and all parties concerned had a good laugh over
the occurrence. It is probable that the Englishman's laugh was less
hearty than that of the others, as he could not fail to be somewhat
mortified at his awkward misunderstanding.
"In the fashionable hours for strolling on the paseo everybody is there,
and no matter how often you meet any one whom you know you are expected
to salute. This keeps everybody on the alert, as the turns of the paseo
are likely to bring the same individuals face to face every few minutes.
[Illustration: SCENE IN A BALL-ROOM.]
"It was our good-fortune to be in Merida in the season of dancing, and
we were invited to go to a ball, in fact to several balls. We went first
to an aristocratic one, which was given in the Casino, a large,
two-storied building, with balconies or verandas all around, and
brilliantly lighted. It is built around a court-yard planted with
tropical trees and flowers in great profusion, and is a very attractive
place.
"The ball-room occupied three sides of the upper story of the building,
while the fourth contained the dressing and supper rooms. The orchestra
was in the corridor just outside the dancing-hall, and while everybody
could hear the music, very few could see the musicians. We got there
before the dance began and while the ladies were coming out of the
dressing-rooms and taking seats at the side of the ball-room, very much
as they are seated in other countries. We observed that the gentlemen
held the ladies by the hand as they escorted them to their seats, and
not by giving them their arms as we do.
"It was a real beauty show when the ladies were ranged along the wall,
and they seemed to know it just as well as did their admirers, who
congregated at one end of the hall and in the corridors, and smoked
cigarettes. The gentlemen chatted with each other with more or less
animation, but watched the line of señoritas, whose eyes sparkled like
diamonds and were a sharp contrast to their pearly white teeth. Under
the light the señoritas' complexions were as glowing as that of a young
English girl; of course, we cannot say how much of it is due to nature,
and how much to cosmetics. They all had splendid heads of coal-black
hair, arranged in the tasteful way for which Spanish ladies are famous.
"The music struck up for a waltz, and then each gentleman advanced
towards the lady of his choice, and whirled her away for the round of
the hall. The theory of these balls is that everybody knows everybody
else, and the gentlemen did not ask the ladies whether they wanted to
dance or not. Of course, it is to be presumed that they were there with
that object in view, but we thought it would be more graceful if they
had been consulted before being lifted from their seats and set in
motion.
"We had wondered how it was possible for people to dance in this hot
atmosphere, but when we heard how slowly the music played, and saw that
the waltz was only a slow gliding and sliding over the floor, as though
the waltzers were not more than half awake, we wondered no longer. It is
nothing like the exciting whirl of a waltz in northern countries; and
the same may be said of the other dances of this very select assemblage.
We remained half an hour or so, and then went to the mestizo ball, where
it was a good deal more animated.
"The mestizo girls wore the white dresses already described; some of
them had only a few ribbons or flowers for ornaments, while others were
loaded down with bracelets, rings, and other ornaments, in which
diamonds had a more or less prominent part. A gentleman who was with us
said many of the diamonds were hired for the occasion, and he had no
doubt that a good share of them were paste. The men were the most
comical sights you can imagine, as they all wore their hats, and the
most of them had their shirts waving outside, after the custom of the
country. Some of them had coats and jackets. A man thus clad was looked
upon as an aristocrat; but to be so considered he was obliged to suffer
some inconvenience, as the outer garment is a serious burden in the
heavy tropical atmosphere, made doubly oppressive by the heat of the
room. Two or three men carried their jackets on their arms, and some
flung them into a corner at the risk of never finding them again.
"The musicians were native Indians, who played with perfect time and
melody, as though they had graduated from the schools of the most
accomplished masters of Europe. All these people are natural musicians;
a very little instruction suffices for them, and with careful training
they ought to be able to astonish the world. The men and women dance to
perfection; we did not see a false step taken during the time we looked
on at the ball, and yet it is not likely that any of the dancers ever
had the advantage of a professional instructor. The members of the
orchestra at the mestizo ball were dressed in the shirt and drawers
already mentioned, and, like the dancing men of the party, retained
their hats all the time they played.
"The dances were more interesting than those of the fashionable ball,
inasmuch as the latter were European in character, while those of the
mestizos had a peculiarity of their own. One was called the zopilote, or
buzzard dance; a man and a woman each carrying a handkerchief which they
twirled above their heads, and in all sorts of directions whirled and
twisted themselves along the floor, all the while keeping perfect time
to the music of the performers. It reminded us very much of one of the
national dances of the Russians, which is often given by the ballet
troupes of the imperial theatres of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and may
be seen in its simplicity in almost any town or village of the great
northern empire.
[Illustration: INDIANS DANCING.]
"But more interesting to us than either of the balls we have mentioned
was that of the Indians, where they were indulging in historic dances
which have been preserved from ancient times. When we entered the room,
which was pretty well filled with people who respectfully made way for
us, the performance had already begun. We will remark here that the
ancient Yucateos, like the Parsees, were worshippers of the sun; the
reverence for that luminary has descended to this day, though it is by
no means preserved in its former purity.
"Mr. Ober, the author of 'Travels in Mexico,' seems to have witnessed a
better performance of this dance than we did, as he saw the beginning,
which we did not see, so we will quote his account, which is as follows:
"'The first thing these Indians did was to spread a banner in the centre
of the room, on which was painted a figure of the sun, with two people
kneeling in adoration of it. The chief of this band of about twenty
Indians then suspended from his neck a bright-colored representation of
the sun stamped on tin. At the foot of the banner-staff crouched an old
man, with a drum made by stretching the skin of a calf or goat over one
end of a hollow log; at the side of the drum hung the shell of a
land-tortoise, and the old man beat the drum and rattled the shell in
unison. The article with which he beat the drum attracted my attention,
and I examined it and found it to be the gilded horn of a deer. This
hollow drum, with turtle-shell and deer's antler, fully confirms the
statement that the music is aboriginal; for one of the old chroniclers,
in an account of a terrible battle with the Indians of Campeachy,
writing not long after the event, says that they made a most horrible
and deafening noise with these instruments: "They had flutes and large
sea-shells for trumpets, and turtle-shells, which they struck with
deer's horns."
[Illustration: PREPARING FOR THE BALL.]
"'After the banner was spread, the band ran around it in a crouching
attitude; in one hand each held a rattle, and in the other a fan of
turkey feathers, with a handle formed by the foot and claw of the bird.
Each one wore a wire mask, with a handkerchief over his head, and a
mantle embroidered with figures of animals, and hung with small
sea-shells. The costume was that of the mestizo women--a skirt from the
waist to the ankles, with their peculiar dress over it--just such an one
as was worn by their ancestors centuries ago, and by the ancient
Egyptians. On their feet they wore sandals, tied on with hempen rope.
The chief was distinguished by a high crown of peacock feathers. He
chanted something in the Maya language, and they replied, and then the
music struck up a weird strain and they danced furiously, assuming
ludicrous postures, yet all having seeming significance, shaking their
rattles and fans to right and left, and all keeping perfect time. After
nearly half an hour of dancing they stopped at a signal from the chief,
and gathered about the banner, gazing upon the image of the sun with
looks of adoration.
"'This was the dance of sorrow or supplication; after it came the dance
of joy, an Indian fandango; then the flag was furled and the floor
occupied by two couples.'"
Their night in the round of balls caused our friends to sleep rather
late the next morning. While they were at breakfast an invitation came
to visit a henequin hacienda near the city, in the company of one of the
owners, to whom they had been introduced. It is hardly necessary to say
that they accepted at once.
[Illustration: A VOLAN COCHÉ.]
They were to start at an early hour on the following morning, and at the
appointed time a _volan coché_ was announced at the door. Frank's
description of this vehicle will be interesting to our readers.
"It is the travelling carriage of Yucatan, and well adapted to the bad
roads of the country. It consists of a shallow box on two wheels, the
box being suspended on leather springs and having a thick mattress
spread over the bottom and just filling it. One or two Europeans form a
load for one of these carriages, but it will easily hold half a dozen
natives of assorted sizes. There are no seats; one is obliged to lie at
full length or sit Turkish fashion, and hold on with one or both hands.
Doctor Bronson says the volan coché is warmly recommended for
dyspeptics, as it is guaranteed to kill or cure them in a very short
time.
"The driver sits on the foot-board, very much as in a Canadian calèche,
and if there is any baggage it is piled on a projecting frame behind the
passengers. The carriage has a top to shelter passengers from sun and
rain, and there are curtains to be let down or rolled up as one may
wish.
[Illustration: A STREET IN MERIDA.]
"Three mules are the regulation team for a volan coché. They are
harnessed abreast, and under the control of a vigorous driver they get
over the roads with commendable rapidity, when all things are
considered. There is a great deal of swing to the vehicle, and it
overturns occasionally, though not often. The roads of Yucatan are not
at all good; one man told us they were made by Cortez three and a half
centuries ago, and have never had a dollar of expenditure for repairs
since they were constructed."
As our friends went to the door they met their host, who had just
descended from the carriage and was ready for them. Frank and Fred
wondered if all four of them, the host and his three guests, were to
ride in one coché, and while the wonderment continued another vehicle of
the same kind came dashing around the corner.
Their entertainer, Mr. Honradez, suggested that Doctor Bronson and
himself would ride in one carriage, while the two youths occupied the
other. As they were to spend a night at the hacienda, each of the
travellers carried a small hand-bag, and these articles, added to some
cushions which Mr. Honradez had thoughtfully placed in the seatless
vehicles, added considerably to the comfort of the ride.
Away they dashed along the rough streets of Merida and out through the
thickly shaded suburbs. They met dozens of natives bringing into the
city loads of country produce to sell in the market-place; the bearers
bent beneath their burdens, and many of them had travelled all night in
order to reach the city in the morning. The most conspicuous of these
porters were the sellers of _ramon_, the branches of a tree that serve
as food for horses and mules, which eat the leaves and twigs of ramon as
they do grass or hay. According to its bulk, the stuff is very light,
and a ramon-seller is completely hidden beneath his apparently enormous
but really comfortable load.
"Mr. Honradez made things interesting," said Fred, "by getting up a race
between our two carriages. He promised two reals to the driver who would
get first to a village which he named, and the fellows went at it in
earnest. They stood up on the shafts of their vehicles and yelled at
their mules; at the same time they were not sparing of their whips, and
the result was that the poor beasts went at a furious gallop for a mile
or more. Our driver got in advance, and as we saw that the race would be
kept up as long as the teams could run, Frank and I suggested to him
that we would give him three reals to let the other man win. He
immediately accepted the offer and dropped to the rear, shouting
something in Maya to his competitor as the latter passed him. After that
we went on at a more respectable pace, and were heartily glad that the
breakneck speed was not kept up.
"At the village, the name of which I have forgotten, we rested ten or
fifteen minutes and then went on, reaching the hacienda just as the
forenoon was beginning to be uncomfortably warm. The great heat of
Yucatan renders it desirable to make all journeys in the night as much
as possible, and hence our early start from Merida.
[Illustration: A PRIMITIVE SUGAR-MILL.]
"The hacienda covers a large area of ground, there being thousands of
acres devoted to the culture of henequin. Then there is a considerable
amount of sugar and corn grown on the place--enough for the use of all
the employés, and something more besides. In the sugar-making industry
the machinery is primitive, the cane being crushed in a mill propelled
by oxen in the old-fashioned way, and the sugar obtained from the juice
by the processes of half a century ago. The real profit of the hacienda
is in the production of fibre, and in this the latest machinery is in
use. The old process of making fibre by hand is altogether discarded as
unprofitable, and the stripping of the leaves of the henequin is
performed by great machines built in the United States or England, and
driven by a powerful steam-engine of American make.
"The machinery is not at all complex, and it is evident that no great
ingenuity was required to invent it. The scraper consists of a large
wheel armed with strong and blunt knives all around its rim. The
henequin leaves are pressed against this rim, and by means of a lever,
worked by the hand and foot of an Indian, the knives, drawn by the
swiftly revolving wheel, remove in an instant the pulp which covers the
fibre and lay it bare. Considerable dexterity is required for this work,
and we looked on in admiration at the deftness of the Indian who
performed it.
"The pulp being removed, the fibre is taken from the leaf in long strips
like a 'hank' of very fine silk thread of a beautiful green tinge. It is
made into small bundles and placed in the sun to dry. In drying it loses
its color and becomes white and silky, and when thoroughly dried it is
ready for baling. The only care requisite in the drying process is to
see that it does not get wet by the rain, and that all its natural
moisture is expelled. Unless this is the case it will ferment after
baling, and fermentation means a great reduction in the commercial value
of the article.
[Illustration: RAILWAY-STATION IN THE HENEQUIN DISTRICT.]
"We watched the machine turning out the fibre, and then went to the
baling-house, where the stuff was being put up by a cotton-press into
bales of about 450 pounds each. In this condition it is shipped to
market; one scraper, requiring the labor of four men to tend it, will
produce about one bale of fibre daily, provided the leaves are of fairly
good size and quality and the workmen are not novices. The average value
of henequin fibre is about $20 a bale, delivered at the nearest
railway-station; of course it has its ups and downs, like any other
commodity in the world."
After our friends had looked at the machines and partaken of a hearty
breakfast--the fact is that the breakfast came before the inspection of
the scraping and baling departments--they took a siesta, according to
the custom of the country, until the cool hours of the afternoon. Then
they mounted horses and accompanied Mr. Honradez in a ride over the
estate and through the fields of henequin plants. As they rode along,
and paused occasionally to contemplate objects of especial interest, the
gentleman explained some of the features of the business.
[Illustration: STOREHOUSE AT THE HACIENDA.]
"If you have decided to go into an enterprise of this sort," said he,
"you must first get your land by buying it from the Government or a
private owner, who is generally the descendant of somebody who obtained
an immense grant in consequence of some real or fancied service to the
Spanish Crown. The land is covered by a sort of scrub, which must be
cleared away. The clearing is effected by cutting and burning, the
cutting being done one season and the burning the next. Then the young
plants are set out in holes dug in the thin soil; they are set about
eight feet apart, and take root at once. You have doubtless learned
already that the plants are in condition for cutting when they are five
years old, and will yield leaves annually for fifteen or twenty years. A
good planter will so arrange it that new plants are constantly coming to
maturity; and this he will do by setting out a certain quantity of new
ones every year."
Frank asked how many leaves were required for a bale of fibre.
"From six to eight thousand," was the reply, "according as they are
large or small. Their size depends considerably upon the amount of rain
which falls in the few weeks preceding the time they are cut."
"Is all the fibre made at the hacienda sent out of the country?" queried
Fred.
"Not literally all," said the gentleman, "but for practical purposes the
whole of it is exported. Four-fifths of our product is sent to the
United States, where it is used for cordage, bagging, and many other
things of the same sort, and most of the rest to Europe. There are two
or three small factories here in Yucatan for making coarse cloth, ropes,
and twine out of the fibre; they are owned by Americans or Englishmen,
and their machinery is of foreign make, mostly American. With the
exception of the overseer, engineer, and machinist, all the employés are
natives, many of them being mestizo girls, who are as skilful as the
girls of any other country in tending the looms where the cloth is
woven. These factories purchase their fibre from the haciendas, but
their consumption is small. The Indians use a great deal of fibre in
making articles for their personal needs, but they generally scrape it
by hand. They are very conservative, and if permitted to have their own
way they would destroy every machine in the country before sunset
to-morrow."
[Illustration: A MORNING RUN.]
It was evening before the ride was concluded, and the party returned to
the hacienda, where a dinner of substantial character awaited them. Of
course Mr. Honradez insisted that there was "no money in the business,"
and said he would be glad to sell out for less than what his estate had
cost him. But Fred made a mental note of the fact that he did not name
any price at which he would sell, and that he lived in princely style
both at the hacienda and in Merida. He had two sons at school in Paris,
a daughter was being educated in Merida by a specially imported
governess, and the gentleman himself spent a good half of his time in
other countries. From these facts, and from information of various kinds
that reached them, the youths concluded that the henequin culture was
profitable; and in this view they have many supporters both in the
country and out of it.