II.

MATANZAS, _March 1, 1839_.

This is a considerable shipping port. Large quantities of lumber are

brought hither by New England vessels, which in return take cargoes of

sugar, molasses, and coffee. I saw a drove of mules and horses with

pack-saddles, fifty in number, all laden with these articles, coming to

market. Twenty-eight of them were laden with four kegs, each containing

five gallons of molasses, and were tied head and tail together. One

man had charge of that number. In this warm climate they stop and

wash or swim their animals in the streams to refresh them; the drivers

drink the fresh milk from the cocoa. The number of game-cocks owned

here attracted my attention; cock-fighting takes place frequently. I

noticed, in passing an inclosure, an arena for practising, and stakes

were driven for forty of them, to which they were attached by the leg;

some are even valued as high as six ounces, or a hundred dollars; two

negroes were cracking corn with their teeth to feed them, and others

were sprinkling aguardiente or Cuba rum over their heads and bodies;

it gives them a reddish color after the feathers are plucked out. If

game, they fight until they die. In the pit they take them up and blow

in their mouths, lick their heads, raise their wings, run their bills

together, and then put them down to see who will conquer.

In the vicinity are found very extensive caves, inhabited by bats,

which are well worth a visit. Myself and a fellow-traveller hired a

Volante to visit a coffee estate on the banks of the little Canaimar

river. The weather was warm; the rays of the sun were oppressive like

one of our July days; it was dry and dusty. We met with droves of

muzzled mules laden with products; we crossed the river in scow boats,

drawn by a rope. The coffee-tree grows about three or five feet high,

and is lopped to make the branches expand, otherwise it grows seven

or eight feet in height. The blossom is white, the leaf resembles the

laurel of our country, only larger; there is a fragrant but insipid

flavor to the blossom; the berry is red, and tastes sweet. On opening

it you discover two grains of coffee. It is gathered in baskets, and

carried to the yard where they have large earthen floors with descents

both ways to carry off the rain; here it remains until perfectly dry,

then it passes through a machine which completes it. It is then put up

in sacks for market. They commence picking about the 1st of November,

and continue until they have finished, often as late as February. The

tree lasts fifteen or twenty years, if well attended to.

The Canaimar is a beautiful stream, with high banks covered with trees,

and is from fifty to eighty yards wide; it is navigable some fifteen

or twenty miles, for schooners up to Barcadero. For pretty scenery it

reminds me of the Hudson, but decidedly in miniature.

We saw several fine coffee plantations, and others exhausted, devoted

to the production of sugar. Our Calesero with his droll costume wore

his sword, which he flattered himself was a great protection after

nightfall. The roads were rough, and little travelled by carriages;

but it was amusing the way we rattled over the hills with three horses

attached to our odd-looking vehicle. We have followed up our visits to

sugar and coffee plantations in other directions. Some of the latter

are most beautiful with avenues of palms, interspersed with orange

and myrtle trees. One sugar estate of three hundred acres turned off

three hundred hogsheads of sugar. The owner had one hundred and fifty

negroes, one hundred of whom were working hands; we visited their

cabins and the sugar-works. He had seventy yoke of oxen, thirty on the

grinding mill; they work night and day, five pair at a time, cracking

the cane with three large rollers. The juice is insipid but healthful;

it soon becomes acid when exposed to the sun. It runs direct from the

mill in reservoirs, and in the iron boilers with sides of brick-work.

It is dipped from one pot to the other, and boiled until the guarappa

or syrup passes into reservoirs or granulators, after which it is put

into hogsheads, and stands over vats to allow the escape of the treacle

or molasses, which is pumped up and forwarded to market. The crushed

stalk is dried and used for fuel, when engines are in vogue as they now

are. The cane may be used up entirely. In the cutting the cattle follow

and consume the tops; the balance decays and enriches the soil. The

negroes cut the cane systematically with long knives in the fields. The

cane here springs up again without replanting, and lasts from five to

seven years.

In the gardens were guava trees, from which the delicious jelly is

made, and pomegranates, oranges, and other fruits. The most graceful

tree is the palm: it grows straight to a great height, with rings from

the root, and looks like a column of marble of greyish blue color

until within fifteen feet of the top, when it lessens in size, and

is of a bright green color, with an offshoot or thread that grows up

like the winding-sheet of a candle, about four feet to the top, from

which spread the branches, like an umbrella. From the green spot spring

bunches of berries which are green, but ripen red, and are used by

the negroes to feed their hogs. The mango, shaddocks, sweet oranges,

and forbidden-fruit, are interesting to the stranger. We have just

paid the sad rites to one of our Northern invalids; only four of us

followed him to the grave. The funeral of a child three years old has

just passed; this beautiful infant lies in a half coffin, with face

and hands exposed, a wreath of flowers about its head, and a bouquet

in its little hand. One half of the coffin is supported by four boys

in fashionably cut garments, and bright coat-buttons; the other half

is supported by other boys. The friends of the dead do not go to the

grave. The manner of burial being so different from ours, one is struck

with every peculiarity. Some distinguished person who died recently

had ten negro bearers dressed in military apparel, red and grey livery

trimmed with lace, with black chapeaux and feathers. Ten Volantes

followed. The bodies are buried in trenches, with all their clothing

on, which is cut before interment. They are put in the ground without

the coffin, quick-lime is thrown upon them with a little earth; others

are buried over them. When room is required, the ground is dug over,

and the fragments are burned.

The convicts here are employed upon the public works, and in the

streets, pounding stone and regulating the thoroughfares; they are

guarded by soldiers, and wear chains on one side from the waist to the

ankle. I recently accompanied a planter who wanted to add to his stock

of negroes. A cargo of two hundred and eighty-five had just arrived

from Africa. They were in the Barracoons, men, women, and children. I

had some oranges, which I cut up and gave them; they did not know what

they were at first, but soon found out, and flocked around me and drove

me to the door, with their hands all up, clamoring for more. It was

amusing to see the scampering and jubilee when the fruit was thrown

among them. They were fond of snuff, tobacco, and pipes. The planter

made a selection of twenty, at twenty-four ounces, or four hundred and

eight dollars each, and they seemed happy to get out of the barracks.