Traveling by Volante. -- Want of Inland Communication. --
Americans Profitable Customers. -- The Cruel National Game.
-- The Plaza de Toros. -- Description of a Bull-Fight. -- The
Infection of Cruelty. -- The Romans and Spaniards Compared.
-- Cry of the Spanish Mob: "Bread and Bulls!" -- Women at the
Fight. -- The Nobility of the Island. --The Monteros. --
Ignorance of the Common People. -- Scenes in the Central
Market, Havana. -- Odd Ideas of Cuban Beggars. -- An Original
Style of Dude. -- A Mendicant Prince.
The volante, the national vehicle of Cuba, and until latterly the only
one in common use upon the island, has been several times spoken of.
It has been superseded, especially in Havana, just as steam launches
are crowding out the gondolas on the canals of Venice. Our present
notes would be quite incomplete without a description of this unique
vehicle. It is difficult without experience to form an idea of its
extraordinary ease of motion, or its appropriateness to the
peculiarities of the country roads, where only it is now in use. At
first sight, with its shafts sixteen feet long, and wheels six yards
in circumference, one would think that it must be very disagreeable to
ride in; but the reverse is the fact, and when seated the motion is
most agreeable, like being rocked in a cloud. It makes nothing of the
deep ruts and inequalities upon the execrable roads, but sways gently
its low-hung, chaise-like body, and dashes over and through every
impediment with the utmost facility. Strange as it may seem, it is
very light upon the horse, which the postilion also bestrides. When
traveling any distance, a second horse is added on the left, abreast
of the first, and attached to the volante by an added whiffletree and
traces. When there are two horses the postilion rides the one to the
left, thus leaving the shaft-horse free of other weight than the
vehicle.
If the roads are very rough, which is their chronic condition, and
there is more than usual weight to carry, a third horse is often
added, and he is placed abreast with the others, to the right of the
shaft horse, being guided by a bridle rein in the hands of the
calisero, as he is called. Heretofore the wealthy people took great
pride in these volantes, a purely Cuban idea, and they were ornamented
for city use at great expense with silver trimmings, and sometimes
even in gold. A volante equipped in this style, with the gayly-dressed
negro postilion, his scarlet jacket elaborately trimmed with gold or
silver braid, his high jack-boots with big silver buckles at the
knees, and huge spurs upon his heels, was quite a dashing affair, more
especially if a couple of black-eyed Creole ladies constituted the
freight.
Were it not for the few railroads and steamboat routes which are
maintained, communication between the several parts of the island
would be almost impossible. During the rainy season especially, inland
travel is impracticable for wheels. China or Central Africa is equally
well off in this respect. Nearly all transportation, except it be on
the line of the railroads, is accomplished on mule-back, or on the
little Cuban horses. The fact is, road making is yet to be introduced
into the island. Even the wonderful volante can only make its way in
the environs of cities. Most of the so-called roads resemble the bed
of a mountain torrent, and would hardly pass for a cow-path in
America. Nothing more clearly shows the undeveloped condition of the
island than this absence of means for internal communication. In
Havana and its immediate environs the omnibus and tramway afford
facilities which are liberally patronized, though when the latter was
first introduced it was considered such an innovation that it was most
bitterly opposed by the citizens. Like the railroads, the tramway was
the result of foreign enterprise, and has doubled the value of
property in any direction within a couple of leagues of the city
proper.
One of the most petty and most annoying experiences to which the
traveler is subjected is the arbitrary tax of time and money put upon
him by the small officials, of every rank, in the employment of the
government. By this system of small taxes upon travelers, a
considerable revenue is realized. Where this is known, it keeps
visitors away from Cuba, which is just what the Spaniards pretend to
desire, though it was found that the Creoles did not indorse any such
idea. Americans leave half a million dollars and more annually in
Havana alone, an estimate made for us by competent authority.
Passports are imperatively necessary upon landing, and if the visitor
desires to travel outside of the port at which he arrives a fresh
permit is necessary, for which a fee is charged. In vain do you show
your passport, indorsed by the Spanish consul at the port from which
you embarked in America. The official shrugs his shoulders, and says
it is the law. Besides, you are watched and your movements recorded at
police headquarters; though in this respect Berlin is quite as
uncomfortable for strangers as is the city of Havana. Despots must
hedge themselves about in every conceivable way. Be careful about the
contents of your letters sent from or received in Cuba. These are
sometimes delivered to their address, and sometimes they are not. Your
correspondence may be considered of interest to other parties as well
as to yourself, in which case an indefinite delay may occur in the
receipt thereof.
Of all the games and sports of the Spaniards, that of the bull-fight
is the most cruel, and without one redeeming feature to excuse its
indulgence. During the winter season, weekly exhibitions are given at
Havana on each recurring Sunday afternoon, the same day that is chosen
for the brutal sport in Madrid and other Spanish peninsular cities.
The arena devoted to this purpose will seat about ten thousand
persons. The ground upon which the fight takes place occupies about an
acre, and is situated on the Regla side of the harbor, in the Plaza de
Toros. The seats are raised one above another, in a complete circle,
at a secure height from the dangerous struggle. Sometimes, in his
furious onslaughts, the bull throws himself completely over the stout
boards which separate him from the spectators, when a wild stampede
occurs.
On the occasion of the fight witnessed by the author, after a shrill
flourish of trumpets a large bull was let loose from apartments
beneath the seats, the door of which opened into the arena. The poor
creature came from utter darkness, where he had been kept for many
hours, into a blaze of bright sunlight, which confused him for a
moment, and he pawed the ground excitedly, while he rolled his big
fierce eyeballs as though he suspected some trick had been played upon
him. Presently, having become accustomed to the light, he glared from
one side to the other as if to take in the situation, and see who it
was that dared to oppose him.
In the ring, distributed here and there, were some half a dozen
professional fighters on foot, called banderilleros and chulos,
besides which there were two on horseback, known as picadors. The
former held scarlet flags in their hands, with which to confuse and
tease the bull; the latter were armed with a long pole each, at the
end of which was a sharp piece of steel capable of wounding the bull,
but not deeply or dangerously. These fighters were a hardened set of
villains, if the human countenance can be relied upon as showing forth
the inner man. They rushed towards the animal and flaunted their flags
before his eyes, striving to excite and draw him on to attack them.
They seemed reckless, but very expert, agile, and wary. Every effort
was made to worry and torment the bull to a state of frenzy. Barbs
were thrust into his neck and back by the banderilleros, with small
rockets attached. These exploded into his very flesh, which they
burned and tore. Thrusts from the horsemen's spears also gave harsh,
if not dangerous wounds, so that the animal bled freely at many
points.
When the infuriated beast made a rush at one of his tormentors, they
adroitly sprang on one side, or, if too closely pressed, these
practiced athletes with a handspring leaped over the high board fence.
Whichever way he turned the bull met a fresh enemy and another device
of torment, until at last the poor creature was frantically mad. The
fight then became more earnest, the bull rushing first at one and
then another of his enemies, but the practiced fighters were too wary
for him; he could not change position so quickly as they could.
Finally, the bull turned his attention to the horses and made madly
first at the one which was nearest, and though he received a tearing
wound along his spine from the horseman's spear, he ripped the horse's
bowels open with his horns and threw him upon the ground, with his
rider under him. The men on foot rushed to the rescue and drew off the
bull by fresh attacks and by flaunting the flags before his eyes. In
the mean time, the rider was got out from beneath the horse, which lay
dying. The bull, finding that he could revenge himself on the horses,
transferred his attention to the other and threw him to the ground
with his rider, but received another long wound upon his own back.
Leaving the two horses lying nearly dead, the bull again turned upon
the banderilleros, rushing with such headlong speed at them that he
buried his sharp horns several inches in the timbers of the fence. It
was even a struggle for him to extract them. The purpose is not to
give the bull any fatal wounds, but to worry and torment him to the
last degree of endurance. This struggle was kept up for twenty minutes
or more, when the poor creature, bleeding from a hundred wounds,
seemed nearly exhausted. Then, at a sign from the director, there was
a grand flourish of trumpets, and the matador, a skillful swordsman
and the hero of the occasion, entered the ring to close with the bull,
singly. The other fighters withdrew and the matador advanced with a
scarlet flag in one hand and his naked sword in the other. The bull
stood at bay, too much worn by the fight and loss of blood to
voluntarily attack this single enemy. The matador advanced and lured
him to an attack by flaunting his flag. A few feeble rushes were made
by the bleeding animal, until, in a last effort to drive his horns
into this new enemy, he staggered heavily forward. This time the
matador did not leap to one side, but received the bull upon the point
of his Toledo blade, which was aimed at a spot just back of the horns,
where the brain meets the spinal column. As the bull comes on with his
head bent down to the charge, this spot is exposed, and forms a fair
target for a practiced hand. The effect was electrical. The bull
staggered, reeled from side to side for an instant, and then fell
dead. Four bulls were destroyed in a like manner that afternoon, and,
in their gallant fight for their lives, they killed seven horses,
trampling their riders in two instances almost fatally, though they
are protected by a sort of leather armor on their limbs and body.
During the fight with the second bull, which was an extremely fierce
and powerful creature, a young girl of eighteen dressed in male
attire, who was trained to the brutal business, took an active part in
the arena with the banderilleros. One remarkable feat which she
performed was that of leaping by means of a pole completely over the
bull when he was charging at her. At Madrid, where the author
witnessed a similar exhibition, the introduction of a young girl among
the fighters was omitted, but otherwise the performance was nearly
identical. At the close of each act of the murderous drama, six horses
gayly caparisoned with bells and plumes dashed into the arena led by
attendants, and chains being attached to the bodies of the dead
animals, they were drawn out at great speed through a gate opened for
the purpose, amid another flourish of trumpets and the shouts of the
excited multitude.
The worst of all this is that the influence of such outrageous cruelty
is lasting. It infects the beholders with a like spirit. In fact, it
is contagious. We all know how hard the English people became in the
time of Henry VIII. and Bloody Mary.
In this struggle of the bull ring there is no gallantry or true
bravery displayed on the part of the professional fighters. They run
but little personal risk, practiced as they are, sheltered and
protected by artificial means and armed with keen weapons, whereas the
bull has only his horns to protect himself from his many tormentors.
There is no possible escape for him; his fate is sealed from the
moment he enters the ring. All the true bravery exhibited is on his
part; he is always the attacking party, and were the exhibition to be
attempted in an open field, even armed as they are, he would drive
every one of his enemies out of sight. The much-lauded matador does
not take his position in front of the animal until it is very nearly
exhausted by loss of blood and long-continued, furious fighting. In
our estimation, he encounters far less risk than does the humblest of
the banderilleros or chulos, who torment the bull face to face in the
fullness of his physical strength and courage. Still, instances are
not wanting wherein these matadors have been seriously wounded and
even killed by a frantic and dying bull, who has roused himself for a
last final struggle.
Whatever colonial modification the Spanish character may have
apparently undergone in Cuba, the Creole is Castilian still in his
love for the cruel sports of the arena. Great is the similitude also
between the modern Spaniard and the ancient Roman in this respect. As
the Spanish language more closely resembles Latin than does the
Italian, so do the Spanish people show more of Roman blood than the
natives of Italy themselves. _Panem et circenses_ (bread and
circuses!) was the cry of the old Roman populace, and to gratify their
wishes millions of sesterces were lavished, and hecatombs of human
victims slain in the splendid amphitheatres erected by the masters of
the world in all the cities subject to their sway. And so _pan y
toros_ (bread and bulls!) is the imperious demand of the Spaniards, to
which the government is forced to respond. The parallel may be pursued
still further. The proudest ladies of Rome, maids and matrons, gazed
with liveliest interest upon the dying gladiators who hewed each other
in pieces, or on the Christians who perished in conflict with the wild
beasts, half starved to give them battle. So the señoras and señoritas
of Madrid, Seville, Malaga, and Havana enjoy, with keen delight, the
terrible spectacle of bulls slaughtered by picadors and matadors, and
gallant horses ripped up and disemboweled by the horns of their brute
adversaries. It is true that the ameliorating spirit of Christianity
is evinced in the changes which the arena has undergone. Human lives
are no longer designedly sacrificed wholesale in the bloody contests,
yet the bull-fight is sufficiently barbarous and atrocious. It is a
national institution, indicative of national character.
To look upon the serenity of Cuban ladies, driving in the Paseo or
listening to the nightly music in the Plaza de Isabella, one could not
possibly imagine them to be lacking in tenderness, or that there was
in them sufficient hardihood to witness such exhibitions as we have
described, and yet one third of the audience on the occasion spoken of
was composed of the gentler sex. They are almost universally handsome,
being rather below the average height of the sex with us, but
possessing an erect and dignified carriage. Their form, always rounded
to a delicate fullness, is quite perfection in point of model. Their
dark hair and olive complexions are well matched,--the latter without
a particle of natural carmine. The eyes are a match for the hair,
being large and beautifully expressive, with a most irresistible dash
of languor in them,--but not the languor of illness. It is really
difficult to conceive of an ugly woman with such eyes as they all
possess in Cuba,--the Moorish, Andalusian eye. The Cuban women have
also been justly famed for their graceful carriage, and it is indeed
the poetry of motion, singular as it may appear, when it is remembered
that for them to walk abroad is such a rarity. It is not the simple
progressive motion alone, but also the harmonious play of features,
the coquettish undulation of the face, the exquisite disposition of
costume, and the modulation of voice, that engage the beholder and
lend a happy charm to every attitude and every step.
The gentlemen as a rule are good-looking, though they are much
smaller, lighter, and more agile than the average American. The lazy
life they so universally lead tends to make them less manly than a
more active one would do. It seems to be a rule among them never to do
for themselves that which a slave can do for them. This is
demonstrated in the style of the volante, where the small horse is
made not only to draw the vehicle, but also to carry a large negro on
his back as driver. Now, if reins were used, there would be no
occasion for the postilion at all, but a Spaniard or Creole would
think it demeaning to drive his own vehicle. With abundance of
leisure, and the ever present influences of their genial clime, where
the heart's blood leaps more swiftly to the promptings of the
imagination and where the female form earliest attains its maturity,
the West Indians seem peculiarly adapted for romance and for love. The
consequent adventures constantly occurring among them often culminate
in startling tragedies, and afford plots in which a French
feuilletonist would revel.
The nobility of Cuba, so called, is composed of rather homespun
material, to say the least, of it. There may be some fifty individuals
dubbed with the title of marquis, and as many more with that of count,
most of whom have acquired their wealth and position by carrying on
extensive sugar plantations. These are sneeringly designated by the
humble classes as sugar noblemen, and not inappropriately so, as
nearly all of these aristocratic gentlemen have purchased their titles
outright for money. Not the least consideration is exercised by the
Spanish throne as to the fitness of these ambitious individuals for
honorary distinction. It is a mere question of money, and if this be
forthcoming the title follows as a natural sequence. Twenty-five
thousand dollars will purchase any title. Such things are done in
other lands, but not quite so openly. And yet the tone of Cuban
society in its higher circles is found to be rather aristocratic and
exclusive. The native of Old Spain does not endeavor to conceal his
contempt for foreigners of all classes, and as to the Creoles, he
simply scorns to meet them on social grounds, shielding his
inferiority of intelligence under a cloak of hauteur, assuming the
wings of the eagle, but possessing only the eyes of the owl. Thus the
Castilians and Creoles are ever at antagonism, both socially and
politically. The bitterness of feeling existing between them can
hardly be exaggerated. The sugar planter, the coffee planter, the
merchant, and the liberal professions stand in the order in which we
have named them, as regards their relative degree of social
importance, but wealth, in fact, has the same charm here as elsewhere
in Christendom, and the millionaire has the entrée to all classes.
The Monteros or yeomanry of the island inhabit the less cultivated and
cheaper portions of the soil, entering the cities only to dispose of
their surplus produce, and acting as the marketmen of the populous
districts. When they stir abroad, in nearly all parts of the island,
they are armed with a sword, and in the eastern sections about
Santiago, or even Cienfuegos, they also carry pistols in the holsters
of their saddles. Formerly this was indispensable for self-protection,
but at this time weapons are more rarely worn. Still the arming of the
Monteros has always been encouraged by the authorities, as they form a
sort of militia at all times available against negro insurrection, a
calamity in fear of which such communities must always live. The
Montero is rarely a slaveholder, but is frequently engaged on the
sugar plantations during the busy season as an overseer, and, to his
discredit be it said, he generally proves to be a hard taskmaster,
entertaining an intuitive dislike to the negroes.
An evidence of the contagious character of cruelty was given in a
circumstance coming under the author's observation on a certain
plantation at Alquizar, where a manifest piece of severity led him to
appeal to the proprietor in behalf of a female slave. The request for
mercy was promptly granted, and the acting overseer, himself a
mulatto, was quietly reprimanded for his cruelty. "You will find,"
said our host, "that colored men always make the hardest masters when
placed over their own race, but they have heretofore been much
employed on the island in this capacity, because a sense of pride
makes them faithful to the proprietor's interest. That man is himself
a slave," he added, pointing to the sub-overseer, who still stood
among the negroes, whip in hand.
The Montero sometimes hires a free colored man to help him in the
planting season on his little patch of vegetable garden, in such work
as a Yankee would do for himself, but these small farmers trust mostly
to the exuberant fertility of the soil, and spare themselves all
manual labor, save that of gathering the produce and taking it to
market. They form, nevertheless, a very important and interesting
class of the population. They marry very young, the girls at thirteen
and fifteen, the young men from sixteen to eighteen, and almost
invariably rear large families. Pineapples and children are a
remarkably sure crop in the tropics. The increase among them during
the last half century has been very large, much more in proportion
than in any other class of the community, and they seem to be
approaching a degree of importance, at least numerically, which will
render them eventually like the American farmers, the bone and sinew
of the land. There is room enough for them and to spare, for hardly
more than one tenth of the land is under actual cultivation, a vast
portion being still covered by virgin forests and uncleared savannas.
The great and glaring misfortune--next to that of living under a
government permitting neither civil nor religious liberty, where
church and state are alike debased as the tools of despotism,--is
their want of educational facilities. Books and schools they have
none. Barbarism itself is scarcely less cultured. We were told that
the people had of late been somewhat aroused from this condition of
lethargy concerning education, and some effort has recently been made
among the more intelligent to afford their children opportunities for
instruction. But at the present writing, the Egyptian fellah is not
more ignorant than the rural population of Cuba, who as a mass possess
all the indolence and few of the virtues of the aborigines.
There is one highly creditable characteristic evinced by the Monteros
as a class, and that is their temperate habits in regard to indulgence
in stimulating drinks. As a beverage they do not use ardent spirits,
and seem to have no taste or desire for the article, though they drink
the ordinary claret--rarely anything stronger. This applies to the
country people, not to the residents of the cities. The latter quickly
contract the habit of gin drinking, as already described. There is one
prominent vice to which the Monteros are indisputably addicted;
namely, that of gambling. It seems to be a natural as well as a
national trait, the appliances for which are so constantly at hand in
the form of lottery tickets and the cock-pits that they can hardly
escape the baleful influences. There are some who possess sufficient
strength of character and intelligence to avoid it altogether, but
with the majority it is the regular resort for each leisure hour. One
of their own statesmen, Castelar, told the Spaniards, not long since,
that gambling was the tax laid upon fools.
Perhaps the best place at which to study the appearance and character
of the Monteros is at the Central Market, where they come daily by
hundreds from the country in the early morning to sell their produce,
accompanied by long lines of mules or horses with well-laden panniers.
It is a motley crowd that one meets there, where purchasers and
salesmen mingle promiscuously. From six to nine o'clock, A. M., it is
the busiest place in all Havana. Negroes and mulattoes, Creoles and
Spaniards, Chinamen and Monteros, men and women, beggars, purchasers,
and slaves, all come to the market on the Calzada de la Reina. Here
the display of fruits and vegetables is something marvelous, both in
variety and in picturesqueness of arrangement. This locality is the
natural resort of the mendicants, who pick up a trifle in the way of
provisions from one and another, as people who do not feel disposed to
bestow money will often give food to the indigent. This market was the
only place in the city where it was possible to purchase flowers, but
here one or two humble dealers came at early morn to dispose of such
buds and blossoms as they found in demand. A blind Chinese coolie was
found sitting on the sidewalk every morning, at the corner of the
Calzada de la Reina, just opposite the market, and he elicited a
trifle from us now and again. One morning a couple of roses and a
sprig of lemon verbena were added to his small gratuity. The effect
upon that sightless countenance was electrical, and the poor
mendicant, having only pantomime with which to express his delight,
seemed half frantic. The money fell to the ground, but the flowers
were pressed passionately to his breast.
Did it remind him, we thought, of perfumes which had once delighted
his youthful senses in far-off Asia, before he had been decoyed to a
foreign land and into semi-slavery, to be deprived of health, liberty,
sight, hope, everything?
The Cuban beggars have a dash of originality in their ideas as to the
successful prosecution of their calling; we mean those "native and to
the manor born." Some of them possess two and even three cadaverous
dogs, taught to follow closely at their heels, as they wander about,
and having the same shriveled-up, half-starved aspect as their
masters. One beggar, who was quite a cripple, had his daily seat in a
sort of wheelbarrow, at the corner of Paseo Street, opposite the Plaza
de Isabella. This man was always accompanied by a parrot of gaudy
plumage, perched familiarly on his shoulder. Now and then the cripple
put some favorite bird-food between his own lips, which the parrot
extracted and appropriated with such promptness as to indicate a good
appetite. Another solicitor of alms, quite old and bent, had an
amusing companion in a little gray squirrel, with a collar and string
attached, the animal being as mischievous as a monkey, now and then
hiding in one of the mendicant's several pockets, sometimes coming
forth to crack and eat a nut upon his owner's shoulder. A blind
beggar, of Creole nationality, sat all day long in the hot sun, on the
Alameda de Paula near the Hotel San Carlos, whose companion was a
chimpanzee monkey. The little half-human creature held out its hand
with a piteous expression to every passer-by, and deposited whatever
he received in his master's pocket. These pets serve to attract
attention, if not commiseration, and we observed that the men did not
beg in vain.
The acme of originality, however, was certainly reached in the case of
a remarkable Creole beggar whose regular post is on the west corner of
the Central Market. This man is perhaps thirty-five or forty years of
age, and possesses a fine head, a handsome face, and piercing black
eyes. He is of small body, and his lower limbs are so withered as to
be entirely useless; so he sits with them curled up in a low, broad
basket, in which he is daily brought to the spot, locomotion in his
case being out of the question. He wears the cleanest of linen, and
his faultless cuffs and ruffled shirt-bosom are decked with solid gold
studs. He is bareheaded, but his thick black hair is carefully
dressed, and parted with mathematical precision in the middle. He
wears neither coat nor vest, but his lower garments are neatly adapted
to his deformity, and are of broadcloth. This man does not utter a
word, but extends his hand pleasantly, with an appealing look from his
handsome eyes, which often elicits a silver real from the passer-by.
We acknowledge to having been thus influenced more than once, in our
morning walks, by a sympathy which it would be difficult to analyze.
We had seen a colored dude selling canes at Nassau, but a dude
mendicant, and a cripple at that, was a physical anomaly.