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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33455-8.txt b/33455-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e91ee7a --- /dev/null +++ b/33455-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4800 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of To Cuba and Back, by Richard Henry Dana + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: To Cuba and Back + +Author: Richard Henry Dana + +Release Date: August 17, 2010 [EBook #33455] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO CUBA AND BACK *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +TO CUBA AND BACK + +BY + +RICHARD HENRY DANA, JR. + +1887 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I.--From Manhattan to El Morro + +II.--Havana: _First Glimpses (1)_ + +III.--Havana: _First Glimpses (2)_ + +IV.--Havana: _Prisoners and Priests_ + +V.--Havana: _Olla Podrida_ + +VI.--Havana: _A Social Sunday_ + +VII.--Havana: _Belén and the Jesuits_ + +VIII.--Matanzas + +IX.--To Limonar by Train + +X.--A Sugar Plantation: _The Labor_ + +XI.--A Sugar Plantation: _The Life_ + +XII.--From Plantation to Plantation + +XIII.--Matanzas and Environs + +XIV.--Reflections via Railroad + +XV.--Havana: _Social, Religious and Judicial Tidbits_ + +XVI.--Havana: _Worship, Etiquette and Humanitarianism_ + +XVII.--Havana: _Hospital and Prison_ + +XVIII.--Havana: _Bullfight_ + +XIX.--Havana: _More Manners and Customs_ + +XX.--Havana: _Slaves, Lotteries, Cockfights and Filibusters_ + +XXI.--A Summing-up: _Society, Politics, Religion, Slavery, Resources and +Reflections_ + +XXII.--Leave-taking + + + + +I. + +FROM MANHATTAN TO EL MORRO + + + +The steamer is to sail at one P.M.; and, by half-past twelve, her decks +are full, and the mud and snow of the pier are well trodden by men and +horses. Coaches drive down furiously, and nervous passengers put their +heads out to see if the steamer is off before her time; and on the +decks, and in the gangways, inexperienced passengers run against +everybody, and mistake the engineer for the steward, and come up the +same stairs they go down, without knowing it. In the dreary snow, the +newspaper vendors cry the papers, and the book vendors thrust yellow +covers into your face--"Reading for the voyage, sir--five hundred pages, +close print!" And that being rejected, they reverse the process of the +Sibyl--with "Here's another, sir, one thousand pages, double columns." +The great beam of the engine moves slowly up and down, and the black +hull sways at its fasts. A motley group are the passengers. Shivering +Cubans, exotics that have taken slight root in the hothouses of the +Fifth Avenue, are to brave a few days of sleet and cold at sea, for the +palm trees and mangoes, the cocoas and orange trees, they will be +sitting under in six days, at farthest. There are Yankee shipmasters +going out to join their "cotton wagons" at New Orleans and Mobile, +merchants pursuing a commerce that knows no rest and no locality; +confirmed invalids advised to go to Cuba to die under mosquito nets and +be buried in a Potter's Field; and other invalids wisely enough avoiding +our March winds; and here and there a mere vacationmaker, like myself. + +Captain Bullock is sure to sail at the hour; and at the hour he is on +the paddle-box, the fasts are loosed, the warp run out, the crew pull in +on the warp on the port quarter, and the head swings off. No word is +spoken, but all is done by signs; or, if a word is necessary, a low +clear tone carries it to the listener. There is no tearing and rending +escape of steam, deafening and distracting all, and giving a kind of +terror to a peaceful scene; but our ship swings off, gathers way, and +enters upon her voyage, in a quiet like that of a bank or counting-room, +almost under a spell of silence. + +The state-rooms of the "Cahawba," like those of most American sea-going +steamers, are built so high above the water that the windows may be open +in all but the worst of weather, and good ventilation be ensured. I have +a very nice fellow for my room-mate, in the berth under me; but, in a +state-room, no room-mate is better than the best; so I change my +quarters to a state-room further forward, nearer "the eyes of her," +which the passengers generally shun, and get one to myself, free from +the rattle of the steering gear, while the delightful rise and fall of +the bows, and leisurely weather roll and lee roll, cradle and nurse one +to sleep. + +The routine of the ship, as regards passengers, is this: a cup of +coffee, if you desire it, when you turn out; breakfast at eight, lunch +at twelve, dinner at three, tea at seven, and lights put out at ten. + +Throughout the day, sailing down the outer edge of the Gulf Stream, we +see vessels of all forms and sizes, coming in sight and passing away, as +in a dioramic show. There is a heavy cotton droger from the Gulf, of +1200 tons burden, under a cloud of sail, pressing on to the northern +seas of New England or Old England. Here comes a saucy little Baltimore +brig, close-hauled and leaning over to it; and there, half down in the +horizon, is a pile of white canvas, which the experienced eyes of my two +friends, the passenger shipmasters, pronounce to be a bark, outward +bound. Every passenger says to every other, how beautiful! how +exquisite! That pale thin girl who is going to Cuba for her health, her +brother travelling with her, sits on the settee, propped by a pillow, +and tries to smile and to think she feels stronger in this air. She says +she shall stay in Cuba until she gets well! + +After dinner, Capt. Bullock tells us that we shall soon see the high +lands of Cuba, off Matanzas, the first and highest being the Pan of +Matanzas. It is clear over head, but a mist lies along the southern +horizon, in the latter part of the day. The sharpest eyes detect the +land, about 4 P.M., and soon it is visible to all. It is an undulating +country on the coast, with high hills and mountains in the interior, and +has a rich and fertile look. That height is the Pan, though we see no +special resemblance, in its outline, to a loaf of bread. We are still +sixty miles from Havana. We cannot reach it before dark, and no vessels +are allowed to pass the Morro after the signals are dropped at sunset. + +We coast the northern shore of Cuba, from Matanzas westward. There is no +waste of sand and low flats, as in most of our southern states; but the +fertile, undulating land comes to the sea, and rises into high hills as +it recedes. "There is the Morro! and right ahead!" "Why, there is the +city too! Is the city on the sea? We thought it was on a harbor or bay." +There, indeed, is the Morro, a stately hill of tawny rock, rising +perpendicularly from the sea, and jutting into it, with walls and +parapets and towers on its top, and flags and signals flying, and the +tall lighthouse just in front of its outer wall. It is not very high, +yet commands the sea about it. And there is the city, on the sea-coast, +indeed--the houses running down to the coral edge of the ocean. Where is +the harbor, and where the shipping? Ah, there they are! We open an +entrance, narrow and deep, between the beetling Morro and the Punta; and +through the entrance, we see the spreading harbor and the innumerable +masts. But the darkness is gathering, the sunset gun has been fired, we +can just catch the dying notes of trumpets from the fortifications, and +the Morro Lighthouse throws its gleam over the still sea. The little +lights emerge and twinkle from the city. We are too late to enter the +port, and slowly and reluctantly the ship turns her head off to seaward. +The engine breathes heavily, and throws its one arm leisurely up and +down; we rise and fall on the moonlit sea; the stars are near to us, or +we are raised nearer to them; the Southern Cross is just above the +horizon; and all night long, two streams of light lie upon the water, +one of gold from the Morro, and one of silver from the moon. It is +enchantment. Who can regret our delay, or wish to exchange this scene +for the common, close anchorage of a harbor? + + + + +II. + +HAVANA: First Glimpses (I) + + +We are to go in at sunrise, and few, if any, are the passengers that are +not on deck at the first glow of dawn. Before us lie the novel and +exciting objects of the night before. The Steep Morro, with its tall +sentinel lighthouse, and its towers and signal staffs and teeth of guns, +is coming out into clear daylight; the red and yellow striped flag of +Spain--blood and gold--floats over it. Point after point in the city +becomes visible; the blue and white and yellow houses, with their roofs +of dull red tiles, the quaint old Cathedral towers, and the almost +endless lines of fortifications. The masts of the immense shipping rise +over the headland, the signal for leave to enter is run up, and we steer +in under full head, the morning gun thundering from the Morro, the +trumpets braying and drums beating from all the fortifications, the +Morro, the Punta, the long Cabaña, the Casa Blanca and the city walls, +while the broad sun is fast rising over this magnificent spectacle. + +What a world of shipping! The masts make a belt of dense forest along +the edge of the city, all the ships lying head in to the street, like +horses at their mangers; while the vessels at anchor nearly choke up the +passage ways to the deeper bays beyond. There are the red and yellow +stripes of decayed Spain; the blue, white and red--blood to the fingers' +end--of La Grande Nation; the Union crosses of the Royal Commonwealth; +the stars and stripes of the Great Republic, and a few flags of Holland +and Portugal, of the states of northern Italy, of Brazil, and of the +republics of the Spanish Main. We thread our slow and careful way among +these, pass under the broadside of a ship-of-the-line, and under the +stern of a screw frigate, both bearing the Spanish flag, and cast our +anchor in the Regla Bay, by the side of the steamer "Karnac," which +sailed from New York a few days before us. + +Instantly we are besieged by boats, some loaded with oranges and +bananas, and others coming for passengers and their luggage, all with +awnings spread over their sterns, rowed by sallow, attenuated men, in +blue and white checks and straw hats, with here and there the familiar +lips and teeth, and vacant, easily-pleased face of the Negro. Among +these boats comes one, from the stern of which floats the red and yellow +flag with the crown in its field, and under whose awning reclines a man +in a full suit of white linen, with straw hat and red cockade and a +cigar. This is the Health Officer. Until he is satisfied, no one can +come on board, or leave the vessel. Capt. Bullock salutes, steps down +the ladder to the boat, hands his papers, reports all well--and we are +pronounced safe. Then comes another boat of similar style, another man +reclining under the awning with a cigar, who comes on board, is closeted +with the purser, compares the passenger list with the passports, and we +are declared fully passed, and general leave is given to land with our +luggage at the custom-house wharf. + +Now comes the war of cries and gestures and grimaces among the boatmen, +in their struggle for passengers, increased manifold by the fact that +there is but little language in common between the parties to the +bargains, and by the boatmen being required to remain in their boats. +How thin these boatmen look! You cannot get it out of your mind that +they must all have had the yellow fever last summer, and are not yet +fully recovered. Not only their faces, but their hands and arms and legs +are thin, and their low-quartered slippers only half cover their thin +yellow feet. + +In the hurry, I have to hunt after the passengers I am to take leave of +who go on to New Orleans:--Mr. and Mrs. Benchley, on their way to their +intended new home in western Texas, my two sea captains, and the little +son of my friend, who is the guest, on this voyage, of our common friend +the captain, and after all, I miss the hearty hand-shake of Bullock and +Rodgers. Seated under an awning, in the stern of a boat, with my trunk +and carpet-bag and an unseasonable bundle of Arctic overcoat and fur cap +in the bow, I am pulled by a man with an oar in each hand and a cigar in +mouth, to the custom-house pier. Here is a busy scene of trunks, +carpet-bags, and bundles; and up and down the pier marches a military +grandee of about the rank of a sergeant or sub-lieutenant, with a +preposterous strut, so out of keeping with the depressed military +character of his country, and not possible to be appreciated without +seeing it. If he would give that strut on the boards, in New York, he +would draw full houses nightly. + +Our passports are kept, and we receive a license to remain and travel in +the island, good for three months only, for which a large fee is paid. +These officers of the customs are civil and reasonably rapid; and in a +short time my luggage is on a dray driven by a Negro, and I am in a +volante, managed by a Negro postilion, and am driving through the narrow +streets of this surprising city. + +The streets are so narrow and the houses built so close upon them, that +they seem to be rather spaces between the walls of houses than highways +for travel. It appears impossible that two vehicles should pass abreast; +yet they do so. There are constant blockings of the way. In some places +awnings are stretched over the entire street, from house to house, and +we are riding under a long tent. What strange vehicles these volantes +are!--A pair of very long, limber shafts, at one end of which is a pair +of huge wheels, and the other end a horse with his tail braided and +brought forward and tied to the saddle, an open chaise body resting on +the shafts, about one third of the way from the axle to the horse; and +on the horse is a Negro, in large postilion boots, long spurs, and a +bright jacket. It is an easy vehicle to ride in; but it must be a sore +burden to the beast. Here and there we pass a private volante, +distinguished by rich silver mountings and postilions in livery. Some +have two horses, and with the silver and the livery and the long +dangling traces and a look of superfluity, have rather an air of high +life. In most, a gentleman is reclining, cigar in mouth; while in +others, is a great puff of blue or pink muslin or cambric, extending +over the sides to the shafts, topped off by a fan, with signs of a face +behind it. "Calle de los Oficios," "Calle del Obispo," "Calle de San +Ignacio," "Calle de Mercaderes," are on the little corner boards. Every +little shop and every big shop has its title; but nowhere does the name +of a keeper appear. Almost every shop advertises "por mayor y menor," +wholesale and retail. What a Gil Blas-Don Quixote feeling the names of +"posada," "tienda," and "cantina" give you! + +There are no women walking in the streets, except negresses. Those suits +of seersucker, with straw hats and red cockades, are soldiers. It is a +sensible dress for the climate. Every third man, perhaps more, and not a +few women, are smoking cigars or cigarritos. Here are things moving +along, looking like cocks of new mown grass, under way. But presently +you see the head of a horse or mule peering out from under the mass, and +a tail is visible at the other end, and feet are picking their slow way +over the stones. These are the carriers of green fodder, the fresh cut +stalks and blades of corn; and my chance companion in the carriage, a +fellow passenger by the "Cahawba," a Frenchman, who has been here +before, tells me that they supply all the horses and mules in the city +with their daily feed, as no hay is used. There are also mules, asses, +and horses with bananas, plantains, oranges and other fruits in panniers +reaching almost to the ground. + +Here is the Plaza de Armas, with its garden of rich, fragrant flowers in +full bloom, in front of the Governor's Palace. At the corner is the +chapel erected over the spot where, under the auspices of Columbus, mass +was first celebrated on the island. We are driven past a gloomy convent, +past innumerable shops, past drinking places, billiard rooms, and the +thick, dead walls of houses, with large windows, grated like dungeons, +and large gates, showing glimpses of interior court-yards, sometimes +with trees and flowers. But horses and carriages and gentlemen and +ladies and slaves, all seem to use the same entrance. The windows come +to the ground, and, being flush with the street, and mostly without +glass, nothing but the grating prevents a passenger from walking into +the rooms. And there the ladies and children sit sewing, or lounging, or +playing. This is all very strange. There is evidently enough for me to +see in the ten or twelve days of my stay. + +But there are no costumes among the men, no Spanish hats, or Spanish +cloaks, or bright jackets, or waistcoats, or open, slashed trousers, +that are so picturesque in other Spanish countries. The men wear black +dress coats, long pantaloons, black cravats, and many of them even +submit, in this hot sun, to black French hats. The tyranny of +systematic, scientific, capable, unpicturesque, unimaginative France, +evidently rules over the realm of man's dress. The houses, the vehicles, +the vegetation, the animals, are picturesque; to the eye of taste + + "_Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile._" + +We drove through the Puerta de Monserrate, a heavy gateway of the +prevailing yellow or tawny color, where soldiers are on guard, across +the moat, out upon the "Paseo de Isabel Segunda," and are now +"extramuros," without the walls. The Paseo is a grand avenue running +across the city from sea to bay, with two carriage-drives abreast, and +two malls for foot passengers, and all lined with trees in full foliage. +Here you catch a glimpse of the Morro, and there of the Presidio. This +is the Teatro de Tacón; and, in front of this line of tall houses, in +contrast with the almost uniform one-story buildings of the city, the +volante stops. This is Le Grand's hotel. + + + + +III. + +HAVANA: First Glimpses (2) + + +To a person unaccustomed to the tropics or the south of Europe, I know +of nothing more discouraging than the arrival at the inn or hotel. It is +nobody's business to attend to you. The landlord is strangely +indifferent, and if there is a way to get a thing done, you have not +learned it, and there is no one to teach you. Le Grand is a Frenchman. +His house is a restaurant, with rooms for lodgers. The restaurant is +paramount. The lodging is secondary, and is left to servants. Monsieur +does not condescend to show a room, even to families; and the servants, +who are whites, but mere lads, have all the interior in their charge, +and there are no women employed about the chambers. Antonio, a swarthy +Spanish lad, in shirt sleeves, looking very much as if he never washed, +has my part of the house in charge, and shows me my room. It has but one +window, a door opening upon the veranda, and a brick floor, and is very +bare of furniture, and the furniture has long ceased to be strong. A +small stand barely holds up a basin and ewer which have not been washed +since Antonio was washed, and the bedstead, covered by a canvas sacking, +without mattress or bed, looks as if it would hardly bear the weight of +a man. It is plain there is a good deal to be learned here. Antonio is +communicative, on a suggestion of several days' stay and good pay. +Things which we cannot do without, we must go out of the house to find, +and those which we can do without, we must dispense with. This is odd, +and strange, but not uninteresting, and affords scope for contrivance +and the exercise of influence and other administrative powers. The Grand +Seigneur does not mean to be troubled with anything; so there are no +bells, and no office, and no clerks. He is the only source, and if he is +approached, he shrugs his shoulders and gives you to understand that +you have your chambers for your money and must look to the servants. +Antonio starts off on an expedition for a pitcher of water and a towel, +with a faint hope of two towels; for each demand involves an expedition +to remote parts of the house. Then Antonio has so many rooms dependent +on him, that every door is a Scylla, and every window a Charybdis, as he +passes. A shrill, female voice, from the next room but one, calls +"Antonio! Antonio!" and that starts the parrot in the court yard, who +cries "Antonio! Antonio!" for several minutes. A deep, bass voice +mutters "Antonio!" in a more confidential tone; and last of all, an +unmistakably Northern voice attempts it, but ends in something between +Antonio and Anthony. He is gone a good while, and has evidently had +several episodes to his journey. But he is a good-natured fellow, speaks +a little French, very little English, and seems anxious to do his best. + +I see the faces of my New York fellow-passengers from the west gallery, +and we come together and throw our acquisitions of information into a +common stock, and help one another. Mr. Miller's servant, who has been +here before, says there are baths and other conveniences round the +corner of the street; and, sending our bundles of thin clothes there, we +take advantage of the baths, with comfort. To be sure, we must go +through a billiard-room, where the Creoles are playing at the tables, +and the cockroaches playing under them, and through a drinking-room, and +a bowling-alley; but the baths are built in the open yard, protected by +blinds, well ventilated, and well supplied with water and toilet +apparatus. + +With the comfort of a bath, and clothed in linen, with straw hats, we +walk back to Le Grand's, and enter the restaurant, for breakfast--the +breakfast of the country, at 10 o'clock. Here is a scene so pretty as +quite to make up for the defects of the chambers. The restaurant with +cool marble floor, walls twenty-four feet high, open rafters painted +blue, great windows open to the floor and looking into the Paseo, and +the floor nearly on a level with the street, a light breeze fanning the +thin curtains, the little tables, for two or four, with clean, white +cloths, each with its pyramid of great red oranges and its fragrant +bouquet--the gentlemen in white pantaloons and jackets and white +stockings, and the ladies in fly-away muslins, and hair in the sweet +neglect of the morning toilet, taking their leisurely breakfasts of +fruit and claret, and omelette and Spanish mixed dishes, (ollas,) and +café noir. How airy and ethereal it seems! They are birds, not +substantial men and women. They eat ambrosia and drink nectar. It must +be that they fly, and live in nests, in the tamarind trees. Who can eat +a hot, greasy breakfast of cakes and gravied meats, and in a close room, +after this? + +I can truly say that I ate, this morning, my first orange; for I had +never before eaten one newly gathered, which had ripened in the sun, +hanging on the tree. We call for the usual breakfast, leaving the +selection to the waiter; and he brings us fruits, claret, omelette, fish +fresh from the sea, rice excellently cooked, fried plantains, a mixed +dish of meat and vegetables (olla), and coffee. The fish, I do not +remember its name, is boiled, and has the colors of the rainbow, as it +lies on the plate. Havana is a good fishmarket; for it is as open to the +ocean as Nahant, or the beach at Newport; its streets running to the +blue sea, outside the harbor, so that a man may almost throw his line +from the curb-stone into the Gulf Stream. + +After breakfast, I take a volante and ride into the town, to deliver my +letters. Three merchants whom I call upon have palaces for their +business. The entrances are wide, the staircases almost as stately as +that of Stafford House, the floors of marble, the panels of porcelain +tiles, the rails of iron, and the rooms over twenty feet high, with open +rafters, the doors and windows colossal, the furniture rich and heavy; +and there sits the merchant or banker, in white pantaloons and thin +shoes and loose white coat and narrow necktie, smoking a succession of +cigars, surrounded by tropical luxuries and tropical protections. In the +lower story of one of these buildings is an exposition of silks, cotton +and linens, in a room so large that it looked like a part of the Great +Exhibition in Hyde Park. At one of these counting-palaces, I met Mr. +Theodore Parker and Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, who preceded me, in the +"Karnac." Mr. Parker is here for his health, which has caused anxiety to +his friends lest his weakened frame should no longer support the strong +intellectual machinery, as before. He finds Havana too hot, and will +leave for Santa Cruz by the first opportunity. Dr. Howe likes the warm +weather. It is a comfort to see him--a benefactor of his race, and one +of the few heroes we have left to us, since Kane died. + +The Bishop of Havana has been in delicate health, and is out of town, at +Jesús del Monte, and Miss M---- is not at home, and the Señoras F---- I +failed to see this morning; but I find a Boston young lady, whose +friends were desirous I should see her, and who was glad enough to meet +one so lately from her home. A clergyman to whom, also, I had letters, +is gone into the country, without much hope of improving his health. +Stepping into a little shop to buy a plan of Havana, my name is called, +and there is my hero's wife, the accomplished author and +conversationist, whom it is an exhilaration to meet anywhere, much more +in a land of strangers. Dr. and Mrs. Howe and Mr. Parker are at the +Cerro, a pretty and cool place in the suburbs, but are coming in to Mrs. +Almy's boarding-house, for the convenience of being in the city, and for +nearness to friends, and the comforts of something like American or +English housekeeping. + +In the latter part of the afternoon, from three o'clock, our parties are +taking dinner at Le Grand's. The little tables are again full, with a +fair complement of ladies. The afternoon breeze is so strong that the +draught of air, though it is hot air, is to be avoided. The passers-by +almost put their faces into the room, and the women and children of the +poorer order look wistfully in upon the luxurious guests, the colored +glasses, the red wines, and the golden fruits. The Opera troupe is here, +both the singers and the ballet; and we have Gazzaniga, Lamoureux, Max +Maretzek and his sister, and others, in this house, and Adelaide +Phillips at the next door, and the benefit of a rehearsal, at nearly all +hours of the day, of operas that the Habaneros are to rave over at +night. + +I yield to no one in my admiration of the Spanish as a spoken language, +whether in its rich, sonorous, musical, and lofty style, in the mouth of +a man who knows its uses, or in the soft, indolent, languid tones of a +woman, broken by an occasional birdlike trill-- + + "_With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,_ + _The melting voice through mazes running_"-- + +but I do not like it as spoken by the common people of Cuba, in the +streets. Their voices and intonations are thin and eager, very rapid, +too much in the lips, and, withal, giving an impression of the +passionate and the childish combined; and it strikes me that the +tendency here is to enfeeble the language, and take from it the openness +of the vowels and the strength of the harder consonants. This is the +criticism of a few hours' observation, and may not be just; but I have +heard the same from persons who have been longer acquainted with it. +Among the well educated Cubans, the standard of Castilian is said to be +kept high, and there is a good deal of ambition to reach it. + +After dinner, walked along the Paseo de Isabel Segunda, to see the +pleasure-driving, which begins at about five o'clock, and lasts until +dark. The most common carriage is the volante, but there are some +carriages in the English style, with servants in livery on the box. I +have taken a fancy for the strange-looking two-horse volante. The +postilion, the long, dangling traces, the superfluousness of a horse to +be ridden by the man that guides the other, and the prodigality of +silver, give the whole a look of style that eclipses, the neat +appropriate English equipage. The ladies ride in full dress, +décolletées, without hats. The servants on the carriages are not all +Negroes. Many of the drivers are white. The drives are along the Paseo +de Isabel, across the Campo del Marte, and then along the Paseo de +Tacón, a beautiful double avenue, lined with trees, which leads two or +three miles, in a straight line, into the country. + +At 8 o'clock, drove to the Plaza de Armas, a square in front of the +governor's house, to hear the Retreta, at which a military band plays +for an hour, every evening. There is a clear moon above, and a blue +field of glittering stars; the air is pure and balmy; the band of fifty +or sixty instruments discourses most eloquent music under the shade of +palm trees and mangoes; the walks are filled with promenaders, and the +streets around the square lined with carriages, in which the ladies +recline, and receive the salutations and visits of the gentlemen. Very +few ladies walk in the square, and those probably are strangers. It is +against the etiquette for ladies to walk in public in Havana. + +I walk leisurely home, in order to see Havana by night. The evening is +the busiest season for the shops. Much of the business of shopping is +done after gas lighting. Volantes and coaches are driving to and fro, +and stopping at the shop doors, and attendants take their goods to the +doors of the carriages. The watchmen stand at the corners of the +streets, each carrying a long pike and a lantern. Billiard-rooms and +cafés are filled, and all who can walk for pleasure will walk now. This +is also the principal time for paying visits. + +There is one strange custom observed here in all the houses. In the +chief room, rows of chairs are placed, facing each other, three or four +or five in each line, and always running at right angles with the street +wall of the house. As you pass along the street, you look up this row of +chairs. In these, the family and the visitors take their seats, in +formal order. As the windows are open, deep, and large, with wide +gratings and no glass, one has the inspection of the interior +arrangement of all the front parlors of Havana, and can see what every +lady wears, and who is visiting her. + + + + +IV. + +HAVANA: Prisoners and Priests + + +If mosquito nets were invented for the purpose of shutting mosquitoes in +with you, they answer their purpose very well. The beds have no +mattresses, and you lie on the hard sacking. This favors coolness and +neatness. I should fear a mattress, in the economy of our hotel, at +least. Where there is nothing but an iron frame, canvas stretched over +it, and sheets and a blanket, you may know what you are dealing with. + +The clocks of the churches and castles strike the quarter hours, and at +each stroke the watchmen blow a kind of boatswain's whistle, and cry the +time and the state of the weather, which, from their name (serenos), +should be always pleasant. + +I have been advised to close the shutters at night, whatever the heat, +as the change of air that often takes place before dawn is injurious; +and I notice that many of the bedrooms in the hotel are closed, both +doors and shutters, at night. This is too much for my endurance, and I +venture to leave the air to its course, not being in the draught. One is +also cautioned not to step with bare feet on the floor, for fear of the +nigua (or chigua), a very small insect, that is said to enter the skin +and build tiny nests, and lay little eggs that can only be seen by the +microscope, but are tormenting and sometimes dangerous. This may be +excessive caution, but it is so easy to observe, that it is not worth +while to test the question. + +There are streaks of a clear dawn; it is nearly six o'clock, the cocks +are crowing, and the drums and trumpets sounding. We have been told of +sea-baths, cut in the rock, near the Punta, at the foot of our Paseo. I +walk down, under the trees, toward the Presidio. What is this clanking +sound? Can it be cavalry, marching on foot, their sabres rattling on +the pavement? No, it comes from that crowd of poor-looking creatures +that are forming in files in front of the Presidio. It is the +chain-gang! Poor wretches! I come nearer to them, and wait until they +are formed and numbered and marched off. Each man has an iron band +riveted round his ankle, and another round his waist, and the chain is +fastened, one end into each of these bands, and dangles between them, +clanking with every movement. This leaves the wearers free to use their +arms, and, indeed, their whole body, it being only a weight and a badge +and a note for discovery, from which they cannot rid themselves. It is +kept on them day and night, working, eating, or sleeping. In some cases, +two are chained together. They have passed their night in the Presidio +(the great prison and garrison), and are marshalled for their day's toil +in the public streets and on the public works, in the heat of the sun. +They look thoroughly wretched. Can any of these be political offenders? +It is said that Carlists, from Old Spain, worked in this gang. Sentence +to the chain-gang in summer, in the case of a foreigner, must be nearly +certain death. + +Farther on, between the Presidio and the Punta, the soldiers are +drilling; and the drummers and trumpeters are practising on the rampart +of the city walls. + +A little to the left, in the Calzada de San Lázaro, are the Baños de +Mar. These are boxes, each about twelve feet square and six or eight +feet deep, cut directly into the rock which here forms the sea-line, +with steps of rock, and each box having a couple of portholes through +which the waves of this tideless shore wash in and out. This arrangement +is necessary, as sharks are so abundant that bathing in the open sea is +dangerous. The pure rock, and the flow and reflow, make these +bathing-boxes very agreeable, and the water, which is that of the Gulf +Stream, is at a temperature of 72 degrees. The baths are roofed over, +and partially screened on the inside, but open for a view out, on the +side towards the sea; and as you bathe, you see the big ships floating +up the Gulf Stream, that great highway of the Equinoctial world. The +water stands at depths of from three to five feet in the baths; and they +are large enough for short swimming. The bottom is white with sand and +shells. These baths are made at the public expense, and are free. Some +are marked for women, some for men, and some "por la gente de color." A +little further down the Calzada, is another set of baths, and further +out in the suburbs, opposite the Beneficencia, are still others. + +After bath, took two or three fresh oranges, and a cup of coffee, +without milk; for the little milk one uses with coffee must not be taken +with fruit here, even in winter. + +To the Cathedral, at 8 o'clock, to hear mass. The Cathedral, in its +exterior, is a plain and quaint old structure, with a tower at each +angle of the front; but within, it is sumptuous. There is a floor of +variegated marble, obstructed by no seats or screens, tall pillars and +rich frescoed walls, and delicate masonry of various colored stone, the +prevailing tint being yellow, and a high altar of porphyry. There is a +look of the great days of Old Spain about it; and you think that knights +and nobles worshipped here and enriched it from their spoils and +conquests. Every new eye turns first to the place within the choir, +under that alto-relief, behind that short inscription, where, in the +wall of the chancel, rest the remains of Christopher Columbus. Borne +from Valladolid to Seville, from Seville to San Domingo, and from San +Domingo to Havana, they at last rest here, by the altar side, in the +emporium of the Spanish Islands. "What is man that thou art mindful of +him!" truly and humbly says the Psalmist; but what is man, indeed, if +his fellow men are not mindful of such a man as this! The creator of a +hemisphere! It is not often we feel that monuments are surely deserved, +in their degree and to the extent of their utterance. But when, in the +New World, on an island of that group which he gave to civilized man, +you stand before this simple monumental slab, and know that all of him +that man can gather up, lies behind it, so overpowering is the sense of +the greatness of his deeds, that you feel relieved that no attempt has +been made to measure it by any work of man's hands. The little there is, +is so inadequate, that you make no comparison. It is a mere +finger-point, the _hic jacet_, the _sic itur_. + +The priests in the chancel are numerous, perhaps twenty or more. The +service is chanted with no aid of instruments, except once the +accompaniment of a small and rather disordered organ, and chanted in +very loud and often harsh and blatant tones, which reverberate from the +marble walls, with a tiresome monotony of cadence. There is a degree of +ceremony in the placing, replacing, and carrying to and fro of candles +and crucifixes, and swinging of censers, which the Roman service as +practised in the United States does not give. The priests seem duly +attentive and reverent in their manner, but I cannot say as much for the +boys, of whom there were three or four, gentlemen-like looking lads, +from the college, doing service as altar boys. One of these, who seemed +to have the lead, was strikingly careless and irreverent in his manner; +and when he went about the chancel, to incense all who were there, and +to give to each the small golden vessel to kiss, (containing, I suppose +a relic), he seemed as if he were counting his playmates out for a game, +and flinging the censer at them and snubbing their noses with the golden +vessel. + +There were only about half a dozen persons at mass, beside those in the +chancel; and all but one of these were women, and of the women two were +Negroes. The women walk in, veiled, drop down on the bare pavement, +kneeling or sitting, as the service requires or permits. A Negro woman, +with devout and even distressed countenance, knelt at the altar rail, +and one pale-eyed priest, in cassock, who looked like an American or +Englishman, knelt close by a pillar. A file of visitors, American or +English women, with an escort of gentlemen, came in and sat on the only +benches, next the columns; and when the Host was elevated, and a priest +said to them, very civilly, in English, "Please to kneel down," they +neither knelt nor stood, nor went away, but kept their seats. + +After service, the old sacristan, in blue woollen dress, showed all the +visitors the little chapel and the cloisters, and took us beyond the +altar to the mural tomb of Columbus, and though he was liberally paid, +haggled for two reals more. + +In the rear of the Cathedral is the Seminario, or college for boys, +where also men are trained for the priesthood. There are cloisters and a +pleasant garden within them. + + + + +V. + +HAVANA: Olla Podrida + + +Breakfast, and again the cool marble floor, white-robed tables, the +fruits and flowers, and curtains gently swaying, and women in morning +toilets. Besides the openness to view, these rooms are strangely open to +ingress. Lottery-ticket vendors go the rounds of the tables at every +meal, and so do the girls with tambourines for alms for the music in the +street. As there is no coin in Cuba less than the medio, 6-1/4 cents, +the musicians get a good deal or nothing. The absence of any smaller +coin must be an inconvenience to the poor, as they must often buy more +than they want, or go without. I find silver very scarce here. It is +difficult to get change for gold, and at public places notices are put +up that gold will not be received for small payments. I find the only +course is to go to one of the Cambios de Moneda, whose signs are +frequent in the streets, and get a half doubloon changed into reals and +pesetas, at four per cent discount, and fill my pockets with small +silver. + +Spent the morning, from eleven o'clock to dinner-time, in my room, +writing and reading. It is too hot to be out with comfort. It is not +such a morning as one would spend at the St. Nicholas, or the Tremont, +or at Morley's or Meurice's. The rooms all open into the court-yard, and +the doors and windows, if open at all, are open to the view of all +passers-by. As there are no bells, every call is made from the veranda +rail, down into the court-yard, and repeated until the servant answers, +or the caller gives up in despair. Antonio has a compeer and rival in +Domingo, and the sharp voice of the woman in the next room but one, who +proves to be a subordinate of the opera troupe, is calling +out,"Do-meen-go! Do-meen-go!" and the rogue is in full sight from our +side, making significant faces, until she changes her tune to "Antonio! +Antonio! adónde está Domingo?" But as she speaks very little Spanish, +and Antonio very little French, it is not difficult for him to get up a +misapprehension, especially at the distance of two stories; and she is +obliged to subside for a while, and her place is supplied by the parrot. +She is usually unsuccessful, being either unreasonable, or bad pay. The +opera troupe are rehearsing in the second flight, with doors and windows +open. And throughout the hot middle day, we hear the singing, the piano, +the parrot, and the calls and parleys with the servants below. But we +can see the illimitable sea from the end of the piazza, blue as indigo; +and the strange city is lying under our eye, with its strange blue and +white and yellow houses, with their roofs of dull red tiles, its strange +tropical shade-trees, and its strange vehicles and motley population, +and the clangor of its bells, and the high-pitched cries of the vendors +in its streets. + +Going down stairs at about eleven o'clock, I find a table set in the +front hall, at the foot of the great staircase, and there, in full view +of all who come or go, the landlord and his entire establishment, except +the slaves and coolies, are at breakfast. This is done every day. At the +café round the corner, the family with their white, hired servants, +breakfast and dine in the hall, through which all the customers of the +place must go to the baths, the billiard rooms, and the bowling-alleys. +Fancy the manager of the Astor or Revere, spreading a table for +breakfast and dinner in the great entry, between the office and the +front door, for himself and family and servants! + +Yesterday and to-day I noticed in the streets and at work in houses, men +of an Indian complexion, with coarse black hair. I asked if they were +native Indians, or of mixed blood. No, they are the coolies! Their hair, +full grown, and the usual dress of the country which they wore, had not +suggested to me the Chinese; but the shape and expression of the eye +make it plain. These are the victims of the trade, of which we hear so +much. I am told there are 200,000 of them in Cuba, or, that so many have +been imported, and all within seven years. I have met them everywhere, +the newly-arrived, in Chinese costume, with shaved heads, but the +greater number in pantaloons and jackets and straw hats, with hair full +grown. Two of the cooks at our hotel are coolies. I must inform myself +on the subject of this strange development of the domination of capital +over labor. I am told there is a mart of coolies in the Cerro. This I +must see, if it is to be seen. + +After dinner drove out to the Jesús del Monte, to deliver my letter of +introduction to the Bishop. The drive, by way of the Calzada de Jesús +del Monte, takes one through a wretched portion, I hope the most +wretched portion, of Havana, by long lines of one story wood and mud +hovels, hardly habitable even for Negroes, and interspersed with an +abundance of drinking shops. The horses, mules, asses, chickens, +children, and grown people use the same door; and the back yards +disclose heaps of rubbish. The looks of the men, the horses tied to the +door-posts, the mules with their panniers of fruits and leaves reaching +to the ground, all speak of Gil Blas, and of what we have read of humble +life in Spain. The little Negro children go stark naked, as innocent of +clothing as the puppies. But this is so all over the city. In the front +hall of Le Grand's, this morning, a lady, standing in a full dress of +spotless white, held by the hand a naked little Negro boy, of two or +three years old, nestling in black relief against the folds of her +dress. + +Now we rise to the higher grounds of Jesús del Monte. The houses improve +in character. They are still of one story, but high and of stone, with +marble floors and tiled roofs, with court-yards of grass and trees, and +through the gratings of the wide, long, open windows, I see the decent +furniture, the double, formal row of chairs, prints on the walls, and +well-dressed women maneuvering their fans. + +As a carriage with a pair of cream-colored horses passed, having two men +within, in the dress of ecclesiastics, my driver pulled up and said that +was the Bishop's carriage, and that he was going out for an evening +drive. Still, I must go on; and we drive to his house. As you go up the +hill, a glorious view lies upon the left. Havana, both city and suburbs, +the Morro with its batteries and lighthouse, the ridge of fortifications +called the Cabaña and Casa Blanca, the Castle of Atares, near at hand, a +perfect truncated cone, fortified at the top--the higher and most +distant Castle of Príncipe, + + "_And, poured round all,_ + _Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste_"-- + +No! Not so! Young Ocean, the Ocean of to-day! The blue, bright, +healthful, glittering, gladdening, inspiring Ocean! Have I ever seen a +city view so grand? The view of Quebec from the foot of the Montmorenci +Falls, may rival, but does not excel it. My preference is for this; for +nothing, not even the St. Lawrence, broad and affluent as it is, will +make up for the living sea, the boundless horizon, the dioramic vision +of gliding, distant sails, and the open arms and motherly bosom of the +harbor, "with handmaid lamp attending":--our Mother Earth, forgetting +never the perils of that gay and treacherous world of waters, its change +of moods, its "strumpet winds"--ready is she at all times, by day or by +night, to fold back to her bosom her returning sons, knowing that the +sea can give them no drink, no food, no path, no light, nor bear up +their foot for an instant, if they are sinking in its depths. + +The regular episcopal residence is in town. This is only a house which +the Bishop occupies temporarily, for the sake of his health. It is a +modest house of one story, standing very high, with a commanding view of +city, harbor, sea, and suburbs. The floors are marble, and the roof is +of open rafters, painted blue, and above twenty feet in height; the +windows are as large as doors, and the doors as large as gates. The +mayordomo shows me the parlor, in which are portraits in oil of +distinguished scholars and missionaries and martyrs. + +On my way back to the city, I direct the driver to avoid the +disagreeable road by which we came out, and we drive by a cross road, +and strike the Paseo de Tacón at its outer end, where is a fountain and +statue, and a public garden of the most exquisite flowers, shrubs, and +trees, and around them are standing, though it is nearly dark, files of +carriages waiting for the promenaders, who are enjoying a walk in the +garden. I am able to take the entire drive of the Paseo. It is straight, +very wide, with two carriageways and two footways, with rows of trees +between, and at three points has a statue and a fountain. One of these +statues, if I recollect aright, is of Tacón; one of a Queen of Spain; +and one is an allegorical figure. The Paseo is two or three miles in +length; reaching from the Campo de Marte, just outside the walls, to the +last statue and public garden, on gradually ascending ground, and lined +with beautiful villas, and rich gardens full of tropical trees and +plants. No city in America has such an avenue as the Paseo de Tacón. +This, like most of the glories of Havana, they tell you they owe to the +energy and genius of the man whose name it bears.--I must guard myself, +by the way, while here, against using the words America and American, +when I mean the United States and the people of our Republic; for this +is America also; and they here use the word America as including the +entire continent and islands, and distinguish between Spanish and +English America, the islands and the main. + +The Cubans have a taste for prodigality in grandiloquent or pretty +names. Every shop, the most humble, has its name. They name the shops +after the sun and moon and stars; after gods and goddesses, demi-gods +and heroes; after fruits and flowers, gems and precious stones; after +favorite names of women, with pretty, fanciful additions; and after all +alluring qualities, all delights of the senses, and all pleasing +affections of the mind. The wards of jails and hospitals are each known +by some religious or patriotic designation; and twelve guns in the Morro +are named for the Apostles. Every town has the name of an apostle or +saint, or of some sacred subject. The full name of Havana, in honor of +Columbus, is San Cristóbal de la Habana; and that of Matanzas is San +Carlos Alcázar de Matanzas. It is strange that the island itself has +defied all the Spanish attempts to name it. It has been solemnly named +Juana, after the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; then Ferdinandina, +after Ferdinand himself; then Santiago, and, lastly, Ave María; but it +has always fallen back upon the original Indian name of Cuba. And the +only compensation to the hyperbolical taste of the race is that they +decorate it, on state and ceremonious occasions, with the musical prefix +of "La siempre fidelísima Isla de Cuba." + +At 7.30 P.M. went with my New York fellow-passengers to hear an opera, +or, more correctly, to see the people of Havana at an opera. The Teatro +de Tacón is closed for repairs. This is unfortunate, as it is said by +some to be the finest theater, and by all to be one of the three finest +theaters in the world. This, too, is attributed to Tacón; although it is +said to have been a speculation of a clever pirate turned fish-dealer, +who made a fortune by it. But I like well enough the Teatro de +Villanueva. The stage is deep and wide, the pit high and comfortable, +and the boxes light and airy and open in front, with only a light +tracery of iron to support the rails, leaving you a full view of the +costumes of the ladies, even to their slippers. The boxes are also +separated from the passage-ways in the rear, only by wide lattice work; +so that the promenaders between the acts can see the entire contents of +the boxes at one view; and the ladies dress and sit and talk and use the +fan with a full sense that they are under the inspection of a "committee +of the whole house." They are all in full dress, décolletées, without +hats. It seemed, to my fancy, that the mature women were divisible into +two classes, distinctly marked and with few intermediates--the obese and +the shrivelled. I suspect that the effect of time in this climate is to +produce a decided result in the one direction or the other. But a single +night's view at an opera is very imperfect material for an induction, I +admit. The young ladies had, generally, full figures, with tapering +fingers and well-rounded arms; yet there were some in the extreme +contrast of sallow, bilious, sharp countenances, with glassy eyes. There +is evidently great attention to manner, to the mode of sitting and +moving, to the music of the voice in speaking, the use of the hands and +arms, and, perhaps it may be ungallant to add, of the eyes. + +The Governor-General, Concha (whose title is, strictly, +Capitan-General), with his wife and two daughters, and two +aides-de-camp, is in the Vice-regal box, hung with red curtains, and +surmounted by the royal arms. I can form no opinion of him from his +physiognomy, as that is rather heavy, and gives not much indication. + +Between the acts, I make, as all the gentlemen do, the promenade of the +house. All parts of it are respectable, and the regulations are good. I +notice one curious custom, which I am told prevails in all Spanish +theaters. As no women sit in the pit, and the boxes are often hired for +the season, and are high-priced, a portion of an upper tier is set apart +for those women and children who cannot or do not choose to get seats in +the boxes. Their quarter is separated from the rest of the house by +gates, and is attended by two or three old women, with a man to guard +the entrance. No men are admitted among them, and their parents, +brothers, cousins and beaux are allowed only to come to the door, and +must send in refreshments, and even a cup of water, by the hands of the +dueñas. + +Military, on duty, abound at the doors and in the passage-ways. The men +to-night are of the regiment of Guards, dressed in white. There are +enough of them to put down a small insurrection, on the spot. The +singers screamed well enough, and the play was a poor one, "María de +Rohan," but the prima donna, Gazzaniga, is a favorite, and the excitable +Cubans shout and scream, and throw bouquets, and jump on the benches, +and, at last, present her with a crown, wreathed with flowers, and with +jewels of value attached to it. Miss Adelaide Phillips is here, too, and +a favorite, and has been crowned, they say; but she does not sing +to-night. + + + + +VI. + +HAVANA: A Social Sunday + + +To-morrow, I am to go, at eight o'clock either to the church of San +Domingo, to hear the military mass, or to the Jesuit church of Belén; +for the service of my own church is not publicly celebrated, even at the +British consulate, no service but the Roman Catholic being tolerated on +the island. + +To-night there is a public máscara (mask ball) at the great hall, next +door to Le Grand's. My only window is by the side of the numerous +windows of the great hall, and all these are wide open; and I should be +stifled if I were to close mine. The music is loud and violent, from a +very large band, with kettle drums and bass drums and trumpets; and +because these do not make noise and uproar enough, leather bands are +snapped, at the turns in the tunes. For sleeping, I might as well have +been stretched on the bass drum. This tumult of noises, and the heat are +wearing and oppressive beyond endurance, as it draws on past midnight, +to the small hours; and the servants in the court of the hall seem to be +tending at tables of quarrelling men, and to be interminably washing and +breaking dishes. After several feverish hours, I light a match and look +at my watch. It is nearly five o'clock in the morning. There is an hour +to daylight--and will this noise stop before then? The city clocks +struck five; the music ceased; and the bells of the convents and +monasteries tolled their matins, to call the nuns and monks to their +prayers and to the bedsides of the sick and dying in the hospitals, as +the maskers go home from their revels at this hideous hour of Sunday +morning. The servants ceased their noises, the cocks began to crow and +the bells to chime, the trumpets began to bray, and the cries of the +streets broke in before dawn, and I dropped asleep just as I was +thinking sleep past hoping for; when I am awakened by a knocking at the +door, and Antonio calling, "Usted! Usted! Un caballero quiere ver á +Usted!" to find it half-past nine, the middle of the forenoon, and an +ecclesiastic in black dress and shovel hat, waiting in the passage-way, +with a message from the bishop. + +His Excellency regrets not having seen me the day before, and invites me +to dinner at three o'clock, to meet three or four gentlemen, an +invitation which I accept with pleasure. + +I am too late for the mass, or any other religious service, as all the +churches close at ten o'clock. A tepid, soothing bath, at "Los baños +públicos," round the corner, and I spend the morning in my chamber. As +we are at breakfast, the troops pass by the Paseo, from the mass +service. Their gait is quick and easy, with swinging arms, after the +French fashion. Their dress is seersucker, with straw hats and red +cockades: the regiments being distinguished by the color of the cloth on +the cuffs of the coat, some being yellow, some green, and some blue. + +Soon after two o'clock, I take a carriage for the bishop's. On my way +out I see that the streets are full of Spanish sailors from the +men-of-war, ashore for a holiday, dressed in the style of English +sailors, with wide duck trousers, blue jackets, and straw hats, with the +name of their ship on the front of the hat. All business is going on as +usual, and laborers are at work in the streets and on the houses. + +The company consists of the bishop himself, the Bishop of Puebla de los +Ángeles in Mexico, Father Yuch, the rector of the Jesuit College, who +has a high reputation as a man of intellect, and two young +ecclesiastics. Our dinner is well cooked, and in the Spanish style, +consisting of fish, vegetables, fruits, and of stewed light dishes, made +up of vegetables, fowls and other meats, a style of cooking well adapted +to a climate in which one is very willing to dispense with the solid, +heavy cuts of an English dinner. + +The Bishop of Puebla wore the purple, the Bishop of Havana a black robe +with a broad cape, lined with red, and each wore the Episcopal cross and +ring. The others were in simple black cassocks. The conversation was in +French; for, to my surprise, none of the company could speak English; +and being allowed my election between French and Spanish, I chose the +former, as the lighter infliction on my associates. + +I am surprised to see what an impression is made on all classes in this +country by the pending "Thirty Millions Bill" of Mr. Slidell. It is +known to be an Administration measure, and is thought to be the first +step in a series which is to end in an attempt to seize the island. Our +steamer brought oral intelligence that it had passed the Senate, and it +was so announced in the Diario of the day after our arrival, although no +newspaper that we brought so stated it. Not only with these clergymen, +but with the merchants and others whom I have met since our arrival, +foreigners as well as Cubans, this is the absorbing topic. Their future +seems to be hanging in doubt, depending on the action of our government, +which is thought to have a settled purpose to acquire the island. I +suggested that it had not passed the Senate, and would not pass the +House; and, at most, was only an authority to the President to make an +offer that would certainly be refused. But they looked beyond the form +of the act, and regarded it as the first move in a plan, of which, +although they could not entirely know the details, they thought they +understood the motive. + +These clergymen were well informed as to the state of religion in the +United States, the relative numbers and force of the various +denominations, and their doctrinal differences; the reputations of +Brownson, Parker, Beecher, and others; and most minutely acquainted with +the condition of their own church in the United States, and with the +chief of its clergy. This acquaintance is not attributable solely to +their unity of organization, and to the consequent interchange of +communication, but largely also to the tie of a common education at the +Propaganda or St. Sulpice, the catalogues of whose alumni are familiar +to the educated Catholic clergy throughout the world. + +The subject of slavery, and the condition and prospects of the Negro +race in Cuba, the probable results of the coolie system, and the +relations between Church and State in Cuba, and the manner in which +Sunday is treated in Havana, the public school system in America, the +fate of Mormonism, and how our government will treat it, were freely +discussed. It is not because I have any reason to suppose that these +gentlemen would object to all they said being printed in these pages, +and read by all who may choose to read it in Cuba, or the United States, +that I do not report their interesting and instructive conversation; but +because it would be, in my opinion, a violation of the universal +understanding among gentlemen. + +After dinner, we walked on the piazza, with the noble sunset view of the +unsurpassed panorama lying before us; and I took my leave of my host, a +kind and courteous gentleman of Old Spain, as well as a prelate, just as +a few lights were beginning to sprinkle over the fading city, and the +Morro Light to gleam on the untroubled air. + +Made two visits in the city this evening. In each house, I found the +double row of chairs, facing each other, always with about four or five +feet of space between the rows. The etiquette is that the gentlemen sit +on the row opposite to the ladies, if there be but two or three present. +If a lady, on entering goes to the side of a gentleman, when the other +row is open to her, it indicates either familiar acquaintance or +boldness. There is no people so observant of outguards, as the Spanish +race. + +I notice, and my observation is supported by what I am told by the +residents here, that there is no street-walking, in the technical sense, +in Havana. Whether this is from the fact that no ladies walk in the +streets--which are too narrow for comfortable or even safe walking--or +by reason of police regulations, I do not know. From what one meets with +in the streets, if he does not look farther, one would not know that +there was a vice in Havana, not even drunkenness. + + + + +VII. + +HAVANA: Belén and the Jesuits + + +Rose before six, and walked as usual, down the Paseo, to the sea baths. +How refreshing is this bath, after the hot night and close rooms! At +your side, the wide blue sea with its distant sails, the bath cut into +the clean rock, the gentle washing in and out of the tideless sea, at +the Gulf Stream temperature, in the cool of the morning! As I pass down, +I meet a file of coolies, in Chinese costume, marching, under overseers, +to their work or their jail. And there is the chain-gang! clank, clank, +as they go headed by officers with pistols and swords, and flanked by +drivers with whips. This is simple wretchedness! + +While at breakfast, a gentleman in the dress of the regular clergy, +speaking English, called upon me, bringing me, from the bishop an open +letter of introduction and admission to all the religious, charitable, +and educational institutions of the city, and offering to conduct me to +the Belén (Bethlehem). He is Father B. of Charleston, S. C. temporarily +in Havana, with whom I find I have some acquaintances in common, both in +America and abroad. We drive together to the Belén. I say drive; for few +persons walk far in Havana, after ten o'clock in the morning. The +volantes are the public carriages of Havana; and are as abundant as cabs +in London. You never need stand long at a street door without finding +one. The postilions are always Negroes; and I am told that they pay the +owner a certain sum per day for the horse and volante, and make what +they can above that. + +The Belén is a group of buildings, of the usual yellow or tawny color, +covering a good deal of ground, and of a thoroughly monastic character. +It was first a Franciscan monastery, then a barrack, and now has been +given by the government to the Jesuits. The company of Jesus here is +composed of a rector and about forty clerical and twenty lay brethren. +These perform every office, from the highest scientific investigations +and instruction, down to the lowest menial offices, in the care of the +children; some serving in costly vestments at the high altar, and others +in coarse black garb at the gates. It is only three years since they +established themselves in Havana, but in that time they have formed a +school of two hundred boarders and one hundred day scholars, built +dormitories for the boarders, and a common hall, restored the church and +made it the most fully attended in the city; established a missionary +work in all parts of the town, recalled a great number to the discipline +of the Church, and not only created something like an enthusiasm of +devotion among the women, who are said to have monopolized the religion +of Cuba in times past, but have introduced among the men, and among many +influential men, the practices of confession and communion, to which +they had been almost entirely strangers. I do not take this account from +the Jesuits themselves, but from the regular clergy of other orders, and +from Protestants who are opposed to them and their influence. All agree +that they are at work with zeal and success. + +I met my distinguished acquaintance of yesterday, the rector, who took +me to the boys' chapel, and introduced me to Father Antonio Cabre, a +very young man of a spare frame and intellectual countenance, with hands +so white and so thin, and eyes so bright, and cheek so pale! He is at +the head of the department of mathematics and astronomy, and looks +indeed as if he had outwatched the stars, in vigils of science or of +devotion. He took me to his laboratory, his observatory, and his +apparatus of philosophic instruments. These I am told are according to +the latest inventions, and in the best style of French and German +workmanship. I was also shown a collection of coins and medals, a +cabinet of shells, the commencement of a museum of natural history, +already enriched with most of the birds of Cuba, and an interesting +cabinet of the woods of the island, in small blocks, each piece being +polished on one side, and rough on the other. Among the woods were the +mahoganies, the iron-wood, the ebony, the lignum vitæ, the cedar, and +many others, of names unfamiliar to me, which admit of the most +exquisite polish. Some of the most curious were from the Isla de Pinos, +an island belonging to Cuba, and on its southern shore. + +The sleeping arrangement for the boys here seemed to me to be new, and +to be well adapted to the climate. There is a large hall, with a roof +about thirty feet from the floor, and windows near the top, to give +light and ventilation above, and small portholes, near the ground, to +let air into the passages. In this hall are double rows of compartments, +like high pews, or, more profanely, like the large boxes in restaurants +and chop-houses, open at the top, with curtains instead of doors, and +each large enough to contain a single bed, a chair, and a toilet table. +This ensures both privacy and the light and air of the great hall. The +bedsteads are of iron; and nothing can exceed the neatness and order of +the apartments. The boys' clothes are kept in another part of the house, +and they take to their dormitories only the clothes that they are using. +Each boy sleeps alone. Several of the Fathers sleep in the hall, in +curtained rooms at the ends of the passage-ways, and a watchman walks +the rounds all night, to guard against fire, and to give notice of +sickness. + +The boys have a playground, a gymnasium, and a riding-school. But +although they like riding and fencing, they do not take to the robust +exercises and sports of English schoolboys. An American whom I met here, +who had spent several months at the school, told me that in their +recreations they were more like girls, and like to sit a good deal, +playing or working with their hands. He pointed out to me a boy, the son +of an American mother, a lady to whom I brought letters and kind wishes +from her many friends at the North, and told me that he had more pluck +than any boy in the school. + +The roof of the Belén is flat, and gives a pleasant promenade, in the +open air, after the sun is gone down, which is much needed, as the +buildings are in the dense part of the city. + +The brethren of this order wear short hair, with the tonsure, and dress +in coarse cassocks of plain black, coming to the feet, and buttoned +close to the neck, with a cape, but with no white of collar above; and +in these, they sweep like black spectres, about the passage-ways, and +across the halls and court-yards. There are so many of them that they +are able to give thorough and minute attention to the boys, not only in +instruction, both secular and religious, but in their entire training +and development. + +From the scholastic part of the institution, I passed to the church. It +is not very large, has an open marble floor, a gallery newly erected for +the use of the brethren and other men, a sumptuous high altar, a +sacristy and vestry behind, and a small altar, by which burned the +undying lamp, indicating the presence of the Sacrament. In the vestry, I +was shown the vestments for the service of the high altar, some of which +are costly and gorgeous in the extreme, not probably exceeded by those +of the Temple at Jerusalem in the palmiest days of the Jewish hierarchy. +All are presents from wealthy devotees. One, an alb, had a circle of +precious stones; and the lace alone on another, a present from a lady of +rank, is said to have cost three thousand dollars. Whatever may be +thought of the rightfulness of this expenditure, turning upon the old +question as to which the alabaster box of ointment and the ordained +costliness of the Jewish ritual "must give us pause," it cannot be said +of the Jesuits that they live in cedar, while the ark of God rests in +curtains; for the actual life of the streets hardly presents any greater +contrast, than that between the sumptuousness of their apparel at the +altar, and the coarseness and cheapness of their ordinary dress, the +bareness of their rooms, and the apparent severity of their life. + +The Cubans have a childish taste for excessive decoration. Their altars +look like toyshops. A priest, not a Cuban, told me that he went to the +high altar of the cathedral once, on a Christmas day, to officiate, and +when his eye fell on the childish and almost profane attempts at +symbolism--a kind of doll millinery, if he had not got so far that he +could not retire without scandal, he would have left the duties of the +day to others. At the Belén there is less of this; but the Jesuits find +or think it necessary to conform a good deal to the popular taste. + +In the sacristy, near the side altar, is a distressing image of the +Virgin, not in youth, but the mother of the mature man, with a sword +pierced through her heart--referring to the figurative prediction "a +sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." The handle and a part +of the blade remain without, while the marks of the deep wound are seen, +and the countenance expresses the sorest agony of mind and body. It is +painful, and beyond all legitimate scope of art, and haunts one, like a +vision of actual misery. It is almost the only thing in the church of +which I have brought away a distinct image in my memory. + +A strange, eventful history is that of the Society of Jesus! Ignatius +Loyola, a soldier and noble of Spain, renouncing arms and knighthood, +hangs his trophies of war upon the altar of Monserrate. After intense +studies and barefoot pilgrimages, persecuted by religious orders whose +excesses he sought to restrain, and frowned upon by the Inquisition, he +organizes, with Xavier and Faber, at Montmartre, a society of three. +From this small beginning, spreading upwards and outwards, it +overshadows the earth. Now, at the top of success, it is supposed to +control half Christendom. Now, his order proscribed by State and Church +alike and suppressed by the Pope himself, there is not a spot of earth +in Catholic Christendom where the Jesuit can place the sole of his foot. +In this hour of distress, he finds refuge in Russia, and in Protestant +Prussia. Then, restored and tolerated, the order revives here and there +in Europe, with a fitful life; and, at length, blazes out into a glory +of missionary triumphs and martyrdoms in China, in India, in Africa, and +in North America; and now, in these later days, we see it advancing +everywhere to a new epoch of labor and influence. Thorough in education, +perfect in discipline, absolute in obedience--as yielding, as +indestructible, as all-pervading as water or as air! + +The Jesuits make strong friends and strong enemies. Many, who are +neither the one nor the other, say of them that their ethics are +artificial, and their system unnatural; that they do not reform nature, +but destroy it; that, aiming to use the world without abusing it, they +reduce it to subjection and tutelage; that they are always either in +dangerous power, or in disgrace; and although they may labor with more +enthusiasm and self-consecration than any other order, and meet with +astonishing successes for a time, yet such is the character of their +system that these successes are never permanent, but result in +opposition, not only from Protestants, and moderate Catholics, and from +the civil power, but from other religious orders and from the regular +clergy in their own Church, an opposition to which they are invariably +compelled to yield, at last. In fine, they declare, that, allowing them +all zeal, and all ability, and all devotedness, their system is too +severe and too unnatural for permanent usefulness anywhere--medicine and +not food, lightning and not light, flame and not warmth. + +Not satisfied with this moderated judgment, their opponents have met +them, always and everywhere, with uniform and vehement reprobation. They +say to them--the opinion of mankind has condemned you! The just and +irreversible sentence of time has made you a by-word and a hissing, and +reduced your very name, the most sacred in its origin, to a synonym for +ambition and deceit! + +Others, again, esteem them the nearest approach in modern times to that +type of men portrayed by one of the chiefest, in his epistle: "In much +patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in +imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by +pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering; ... by honor and dishonor; by +evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true; as unknown, and +yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not +killed; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many +rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." + + + + +VIII. + +MATANZAS + + +As there are no plantations to be seen near Havana, I determine to go +down to Matanzas, near which the sugar plantations are in full tide of +operation at this season. A steamer leaves here every night at ten +o'clock, reaching Matanzas before daylight, the distance by sea being +between fifty and sixty miles. + +Took this steamer to-night. She got under way punctually at ten o'clock, +and steamed down the harbor. The dark waters are alive with +phosphorescent light. From each ship that lies moored, the cable from +the bows, tautened to its anchor, makes a run of silver light. Each +boat, gliding silently from ship to ship, and shore to shore, turns up a +silver ripple at its stem, and trails a wake of silver behind; while the +dip of the oar-blades brings up liquid silver, dripping, from the opaque +deep. We pass along the side of the two-decker, and see through her +ports the lanterns and men; under the stern of one frigate, and across +the bows of another (for Havana is well supplied with men-of-war); and +drop leisurely down by the Cabaña, where we are hailed from the rocks; +and bend round the Morro, and are out on the salt, rolling sea. Having a +day of work before me, I went early to my berth, and was waked up by the +letting off of steam, in the lower harbor of Matanzas, at three o'clock +in the morning. My fellow-passengers, who sat up, said the little +steamer tore and plunged, and jumped through the water like a thing that +had lost its wits. They seemed to think that the Cuban engineer had got +a machine that would some day run away with him. It was, certainly, a +very short passage. + +We passed a good many vessels lying at anchor in the lower harbor of +Matanzas, and came to anchor about a mile from the pier. It was clear, +bright moonlight. The small boats came off to us, and took us and our +luggage ashore. I was landed alone on a quay, carpet-bag in hand, and +had to guess my way to the inn, which was near the water-side. I beat on +the big, close-barred door; and a sleepy Negro, in time, opened it. Mine +host was up, expecting passengers, and after waiting on the very tardy +movements of the Negro, who made a separate journey to the yard for each +thing the room needed, I got to bed by four o'clock, on the usual piece +of canvas stretched over an iron frame, in a room having a brick floor, +and windows without glass closed with big-bolted shutters. + +After coffee, walked out to deliver my letters to Mr.----, an American +merchant, who has married the daughter of a planter, a gentleman of +wealth and character. He is much more agreeable and painstaking than we +have any right to expect of one who is served so frequently with notice +that his attentions are desired for the entertainment of a stranger. +Knowing that it is my wish to visit a plantation, he gives me a letter +to Don Juan Chartrand, who has an ingenio (sugar plantation), called La +Ariadne, near Limonar, and about twenty-five miles back in the country +from Matanzas. The train leaves at 2.30 P.M., which gives me several +hours for the city. + +Although it is not yet nine o'clock, it is very hot, and one is glad to +keep on the shady side of the broad streets of Matanzas. This city was +built later and more under foreign direction than Havana, and I have +been told, not by persons here however, that for many years the +controlling influences of society were French, English, and American; +but that lately the policy of the government has been to discourage +foreign influence, and now Spanish customs prevail--bull-fights have +been introduced, and other usages and entertainments which had had no +place here before. Whatever may be the reason, this city differs from +Havana in buildings, vehicles, and dress, and in the width of its +streets, and has less of the peculiar air of a tropical city. It has +about 25,000 inhabitants, and stands where two small rivers, the Yumurí +and the San Juan, crossed by handsome stone bridges, run into the sea, +dividing the city into three parts. The vessels lie at anchor from one +to three miles below the city, and lighters, with masts and sails, line +the stone quays of the little rivers. The city is flat and hot, but the +country around is picturesque, hilly, and fertile. To the westward of +the town, rises a ridge, bordering on the sea, called the Cumbre, which +is a place of resort for the beauty of its views; and in front of the +Cumbre, on the inland side, is the deep rich valley of the Yumurí, with +its celebrated cavern. These I must see, if I can, on my return from the +plantation. + +In my morning walk, I see a company of coolies, in the hot sun, carrying +stones to build a house, under the eye of a taskmaster who sits in the +shade. The stones have been dropped in a pile, from carts, and the +coolies, carry them, in files, to the cellar of the house. They are +naked to the waist, with short-legged cotton trousers coming to the +knees. Some of these men were strongly, one or two of them powerfully +built, but many seemed very thin and frail. While looking on, I saw an +evident American face near me, and getting into conversation with the +man, found him an intelligent shipmaster from New York, who had lived in +Matanzas for a year or two, engaged in business. He told me, as I had +heard in Havana, that the importer of the coolies gets $400 a head for +them from the purchaser, and that the coolies are entitled from the +purchaser to four dollars a month, which they may demand monthly if they +choose, and are bound to eight years' service, during which time they +may be held to all the service that a slave is subject to. They are more +intelligent, and are put to higher labor than the Negro. He said, too, +it would not do to flog a coolie. Idolaters as they are, they have a +notion of the dignity of the human body, at least as against strangers, +which does not allow them to submit to the indignity of corporal +chastisement. If a coolie is flogged, somebody must die; either the +coolie himself, for they are fearfully given to suicide, or the +perpetrator of the indignity, or some one else, according to their +strange principles of vicarious punishment. Yet such is the value of +labor in Cuba, that a citizen will give $400, in cash, for the chance of +enforcing eight years' labor, at $4 per month, from a man speaking a +strange language, worshipping strange gods or none, thinking suicide a +virtue, and governed by no moral laws in common with his master--his +value being yet further diminished by the chances of natural death, of +sickness, accident, escape, and of forfeiting his services to the +government, for any crime he may commit against laws he does not +understand. + +The Plaza is in the usual style--an enclosed garden, with walks; and in +front is the Government House. In this spot, so fair and so still in the +noonday sun, some fourteen years ago, under the fire of the platoons of +Spanish soldiers, fell the patriot and poet, one of the few popular +poets of Cuba, Gabriel de la Concepción Valdez. Charged with being the +head of that concerted movement of the slaves for their freedom which +struck such terror into Cuba, in 1844, he was convicted and ordered to +be shot. At the first volley, as the story is told, he was only wounded. +"Aim here!" said he, pointing to his head. Another volley, and it was +all over. + +The name and story of Gabriel de la Concepción Valdez are preserved by +the historians and tourists of Cuba. He is best known, however, by the +name of Placido, that under which he wrote and published, than by his +proper name. He was a man of genius and a man of valor, but--he was a +mulatto! + + + + +IX. + +TO LIMONAR BY TRAIN + + +Took the train for Limonar, at 2.30 P.M. There are three classes of +cars, all after the American model, the first of about the condition of +our first-class cars when on the point of being condemned as worn out; +the second, a little plainer; and the third, only covered wagons with +benches. The car I entered had "Davenport & Co., makers, Cambridgeport, +Mass.," familiarly on its front, and the next had "Eaton, Gilbert & Co., +Troy, N. York." The brakemen on the train are coolies, one of them a +handsome lad, with coarse, black hair, that lay gracefully about his +head, and eyes handsome, though of the Chinese pattern. They were all +dressed in the common shirt, trousers and hat, and, but for their eyes, +might be taken for men of any of the Oriental races. + +As we leave Matanzas, we rise on an ascending grade, and the bay and +city lie open before us. The bay is deep on the western shore, under the +ridge of the Cumbre, and there the vessels lie at anchor; while the rest +of the bay is shallow, and its water, in this state of the sky and +light, is of a pale green color. The lighters, with sail and oar are +plying between the quays and the vessels below. All is pretty and quiet +and warm, but the scene has none of those regal points that so impress +themselves on the imagination and memory in the surroundings of Havana. + +I am now to get my first view of the interior of Cuba. I could not have +a more favorable day. The air is clear, and not excessively hot. The +soft clouds float midway in the serene sky, the sun shines fair and +bright, and the luxuriance of a perpetual summer covers the face of +nature. These strange palm trees everywhere! I cannot yet feel at home +among them. Many of the other trees are like our own, and though, +tropical in fact, look to the eye as if they might grow as well in New +England as here. But the royal palm looks so intensely and exclusively +tropical! It cannot grow beyond this narrow belt of the earth's surface. +Its long, thin body, so straight and so smooth, swathed from the +foot--in a tight bandage of tawny gray, leaving only its deep-green +neck, and over that its crest and plumage of deep-green leaves! It gives +no shade, and bears no fruit that is valued by men. And it has no beauty +to atone for those wants. Yet it has more than beauty--a strange +fascination over the eye and the fancy, that will never allow it to be +overlooked or forgotten. The palm tree seems a kind of _lusus naturae_ +to the northern eye--an exotic wherever you meet it. It seems to be +conscious of its want of usefulness for food or shade, yet has a dignity +of its own, a pride of unmixed blood and royal descent--the hidalgo of +the soil. + +What are those groves and clusters of small growth, looking like Indian +corn in a state of transmigration into trees, the stalk turning into a +trunk, a thin soft coating half changed to bark, and the ears of corn +turning into melons? Those are the bananas and plantains, as their +bunches of green and yellow fruits plainly enough indicate, when you +come nearer. But, that sad, weeping tree, its long yellow-green leaves +drooping to the ground! What can that be? It has a green fruit like a +melon. There it is again, in groves! I interrupt my neighbor's tenth +cigarrito, to ask him the name of the tree. It is the cocoa! And that +soft green melon becomes the hard shell we break with a hammer. Other +trees there are, in abundance, of various forms and foliage, but they +might have grown in New England or New York, so far as the eye can teach +us; but the palm, the cocoa, the banana and plantain are the +characteristic trees you could not possibly meet with in any other zone. + +Thickets--jungles I might call them--abound. It seems as if a bird could +hardly get through them; yet they are rich with wild flowers of all +forms and colors, the white, the purple, the pink, and the blue. The +trees are full of birds of all plumage. There is one like our brilliant +oriole. I cannot hear their notes, for the clatter of the train. Stone +fences, neatly laid up, run across the lands;--not of our cold +bluish-gray granite, the color, as a friend once said, of a miser's eye, +but of soft, warm brown and russet, and well overgrown with creepers, +and fringed with flowers. There are avenues, and here are clumps of the +prim orange tree, with its dense and deep-green polished foliage +gleaming with golden fruit. Now we come to acres upon acres of the +sugar-cane, looking at a distance like fields of overgrown broomcorn. It +grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and very thick. An army could +be hidden in it. This soil must be deeply and intensely fertile. + +There, at the end of an avenue of palms, in a nest of shade-trees, is a +group of white buildings, with a sea of cane-fields about it, with one +high furnace-chimney, pouring out its volume of black smoke. This is a +sugar plantation--my first sight of an ingenio; and the chimney is for +the steam works of the sugar-house. It is the height of the sugar +season, and the untiring engine toils and smokes day and night. Ox +carts, loaded with cane, are moving slowly to the sugar-house from the +fields; and about the house, and in the fields, in various attitudes and +motions of labor, are the Negroes, men and women and children, some +cutting the cane, some loading the carts, and some tending the mill and +the furnace. It is a busy scene of distant industry, in the afternoon +sun of a languid Cuban day. + +Now these groups of white one-story buildings become more frequent, +sometimes very near each other, all having the same character--the group +of white buildings, the mill, with its tall furnace-chimney, and the +look of a distillery, and all differing from each other only in the +number and extent of the buildings, or in the ornament and comfort of +shade-trees and avenues about them. Some are approached by broad alleys +of the palm, or mango, or orange, and have gardens around them, and +stand under clusters of shade-trees; while others glitter in the hot +sun, on the flat sea of cane-fields, with only a little oasis of +shade-trees and fruit-trees immediately about the houses. + +I now begin to feel that I am in Cuba; in the tropical, rich, +sugar-growing, slave-tilled Cuba. Heretofore, I have seen only the +cities and their environs in which there are more things that are common +to the rest of the world. The country life tells the story of any people +that have a country life. The New England farm-house shows the heart of +New England. The mansion-house and cottage show the heart of Old +England. The plantation life that I am seeing and about to see, tells +the story of Cuba, the Cuba that has been and that is. + +As we stop at one station, which seems to be in the middle of a +cane-field, the Negroes and coolies go to the cane, slash off a piece +with their knives, cut off the rind and chew the stick of soft, +saccharine pulp, the juice running out of their mouths as they eat. They +seem to enjoy it so highly, that I am tempted to try the taste of it, +myself. But I shall have time for all this at La Ariadne. + +These stations consist merely of one or two buildings, where the produce +of the neighborhood is collected for transportation, and at which there +are very few passengers. The railroad is intended for the carriage of +sugar and other produce, and gets its support almost entirely in that +way; for it runs through a sparse, rural population, where there are no +towns; yet so large and valuable is the sugar crop that I believe the +road is well supported. At each station are its hangers-on of free +Negroes, a few slaves on duty as carriers, a few low whites, and now and +then someone who looks as if he might be an overseer or mayoral of a +plantation. + +Limonar appears in large letters on the small building where we next +stop, and I get out and inquire of a squad of idlers for the plantation +of Señor Chartrand. They point to a group of white buildings about a +quarter of a mile distant, standing prettily under high shade-trees, and +approached by an avenue of orange trees. Getting a tall Negro to +shoulder my bag, for a real, I walk to the house. It is an afternoon of +exquisite beauty. How can any one have a weather sensation, in such an +air as this? There is no current of the slightest chill anywhere, +neither is it oppressively hot. The air is serene and pure and light. +The sky gives its mild assurance of settled fair weather. All about me +is rich verdure, over a gently undulating surface of deeply fertile +country, with here and there a high hill in the horizon, and, on one +side, a ridge that may be called mountains. There is no sound but that +of the birds, and in the next tree they may be counted by hundreds. Wild +flowers, of all colors and scents, cover the ground and the thickets. +This is the famous red earth, too. The avenue looks as if it had been +laid down with pulverized brick, and all the dust on any object you see +is red. Now we turn into the straight avenue of orange trees--prim, deep +green trees, glittering with golden fruit. Here is the one-story, +high-roofed house, with long, high piazzas. There is a high wall, +carefully whitewashed, enclosing a square with one gate, looking like a +garrisoned spot. That must be the Negroes' quarters; for there is a +group of little Negroes at the gate, looking earnestly at the +approaching stranger. Beyond is the sugar-house, and the smoking +chimney, and the ox carts, and the field hands. Through the wide, open +door of the mansion, I see two gentlemen at dinner, an older and a +younger--the head of gray, and the head of black, and two Negro women, +one serving, and the other swinging her brush to disperse the flies. Two +big, deep-mouthed hounds come out and bark; and the younger gentleman +looks at us, comes out, and calls off the dogs. My Negro stops at the +path and touches his hat, waiting permission to go to the piazza with +the luggage; for Negroes do not go to the house door without previous +leave, in strictly ordered plantations. I deliver my letter, and in a +moment am received with such cordial welcome that I am made to feel as +if I had conferred a favor by coming to see them. + + + + +X. + +A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Labor + + +At some seasons, a visit may be a favor, on remote plantations; but I +know this is the height of the sugar season, when every hour is precious +to the master. After a brief toilet, I sit down with them; for they have +just begun dinner. In five minutes, I am led to feel as if I were a +friend of many years. Both gentlemen speak English like a native tongue. +To the younger it is so, for he was born in South Carolina, and his +mother is a lady of that state. The family are not here. They do not +live on the plantation, but in Matanzas. The plantation is managed by +the son, who resides upon it; the father coming out occasionally for a +few days, as now, in the busy season. + +The dinner is in the Spanish style, which I am getting attached to. I +should flee from a joint, or a sirloin. We have rice, excellently +cooked, as always in Cuba, eggs with it, if we choose, and fried +plantains, sweet potatoes, mixed dishes of fowl and vegetables, with a +good deal of oil and seasoning, in which a hot red pepper, about the +size of the barberry, prevails. Catalonia wine, which is pretty sure to +be pure, is their table claret, while sherry, which also comes direct +from the mother-country, is for dessert. I have taken them by surprise, +in the midst of the busiest season, in a house where there are no +ladies; yet the table, the service, the dress and the etiquette, are +none the less in the style of good society. There seems to be no letting +down, where letting down would be so natural and excusable. + +I suppose the fact that the land and the agricultural capital of the +interior are in the hands of an upper class, which does no manual labor, +and which has enough of wealth and leisure to secure the advantages of +continued intercourse with city and foreign society, and of occasional +foreign travel, tends to preserve throughout the remote agricultural +districts, habits and tone and etiquette, which otherwise would die out, +in the entire absence of large towns and of high local influences. + +Whoever has met with a book called "Evenings in Boston," and read the +story of the old Negro, Saturday, and seen the frontispiece of the Negro +fleeing through the woods of Santo Domingo, with two little white boys, +one in each hand, will know as much of Mr. Chartrand, the elder, as I +did the day before seeing him. He is the living hero, or rather subject, +for Saturday was the hero, of that tale. His father was a wealthy +planter of Santo Domingo, a Frenchman, of large estates, with wife, +children, friends and neighbors. These were gathered about him in a +social circle in his house, when the dreadful insurrection overtook +them, and father, mother, sons, and daughters were murdered in one +night, and only two of the children, boys of eight and ten, were saved +by the fidelity of Saturday, an old and devoted house servant. Saturday +concealed the boys, got them off the island, took them to Charleston, +South Carolina, where they found friends among the Huguenot families, +and the refugees from Santo Domingo. There Mr. Chartrand grew up; and +after a checkered and adventurous early life, a large part of it on the +sea, he married a lady of worth and culture, in South Carolina, and +settled himself as a planter, on this spot, nearly forty years ago. His +plantation he named "El Laberinto," (The Labyrinth,) after a favorite +vessel he had commanded, and for thirty years it was a prosperous +cafetal, the home of a happy family, and much visited by strangers from. +America and Europe. The causes which broke up the coffee estates of Cuba +carried this with the others; and it was converted into a sugar +plantation, under the new name of La Ariadne, from the fancy of Ariadne +having shown the way out of the Labyrinth. Like most of the sugar +estates, it is no longer the regular home of its proprietors. + +The change from coffee plantations to sugar plantations--from the +cafetal to the ingenio, has seriously affected the social, as it has +the economic condition of Cuba. + +Coffee must grow under shade. Consequently the coffee estate was, in the +first place, a plantation of trees, and by the hundred acres. Economy +and taste led the planters, who were chiefly the French refugees from +Santo Domingo to select fruit trees, and trees valuable for their wood, +as well as pleasing for their beauty and shade. Under these plantations +of trees, grew the coffee plant, an evergreen, and almost an +ever-flowering plant, with berries of changing hues, and, twice a year, +brought its fruit to maturity. That the coffee might be tended and +gathered, avenues wide enough for wagons must be carried through the +plantations, at frequent intervals. The plantation was, therefore, laid +out like a garden, with avenues and foot-paths, all under the shade of +the finest trees, and the spaces between the avenues were groves of +fruit trees and shade trees, under which grew, trimmed down to the +height of five or six feet, the coffee plant. The labor of the +plantation was in tending, picking, drying, and shelling the coffee, and +gathering the fresh fruits of trees for use and for the market, and for +preserves and sweetmeats, and in raising vegetables and poultry, and +rearing sheep and horned cattle and horses. It was a beautiful and +simple horticulture, on a very large scale. Time was required to perfect +this garden--the Cubans call it paradise--of a cafetal; but when +matured, it was a cherished home. It required and admitted of no +extraordinary mechanical power, or of the application of steam, or of +science, beyond the knowledge of soils, of simple culture, and of plants +and trees. + +For twenty years and more it has been forced upon the knowledge of the +reluctant Cubans, that Brazil, the West India islands to the southward +of Cuba, and the Spanish Main, can excel them in coffee-raising. The +successive disastrous hurricanes of 1843 and 1845, which destroyed many +and damaged most of the coffee estates, added to the colonial system of +the mother-country, which did not give extraordinary protection to this +product, are commonly said to have put an end to the coffee +plantations. Probably, they only hastened a change which must at some +time have come. But the same causes of soil and climate which made Cuba +inferior in coffee-growing, gave her a marked superiority in the +cultivation of sugar. The damaged plantations were not restored as +coffee estates, but were laid down to the sugar-cane; and gradually, +first in the western and northern parts, and daily extending easterly +and southerly over the entire island, the exquisite cafetals have been +prostrated and dismantled, the groves of shade and fruit trees cut down, +the avenues and foot-paths ploughed up, and the denuded land laid down +to wastes of sugar-cane. + +The sugar-cane allows of no shade. Therefore the groves and avenues must +fall. To make its culture profitable, it must be raised in the largest +possible quantities that the extent of land will permit. To attempt the +raising of fruit, or of the ornamental woods, is bad economy for the +sugar planter. Most of the fruits, especially the orange, which is the +chief export, ripen in the midst of the sugar season, and no hands can +be spared to attend to them. The sugar planter often buys the fruits he +needs for daily use and for making preserves, from the neighboring +cafetals. The cane ripens but once a year. Between the time when enough +of it is ripe to justify beginning to work the mill, and the time when +the heat and rains spoil its qualities, all the sugar-making of the year +must be done. In Louisiana, this period does not exceed eight weeks. In +Cuba it is full four months. This gives Cuba a great advantage. Yet +these four months are short enough; and during that time, the +steam-engine plies and the furnace fires burn night and day. + +Sugar-making brings with it steam, fire, smoke, and a drive of labor, +and admits of and requires the application of science. Managed with +skill and energy, it is extremely productive. Indifferently managed, it +may be a loss. The sugar estate is not valuable, like the coffee estate, +for what the land will produce, aided by ordinary and quiet manual labor +only. Its value is in the skill, and the character of the labor. The +land is there, and the Negroes are there; but the result is loss or +gain, according to the amount of labor that can be obtained, and the +skill with which the manual labor and the mechanical powers are applied. +It is said that at the present time, in the present state of the market, +a well-managed sugar estate yields from fifteen to twenty-five per cent +on the investment. This is true, I am inclined to think, if by the +investment be meant only the land, the machinery, and the slaves. But +the land is not a large element in the investment. The machinery is +costly, yet its value depends on the science applied to its construction +and operation. The chief item in the investment is the slave labor. +Taking all the slaves together, men, women, and children, the young and +the old, the sick and the well, the good and the bad, their market value +averages about $1000 a head. Yet of these, allowing for those too young +or too old, for the sick, and for those who must tend the young, the old +and the sick, and for those whose labor, like that of the cooks, only +sustains the others, not more than one half are able-bodied, productive +laborers. The value of this chief item in the investment depends largely +on moral and intellectual considerations. How unsatisfactory is it, +then, to calculate the profits of the investment, when you leave out of +the calculation the value of the controlling power, the power that +extorts the contributions of labor from the steam and the engine and the +fire, and from the more difficult human will. This is the "plus x" of +the formula, which, unascertained, gives us little light as to the +result. + +But, to return to the changes wrought by this substitution of sugar for +coffee. The sugar plantation is no grove, or garden, or orchard. It is +not the home of the pride and affections of the planter's family. It is +not a coveted, indeed, hardly a desirable residence. Such families as +would like to remain on these plantations are driven off for want of +neighboring society. Thus the estates, largely abandoned by the families +of the planters, suffer the evils of absenteeism, while the owners live +in the suburbs of Havana and Matanzas, and in the Fifth Avenue of New +York. The slave system loses its patriarchal character. The master is +not the head of a great family, its judge, its governor, its physician, +its priest and its father, as the fond dream of the advocates of +slavery, and sometimes, doubtless, the reality, made him. Middlemen, in +the shape of administradores, stand between the owner and the slaves. +The slave is little else than an item of labor raised or bought. The +sympathies of common home, common childhood, long and intimate relations +and many kind offices, common attachments to house, to land, to dogs, to +cattle, to trees, to birds--the knowledge of births, sicknesses, and +deaths, and the duties and sympathies of a common religion--all those +things that may ameliorate the legal relations of the master and slave, +and often give to the face of servitude itself precarious but +interesting features of beauty and strength--these they must not look to +have. This change has had some effect already, and will produce much +more, on the social system of Cuba. + +There are still plantations on which the families of the wealthy and +educated planters reside. And in some cases the administrador is a +younger member or a relative of the family, holding the same social +position; and the permanent administrador will have his family with him. +Yet, it is enough to say that the same causes which render the ingenio +no longer a desirable residence for the owner make it probable that the +administrador will be either a dependent or an adventurer; a person from +whom the owner will expect a great deal, and the slaves but little, and +from whom none will get all they expect, and perhaps none all they are +entitled to. + +In the afternoon we went to the sugar-house, and I was initiated into +the mysteries of the work. There are four agents: steam, fire, cane +juice, and Negroes. The results are sugar and molasses. At this ingenio, +they make only the Muscovado, or brown sugar. The processes are easily +described, but it is difficult to give an idea of the scene. It is one +of condensed and determined labor. + +To begin at the beginning, the cane is cut from the fields by companies +of men and women, working together, who use an instrument called a +machete, which is something between a sword and a cleaver. Two blows +with this slash off the long leaves, and a third blow cuts off the +stalk, near to the ground. At this work, the laborers move like reapers, +in even lines, at stated distances. Before them is a field of dense, +high-waving cane; and behind them, strewn wrecks of stalks and leaves. +Near, and in charge of the party, stands a driver, or more +grandiloquently, a contramayoral, with the short, limber plantation +whip, the badge of his office, under his arm. + +Ox-carts pass over the field, and are loaded with the cane, which they +carry to the mill. The oxen are worked in the Spanish fashion, the yoke +being strapped upon the head, close to the horns, instead of being hung +round the neck, as with us, and are guided by goads, and by a rope +attached to a ring through the nostrils. At the mill, the cane is tipped +from the carts into large piles, by the side of the platform. From these +piles, it is placed carefully, by hand, lengthwise, in a long trough. +This trough is made of slats, and moved by the power of the endless +chain, connected with the engine. In this trough, it is carried between +heavy, horizontal, cylindrical rollers, where it is crushed, its juice +falling into receivers below, and the crushed cane passing off and +falling into a pile on the other side. + +This crushed cane (bagazo), falling from between the rollers, is +gathered into baskets by men and women, who carry it on their heads into +the fields and spread it for drying. There it is watched and tended as +carefully as new-mown grass in haymaking, and raked into cocks or +windrows, on an alarm of rain. When dry, it is placed under sheds for +protection against wet. From the sheds and from the fields, it is loaded +into carts and drawn to the furnace doors, into which it is thrown by +Negroes, who crowd it in by the armful, and rake it about with long +poles. Here it feeds the perpetual fires by which the steam is made, the +machinery moved, and the cane-juice boiled. The care of the bagazo is +an important part of the system; for if that becomes wet and fails, the +fires must stop, or resort be had to wood, which is scarce and +expensive. + +Thus, on one side of the rollers is the ceaseless current of fresh, +full, juicy cane-stalks, just cut from the open field; and on the other +side, is the crushed, mangled, juiceless mass, drifting out at the +draught, and fit only to be cast into the oven and burned. This is the +way of the world, as it is the course of art. The cane is made to +destroy itself. The ruined and corrupted furnish the fuel and fan the +flame that lures on and draws in and crushes the fresh and wholesome; +and the operation seems about as mechanical and unceasing in the one +case as in the other. + +From the rollers, the juice falls below into a large receiver, from +which it flows into great, open vats, called defecators. These +defecators are heated by the exhaust steam of the engine, led through +them in pipes. All the steam condensed forms water, which is returned +warm into the boiler of the engine. In the defecators, as their name +denotes, the scum of the juice is purged off, so far as heat alone will +do it. From the last defecator, the juice is passed through a trough +into the first caldron. Of the caldrons, there is a series, or, as they +call it, a train, through all which the juice must go. Each caldron is a +large, deep, copper vat, heated very hot, in which the juice seethes and +boils. At each, stands a strong Negro, with long, heavy skimmer in hand, +stirring the juice and skimming off the surface. This scum is collected +and given to the hogs, or thrown upon the muck heap, and is said to be +very fructifying. The juice is ladled from one caldron to the next, as +fast as the office of each is finished. From the last caldron, where its +complete crystallization is effected, it is transferred to coolers, +which are large, shallow pans. When fully cooled, it looks like brown +sugar and molasses mixed. It is then shovelled from the coolers into +hogsheads. These hogsheads have holes bored in their bottoms; and, to +facilitate the drainage, strips of cane are placed in the hogshead, with +their ends in these holes, and the hogs-head is filled. The hogsheads +are set on open frames, under which are copper receivers, on an inclined +plane, to catch and carry off the drippings from the hogsheads. These +drippings are the molasses, which is collected and put into tight casks. + +I believe I have given the entire process. When it is remembered that +all this, in every stage, is going on at once, within the limits of the +mill, it may well be supposed to present a busy scene. The smell of +juice and of sugar-vapor, in all its stages, is intense. The Negroes +fatten on it. The clank of the engine, the steady grind of the machines, +and the high, wild cry of the Negroes at the caldrons to the stokers at +the furnace doors, as they chant out their directions or wants--now for +more fire, and now to scatter the fire--which must be heard above the +din, "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" "E-e-cha candela!" "Pu-er-ta!", and the +barbaric African chant and chorus of the gang at work filling the +cane-troughs--all these make the first visit at the sugar-house a +strange experience. But after one or two visits, the monotony is as +tiresome as the first view is exciting. There is, literally, no change +in the work. There are the same noises of the machines, the same cries +from Negroes at the same spots, the same intensely sweet smell, the same +state of the work in all its stages, at whatever hour you visit it, +whether in the morning, or evening, at midnight, or at the dawn of the +day. If you wake up at night, you hear the "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" +"E-e-cha! E-e-cha!" of the caldron-men crying to the stokers, and the +high, monotonous chant of the gangs filling the wagons or the trough, a +short, improvisated stave, and then the chorus--not a tune, like the +song of sailors at the tackle and falls, but a barbaric, tuneless +intonation. + +When I went into the sugar-house, I saw a man with an unmistakably New +England face in charge of the engine, with that look of intelligence and +independence so different from the intelligence and independence of all +other persons. + +"Is not that a New England man?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Chartrand, "he is from Lowell; and the engine was built +in Lowell." + +When I found him at leisure, I made myself known to him, and he sat down +on the brickwork of the furnace, and had a good unburdening of talk; for +he had not seen any one from the United States for three months. He +talked, like a true Yankee, of law and politics--the Lowell Bar and Mr. +Butler, Mr. Abbott and Mr. Wentworth; of the Boston Bar and Mr. Choate; +of Massachusetts politics and Governor Banks; and of national politics +and the Thirty Millions Bill, and whether it would pass, and what if it +did. + +This engineer is one of a numerous class, whom the sugar culture brings +annually to Cuba. They leave home in the autumn, engage themselves for +the sugar season, put the machinery in order, work it for the four or +five months of its operation, clean and put it in order for lying by, +and return to the United States in the spring. They must be machinists, +as well as engineers; for all the repairs and contrivances, so necessary +in a remote place, fall upon them. Their skill is of great value, and +while on the plantation their work is incessant, and they have no +society or recreations whatever. The occupation, however, is healthful, +their position independent, and their pay large. This engineer had been +several years in Cuba, and I found him well informed, and, I think, +impartial and independent. He tells me, which I had also heard in +Havana, that this plantation is a favorable specimen, both for skill and +humanity, and is managed on principles of science and justice, and +yields a large return. On many plantations--on most, I suspect, from all +I can learn--the Negroes, during the sugar season, are allowed but four +hours sleep in the twenty-four, with one for dinner, and a half hour for +breakfast, the night being divided into three watches, of four hours +each, the laborers taking their turns. On this plantation, the laborers +are in two watches, and divide the night equally between them, which +gives them six hours for sleep. In the day, they have half an hour for +breakfast and one hour for dinner. Here, too, the very young and the +very old are excused from the sugar-house, and the nursing mothers have +lighter duties and frequent intervals of rest. The women worked at +cutting the cane, feeding the mill, carrying the bagazo in baskets, +spreading and drying it, and filling the wagons; but not in the +sugar-house itself, or at the furnace doors. I saw that no boys or girls +were in the mill--none but full-grown persons. The very small children +do absolutely nothing all day, and the older children tend the cattle +and run errands. And the engineer tells me that in the long run this +liberal system of treatment, as to hours and duties, yields a better +return than a more stringent rule. + +He thinks the crop this year, which has been a favorable one, will +yield, in well-managed plantations a net interest of from fifteen to +twenty-five per cent on the investment; making no allowance, of course, +for the time and skill of the master. This will be a clear return to +planters like Mr. Chartrand, who do not eat up their profits by interest +on advances, and have no mortgages, and require no advances from the +merchants. + +But the risks of the investment are great. The cane-fields are liable to +fires, and these spread with great rapidity, and are difficult to +extinguish. Last year Mr. Chartrand lost $7,000 in a few hours by fire. +In the cholera season he lost $12,000 in a few days by deaths among the +Negroes. + +According to the usual mode of calculation, I suppose the value of the +investment of Mr. Chartrand to be between $125,000 and $150,000. On +well-managed estates of this size, the expenses should not exceed +$10,000. The gross receipts, in sugar and molasses, at a fair rate of +the markets, cannot average less than between $35,000 and $40,000. This +should leave a profit of between eighteen and twenty-two per cent. +Still, the worth of an estimate depends on the principle on which the +capital is appraised. The number of acres laid down to cane, on this +plantation, is about three hundred. The whole number of Negroes is one +hundred, and of these not more than half, at any time, are capable of +efficient labor; and there are twenty-two children below the age of five +years, out of a total of one hundred Negroes. + +Beside the engineer, some large plantations have one or more white +assistants; but here an intelligent Negro has been taught enough to take +charge of the engine when the engineer is off duty. This is the highest +post a Negro can reach in the mill, and this Negro was mightily pleased +when I addressed him as maquinista. There are, also, two or three white +men employed, during the season, as sugar masters. Their post is beside +the caldrons and defecators, where they are to watch the work in all its +stages, regulate the heat and the time for each removal, and oversee the +men. These, with the engineer, make the force of white men who are +employed for the season. + +The regular and permanent officers of a plantation are the mayoral and +mayordomo. The mayoral is, under the master or his administrador, the +chief mate or first lieutenant of the ship. He has the general oversight +of the Negroes, at their work or in their houses, and has the duty of +exacting labor and enforcing discipline. Much depends on his character, +as to the comfort of master and slaves. If he is faithful and just, +there may be ease and comfort; but if he is not, the slaves are never +sure of justice, and the master is sure of nothing. The mayoral comes, +of necessity, from the middle class of whites, and is usually a native +Cuban, and it is not often that a satisfactory one can be found or kept. +The day before I arrived, in the height of the season, Mr. Chartrand had +been obliged to dismiss his mayoral, on account of his conduct to the +women, which was producing the worst results with them and with the men; +and not long before, one was dismissed for conniving with the Negroes in +a wholesale system of theft, of which he got the lion's share. + +The mayordomo is the purser, and has the immediate charge of the stores, +produce, materials for labor, and provisions for consumption, and keeps +the accounts. On well regulated plantations, he is charged with all the +articles of use or consumption, and with the products as soon as they +are in condition to be numbered, weighed, or counted, and renders his +accounts of what is consumed or destroyed, and of the produce sent away. +There is also a boyero, who is the herdsman, and has charge of all the +cattle. He is sometimes a Negro. + +Under the mayoral, are a number of contramayorales, who are the +boatswain's mates of the ship, and correspond to the "drivers" of our +southern plantations. One of them goes with every gang when set to work, +whether in the field or elsewhere, and whether men or women, and watches +and directs them, and enforces labor from them. The drivers carry under +the arm, at all times, the short, limber plantation whip, the badge of +their office and their means of compulsion. They are almost always +Negroes; and it is generally thought that Negroes are not more humane in +this office than the low whites. On this plantation, it is three years +since any slave has been whipped; and that punishment is never inflicted +here on a woman. Near the Negro quarters, is a penitentiary, which is of +stone, with three cells for solitary confinement, each dark, but well +ventilated. Confinement in these, on bread and water, is the extreme +punishment that has been found necessary for the last three years. The +Negro fears solitude and darkness, and covets his food, fire, and +companionship. + +With all the corps of hired white labor, the master must still be the +real power, and on his character the comfort and success of the +plantation depend. If he has skill as a chemist, a geologist, or a +machinist, it is not lost; but, except as to the engineer, who may +usually be relied upon, the master must be capable of overseeing the +whole economy of the plantation, or all will go wrong. His chief duty is +to oversee the overseers, to watch his officers, the mayoral, the +mayordomo, the boyero, and the sugar masters. These are mere hirelings, +and of a low sort, such as a slave system reduces them to; and if they +are lazy, the work slackens; and if they are ill-natured, somebody +suffers. The mere personal presence of the master operates as a stimulus +to the work. This afternoon young Mr. Chartrand and I took horses and +rode out to the cane-field, where the people were cutting. They had been +at work a half hour. He stopped his horse where they were when we came +to them, and the next half hour, without a word from him, they had made +double the distance of the first. It seems to me that the work of a +plantation is what a clock would be that always required a man's hand +pressing on the main spring. With the slave, the ultimate sanction is +force. The motives of pride, shame, interest, ambition, and affection +may be appealed to, and the minor punishments of degradation in duties, +deprivation of food and sleep, and solitary confinement may be resorted +to; but the whip, which the driver always carries, reminds the slave +that if all else fails, the infliction of painful bodily punishment lies +behind, and will be brought to bear, rather than that the question be +left unsettled. Whether this extreme be reached, and how often it be +reached, depends on the personal qualities of the master. If he is +lacking in self-control, he will fall into violence. If he has not the +faculty of ruling by moral and intellectual power--be he ever so humane, +if he is not firm and intelligent, the bad among the slaves will get the +upper hand; and he will be in danger of trying to recover his position +by force. Such is the reasoning _à priori_. + +At six o'clock, the large bell tolls the knell of parting day and the +call to the Oración, which any who are religious enough can say, +wherever they may be, at work or at rest. In the times of more religious +strictness, the bell for the Oración, just at dusk, was the signal for +prayer in every house and field, and even in the street, and for the +benediction from parent to child and master to servant. Now, in the +cities, it tolls unnoticed, and on the plantations, it is treated only +as the signal for leaving off work. The distribution of provisions is +made at the storehouse, by the mayordomo, my host superintending it in +person. The people take according to the number in their families; and +so well acquainted are all with the apportionment, that in only one or +two instances were inquiries necessary. The kitchen fires are lighted in +the quarters, and the evening meal is prepared. I went into the quarters +before they were closed. A high wall surrounds an open square, in which +are the houses of the Negroes. This has one gate, which is locked at +dark; and to leave the quarters after that time is a serious offence. +The huts were plain, but reasonably neat, and comfortable in their +construction and arrangement. In some were fires, round which, even in +this hot weather, the Negroes like to gather. A group of little Negroes +came round the strange gentleman, and the smallest knelt down with +uncovered heads, in a reverent manner, saying, "Buenos días Señor." I +did not understand the purpose of this action, and as there was no one +to explain the usage to me, I did them the injustice to suppose that +they expected money, and distributed some small coins among them. But I +learned afterwards that they were expecting the benediction, the hand on +the head and the "Dios te haga bueno." It was touching to see their +simple, trusting faces turned up to the stranger--countenances not yet +wrought by misfortune, or injury, or crime, into the strong expressions +of mature life. None of these children, even the smallest, was naked, as +one usually sees them in Havana. In one of the huts, a proud mother +showed me her Herculean twin boys, sprawling in sleep on the bed. Before +dark, the gate of the quarters is bolted, and the night is begun. But +the fires of the sugar-house are burning, and half of the working people +are on duty there for their six hours. + +I sat for several hours with my host and his son, in the veranda, +engaged in conversation, agreeable and instructive to me, on those +topics likely to present themselves to a person placed as I was--the +state of Cuba, its probable future, its past, its relations to Europe +and the United States, slavery, the coolie problem, the free-Negro labor +problem, and the agriculture, horticulture, trees and fruits of the +island. The elder gentleman retired early, as he was to take the early +train for Matanzas. + +My sleeping-room is large and comfortable, with brick floor and glass +windows, pure white bed linen and mosquito net, and ewer and basin +scrupulously clean, bringing back, by contrast, visions of Le Grand's, +and Antonio, and Domingo, and the sounds and smells of those upper +chambers. The only moral I am entitled to draw from this is, that a +well-ordered private house with slave labor, may be more neat and +creditable than an ill-ordered public house with free labor. As the +stillness of the room comes over me, I realize that I am far away in the +hill country of Cuba, the guest of a planter, under this strange system, +by which one man is enthroned in the labor of another race, brought from +across the sea. The song of the Negroes breaks out afresh from the +fields, where they are loading up the wagons--that barbaric undulation +of sound: + + "_Na-nú, A-yá,--Na-né, A-yá:_" + +and the recurrence of here and there a few words of Spanish, among which +"Mañana" seemed to be a favorite. Once, in the middle of the night, I +waked, to hear the strains again, as they worked in the open field, +under the stars. + + + + +XI. + +A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Life + + +When I came out from my chamber this morning, the elder Mr. Chartrand +had gone. The watchful negress brought me coffee, and I could choose +between oranges and bananas, for my fruit. The young master had been in +the saddle an hour or so. I sauntered to the sugar-house. It was past +six, and all hands were at work again, amid the perpetual boiling of the +caldrons, the skimming and dipping and stirring, the cries of the +caldron-men to the firemen, the slow gait of the wagons, and the +perpetual to-and-fro of the carriers of the cane. The engine is doing +well enough, and the engineer has the great sheet of the New York Weekly +Herald, which he is studying, in the intervals of labor, as he sits on +the corner of the brickwork. + +But a turn in the garden is more agreeable, among birds, and flowers, +and aromatic trees. Here is a mignonette tree, forty feet high, and +every part is full and fragrant with flowers, as is the little +mignonette in our flower-pots. There is the allspice, a large tree, each +leaf strong enough to flavor a dish. Here is the tamarind tree: I must +sit under it, for the sake of the old song. My young friend joins me, +and points out, on the allspice tree, a chameleon. It is about six +inches long, and of a pea-green color. He thinks its changes of color, +which are no fable, depend on the will or on the sensations, and not on +the color of the object the animal rests upon. This one, though on a +black trunk, remained pale green. When they take the color of the tree +they rest on, it may be to elude their enemies, to whom their slow +motions make them an easy prey. At the corner of the house stands a +pomegranate tree, full of fruit, which is not yet entirely ripe; but we +find enough to give a fair taste of its rich flavor. Then there are +sweet oranges, and sour oranges, and limes, and coconuts, and +pineapples, the latter not entirely ripe, but in the condition in which +they are usually plucked for our market, an abundance of fuchsias, and +Cape jasmines, and the highly prized night-blooming cereus. + +The most frequent shade-tree here is the mango. It is a large, dense +tree, with a general resemblance, in form and size, to our lime or +linden. Three noble trees stand before the door, in front of the house. +One is a Tahiti almond, another a mango, and the third a cedar. And in +the distance is a majestic tree, of incredible size, which is, I +believe, a ceiba. When this estate was a cafetal, the house stood at the +junction of four avenues, from the four points of the compass: one of +the sweet orange, one of the sour orange, one of palms, and one of +mangoes. Many of these trees fell in the hurricanes of 1843 and '45. The +avenue which leads from the road, and part of that leading towards the +sugar-house, are preserved. The rest have fallen a sacrifice to the +sugar-cane; but the garden, the trees about the house, and what remains +of the avenues, give still a delightful appearance of shelter and +repose. + +I have amused myself by tracing the progress, and learning the habits of +the red ants, a pretty formidable enemy to all structures of wood. They +eat into the heart of the hardest woods; not even the lignum vitæ, or +iron-wood, or cedar, being proof against them. Their operations are +secret. They never appear upon the wood, or touch its outer shell. A +beam or rafter stands as ever with a goodly outside; but you tap it, and +find it a shell. Their approaches, too, are by covered ways. When going +from one piece of wood to another, they construct a covered way, very +small and low, as a protection against their numerous enemies, and +through this they advance to their new labors. I think that they may sap +the strength of a whole roof of rafters, without the observer being able +to see one of them, unless he breaks their covered ways, or lays open +the wood. + +The course of life at the plantation is after this manner. At six +o'clock, the great bell begins the day, and the Negroes go to their +work. The house servants bring coffee to the family and guests, as they +appear or send for it. The master's horse is at the door, under the +tree, as soon as it is light, and he is off on his tour, before the sun +rises. The family breakfasts at ten o'clock, and the people--la gente, +as the technical phrase is for the laborers, breakfast at nine. The +breakfast is like that of the cities, with the exception of fish and the +variety of meats, and consists of rice, eggs, fried plantains, mixed +dishes of vegetables and fowls, other meats rarely, and fruits, with +claret or Catalonia and coffee. The time for the siesta or rest, is +between breakfast and dinner. Dinner hour is three for the family, and +two for the people. The dinner does not differ much from the breakfast, +except that there is less of fruit and more of meat, and that some +preserve is usually eaten, as a dessert. Like the breakfast, it ends +with coffee. In all manner of preserves, the island is rich. The almond, +the guava, the cocoa, the soursop, the orange, the lime, and the mamey +apple afford a great variety. After dinner, and before dark, is the time +for long drives; and, when the families are on the estates, for visits +to neighbors. There is no third meal; but coffee, and sometimes tea, is +offered at night. The usual time for bed is as early as ten o'clock, for +the day begins early, and the chief out-door works and active +recreations must be had before breakfast. + +In addition to the family house, the Negro quarters, and the +sugar-house, there is a range of stone buildings, ending with a kitchen, +occupied by the engineer, the mayoral, the boyero, and the mayordomo, +who have an old Negro woman to cook for them, and another to wait on +them. There is also another row of stone buildings, comprising the +store-house, the penitentiary, the hospital, and the lying-in room. The +penitentiary, I have described. The hospital and lying-in room are airy, +well-ventilated, and suitable for their purposes. Neither of them had +any tenants to-day. In the center of the group of buildings is a high +frame, on which hangs the great bell of the plantation. This rings the +Negroes up in the morning, and in at night, and sounds the hours for +meals. It calls all in, on any special occasion, and is used for an +alarm to the neighboring plantations, rung long and loud, in case of +fire in the cane-fields, or other occasions for calling in aid. + +After dinner, to-day, a volante, with two horses, and a postilion in +bright jacket and buckled boots and large silver spurs, the harness +well-besprinkled with silver, drove to the door, and an elderly +gentleman alighted and came to the house, attired with scrupulous nicety +of white cravat and dress coat, and with the manners of the _ancien +régime_. This is M. Bourgeoise, the owner of the neighboring large +plantation, Santa Catalina, one of the few cafetals remaining in this +part of the island. He is too old, and too much attached to his +plantation, to change it to a sugar estate; and he is too rich to need +the change. He, too, was a refugee from the insurrection of Santo +Domingo, but older than M. Chartrand. Not being able to escape, he was +compelled to serve as aid-de-camp to Jacques Dessalines. He has a good +deal to say about the insurrection and its results, of a great part of +which he was an eye-witness. The sight of him brought vividly to mind +the high career and sad fate of the just and brave Toussaint +L'Ouverture, and the brilliant successes, and fickle, cruel rule, of +Dessalines--when French marshals were out-maneuvered by Negro generals, +and pitched battles were won by Negroes and mulattoes against European +armies. + +This gentleman had driven over in the hope of seeing his friend and +neighbor, Mr. Chartrand, the elder. He remained with us for some time, +sitting under the veranda, the silvered volante and its black horses and +black postilion standing under the trees. He invited us to visit his +plantation, which I was desirous to do, as a cafetal is a rarity now. + +My third day at La Ariadne is much like the preceding days: the early +rising, the coffee and fruit, the walk, visits to the mill, the fields, +the garden, and the quarters, breakfast, rest in-doors with reading and +writing, dinner, out of doors again, and the evening under the veranda, +with conversations on subjects now so interesting to me. These +conversations, and what I had learned from other persons, open to me new +causes for interest and sympathy with my younger host. Born in South +Carolina, he secured his rights of birth, and is a citizen of the United +States, though all his pecuniary interests and family affections are in +Cuba. He went to Paris at the age of nine, and remained there until he +was nineteen, devoting the ten years to thorough courses of study in the +best schools. He has spent much time in Boston, and has been at sea, to +China, India, and the Pacific and California--was wrecked in the Boston +ship "Mary Ellen," on a coral reef in the India seas, taken captive, +restored, and brought back to Boston in another ship, whence he sailed +for California. There he had a long and checkered experience, was +wounded in the battle with the Indians who killed Lieut. Dale and +defeated his party, was engaged in scientific surveys, topographical and +geological, took the fever of the south coast at a remote place, was +reported dead, and came to his mother's door, at the spot where we are +talking this evening, so weak and sunken that his brothers did not know +him, thinking it happiness enough if he could reach his home, to die in +his mother's arms. But home and its cherishings, and revived moral +force, restored him, and now, active and strong again, when in +consequence of the marriage of his brothers and sisters, and the +departure of neighbors, the family leave their home of thirty-five years +for the city, he becomes the acting master, the administrador of the +estate, and makes the old house his bachelor's hall. + +An education in Europe or the United States must tend to free the youth +of Cuba from the besetting fault of untravelled plantation-masters. They +are in no danger of thinking their plantations and Cuba the world, or +any great part of it. In such cases, I should think the danger might be +rather the other way--rather that of disgust and discouragement at the +narrowness of the field, the entire want of a career set before them--a +career of any kind, literary, scientific, political, or military. The +choice is between expatriation and contentment in the position of a +secluded cultivator of sugar by slave labor, with occasional +opportunities of intercourse with the world and of foreign travel, with +no other field than the limits of the plantation afford, for the +exercise of the scientific knowledge, so laboriously acquired, and with +no more exciting motive for the continuance of intellectual culture than +the general sense of its worth and fitness. + + + + +XII. + +FROM PLANTATION TO PLANTATION + + +If the master of a plantation is faithful and thorough, will tolerate no +misconduct or imposition, and yet is humane and watchful over the +interests and rights, as well as over the duties of the Negroes, he has +a hard and anxious life. Sickness to be ministered to, the feigning of +sickness to be counteracted, rights of the slaves to be secured against +other Negroes, as well as against whites, with a poor chance of getting +at the truth from either; the obligations of the Negro _quasi_ marriage +to be enforced against all the sensual and childish tendencies of the +race; theft and violence and wanderings from home to be detected and +prevented; the work to be done, and yet no one to be over-worked; and +all this often with no effectual aid, often with only obstructions, from +the intermediate whites! Nor is it his own people only that are to be +looked to. The thieving and violence of Negroes from other plantations, +their visits by night against law, and the encroachments of the +neighboring free blacks and low whites, are all to be watched and +prevented or punished. The master is a policeman, as well as an +economist and a judge. His revolver and rifle are always loaded. He has +his dogs, his trackers and seizers, that lie at his gate, trained to +give the alarm when a strange step comes near the house or the quarters, +and ready to pursue. His hedges may be broken down, his cane trampled or +cut, or, still worse, set fire to, goats let into his pastures, his +poultry stolen, and sometimes his dogs poisoned. It is a country of +little law and order, and what with slavery and free Negroes and low +whites, violence or fraud are imminent and always formidable. No man +rides far unarmed. The Negroes are held under the subjection of force. A +quarter-deck organization is established. The master owns vessel and +cargo, and is captain of the ship, and he and his family live in the +cabin and hold the quarter-deck. There are no other commissioned +officers on board, and no guard of marines. There are a few petty +officers, and under all, a great crew of Negroes, for every kind of +work, held by compulsion--the results of a press-gang. All are at sea +together. There are some laws, and civil authorities for the protection +of each, but not very near, nor always accessible. + +After dinner to-day, we take saddle-horses for a ride to Santa Catalina. +Necessary duties in the field and mill delay us, and we are in danger of +not being able to visit the house, as my friend must be back in season +for the close of work and the distribution of provisions, in the absence +of his mayoral. The horses have the famous "march," as it is called, of +the island, an easy rapid step, something like pacing, and delightful +for a quiet ride under a soft afternoon sky, among flowers and sweet +odors. I have seen but few trotting horses in Cuba. + +The afternoon is serene. Near, the birds are flying, or chattering with +extreme sociability in close trees, and the thickets are fragrant with +flowers; while far off, the high hills loom in the horizon; and all +about us is this tropical growth, with which I cannot yet become +familiar, of palms and cocoas and bananas. We amble over the red earth +of the winding lanes, and turn into the broad avenue of Santa Catalina, +with its double row of royal palms. We are in--not a forest, for the +trees are not thick and wild and large enough for that--but in a huge, +dense, tropical orchard. The avenue is as clear and straight and wide as +a city mall; while all the ground on either side, for hundreds of acres, +is a plantation of oranges and limes, bananas and plantains, cocoas and +pineapples, and of cedar and mango, mignonette and allspice, under whose +shade is growing the green-leaved, the evergreen-leaved coffee plant, +with its little dark red berry, the tonic of half the world. Here we +have a glimpse of the lost charm of Cuba. No wonder that the aged +proprietor cannot find the heart to lay it waste for the monotonous +cane-field, and make the quiet, peaceful horticulture, the natural +growth of fruit and berry, and the simple processes of gathering, +drying, and storing, give place to the steam and smoke and drive and +life-consuming toil of the ingenio! + +At a turn in the avenue, we come upon the proprietor, who is taking his +evening walk, still in the exact dress and with the exact manners of +urban life. With truly French politeness, he is distressed, and all but +offended, that we cannot go to his house. It is my duty to insist on +declining his invitation, for I know that Chartrand is anxious to +return. At another turn, we come upon a group of little black children, +under the charge of a decent, matronly mulatto, coming up a shaded +footpath, which leads among the coffee. Chartrand stops to give a kind +word to them. + +But it is sunset, and we must turn about. We ride rather rapidly down +the avenue, and along the highway, where we meet several travellers, +nearly all with pistols in their holsters, and one of the mounted +police, with carbine and sword; and then cross the brook, pass through +the little, mean hamlet of Limonar, whose inmates are about half blacks +and half whites, but once a famed resort for invalids, and enter our own +avenue, and thence to the house. On our way, we pass a burying-ground, +which my companion says he is ashamed to have me see. Its condition is +bad enough. The planters are taxed for it, but the charge of it is with +the padre, who takes big fees for burials, and lets it go to ruin. The +bell has rung long ago, but the people are waiting our return, and the +evening duties of distributing food, turning on the night gang for night +work, and closing the gates are performed. + +To-night the hounds have an alarm, and Chartrand is off in the darkness. +In a few minutes he returns. There has been some one about, but nothing +is discovered. A Negro may have attempted to steal out, or some strange +Negro may be trying to steal in, or some prowling white, or free black, +has been reconnoitering. These are the terms on which this system is +carried on; and I think, too, that when the tramp of horses is heard +after dark, and strange men ride towards the piazza, it causes some +uneasiness. + +The morning of the fourth day, I take my leave, by early train for +Matanzas. The hour is half-past six; but the habits of rising are so +early that it requires no special preparation. I have time for coffee, +for a last visit to the sugar-house, a good-by to the engineer, who will +be back on the banks of the Merrimack in May, and for a last look into +the quarters, to gather the little group of kneelers for "la +benedición," with their "Buenos días, Señor." My horse is ready, the +Negro has gone with my luggage, and I must take my leave of my +newly-made friend. Alone together, we have been more intimate in three +days than we should have been in as many weeks in a full household. +Adios!--May the opening of a new home on the old spot, which I hear is +awaiting you, be the harbinger of a more cheerful life, and the creation +of such fresh ties and interests, that the delightful air of the hill +country of Cuba, the dreamy monotony of the day, the serenity of nights +which seem to bring the stars down to your roof or to raise you half-way +to them, and the luxuriance and variety of vegetable and animal life, +may not be the only satisfactions of existence here. + +A quiet amble over the red earth, to the station, in a thick morning +mist, almost cold enough to make an overcoat comfortable; and, after two +hours on the rail, I am again in Matanzas, among close-packed houses, +and with views of blue ocean and of ships. + + + + +XIII. + +MATANZAS AND ENVIRONS + + +Instead of the posada by the water-side, I take up my quarters at a +hotel kept by Ensor, an American, and his sister. Here the hours, +cooking, and chief arrangements are in the fashion of the country, as +they should be, but there is more of that attention to guests which we +are accustomed to at home than the Cuban hotels usually give. + +The objects to be visited here are the Cumbre and the valley of the +Yumurí. It is too late for a morning ride, and I put off my visit until +afternoon. Gazzaniga and some of the opera troupe are here; and several +Americans at the hotel, who were at the opera last night, tell me that +the people of Matanzas made a handsome show, and are of opinion that +there was more beauty in the boxes than we saw at the Villanueva. It +appears, too, that at the Retreta, in the Plaza de Armas, when the band +plays, and at evening promenades, the ladies walk about, and do not keep +to their carriages as in Havana. + +As soon as the sun began to decline, I set off for the Cumbre, mounted +on a pacer, with a Negro for a guide, who rode, as I soon discovered, a +better nag than mine. We cross the stone bridges, and pass the great +hospital, which dominates over the town. A regiment, dressed in +seersucker and straw hats, is drilling, by trumpet call, and drilling +well, too, on the green in front of the barracks while we take our +winding way up the ascent of the Cumbre. + +The bay, town, and shipping lie beneath us; the Pan rises in the +distance to the height of some 3,000 feet; the ocean is before us, +rolling against the outside base of the hills; and, on the inside, lies +the deep, rich, peaceful valley of the Yumurí. On the top of the Cumbre, +commanding the noblest view of ocean and valley, bay and town, is the +ingenio of a Mr. Jenkes, a merchant bearing a name that would put +Spanish tongues to their trumps to sound, were it not that they probably +take refuge in the Don Guillermo, or Don Enrique, of his Christian name. +The estate bears the name of La Victoria, and is kindly thrown open to +visitors from the city. It is said to be a model establishment. The +house is large, in a classic style, and costly, and the Negro quarters, +the store-houses, mechanic shops, and sugar-house are of dimensions +indicating an estate of the first class. + +On the way up from the city, several fine points of sight were occupied +by villas, all of one story, usually in the Roman or Grecian style, +surrounded by gardens and shade-trees, and with every appearance of +taste and wealth. + +It is late, but I must not miss the Yumurí; so we dive down the short, +steep descent, and cross dry brooks and wet brooks, and over stones, and +along bridle-paths, and over fields without paths, and by wretched +hovels, and a few decent cottages, with yelping dogs and cackling hens +and staring children, and between high, overhanging cliffs, and along +the side of a still lake, and after it is so dark that we can hardly see +stones or paths, we strike a bridle-path, and then come out upon the +road, and, in a few minutes more, are among the gas-lights and noises of +the city. + +At the hotel, there is a New York company who have spent the day at the +Yumurí, and describe a cave not yet fully explored, which is visited by +all who have time--abounding in stalactites, and, though much smaller, +reminding one of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. + +I cannot leave Matanzas without paying my respects to the family to +whose kindness I owe so much. Mr. Chartrand lives in a part of the +suburbs called Versailles, near the barracks, in a large and handsome +house, built after the style of the country. There I spend an agreeable +evening, at a gathering of nearly all the family, sons and daughters, +and the sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. There is something strangely +cosmopolitan in many of the Cuban families--as in this, where are found +French origin, Spanish and American intermarriage, education in Europe +or the United States, home and property in Cuba, friendships and +sympathies and half a residence in Boston or New York or Charleston, and +three languages at command. + +Here I learn that the Thirty Millions Bill has not passed, and, by the +latest dates, is not likely to pass. + +My room at Ensor's is on a level with the court-yard, and a horse puts +its face into the grating as I am dressing, and I know of nothing to +prevent his walking in at the door, if he chooses, so that the Negro may +finish rubbing him down by my looking-glass. Yet the house is neatly +furnished and cared for, and its keepers are attentive and deserving +people. + + + + +XIV. + +REFLECTIONS VIA RAILROAD + + +Although the distance to Havana, as the bird flies, is only sixty miles, +the railroad, winding into the interior, to draw out the sugar freights, +makes a line of nearly one hundred miles. This adds to the length of our +journey, but also greatly to its interest. + +In the cars are two Americans, who have also been visiting plantations. +They give me the following statistics of a sugar plantation, which they +think may be relied upon. Lands, machinery, 320 slaves, and 20 coolies, +worth $500,000. Produce this year, 4,000 boxes of sugar and 800 casks of +molasses, worth $104,000. Expenses, $35,000. Net, $69,000, or about 14 +per cent. This is not a large interest on an investment so much of which +is perishable and subject to deterioration. + +The day, as has been every day of mine in Cuba, is fair and beautiful. +The heat is great, perhaps even dangerous to a Northerner, should he be +exposed to it in active exercise, at noon--but, with the shade and +motion of the cars, not disagreeable, for the air is pure and elastic, +and it is only the direct heat of the sun that is oppressive. I think +one notices the results of this pure air, in the throats and nasal +organs of the people. One seldom meets a person that seems to have a +cold in the head or the throat; and pocket handkerchiefs are used +chiefly for ornament. + +I cannot weary of gazing upon these new and strange scenes; the +stations, with the groups of peasants and Negroes and fruit-sellers that +gather about them, and the stores of sugar and molasses collected there; +the ingenios, glimmering in the heat of the sun, with their tall furnace +chimneys; the cane-fields, acres upon acres; the slow ox-carts carrying +the cane to the mill; then the intervals of unused country, the jungles, +adorned with little wild flowers, the groves of the weeping, drooping, +sad, homesick cocoa; the royal palm, which is to trees what the camel or +dromedary is among animals seeming to have strayed from Nubia or +Mesopotamia; the stiff, close orange tree, with its golden balls of +fruit; and then the remains of a cafetal, the coffee plant growing +untrimmed and wild under the reprieved groves of plantain and banana. + +It is certainly true that there is such a thing as industry in the +tropics. The labor of the tropics goes on. Notwithstanding all we hear +and know of the enervating influence of the climate, the white man, if +not laborious himself, is the cause that labor is in others. With all +its social and political discouragements, with the disadvantages of a +duty of about twenty-five per cent on its sugars laid in the United +States, and a duty of full one hundred per cent on all flour imported +from the United States, and after paying heavier taxes than any people +on earth pay at this moment, and yielding a revenue, which nets, after +every deduction and discount, not less than sixteen millions a +year--against all these disadvantages, this island is still very +productive and very rich. There is, to be sure, little variety in its +industry. In the country, it is nothing but the raising and making of +sugar; and in the towns, it is the selling and exporting of sugar. With +the addition of a little coffee and copper, more tobacco, and some fresh +fruit and preserves, and the commerce which they stimulate, and the +mechanic and trading necessities of the towns, we have the sum of its +industry and resources. Science, arts, letters, arms, manufactures, and +the learning and discussions of politics, of theology, and of the great +problems and opinions that move the minds of the thinking world--in +these, the people of Cuba have no part. These move by them, as the great +Gulf Stream drifts by their shores. Nor is there, nor has there been in +Cuba, in the memory of the young and middle-aged, debate, or vote, or +juries, or one of the least and most rudimental processes of +self-government. The African and Chinese do the manual labor, the +Cubans hold the land and the capital, and direct the agricultural +industry; the commerce is shared between the Cubans, and foreigners of +all nations; and the government, civil and military, is exercised by the +citizens of Old Spain. No Cuban votes, or attends a lawful political +meeting, or sits on a jury, or sees a law-making assembly, except as a +curiosity abroad, even in a municipality; nor has he ever helped to +make, or interpret, or administer laws, or borne arms, except by special +license of government granted to such as are friends of government. In +religion, he has no choice, except between the Roman Catholic and none. +The laws that govern him are made abroad, and administered by a central +power, a foreign Captain-General, through the agency of foreign civil +and military officers. The Cuban has no public career. If he removes to +Old Spain, and is known as a supporter of Spanish royal power, his +Creole birth is probably no impediment to him. But at home, as a Cuban, +he may be a planter, a merchant, a physician, but he cannot expect to be +a civil magistrate, or to hold a commission in the army, or an office in +the police; and though he may be a lawyer, and read, sitting, a written +argument to a court of judges, he cannot expect to be himself a judge. +He may publish a book, but the government must be the responsible +author. He may edit a journal, but the government must be the +editor-in-chief. + +At the chief stations on the road, there are fruit-sellers in abundance, +with fruit fresh from the trees: oranges, bananas, sapotes, and +coconuts. The coconut is eaten at an earlier stage than that in which we +see it at the North, for it is gathered for exportation after it has +become hard. It is eaten here when no harder than a melon, and is cut +through with a knife, and the soft white pulp, mixed with the milk, is +eaten with a spoon. It is luscious and wholesome, much more so than when +the rind has hardened into the shell, and the soft pulp into a hard +meat. + +A little later in the afternoon, the character of the views begins to +change. The ingenios and cane-fields become less frequent, then cease +altogether, and the houses have more the appearance of pleasure retreats +than of working estates. The roads show lines of mules and horses, +loaded with panniers of fruits, or sweeping the ground with the long +stalks of fresh fodder laid across their backs, all moving towards a +common center. Pleasure carriages appear. Next comes the distant view of +the Castle of Atares, and the Príncipe, and then the harbor and the sea, +the belt of masts, the high ridge of fortifications, the blue and white +and yellow houses, with brown tops; and now we are in the streets of +Havana. + +Here are the familiar signs--Por mayor y menor, Posada y Cantina, +Tienda, Panadería, Relojería, and the fanciful names of the shops, the +high-pitched falsetto cries of the streets, the long files of mules and +horses, with panniers of fruit, or hidden, all but their noses and +tails, under stacks of fresh fodder, the volantes, and the motley +multitude of whites, blacks, and Chinese, soldiers and civilians, and +occasionally priests--Negro women, lottery-ticket vendors, and the girl +musicians with their begging tambourines. + +The same idlers are at the door of Le Grand's; a rehearsal, as usual, is +going on at the head of the first flight; and the parrot is blinking at +the hot, white walls of the court-yard, and screaming bits of Spanish. +My New York friends have got back from the country a day before me. I am +installed in a better room than before, on the house-top, where the sun +is hot, but where there is air and a view of the ocean. + + + + +XV. + +HAVANA: Social, Religious and Judicial Tidbits + + +The warm bath round the corner is a refreshment after a day's railroad +ride in such heat; and there, in the front room, the man in his shirt +sleeves is serving out liquor, as before, and the usual company of +Creoles is gathered about the billiard tables. After a dinner in the +handsome, airy restaurant of Le Grand's, I drive into the city in the +evening, to the close streets of the Extramuros, and pay a visit to the +lady whom I failed to see on my arrival. I am so fortunate as to meet +her, and beside the pleasure to be found in her society, I am glad to be +able to give her personal information from her attached and sympathizing +friends, at the North. + +While I am there, a tinkling sound of bells is heard in the streets, and +lights flash by. It is a procession, going to carry the viaticum, the +last sacrament, to a dying person. + +From this house, I drove towards the water-side, past the Plaza de +Armas, the old Plaza de San Francisco, with its monastery turned into an +almacén (a store-house of merchandise,) through the Calle de los +Oficios, to the boarding-house of Madame Almy, to call upon Dr. and Mrs. +Howe. Mr. Parker left Havana, as he intended, last Tuesday, for Santa +Cruz. He found Havana rather too hot for his comfort, and Santa Cruz, +the most healthful and temperate of the islands, had always been his +destination. He had visited a few places in the city, and among others, +the College of Belén, where he had been courteously received by the +Jesuits. I found that they knew his reputation as a scholar and writer, +and a leading champion of modern Theism in America. Dr. Howe had called +at Le Grand's, yesterday, to invite me to go with him to attend a trial, +at the Audiencia, which attracted a good deal of interest among the +Creoles. The story, as told by the friends of Señor Maestri, the +defendant, is that in the performance of a judicial duty, he discharged +a person against whom the government was proceeding illegally, and that +this lead to a correspondence between him and the authorities, which +resulted in his being deposed and brought to trial, before the +Audiencia, on a charge of disrespect to the Captain-General. I have no +means of learning the correctness of this statement, at present-- + + "_I say the tale as 'twas said to me._" + +The cause has, at all events, excited a deep interest among the Creoles, +who see in it another proof of the unlimited character of the +centralized power that governs them. I regret that I missed a scene of +so much interest and instruction. Dr. Howe told me that Maestri's +counsel, Señor Azcárate, a young lawyer, defended his friend +courageously; but the evidence being all in writing, without the +exciting conflicts and vicissitudes of oral testimony, and the written +arguments being delivered sitting; there was not much in the proceedings +to stimulate the Creole excitability. No decision was given, the Court +taking time to deliberate. It seems to have been a Montalembert trial, +on a small theater. + +To-night there is again a máscara at the next door, but my room is now +more remote, and I am able to sleep through it. Once I awoke. It was +nearly five o'clock. The music was still going on, but in softer and +more subdued tones. The drums and trumpets were hushed, and all had +fallen, as if by the magic touch of the approaching dawn, into a trance +of sound, a rondo of constantly returning delicious melody, as nearly +irresistible to the charmed sense as sound can be conceived to be--just +bordering on the fusing state between sense and spirit. It is a +contradanza of Cuba. The great bells beat five, over the city; and +instantly the music ceases, and is heard no more. The watchmen cry the +hour, and the bells of the hospitals and convents sound their matins, +though it is yet dark. + + + + +XVI. + +HAVANA: Worship, Etiquette and Humanitarianism + + +At break of day, I am in the delightful sea-baths again, not ill-named +Recreo and Elíseo. But the forlorn chain-gang are mustered before the +Presidio. It is Sunday, but there is no day of rest for them. + +At eight o'clock I present myself at the Belén. A lady, who was passing +through the cloister, with head and face covered by the usual black +veil, turned and came to me. It was Mrs.----, whom I had seen last +evening. She kindly took me to the sacristy, and asked some one to tell +Father---- that I was there, and then went to her place in church. While +waiting in the sacristy, I saw the robing and unrobing of the +officiating priests, the preparation of altar ceremonials by boys and +men, and could hear the voices and music in the church, on the other +side of the great altar. The manner of the Jesuits is in striking +contrast with that at the Cathedral. All is slow, orderly and +reverential, whether on the part of men or boys. Instead of the hurried +walk, the nod and duck, there is a slow march, a kneeling, or a +reverential bow. At a small side altar, in the sacristy, communion is +administered by a single priest. Among the recipients are several men of +mature years and respectable position; and side by side with them, the +poor and the Negroes. In the Church, there is no distinction of race or +color. + +Father---- appears, is unrobed, and takes me to the gallery of the +church, near the organ. From this, I looked down upon a sea of rich +costumes of women, veiled heads, and kneeling figures, literally +covering the floor of the church. On the marble pavement, the little +carpets are spread, and on these, as close as they can sit or kneel, are +the ladies of rank and wealth of Havana. A new-comer glides in among +them seeking room for her carpet, or room of charity or friendship on a +carpet already spread; and the kneelers or sitters move and gather in +their wide skirts to let her pass. Here and there a servant in livery +winds his way behind his mistress, bearing her carpet, and returns to +the porch when it has been spread. The whole floor is left to women. The +men gather about the walls and doorways, or sit in the gallery, which is +reserved for them. But among the women, though chiefly of rank and +wealth, are some who are Negroes, usually distinguished by the plain +shawl, instead of the veil over the head. The Countess Villanueva, +immensely rich, of high rank, and of a name great in the annals of Cuba, +but childless, and blind, and a widow, is lead in by the hand by her +Negro servant. The service of the altar is performed with dignity and +reverence, and the singing, which is by the Jesuit Brothers themselves, +is admirable. In the choir I recognized my new friends, the Rector and +young Father Cabre, the professor of physics. The "Tantum ergo +Sacramentum," which was sung kneeling, brought tears into my eyes, and +kept them there. + +After service, Mr.---- came to me, and made an engagement to show me the +benevolent institutions on the Bishop's list, accepting my invitation to +breakfast at Le Grand's, at eleven o'clock. At eleven he came, and after +a quiet breakfast in a side room, we went to the house of Señor----, +whom he well knows, in the hope that he would go with us. The Señor was +engaged to meet one of the Fathers at noon, and could not go, but +introduced to me a relative of his, a young student of medicine in the +University, who offered to take me to the Presidio and other places, the +next day. + +It occurred to us to call upon a young American lady, who was residing +at the house of a Spanish lady of wealth and rank, and invite her to go +with us to see the Beneficencia, which we thought she might do, as it is +an institution under the charge of nuns, and she was to go with a Padre +in full dress. But the customs of the country are rigid. Miss---- was +very desirous to go, but had doubts. She consulted the lady of the +house, who would know, if any one could, the etiquette of Havana. The +Señora's reply was, "You are an American, and may do anything." This +settled the matter in the negative, and we went alone. Now we drive to +Don Juan---- 's. The gate is closed. The driver, who is a white, gets +off and makes a feeble and timid rap at the door. "Knock louder!" says +my friend, in Spanish. "What cowards they are!" he adds to me. The man +makes a knock, a little louder. "There, see that! Peeking into the +keyhole! Mean! An Englishman would beat the door down before he would do +that." Don Juan is in the country, so we fail of all our expected +companions. + +The Casa de Beneficencia is a large institution, for orphan and +destitute children, for infirm old persons, and for the insane. It is +admirably situated, bordering on the open sea, with fresh air and very +good attention to ventilation in the rooms. It is a government +institution, but is placed under charge of the Sisters of Charity, one +of whom accompanied us about the building. Though called a government +institution, it must not be supposed that it is a charity from the +crown. On the contrary, it is supported by a specific appropriation of +certain of the taxes and revenues of the island. In the building is a +church not yet finished, large enough for all the inmates, and a quiet +little private chapel for the Sisters' devotions, where a burning lamp +indicated the presence of the Sacrament on the small altar. I am sorry +to have forgotten the number of children. It was large, and included +both sexes, with a separate department for each. In a third department +are the insane. They are kindly treated and not confined, except when +violent; but the Sister told us they had no medical treatment unless in +case of sickness. (Dr. Howe told me that he was also so informed.) The +last department is for aged and indigent women. + +One of the little orphans clung to the Sister who accompanied us, +holding her hand, and nestling in her coarse but clean blue gown; and +when we took our leave, and I put a small coin into her little soft +hand, her eyes brightened up into a pretty smile. + +The number of the Sisters is not full. As none have joined the order +from Cuba, (I am told literally none,) they are all from abroad, chiefly +from France and Spain; and having acclimation to go through, with +exposure to yellow fever and cholera, many of those that come here die +in the first or second summer. And yet they still come, in simple, +religious fidelity, under the shadow of death. + +The Casa de Beneficencia must be pronounced by all, even by those +accustomed to the system and order of the best charitable institutions +in the world, a credit to the island of Cuba. The charity is large and +liberal, and the order and neatness of its administration are beyond +praise. + +From the Beneficencia we drove to the Military Hospital. This is a huge +establishment, designed to accommodate all the sick of the army. The +walls are high, the floors are of brick and scrupulously clean, as are +all things under the charge of the Sisters of Charity; and the +ventilation is tolerable. The building suffered from the explosion of +the magazine last year, and some quarters have not yet been restored for +occupation. The number of sick soldiers now in hospital actually exceeds +one thousand! Most of them are young, some mere lads, victims of the +conscription of Old Spain, which takes them from their rustic homes in +Andalusia and Catalonia and the Pyrenees, to expose them to the tropical +heats of Cuba, and to the other dangers of its climate. Most had fevers. +We saw a few cases of vómito. Notwithstanding all that is said about the +healthfulness of a winter in Cuba, the experienced Sister Servant +(which, I believe, is the title of the Superior of a body of Sisters of +Charity) told us that a few sporadic cases of yellow fever occur in +Havana, in all seasons of the year; but that we need not fear to go +through the wards. One patient was covered with the blotches of recent +smallpox. It was affecting to see the wistful eyes of these poor, +fevered soldier-boys, gazing on the serene, kind countenances of the +nuns, and thinking of their mothers and sisters in the dear home in Old +Spain, and feeling, no doubt, that this womanly, religious care was the +nearest and best substitute. + +The present number of Sisters, charged with the entire care of this +great hospital, except the duty of cooks and the mere manual and +mechanic labor necessarily done by men, is not above twenty-five. The +Sister Servant told us that the proper complement was forty. The last +summer, eleven of these devoted women died of yellow fever. Every +summer, when yellow fever or cholera prevails, some of them die. They +know it. Yet the vacancies are filled up; and their serene and ever +happy countenances give the stranger no indication that they have bound +themselves to the bedside of contagious and loathsome diseases every +year, and to scenes of sickness and death every day. + +As we walked through the passage-ways, we came upon the little private +chapel of the Sisters. Here was a scene I can never forget. It was an +hour assigned for prayer. All who could leave the sick wards--not more +than twelve or fourteen--were kneeling in that perfectly still, +secluded, darkened room, in a double row, all facing to the altar, on +which burned one taper, showing the presence of the Sacrament, and all +in silent prayer. That double row of silent, kneeling women, unconscious +of the presence of any one, in their snow-white, close caps and long +capes, and coarse, clean, blue gowns--heroines, if the world ever had +heroines, their angels beholding the face of their Father in heaven, as +they knelt on earth! + +It was affecting and yet almost amusing--it would have been amusing +anywhere else--that these simple creatures, not knowing the ways of the +world, and desirous to have soft music fill their room, as they knelt at +silent prayer, and not having (for their duties preclude it) any skill +in the practice of music, had a large music-box wound and placed on a +stand, in the rear, giving out its liquid tones, just loud enough to +pervade the air, without forcing attention. The effect was beautiful; +and yet the tunes were not all, nor chiefly, religious. They were such +as any music-box would give. But what do these poor creatures know of +what the world marches to, or dances to, or makes love by? To them it +was all music, and pure and holy! + +Minute after minute we stood, waiting for, but not desiring, an end of +these delightful sounds, and a dissolving of this spell of silent +adoration. One of the Sisters began prayers aloud, a series of short +prayers and adorations and thanksgivings, to each of which, at its +close, the others made response in full, sweet voices. The tone of +prayer of this Sister was just what it should be. No skill of art could +reach it. How much truer than the cathedral, or the great ceremonial! It +was low, yet audible, composed, reverent: neither the familiar, which +offends so often, nor the rhetorical, which always offends, but that +unconscious sustained intonation, not of speech, but of music, which +frequent devotions in company with others naturally call out; showing us +that poetry and music, and not prose and speech, are the natural +expressions of the deepest and highest emotions. + +They rose, with the prayer of benediction, and we withdrew. They +separated, to station themselves, one in each ward of the hospital, +there, aloud and standing, to repeat their prayers--the sick men raising +themselves on their elbows, or sitting in bed, or, if more feeble, +raising their eyes and clasping their hands, and all who can or choose, +joining in the responses. + + + + +XVII. + +HAVANA: Hospital and Prison + + +Drove out over the Paseo de Tacón to the Cerro, a height, formerly a +village, now a part of the suburbs of Havana. It is high ground, and +commands a noble view of Havana and the sea. Coming in, I met the +Bishop, who introduced me to the Count de la Fernandina, a dignified +Spanish nobleman, who owns a beautiful villa on this Paseo, where we +walked a while in the grounds. This house is very elegant and costly, +with marble floors, high ceilings, piazzas, and a garden of the richest +trees and flowers coming into the court-yard, and advancing even into +the windows of the house. It is one of the most beautiful villas in the +vicinity of Havana. + +There are several noblemen who have their estates and titles in Cuba, +but are recognized as nobles of Spain--in all, I should say, about fifty +or sixty. Some of these have received their titles for civil or military +services; but most of them have been raised to their rank on account of +their wealth, or have purchased their titles outright. I believe there +are but two grades, the marquis and the count. Among the titles best +known to strangers are Villanueva, Fernandina, and O'Reilly. The number +of Irish families who have taken rank in the Spanish service and become +connected with Cuba, is rather remarkable. Beside O'Reilly, there are +O'Donnel, O'Farrel, and O'Lawlor, descendants of Irishmen who entered +the Spanish service after the battle of the Boyne. + +Dr. Howe had seen the Presidio, the great prison of Havana, once; but +was desirous to visit it again; so he joined me, under the conduct of +our young friend, Señor----, to visit that and the hospital of San Juan +de Dios. The hospital we saw first. It is supported by the +government--that is to say, by Cuban revenues--for charity patients +chiefly, but some, who can afford it, pay more or less. There are about +two hundred and fifty patients. This, again, is in the charge of the +Sisters of Charity. As we came upon one of the Sisters, in a +passage-way, in her white cap and cape, and black and blue dress, Dr. +Howe said, "I always take off my hat to a Sister of Charity," and we +paid them all that attention, whenever we passed them. Dr. Howe examined +the book of prescriptions, and said that there was less drugging than he +supposed there would be. The attending physician told us that nearly all +the physicians had studied in Paris, or in Philadelphia. There were a +great many medical students in attendance, and there had just been an +operation in the theater. In an open yard we saw two men washing a dead +body, and carelessly laying it on a table, for dissection. I am told +that the medical and surgical professions are in a very satisfactory +state of advancement in the island, and that a degree in medicine, and a +license to practise, carry with them proofs of considerable proficiency. +It is always observable that the physical and the exact sciences are the +last to suffer under despotisms. + +The Presidio and Grand Cárcel of Havana is a large building, of yellow +stone, standing near the fort of the Punta, and is one of the striking +objects as you enter the harbor. It has no appearance of a jail without, +but rather of a palace or court; but within, it is full of live men's +bones and of all uncleanness. No man, whose notions are derived from an +American or English penitentiary of the last twenty years, or fifty +years, can form an idea of the great Cuban prison. It is simply +horrible. There are no cells, except for solitary confinement of +"incomunicados"--who are usually political offenders. The prisoners are +placed in large rooms, with stone floors and grated windows, where they +are left, from twenty to fifty in each, without work, without books, +without interference or intervention of any one, day and night, day and +night, for the weeks, months or years of their sentences. The sights are +dreadful. In this hot climate, so many beings, with no provision for +ventilation but the grated windows--so unclean, and most of them naked +above the waist--all spend their time in walking, talking, playing, and +smoking; and, at night, without bed or blanket, they lie down on the +stone floor, on what clothes they may have, to sleep if they can. The +whole prison, with the exception of the few cells for the +"incomunicados," was a series of these great cages, in which human +beings were shut up. Incarceration is the beginning, middle and end of +the whole system. Reformation, improvement, benefit to soul or body, are +not thought of. We inquired carefully, both of the officer who was sent +to attend us, and of a capitán de partido, who was there, and were +positively assured that the only distinction among the prisoners was +determined by the money they paid. Those who can pay nothing, are left +to the worst. Those who can pay two reals (twenty-five cents) a day, are +placed in wards a little higher and better. Those who can pay six reals +(seventy-five cents) a day, have better places still, called the "Salas +de distinción," and some privileges of walking in the galleries. The +amount of money, and not the degree of criminality, determines the +character of the punishment. There seems to be no limit to the right of +the prisoners to talk with any whom they can get to hear them, at +whatever distance, and to converse with visitors, and to receive money +from them. In fact, the whole scene was a Babel. All that was insured +was that they should not escape. When I say that no work was done, I +should make the qualification that a few prisoners were employed in +rolling tobacco into cigars, for a contractor; but they were very few. +Among the prisoners was a capitán de partido (a local magistrate), who +was committed on a charge of conniving at the slave-trade. He could pay +his six reals, of course; and had the privileges of a "Sala de +distinción" and of the galleries. He walked about with us, cigar in +mouth, and talked freely, and gave us much information respecting the +prison. My last request was to see the garrotte; but it was refused me. + +It was beginning to grow dark before we got to the gate, which was duly +opened to us, and we passed out, with a good will, into the open air. +Dr. Howe said he was nowise reluctant to be outside. It seemed to bring +back to his mind his Prussian prison, a little too forcibly to be +agreeable. He felt as if he were in keeping again, and was thinking how +he should feel if, just as we got to the gate, an officer were to bow +and say, "Dr. Howe?" "Yes, sir." "You may remain here. There is a charge +against you of seditious language, since you have been in the island." +No man would meet such a danger more calmly, and say less about it, than +he, if he thought duty to his fellow-beings called him to it. + +The open air, the chainless ocean, and the ships freely coming and +going, were a pleasant change to the eye, even of one who had never +suffered bonds for conscience sake. It seemed strange to see that all +persons outside were doing as they pleased. + + + + +XVIII. + +HAVANA: Bullfight + + +A bullfight has been advertised all over the town, at the Plaza de +Toros. Shall we go? I would not, if it were only pleasure that I was +seeking. As I am sure I expect only the contrary, and wish merely to +learn the character of this national recreation, I will go. + +The Plaza de Toros is a wooden amphitheater, in the suburbs, open at the +top--a circle of rising seats, with the arena in the center. I am late. +The cries of the people inside are loud, sharp, and constant; a full +band is blowing its trumpets and beating its drums; and the late +stragglers are jostling for their tickets. I go through at a low door, +find myself under benches filled with an eager, stamping, shouting +multitude, make my way through a passage, and come out on the shady +side, for it is a late afternoon sun, and take my place at a good point +of view. A bull, with some blood about his fore-quarters and two or +three darts (banderillas) sticking in his neck, is trotting harmlessly +about the arena, "more sinned against than sinning," and seeming to have +no other desire than to get out. Two men, each carrying a long, stout, +wooden pole, pointed with a short piece of iron, not long enough to +kill, but only to drive off and to goad, are mounted on two of the +sorriest nags eyes ever beheld--reprieved jades, whom it would not pay +to feed and scarcely pay to kill, and who have been left to take their +chances of death here. They could hardly be pricked into a trot, and +were too weak to escape. I have seen horses in every stage of life and +in every degree of neglect, but no New York Negro hack-driver would have +taken these for a gift, if he were obliged to keep them. The bull could +not be said to run away from the horses, for they did not pursue; but +when, distracted by sights and sounds, he came against a horse, the +horse stood still to be gored, and the bull only pushed against him +with his head, until driven off by the punching of the iron-pointed pole +of the horseman. + +Around the arena are sentry-boxes, each large enough to hold two men, +behind which they can easily jump, but which the bull cannot enter; and +from these, the cowardly wretches run out, flourish a red cloth at the +bull, and jump back. Three or four men, with darts in hand, run before +the bull, entice him by flapping their red cloths, and, as he trots up +to them, stick banderillas into his neck. These torment the bull, and he +tries to shake them off, and paws the ground; but still he shows no +fight. He trots to the gate, and snuffs to get out. Some of the +multitude cry "Fuera el toro! Fuera el toro!" which means that he is a +failure, and must be let out at the gate. Others are excited, and cry +for the killer, the matador; and a demoniacal scene follows, of yells +and shouts, half-drowned by twenty or thirty drums and trumpets. The +cries to go on prevail; and the matador appears, dressed in a +tight-fitting suit of green small-clothes, with a broad silver stripe, +jerkin, and stockings--a tall, light-complexioned, elegantly made, +glittering man, bearing in one hand a long, heavy, dull black sword, and +in the other a broad, red cloth. Now comes the harrying and distracting +of the bull by flags, and red cloths, and darts; the matador runs +before, flings his cloth up and down; the bull trots towards it--no +furious rush, or maddened dash, but a moderate trot--the cloth is +flashed over his face and one skilfully directed lunge of the sword into +his back neck, and he drops instantly dead at the feet of the matador, +at the very spot where he received the stab. Frantic shouts of applause +follow; and the matador bows around, like an applauded circus-rider, and +retires. The great gate opens, and three horses abreast are driven in, +decked with ribbons, to drag the bull round the arena. But they are such +feeble animals that, with all the flourish of music and the whipping of +drivers, they are barely able to tug the bull along over the tan, in a +straight line for the gate, through which the sorry pageant and +harmless bull disappear. + +Now, some meager, hungry, sallow, sweaty, mean-looking degenerates of +Spain jump in and rake over the arena, and cover up the blood, and put +things to rights again; and I find time to take a view of the company. +Thankful I am, and creditable it is, that there are no women. Yes, there +are two mulatto women in a seat on the sunny side, which is the cheap +side. And there are two shrivelled, dark, Creole women, in a box; and +there is one girl of eight or ten years, in full dress, with an elderly +man. These are all the women. In the State Box, under the faded royal +arms, are a few officials, not of high degree. The rest of the large +company is a motley collection, chiefly of the middle or lower classes, +mostly standing on the benches, and nearly all smoking. + +The music beats and brays again, the great gates open, and another bull +rushes in, distracted by sights and sounds so novel, and for a few +minutes shows signs of power and vigor; but, as he becomes accustomed to +the scene, he tames down; and after several minutes of flaunting of +cloths and flags, and piercing with darts, and punching with the poles +of the horsemen, he runs under the poor white horse, and upsets him, but +leaves him unhurt by his horns; has a leisurely trial of endurance with +the red horse, goring him a little with one horn, and receiving the pike +of the driver--the horse helpless and patient, and the bull very +reasonable and temperate in the use of his power--and then is enticed +off by flags, and worried with darts; and, at last, a new matador +appears--a fierce-looking fellow, dressed in dark green, with a large +head of curling, snaky, black hair, and a skin almost black. He makes a +great strut and flourish, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts +to get the bull head on, at length, getting a fair chance, plunges his +black sword to the hilt in the bull's neck--but there is no fall of the +bull. He has missed the spinal cord and the bull trots off, bleeding in +a small stream, with a sword-handle protruding a few inches above the +hide of his back-neck. The spectators hoot their contempt for the +failure; but with no sign of pity for the beast. The bull is weakened, +but trots about and makes a few runs at cloths, and the sword is drawn +from his hide by an agile dart-sticker (banderillero), and given to the +black bully in dark green, who makes one more lunge, with no better +success. The bull runs round, and reels, and staggers, and falls half +down, gets partly up, lows and breathes heavily, is pushed over and held +down, until a butcher dispatches him with a sharp knife, at the spinal +cord. Then come the opened gates, the three horses abreast, decked with +ribbons, the hard tug at the bull's body over the ground, his limbs +still swaying with remaining life, the clash and clang of the band, and +the yells of the people. + +Shall I stay another? Perhaps it may be more successful, and--if the new +bull will only bruise somebody! But the new bull is a failure. After all +their attempts to excite him, he only trots round, and snuffs at the +gates; and the cry of "Fuera el toro!" becomes so general, with the +significant triple beat of the feet, in time with the words, all over +the house, that the gates are opened, and the bull trots through, to his +quarters. + +But the meanness, and cruelty, and impotency of this crowd! They cry out +to the spear-men and the dart-men, and to the tormentors, and to the +bull, and to the horses, and to each other, in a Babel of sounds, where +no man's voice can possibly be distinguished ten feet from him, all +manner of advice and encouragement or derision, like children at a play. +One full grown, well-dressed young man, near me, kept up a constant cry +to the men in the ring, when I am sure no one could distinguish his +words, and no one cared to--until I became so irritated that I could +have throttled him. + +But, such you are! You can cry and howl at bull-fights and cockfights +and in the pits of operas and theaters, and drive bulls and horses +distracted, and urge gallant gamecocks to the death, and applaud opera +singers into patriotic songs, and leave them to imprisonment and +fines--and you yourselves cannot lift a finger, or join hand to hand, +or bring to the hazard life, fortune, or honor, for your liberty and +your dignity as men. Work your slaves, torture your bulls, fight your +gamecocks, crown your dancers and singers--and leave the weightier +matters of judgment and justice, of fame by sea and land, of letters and +arts and sciences, of private right and public honor, the present and +future of your race and of your native land, to the care of others--of a +people of no better blood than your own, strangers and sojourners among +you! + +The next bull is treated to a refinement of torture, in the form of +darts filled with heavy China crackers, which explode on the neck of the +poor beast. I could not see that even this made him really dangerous. +The light-complexioned, green-and-silver matador dispatches him, as he +did the first bull, with a single lunge, and--a fall and a quiver, and +all is over! + +The fifth bull is a failure and is allowed to go out of the ring. The +sixth is nearly the same with the others, harmless if let alone, and +goaded into short-lived activity, but not into anything like fury or +even a dangerous animosity. He is treated to fire-crackers, and gores +one horse a little--the horse standing, side on, and taking it, until +the bull is driven off by the punching of the spear; and runs at the +other horse, and, to my delight, upsets the rider, but unfortunately +without hurting him, and the black-haired matador in green tries his +hand on him and fails again, and is hooted, and takes to throwing darts, +and gets a fall, and looks disconcerted, and gets his sword again, and +makes another false thrust; and the crippled and bleeding animal is +thrown down and dispatched by the butcher with his short knife, and +drawn off by the three poor horses. The gates close, and I hurry out in +a din of shouts and drums and trumpets, the great crowd waiting for the +last bull--but I have seen enough. + +There is no volante waiting, and I have to take my seat in an omnibus, +and wait for the end of the scene. The confusion of cries and shouts and +the interludes of music still goes on, for a quarter of an hour, and +then the crowd begins to pour out, and to scatter over the ground. Four +faces in a line are heading for my omnibus. There is no mistaking that +head man, the file leader. "Down East" is written legibly all over his +face. Tall, thin, sallow, grave, circumspect! The others are not +counterparts. They vary. But "New England" is graven on all. + +"Wa-a-al!" says the leader, as he gets into the omnibus. No reply. They +take their seats, and wipe their foreheads. One expectorates. Another +looks too wise for utterance. "By," ... a long pause--How will he end +it?--"Jingoes!" That is a failure. It is plain he fell short, and did +not end as he intended. The sentiment of the four has not yet got +uttered. The fat, flaxen-haired man makes his attempt. "If there is a +new milch cow in Vermont that wouldn't show more fight, under such +usage, than them bulls, I'd buy her and make a present of her to +Governor _Cunchy_--or whatever they call him." + +This is practical and direct, and opens the way to a more free +interchange. The northern ice is thawed. The meanness and cruelty of the +exhibition is commented upon. The moral view is not overlooked, nor +underrated.--None but cowards would be so cruel. And last of all, it is +an imposition. Their money has been obtained under false pretences. A +suit would lie to recover it back; but the poor devils are welcome to +the money. The coach fills up with Cubans; and the noise of the +pavements drowns the further reflections of the four philanthropists, +patriots and economists. + + + + +XIX. + +HAVANA: More Manners and Customs + + +The people of Cuba have a mode of calling attention by a sound of the +tongue and lips, a sort of "P--s--t!" after the fashion of some parts of +the continent of Europe. It is universal here; and is used not only to +servants and children, but between themselves, and to strangers. It has +a mean sound, to us. They make it clear and penetrating; yet it seems a +poor, effeminate sibilation, and no generous, open-mouthed call. It is +the mode of stopping a volante, calling a waiter, attracting the +attention of a friend, or calling the notice of a stranger. I have no +doubt, if a fire were to break out at the next door, a Cuban would call +"P--s--t!" + +They beckon a person to come to them by the reverse of our motion. They +raise the open hand, with the palm outwards, bending the fingers toward +the person they are calling. We should interpret it to be a sign to go +away. + +Smoking is universal, and all but constant. I have amused myself, in the +street, by seeing what proportion of those I meet have cigars or +cigarettes in their mouths. Sometimes it has been one half, sometimes +one in three. The cigar is a great leveller. Any man may stop another +for a light. I have seen the poor porters, on the wharf, bow to +gentlemen, strangers to them, and hold out a cigar, and the gentlemen +stop, give a light, and go on--all as of course. + +In the evening, called on the Señoritas F----, at the house of Mr. +B----, and on the American young lady at Señor M---- 's, and on Mrs. +Howe, at Mde. Almy's, to offer to take letters or packets. At Mrs. +Almy's, there is a gentleman from New York, Mr. G----, who is dying of +consumption. His only wish is to live until the "Cahawba" comes in, that +he may at least die at sea, if he cannot survive until she reaches New +York. He has a horror of dying here, and being buried in the Potter's +Field. Dr. Howe has just come from his chamber. + +I drove out to the bishop's, to pay my parting respects. It is about +half-past eight in the evening. He has just returned from his evening +drive, is dressed in a cool, cambric dressing-gown, after a bath, and is +taking a quiet cigar, in his high-roofed parlor. He is very cordial and +polite, and talks again about the Thirty Millions Bill, and asks what I +think of the result, and what I have seen of the island, and my opinion +of the religious and charitable institutions. I praise the Belén and the +Sisters of Charity, and condemn the prison, and he appears to agree with +me. He appreciates the learning and zeal of the Brothers of Belén; +speaks in the highest terms of the devotedness of the Sisters of +Charity; and admits the great faults of the prison, but says it was +built recently, at an enormous out-lay, and he supposes the government +is reluctant to be at the expense of abandoning it and building another. +He charges me with messages of remembrance and respect to acquaintances +we have in common. As I take my leave, he goes with me to the outer +gate, which is kept locked, and again takes leave, for two leave-takings +are the custom of the country, and returns to the solitude of his house. + +Yesterday I drove out to the Cerro, to see the coolie jail, or market, +where the imported coolies are kept for sale. It is a well-known place, +and open to all visitors. The building has a fair-looking front; and +through this I enter, past two porters, into an open yard in the rear, +where, on the gravel ground, are squatting a double line of coolies, +with heads shaved, except a tuft on the crown, dressed in loose Chinese +garments of blue and yellow. The dealer, who is a calm, shrewd, +heartless-looking man, speaking English as well as if it were his native +tongue, comes out with me, calls to the coolies, and they all stand up +in a double line, facing inward, and we pass through them, preceded by a +driver armed with the usual badge of the plantation driver, the short, +limber whip. The dealer does not hesitate to tell me the terms on which +the contracts are made, as the trade is not illegal. His account is +this--The importer receives $340 for each coolie, and the purchaser +agrees to pay the coolie four dollars per month, and to give him food, +and two suits of clothes a year. For this, he has his services for eight +years. The contract is reduced to writing before a magistrate, and two +originals are made, one kept by the coolie and one by the purchaser, and +each in Chinese and Spanish. + +This was a strange and striking exhibition of power. Two or three white +men, bringing hundreds of Chinese thousands of miles, to a new climate +and people, holding them prisoners, selling their services to masters +having an unknown tongue and an unknown religion, to work at unknown +trades, for inscrutable purposes! + +The coolies did not look unhealthy, though some had complaints of the +eyes; yet they looked, or I fancied they looked, some of them, unhappy, +and some of them stolid. One I am sure had the leprosy although the +dealer would not admit it. The dealer did not deny their tendency to +suicide, and the danger of attempting to chastise them, but alleged +their great superiority to the Negro in intelligence, and contended that +their condition was good, and better than in China, having four dollars +a month, and being free at the end of eight years. He said, which I +found to be true, that after being separated and employed in work, they +let their hair grow, and adopt the habits and dress of the country. The +newly-arrived coolies wear tufts, and blue-and-yellow, loose, Chinese +clothes. Those who have been here long are distinguishable from the +whites only by the peculiar tinge of the cheek, and the form of the eye. +The only respect in which his account differed from what I heard +elsewhere was in the amount the importer receives, which has always been +stated to me at $400. While I am talking with him, a gentleman comes and +passes down the line. He is probably a purchaser, I judge; and I leave +my informant to follow what is more for his interest than talking with +me. + +The importation has not yet existed eight years. So the question, what +will become of these men, exotics, without women or children, taking no +root in the land, has not come to a solution. The constant question +is--will they remain and mix with the other races? Will they be +permitted to remain? Will they be able to go back? In 1853, they were +not noticed in the census; and in 1857, hardly noticed. The number +imported may, to some extent, be obtained from the records and files of +the aduana, but not so as to be relied upon. I heard the number +estimated at 200,000 by intelligent and well-informed Cubans. Others put +it as low as 60,000. Certain it is that coolies are to be met with +everywhere, in town and country. + +So far as I can learn, there is no law in China regulating the contracts +and shipment of Chinese coolies, and none in Cuba regulating their +transportation, landing, or treatment while here. The trade has grown up +and been permitted and recognized, but not regulated. It is yet to be +determined how far the contract is enforceable against either party. +Those coolies that are taken from the British East Indies to British +islands are taken under contracts, with regulations, as to their +exportation and return, understood and enforced. Not so the Chinese +coolies. Their importers are _lege soluti_. Some say the government will +insist on their being returned. But the prevailing impression is that +they will be brought in debt, and bound over again for their debts, or +in some other way secured to a life-long servitude. + +Mr.----, a very wealthy and intelligent planter, tells me he is to go +over to Regla, to-morrow morning, to see a lot of slaves offered for +sale to him, and asks me if I have ever seen a sale of slaves. I never +have seen that sight, and accept his invitation. We are to leave here at +half-past six, or seven, at the latest. All work is early here; I +believe I have mentioned that the hour of 'Change for merchants is 7.30 +A.M. + + + + +XX. + +HAVANA: Slaves, Lotteries, Cockfights and Filibusters + + +Rise early, and walk to the sea-baths, and take a delightful float and +swim. And refreshing it is, after a feverish night in my hot room, where +I did not sleep an hour all night, but heard every quarter-hour struck, +and the boatswain's whistle of the watchmen and their full cry of the +hour and the weather, at every clock-strike. From the bath, I look out +over the wall, far to the northeast, in the hope of catching a glimpse +of the "Cahawba's" smoke. This is the day of her expected arrival. My +New York friends and myself feel that we have seen Havana to our +satisfaction, and the heat is becoming intense. We are beginning to +receive advice against eating fruit after _café au lait_, or bananas +with wine, and in favor of high-crowned hats at noon to prevent +congestion from heat, and to avoid fogs in the morning. But there is no +"Cahawba" in sight, and I hear only the bray of trumpets and roll of +drums from the Morro and Cabaña and Punta, and the clanking march of the +chain-gang down the Paseo, and the march of the guard to trumpet and +drum. + +Mr.---- is punctual at seven, his son with him, and a man in a suit of +white linen, who is the broker employed by Mr.----. We take a ferry-boat +and cross to the Regla; and a few minutes' walk brings us to a small +nail factory, where all the workmen are coolies. In the back-yard of +this factory is a line of low buildings, from which the slaves are +brought out, to be shown. We had taken up, at the ferry-boat, a small, +thin, sharp-faced man, who was the dealer. The slaves are formed in a +semicircle, by the dealer and broker. The broker pushed and pulled them +about in a coarse, careless manner, worse than the manner of the dealer. +I am glad he is not to be their master. Mr.---- spoke kindly to them. +They were fully dressed; and no examination was made except by the eye; +and no exhibitions of strength or agility were required, and none of +those offensive examinations of which we read so much. What examination +had been made or was to be made by the broker, out of my presence, I do +not know. The "lot" consisted of about fifty, of both sexes and of all +ages, some being old, and some very young. They were not a valuable lot, +and Mr.---- refused to purchase them all. The dealer offered to separate +them. Mr.---- selected about half of them, and they were set apart. I +watched the countenances of all--the taken and the left. It was hard to +decipher the character of their emotions. A kind of fixed hopelessness +marked the faces of some, listlessness that of others, and others seemed +anxious or disappointed, but whether because taken or rejected, it was +hard to say. When the separation was made, and they knew its purpose, +still no complaint was made and no suggestion ventured by the slaves +that a tie of nature or affection was broken. I asked Mr.---- if some of +them might not be related. He said he should attend to that, as he never +separated families. He spoke to each of those he had chosen, separately, +and asked if they had parent or child, husband or wife, or brother or +sister among those who were rejected. A few pointed out their relations, +and Mr.---- took them into his lot. One was an aged mother, one a wife, +and another a little daughter. I am satisfied that no separations were +made in this case, and equally satisfied that neither the dealer nor the +broker would have asked the question. + +I asked Mr.---- on what principle he made his selection, as he did not +seem to me always to take the strongest. "On the principle of race," +said he. He told me that these Negroes were probably natives of Africa, +bozales, except the youngest, and that the signs of the races were known +to all planters. A certain race he named as having always more +intelligence and ambition than any other; as more difficult to manage, +but far superior when well managed. All of this race in the company, he +took at once, whatever their age or strength. I think the preferred +tribe was the Lucumí, but am not certain. + +From this place, I made a short visit to the almacén de azúcar, in the +Regla, the great storehouses of sugar. These are a range of one-story, +stone warehouses, so large that a great part of the sugar crop of the +island, as I am told, could be stored in them. Here the vessels go to +load, and the merchants store their sugar here, as wine is stored in the +London docks. + +The Cubans are careful of the diet of foreigners, even in winter. I +bought a couple of oranges, and young Mr.---- bought a sapote, a kind +of sweet-sour apple, when the broker said "Take care! Did you not have +milk with your coffee?" I inquired, and they told me it was not well to +eat fresh fruit soon after taking milk, or to take bananas with wine, or +to drink spirits. "But is this in winter, also?" "Yes; and it is already +very hot, and there is danger of fever among strangers." + +Went to La Dominica, the great restaurant and depot of preserves and +sweetmeats for Havana, and made out my order for preserves to take home +with me. After consultation, I am advised to make up my list as follows: +guava of Peru, limes, mamey apples, soursop, coconut, oranges, guava +jelly, guava marmalade, and almonds. + +The ladies tell me there is a kind of fine linen sold here, called +bolan, which it is difficult to obtain in the United States, and which +would be very proper to take home for a present. On this advice, I +bought a quantity of it, of blue and white, at La Diana, a shop on the +corner of Calle de Obispo and San Ignacio. + +Breakfasted with a wealthy and intelligent gentleman, a large planter, +who is a native of Cuba, but of European descent. A very nice breakfast, +of Spanish mixed dishes, rice cooked to perfection, fruits, claret, and +the only cup of good black tea I have tasted in Cuba. At Le Grand's, we +have no tea but the green. + +At breakfast, we talked freely on the subject of the condition and +prospects of Cuba; and I obtained from my host his views of the +economic and industrial situation of the island. He was confident that +the number of slaves does not exceed 500,000, to 200,000 free blacks, +and 600,000 or 700,000 whites. His argument led him to put the number of +slaves as low as he could, yet he estimated it far above that of the +census of 1857, which makes it 375,000. But no one regards the census of +slaves as correct. There is a tax on slaves, and the government has +little chance of getting them stated at the full number. One planter +said to a friend of mine, a year or two ago, that his two hundred slaves +were returned as one hundred. I find the best opinions put the slaves at +650,000, the free blacks at 200,000, and the whites at 700,000. + +Havana is flooded with lottery-ticket vendors. They infest every +eating-house and public way, and vex you at dinner, in your walks and +rides. They sell for one grand lottery, established and guaranteed by +the government, always in operation, and yielding to the state a net +revenue of nearly two millions a year. The Cubans are infatuated with +this lottery. All classes seem to embark in it. Its effect is especially +bad on the slaves, who invest in it all they can earn, beg, or steal, +allured by the glorious vision of possibly purchasing their freedom, and +elevating themselves into the class of proprietors. + +Some gentlemen at Le Grand's have been to a cock-fight. I shall be +obliged to leave the island without seeing this national sport for which +every town, and every village has a pit, a Valle de Gallos. They tell me +it was a very exciting scene among the spectators. Negroes, free and +slave, low whites, coolies, and men of high condition were all +frantically betting. Most of the bets were made by holding up the +fingers and by other signs, between boxes and galleries. They say I +should hardly credit the large sums which the most ordinary looking men +staked and paid. + +I am surprised to find what an impression the López expedition made in +Cuba--a far greater impression than is commonly supposed in the United +States. The fears of the government and hopes of sympathizers +exaggerated the force, and the whole military power of the government +was stirred against them. Their little force of a few hundred +broken-down men and lads, deceived and deserted, fought a body of eight +times their number, and kept them at bay, causing great slaughter. The +railroad trains brought the wounded into Havana, car after car; rumors +of defeat filled the city; artillery was sent out; and the actual loss +of the Spaniards, in killed and wounded, was surprisingly large. On the +front wall of the Cabaña, plainly seen from the deck of every vessel +that leaves or enters the port, is a monument to the honor of those who +fell in the battle with the filibusteros. The spot where López was +garroted, in front of the Punta, is pointed out, as well as the slope of +the hill from the castle of Atares, where his surviving followers were +shot. + + + + +XXI. + +A SUMMING-UP: Society, Politics, Religion, Slavery, Resources and +Reflections + + +To an American, from the free states, Cuba presents an object of +singular interest. His mind is occupied and almost oppressed by the +thought of the strange problems that are in process of solution around +him. He is constantly a critic, and a philosophizer, if not a +philosopher. A despotic civil government, compulsory religious +uniformity, and slavery are in full possession of the field. He is +always seeking information as to causes, processes and effects, and +almost as constantly baffled. There are three classes of persons in +Cuba, from whom he receives contradictory and irreconcilable statements: +the Cubans, the Spaniards, and foreigners of other nations. By Cubans, I +mean the Criollos (Creoles), or natives of Cuba. By Spaniards, I mean +the Peninsulares, or natives of Old Spain. In the third class are +comprised the Americans, English, French, Germans, and all other +foreigners, except Spaniards, who are residents on the island, but not +natives. This last class is large, possesses a great deal of wealth, and +includes a great number of merchants, bankers and other traders. + +The Spaniards, or Peninsulares, constitute the army and navy, the +officers of the government in all departments, judicial, educational, +fiscal and postal, the revenue and the police, the upper clergy, and a +large and wealthy class of merchants, bankers, shopkeepers, and +mechanics. The higher military and civil officers are from all parts of +Spain; but the Catalans furnish the great body of the mechanics and +small traders. The Spaniards may be counted on as opponents of the +independence of Cuba, and especially of her annexation to the United +States. In their political opinions, they vary. Some belong to the +liberal, or Progresista party, and others are advocates of, or at least +apologists for, the present order of things. Their force and influence +is increased by the fact that the government encourages its military and +civil officers, at the expiration of their terms of service, to remain +in the island, still holding some nominal office, or on the pay of a +retired list. + +The foreign residents, not Spaniards, are chiefly engaged in commerce, +banking, or trade, or are in scientific or mechanic employments. These +do not intend to become citizens of Cuba. They strike no root into the +soil, but feel that they are only sojourners, for purposes of their own. +Of all classes of persons, I know of none whose situation is more +unfavorable to the growth and development of sentiments of patriotism +and philanthropy, and of interest in the future of a race, than +foreigners, temporarily resident, for purposes of money-making only, in +a country with which they have nothing in common, in the future or the +past. This class is often called impartial. I do not agree to that use +of the term. They are, indeed, free from the bias of feeling or +sentiment; and from the bias generated by the combined action of men +thinking and feeling alike, which we call political party. But they are +subject to the attractions of interest; and interest will magnetize the +mind as effectually as feeling. Planted in a soil where the more tender +and delicate fibers can take no hold, they stand by the strong tap-root +of interest. It is for their immediate advantage to preserve peace and +the existing order of things; and even if it may be fairly argued that +their ultimate interests would be benefited by a change, yet the process +is hazardous, and the result not sure; and, at most, they would do no +more than take advantage of the change, if it occurred. I should say, as +a general thing, that this class is content with the present order of +things. The island is rich, production is large, commerce flourishes, +life and property are well protected, and if a man does not concern +himself with political or religious questions, he has nothing to fear. +Of the Americans in this class, many, doubtless, may be favorably +inclined toward annexation, but they are careful talkers, if they are +so; and the foreigners, not Americans, are of course earnestly opposed +to it, and the pendency of the question tends to draw them towards the +present government. + +It remains only to speak of the Cubans. They are commonly styled +Creoles. But as that word includes natives of all Spanish America, it is +not quite definite. Of the Cubans, a few are advocates of the present +government--but very few. The far greater part are disaffected. They +desire something approximating to self-government. If that can be had +from Spain, they would prefer it. If not, there is nothing for them but +independence, or annexation to some other power. Not one of them thinks +of independence; and if it be annexation, I believe their present +impulse is toward the United States. Yet on this point, among even the +most disaffected of the Cubans, there is a difference of opinion. Many +of them are sincere emancipationists, and fear that if they come in at +the southern end of our Union, that question is closed for ever. Others +fear that the Anglo-Saxon race would swallow up the power and property +of the island, as they have done in California and Texas, and that the +Creoles would go to the wall. + +It has been my fortune to see persons of influence and intelligence from +each of these chief divisions, and from the subdivisions, and to talk +with them freely. From the sum of their conflicting opinions and +conflicting statements, I have endeavored to settle upon some things as +certain; and, as to other things, to ascertain how far the debatable +ground extends, and the principles which govern the debate. From all +these sources, and from my own observations, I will endeavor to set down +what I think to be the present state of Cuba, in its various interesting +features, trusting to do it as becomes one whose acquaintance with the +island has been so recent and so short. + + +POLITICAL CONDITION + +When the liberal constitutions were in force in Spain, in the early part +of this century, the benefits of them extended to Cuba. Something like +a provincial legislature was established; juntas, or advisory boards and +committees, discussed public questions, and made recommendations; a +militia was organized; the right to bear arms was recognized; tribunals, +with something of the nature of juries, passed upon certain questions; +the press was free, and Cuba sent delegates to the Spanish Cortes. This +state of things continued, with but few interruptions or variations, to +1825. + +Then was issued the celebrated Royal Order of May 29, 1825, under which +Cuba has been governed to the present hour. This Royal Order is the only +constitution of Cuba. It was probably intended merely as a temporary +order to the then Captain-General; but it has been found convenient to +adhere to it. It clothes the Captain-General with the fullest powers, +the tests and limit of which are as follows: " ... fully investing you +with the whole extent of power which, by the royal ordinances, is +granted to the governors of besieged towns. In consequence thereof, His +Majesty most amply and unrestrictedly authorizes your Excellency not +only to remove from the island such persons, holding offices from +government or not, whatever their occupation, rank, class, or situation +in life may be, whose residence there you may believe prejudicial, or +whose public or private conduct may appear suspicious to you...." Since +1825, Cuba has been not only under martial law, but in a state of siege. + +As to the more or less of justice or injustice, of honesty or +peculation, of fidelity or corruption, of liberality or severity, with +which these powers may have been exercised, a residence of a few days, +the reading of a few books, and conversations with a few men, though on +both sides, give me no right to pronounce. Of the probabilities, all can +judge, especially when we remember that these powers are wielded by +natives of one country over natives of another country. + +Since 1825, there has been no legislative assembly in Cuba, either +provincial or municipal. The municipal corporations (ayuntamientos) +were formerly hereditary, the dignity was purchasable, and no doubt the +bodies were corrupt. But they exercised some control, at least in the +levying and expending of taxes; and, being hereditary, were somewhat +independent, and might have served, like those of Europe in the middle +ages, as nuclei of popular liberties. These have lost the few powers +they possessed, and the members are now mere appointees of the +Captain-General. Since 1836, Cuba has been deprived of its right to a +delegation in the Cortes. Since 1825, vestiges of anything approaching +to popular assemblies, juntas, a jury, independent tribunals, a right of +voting, or a right to bear arms, have vanished from the island. The +press is under censorship; and so are the theaters and operas. When "I +Puritani" is played, the singers are required to substitute Lealtad for +Libertad, and one singer was fined and imprisoned for recusancy; and +Facciolo, the printer of a secretly circulated newspaper, advocating the +cause of Cuban independence, was garroted. The power of banishing, +without a charge made, or a trial, or even a record, but on the mere +will of the Captain-General, persons whose presence he thinks, or +professes to think, prejudicial to the government, whatever their +condition, rank, or office, has been frequently exercised, and hangs at +all hours over the head of every Cuban. Besides, that terrible power +which is restrained only by the analogy of a state of siege, may be at +any time called into action. Cubans may be, and I suppose usually are, +regularly charged and tried before judges, on political accusations; but +this is not their right; and the judges themselves, even of the highest +court, the Real Audiencia, may be deposed and banished, at the will of +the military chief. + +According to the strictness of the written law, no native Cuban can hold +any office of honor, trust, or emolument in Cuba. The army and navy are +composed of Spaniards, even to the soldiers in the ranks, and to the +sailors at the guns. It is said by the supporters of the government that +this order is not adhered to; and they point to a capitán-general, an +intendente, and a chief of the customs, who were Cubans. Still, such is +the written law; and if a few Cubans are put into office against the +law, those who are so favored are likely to be the most servile of +officers, and the situation of the rest is only the more degraded. +Notwithstanding the exceptions, it may be said with substantial truth +that an independent Cuban has open to him no career, civil or military. +There is a force of volunteers, to which some Cubans are admitted, but +they hold their places at the will of the government; and none are +allowed to join or remain with them unless they are acceptable to the +government. + +There are vexatious and mortifying regulations, too numerous and minute +to be complied with or even remembered, and which put the people in +danger of fines or extortion at every turn. Take, for instance, the +regulation that no man shall entertain a stranger over night at his +house, without previous notice to the magistrate. As to the absolute +prohibition of concealed weapons, and of all weapons but the regulation +sword and pistols--it was no doubt introduced and enforced by Tacón as a +means of suppressing assassinations, broils and open violence; and it +has made life safer in Havana than it is in New York; yet it cannot be +denied that it created a serious disability. In fine, what is the +Spanish government in Cuba but an armed monarchy, encamped in the midst +of a disarmed and disfranchised people? + +The taxes paid by the Cubans on their property, and the duties levied on +their commerce, are enormous, making a net income of not less than +$16,000,000 a year. Cuba pays all the expenses of its own government, +the salaries of all officers, the entire cost of the army and navy +quartered upon it, the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, and +of all the charitable and benevolent institutions, and sends an annual +remittance to Spain. + +The number of Spanish men-of-war stationed on the coast, varies from +twenty-five to thirty. Of the number of soldiers of the regular army in +Cuba, it is difficult to form an opinion. The official journal puts +them at 30,000. The lowest estimate I heard, was 25,000; and the highest +was 40,000. Judging from the number of sick I saw at the Hospital +Militar, I should not be surprised if the larger estimate was nearer the +truth. + +But details are of little importance. The actual administration may be a +little more or less rigid or lax. In its legal character, the government +is an unmixed despotism of one nation over another. + + +RELIGION + +No religion is tolerated but the Roman Catholic. Formerly the church was +wealthy, authoritative and independent, and checked the civil and +military power by an ecclesiastical power wielded also by the dominant +nation. But the property of the church has been sequestrated and +confiscated, and the government now owns all the property once +ecclesiastical, including the church edifices, and appoints all the +clergy, from the bishop to the humblest country curate. All are salaried +officers. And so powerless is the church, that, however scandalous may +be the life of a parish priest, the bishop cannot remove him. He can +only institute proceedings against him before a tribunal over which the +government has large control, with a certainty of long delays and entire +uncertainty as to the result. The bishopric of Havana was formerly one +of the wealthiest sees in Christendom. Now the salary is hardly +sufficient to meet the demands which custom makes in respect of charity, +hospitality and style of living. It may be said, I think with truth, +that the Roman Catholic Church has now neither civil nor political power +in Cuba. + +That there was a long period of time during which the morals of the +clergy were excessively corrupt, I think there can be no doubt. Make +every allowance for theological bias, or for irreligious bias, in the +writers and tourists in Cuba, still, the testimony from Roman Catholics +themselves is irresistible. The details, it is not worth while to +contend about. It is said that a family of children, with a recognized +relation to its female head, which the rule of celibacy prevented ever +becoming a marriage, was general with the country priesthood. A priest +who was faithful to that relation, and kept from cockfighting and +gambling, was esteemed a respectable man by the common people. Cuba +became a kind of Botany Bay for the Romish clergy. There they seem to +have been concealed from the eye of discipline. With this state of +things, there existed, naturally enough, a vast amount of practical +infidelity among the people, and especially among the men, who, it is +said, scarcely recognized religious obligations at all. + +No one can observe the state of Europe now, without seeing that the +rapidity of communication by steam and electricity has tended to add to +the efficiency of the central power of the Roman Catholic Church, and to +the efficacy and extent of its discipline. Cuba has begun to feel these +effects. Whether they have yet reached the interior, or the towns +generally, I do not know; but the concurrent testimony of all classes +satisfied me that a considerable change has been effected in Havana. The +instrumentalities which that church brings to bear in such cases, are in +operation: frequent preaching, and stricter discipline of confession and +communion. The most marked result is in the number of men, and men of +character and weight, who have become earnest in the use of these means. +Much of this must be attributed, no doubt, to the Jesuits; but how long +they will be permitted to remain here, and what will be the permanent +effects of the movement, I cannot, of course, conjecture. + +I do not enter into the old field of contest. "We care not," says one +side, "which be cause and which effect;--whether the people are Papists, +because they are what they are, or are as they are because they are +Papists. It is enough that the two things coexist." The other side +replies that no Protestant institutions have ever yet been tried for any +length of time, and to any large extent, with southern races, in a +tropical climate; and the question--what would be their influence, and +what the effect of surrounding causes upon them, lies altogether in the +region of conjecture, or, at best, of faith. + +Of the moral habits of the clergy, as of the people, at the present +time, I am entirely unable to judge. I saw very little that indicated +the existence of any vices whatever among the people. Five minutes of a +street view of London by night, exhibits more vice, to the casual +observer, than all Havana for a year. I do not mean to say that the +social morals of the Cubans are good, or are bad; I only mean to say +that I am not a judge of the question. + +The most striking indication of the want of religious control is the +disregard of the Lord's Day. All business seems to go on as usual, +unless it be in the public offices. The chain-gang works in the streets, +under public officers. House-building and mechanic trades go on +uninterrupted; and the shops are more active than ever. The churches, to +be sure, are open and well filled in the morning; and I do not refer to +amusements and recreations; I speak of public, secular labor. The Church +must be held to some responsibility for this. Granted that Sunday is not +the Sabbath. Yet, it is a day which, by the rule of the Roman Church, +the English Church in England and America, the Greek Church and other +Oriental Churches--all claiming to rest the rule on Apostolic authority, +as well as by the usage of Protestants on the continent of +Europe--whether Lutherans or Calvinists--is a day of rest from secular +labor, and especially from enforced labor. Pressing this upon an +intelligent ecclesiastic, his reply to me was that the Church could not +enforce the observance--that it must be enforced by the civil +authorities; and the civil authorities fall in with the selfishness and +gratifications of the ruling classes. And he appealed to the change +lately wrought in Paris, in these respects, as evidence of the +consistency of his Church. This is an answer, so far as concerns the +Church's direct authority; but it is an admission either of feeble moral +power, or of neglect of duty in times past. An embarrassment in the way +of more strictness as to secular labor, arises from the fact that slaves +are entitled to their time on Sundays, beyond the necessary labor of +providing for the day; and this time they may use in working out their +freedom. + +Another of the difficulties the church has to contend with, arises out +of Negro slavery. The Church recognizes the unity of all races, and +allows marriage between them. The civil law of Cuba, under the +interpretations in force here, prohibits marriage between whites and +persons who have any tinge of the black blood. In consequence of this +rule, concubinage prevails, to a great extent, between whites and +mulattoes or quadroons, often with recognition of the children. If +either party to this arrangement comes under the influence of the +Church's discipline, the relation must terminate. The Church would allow +and advise marriage; but the law prohibits it--and if there should be a +separation, there may be no provision for the children. This state of +things creates no small obstacle to the influence of the Church over the +domestic relations. + + +SLAVERY + +It is difficult to come to a satisfactory conclusion as to the number of +slaves in Cuba. The census of 1857 puts it at 375,000; but neither this +census nor that of 1853 is to be relied upon, on this point. The Cubans +are taxed for their slaves, and the government find it difficult, as I +have said, to get correct returns. No person of intelligence in Cuba, +however desirous to put the number at the lowest, has stated it to me at +less than 500,000. Many set it at 700,000. I am inclined to think that +600,000 is the nearest to the truth. + +The census makes the free blacks, in 1857, 125,000. It is thought to be +200,000, by the best authorities. The whites are about 700,000. The only +point in which the census seems to agree with public opinion, is in the +proportion. Both make the proportion of blacks to be about one free +black to three slaves; and make the whites not quite equal to the entire +number of blacks, free and slave together. + +To ascertain the condition of slaves in Cuba, two things are to be +considered: first, the laws, and secondly, the execution of the laws. +The written laws, there is no great difficulty in ascertaining. As to +their execution, there is room for opinion. At this point, one general +remark should be made, which I deem to be of considerable importance. +The laws relating to slavery do not emanate from the slave-holding mind; +nor are they interpreted or executed by the slave-holding class. The +slave benefits by the division of power and property between the two +rival and even hostile races of whites, the Creoles and the Spaniards. +Spain is not slave-holding, at home; and so long as the laws are made in +Spain, and the civil offices are held by Spaniards only, the slave has +at least the advantage of a conflict of interests and principles, +between the two classes that are concerned in his bondage. + +The fact that one Negro in every four is free, indicates that the laws +favor emancipation. They do both favor emancipation, and favor the free +blacks after emancipation. The stranger visiting Havana will see a +regiment of one thousand free black volunteers, parading with the troops +of the line and the white volunteers, and keeping guard in the Obra Pia. +When it is remembered that the bearing arms and performing military duty +as volunteers is esteemed an honor and privilege, and is not allowed to +the whites of Creole birth, except to a few who are favored by the +government, the significance of this fact may be appreciated. The Cuban +slave-holders are more impatient under this favoring of the free blacks +than under almost any other act of the government. They see in it an +attempt, on the part of the authorities, to secure the sympathy and +coöperation of the free blacks, in case of a revolutionary movement--to +set race against race, and to make the free blacks familiar with +military duty, while the whites are growing up in ignorance of it. In +point of civil privileges, the free blacks are the equals of the whites. +In courts of law, as witnesses or parties, no difference is known; and +they have the same rights as to the holding of lands and other +property. As to their social position, I have not the means of speaking. +I should think it quite as good as it is in New England, if not better. + +So far as to the position of the blacks, when free. The laws also +directly favor emancipation. Every slave has a right to go to a +magistrate and have himself valued, and on paying the valuation, to +receive his free papers. The valuation is made by three assessors, of +whom the master nominates one and the magistrate the other two. The +slave is not obliged to pay the entire valuation at once; but may pay it +in installments, of not less than fifty dollars each. These payments are +not made as mere advances of money, on the security of the master's +receipt, but are part purchases. Each payment makes the slave an owner +of such a portion of himself, _pro parte indivisa_, or as the common law +would say, in tenancy-in-common, with his master. If the valuation be +one thousand dollars, and he pays one hundred dollars, he is owned, +one-tenth by himself and nine-tenths by his master. It has been said, in +nearly all the American books on Cuba, that, on paying a share, he +becomes entitled to a corresponding share of his time and labor; but, +from the best information I can get, I think this is a mistake. The +payment affects the proprietary title, but not the usufruct. Until all +is paid, the master's dominion over the slave is not reduced, as +respects either discipline, or labor, or right of transfer; but if the +slave is sold, or goes by operation of law to heirs or legatees or +creditors, they take only the interest not paid for, subject to the +right of future payment under the valuation. + +There is another provision, which, at first sight, may not appear very +important, but which is, I am inclined to think, the best practical +protection the slave has against ill-treatment by his master: that is, +the right to a compulsory sale. A slave may, on the same process of +valuation compel his master to transfer him to any person who will pay +the money. For this purpose, he need establish no cause of complaint. It +is enough if he desires to be transferred, and some one is willing to +buy him. This operates as a check upon the master, and an inducement to +him to remove special causes of dissatisfaction; and it enables the +better class of slave-holders in a neighborhood, if cases of ill-usage +are known, to relieve the slave, without contention or pecuniary loss. + +In making the valuation, whether for emancipation or compulsory +transfer, the slave is to be estimated at his value as a common laborer, +according to his strength, age, and health. If he knows an art or trade, +however much that may add to his value, only one hundred dollars can be +added to the estimate for this trade or art. Thus the skill, industry +and character of the slave, do not furnish an obstacle to his +emancipation or transfer. On the contrary, all that his trade or art +adds to his value, above one hundred dollars, is, in fact, a capital for +his benefit. + +There are other provisions for the relief of the slave, which, although +they may make even a better show on paper, are of less practical value. +On complaint and proof of cruel treatment, the law will dissolve the +relation between master and slave. No slave can be flogged with more +than twenty-five lashes, by the master's authority. If his offence is +thought greater than that punishment will suffice for, the public +authorities must be called in. A slave mother may buy the freedom of her +infant, for twenty-five dollars. If slaves have been married by the +Church, they cannot be separated against their will; and the mother has +the right to keep her nursing child. Each slave is entitled to his time +on Sundays and all other holidays, beyond two hours allowed for +necessary labor, except on sugar estates during the grinding season. +Every slave born on the island is to be baptized and instructed in the +Catholic faith, and to receive Christian burial. Formerly, there were +provisions requiring religious services and instruction on each +plantation, according to its size; but I believe these are either +repealed, or become a dead letter. There are also provisions respecting +the food, clothing and treatment of slaves in other respects, and the +providing of a sick room and medicines, &c.; and the government has +appointed magistrates, styled síndicos, numerous enough, and living in +all localities, whose duty it is to attend to the petitions and +complaints of slaves, and to the measures relating to their sale, +transfer or emancipation. + +As to the enforcement of these laws, I have little or no personal +knowledge to offer; but some things, I think, I may treat as reasonably +sure, from my own observation, and from the concurrent testimony of +books, and of persons of all classes with whom I have conversed. + +The rule respecting religion is so far observed as this, that infants +are baptized, and all receive Christian burial. But there is no +enforcement of the obligation to give the slaves religious instruction, +or to allow them to attend public religious service. Most of those in +the rural districts see no church and no priest, from baptism to burial. +If they do receive religious instruction, or have religious services +provided for them, it is the free gift of the master. + +Marriage by the Church is seldom celebrated. As in the Roman Church +marriage is a sacrament and indissoluble, it entails great inconvenience +upon the master, as regards sales or mortgages, and is a restraint on +the Negroes themselves, to which it is not always easy to reconcile +them. Consequently, marriages are usually performed by the master only, +and of course, carry with them no legal rights or duties. Even this +imperfect and dissoluble connection has been but little attended to. +While the slave-trade was allowed, the planters supplied their stock +with bozales (native Africans) and paid little attention, even on +economic principles, to the improvement, or, speaking after the fashion +of cattle-farms, to the increase of stock on the plantation. Now that +importation is more difficult, and labor is in demand, their attention +is more turned to their own stock, and they are beginning to learn, in +the physiology of increase, that canon which the Everlasting has fixed +against promiscuous intercourse. + +The laws respecting valuation, the purchase of freedom at once or by +instalments, and the compulsory transfer, I know to be in active +operation in the towns, and on plantations affording easy access to +towns or magistrates. I heard frequent complaints from slave-holders and +those who sympathized with them, as to the operation of these +provisions. A lady in Havana had a slave who was an excellent cook; and +she had been offered $1700 for him, and refused it. He applied for +valuation for the purpose of transfer, and was valued at $1000 as a +laborer, which, with the $100 for his trade, made a loss to the owner of +$600, and, as no slave can be subsequently sold for a larger sum than +his valuation, this provision gave the slave a capital of $600. Another +instance was of a planter near Matanzas, who had a slave taught as a +carpenter; but after learning his trade, the slave got himself +transferred to a master in the city, for the opportunity of working out +his freedom, on holidays and in extra hours. So general is the +enforcement of these provisions that it is said to have resulted in a +refusal of many masters to teach their slaves any art or trade, and in +the hiring of the labor of artisans of all sorts, and the confining of +the slaves to mere manual labor. I heard of complaints of the conduct of +individuals who were charged with attempting to influence the credulous +and too ready slaves to agree to be transferred to them, either to +gratify some ill-will against the owner, or for some supposed selfish +interest. From the frequency of this tone of complaint and anecdote, as +well as from positive assertions on good authority, I believe these +provisions to have considerable efficacy. + +As to the practical advantage the slaves can get from these provisions +in remote places; and as to the amount of protection they get anywhere +from the special provisions respecting punishment, food, clothing, and +treatment generally, almost everything lies in the region of opinion. +There is no end to statement and anecdote on each side. If one cannot +get a full and lengthened personal experience, not only as the guest of +the slave-holder, but as the companion of the local magistrates, of the +lower officers on the plantation, of slave-dealers and slave-hunters, +and of the emancipated slaves, I advise him to shut his ears to mere +anecdotes and general statements, and to trust to reasonable deductions +from established facts. The established facts are, that one race, having +all power in its hands, holds an inferior race in slavery; that this +bondage exists in cities, in populous neighborhoods, and in remote +districts; that the owners are human beings, of tropical races, and the +slaves are human beings just emerging from barbarism, and that no small +part of this power is exercised by a low-lived and low-minded class of +intermediate agents. What is likely to be the effect on all the parties +to this system, judging from all we know of human nature? + +If persons coming from the North are credulous enough to suppose that +they will see chains and stripes and tracks of blood; and if, taking +letters to the best class of slave-holders, seeing their way of life, +and hearing their dinner-table anecdotes, and the breakfast-table talk +of the ladies, they find no outward signs of violence or corruption, +they will probably, also, be credulous enough to suppose they have seen +the whole of slavery. They do not know that that large plantation, with +its smoking chimneys, about which they hear nothing, and which their +host does not visit, has passed to the creditors of the late owner, who +is a bankrupt, and is in charge of a manager, who is to get all he can +from it in the shortest time, and to sell off the slaves as he can, +having no interest, moral or pecuniary, in their future. They do not +know that that other plantation, belonging to the young man who spends +half his time in Havana, is an abode of licentiousness and cruelty. +Neither do they know that the tall hounds chained at the kennel of the +house they are visiting are Cuban bloodhounds, trained to track and to +seize. They do not know that the barking last night was a pursuit and +capture, in which all the white men on the place took part; and that, +for the week past, the men of the plantation have been a committee of +detective and protective police. They do not know that the ill-looking +man who was there yesterday, and whom the ladies did not like, and all +treated with ill-disguised aversion, is a professed hunter of slaves. +They have never seen or heard of the Sierra del Cristal, the +mountain-range at the eastern end of Cuba, inhabited by runaways, where +white men hardly dare to go. Nor do they know that those young ladies, +when little children, were taken to the city in the time of the +insurrection in the Vuelta de Arriba. They have not heard the story of +that downcast-looking girl, the now incorrigibly malignant Negro, and +the lying mayoral. In the cities, they are amused by the flashy dresses, +indolence and good-humor of the slaves, and pleased with the +respectfulness of their manners, and hear anecdotes of their attachment +to their masters, and how they so dote upon slavery that nothing but bad +advice can entice them into freedom; and are told, too, of the worse +condition of the free blacks. They have not visited the slave-jails, or +the whipping-posts in the house outside the walls, where low whites do +the flogging of the city house-servants, men and women, at so many reals +a head. + +But the reflecting mind soon tires of the anecdotes of injustice, +cruelty and licentiousness on the one hand, and of justice, kindness and +mutual attachment, on the other. You know that all coexist; but in what +proportion you can only conjecture. You know what slavery must be, in +its effect on both the parties to it. You seek to grapple with the +problem itself. And, stating it fairly, it is this--Shall the industry +of Cuba go on, or shall the island be abandoned to a state of nature? If +the former, and if the whites cannot do the hard labor in that climate, +and the blacks can, will the seven hundred thousand whites, who own all +the land and improvements, surrender them to the blacks and leave the +island, or will they remain? If they must be expected to remain, what is +to be the relation of the two races? The blacks must do the hard work, +or it will not be done. Shall it be the enforced labor of slavery, or +shall the experiment of free labor be tried? Will the government try the +experiment, and if so, on what terms and in what manner? If something is +not done by the government, slavery will continue; for a successful +insurrection of slaves in Cuba is impossible, and manumissions do not +gain upon the births and importations. + + +MATERIAL RESOURCES AND EDUCATION + +Cuba contains more good harbors than does any part of the United States +south of Norfolk. Its soil is very rich, and there are no large wastes +of sand, either by the sea or in the interior. The coral rocks bound the +sea, and the grass and trees come down to the coral rocks. The surface +of the country is diversified by mountains, hills and undulating lands, +and is very well wooded, and tolerably well watered. It is interesting +and picturesque to the eye, and abounds in flowers, trees of all +varieties, and birds of rich plumage, though not of rich notes. It has +mines of copper, and probably of iron, and is not cursed with gold or +silver ore. There is no anthracite, but probably a large amount of a +very soft, bituminous coal, which can be used for manufactures. It has +also marble, and other kinds of stone; and the hard woods, as mahogany, +cedar, ebony, iron-wood, lignum vitæ, &c., are in abundance. Mineral +salt is to be found, and probably in sufficient quantities for the use +of the island. It is the boast of the Cubans that the island has no wild +beasts or venomous reptiles. This has been so often repeated by tourists +and historians that I suppose it must be admitted to be true, with the +qualification that they have the scorpion, and tarantula, and nigua; but +they say that the bite of the scorpion and tarantula, though painful, is +not dangerous to life. The nigua, (sometimes called chigua, and by the +English corrupted into jigger,) is troublesome. With these exceptions, +the claim to freedom from wild or venomous animals may be admitted. +Their snakes are harmless, and the mosquitoes no worse than those of New +England. + +As to the climate, I have no doubt that in the interior, especially on +the red earth, it is healthy and delightful, in summer as well as in +winter; but on the river borders, in the low lands of black earth, and +on the savannas, intermittent fever and fever-and-ague prevail. The +cities have the scourge of yellow fever and, of late years, also the +cholera. In the cities, I suppose, the year may be divided, as to +sickness, into three equal portions: four months of winter, when they +are safe; four of summer, when they are unsafe; and four of spring and +autumn, when they are passing from one state to the other. There are, +indeed, a few cases of vómito in the course of the winter, but they are +little regarded, and must be the result of extreme imprudence. It is +estimated that twenty-five per cent of the soldiers die of yellow fever +the first years of their acclimation; and during the year of the +cholera, sixty per cent of the newly-arrived soldiers died. The mean +temperature in winter is 70 degrees, and in summer 83 degrees, +Fahrenheit. The island has suffered severely from hurricanes, although +they are not so frequent as in others of the West India islands. They +have violent thunderstorms in summer, and have suffered from droughts in +winter, though usually the heavy dews keep vegetation green through the +dry season. + +That which has been to me, personally, most unexpected, is the industry +of the island. It seems to me that, allowing for the heat of noon and +the debilitating effect of the climate, the industry in agriculture and +trade is rather striking. The sugar crop is enormous. The annual +exportation is about 400,000 tons, or about 2,000,000 boxes, and the +amount consumed on the island is very great, not only in coffee and in +daily cooking, but in the making of preserves and sweetmeats, which are +a considerable part of the food of the people. There is also about half +a million hogsheads of molasses exported annually. Add to this the +coffee, tobacco and copper, and a general notion may be got of the +industry and productions of the island. Its weak point is the want of +variety. There are no manufactures of any consequence; the mineral +exports are not great; and, in fact, sugar is the one staple. All Cuba +has but one neck--the worst wish of the tyrant. + +As to education, I have no doubt that a good education in medicine, and +a respectable course of instruction in the Roman and Spanish law, and +in the natural sciences, can be obtained at the University of Havana; +and that a fair collegiate education, after the manner of the Latin +races, can be obtained at the Jesuit College, the Seminario, and other +institutions at Havana, and in the other large cities; and the Sisters +of the Sacred Heart have a flourishing school for girls at Havana. But +the general elementary education of the people is in a very low state. +The scattered life of planters is unfavorable to public day-schools, +nay, almost inconsistent with their existence. The richer inhabitants +send their children abroad, or to Havana; but the middle and lower +classes of whites cannot do this. The tables show that, of the free +white children, not more than one in sixty-three attend any school, +while in the British West India islands, the proportion is from one in +ten to one in twenty. As to the state of education, culture and literary +habits among the upper classes, my limited experience gives me no +opportunity to judge. The concurrent testimony of tourists and other +writers on Cuba is that the habits of the Cuban women of the upper and +middle classes are unintellectual. + +Education is substantially in the hands of the government. As an +instance of their strictness, no man can take a degree at the University +unless he makes oath that he does not belong to, has never belonged to, +and will not belong to, any society not known to and permitted by the +government. + + +REFLECTIONS + +To return to the political state and prospects of Cuba. As for those +persons whose political opinions and plans are not regulated by moral +principle, it may be safely said that, whatever their plans, their +object will not be the good of Cuba, but their own advantage. Of those +who are governed by principle, each man's expectation or plan will +depend upon the general opinion he entertains respecting the nature of +men and of society. This is going back a good way for a test; but I am +convinced it is only going to the source of opinion and action. If a +man believes that human nature in an unrestrained course, is good, and +self-governing, and that when it is not so, there is a temporary and +local cause to be assigned for the deviation; if he believes that men, +at least in civilized society, are independent beings, by right entitled +to, and by nature capable of, the exercise of popular self-government, +and that if they have not this power in exercise, it is because they +have been deprived of it by somebody's fraud or violence, which ought to +be detected and remedied, as we abate a public nuisance in the highway; +if a man thinks that overturning a throne and erecting a constitution +will answer the purpose;--if these are his opinions as to men and +society, his plan for Cuba, and for every other part of the world, may +be simple. No wonder such a one is impatient of the inactivity of the +governed masses, and is in a constant state of surprise that the fraud +and violence of a few should always prevail over the rights and merits +of the many--when they themselves might end their thraldom by a blow, +and put their oppressors to rest--by a bare bodkin! + +But if the history of the world and the observation of his own times +have led a man to the opinion that, of divine right and human necessity, +government of some sort there must be, in which power must be vested +somewhere, and exercised somehow; that popular self-government is rather +of the nature of a faculty than of a right; that human nature is so +constituted that the actual condition of civil society in any place and +nation is, on the whole, the fair result of conflicting forces of good +and evil--the power being in proportion to the need of power, and the +franchises to the capacity for using franchises; that autocrats and +oligarchs are the growth of the soil; and that every people has, in the +main, and in the long run, a government as good as it deserves; if such +is the substance of the belief to which he has been led or forced, he +will look gravely upon the future of such people as the Cubans, and +hesitate as to the invention and application of remedies. If he +reflects that of all the nations of the southern races in North and +South America, from Texas to Cape Horn, the Brazilians alone, who have a +constitutional monarchy, are in a state of order and progress; and if he +further reflects that Cuba, as a royal province, with all its evils, is +in a better condition than nearly all the Spanish republican states, he +may well be slow to believe that, with their complication of +difficulties, and causes of disorder and weakness--with their half +million or more of slaves and quarter million or less of free blacks, +with their coolies, and their divided and hostile races of whites--their +Spanish blood, and their utter want of experience in the discharge of +any public duties, the Cubans will work out successfully the problem of +self-government. You cannot reason from Massachusetts to Cuba. When +Massachusetts entered into the Revolution, she had had one hundred and +fifty years of experience in popular self-government under a system in +which the exercise of this power was more generally diffused among the +people, and extended over a larger class of subjects, and more +decentralized, than had ever been known before in any part of the world, +or at any period of the world's story. She had been, all along, for most +purposes, an independent republic, with an obligation to the British +Empire undefined and seldom attempted to be enforced. The thirteen +colonies were ships fully armed and equipped, officered and manned, with +long sea experience, sailing as a wing of a great fleet, under the +Admiral's fleet signals. They had only to pass secret signals, fall out +of line, haul their wind, and sail off as a squadron by themselves; and +if the Admiral with the rest of the fleet made chase and gave battle, it +was sailor to sailor and ship to ship. But Cuba has neither officers +trained to the quarter-deck, nor sailors trained to the helm, the yard, +or the gun. Nay, the ship is not built, nor the keel laid, nor is the +timber grown, from which the keel is to be cut. + +The natural process for Cuba is an amelioration of her institutions +under Spanish auspices. If this is not to be had, or if the connection +with Spain is dissolved in any way, she will probably be substantially +under the protection of some other power, or a part of another empire. +Whatever nation may enter upon such an undertaking as this, should take +a bond of fate. Beside her internal danger and difficulties, Cuba is +implicated externally with every cause of jealousy and conflict. She has +been called the key to the Gulf of Mexico. But the Gulf of Mexico cannot +be locked. Whoever takes her is more likely to find in her a key to +Pandora's box. Close upon her is the great island of Jamaica, where the +experiment of free Negro labor, in the same products, is on trial. Near +to her is Haiti where the experiment of Negro self-government is on +trial. And further off, separated, it is true, by the great Gulf Stream, +and with the neighborhood of the almost uninhabited and uninhabitable +sea coast of southern Florida, yet near enough to furnish some cause for +uneasiness, are the slave-states of the Great Republic. She is an +island, too; and as an island, whatever power holds or protects her, +must maintain on the spot a sufficient army and navy, as it would not do +to rely upon being able to throw in troops and munitions of war, after +notice of need. + +As to the wishes of the Cubans themselves, the degree of reliance they +place, or are entitled to place, on each other, and their opportunities +and capacity for organized action of any kind, I have already set down +all I can be truly said to know; and there is no end to assertion and +conjecture, or to the conflicting character of what is called +information, whether received through men or books. + + + + +XXII. + +LEAVE-TAKING + + +All day there have been earnest looks to the northwest, for the smoke of +the "Cahawba." We are willing and desirous to depart. Our sights are +seen, our business done, and our trunks packed. While we are sitting +round our table after dinner, George, Mr. Miller's servant, comes in, +with a bright countenance, and says "There is a steamer off." We go to +the roof, and there, far in the N. W., is a small but unmistakable cloud +of steamer's smoke, just in the course the "Cahawba" would take. "Let us +walk down to the Punta, and see her come in." It is between four and +five o'clock, and a pleasant afternoon, and we saunter along, keeping in +the shade, and sit down on the boards at the wharf, in front of the +Presidio, near to where politicians are garroted, and watch the progress +of the steamer, amusing ourselves at the same time with seeing the +Negroes swimming and washing horses in the shallow water off the bank. A +Yankee flag flies from the signalpost of the Morro, but the Punta keeps +the steamer from our sight. It draws towards six o'clock, and no vessel +can enter after dark. We begin to fear she will not reach the point in +season. Her cloud of smoke rises over the Punta, the city clocks strike +six, the Morro strikes six, the trumpets bray out, the sun is down, the +signals on the Morro are lowering--"She'll miss it!"--"No--there she +is!"--and, round the Punta comes her sharp black head, and then her full +body, her toiling engine and smoking chimney and peopled decks, and +flying stars and stripes--Good luck to her! and, though the signal is +down, she pushes on and passes the forts without objection, and is lost +among the shipping. + +My companions are so enthusiastic that they go on board; but I return to +my hotel and take a volante, and make my last calls, and take my last +looks, and am ready to leave in the morning. + +In half an hour, the arrival of the "Cahawba" is known over all Havana, +and the news of the loss of her consort, the "Black Warrior," in a fog +off New York--passengers and crew and specie safe. My companions come +back. They met Capt. Bullock on the pier, and took tea with him in La +Dominica. He sails at two o'clock to-morrow. + + * * * * * + +I shall not see them again, but there they will be, day after day, day +after day--how long?--aye, how long?--the squalid, degraded chain-gang! +The horrible prison!--profaning one of the grandest of sites, where +city, sea and shore unite as almost nowhere else on earth! These were my +thoughts as, in the pink and gray dawn, I walked down the Paseo, to +enjoy my last refreshing in the rock-hewn sea-baths. + +This leave-taking is a strange process, and has strange effects. How +suddenly a little of unnoticed good in what you leave behind comes out, +and touches you, in a moment of tenderness! And how much of the evil and +disagreeable seems to have disappeared! Le Grand, after all, is no more +inattentive and intractable than many others would become in his place; +and he does keep a good table, and those breakfasts are very pretty. +Antonio is no hydropathist, to be sure, and his ear distinguishes the +voices that pay best; yet one pities him in his routine, and in the fear +he is under, being a native of Old Spain, that his name will turn up in +the conscription, when he will have to shoulder his musket for five +years in the Cabaña and Punta. Nor can he get off the island, for the +permit will be refused him, poor fellow! + +One or two of our friends are to remain here for they have pulmonary +difficulties, and prefer to avoid the North in March. They look a little +sad at being left alone, and talk of going into the country to escape +the increasing heat. A New York gentleman has taken a great fancy to +the volantes, and thinks that a costly one, with two horses, and +silvered postilion in boots and spurs and bright jacket would eclipse +any equipage in Fifth Avenue. + +When you come to leave, you find that the strange and picturesque +character of the city has interested you more than you think; and you +stare out of your carriage to read the familiar signs, the names of +streets, the Obra Pia, Lamparilla, Mercaderes, San Ignacio, Obispo, +O'Reilly, and Oficios, and the pretty and fantastic names of the shops. +You think even the narrow streets have their advantages, as they are +better shaded, and the awnings can stretch across them, though, to be +sure, they keep out the air. No city has finer avenues than the Isabel +and the Tacón; and the palm trees, at least, we shall not see at the +North. Here is La Dominica. It is a pleasant place, in the evening, +after the Retreta, to take your tea or coffee under the trees by the +fountain in the court-yard, and meet the Americans and English--the only +public place, except the theater, where ladies are to be seen out of +their volantes. Still, we are quite ready to go; for we have seen all we +have been told to see in Havana, and it is excessively hot, and growing +hotter. + +But no one can leave Cuba without a permit. When you arrive, the visé of +your passport is not enough, but you must pay a fee for a permit to land +and remain in the island; and when you wish to return, you must pay four +dollars to get back your passport, with a permit to leave. The +custom-house officials were not troublesome in respect to our luggage, +hardly examining it at all, and, I must admit, showed no signs of +expecting private fees. Along the range of piers, where the bows of the +vessels run in, and on which the labor of this great commerce is +performed, there runs a high, wide roof, covering all from the intense +rays of the sun. Before this was put up, they say that workmen used to +fall dead with sunstrokes, on the wharves. + +On board the "Cahawba," I find my barrel of oranges from Iglesia, and +box of sweet-meats from La Dominica, and boxes of cigars from Cabaña's, +punctually delivered. There, once more, is Bullock, cheerful, and +efficient; Rodgers, full of kindness and good-humor; and sturdy, +trustworthy Miller, and Porter, the kindly and spirited; and the pleased +face of Henry, the captain's steward; and the familiar faces of the +other stewards; and my friend's son, who is well and very glad to see +me, and full of New Orleans, and of last night, which he spent on shore +in Havana. All are in good spirits, for a short sea voyage with old +friends is before us; and then--home! + +The decks are loaded and piled up with oranges: oranges in barrels and +oranges in crates, filling all the wings and gangways, the barrels cut +to let in air, and the crates with bars just close enough to keep in the +oranges. The delays from want of lighters, and the great amount of +freight, keep us through the day; and it is nearly sundown before we get +under way. All day the fruit boats are along-side, and passengers and +crew lay in stocks of oranges and bananas and sapotes, and little boxes +of sweetmeats. At length, the last barrel is on board, the permits and +passenger-lists are examined, the revenue officers leave us, and we +begin to heave up our anchor. + +The harbor is very full of vessels, and the room for swinging is small. +A British mail-steamer, and a Spanish man-of-war, and several +merchantmen, are close upon us. Captain Bullock takes his second mate +aft and they have a conference, as quietly as if they were arranging a +funeral. He is explaining to him his plan for running the warps and +swinging the ship, and telling him beforehand what he is to do in this +case, and what in that, and how to understand his signs, so that no +orders, or as few as possible, need be given at the time of action. The +engine moves, the warp is hauled upon, the anchor tripped, and dropped +again, and tripped again, the ship takes the right sheer, clear of +everything, and goes handsomely out of the harbor, the stars and stripes +at her peak, with a waving of hats from friends on the Punta wharf. The +western sky is gorgeous with the setting sun, and the evening drums and +trumpets sound from the encircling fortifications, as we pass the Casa +Blanca, the Cabaña, the Punta, and the Morro. The sky fades, the ship +rises and falls in the heave of the sea, the lantern of the Morro gleams +over the water, and the dim shores of Cuba are hidden from our sight. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To Cuba and Back, by Richard Henry Dana + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO CUBA AND BACK *** + +***** This file should be named 33455-8.txt or 33455-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/5/33455/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: To Cuba and Back + +Author: Richard Henry Dana + +Release Date: August 17, 2010 [EBook #33455] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO CUBA AND BACK *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr /> + +<h1>TO CUBA AND BACK</h1> + +<h2>BY<br /> <br />RICHARD HENRY DANA, JR.<br /> <br />1887</h2> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents" style="font-weight:bold;"> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#I">I.</a></td><td>—From Manhattan to El Morro</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#II">II.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>First Glimpses (1)</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#III">III.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>First Glimpses (2)</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#IV">IV.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Prisoners and Priests</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#V">V.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Olla Podrida</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#VI">VI.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>A Social Sunday</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#VII">VII.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Belén and the Jesuits</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a></td><td>—Matanzas</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#IX">IX.</a></td><td>—To Limonar by Train</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#X">X.</a></td><td>—A Sugar Plantation: <i>The Labor</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XI">XI.</a></td><td>—A Sugar Plantation: <i>The Life</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XII">XII.</a></td><td>—From Plantation to Plantation</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XIII">XIII.</a></td><td>—Matanzas and Environs</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XIV">XIV.</a></td><td>—Reflections via Railroad</td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XV">XV.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Social, Religious and Judicial Tidbits</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XVI">XVI.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Worship, Etiquette and Humanitarianism</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XVII">XVII.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Hospital and Prison</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XVIII">XVIII.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Bullfight</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XIX">XIX.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>More Manners and Customs</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XX">XX.</a></td><td>—Havana: <i>Slaves, Lotteries, Cockfights and Filibusters</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XXI">XXI.</a></td><td>—A Summing-up: <i>Society, Politics, Religion, +Slavery, Resources and Reflections</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="right"><a href="#XXII">XXII.</a></td><td>—Leave-taking</td></tr> +</table> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h3> + +<h4>FROM MANHATTAN TO EL MORRO</h4> + +<p>The steamer is to sail at one <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>; and, by half-past twelve, her decks +are full, and the mud and snow of the pier are well trodden by men and +horses. Coaches drive down furiously, and nervous passengers put their +heads out to see if the steamer is off before her time; and on the +decks, and in the gangways, inexperienced passengers run against +everybody, and mistake the engineer for the steward, and come up the +same stairs they go down, without knowing it. In the dreary snow, the +newspaper vendors cry the papers, and the book vendors thrust yellow +covers into your face—"Reading for the voyage, sir—five hundred pages, +close print!" And that being rejected, they reverse the process of the +Sibyl—with "Here's another, sir, one thousand pages, double columns." +The great beam of the engine moves slowly up and down, and the black +hull sways at its fasts. A motley group are the passengers. Shivering +Cubans, exotics that have taken slight root in the hothouses of the +Fifth Avenue, are to brave a few days of sleet and cold at sea, for the +palm trees and mangoes, the cocoas and orange trees, they will be +sitting under in six days, at farthest. There are Yankee shipmasters +going out to join their "cotton wagons" at New Orleans and Mobile, +merchants pursuing a commerce that knows no rest and no locality; +confirmed invalids advised to go to Cuba to die under mosquito nets and +be buried in a Potter's Field; and other invalids wisely enough avoiding +our March winds; and here and there a mere vacationmaker, like myself.</p> + +<p>Captain Bullock is sure to sail at the hour; and at the hour he is on +the paddle-box, the fasts are loosed, the warp run out, the crew pull in +on the warp on the port quarter, and the head swings off. No word is +spoken, but all is done by signs; or, if a word is necessary, a low +clear tone carries it to the listener. There is no tearing and rending +escape of steam, deafening and distracting all, and giving a kind of +terror to a peaceful scene; but our ship swings off, gathers way, and +enters upon her voyage, in a quiet like that of a bank or counting-room, +almost under a spell of silence.</p> + +<p>The state-rooms of the "Cahawba," like those of most American sea-going +steamers, are built so high above the water that the windows may be open +in all but the worst of weather, and good ventilation be ensured. I have +a very nice fellow for my room-mate, in the berth under me; but, in a +state-room, no room-mate is better than the best; so I change my +quarters to a state-room further forward, nearer "the eyes of her," +which the passengers generally shun, and get one to myself, free from +the rattle of the steering gear, while the delightful rise and fall of +the bows, and leisurely weather roll and lee roll, cradle and nurse one +to sleep.</p> + +<p>The routine of the ship, as regards passengers, is this: a cup of +coffee, if you desire it, when you turn out; breakfast at eight, lunch +at twelve, dinner at three, tea at seven, and lights put out at ten.</p> + +<p>Throughout the day, sailing down the outer edge of the Gulf Stream, we +see vessels of all forms and sizes, coming in sight and passing away, as +in a dioramic show. There is a heavy cotton droger from the Gulf, of +1200 tons burden, under a cloud of sail, pressing on to the northern +seas of New England or Old England. Here comes a saucy little Baltimore +brig, close-hauled and leaning over to it; and there, half down in the +horizon, is a pile of white canvas, which the experienced eyes of my two +friends, the passenger shipmasters, pronounce to be a bark, outward +bound. Every passenger says to every other, how beautiful! how +exquisite! That pale thin girl who is going to Cuba for her health, her +brother travelling with her, sits on the settee, propped by a pillow, +and tries to smile and to think she feels stronger in this air. She says +she shall stay in Cuba until she gets well!</p> + +<p>After dinner, Capt. Bullock tells us that we shall soon see the high +lands of Cuba, off Matanzas, the first and highest being the Pan of +Matanzas. It is clear over head, but a mist lies along the southern +horizon, in the latter part of the day. The sharpest eyes detect the +land, about 4 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, and soon it is visible to all. It is an undulating +country on the coast, with high hills and mountains in the interior, and +has a rich and fertile look. That height is the Pan, though we see no +special resemblance, in its outline, to a loaf of bread. We are still +sixty miles from Havana. We cannot reach it before dark, and no vessels +are allowed to pass the Morro after the signals are dropped at sunset.</p> + +<p>We coast the northern shore of Cuba, from Matanzas westward. There is no +waste of sand and low flats, as in most of our southern states; but the +fertile, undulating land comes to the sea, and rises into high hills as +it recedes. "There is the Morro! and right ahead!" "Why, there is the +city too! Is the city on the sea? We thought it was on a harbor or bay." +There, indeed, is the Morro, a stately hill of tawny rock, rising +perpendicularly from the sea, and jutting into it, with walls and +parapets and towers on its top, and flags and signals flying, and the +tall lighthouse just in front of its outer wall. It is not very high, +yet commands the sea about it. And there is the city, on the sea-coast, +indeed—the houses running down to the coral edge of the ocean. Where is +the harbor, and where the shipping? Ah, there they are! We open an +entrance, narrow and deep, between the beetling Morro and the Punta; and +through the entrance, we see the spreading harbor and the innumerable +masts. But the darkness is gathering, the sunset gun has been fired, we +can just catch the dying notes of trumpets from the fortifications, and +the Morro Lighthouse throws its gleam over the still sea. The little +lights emerge and twinkle from the city. We are too late to enter the +port, and slowly and reluctantly the ship turns her head off to seaward. +The engine breathes heavily, and throws its one arm leisurely up and +down; we rise and fall on the moonlit sea; the stars are near to us, or +we are raised nearer to them; the Southern Cross is just above the +horizon; and all night long, two streams of light lie upon the water, +one of gold from the Morro, and one of silver from the moon. It is +enchantment. Who can regret our delay, or wish to exchange this scene +for the common, close anchorage of a harbor?</p> + +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: First Glimpses (I)</h4> + +<p>We are to go in at sunrise, and few, if any, are the passengers that are +not on deck at the first glow of dawn. Before us lie the novel and +exciting objects of the night before. The Steep Morro, with its tall +sentinel lighthouse, and its towers and signal staffs and teeth of guns, +is coming out into clear daylight; the red and yellow striped flag of +Spain—blood and gold—floats over it. Point after point in the city +becomes visible; the blue and white and yellow houses, with their roofs +of dull red tiles, the quaint old Cathedral towers, and the almost +endless lines of fortifications. The masts of the immense shipping rise +over the headland, the signal for leave to enter is run up, and we steer +in under full head, the morning gun thundering from the Morro, the +trumpets braying and drums beating from all the fortifications, the +Morro, the Punta, the long Cabaña, the Casa Blanca and the city walls, +while the broad sun is fast rising over this magnificent spectacle.</p> + +<p>What a world of shipping! The masts make a belt of dense forest along +the edge of the city, all the ships lying head in to the street, like +horses at their mangers; while the vessels at anchor nearly choke up the +passage ways to the deeper bays beyond. There are the red and yellow +stripes of decayed Spain; the blue, white and red—blood to the fingers' +end—of La Grande Nation; the Union crosses of the Royal Commonwealth; +the stars and stripes of the Great Republic, and a few flags of Holland +and Portugal, of the states of northern Italy, of Brazil, and of the +republics of the Spanish Main. We thread our slow and careful way among +these, pass under the broadside of a ship-of-the-line, and under the +stern of a screw frigate, both bearing the Spanish flag, and cast our +anchor in the Regla Bay, by the side of the steamer "Karnac," which +sailed from New York a few days before us.</p> + +<p>Instantly we are besieged by boats, some loaded with oranges and +bananas, and others coming for passengers and their luggage, all with +awnings spread over their sterns, rowed by sallow, attenuated men, in +blue and white checks and straw hats, with here and there the familiar +lips and teeth, and vacant, easily-pleased face of the Negro. Among +these boats comes one, from the stern of which floats the red and yellow +flag with the crown in its field, and under whose awning reclines a man +in a full suit of white linen, with straw hat and red cockade and a +cigar. This is the Health Officer. Until he is satisfied, no one can +come on board, or leave the vessel. Capt. Bullock salutes, steps down +the ladder to the boat, hands his papers, reports all well—and we are +pronounced safe. Then comes another boat of similar style, another man +reclining under the awning with a cigar, who comes on board, is closeted +with the purser, compares the passenger list with the passports, and we +are declared fully passed, and general leave is given to land with our +luggage at the custom-house wharf.</p> + +<p>Now comes the war of cries and gestures and grimaces among the boatmen, +in their struggle for passengers, increased manifold by the fact that +there is but little language in common between the parties to the +bargains, and by the boatmen being required to remain in their boats. +How thin these boatmen look! You cannot get it out of your mind that +they must all have had the yellow fever last summer, and are not yet +fully recovered. Not only their faces, but their hands and arms and legs +are thin, and their low-quartered slippers only half cover their thin +yellow feet.</p> + +<p>In the hurry, I have to hunt after the passengers I am to take leave of +who go on to New Orleans:—Mr. and Mrs. Benchley, on their way to their +intended new home in western Texas, my two sea captains, and the little +son of my friend, who is the guest, on this voyage, of our common friend +the captain, and after all, I miss the hearty hand-shake of Bullock and +Rodgers. Seated under an awning, in the stern of a boat, with my trunk +and carpet-bag and an unseasonable bundle of Arctic overcoat and fur cap +in the bow, I am pulled by a man with an oar in each hand and a cigar in +mouth, to the custom-house pier. Here is a busy scene of trunks, +carpet-bags, and bundles; and up and down the pier marches a military +grandee of about the rank of a sergeant or sub-lieutenant, with a +preposterous strut, so out of keeping with the depressed military +character of his country, and not possible to be appreciated without +seeing it. If he would give that strut on the boards, in New York, he +would draw full houses nightly.</p> + +<p>Our passports are kept, and we receive a license to remain and travel in +the island, good for three months only, for which a large fee is paid. +These officers of the customs are civil and reasonably rapid; and in a +short time my luggage is on a dray driven by a Negro, and I am in a +volante, managed by a Negro postilion, and am driving through the narrow +streets of this surprising city.</p> + +<p>The streets are so narrow and the houses built so close upon them, that +they seem to be rather spaces between the walls of houses than highways +for travel. It appears impossible that two vehicles should pass abreast; +yet they do so. There are constant blockings of the way. In some places +awnings are stretched over the entire street, from house to house, and +we are riding under a long tent. What strange vehicles these volantes +are!—A pair of very long, limber shafts, at one end of which is a pair +of huge wheels, and the other end a horse with his tail braided and +brought forward and tied to the saddle, an open chaise body resting on +the shafts, about one third of the way from the axle to the horse; and +on the horse is a Negro, in large postilion boots, long spurs, and a +bright jacket. It is an easy vehicle to ride in; but it must be a sore +burden to the beast. Here and there we pass a private volante, +distinguished by rich silver mountings and postilions in livery. Some +have two horses, and with the silver and the livery and the long +dangling traces and a look of superfluity, have rather an air of high +life. In most, a gentleman is reclining, cigar in mouth; while in +others, is a great puff of blue or pink muslin or cambric, extending +over the sides to the shafts, topped off by a fan, with signs of a face +behind it. "Calle de los Oficios," "Calle del Obispo," "Calle de San +Ignacio," "Calle de Mercaderes," are on the little corner boards. Every +little shop and every big shop has its title; but nowhere does the name +of a keeper appear. Almost every shop advertises "por mayor y menor," +wholesale and retail. What a Gil Blas-Don Quixote feeling the names of +"posada," "tienda," and "cantina" give you!</p> + +<p>There are no women walking in the streets, except negresses. Those suits +of seersucker, with straw hats and red cockades, are soldiers. It is a +sensible dress for the climate. Every third man, perhaps more, and not a +few women, are smoking cigars or cigarritos. Here are things moving +along, looking like cocks of new mown grass, under way. But presently +you see the head of a horse or mule peering out from under the mass, and +a tail is visible at the other end, and feet are picking their slow way +over the stones. These are the carriers of green fodder, the fresh cut +stalks and blades of corn; and my chance companion in the carriage, a +fellow passenger by the "Cahawba," a Frenchman, who has been here +before, tells me that they supply all the horses and mules in the city +with their daily feed, as no hay is used. There are also mules, asses, +and horses with bananas, plantains, oranges and other fruits in panniers +reaching almost to the ground.</p> + +<p>Here is the Plaza de Armas, with its garden of rich, fragrant flowers in +full bloom, in front of the Governor's Palace. At the corner is the +chapel erected over the spot where, under the auspices of Columbus, mass +was first celebrated on the island. We are driven past a gloomy convent, +past innumerable shops, past drinking places, billiard rooms, and the +thick, dead walls of houses, with large windows, grated like dungeons, +and large gates, showing glimpses of interior court-yards, sometimes +with trees and flowers. But horses and carriages and gentlemen and +ladies and slaves, all seem to use the same entrance. The windows come +to the ground, and, being flush with the street, and mostly without +glass, nothing but the grating prevents a passenger from walking into +the rooms. And there the ladies and children sit sewing, or lounging, or +playing. This is all very strange. There is evidently enough for me to +see in the ten or twelve days of my stay.</p> + +<p>But there are no costumes among the men, no Spanish hats, or Spanish +cloaks, or bright jackets, or waistcoats, or open, slashed trousers, +that are so picturesque in other Spanish countries. The men wear black +dress coats, long pantaloons, black cravats, and many of them even +submit, in this hot sun, to black French hats. The tyranny of +systematic, scientific, capable, unpicturesque, unimaginative France, +evidently rules over the realm of man's dress. The houses, the vehicles, +the vegetation, the animals, are picturesque; to the eye of taste</p> + +<p class="c">"<i>Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile.</i>"</p> + +<p>We drove through the Puerta de Monserrate, a heavy gateway of the +prevailing yellow or tawny color, where soldiers are on guard, across +the moat, out upon the "Paseo de Isabel Segunda," and are now +"extramuros," without the walls. The Paseo is a grand avenue running +across the city from sea to bay, with two carriage-drives abreast, and +two malls for foot passengers, and all lined with trees in full foliage. +Here you catch a glimpse of the Morro, and there of the Presidio. This +is the Teatro de Tacón; and, in front of this line of tall houses, in +contrast with the almost uniform one-story buildings of the city, the +volante stops. This is Le Grand's hotel.</p> + +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: First Glimpses (2)</h4> + +<p>To a person unaccustomed to the tropics or the south of Europe, I know +of nothing more discouraging than the arrival at the inn or hotel. It is +nobody's business to attend to you. The landlord is strangely +indifferent, and if there is a way to get a thing done, you have not +learned it, and there is no one to teach you. Le Grand is a Frenchman. +His house is a restaurant, with rooms for lodgers. The restaurant is +paramount. The lodging is secondary, and is left to servants. Monsieur +does not condescend to show a room, even to families; and the servants, +who are whites, but mere lads, have all the interior in their charge, +and there are no women employed about the chambers. Antonio, a swarthy +Spanish lad, in shirt sleeves, looking very much as if he never washed, +has my part of the house in charge, and shows me my room. It has but one +window, a door opening upon the veranda, and a brick floor, and is very +bare of furniture, and the furniture has long ceased to be strong. A +small stand barely holds up a basin and ewer which have not been washed +since Antonio was washed, and the bedstead, covered by a canvas sacking, +without mattress or bed, looks as if it would hardly bear the weight of +a man. It is plain there is a good deal to be learned here. Antonio is +communicative, on a suggestion of several days' stay and good pay. +Things which we cannot do without, we must go out of the house to find, +and those which we can do without, we must dispense with. This is odd, +and strange, but not uninteresting, and affords scope for contrivance +and the exercise of influence and other administrative powers. The Grand +Seigneur does not mean to be troubled with anything; so there are no +bells, and no office, and no clerks. He is the only source, and if he is +approached, he shrugs his shoulders and gives you to understand that +you have your chambers for your money and must look to the servants. +Antonio starts off on an expedition for a pitcher of water and a towel, +with a faint hope of two towels; for each demand involves an expedition +to remote parts of the house. Then Antonio has so many rooms dependent +on him, that every door is a Scylla, and every window a Charybdis, as he +passes. A shrill, female voice, from the next room but one, calls +"Antonio! Antonio!" and that starts the parrot in the court yard, who +cries "Antonio! Antonio!" for several minutes. A deep, bass voice +mutters "Antonio!" in a more confidential tone; and last of all, an +unmistakably Northern voice attempts it, but ends in something between +Antonio and Anthony. He is gone a good while, and has evidently had +several episodes to his journey. But he is a good-natured fellow, speaks +a little French, very little English, and seems anxious to do his best.</p> + +<p>I see the faces of my New York fellow-passengers from the west gallery, +and we come together and throw our acquisitions of information into a +common stock, and help one another. Mr. Miller's servant, who has been +here before, says there are baths and other conveniences round the +corner of the street; and, sending our bundles of thin clothes there, we +take advantage of the baths, with comfort. To be sure, we must go +through a billiard-room, where the Creoles are playing at the tables, +and the cockroaches playing under them, and through a drinking-room, and +a bowling-alley; but the baths are built in the open yard, protected by +blinds, well ventilated, and well supplied with water and toilet +apparatus.</p> + +<p>With the comfort of a bath, and clothed in linen, with straw hats, we +walk back to Le Grand's, and enter the restaurant, for breakfast—the +breakfast of the country, at 10 o'clock. Here is a scene so pretty as +quite to make up for the defects of the chambers. The restaurant with +cool marble floor, walls twenty-four feet high, open rafters painted +blue, great windows open to the floor and looking into the Paseo, and +the floor nearly on a level with the street, a light breeze fanning the +thin curtains, the little tables, for two or four, with clean, white +cloths, each with its pyramid of great red oranges and its fragrant +bouquet—the gentlemen in white pantaloons and jackets and white +stockings, and the ladies in fly-away muslins, and hair in the sweet +neglect of the morning toilet, taking their leisurely breakfasts of +fruit and claret, and omelette and Spanish mixed dishes, (ollas,) and +café noir. How airy and ethereal it seems! They are birds, not +substantial men and women. They eat ambrosia and drink nectar. It must +be that they fly, and live in nests, in the tamarind trees. Who can eat +a hot, greasy breakfast of cakes and gravied meats, and in a close room, +after this?</p> + +<p>I can truly say that I ate, this morning, my first orange; for I had +never before eaten one newly gathered, which had ripened in the sun, +hanging on the tree. We call for the usual breakfast, leaving the +selection to the waiter; and he brings us fruits, claret, omelette, fish +fresh from the sea, rice excellently cooked, fried plantains, a mixed +dish of meat and vegetables (olla), and coffee. The fish, I do not +remember its name, is boiled, and has the colors of the rainbow, as it +lies on the plate. Havana is a good fishmarket; for it is as open to the +ocean as Nahant, or the beach at Newport; its streets running to the +blue sea, outside the harbor, so that a man may almost throw his line +from the curb-stone into the Gulf Stream.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, I take a volante and ride into the town, to deliver my +letters. Three merchants whom I call upon have palaces for their +business. The entrances are wide, the staircases almost as stately as +that of Stafford House, the floors of marble, the panels of porcelain +tiles, the rails of iron, and the rooms over twenty feet high, with open +rafters, the doors and windows colossal, the furniture rich and heavy; +and there sits the merchant or banker, in white pantaloons and thin +shoes and loose white coat and narrow necktie, smoking a succession of +cigars, surrounded by tropical luxuries and tropical protections. In the +lower story of one of these buildings is an exposition of silks, cotton +and linens, in a room so large that it looked like a part of the Great +Exhibition in Hyde Park. At one of these counting-palaces, I met Mr. +Theodore Parker and Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, who preceded me, in the +"Karnac." Mr. Parker is here for his health, which has caused anxiety to +his friends lest his weakened frame should no longer support the strong +intellectual machinery, as before. He finds Havana too hot, and will +leave for Santa Cruz by the first opportunity. Dr. Howe likes the warm +weather. It is a comfort to see him—a benefactor of his race, and one +of the few heroes we have left to us, since Kane died.</p> + +<p>The Bishop of Havana has been in delicate health, and is out of town, at +Jesús del Monte, and Miss M—— is not at home, and the Señoras F—— I +failed to see this morning; but I find a Boston young lady, whose +friends were desirous I should see her, and who was glad enough to meet +one so lately from her home. A clergyman to whom, also, I had letters, +is gone into the country, without much hope of improving his health. +Stepping into a little shop to buy a plan of Havana, my name is called, +and there is my hero's wife, the accomplished author and +conversationist, whom it is an exhilaration to meet anywhere, much more +in a land of strangers. Dr. and Mrs. Howe and Mr. Parker are at the +Cerro, a pretty and cool place in the suburbs, but are coming in to Mrs. +Almy's boarding-house, for the convenience of being in the city, and for +nearness to friends, and the comforts of something like American or +English housekeeping.</p> + +<p>In the latter part of the afternoon, from three o'clock, our parties are +taking dinner at Le Grand's. The little tables are again full, with a +fair complement of ladies. The afternoon breeze is so strong that the +draught of air, though it is hot air, is to be avoided. The passers-by +almost put their faces into the room, and the women and children of the +poorer order look wistfully in upon the luxurious guests, the colored +glasses, the red wines, and the golden fruits. The Opera troupe is here, +both the singers and the ballet; and we have Gazzaniga, Lamoureux, Max +Maretzek and his sister, and others, in this house, and Adelaide +Phillips at the next door, and the benefit of a rehearsal, at nearly all +hours of the day, of operas that the Habaneros are to rave over at +night.</p> + +<p>I yield to no one in my admiration of the Spanish as a spoken language, +whether in its rich, sonorous, musical, and lofty style, in the mouth of +a man who knows its uses, or in the soft, indolent, languid tones of a +woman, broken by an occasional birdlike trill—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr valign="top"><td align="left">"<i>With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;"><i>The melting voice through mazes running</i>"—</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="nind">but I do not like it as spoken by the common people of Cuba, in the +streets. Their voices and intonations are thin and eager, very rapid, +too much in the lips, and, withal, giving an impression of the +passionate and the childish combined; and it strikes me that the +tendency here is to enfeeble the language, and take from it the openness +of the vowels and the strength of the harder consonants. This is the +criticism of a few hours' observation, and may not be just; but I have +heard the same from persons who have been longer acquainted with it. +Among the well educated Cubans, the standard of Castilian is said to be +kept high, and there is a good deal of ambition to reach it.</p> + +<p>After dinner, walked along the Paseo de Isabel Segunda, to see the +pleasure-driving, which begins at about five o'clock, and lasts until +dark. The most common carriage is the volante, but there are some +carriages in the English style, with servants in livery on the box. I +have taken a fancy for the strange-looking two-horse volante. The +postilion, the long, dangling traces, the superfluousness of a horse to +be ridden by the man that guides the other, and the prodigality of +silver, give the whole a look of style that eclipses, the neat +appropriate English equipage. The ladies ride in full dress, +décolletées, without hats. The servants on the carriages are not all +Negroes. Many of the drivers are white. The drives are along the Paseo +de Isabel, across the Campo del Marte, and then along the Paseo de +Tacón, a beautiful double avenue, lined with trees, which leads two or +three miles, in a straight line, into the country.</p> + +<p>At 8 o'clock, drove to the Plaza de Armas, a square in front of the +governor's house, to hear the Retreta, at which a military band plays +for an hour, every evening. There is a clear moon above, and a blue +field of glittering stars; the air is pure and balmy; the band of fifty +or sixty instruments discourses most eloquent music under the shade of +palm trees and mangoes; the walks are filled with promenaders, and the +streets around the square lined with carriages, in which the ladies +recline, and receive the salutations and visits of the gentlemen. Very +few ladies walk in the square, and those probably are strangers. It is +against the etiquette for ladies to walk in public in Havana.</p> + +<p>I walk leisurely home, in order to see Havana by night. The evening is +the busiest season for the shops. Much of the business of shopping is +done after gas lighting. Volantes and coaches are driving to and fro, +and stopping at the shop doors, and attendants take their goods to the +doors of the carriages. The watchmen stand at the corners of the +streets, each carrying a long pike and a lantern. Billiard-rooms and +cafés are filled, and all who can walk for pleasure will walk now. This +is also the principal time for paying visits.</p> + +<p>There is one strange custom observed here in all the houses. In the +chief room, rows of chairs are placed, facing each other, three or four +or five in each line, and always running at right angles with the street +wall of the house. As you pass along the street, you look up this row of +chairs. In these, the family and the visitors take their seats, in +formal order. As the windows are open, deep, and large, with wide +gratings and no glass, one has the inspection of the interior +arrangement of all the front parlors of Havana, and can see what every +lady wears, and who is visiting her.</p> + +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Prisoners and Priests</h4> + +<p>If mosquito nets were invented for the purpose of shutting mosquitoes in +with you, they answer their purpose very well. The beds have no +mattresses, and you lie on the hard sacking. This favors coolness and +neatness. I should fear a mattress, in the economy of our hotel, at +least. Where there is nothing but an iron frame, canvas stretched over +it, and sheets and a blanket, you may know what you are dealing with.</p> + +<p>The clocks of the churches and castles strike the quarter hours, and at +each stroke the watchmen blow a kind of boatswain's whistle, and cry the +time and the state of the weather, which, from their name (serenos), +should be always pleasant.</p> + +<p>I have been advised to close the shutters at night, whatever the heat, +as the change of air that often takes place before dawn is injurious; +and I notice that many of the bedrooms in the hotel are closed, both +doors and shutters, at night. This is too much for my endurance, and I +venture to leave the air to its course, not being in the draught. One is +also cautioned not to step with bare feet on the floor, for fear of the +nigua (or chigua), a very small insect, that is said to enter the skin +and build tiny nests, and lay little eggs that can only be seen by the +microscope, but are tormenting and sometimes dangerous. This may be +excessive caution, but it is so easy to observe, that it is not worth +while to test the question.</p> + +<p>There are streaks of a clear dawn; it is nearly six o'clock, the cocks +are crowing, and the drums and trumpets sounding. We have been told of +sea-baths, cut in the rock, near the Punta, at the foot of our Paseo. I +walk down, under the trees, toward the Presidio. What is this clanking +sound? Can it be cavalry, marching on foot, their sabres rattling on +the pavement? No, it comes from that crowd of poor-looking creatures +that are forming in files in front of the Presidio. It is the +chain-gang! Poor wretches! I come nearer to them, and wait until they +are formed and numbered and marched off. Each man has an iron band +riveted round his ankle, and another round his waist, and the chain is +fastened, one end into each of these bands, and dangles between them, +clanking with every movement. This leaves the wearers free to use their +arms, and, indeed, their whole body, it being only a weight and a badge +and a note for discovery, from which they cannot rid themselves. It is +kept on them day and night, working, eating, or sleeping. In some cases, +two are chained together. They have passed their night in the Presidio +(the great prison and garrison), and are marshalled for their day's toil +in the public streets and on the public works, in the heat of the sun. +They look thoroughly wretched. Can any of these be political offenders? +It is said that Carlists, from Old Spain, worked in this gang. Sentence +to the chain-gang in summer, in the case of a foreigner, must be nearly +certain death.</p> + +<p>Farther on, between the Presidio and the Punta, the soldiers are +drilling; and the drummers and trumpeters are practising on the rampart +of the city walls.</p> + +<p>A little to the left, in the Calzada de San Lázaro, are the Baños de +Mar. These are boxes, each about twelve feet square and six or eight +feet deep, cut directly into the rock which here forms the sea-line, +with steps of rock, and each box having a couple of portholes through +which the waves of this tideless shore wash in and out. This arrangement +is necessary, as sharks are so abundant that bathing in the open sea is +dangerous. The pure rock, and the flow and reflow, make these +bathing-boxes very agreeable, and the water, which is that of the Gulf +Stream, is at a temperature of 72 degrees. The baths are roofed over, +and partially screened on the inside, but open for a view out, on the +side towards the sea; and as you bathe, you see the big ships floating +up the Gulf Stream, that great highway of the Equinoctial world. The +water stands at depths of from three to five feet in the baths; and they +are large enough for short swimming. The bottom is white with sand and +shells. These baths are made at the public expense, and are free. Some +are marked for women, some for men, and some "por la gente de color." A +little further down the Calzada, is another set of baths, and further +out in the suburbs, opposite the Beneficencia, are still others.</p> + +<p>After bath, took two or three fresh oranges, and a cup of coffee, +without milk; for the little milk one uses with coffee must not be taken +with fruit here, even in winter.</p> + +<p>To the Cathedral, at 8 o'clock, to hear mass. The Cathedral, in its +exterior, is a plain and quaint old structure, with a tower at each +angle of the front; but within, it is sumptuous. There is a floor of +variegated marble, obstructed by no seats or screens, tall pillars and +rich frescoed walls, and delicate masonry of various colored stone, the +prevailing tint being yellow, and a high altar of porphyry. There is a +look of the great days of Old Spain about it; and you think that knights +and nobles worshipped here and enriched it from their spoils and +conquests. Every new eye turns first to the place within the choir, +under that alto-relief, behind that short inscription, where, in the +wall of the chancel, rest the remains of Christopher Columbus. Borne +from Valladolid to Seville, from Seville to San Domingo, and from San +Domingo to Havana, they at last rest here, by the altar side, in the +emporium of the Spanish Islands. "What is man that thou art mindful of +him!" truly and humbly says the Psalmist; but what is man, indeed, if +his fellow men are not mindful of such a man as this! The creator of a +hemisphere! It is not often we feel that monuments are surely deserved, +in their degree and to the extent of their utterance. But when, in the +New World, on an island of that group which he gave to civilized man, +you stand before this simple monumental slab, and know that all of him +that man can gather up, lies behind it, so overpowering is the sense of +the greatness of his deeds, that you feel relieved that no attempt has +been made to measure it by any work of man's hands. The little there is, +is so inadequate, that you make no comparison. It is a mere +finger-point, the <i>hic jacet</i>, the <i>sic itur</i>.</p> + +<p>The priests in the chancel are numerous, perhaps twenty or more. The +service is chanted with no aid of instruments, except once the +accompaniment of a small and rather disordered organ, and chanted in +very loud and often harsh and blatant tones, which reverberate from the +marble walls, with a tiresome monotony of cadence. There is a degree of +ceremony in the placing, replacing, and carrying to and fro of candles +and crucifixes, and swinging of censers, which the Roman service as +practised in the United States does not give. The priests seem duly +attentive and reverent in their manner, but I cannot say as much for the +boys, of whom there were three or four, gentlemen-like looking lads, +from the college, doing service as altar boys. One of these, who seemed +to have the lead, was strikingly careless and irreverent in his manner; +and when he went about the chancel, to incense all who were there, and +to give to each the small golden vessel to kiss, (containing, I suppose +a relic), he seemed as if he were counting his playmates out for a game, +and flinging the censer at them and snubbing their noses with the golden +vessel.</p> + +<p>There were only about half a dozen persons at mass, beside those in the +chancel; and all but one of these were women, and of the women two were +Negroes. The women walk in, veiled, drop down on the bare pavement, +kneeling or sitting, as the service requires or permits. A Negro woman, +with devout and even distressed countenance, knelt at the altar rail, +and one pale-eyed priest, in cassock, who looked like an American or +Englishman, knelt close by a pillar. A file of visitors, American or +English women, with an escort of gentlemen, came in and sat on the only +benches, next the columns; and when the Host was elevated, and a priest +said to them, very civilly, in English, "Please to kneel down," they +neither knelt nor stood, nor went away, but kept their seats.</p> + +<p>After service, the old sacristan, in blue woollen dress, showed all the +visitors the little chapel and the cloisters, and took us beyond the +altar to the mural tomb of Columbus, and though he was liberally paid, +haggled for two reals more.</p> + +<p>In the rear of the Cathedral is the Seminario, or college for boys, +where also men are trained for the priesthood. There are cloisters and a +pleasant garden within them.</p> + +<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Olla Podrida</h4> + +<p>Breakfast, and again the cool marble floor, white-robed tables, the +fruits and flowers, and curtains gently swaying, and women in morning +toilets. Besides the openness to view, these rooms are strangely open to +ingress. Lottery-ticket vendors go the rounds of the tables at every +meal, and so do the girls with tambourines for alms for the music in the +street. As there is no coin in Cuba less than the medio, 6¼ cents, +the musicians get a good deal or nothing. The absence of any smaller +coin must be an inconvenience to the poor, as they must often buy more +than they want, or go without. I find silver very scarce here. It is +difficult to get change for gold, and at public places notices are put +up that gold will not be received for small payments. I find the only +course is to go to one of the Cambios de Moneda, whose signs are +frequent in the streets, and get a half doubloon changed into reals and +pesetas, at four per cent discount, and fill my pockets with small +silver.</p> + +<p>Spent the morning, from eleven o'clock to dinner-time, in my room, +writing and reading. It is too hot to be out with comfort. It is not +such a morning as one would spend at the St. Nicholas, or the Tremont, +or at Morley's or Meurice's. The rooms all open into the court-yard, and +the doors and windows, if open at all, are open to the view of all +passers-by. As there are no bells, every call is made from the veranda +rail, down into the court-yard, and repeated until the servant answers, +or the caller gives up in despair. Antonio has a compeer and rival in +Domingo, and the sharp voice of the woman in the next room but one, who +proves to be a subordinate of the opera troupe, is calling +out,"Do-meen-go! Do-meen-go!" and the rogue is in full sight from our +side, making significant faces, until she changes her tune to "Antonio! +Antonio! adónde está Domingo?" But as she speaks very little Spanish, +and Antonio very little French, it is not difficult for him to get up a +misapprehension, especially at the distance of two stories; and she is +obliged to subside for a while, and her place is supplied by the parrot. +She is usually unsuccessful, being either unreasonable, or bad pay. The +opera troupe are rehearsing in the second flight, with doors and windows +open. And throughout the hot middle day, we hear the singing, the piano, +the parrot, and the calls and parleys with the servants below. But we +can see the illimitable sea from the end of the piazza, blue as indigo; +and the strange city is lying under our eye, with its strange blue and +white and yellow houses, with their roofs of dull red tiles, its strange +tropical shade-trees, and its strange vehicles and motley population, +and the clangor of its bells, and the high-pitched cries of the vendors +in its streets.</p> + +<p>Going down stairs at about eleven o'clock, I find a table set in the +front hall, at the foot of the great staircase, and there, in full view +of all who come or go, the landlord and his entire establishment, except +the slaves and coolies, are at breakfast. This is done every day. At the +café round the corner, the family with their white, hired servants, +breakfast and dine in the hall, through which all the customers of the +place must go to the baths, the billiard rooms, and the bowling-alleys. +Fancy the manager of the Astor or Revere, spreading a table for +breakfast and dinner in the great entry, between the office and the +front door, for himself and family and servants!</p> + +<p>Yesterday and to-day I noticed in the streets and at work in houses, men +of an Indian complexion, with coarse black hair. I asked if they were +native Indians, or of mixed blood. No, they are the coolies! Their hair, +full grown, and the usual dress of the country which they wore, had not +suggested to me the Chinese; but the shape and expression of the eye +make it plain. These are the victims of the trade, of which we hear so +much. I am told there are 200,000 of them in Cuba, or, that so many have +been imported, and all within seven years. I have met them everywhere, +the newly-arrived, in Chinese costume, with shaved heads, but the +greater number in pantaloons and jackets and straw hats, with hair full +grown. Two of the cooks at our hotel are coolies. I must inform myself +on the subject of this strange development of the domination of capital +over labor. I am told there is a mart of coolies in the Cerro. This I +must see, if it is to be seen.</p> + +<p>After dinner drove out to the Jesús del Monte, to deliver my letter of +introduction to the Bishop. The drive, by way of the Calzada de Jesús +del Monte, takes one through a wretched portion, I hope the most +wretched portion, of Havana, by long lines of one story wood and mud +hovels, hardly habitable even for Negroes, and interspersed with an +abundance of drinking shops. The horses, mules, asses, chickens, +children, and grown people use the same door; and the back yards +disclose heaps of rubbish. The looks of the men, the horses tied to the +door-posts, the mules with their panniers of fruits and leaves reaching +to the ground, all speak of Gil Blas, and of what we have read of humble +life in Spain. The little Negro children go stark naked, as innocent of +clothing as the puppies. But this is so all over the city. In the front +hall of Le Grand's, this morning, a lady, standing in a full dress of +spotless white, held by the hand a naked little Negro boy, of two or +three years old, nestling in black relief against the folds of her +dress.</p> + +<p>Now we rise to the higher grounds of Jesús del Monte. The houses improve +in character. They are still of one story, but high and of stone, with +marble floors and tiled roofs, with court-yards of grass and trees, and +through the gratings of the wide, long, open windows, I see the decent +furniture, the double, formal row of chairs, prints on the walls, and +well-dressed women maneuvering their fans.</p> + +<p>As a carriage with a pair of cream-colored horses passed, having two men +within, in the dress of ecclesiastics, my driver pulled up and said that +was the Bishop's carriage, and that he was going out for an evening +drive. Still, I must go on; and we drive to his house. As you go up the +hill, a glorious view lies upon the left. Havana, both city and suburbs, +the Morro with its batteries and lighthouse, the ridge of fortifications +called the Cabaña and Casa Blanca, the Castle of Atares, near at hand, a +perfect truncated cone, fortified at the top—the higher and most +distant Castle of Príncipe,</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr valign="top"><td align="left">"<i>And, poured round all,</i></td></tr> +<tr valign="top"><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;"><i>Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste</i>"—</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>No! Not so! Young Ocean, the Ocean of to-day! The blue, bright, +healthful, glittering, gladdening, inspiring Ocean! Have I ever seen a +city view so grand? The view of Quebec from the foot of the Montmorenci +Falls, may rival, but does not excel it. My preference is for this; for +nothing, not even the St. Lawrence, broad and affluent as it is, will +make up for the living sea, the boundless horizon, the dioramic vision +of gliding, distant sails, and the open arms and motherly bosom of the +harbor, "with handmaid lamp attending":—our Mother Earth, forgetting +never the perils of that gay and treacherous world of waters, its change +of moods, its "strumpet winds"—ready is she at all times, by day or by +night, to fold back to her bosom her returning sons, knowing that the +sea can give them no drink, no food, no path, no light, nor bear up +their foot for an instant, if they are sinking in its depths.</p> + +<p>The regular episcopal residence is in town. This is only a house which +the Bishop occupies temporarily, for the sake of his health. It is a +modest house of one story, standing very high, with a commanding view of +city, harbor, sea, and suburbs. The floors are marble, and the roof is +of open rafters, painted blue, and above twenty feet in height; the +windows are as large as doors, and the doors as large as gates. The +mayordomo shows me the parlor, in which are portraits in oil of +distinguished scholars and missionaries and martyrs.</p> + +<p>On my way back to the city, I direct the driver to avoid the +disagreeable road by which we came out, and we drive by a cross road, +and strike the Paseo de Tacón at its outer end, where is a fountain and +statue, and a public garden of the most exquisite flowers, shrubs, and +trees, and around them are standing, though it is nearly dark, files of +carriages waiting for the promenaders, who are enjoying a walk in the +garden. I am able to take the entire drive of the Paseo. It is straight, +very wide, with two carriageways and two footways, with rows of trees +between, and at three points has a statue and a fountain. One of these +statues, if I recollect aright, is of Tacón; one of a Queen of Spain; +and one is an allegorical figure. The Paseo is two or three miles in +length; reaching from the Campo de Marte, just outside the walls, to the +last statue and public garden, on gradually ascending ground, and lined +with beautiful villas, and rich gardens full of tropical trees and +plants. No city in America has such an avenue as the Paseo de Tacón. +This, like most of the glories of Havana, they tell you they owe to the +energy and genius of the man whose name it bears.—I must guard myself, +by the way, while here, against using the words America and American, +when I mean the United States and the people of our Republic; for this +is America also; and they here use the word America as including the +entire continent and islands, and distinguish between Spanish and +English America, the islands and the main.</p> + +<p>The Cubans have a taste for prodigality in grandiloquent or pretty +names. Every shop, the most humble, has its name. They name the shops +after the sun and moon and stars; after gods and goddesses, demi-gods +and heroes; after fruits and flowers, gems and precious stones; after +favorite names of women, with pretty, fanciful additions; and after all +alluring qualities, all delights of the senses, and all pleasing +affections of the mind. The wards of jails and hospitals are each known +by some religious or patriotic designation; and twelve guns in the Morro +are named for the Apostles. Every town has the name of an apostle or +saint, or of some sacred subject. The full name of Havana, in honor of +Columbus, is San Cristóbal de la Habana; and that of Matanzas is San +Carlos Alcázar de Matanzas. It is strange that the island itself has +defied all the Spanish attempts to name it. It has been solemnly named +Juana, after the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; then Ferdinandina, +after Ferdinand himself; then Santiago, and, lastly, Ave María; but it +has always fallen back upon the original Indian name of Cuba. And the +only compensation to the hyperbolical taste of the race is that they +decorate it, on state and ceremonious occasions, with the musical prefix +of "La siempre fidelísima Isla de Cuba."</p> + +<p>At 7.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> went with my New York fellow-passengers to hear an opera, +or, more correctly, to see the people of Havana at an opera. The Teatro +de Tacón is closed for repairs. This is unfortunate, as it is said by +some to be the finest theater, and by all to be one of the three finest +theaters in the world. This, too, is attributed to Tacón; although it is +said to have been a speculation of a clever pirate turned fish-dealer, +who made a fortune by it. But I like well enough the Teatro de +Villanueva. The stage is deep and wide, the pit high and comfortable, +and the boxes light and airy and open in front, with only a light +tracery of iron to support the rails, leaving you a full view of the +costumes of the ladies, even to their slippers. The boxes are also +separated from the passage-ways in the rear, only by wide lattice work; +so that the promenaders between the acts can see the entire contents of +the boxes at one view; and the ladies dress and sit and talk and use the +fan with a full sense that they are under the inspection of a "committee +of the whole house." They are all in full dress, décolletées, without +hats. It seemed, to my fancy, that the mature women were divisible into +two classes, distinctly marked and with few intermediates—the obese and +the shrivelled. I suspect that the effect of time in this climate is to +produce a decided result in the one direction or the other. But a single +night's view at an opera is very imperfect material for an induction, I +admit. The young ladies had, generally, full figures, with tapering +fingers and well-rounded arms; yet there were some in the extreme +contrast of sallow, bilious, sharp countenances, with glassy eyes. There +is evidently great attention to manner, to the mode of sitting and +moving, to the music of the voice in speaking, the use of the hands and +arms, and, perhaps it may be ungallant to add, of the eyes.</p> + +<p>The Governor-General, Concha (whose title is, strictly, +Capitan-General), with his wife and two daughters, and two +aides-de-camp, is in the Vice-regal box, hung with red curtains, and +surmounted by the royal arms. I can form no opinion of him from his +physiognomy, as that is rather heavy, and gives not much indication.</p> + +<p>Between the acts, I make, as all the gentlemen do, the promenade of the +house. All parts of it are respectable, and the regulations are good. I +notice one curious custom, which I am told prevails in all Spanish +theaters. As no women sit in the pit, and the boxes are often hired for +the season, and are high-priced, a portion of an upper tier is set apart +for those women and children who cannot or do not choose to get seats in +the boxes. Their quarter is separated from the rest of the house by +gates, and is attended by two or three old women, with a man to guard +the entrance. No men are admitted among them, and their parents, +brothers, cousins and beaux are allowed only to come to the door, and +must send in refreshments, and even a cup of water, by the hands of the +dueñas.</p> + +<p>Military, on duty, abound at the doors and in the passage-ways. The men +to-night are of the regiment of Guards, dressed in white. There are +enough of them to put down a small insurrection, on the spot. The +singers screamed well enough, and the play was a poor one, "María de +Rohan," but the prima donna, Gazzaniga, is a favorite, and the excitable +Cubans shout and scream, and throw bouquets, and jump on the benches, +and, at last, present her with a crown, wreathed with flowers, and with +jewels of value attached to it. Miss Adelaide Phillips is here, too, and +a favorite, and has been crowned, they say; but she does not sing +to-night.</p> + +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: A Social Sunday</h4> + +<p>To-morrow, I am to go, at eight o'clock either to the church of San +Domingo, to hear the military mass, or to the Jesuit church of Belén; +for the service of my own church is not publicly celebrated, even at the +British consulate, no service but the Roman Catholic being tolerated on +the island.</p> + +<p>To-night there is a public máscara (mask ball) at the great hall, next +door to Le Grand's. My only window is by the side of the numerous +windows of the great hall, and all these are wide open; and I should be +stifled if I were to close mine. The music is loud and violent, from a +very large band, with kettle drums and bass drums and trumpets; and +because these do not make noise and uproar enough, leather bands are +snapped, at the turns in the tunes. For sleeping, I might as well have +been stretched on the bass drum. This tumult of noises, and the heat are +wearing and oppressive beyond endurance, as it draws on past midnight, +to the small hours; and the servants in the court of the hall seem to be +tending at tables of quarrelling men, and to be interminably washing and +breaking dishes. After several feverish hours, I light a match and look +at my watch. It is nearly five o'clock in the morning. There is an hour +to daylight—and will this noise stop before then? The city clocks +struck five; the music ceased; and the bells of the convents and +monasteries tolled their matins, to call the nuns and monks to their +prayers and to the bedsides of the sick and dying in the hospitals, as +the maskers go home from their revels at this hideous hour of Sunday +morning. The servants ceased their noises, the cocks began to crow and +the bells to chime, the trumpets began to bray, and the cries of the +streets broke in before dawn, and I dropped asleep just as I was +thinking sleep past hoping for; when I am awakened by a knocking at the +door, and Antonio calling, "Usted! Usted! Un caballero quiere ver á +Usted!" to find it half-past nine, the middle of the forenoon, and an +ecclesiastic in black dress and shovel hat, waiting in the passage-way, +with a message from the bishop.</p> + +<p>His Excellency regrets not having seen me the day before, and invites me +to dinner at three o'clock, to meet three or four gentlemen, an +invitation which I accept with pleasure.</p> + +<p>I am too late for the mass, or any other religious service, as all the +churches close at ten o'clock. A tepid, soothing bath, at "Los baños +públicos," round the corner, and I spend the morning in my chamber. As +we are at breakfast, the troops pass by the Paseo, from the mass +service. Their gait is quick and easy, with swinging arms, after the +French fashion. Their dress is seersucker, with straw hats and red +cockades: the regiments being distinguished by the color of the cloth on +the cuffs of the coat, some being yellow, some green, and some blue.</p> + +<p>Soon after two o'clock, I take a carriage for the bishop's. On my way +out I see that the streets are full of Spanish sailors from the +men-of-war, ashore for a holiday, dressed in the style of English +sailors, with wide duck trousers, blue jackets, and straw hats, with the +name of their ship on the front of the hat. All business is going on as +usual, and laborers are at work in the streets and on the houses.</p> + +<p>The company consists of the bishop himself, the Bishop of Puebla de los +Ángeles in Mexico, Father Yuch, the rector of the Jesuit College, who +has a high reputation as a man of intellect, and two young +ecclesiastics. Our dinner is well cooked, and in the Spanish style, +consisting of fish, vegetables, fruits, and of stewed light dishes, made +up of vegetables, fowls and other meats, a style of cooking well adapted +to a climate in which one is very willing to dispense with the solid, +heavy cuts of an English dinner.</p> + +<p>The Bishop of Puebla wore the purple, the Bishop of Havana a black robe +with a broad cape, lined with red, and each wore the Episcopal cross and +ring. The others were in simple black cassocks. The conversation was in +French; for, to my surprise, none of the company could speak English; +and being allowed my election between French and Spanish, I chose the +former, as the lighter infliction on my associates.</p> + +<p>I am surprised to see what an impression is made on all classes in this +country by the pending "Thirty Millions Bill" of Mr. Slidell. It is +known to be an Administration measure, and is thought to be the first +step in a series which is to end in an attempt to seize the island. Our +steamer brought oral intelligence that it had passed the Senate, and it +was so announced in the Diario of the day after our arrival, although no +newspaper that we brought so stated it. Not only with these clergymen, +but with the merchants and others whom I have met since our arrival, +foreigners as well as Cubans, this is the absorbing topic. Their future +seems to be hanging in doubt, depending on the action of our government, +which is thought to have a settled purpose to acquire the island. I +suggested that it had not passed the Senate, and would not pass the +House; and, at most, was only an authority to the President to make an +offer that would certainly be refused. But they looked beyond the form +of the act, and regarded it as the first move in a plan, of which, +although they could not entirely know the details, they thought they +understood the motive.</p> + +<p>These clergymen were well informed as to the state of religion in the +United States, the relative numbers and force of the various +denominations, and their doctrinal differences; the reputations of +Brownson, Parker, Beecher, and others; and most minutely acquainted with +the condition of their own church in the United States, and with the +chief of its clergy. This acquaintance is not attributable solely to +their unity of organization, and to the consequent interchange of +communication, but largely also to the tie of a common education at the +Propaganda or St. Sulpice, the catalogues of whose alumni are familiar +to the educated Catholic clergy throughout the world.</p> + +<p>The subject of slavery, and the condition and prospects of the Negro +race in Cuba, the probable results of the coolie system, and the +relations between Church and State in Cuba, and the manner in which +Sunday is treated in Havana, the public school system in America, the +fate of Mormonism, and how our government will treat it, were freely +discussed. It is not because I have any reason to suppose that these +gentlemen would object to all they said being printed in these pages, +and read by all who may choose to read it in Cuba, or the United States, +that I do not report their interesting and instructive conversation; but +because it would be, in my opinion, a violation of the universal +understanding among gentlemen.</p> + +<p>After dinner, we walked on the piazza, with the noble sunset view of the +unsurpassed panorama lying before us; and I took my leave of my host, a +kind and courteous gentleman of Old Spain, as well as a prelate, just as +a few lights were beginning to sprinkle over the fading city, and the +Morro Light to gleam on the untroubled air.</p> + +<p>Made two visits in the city this evening. In each house, I found the +double row of chairs, facing each other, always with about four or five +feet of space between the rows. The etiquette is that the gentlemen sit +on the row opposite to the ladies, if there be but two or three present. +If a lady, on entering goes to the side of a gentleman, when the other +row is open to her, it indicates either familiar acquaintance or +boldness. There is no people so observant of outguards, as the Spanish +race.</p> + +<p>I notice, and my observation is supported by what I am told by the +residents here, that there is no street-walking, in the technical sense, +in Havana. Whether this is from the fact that no ladies walk in the +streets—which are too narrow for comfortable or even safe walking—or +by reason of police regulations, I do not know. From what one meets with +in the streets, if he does not look farther, one would not know that +there was a vice in Havana, not even drunkenness.</p> + +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Belén and the Jesuits</h4> + +<p>Rose before six, and walked as usual, down the Paseo, to the sea baths. +How refreshing is this bath, after the hot night and close rooms! At +your side, the wide blue sea with its distant sails, the bath cut into +the clean rock, the gentle washing in and out of the tideless sea, at +the Gulf Stream temperature, in the cool of the morning! As I pass down, +I meet a file of coolies, in Chinese costume, marching, under overseers, +to their work or their jail. And there is the chain-gang! clank, clank, +as they go headed by officers with pistols and swords, and flanked by +drivers with whips. This is simple wretchedness!</p> + +<p>While at breakfast, a gentleman in the dress of the regular clergy, +speaking English, called upon me, bringing me, from the bishop an open +letter of introduction and admission to all the religious, charitable, +and educational institutions of the city, and offering to conduct me to +the Belén (Bethlehem). He is Father B. of Charleston, S. C. temporarily +in Havana, with whom I find I have some acquaintances in common, both in +America and abroad. We drive together to the Belén. I say drive; for few +persons walk far in Havana, after ten o'clock in the morning. The +volantes are the public carriages of Havana; and are as abundant as cabs +in London. You never need stand long at a street door without finding +one. The postilions are always Negroes; and I am told that they pay the +owner a certain sum per day for the horse and volante, and make what +they can above that.</p> + +<p>The Belén is a group of buildings, of the usual yellow or tawny color, +covering a good deal of ground, and of a thoroughly monastic character. +It was first a Franciscan monastery, then a barrack, and now has been +given by the government to the Jesuits. The company of Jesus here is +composed of a rector and about forty clerical and twenty lay brethren. +These perform every office, from the highest scientific investigations +and instruction, down to the lowest menial offices, in the care of the +children; some serving in costly vestments at the high altar, and others +in coarse black garb at the gates. It is only three years since they +established themselves in Havana, but in that time they have formed a +school of two hundred boarders and one hundred day scholars, built +dormitories for the boarders, and a common hall, restored the church and +made it the most fully attended in the city; established a missionary +work in all parts of the town, recalled a great number to the discipline +of the Church, and not only created something like an enthusiasm of +devotion among the women, who are said to have monopolized the religion +of Cuba in times past, but have introduced among the men, and among many +influential men, the practices of confession and communion, to which +they had been almost entirely strangers. I do not take this account from +the Jesuits themselves, but from the regular clergy of other orders, and +from Protestants who are opposed to them and their influence. All agree +that they are at work with zeal and success.</p> + +<p>I met my distinguished acquaintance of yesterday, the rector, who took +me to the boys' chapel, and introduced me to Father Antonio Cabre, a +very young man of a spare frame and intellectual countenance, with hands +so white and so thin, and eyes so bright, and cheek so pale! He is at +the head of the department of mathematics and astronomy, and looks +indeed as if he had outwatched the stars, in vigils of science or of +devotion. He took me to his laboratory, his observatory, and his +apparatus of philosophic instruments. These I am told are according to +the latest inventions, and in the best style of French and German +workmanship. I was also shown a collection of coins and medals, a +cabinet of shells, the commencement of a museum of natural history, +already enriched with most of the birds of Cuba, and an interesting +cabinet of the woods of the island, in small blocks, each piece being +polished on one side, and rough on the other. Among the woods were the +mahoganies, the iron-wood, the ebony, the lignum vitæ, the cedar, and +many others, of names unfamiliar to me, which admit of the most +exquisite polish. Some of the most curious were from the Isla de Pinos, +an island belonging to Cuba, and on its southern shore.</p> + +<p>The sleeping arrangement for the boys here seemed to me to be new, and +to be well adapted to the climate. There is a large hall, with a roof +about thirty feet from the floor, and windows near the top, to give +light and ventilation above, and small portholes, near the ground, to +let air into the passages. In this hall are double rows of compartments, +like high pews, or, more profanely, like the large boxes in restaurants +and chop-houses, open at the top, with curtains instead of doors, and +each large enough to contain a single bed, a chair, and a toilet table. +This ensures both privacy and the light and air of the great hall. The +bedsteads are of iron; and nothing can exceed the neatness and order of +the apartments. The boys' clothes are kept in another part of the house, +and they take to their dormitories only the clothes that they are using. +Each boy sleeps alone. Several of the Fathers sleep in the hall, in +curtained rooms at the ends of the passage-ways, and a watchman walks +the rounds all night, to guard against fire, and to give notice of +sickness.</p> + +<p>The boys have a playground, a gymnasium, and a riding-school. But +although they like riding and fencing, they do not take to the robust +exercises and sports of English schoolboys. An American whom I met here, +who had spent several months at the school, told me that in their +recreations they were more like girls, and like to sit a good deal, +playing or working with their hands. He pointed out to me a boy, the son +of an American mother, a lady to whom I brought letters and kind wishes +from her many friends at the North, and told me that he had more pluck +than any boy in the school.</p> + +<p>The roof of the Belén is flat, and gives a pleasant promenade, in the +open air, after the sun is gone down, which is much needed, as the +buildings are in the dense part of the city.</p> + +<p>The brethren of this order wear short hair, with the tonsure, and dress +in coarse cassocks of plain black, coming to the feet, and buttoned +close to the neck, with a cape, but with no white of collar above; and +in these, they sweep like black spectres, about the passage-ways, and +across the halls and court-yards. There are so many of them that they +are able to give thorough and minute attention to the boys, not only in +instruction, both secular and religious, but in their entire training +and development.</p> + +<p>From the scholastic part of the institution, I passed to the church. It +is not very large, has an open marble floor, a gallery newly erected for +the use of the brethren and other men, a sumptuous high altar, a +sacristy and vestry behind, and a small altar, by which burned the +undying lamp, indicating the presence of the Sacrament. In the vestry, I +was shown the vestments for the service of the high altar, some of which +are costly and gorgeous in the extreme, not probably exceeded by those +of the Temple at Jerusalem in the palmiest days of the Jewish hierarchy. +All are presents from wealthy devotees. One, an alb, had a circle of +precious stones; and the lace alone on another, a present from a lady of +rank, is said to have cost three thousand dollars. Whatever may be +thought of the rightfulness of this expenditure, turning upon the old +question as to which the alabaster box of ointment and the ordained +costliness of the Jewish ritual "must give us pause," it cannot be said +of the Jesuits that they live in cedar, while the ark of God rests in +curtains; for the actual life of the streets hardly presents any greater +contrast, than that between the sumptuousness of their apparel at the +altar, and the coarseness and cheapness of their ordinary dress, the +bareness of their rooms, and the apparent severity of their life.</p> + +<p>The Cubans have a childish taste for excessive decoration. Their altars +look like toyshops. A priest, not a Cuban, told me that he went to the +high altar of the cathedral once, on a Christmas day, to officiate, and +when his eye fell on the childish and almost profane attempts at +symbolism—a kind of doll millinery, if he had not got so far that he +could not retire without scandal, he would have left the duties of the +day to others. At the Belén there is less of this; but the Jesuits find +or think it necessary to conform a good deal to the popular taste.</p> + +<p>In the sacristy, near the side altar, is a distressing image of the +Virgin, not in youth, but the mother of the mature man, with a sword +pierced through her heart—referring to the figurative prediction "a +sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." The handle and a part +of the blade remain without, while the marks of the deep wound are seen, +and the countenance expresses the sorest agony of mind and body. It is +painful, and beyond all legitimate scope of art, and haunts one, like a +vision of actual misery. It is almost the only thing in the church of +which I have brought away a distinct image in my memory.</p> + +<p>A strange, eventful history is that of the Society of Jesus! Ignatius +Loyola, a soldier and noble of Spain, renouncing arms and knighthood, +hangs his trophies of war upon the altar of Monserrate. After intense +studies and barefoot pilgrimages, persecuted by religious orders whose +excesses he sought to restrain, and frowned upon by the Inquisition, he +organizes, with Xavier and Faber, at Montmartre, a society of three. +From this small beginning, spreading upwards and outwards, it +overshadows the earth. Now, at the top of success, it is supposed to +control half Christendom. Now, his order proscribed by State and Church +alike and suppressed by the Pope himself, there is not a spot of earth +in Catholic Christendom where the Jesuit can place the sole of his foot. +In this hour of distress, he finds refuge in Russia, and in Protestant +Prussia. Then, restored and tolerated, the order revives here and there +in Europe, with a fitful life; and, at length, blazes out into a glory +of missionary triumphs and martyrdoms in China, in India, in Africa, and +in North America; and now, in these later days, we see it advancing +everywhere to a new epoch of labor and influence. Thorough in education, +perfect in discipline, absolute in obedience—as yielding, as +indestructible, as all-pervading as water or as air!</p> + +<p>The Jesuits make strong friends and strong enemies. Many, who are +neither the one nor the other, say of them that their ethics are +artificial, and their system unnatural; that they do not reform nature, +but destroy it; that, aiming to use the world without abusing it, they +reduce it to subjection and tutelage; that they are always either in +dangerous power, or in disgrace; and although they may labor with more +enthusiasm and self-consecration than any other order, and meet with +astonishing successes for a time, yet such is the character of their +system that these successes are never permanent, but result in +opposition, not only from Protestants, and moderate Catholics, and from +the civil power, but from other religious orders and from the regular +clergy in their own Church, an opposition to which they are invariably +compelled to yield, at last. In fine, they declare, that, allowing them +all zeal, and all ability, and all devotedness, their system is too +severe and too unnatural for permanent usefulness anywhere—medicine and +not food, lightning and not light, flame and not warmth.</p> + +<p>Not satisfied with this moderated judgment, their opponents have met +them, always and everywhere, with uniform and vehement reprobation. They +say to them—the opinion of mankind has condemned you! The just and +irreversible sentence of time has made you a by-word and a hissing, and +reduced your very name, the most sacred in its origin, to a synonym for +ambition and deceit!</p> + +<p>Others, again, esteem them the nearest approach in modern times to that +type of men portrayed by one of the chiefest, in his epistle: "In much +patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in +imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by +pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering; ... by honor and dishonor; by +evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true; as unknown, and +yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not +killed; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many +rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."</p> + +<h3><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h3> + +<h4>MATANZAS</h4> + +<p>As there are no plantations to be seen near Havana, I determine to go +down to Matanzas, near which the sugar plantations are in full tide of +operation at this season. A steamer leaves here every night at ten +o'clock, reaching Matanzas before daylight, the distance by sea being +between fifty and sixty miles.</p> + +<p>Took this steamer to-night. She got under way punctually at ten o'clock, +and steamed down the harbor. The dark waters are alive with +phosphorescent light. From each ship that lies moored, the cable from +the bows, tautened to its anchor, makes a run of silver light. Each +boat, gliding silently from ship to ship, and shore to shore, turns up a +silver ripple at its stem, and trails a wake of silver behind; while the +dip of the oar-blades brings up liquid silver, dripping, from the opaque +deep. We pass along the side of the two-decker, and see through her +ports the lanterns and men; under the stern of one frigate, and across +the bows of another (for Havana is well supplied with men-of-war); and +drop leisurely down by the Cabaña, where we are hailed from the rocks; +and bend round the Morro, and are out on the salt, rolling sea. Having a +day of work before me, I went early to my berth, and was waked up by the +letting off of steam, in the lower harbor of Matanzas, at three o'clock +in the morning. My fellow-passengers, who sat up, said the little +steamer tore and plunged, and jumped through the water like a thing that +had lost its wits. They seemed to think that the Cuban engineer had got +a machine that would some day run away with him. It was, certainly, a +very short passage.</p> + +<p>We passed a good many vessels lying at anchor in the lower harbor of +Matanzas, and came to anchor about a mile from the pier. It was clear, +bright moonlight. The small boats came off to us, and took us and our +luggage ashore. I was landed alone on a quay, carpet-bag in hand, and +had to guess my way to the inn, which was near the water-side. I beat on +the big, close-barred door; and a sleepy Negro, in time, opened it. Mine +host was up, expecting passengers, and after waiting on the very tardy +movements of the Negro, who made a separate journey to the yard for each +thing the room needed, I got to bed by four o'clock, on the usual piece +of canvas stretched over an iron frame, in a room having a brick floor, +and windows without glass closed with big-bolted shutters.</p> + +<p>After coffee, walked out to deliver my letters to Mr.——, an American +merchant, who has married the daughter of a planter, a gentleman of +wealth and character. He is much more agreeable and painstaking than we +have any right to expect of one who is served so frequently with notice +that his attentions are desired for the entertainment of a stranger. +Knowing that it is my wish to visit a plantation, he gives me a letter +to Don Juan Chartrand, who has an ingenio (sugar plantation), called La +Ariadne, near Limonar, and about twenty-five miles back in the country +from Matanzas. The train leaves at 2.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, which gives me several +hours for the city.</p> + +<p>Although it is not yet nine o'clock, it is very hot, and one is glad to +keep on the shady side of the broad streets of Matanzas. This city was +built later and more under foreign direction than Havana, and I have +been told, not by persons here however, that for many years the +controlling influences of society were French, English, and American; +but that lately the policy of the government has been to discourage +foreign influence, and now Spanish customs prevail—bull-fights have +been introduced, and other usages and entertainments which had had no +place here before. Whatever may be the reason, this city differs from +Havana in buildings, vehicles, and dress, and in the width of its +streets, and has less of the peculiar air of a tropical city. It has +about 25,000 inhabitants, and stands where two small rivers, the Yumurí +and the San Juan, crossed by handsome stone bridges, run into the sea, +dividing the city into three parts. The vessels lie at anchor from one +to three miles below the city, and lighters, with masts and sails, line +the stone quays of the little rivers. The city is flat and hot, but the +country around is picturesque, hilly, and fertile. To the westward of +the town, rises a ridge, bordering on the sea, called the Cumbre, which +is a place of resort for the beauty of its views; and in front of the +Cumbre, on the inland side, is the deep rich valley of the Yumurí, with +its celebrated cavern. These I must see, if I can, on my return from the +plantation.</p> + +<p>In my morning walk, I see a company of coolies, in the hot sun, carrying +stones to build a house, under the eye of a taskmaster who sits in the +shade. The stones have been dropped in a pile, from carts, and the +coolies, carry them, in files, to the cellar of the house. They are +naked to the waist, with short-legged cotton trousers coming to the +knees. Some of these men were strongly, one or two of them powerfully +built, but many seemed very thin and frail. While looking on, I saw an +evident American face near me, and getting into conversation with the +man, found him an intelligent shipmaster from New York, who had lived in +Matanzas for a year or two, engaged in business. He told me, as I had +heard in Havana, that the importer of the coolies gets $400 a head for +them from the purchaser, and that the coolies are entitled from the +purchaser to four dollars a month, which they may demand monthly if they +choose, and are bound to eight years' service, during which time they +may be held to all the service that a slave is subject to. They are more +intelligent, and are put to higher labor than the Negro. He said, too, +it would not do to flog a coolie. Idolaters as they are, they have a +notion of the dignity of the human body, at least as against strangers, +which does not allow them to submit to the indignity of corporal +chastisement. If a coolie is flogged, somebody must die; either the +coolie himself, for they are fearfully given to suicide, or the +perpetrator of the indignity, or some one else, according to their +strange principles of vicarious punishment. Yet such is the value of +labor in Cuba, that a citizen will give $400, in cash, for the chance of +enforcing eight years' labor, at $4 per month, from a man speaking a +strange language, worshipping strange gods or none, thinking suicide a +virtue, and governed by no moral laws in common with his master—his +value being yet further diminished by the chances of natural death, of +sickness, accident, escape, and of forfeiting his services to the +government, for any crime he may commit against laws he does not +understand.</p> + +<p>The Plaza is in the usual style—an enclosed garden, with walks; and in +front is the Government House. In this spot, so fair and so still in the +noonday sun, some fourteen years ago, under the fire of the platoons of +Spanish soldiers, fell the patriot and poet, one of the few popular +poets of Cuba, Gabriel de la Concepción Valdez. Charged with being the +head of that concerted movement of the slaves for their freedom which +struck such terror into Cuba, in 1844, he was convicted and ordered to +be shot. At the first volley, as the story is told, he was only wounded. +"Aim here!" said he, pointing to his head. Another volley, and it was +all over.</p> + +<p>The name and story of Gabriel de la Concepción Valdez are preserved by +the historians and tourists of Cuba. He is best known, however, by the +name of Placido, that under which he wrote and published, than by his +proper name. He was a man of genius and a man of valor, but—he was a +mulatto!</p> + +<h3><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h3> + +<h4>TO LIMONAR BY TRAIN</h4> + +<p>Took the train for Limonar, at 2.30 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span> There are three classes of +cars, all after the American model, the first of about the condition of +our first-class cars when on the point of being condemned as worn out; +the second, a little plainer; and the third, only covered wagons with +benches. The car I entered had "Davenport & Co., makers, Cambridgeport, +Mass.," familiarly on its front, and the next had "Eaton, Gilbert & Co., +Troy, N. York." The brakemen on the train are coolies, one of them a +handsome lad, with coarse, black hair, that lay gracefully about his +head, and eyes handsome, though of the Chinese pattern. They were all +dressed in the common shirt, trousers and hat, and, but for their eyes, +might be taken for men of any of the Oriental races.</p> + +<p>As we leave Matanzas, we rise on an ascending grade, and the bay and +city lie open before us. The bay is deep on the western shore, under the +ridge of the Cumbre, and there the vessels lie at anchor; while the rest +of the bay is shallow, and its water, in this state of the sky and +light, is of a pale green color. The lighters, with sail and oar are +plying between the quays and the vessels below. All is pretty and quiet +and warm, but the scene has none of those regal points that so impress +themselves on the imagination and memory in the surroundings of Havana.</p> + +<p>I am now to get my first view of the interior of Cuba. I could not have +a more favorable day. The air is clear, and not excessively hot. The +soft clouds float midway in the serene sky, the sun shines fair and +bright, and the luxuriance of a perpetual summer covers the face of +nature. These strange palm trees everywhere! I cannot yet feel at home +among them. Many of the other trees are like our own, and though, +tropical in fact, look to the eye as if they might grow as well in New +England as here. But the royal palm looks so intensely and exclusively +tropical! It cannot grow beyond this narrow belt of the earth's surface. +Its long, thin body, so straight and so smooth, swathed from the +foot—in a tight bandage of tawny gray, leaving only its deep-green +neck, and over that its crest and plumage of deep-green leaves! It gives +no shade, and bears no fruit that is valued by men. And it has no beauty +to atone for those wants. Yet it has more than beauty—a strange +fascination over the eye and the fancy, that will never allow it to be +overlooked or forgotten. The palm tree seems a kind of <i>lusus naturae</i> +to the northern eye—an exotic wherever you meet it. It seems to be +conscious of its want of usefulness for food or shade, yet has a dignity +of its own, a pride of unmixed blood and royal descent—the hidalgo of +the soil.</p> + +<p>What are those groves and clusters of small growth, looking like Indian +corn in a state of transmigration into trees, the stalk turning into a +trunk, a thin soft coating half changed to bark, and the ears of corn +turning into melons? Those are the bananas and plantains, as their +bunches of green and yellow fruits plainly enough indicate, when you +come nearer. But, that sad, weeping tree, its long yellow-green leaves +drooping to the ground! What can that be? It has a green fruit like a +melon. There it is again, in groves! I interrupt my neighbor's tenth +cigarrito, to ask him the name of the tree. It is the cocoa! And that +soft green melon becomes the hard shell we break with a hammer. Other +trees there are, in abundance, of various forms and foliage, but they +might have grown in New England or New York, so far as the eye can teach +us; but the palm, the cocoa, the banana and plantain are the +characteristic trees you could not possibly meet with in any other zone.</p> + +<p>Thickets—jungles I might call them—abound. It seems as if a bird could +hardly get through them; yet they are rich with wild flowers of all +forms and colors, the white, the purple, the pink, and the blue. The +trees are full of birds of all plumage. There is one like our brilliant +oriole. I cannot hear their notes, for the clatter of the train. Stone +fences, neatly laid up, run across the lands;—not of our cold +bluish-gray granite, the color, as a friend once said, of a miser's eye, +but of soft, warm brown and russet, and well overgrown with creepers, +and fringed with flowers. There are avenues, and here are clumps of the +prim orange tree, with its dense and deep-green polished foliage +gleaming with golden fruit. Now we come to acres upon acres of the +sugar-cane, looking at a distance like fields of overgrown broomcorn. It +grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and very thick. An army could +be hidden in it. This soil must be deeply and intensely fertile.</p> + +<p>There, at the end of an avenue of palms, in a nest of shade-trees, is a +group of white buildings, with a sea of cane-fields about it, with one +high furnace-chimney, pouring out its volume of black smoke. This is a +sugar plantation—my first sight of an ingenio; and the chimney is for +the steam works of the sugar-house. It is the height of the sugar +season, and the untiring engine toils and smokes day and night. Ox +carts, loaded with cane, are moving slowly to the sugar-house from the +fields; and about the house, and in the fields, in various attitudes and +motions of labor, are the Negroes, men and women and children, some +cutting the cane, some loading the carts, and some tending the mill and +the furnace. It is a busy scene of distant industry, in the afternoon +sun of a languid Cuban day.</p> + +<p>Now these groups of white one-story buildings become more frequent, +sometimes very near each other, all having the same character—the group +of white buildings, the mill, with its tall furnace-chimney, and the +look of a distillery, and all differing from each other only in the +number and extent of the buildings, or in the ornament and comfort of +shade-trees and avenues about them. Some are approached by broad alleys +of the palm, or mango, or orange, and have gardens around them, and +stand under clusters of shade-trees; while others glitter in the hot +sun, on the flat sea of cane-fields, with only a little oasis of +shade-trees and fruit-trees immediately about the houses.</p> + +<p>I now begin to feel that I am in Cuba; in the tropical, rich, +sugar-growing, slave-tilled Cuba. Heretofore, I have seen only the +cities and their environs in which there are more things that are common +to the rest of the world. The country life tells the story of any people +that have a country life. The New England farm-house shows the heart of +New England. The mansion-house and cottage show the heart of Old +England. The plantation life that I am seeing and about to see, tells +the story of Cuba, the Cuba that has been and that is.</p> + +<p>As we stop at one station, which seems to be in the middle of a +cane-field, the Negroes and coolies go to the cane, slash off a piece +with their knives, cut off the rind and chew the stick of soft, +saccharine pulp, the juice running out of their mouths as they eat. They +seem to enjoy it so highly, that I am tempted to try the taste of it, +myself. But I shall have time for all this at La Ariadne.</p> + +<p>These stations consist merely of one or two buildings, where the produce +of the neighborhood is collected for transportation, and at which there +are very few passengers. The railroad is intended for the carriage of +sugar and other produce, and gets its support almost entirely in that +way; for it runs through a sparse, rural population, where there are no +towns; yet so large and valuable is the sugar crop that I believe the +road is well supported. At each station are its hangers-on of free +Negroes, a few slaves on duty as carriers, a few low whites, and now and +then someone who looks as if he might be an overseer or mayoral of a +plantation.</p> + +<p>Limonar appears in large letters on the small building where we next +stop, and I get out and inquire of a squad of idlers for the plantation +of Señor Chartrand. They point to a group of white buildings about a +quarter of a mile distant, standing prettily under high shade-trees, and +approached by an avenue of orange trees. Getting a tall Negro to +shoulder my bag, for a real, I walk to the house. It is an afternoon of +exquisite beauty. How can any one have a weather sensation, in such an +air as this? There is no current of the slightest chill anywhere, +neither is it oppressively hot. The air is serene and pure and light. +The sky gives its mild assurance of settled fair weather. All about me +is rich verdure, over a gently undulating surface of deeply fertile +country, with here and there a high hill in the horizon, and, on one +side, a ridge that may be called mountains. There is no sound but that +of the birds, and in the next tree they may be counted by hundreds. Wild +flowers, of all colors and scents, cover the ground and the thickets. +This is the famous red earth, too. The avenue looks as if it had been +laid down with pulverized brick, and all the dust on any object you see +is red. Now we turn into the straight avenue of orange trees—prim, deep +green trees, glittering with golden fruit. Here is the one-story, +high-roofed house, with long, high piazzas. There is a high wall, +carefully whitewashed, enclosing a square with one gate, looking like a +garrisoned spot. That must be the Negroes' quarters; for there is a +group of little Negroes at the gate, looking earnestly at the +approaching stranger. Beyond is the sugar-house, and the smoking +chimney, and the ox carts, and the field hands. Through the wide, open +door of the mansion, I see two gentlemen at dinner, an older and a +younger—the head of gray, and the head of black, and two Negro women, +one serving, and the other swinging her brush to disperse the flies. Two +big, deep-mouthed hounds come out and bark; and the younger gentleman +looks at us, comes out, and calls off the dogs. My Negro stops at the +path and touches his hat, waiting permission to go to the piazza with +the luggage; for Negroes do not go to the house door without previous +leave, in strictly ordered plantations. I deliver my letter, and in a +moment am received with such cordial welcome that I am made to feel as +if I had conferred a favor by coming to see them.</p> + +<h3><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h3> + +<h4>A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Labor</h4> + +<p>At some seasons, a visit may be a favor, on remote plantations; but I +know this is the height of the sugar season, when every hour is precious +to the master. After a brief toilet, I sit down with them; for they have +just begun dinner. In five minutes, I am led to feel as if I were a +friend of many years. Both gentlemen speak English like a native tongue. +To the younger it is so, for he was born in South Carolina, and his +mother is a lady of that state. The family are not here. They do not +live on the plantation, but in Matanzas. The plantation is managed by +the son, who resides upon it; the father coming out occasionally for a +few days, as now, in the busy season.</p> + +<p>The dinner is in the Spanish style, which I am getting attached to. I +should flee from a joint, or a sirloin. We have rice, excellently +cooked, as always in Cuba, eggs with it, if we choose, and fried +plantains, sweet potatoes, mixed dishes of fowl and vegetables, with a +good deal of oil and seasoning, in which a hot red pepper, about the +size of the barberry, prevails. Catalonia wine, which is pretty sure to +be pure, is their table claret, while sherry, which also comes direct +from the mother-country, is for dessert. I have taken them by surprise, +in the midst of the busiest season, in a house where there are no +ladies; yet the table, the service, the dress and the etiquette, are +none the less in the style of good society. There seems to be no letting +down, where letting down would be so natural and excusable.</p> + +<p>I suppose the fact that the land and the agricultural capital of the +interior are in the hands of an upper class, which does no manual labor, +and which has enough of wealth and leisure to secure the advantages of +continued intercourse with city and foreign society, and of occasional +foreign travel, tends to preserve throughout the remote agricultural +districts, habits and tone and etiquette, which otherwise would die out, +in the entire absence of large towns and of high local influences.</p> + +<p>Whoever has met with a book called "Evenings in Boston," and read the +story of the old Negro, Saturday, and seen the frontispiece of the Negro +fleeing through the woods of Santo Domingo, with two little white boys, +one in each hand, will know as much of Mr. Chartrand, the elder, as I +did the day before seeing him. He is the living hero, or rather subject, +for Saturday was the hero, of that tale. His father was a wealthy +planter of Santo Domingo, a Frenchman, of large estates, with wife, +children, friends and neighbors. These were gathered about him in a +social circle in his house, when the dreadful insurrection overtook +them, and father, mother, sons, and daughters were murdered in one +night, and only two of the children, boys of eight and ten, were saved +by the fidelity of Saturday, an old and devoted house servant. Saturday +concealed the boys, got them off the island, took them to Charleston, +South Carolina, where they found friends among the Huguenot families, +and the refugees from Santo Domingo. There Mr. Chartrand grew up; and +after a checkered and adventurous early life, a large part of it on the +sea, he married a lady of worth and culture, in South Carolina, and +settled himself as a planter, on this spot, nearly forty years ago. His +plantation he named "El Laberinto," (The Labyrinth,) after a favorite +vessel he had commanded, and for thirty years it was a prosperous +cafetal, the home of a happy family, and much visited by strangers from. +America and Europe. The causes which broke up the coffee estates of Cuba +carried this with the others; and it was converted into a sugar +plantation, under the new name of La Ariadne, from the fancy of Ariadne +having shown the way out of the Labyrinth. Like most of the sugar +estates, it is no longer the regular home of its proprietors.</p> + +<p>The change from coffee plantations to sugar plantations—from the +cafetal to the ingenio, has seriously affected the social, as it has +the economic condition of Cuba.</p> + +<p>Coffee must grow under shade. Consequently the coffee estate was, in the +first place, a plantation of trees, and by the hundred acres. Economy +and taste led the planters, who were chiefly the French refugees from +Santo Domingo to select fruit trees, and trees valuable for their wood, +as well as pleasing for their beauty and shade. Under these plantations +of trees, grew the coffee plant, an evergreen, and almost an +ever-flowering plant, with berries of changing hues, and, twice a year, +brought its fruit to maturity. That the coffee might be tended and +gathered, avenues wide enough for wagons must be carried through the +plantations, at frequent intervals. The plantation was, therefore, laid +out like a garden, with avenues and foot-paths, all under the shade of +the finest trees, and the spaces between the avenues were groves of +fruit trees and shade trees, under which grew, trimmed down to the +height of five or six feet, the coffee plant. The labor of the +plantation was in tending, picking, drying, and shelling the coffee, and +gathering the fresh fruits of trees for use and for the market, and for +preserves and sweetmeats, and in raising vegetables and poultry, and +rearing sheep and horned cattle and horses. It was a beautiful and +simple horticulture, on a very large scale. Time was required to perfect +this garden—the Cubans call it paradise—of a cafetal; but when +matured, it was a cherished home. It required and admitted of no +extraordinary mechanical power, or of the application of steam, or of +science, beyond the knowledge of soils, of simple culture, and of plants +and trees.</p> + +<p>For twenty years and more it has been forced upon the knowledge of the +reluctant Cubans, that Brazil, the West India islands to the southward +of Cuba, and the Spanish Main, can excel them in coffee-raising. The +successive disastrous hurricanes of 1843 and 1845, which destroyed many +and damaged most of the coffee estates, added to the colonial system of +the mother-country, which did not give extraordinary protection to this +product, are commonly said to have put an end to the coffee +plantations. Probably, they only hastened a change which must at some +time have come. But the same causes of soil and climate which made Cuba +inferior in coffee-growing, gave her a marked superiority in the +cultivation of sugar. The damaged plantations were not restored as +coffee estates, but were laid down to the sugar-cane; and gradually, +first in the western and northern parts, and daily extending easterly +and southerly over the entire island, the exquisite cafetals have been +prostrated and dismantled, the groves of shade and fruit trees cut down, +the avenues and foot-paths ploughed up, and the denuded land laid down +to wastes of sugar-cane.</p> + +<p>The sugar-cane allows of no shade. Therefore the groves and avenues must +fall. To make its culture profitable, it must be raised in the largest +possible quantities that the extent of land will permit. To attempt the +raising of fruit, or of the ornamental woods, is bad economy for the +sugar planter. Most of the fruits, especially the orange, which is the +chief export, ripen in the midst of the sugar season, and no hands can +be spared to attend to them. The sugar planter often buys the fruits he +needs for daily use and for making preserves, from the neighboring +cafetals. The cane ripens but once a year. Between the time when enough +of it is ripe to justify beginning to work the mill, and the time when +the heat and rains spoil its qualities, all the sugar-making of the year +must be done. In Louisiana, this period does not exceed eight weeks. In +Cuba it is full four months. This gives Cuba a great advantage. Yet +these four months are short enough; and during that time, the +steam-engine plies and the furnace fires burn night and day.</p> + +<p>Sugar-making brings with it steam, fire, smoke, and a drive of labor, +and admits of and requires the application of science. Managed with +skill and energy, it is extremely productive. Indifferently managed, it +may be a loss. The sugar estate is not valuable, like the coffee estate, +for what the land will produce, aided by ordinary and quiet manual labor +only. Its value is in the skill, and the character of the labor. The +land is there, and the Negroes are there; but the result is loss or +gain, according to the amount of labor that can be obtained, and the +skill with which the manual labor and the mechanical powers are applied. +It is said that at the present time, in the present state of the market, +a well-managed sugar estate yields from fifteen to twenty-five per cent +on the investment. This is true, I am inclined to think, if by the +investment be meant only the land, the machinery, and the slaves. But +the land is not a large element in the investment. The machinery is +costly, yet its value depends on the science applied to its construction +and operation. The chief item in the investment is the slave labor. +Taking all the slaves together, men, women, and children, the young and +the old, the sick and the well, the good and the bad, their market value +averages about $1000 a head. Yet of these, allowing for those too young +or too old, for the sick, and for those who must tend the young, the old +and the sick, and for those whose labor, like that of the cooks, only +sustains the others, not more than one half are able-bodied, productive +laborers. The value of this chief item in the investment depends largely +on moral and intellectual considerations. How unsatisfactory is it, +then, to calculate the profits of the investment, when you leave out of +the calculation the value of the controlling power, the power that +extorts the contributions of labor from the steam and the engine and the +fire, and from the more difficult human will. This is the "plus x" of +the formula, which, unascertained, gives us little light as to the +result.</p> + +<p>But, to return to the changes wrought by this substitution of sugar for +coffee. The sugar plantation is no grove, or garden, or orchard. It is +not the home of the pride and affections of the planter's family. It is +not a coveted, indeed, hardly a desirable residence. Such families as +would like to remain on these plantations are driven off for want of +neighboring society. Thus the estates, largely abandoned by the families +of the planters, suffer the evils of absenteeism, while the owners live +in the suburbs of Havana and Matanzas, and in the Fifth Avenue of New +York. The slave system loses its patriarchal character. The master is +not the head of a great family, its judge, its governor, its physician, +its priest and its father, as the fond dream of the advocates of +slavery, and sometimes, doubtless, the reality, made him. Middlemen, in +the shape of administradores, stand between the owner and the slaves. +The slave is little else than an item of labor raised or bought. The +sympathies of common home, common childhood, long and intimate relations +and many kind offices, common attachments to house, to land, to dogs, to +cattle, to trees, to birds—the knowledge of births, sicknesses, and +deaths, and the duties and sympathies of a common religion—all those +things that may ameliorate the legal relations of the master and slave, +and often give to the face of servitude itself precarious but +interesting features of beauty and strength—these they must not look to +have. This change has had some effect already, and will produce much +more, on the social system of Cuba.</p> + +<p>There are still plantations on which the families of the wealthy and +educated planters reside. And in some cases the administrador is a +younger member or a relative of the family, holding the same social +position; and the permanent administrador will have his family with him. +Yet, it is enough to say that the same causes which render the ingenio +no longer a desirable residence for the owner make it probable that the +administrador will be either a dependent or an adventurer; a person from +whom the owner will expect a great deal, and the slaves but little, and +from whom none will get all they expect, and perhaps none all they are +entitled to.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we went to the sugar-house, and I was initiated into +the mysteries of the work. There are four agents: steam, fire, cane +juice, and Negroes. The results are sugar and molasses. At this ingenio, +they make only the Muscovado, or brown sugar. The processes are easily +described, but it is difficult to give an idea of the scene. It is one +of condensed and determined labor.</p> + +<p>To begin at the beginning, the cane is cut from the fields by companies +of men and women, working together, who use an instrument called a +machete, which is something between a sword and a cleaver. Two blows +with this slash off the long leaves, and a third blow cuts off the +stalk, near to the ground. At this work, the laborers move like reapers, +in even lines, at stated distances. Before them is a field of dense, +high-waving cane; and behind them, strewn wrecks of stalks and leaves. +Near, and in charge of the party, stands a driver, or more +grandiloquently, a contramayoral, with the short, limber plantation +whip, the badge of his office, under his arm.</p> + +<p>Ox-carts pass over the field, and are loaded with the cane, which they +carry to the mill. The oxen are worked in the Spanish fashion, the yoke +being strapped upon the head, close to the horns, instead of being hung +round the neck, as with us, and are guided by goads, and by a rope +attached to a ring through the nostrils. At the mill, the cane is tipped +from the carts into large piles, by the side of the platform. From these +piles, it is placed carefully, by hand, lengthwise, in a long trough. +This trough is made of slats, and moved by the power of the endless +chain, connected with the engine. In this trough, it is carried between +heavy, horizontal, cylindrical rollers, where it is crushed, its juice +falling into receivers below, and the crushed cane passing off and +falling into a pile on the other side.</p> + +<p>This crushed cane (bagazo), falling from between the rollers, is +gathered into baskets by men and women, who carry it on their heads into +the fields and spread it for drying. There it is watched and tended as +carefully as new-mown grass in haymaking, and raked into cocks or +windrows, on an alarm of rain. When dry, it is placed under sheds for +protection against wet. From the sheds and from the fields, it is loaded +into carts and drawn to the furnace doors, into which it is thrown by +Negroes, who crowd it in by the armful, and rake it about with long +poles. Here it feeds the perpetual fires by which the steam is made, the +machinery moved, and the cane-juice boiled. The care of the bagazo is +an important part of the system; for if that becomes wet and fails, the +fires must stop, or resort be had to wood, which is scarce and +expensive.</p> + +<p>Thus, on one side of the rollers is the ceaseless current of fresh, +full, juicy cane-stalks, just cut from the open field; and on the other +side, is the crushed, mangled, juiceless mass, drifting out at the +draught, and fit only to be cast into the oven and burned. This is the +way of the world, as it is the course of art. The cane is made to +destroy itself. The ruined and corrupted furnish the fuel and fan the +flame that lures on and draws in and crushes the fresh and wholesome; +and the operation seems about as mechanical and unceasing in the one +case as in the other.</p> + +<p>From the rollers, the juice falls below into a large receiver, from +which it flows into great, open vats, called defecators. These +defecators are heated by the exhaust steam of the engine, led through +them in pipes. All the steam condensed forms water, which is returned +warm into the boiler of the engine. In the defecators, as their name +denotes, the scum of the juice is purged off, so far as heat alone will +do it. From the last defecator, the juice is passed through a trough +into the first caldron. Of the caldrons, there is a series, or, as they +call it, a train, through all which the juice must go. Each caldron is a +large, deep, copper vat, heated very hot, in which the juice seethes and +boils. At each, stands a strong Negro, with long, heavy skimmer in hand, +stirring the juice and skimming off the surface. This scum is collected +and given to the hogs, or thrown upon the muck heap, and is said to be +very fructifying. The juice is ladled from one caldron to the next, as +fast as the office of each is finished. From the last caldron, where its +complete crystallization is effected, it is transferred to coolers, +which are large, shallow pans. When fully cooled, it looks like brown +sugar and molasses mixed. It is then shovelled from the coolers into +hogsheads. These hogsheads have holes bored in their bottoms; and, to +facilitate the drainage, strips of cane are placed in the hogshead, with +their ends in these holes, and the hogs-head is filled. The hogsheads +are set on open frames, under which are copper receivers, on an inclined +plane, to catch and carry off the drippings from the hogsheads. These +drippings are the molasses, which is collected and put into tight casks.</p> + +<p>I believe I have given the entire process. When it is remembered that +all this, in every stage, is going on at once, within the limits of the +mill, it may well be supposed to present a busy scene. The smell of +juice and of sugar-vapor, in all its stages, is intense. The Negroes +fatten on it. The clank of the engine, the steady grind of the machines, +and the high, wild cry of the Negroes at the caldrons to the stokers at +the furnace doors, as they chant out their directions or wants—now for +more fire, and now to scatter the fire—which must be heard above the +din, "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" "E-e-cha candela!" "Pu-er-ta!", and the +barbaric African chant and chorus of the gang at work filling the +cane-troughs—all these make the first visit at the sugar-house a +strange experience. But after one or two visits, the monotony is as +tiresome as the first view is exciting. There is, literally, no change +in the work. There are the same noises of the machines, the same cries +from Negroes at the same spots, the same intensely sweet smell, the same +state of the work in all its stages, at whatever hour you visit it, +whether in the morning, or evening, at midnight, or at the dawn of the +day. If you wake up at night, you hear the "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" +"E-e-cha! E-e-cha!" of the caldron-men crying to the stokers, and the +high, monotonous chant of the gangs filling the wagons or the trough, a +short, improvisated stave, and then the chorus—not a tune, like the +song of sailors at the tackle and falls, but a barbaric, tuneless +intonation.</p> + +<p>When I went into the sugar-house, I saw a man with an unmistakably New +England face in charge of the engine, with that look of intelligence and +independence so different from the intelligence and independence of all +other persons.</p> + +<p>"Is not that a New England man?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Chartrand, "he is from Lowell; and the engine was built +in Lowell."</p> + +<p>When I found him at leisure, I made myself known to him, and he sat down +on the brickwork of the furnace, and had a good unburdening of talk; for +he had not seen any one from the United States for three months. He +talked, like a true Yankee, of law and politics—the Lowell Bar and Mr. +Butler, Mr. Abbott and Mr. Wentworth; of the Boston Bar and Mr. Choate; +of Massachusetts politics and Governor Banks; and of national politics +and the Thirty Millions Bill, and whether it would pass, and what if it +did.</p> + +<p>This engineer is one of a numerous class, whom the sugar culture brings +annually to Cuba. They leave home in the autumn, engage themselves for +the sugar season, put the machinery in order, work it for the four or +five months of its operation, clean and put it in order for lying by, +and return to the United States in the spring. They must be machinists, +as well as engineers; for all the repairs and contrivances, so necessary +in a remote place, fall upon them. Their skill is of great value, and +while on the plantation their work is incessant, and they have no +society or recreations whatever. The occupation, however, is healthful, +their position independent, and their pay large. This engineer had been +several years in Cuba, and I found him well informed, and, I think, +impartial and independent. He tells me, which I had also heard in +Havana, that this plantation is a favorable specimen, both for skill and +humanity, and is managed on principles of science and justice, and +yields a large return. On many plantations—on most, I suspect, from all +I can learn—the Negroes, during the sugar season, are allowed but four +hours sleep in the twenty-four, with one for dinner, and a half hour for +breakfast, the night being divided into three watches, of four hours +each, the laborers taking their turns. On this plantation, the laborers +are in two watches, and divide the night equally between them, which +gives them six hours for sleep. In the day, they have half an hour for +breakfast and one hour for dinner. Here, too, the very young and the +very old are excused from the sugar-house, and the nursing mothers have +lighter duties and frequent intervals of rest. The women worked at +cutting the cane, feeding the mill, carrying the bagazo in baskets, +spreading and drying it, and filling the wagons; but not in the +sugar-house itself, or at the furnace doors. I saw that no boys or girls +were in the mill—none but full-grown persons. The very small children +do absolutely nothing all day, and the older children tend the cattle +and run errands. And the engineer tells me that in the long run this +liberal system of treatment, as to hours and duties, yields a better +return than a more stringent rule.</p> + +<p>He thinks the crop this year, which has been a favorable one, will +yield, in well-managed plantations a net interest of from fifteen to +twenty-five per cent on the investment; making no allowance, of course, +for the time and skill of the master. This will be a clear return to +planters like Mr. Chartrand, who do not eat up their profits by interest +on advances, and have no mortgages, and require no advances from the +merchants.</p> + +<p>But the risks of the investment are great. The cane-fields are liable to +fires, and these spread with great rapidity, and are difficult to +extinguish. Last year Mr. Chartrand lost $7,000 in a few hours by fire. +In the cholera season he lost $12,000 in a few days by deaths among the +Negroes.</p> + +<p>According to the usual mode of calculation, I suppose the value of the +investment of Mr. Chartrand to be between $125,000 and $150,000. On +well-managed estates of this size, the expenses should not exceed +$10,000. The gross receipts, in sugar and molasses, at a fair rate of +the markets, cannot average less than between $35,000 and $40,000. This +should leave a profit of between eighteen and twenty-two per cent. +Still, the worth of an estimate depends on the principle on which the +capital is appraised. The number of acres laid down to cane, on this +plantation, is about three hundred. The whole number of Negroes is one +hundred, and of these not more than half, at any time, are capable of +efficient labor; and there are twenty-two children below the age of five +years, out of a total of one hundred Negroes.</p> + +<p>Beside the engineer, some large plantations have one or more white +assistants; but here an intelligent Negro has been taught enough to take +charge of the engine when the engineer is off duty. This is the highest +post a Negro can reach in the mill, and this Negro was mightily pleased +when I addressed him as maquinista. There are, also, two or three white +men employed, during the season, as sugar masters. Their post is beside +the caldrons and defecators, where they are to watch the work in all its +stages, regulate the heat and the time for each removal, and oversee the +men. These, with the engineer, make the force of white men who are +employed for the season.</p> + +<p>The regular and permanent officers of a plantation are the mayoral and +mayordomo. The mayoral is, under the master or his administrador, the +chief mate or first lieutenant of the ship. He has the general oversight +of the Negroes, at their work or in their houses, and has the duty of +exacting labor and enforcing discipline. Much depends on his character, +as to the comfort of master and slaves. If he is faithful and just, +there may be ease and comfort; but if he is not, the slaves are never +sure of justice, and the master is sure of nothing. The mayoral comes, +of necessity, from the middle class of whites, and is usually a native +Cuban, and it is not often that a satisfactory one can be found or kept. +The day before I arrived, in the height of the season, Mr. Chartrand had +been obliged to dismiss his mayoral, on account of his conduct to the +women, which was producing the worst results with them and with the men; +and not long before, one was dismissed for conniving with the Negroes in +a wholesale system of theft, of which he got the lion's share.</p> + +<p>The mayordomo is the purser, and has the immediate charge of the stores, +produce, materials for labor, and provisions for consumption, and keeps +the accounts. On well regulated plantations, he is charged with all the +articles of use or consumption, and with the products as soon as they +are in condition to be numbered, weighed, or counted, and renders his +accounts of what is consumed or destroyed, and of the produce sent away. +There is also a boyero, who is the herdsman, and has charge of all the +cattle. He is sometimes a Negro.</p> + +<p>Under the mayoral, are a number of contramayorales, who are the +boatswain's mates of the ship, and correspond to the "drivers" of our +southern plantations. One of them goes with every gang when set to work, +whether in the field or elsewhere, and whether men or women, and watches +and directs them, and enforces labor from them. The drivers carry under +the arm, at all times, the short, limber plantation whip, the badge of +their office and their means of compulsion. They are almost always +Negroes; and it is generally thought that Negroes are not more humane in +this office than the low whites. On this plantation, it is three years +since any slave has been whipped; and that punishment is never inflicted +here on a woman. Near the Negro quarters, is a penitentiary, which is of +stone, with three cells for solitary confinement, each dark, but well +ventilated. Confinement in these, on bread and water, is the extreme +punishment that has been found necessary for the last three years. The +Negro fears solitude and darkness, and covets his food, fire, and +companionship.</p> + +<p>With all the corps of hired white labor, the master must still be the +real power, and on his character the comfort and success of the +plantation depend. If he has skill as a chemist, a geologist, or a +machinist, it is not lost; but, except as to the engineer, who may +usually be relied upon, the master must be capable of overseeing the +whole economy of the plantation, or all will go wrong. His chief duty is +to oversee the overseers, to watch his officers, the mayoral, the +mayordomo, the boyero, and the sugar masters. These are mere hirelings, +and of a low sort, such as a slave system reduces them to; and if they +are lazy, the work slackens; and if they are ill-natured, somebody +suffers. The mere personal presence of the master operates as a stimulus +to the work. This afternoon young Mr. Chartrand and I took horses and +rode out to the cane-field, where the people were cutting. They had been +at work a half hour. He stopped his horse where they were when we came +to them, and the next half hour, without a word from him, they had made +double the distance of the first. It seems to me that the work of a +plantation is what a clock would be that always required a man's hand +pressing on the main spring. With the slave, the ultimate sanction is +force. The motives of pride, shame, interest, ambition, and affection +may be appealed to, and the minor punishments of degradation in duties, +deprivation of food and sleep, and solitary confinement may be resorted +to; but the whip, which the driver always carries, reminds the slave +that if all else fails, the infliction of painful bodily punishment lies +behind, and will be brought to bear, rather than that the question be +left unsettled. Whether this extreme be reached, and how often it be +reached, depends on the personal qualities of the master. If he is +lacking in self-control, he will fall into violence. If he has not the +faculty of ruling by moral and intellectual power—be he ever so humane, +if he is not firm and intelligent, the bad among the slaves will get the +upper hand; and he will be in danger of trying to recover his position +by force. Such is the reasoning <i>à priori</i>.</p> + +<p>At six o'clock, the large bell tolls the knell of parting day and the +call to the Oración, which any who are religious enough can say, +wherever they may be, at work or at rest. In the times of more religious +strictness, the bell for the Oración, just at dusk, was the signal for +prayer in every house and field, and even in the street, and for the +benediction from parent to child and master to servant. Now, in the +cities, it tolls unnoticed, and on the plantations, it is treated only +as the signal for leaving off work. The distribution of provisions is +made at the storehouse, by the mayordomo, my host superintending it in +person. The people take according to the number in their families; and +so well acquainted are all with the apportionment, that in only one or +two instances were inquiries necessary. The kitchen fires are lighted in +the quarters, and the evening meal is prepared. I went into the quarters +before they were closed. A high wall surrounds an open square, in which +are the houses of the Negroes. This has one gate, which is locked at +dark; and to leave the quarters after that time is a serious offence. +The huts were plain, but reasonably neat, and comfortable in their +construction and arrangement. In some were fires, round which, even in +this hot weather, the Negroes like to gather. A group of little Negroes +came round the strange gentleman, and the smallest knelt down with +uncovered heads, in a reverent manner, saying, "Buenos días Señor." I +did not understand the purpose of this action, and as there was no one +to explain the usage to me, I did them the injustice to suppose that +they expected money, and distributed some small coins among them. But I +learned afterwards that they were expecting the benediction, the hand on +the head and the "Dios te haga bueno." It was touching to see their +simple, trusting faces turned up to the stranger—countenances not yet +wrought by misfortune, or injury, or crime, into the strong expressions +of mature life. None of these children, even the smallest, was naked, as +one usually sees them in Havana. In one of the huts, a proud mother +showed me her Herculean twin boys, sprawling in sleep on the bed. Before +dark, the gate of the quarters is bolted, and the night is begun. But +the fires of the sugar-house are burning, and half of the working people +are on duty there for their six hours.</p> + +<p>I sat for several hours with my host and his son, in the veranda, +engaged in conversation, agreeable and instructive to me, on those +topics likely to present themselves to a person placed as I was—the +state of Cuba, its probable future, its past, its relations to Europe +and the United States, slavery, the coolie problem, the free-Negro labor +problem, and the agriculture, horticulture, trees and fruits of the +island. The elder gentleman retired early, as he was to take the early +train for Matanzas.</p> + +<p>My sleeping-room is large and comfortable, with brick floor and glass +windows, pure white bed linen and mosquito net, and ewer and basin +scrupulously clean, bringing back, by contrast, visions of Le Grand's, +and Antonio, and Domingo, and the sounds and smells of those upper +chambers. The only moral I am entitled to draw from this is, that a +well-ordered private house with slave labor, may be more neat and +creditable than an ill-ordered public house with free labor. As the +stillness of the room comes over me, I realize that I am far away in the +hill country of Cuba, the guest of a planter, under this strange system, +by which one man is enthroned in the labor of another race, brought from +across the sea. The song of the Negroes breaks out afresh from the +fields, where they are loading up the wagons—that barbaric undulation +of sound:</p> + +<p class="c">"<i>Na-nú, A-yá,—Na-né, A-yá:</i>"</p> + +<p class="nind">and the recurrence of here and there a few words of Spanish, among which +"Mañana" seemed to be a favorite. Once, in the middle of the night, I +waked, to hear the strains again, as they worked in the open field, +under the stars.</p> + +<h3><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h3> + +<h4>A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Life</h4> + +<p>When I came out from my chamber this morning, the elder Mr. Chartrand +had gone. The watchful negress brought me coffee, and I could choose +between oranges and bananas, for my fruit. The young master had been in +the saddle an hour or so. I sauntered to the sugar-house. It was past +six, and all hands were at work again, amid the perpetual boiling of the +caldrons, the skimming and dipping and stirring, the cries of the +caldron-men to the firemen, the slow gait of the wagons, and the +perpetual to-and-fro of the carriers of the cane. The engine is doing +well enough, and the engineer has the great sheet of the New York Weekly +Herald, which he is studying, in the intervals of labor, as he sits on +the corner of the brickwork.</p> + +<p>But a turn in the garden is more agreeable, among birds, and flowers, +and aromatic trees. Here is a mignonette tree, forty feet high, and +every part is full and fragrant with flowers, as is the little +mignonette in our flower-pots. There is the allspice, a large tree, each +leaf strong enough to flavor a dish. Here is the tamarind tree: I must +sit under it, for the sake of the old song. My young friend joins me, +and points out, on the allspice tree, a chameleon. It is about six +inches long, and of a pea-green color. He thinks its changes of color, +which are no fable, depend on the will or on the sensations, and not on +the color of the object the animal rests upon. This one, though on a +black trunk, remained pale green. When they take the color of the tree +they rest on, it may be to elude their enemies, to whom their slow +motions make them an easy prey. At the corner of the house stands a +pomegranate tree, full of fruit, which is not yet entirely ripe; but we +find enough to give a fair taste of its rich flavor. Then there are +sweet oranges, and sour oranges, and limes, and coconuts, and +pineapples, the latter not entirely ripe, but in the condition in which +they are usually plucked for our market, an abundance of fuchsias, and +Cape jasmines, and the highly prized night-blooming cereus.</p> + +<p>The most frequent shade-tree here is the mango. It is a large, dense +tree, with a general resemblance, in form and size, to our lime or +linden. Three noble trees stand before the door, in front of the house. +One is a Tahiti almond, another a mango, and the third a cedar. And in +the distance is a majestic tree, of incredible size, which is, I +believe, a ceiba. When this estate was a cafetal, the house stood at the +junction of four avenues, from the four points of the compass: one of +the sweet orange, one of the sour orange, one of palms, and one of +mangoes. Many of these trees fell in the hurricanes of 1843 and '45. The +avenue which leads from the road, and part of that leading towards the +sugar-house, are preserved. The rest have fallen a sacrifice to the +sugar-cane; but the garden, the trees about the house, and what remains +of the avenues, give still a delightful appearance of shelter and +repose.</p> + +<p>I have amused myself by tracing the progress, and learning the habits of +the red ants, a pretty formidable enemy to all structures of wood. They +eat into the heart of the hardest woods; not even the lignum vitæ, or +iron-wood, or cedar, being proof against them. Their operations are +secret. They never appear upon the wood, or touch its outer shell. A +beam or rafter stands as ever with a goodly outside; but you tap it, and +find it a shell. Their approaches, too, are by covered ways. When going +from one piece of wood to another, they construct a covered way, very +small and low, as a protection against their numerous enemies, and +through this they advance to their new labors. I think that they may sap +the strength of a whole roof of rafters, without the observer being able +to see one of them, unless he breaks their covered ways, or lays open +the wood.</p> + +<p>The course of life at the plantation is after this manner. At six +o'clock, the great bell begins the day, and the Negroes go to their +work. The house servants bring coffee to the family and guests, as they +appear or send for it. The master's horse is at the door, under the +tree, as soon as it is light, and he is off on his tour, before the sun +rises. The family breakfasts at ten o'clock, and the people—la gente, +as the technical phrase is for the laborers, breakfast at nine. The +breakfast is like that of the cities, with the exception of fish and the +variety of meats, and consists of rice, eggs, fried plantains, mixed +dishes of vegetables and fowls, other meats rarely, and fruits, with +claret or Catalonia and coffee. The time for the siesta or rest, is +between breakfast and dinner. Dinner hour is three for the family, and +two for the people. The dinner does not differ much from the breakfast, +except that there is less of fruit and more of meat, and that some +preserve is usually eaten, as a dessert. Like the breakfast, it ends +with coffee. In all manner of preserves, the island is rich. The almond, +the guava, the cocoa, the soursop, the orange, the lime, and the mamey +apple afford a great variety. After dinner, and before dark, is the time +for long drives; and, when the families are on the estates, for visits +to neighbors. There is no third meal; but coffee, and sometimes tea, is +offered at night. The usual time for bed is as early as ten o'clock, for +the day begins early, and the chief out-door works and active +recreations must be had before breakfast.</p> + +<p>In addition to the family house, the Negro quarters, and the +sugar-house, there is a range of stone buildings, ending with a kitchen, +occupied by the engineer, the mayoral, the boyero, and the mayordomo, +who have an old Negro woman to cook for them, and another to wait on +them. There is also another row of stone buildings, comprising the +store-house, the penitentiary, the hospital, and the lying-in room. The +penitentiary, I have described. The hospital and lying-in room are airy, +well-ventilated, and suitable for their purposes. Neither of them had +any tenants to-day. In the center of the group of buildings is a high +frame, on which hangs the great bell of the plantation. This rings the +Negroes up in the morning, and in at night, and sounds the hours for +meals. It calls all in, on any special occasion, and is used for an +alarm to the neighboring plantations, rung long and loud, in case of +fire in the cane-fields, or other occasions for calling in aid.</p> + +<p>After dinner, to-day, a volante, with two horses, and a postilion in +bright jacket and buckled boots and large silver spurs, the harness +well-besprinkled with silver, drove to the door, and an elderly +gentleman alighted and came to the house, attired with scrupulous nicety +of white cravat and dress coat, and with the manners of the <i>ancien +régime</i>. This is M. Bourgeoise, the owner of the neighboring large +plantation, Santa Catalina, one of the few cafetals remaining in this +part of the island. He is too old, and too much attached to his +plantation, to change it to a sugar estate; and he is too rich to need +the change. He, too, was a refugee from the insurrection of Santo +Domingo, but older than M. Chartrand. Not being able to escape, he was +compelled to serve as aid-de-camp to Jacques Dessalines. He has a good +deal to say about the insurrection and its results, of a great part of +which he was an eye-witness. The sight of him brought vividly to mind +the high career and sad fate of the just and brave Toussaint +L'Ouverture, and the brilliant successes, and fickle, cruel rule, of +Dessalines—when French marshals were out-maneuvered by Negro generals, +and pitched battles were won by Negroes and mulattoes against European +armies.</p> + +<p>This gentleman had driven over in the hope of seeing his friend and +neighbor, Mr. Chartrand, the elder. He remained with us for some time, +sitting under the veranda, the silvered volante and its black horses and +black postilion standing under the trees. He invited us to visit his +plantation, which I was desirous to do, as a cafetal is a rarity now.</p> + +<p>My third day at La Ariadne is much like the preceding days: the early +rising, the coffee and fruit, the walk, visits to the mill, the fields, +the garden, and the quarters, breakfast, rest in-doors with reading and +writing, dinner, out of doors again, and the evening under the veranda, +with conversations on subjects now so interesting to me. These +conversations, and what I had learned from other persons, open to me new +causes for interest and sympathy with my younger host. Born in South +Carolina, he secured his rights of birth, and is a citizen of the United +States, though all his pecuniary interests and family affections are in +Cuba. He went to Paris at the age of nine, and remained there until he +was nineteen, devoting the ten years to thorough courses of study in the +best schools. He has spent much time in Boston, and has been at sea, to +China, India, and the Pacific and California—was wrecked in the Boston +ship "Mary Ellen," on a coral reef in the India seas, taken captive, +restored, and brought back to Boston in another ship, whence he sailed +for California. There he had a long and checkered experience, was +wounded in the battle with the Indians who killed Lieut. Dale and +defeated his party, was engaged in scientific surveys, topographical and +geological, took the fever of the south coast at a remote place, was +reported dead, and came to his mother's door, at the spot where we are +talking this evening, so weak and sunken that his brothers did not know +him, thinking it happiness enough if he could reach his home, to die in +his mother's arms. But home and its cherishings, and revived moral +force, restored him, and now, active and strong again, when in +consequence of the marriage of his brothers and sisters, and the +departure of neighbors, the family leave their home of thirty-five years +for the city, he becomes the acting master, the administrador of the +estate, and makes the old house his bachelor's hall.</p> + +<p>An education in Europe or the United States must tend to free the youth +of Cuba from the besetting fault of untravelled plantation-masters. They +are in no danger of thinking their plantations and Cuba the world, or +any great part of it. In such cases, I should think the danger might be +rather the other way—rather that of disgust and discouragement at the +narrowness of the field, the entire want of a career set before them—a +career of any kind, literary, scientific, political, or military. The +choice is between expatriation and contentment in the position of a +secluded cultivator of sugar by slave labor, with occasional +opportunities of intercourse with the world and of foreign travel, with +no other field than the limits of the plantation afford, for the +exercise of the scientific knowledge, so laboriously acquired, and with +no more exciting motive for the continuance of intellectual culture than +the general sense of its worth and fitness.</p> + +<h3><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h3> + +<h4>FROM PLANTATION TO PLANTATION</h4> + +<p>If the master of a plantation is faithful and thorough, will tolerate no +misconduct or imposition, and yet is humane and watchful over the +interests and rights, as well as over the duties of the Negroes, he has +a hard and anxious life. Sickness to be ministered to, the feigning of +sickness to be counteracted, rights of the slaves to be secured against +other Negroes, as well as against whites, with a poor chance of getting +at the truth from either; the obligations of the Negro <i>quasi</i> marriage +to be enforced against all the sensual and childish tendencies of the +race; theft and violence and wanderings from home to be detected and +prevented; the work to be done, and yet no one to be over-worked; and +all this often with no effectual aid, often with only obstructions, from +the intermediate whites! Nor is it his own people only that are to be +looked to. The thieving and violence of Negroes from other plantations, +their visits by night against law, and the encroachments of the +neighboring free blacks and low whites, are all to be watched and +prevented or punished. The master is a policeman, as well as an +economist and a judge. His revolver and rifle are always loaded. He has +his dogs, his trackers and seizers, that lie at his gate, trained to +give the alarm when a strange step comes near the house or the quarters, +and ready to pursue. His hedges may be broken down, his cane trampled or +cut, or, still worse, set fire to, goats let into his pastures, his +poultry stolen, and sometimes his dogs poisoned. It is a country of +little law and order, and what with slavery and free Negroes and low +whites, violence or fraud are imminent and always formidable. No man +rides far unarmed. The Negroes are held under the subjection of force. A +quarter-deck organization is established. The master owns vessel and +cargo, and is captain of the ship, and he and his family live in the +cabin and hold the quarter-deck. There are no other commissioned +officers on board, and no guard of marines. There are a few petty +officers, and under all, a great crew of Negroes, for every kind of +work, held by compulsion—the results of a press-gang. All are at sea +together. There are some laws, and civil authorities for the protection +of each, but not very near, nor always accessible.</p> + +<p>After dinner to-day, we take saddle-horses for a ride to Santa Catalina. +Necessary duties in the field and mill delay us, and we are in danger of +not being able to visit the house, as my friend must be back in season +for the close of work and the distribution of provisions, in the absence +of his mayoral. The horses have the famous "march," as it is called, of +the island, an easy rapid step, something like pacing, and delightful +for a quiet ride under a soft afternoon sky, among flowers and sweet +odors. I have seen but few trotting horses in Cuba.</p> + +<p>The afternoon is serene. Near, the birds are flying, or chattering with +extreme sociability in close trees, and the thickets are fragrant with +flowers; while far off, the high hills loom in the horizon; and all +about us is this tropical growth, with which I cannot yet become +familiar, of palms and cocoas and bananas. We amble over the red earth +of the winding lanes, and turn into the broad avenue of Santa Catalina, +with its double row of royal palms. We are in—not a forest, for the +trees are not thick and wild and large enough for that—but in a huge, +dense, tropical orchard. The avenue is as clear and straight and wide as +a city mall; while all the ground on either side, for hundreds of acres, +is a plantation of oranges and limes, bananas and plantains, cocoas and +pineapples, and of cedar and mango, mignonette and allspice, under whose +shade is growing the green-leaved, the evergreen-leaved coffee plant, +with its little dark red berry, the tonic of half the world. Here we +have a glimpse of the lost charm of Cuba. No wonder that the aged +proprietor cannot find the heart to lay it waste for the monotonous +cane-field, and make the quiet, peaceful horticulture, the natural +growth of fruit and berry, and the simple processes of gathering, +drying, and storing, give place to the steam and smoke and drive and +life-consuming toil of the ingenio!</p> + +<p>At a turn in the avenue, we come upon the proprietor, who is taking his +evening walk, still in the exact dress and with the exact manners of +urban life. With truly French politeness, he is distressed, and all but +offended, that we cannot go to his house. It is my duty to insist on +declining his invitation, for I know that Chartrand is anxious to +return. At another turn, we come upon a group of little black children, +under the charge of a decent, matronly mulatto, coming up a shaded +footpath, which leads among the coffee. Chartrand stops to give a kind +word to them.</p> + +<p>But it is sunset, and we must turn about. We ride rather rapidly down +the avenue, and along the highway, where we meet several travellers, +nearly all with pistols in their holsters, and one of the mounted +police, with carbine and sword; and then cross the brook, pass through +the little, mean hamlet of Limonar, whose inmates are about half blacks +and half whites, but once a famed resort for invalids, and enter our own +avenue, and thence to the house. On our way, we pass a burying-ground, +which my companion says he is ashamed to have me see. Its condition is +bad enough. The planters are taxed for it, but the charge of it is with +the padre, who takes big fees for burials, and lets it go to ruin. The +bell has rung long ago, but the people are waiting our return, and the +evening duties of distributing food, turning on the night gang for night +work, and closing the gates are performed.</p> + +<p>To-night the hounds have an alarm, and Chartrand is off in the darkness. +In a few minutes he returns. There has been some one about, but nothing +is discovered. A Negro may have attempted to steal out, or some strange +Negro may be trying to steal in, or some prowling white, or free black, +has been reconnoitering. These are the terms on which this system is +carried on; and I think, too, that when the tramp of horses is heard +after dark, and strange men ride towards the piazza, it causes some +uneasiness.</p> + +<p>The morning of the fourth day, I take my leave, by early train for +Matanzas. The hour is half-past six; but the habits of rising are so +early that it requires no special preparation. I have time for coffee, +for a last visit to the sugar-house, a good-by to the engineer, who will +be back on the banks of the Merrimack in May, and for a last look into +the quarters, to gather the little group of kneelers for "la +benedición," with their "Buenos días, Señor." My horse is ready, the +Negro has gone with my luggage, and I must take my leave of my +newly-made friend. Alone together, we have been more intimate in three +days than we should have been in as many weeks in a full household. +Adios!—May the opening of a new home on the old spot, which I hear is +awaiting you, be the harbinger of a more cheerful life, and the creation +of such fresh ties and interests, that the delightful air of the hill +country of Cuba, the dreamy monotony of the day, the serenity of nights +which seem to bring the stars down to your roof or to raise you half-way +to them, and the luxuriance and variety of vegetable and animal life, +may not be the only satisfactions of existence here.</p> + +<p>A quiet amble over the red earth, to the station, in a thick morning +mist, almost cold enough to make an overcoat comfortable; and, after two +hours on the rail, I am again in Matanzas, among close-packed houses, +and with views of blue ocean and of ships.</p> + +<h3><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h3> + +<h4>MATANZAS AND ENVIRONS</h4> + +<p>Instead of the posada by the water-side, I take up my quarters at a +hotel kept by Ensor, an American, and his sister. Here the hours, +cooking, and chief arrangements are in the fashion of the country, as +they should be, but there is more of that attention to guests which we +are accustomed to at home than the Cuban hotels usually give.</p> + +<p>The objects to be visited here are the Cumbre and the valley of the +Yumurí. It is too late for a morning ride, and I put off my visit until +afternoon. Gazzaniga and some of the opera troupe are here; and several +Americans at the hotel, who were at the opera last night, tell me that +the people of Matanzas made a handsome show, and are of opinion that +there was more beauty in the boxes than we saw at the Villanueva. It +appears, too, that at the Retreta, in the Plaza de Armas, when the band +plays, and at evening promenades, the ladies walk about, and do not keep +to their carriages as in Havana.</p> + +<p>As soon as the sun began to decline, I set off for the Cumbre, mounted +on a pacer, with a Negro for a guide, who rode, as I soon discovered, a +better nag than mine. We cross the stone bridges, and pass the great +hospital, which dominates over the town. A regiment, dressed in +seersucker and straw hats, is drilling, by trumpet call, and drilling +well, too, on the green in front of the barracks while we take our +winding way up the ascent of the Cumbre.</p> + +<p>The bay, town, and shipping lie beneath us; the Pan rises in the +distance to the height of some 3,000 feet; the ocean is before us, +rolling against the outside base of the hills; and, on the inside, lies +the deep, rich, peaceful valley of the Yumurí. On the top of the Cumbre, +commanding the noblest view of ocean and valley, bay and town, is the +ingenio of a Mr. Jenkes, a merchant bearing a name that would put +Spanish tongues to their trumps to sound, were it not that they probably +take refuge in the Don Guillermo, or Don Enrique, of his Christian name. +The estate bears the name of La Victoria, and is kindly thrown open to +visitors from the city. It is said to be a model establishment. The +house is large, in a classic style, and costly, and the Negro quarters, +the store-houses, mechanic shops, and sugar-house are of dimensions +indicating an estate of the first class.</p> + +<p>On the way up from the city, several fine points of sight were occupied +by villas, all of one story, usually in the Roman or Grecian style, +surrounded by gardens and shade-trees, and with every appearance of +taste and wealth.</p> + +<p>It is late, but I must not miss the Yumurí; so we dive down the short, +steep descent, and cross dry brooks and wet brooks, and over stones, and +along bridle-paths, and over fields without paths, and by wretched +hovels, and a few decent cottages, with yelping dogs and cackling hens +and staring children, and between high, overhanging cliffs, and along +the side of a still lake, and after it is so dark that we can hardly see +stones or paths, we strike a bridle-path, and then come out upon the +road, and, in a few minutes more, are among the gas-lights and noises of +the city.</p> + +<p>At the hotel, there is a New York company who have spent the day at the +Yumurí, and describe a cave not yet fully explored, which is visited by +all who have time—abounding in stalactites, and, though much smaller, +reminding one of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.</p> + +<p>I cannot leave Matanzas without paying my respects to the family to +whose kindness I owe so much. Mr. Chartrand lives in a part of the +suburbs called Versailles, near the barracks, in a large and handsome +house, built after the style of the country. There I spend an agreeable +evening, at a gathering of nearly all the family, sons and daughters, +and the sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. There is something strangely +cosmopolitan in many of the Cuban families—as in this, where are found +French origin, Spanish and American intermarriage, education in Europe +or the United States, home and property in Cuba, friendships and +sympathies and half a residence in Boston or New York or Charleston, and +three languages at command.</p> + +<p>Here I learn that the Thirty Millions Bill has not passed, and, by the +latest dates, is not likely to pass.</p> + +<p>My room at Ensor's is on a level with the court-yard, and a horse puts +its face into the grating as I am dressing, and I know of nothing to +prevent his walking in at the door, if he chooses, so that the Negro may +finish rubbing him down by my looking-glass. Yet the house is neatly +furnished and cared for, and its keepers are attentive and deserving +people.</p> + +<h3><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h3> + +<h4>REFLECTIONS VIA RAILROAD</h4> + +<p>Although the distance to Havana, as the bird flies, is only sixty miles, +the railroad, winding into the interior, to draw out the sugar freights, +makes a line of nearly one hundred miles. This adds to the length of our +journey, but also greatly to its interest.</p> + +<p>In the cars are two Americans, who have also been visiting plantations. +They give me the following statistics of a sugar plantation, which they +think may be relied upon. Lands, machinery, 320 slaves, and 20 coolies, +worth $500,000. Produce this year, 4,000 boxes of sugar and 800 casks of +molasses, worth $104,000. Expenses, $35,000. Net, $69,000, or about 14 +per cent. This is not a large interest on an investment so much of which +is perishable and subject to deterioration.</p> + +<p>The day, as has been every day of mine in Cuba, is fair and beautiful. +The heat is great, perhaps even dangerous to a Northerner, should he be +exposed to it in active exercise, at noon—but, with the shade and +motion of the cars, not disagreeable, for the air is pure and elastic, +and it is only the direct heat of the sun that is oppressive. I think +one notices the results of this pure air, in the throats and nasal +organs of the people. One seldom meets a person that seems to have a +cold in the head or the throat; and pocket handkerchiefs are used +chiefly for ornament.</p> + +<p>I cannot weary of gazing upon these new and strange scenes; the +stations, with the groups of peasants and Negroes and fruit-sellers that +gather about them, and the stores of sugar and molasses collected there; +the ingenios, glimmering in the heat of the sun, with their tall furnace +chimneys; the cane-fields, acres upon acres; the slow ox-carts carrying +the cane to the mill; then the intervals of unused country, the jungles, +adorned with little wild flowers, the groves of the weeping, drooping, +sad, homesick cocoa; the royal palm, which is to trees what the camel or +dromedary is among animals seeming to have strayed from Nubia or +Mesopotamia; the stiff, close orange tree, with its golden balls of +fruit; and then the remains of a cafetal, the coffee plant growing +untrimmed and wild under the reprieved groves of plantain and banana.</p> + +<p>It is certainly true that there is such a thing as industry in the +tropics. The labor of the tropics goes on. Notwithstanding all we hear +and know of the enervating influence of the climate, the white man, if +not laborious himself, is the cause that labor is in others. With all +its social and political discouragements, with the disadvantages of a +duty of about twenty-five per cent on its sugars laid in the United +States, and a duty of full one hundred per cent on all flour imported +from the United States, and after paying heavier taxes than any people +on earth pay at this moment, and yielding a revenue, which nets, after +every deduction and discount, not less than sixteen millions a +year—against all these disadvantages, this island is still very +productive and very rich. There is, to be sure, little variety in its +industry. In the country, it is nothing but the raising and making of +sugar; and in the towns, it is the selling and exporting of sugar. With +the addition of a little coffee and copper, more tobacco, and some fresh +fruit and preserves, and the commerce which they stimulate, and the +mechanic and trading necessities of the towns, we have the sum of its +industry and resources. Science, arts, letters, arms, manufactures, and +the learning and discussions of politics, of theology, and of the great +problems and opinions that move the minds of the thinking world—in +these, the people of Cuba have no part. These move by them, as the great +Gulf Stream drifts by their shores. Nor is there, nor has there been in +Cuba, in the memory of the young and middle-aged, debate, or vote, or +juries, or one of the least and most rudimental processes of +self-government. The African and Chinese do the manual labor, the +Cubans hold the land and the capital, and direct the agricultural +industry; the commerce is shared between the Cubans, and foreigners of +all nations; and the government, civil and military, is exercised by the +citizens of Old Spain. No Cuban votes, or attends a lawful political +meeting, or sits on a jury, or sees a law-making assembly, except as a +curiosity abroad, even in a municipality; nor has he ever helped to +make, or interpret, or administer laws, or borne arms, except by special +license of government granted to such as are friends of government. In +religion, he has no choice, except between the Roman Catholic and none. +The laws that govern him are made abroad, and administered by a central +power, a foreign Captain-General, through the agency of foreign civil +and military officers. The Cuban has no public career. If he removes to +Old Spain, and is known as a supporter of Spanish royal power, his +Creole birth is probably no impediment to him. But at home, as a Cuban, +he may be a planter, a merchant, a physician, but he cannot expect to be +a civil magistrate, or to hold a commission in the army, or an office in +the police; and though he may be a lawyer, and read, sitting, a written +argument to a court of judges, he cannot expect to be himself a judge. +He may publish a book, but the government must be the responsible +author. He may edit a journal, but the government must be the +editor-in-chief.</p> + +<p>At the chief stations on the road, there are fruit-sellers in abundance, +with fruit fresh from the trees: oranges, bananas, sapotes, and +coconuts. The coconut is eaten at an earlier stage than that in which we +see it at the North, for it is gathered for exportation after it has +become hard. It is eaten here when no harder than a melon, and is cut +through with a knife, and the soft white pulp, mixed with the milk, is +eaten with a spoon. It is luscious and wholesome, much more so than when +the rind has hardened into the shell, and the soft pulp into a hard +meat.</p> + +<p>A little later in the afternoon, the character of the views begins to +change. The ingenios and cane-fields become less frequent, then cease +altogether, and the houses have more the appearance of pleasure retreats +than of working estates. The roads show lines of mules and horses, +loaded with panniers of fruits, or sweeping the ground with the long +stalks of fresh fodder laid across their backs, all moving towards a +common center. Pleasure carriages appear. Next comes the distant view of +the Castle of Atares, and the Príncipe, and then the harbor and the sea, +the belt of masts, the high ridge of fortifications, the blue and white +and yellow houses, with brown tops; and now we are in the streets of +Havana.</p> + +<p>Here are the familiar signs—Por mayor y menor, Posada y Cantina, +Tienda, Panadería, Relojería, and the fanciful names of the shops, the +high-pitched falsetto cries of the streets, the long files of mules and +horses, with panniers of fruit, or hidden, all but their noses and +tails, under stacks of fresh fodder, the volantes, and the motley +multitude of whites, blacks, and Chinese, soldiers and civilians, and +occasionally priests—Negro women, lottery-ticket vendors, and the girl +musicians with their begging tambourines.</p> + +<p>The same idlers are at the door of Le Grand's; a rehearsal, as usual, is +going on at the head of the first flight; and the parrot is blinking at +the hot, white walls of the court-yard, and screaming bits of Spanish. +My New York friends have got back from the country a day before me. I am +installed in a better room than before, on the house-top, where the sun +is hot, but where there is air and a view of the ocean.</p> + +<h3><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Social, Religious and Judicial Tidbits</h4> + +<p>The warm bath round the corner is a refreshment after a day's railroad +ride in such heat; and there, in the front room, the man in his shirt +sleeves is serving out liquor, as before, and the usual company of +Creoles is gathered about the billiard tables. After a dinner in the +handsome, airy restaurant of Le Grand's, I drive into the city in the +evening, to the close streets of the Extramuros, and pay a visit to the +lady whom I failed to see on my arrival. I am so fortunate as to meet +her, and beside the pleasure to be found in her society, I am glad to be +able to give her personal information from her attached and sympathizing +friends, at the North.</p> + +<p>While I am there, a tinkling sound of bells is heard in the streets, and +lights flash by. It is a procession, going to carry the viaticum, the +last sacrament, to a dying person.</p> + +<p>From this house, I drove towards the water-side, past the Plaza de +Armas, the old Plaza de San Francisco, with its monastery turned into an +almacén (a store-house of merchandise,) through the Calle de los +Oficios, to the boarding-house of Madame Almy, to call upon Dr. and Mrs. +Howe. Mr. Parker left Havana, as he intended, last Tuesday, for Santa +Cruz. He found Havana rather too hot for his comfort, and Santa Cruz, +the most healthful and temperate of the islands, had always been his +destination. He had visited a few places in the city, and among others, +the College of Belén, where he had been courteously received by the +Jesuits. I found that they knew his reputation as a scholar and writer, +and a leading champion of modern Theism in America. Dr. Howe had called +at Le Grand's, yesterday, to invite me to go with him to attend a trial, +at the Audiencia, which attracted a good deal of interest among the +Creoles. The story, as told by the friends of Señor Maestri, the +defendant, is that in the performance of a judicial duty, he discharged +a person against whom the government was proceeding illegally, and that +this lead to a correspondence between him and the authorities, which +resulted in his being deposed and brought to trial, before the +Audiencia, on a charge of disrespect to the Captain-General. I have no +means of learning the correctness of this statement, at present—</p> + +<p class="c">"<i>I say the tale as 'twas said to me.</i>"</p> + +<p>The cause has, at all events, excited a deep interest among the Creoles, +who see in it another proof of the unlimited character of the +centralized power that governs them. I regret that I missed a scene of +so much interest and instruction. Dr. Howe told me that Maestri's +counsel, Señor Azcárate, a young lawyer, defended his friend +courageously; but the evidence being all in writing, without the +exciting conflicts and vicissitudes of oral testimony, and the written +arguments being delivered sitting; there was not much in the proceedings +to stimulate the Creole excitability. No decision was given, the Court +taking time to deliberate. It seems to have been a Montalembert trial, +on a small theater.</p> + +<p>To-night there is again a máscara at the next door, but my room is now +more remote, and I am able to sleep through it. Once I awoke. It was +nearly five o'clock. The music was still going on, but in softer and +more subdued tones. The drums and trumpets were hushed, and all had +fallen, as if by the magic touch of the approaching dawn, into a trance +of sound, a rondo of constantly returning delicious melody, as nearly +irresistible to the charmed sense as sound can be conceived to be—just +bordering on the fusing state between sense and spirit. It is a +contradanza of Cuba. The great bells beat five, over the city; and +instantly the music ceases, and is heard no more. The watchmen cry the +hour, and the bells of the hospitals and convents sound their matins, +though it is yet dark.</p> + +<h3><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Worship, Etiquette and Humanitarianism</h4> + +<p>At break of day, I am in the delightful sea-baths again, not ill-named +Recreo and Elíseo. But the forlorn chain-gang are mustered before the +Presidio. It is Sunday, but there is no day of rest for them.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock I present myself at the Belén. A lady, who was passing +through the cloister, with head and face covered by the usual black +veil, turned and came to me. It was Mrs.——, whom I had seen last +evening. She kindly took me to the sacristy, and asked some one to tell +Father—— that I was there, and then went to her place in church. While +waiting in the sacristy, I saw the robing and unrobing of the +officiating priests, the preparation of altar ceremonials by boys and +men, and could hear the voices and music in the church, on the other +side of the great altar. The manner of the Jesuits is in striking +contrast with that at the Cathedral. All is slow, orderly and +reverential, whether on the part of men or boys. Instead of the hurried +walk, the nod and duck, there is a slow march, a kneeling, or a +reverential bow. At a small side altar, in the sacristy, communion is +administered by a single priest. Among the recipients are several men of +mature years and respectable position; and side by side with them, the +poor and the Negroes. In the Church, there is no distinction of race or +color.</p> + +<p>Father—— appears, is unrobed, and takes me to the gallery of the +church, near the organ. From this, I looked down upon a sea of rich +costumes of women, veiled heads, and kneeling figures, literally +covering the floor of the church. On the marble pavement, the little +carpets are spread, and on these, as close as they can sit or kneel, are +the ladies of rank and wealth of Havana. A new-comer glides in among +them seeking room for her carpet, or room of charity or friendship on a +carpet already spread; and the kneelers or sitters move and gather in +their wide skirts to let her pass. Here and there a servant in livery +winds his way behind his mistress, bearing her carpet, and returns to +the porch when it has been spread. The whole floor is left to women. The +men gather about the walls and doorways, or sit in the gallery, which is +reserved for them. But among the women, though chiefly of rank and +wealth, are some who are Negroes, usually distinguished by the plain +shawl, instead of the veil over the head. The Countess Villanueva, +immensely rich, of high rank, and of a name great in the annals of Cuba, +but childless, and blind, and a widow, is lead in by the hand by her +Negro servant. The service of the altar is performed with dignity and +reverence, and the singing, which is by the Jesuit Brothers themselves, +is admirable. In the choir I recognized my new friends, the Rector and +young Father Cabre, the professor of physics. The "Tantum ergo +Sacramentum," which was sung kneeling, brought tears into my eyes, and +kept them there.</p> + +<p>After service, Mr.—— came to me, and made an engagement to show me the +benevolent institutions on the Bishop's list, accepting my invitation to +breakfast at Le Grand's, at eleven o'clock. At eleven he came, and after +a quiet breakfast in a side room, we went to the house of Señor——, +whom he well knows, in the hope that he would go with us. The Señor was +engaged to meet one of the Fathers at noon, and could not go, but +introduced to me a relative of his, a young student of medicine in the +University, who offered to take me to the Presidio and other places, the +next day.</p> + +<p>It occurred to us to call upon a young American lady, who was residing +at the house of a Spanish lady of wealth and rank, and invite her to go +with us to see the Beneficencia, which we thought she might do, as it is +an institution under the charge of nuns, and she was to go with a Padre +in full dress. But the customs of the country are rigid. Miss—— was +very desirous to go, but had doubts. She consulted the lady of the +house, who would know, if any one could, the etiquette of Havana. The +Señora's reply was, "You are an American, and may do anything." This +settled the matter in the negative, and we went alone. Now we drive to +Don Juan—— 's. The gate is closed. The driver, who is a white, gets +off and makes a feeble and timid rap at the door. "Knock louder!" says +my friend, in Spanish. "What cowards they are!" he adds to me. The man +makes a knock, a little louder. "There, see that! Peeking into the +keyhole! Mean! An Englishman would beat the door down before he would do +that." Don Juan is in the country, so we fail of all our expected +companions.</p> + +<p>The Casa de Beneficencia is a large institution, for orphan and +destitute children, for infirm old persons, and for the insane. It is +admirably situated, bordering on the open sea, with fresh air and very +good attention to ventilation in the rooms. It is a government +institution, but is placed under charge of the Sisters of Charity, one +of whom accompanied us about the building. Though called a government +institution, it must not be supposed that it is a charity from the +crown. On the contrary, it is supported by a specific appropriation of +certain of the taxes and revenues of the island. In the building is a +church not yet finished, large enough for all the inmates, and a quiet +little private chapel for the Sisters' devotions, where a burning lamp +indicated the presence of the Sacrament on the small altar. I am sorry +to have forgotten the number of children. It was large, and included +both sexes, with a separate department for each. In a third department +are the insane. They are kindly treated and not confined, except when +violent; but the Sister told us they had no medical treatment unless in +case of sickness. (Dr. Howe told me that he was also so informed.) The +last department is for aged and indigent women.</p> + +<p>One of the little orphans clung to the Sister who accompanied us, +holding her hand, and nestling in her coarse but clean blue gown; and +when we took our leave, and I put a small coin into her little soft +hand, her eyes brightened up into a pretty smile.</p> + +<p>The number of the Sisters is not full. As none have joined the order +from Cuba, (I am told literally none,) they are all from abroad, chiefly +from France and Spain; and having acclimation to go through, with +exposure to yellow fever and cholera, many of those that come here die +in the first or second summer. And yet they still come, in simple, +religious fidelity, under the shadow of death.</p> + +<p>The Casa de Beneficencia must be pronounced by all, even by those +accustomed to the system and order of the best charitable institutions +in the world, a credit to the island of Cuba. The charity is large and +liberal, and the order and neatness of its administration are beyond +praise.</p> + +<p>From the Beneficencia we drove to the Military Hospital. This is a huge +establishment, designed to accommodate all the sick of the army. The +walls are high, the floors are of brick and scrupulously clean, as are +all things under the charge of the Sisters of Charity; and the +ventilation is tolerable. The building suffered from the explosion of +the magazine last year, and some quarters have not yet been restored for +occupation. The number of sick soldiers now in hospital actually exceeds +one thousand! Most of them are young, some mere lads, victims of the +conscription of Old Spain, which takes them from their rustic homes in +Andalusia and Catalonia and the Pyrenees, to expose them to the tropical +heats of Cuba, and to the other dangers of its climate. Most had fevers. +We saw a few cases of vómito. Notwithstanding all that is said about the +healthfulness of a winter in Cuba, the experienced Sister Servant +(which, I believe, is the title of the Superior of a body of Sisters of +Charity) told us that a few sporadic cases of yellow fever occur in +Havana, in all seasons of the year; but that we need not fear to go +through the wards. One patient was covered with the blotches of recent +smallpox. It was affecting to see the wistful eyes of these poor, +fevered soldier-boys, gazing on the serene, kind countenances of the +nuns, and thinking of their mothers and sisters in the dear home in Old +Spain, and feeling, no doubt, that this womanly, religious care was the +nearest and best substitute.</p> + +<p>The present number of Sisters, charged with the entire care of this +great hospital, except the duty of cooks and the mere manual and +mechanic labor necessarily done by men, is not above twenty-five. The +Sister Servant told us that the proper complement was forty. The last +summer, eleven of these devoted women died of yellow fever. Every +summer, when yellow fever or cholera prevails, some of them die. They +know it. Yet the vacancies are filled up; and their serene and ever +happy countenances give the stranger no indication that they have bound +themselves to the bedside of contagious and loathsome diseases every +year, and to scenes of sickness and death every day.</p> + +<p>As we walked through the passage-ways, we came upon the little private +chapel of the Sisters. Here was a scene I can never forget. It was an +hour assigned for prayer. All who could leave the sick wards—not more +than twelve or fourteen—were kneeling in that perfectly still, +secluded, darkened room, in a double row, all facing to the altar, on +which burned one taper, showing the presence of the Sacrament, and all +in silent prayer. That double row of silent, kneeling women, unconscious +of the presence of any one, in their snow-white, close caps and long +capes, and coarse, clean, blue gowns—heroines, if the world ever had +heroines, their angels beholding the face of their Father in heaven, as +they knelt on earth!</p> + +<p>It was affecting and yet almost amusing—it would have been amusing +anywhere else—that these simple creatures, not knowing the ways of the +world, and desirous to have soft music fill their room, as they knelt at +silent prayer, and not having (for their duties preclude it) any skill +in the practice of music, had a large music-box wound and placed on a +stand, in the rear, giving out its liquid tones, just loud enough to +pervade the air, without forcing attention. The effect was beautiful; +and yet the tunes were not all, nor chiefly, religious. They were such +as any music-box would give. But what do these poor creatures know of +what the world marches to, or dances to, or makes love by? To them it +was all music, and pure and holy!</p> + +<p>Minute after minute we stood, waiting for, but not desiring, an end of +these delightful sounds, and a dissolving of this spell of silent +adoration. One of the Sisters began prayers aloud, a series of short +prayers and adorations and thanksgivings, to each of which, at its +close, the others made response in full, sweet voices. The tone of +prayer of this Sister was just what it should be. No skill of art could +reach it. How much truer than the cathedral, or the great ceremonial! It +was low, yet audible, composed, reverent: neither the familiar, which +offends so often, nor the rhetorical, which always offends, but that +unconscious sustained intonation, not of speech, but of music, which +frequent devotions in company with others naturally call out; showing us +that poetry and music, and not prose and speech, are the natural +expressions of the deepest and highest emotions.</p> + +<p>They rose, with the prayer of benediction, and we withdrew. They +separated, to station themselves, one in each ward of the hospital, +there, aloud and standing, to repeat their prayers—the sick men raising +themselves on their elbows, or sitting in bed, or, if more feeble, +raising their eyes and clasping their hands, and all who can or choose, +joining in the responses.</p> + +<h3><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Hospital and Prison</h4> + +<p>Drove out over the Paseo de Tacón to the Cerro, a height, formerly a +village, now a part of the suburbs of Havana. It is high ground, and +commands a noble view of Havana and the sea. Coming in, I met the +Bishop, who introduced me to the Count de la Fernandina, a dignified +Spanish nobleman, who owns a beautiful villa on this Paseo, where we +walked a while in the grounds. This house is very elegant and costly, +with marble floors, high ceilings, piazzas, and a garden of the richest +trees and flowers coming into the court-yard, and advancing even into +the windows of the house. It is one of the most beautiful villas in the +vicinity of Havana.</p> + +<p>There are several noblemen who have their estates and titles in Cuba, +but are recognized as nobles of Spain—in all, I should say, about fifty +or sixty. Some of these have received their titles for civil or military +services; but most of them have been raised to their rank on account of +their wealth, or have purchased their titles outright. I believe there +are but two grades, the marquis and the count. Among the titles best +known to strangers are Villanueva, Fernandina, and O'Reilly. The number +of Irish families who have taken rank in the Spanish service and become +connected with Cuba, is rather remarkable. Beside O'Reilly, there are +O'Donnel, O'Farrel, and O'Lawlor, descendants of Irishmen who entered +the Spanish service after the battle of the Boyne.</p> + +<p>Dr. Howe had seen the Presidio, the great prison of Havana, once; but +was desirous to visit it again; so he joined me, under the conduct of +our young friend, Señor——, to visit that and the hospital of San Juan +de Dios. The hospital we saw first. It is supported by the +government—that is to say, by Cuban revenues—for charity patients +chiefly, but some, who can afford it, pay more or less. There are about +two hundred and fifty patients. This, again, is in the charge of the +Sisters of Charity. As we came upon one of the Sisters, in a +passage-way, in her white cap and cape, and black and blue dress, Dr. +Howe said, "I always take off my hat to a Sister of Charity," and we +paid them all that attention, whenever we passed them. Dr. Howe examined +the book of prescriptions, and said that there was less drugging than he +supposed there would be. The attending physician told us that nearly all +the physicians had studied in Paris, or in Philadelphia. There were a +great many medical students in attendance, and there had just been an +operation in the theater. In an open yard we saw two men washing a dead +body, and carelessly laying it on a table, for dissection. I am told +that the medical and surgical professions are in a very satisfactory +state of advancement in the island, and that a degree in medicine, and a +license to practise, carry with them proofs of considerable proficiency. +It is always observable that the physical and the exact sciences are the +last to suffer under despotisms.</p> + +<p>The Presidio and Grand Cárcel of Havana is a large building, of yellow +stone, standing near the fort of the Punta, and is one of the striking +objects as you enter the harbor. It has no appearance of a jail without, +but rather of a palace or court; but within, it is full of live men's +bones and of all uncleanness. No man, whose notions are derived from an +American or English penitentiary of the last twenty years, or fifty +years, can form an idea of the great Cuban prison. It is simply +horrible. There are no cells, except for solitary confinement of +"incomunicados"—who are usually political offenders. The prisoners are +placed in large rooms, with stone floors and grated windows, where they +are left, from twenty to fifty in each, without work, without books, +without interference or intervention of any one, day and night, day and +night, for the weeks, months or years of their sentences. The sights are +dreadful. In this hot climate, so many beings, with no provision for +ventilation but the grated windows—so unclean, and most of them naked +above the waist—all spend their time in walking, talking, playing, and +smoking; and, at night, without bed or blanket, they lie down on the +stone floor, on what clothes they may have, to sleep if they can. The +whole prison, with the exception of the few cells for the +"incomunicados," was a series of these great cages, in which human +beings were shut up. Incarceration is the beginning, middle and end of +the whole system. Reformation, improvement, benefit to soul or body, are +not thought of. We inquired carefully, both of the officer who was sent +to attend us, and of a capitán de partido, who was there, and were +positively assured that the only distinction among the prisoners was +determined by the money they paid. Those who can pay nothing, are left +to the worst. Those who can pay two reals (twenty-five cents) a day, are +placed in wards a little higher and better. Those who can pay six reals +(seventy-five cents) a day, have better places still, called the "Salas +de distinción," and some privileges of walking in the galleries. The +amount of money, and not the degree of criminality, determines the +character of the punishment. There seems to be no limit to the right of +the prisoners to talk with any whom they can get to hear them, at +whatever distance, and to converse with visitors, and to receive money +from them. In fact, the whole scene was a Babel. All that was insured +was that they should not escape. When I say that no work was done, I +should make the qualification that a few prisoners were employed in +rolling tobacco into cigars, for a contractor; but they were very few. +Among the prisoners was a capitán de partido (a local magistrate), who +was committed on a charge of conniving at the slave-trade. He could pay +his six reals, of course; and had the privileges of a "Sala de +distinción" and of the galleries. He walked about with us, cigar in +mouth, and talked freely, and gave us much information respecting the +prison. My last request was to see the garrotte; but it was refused me.</p> + +<p>It was beginning to grow dark before we got to the gate, which was duly +opened to us, and we passed out, with a good will, into the open air. +Dr. Howe said he was nowise reluctant to be outside. It seemed to bring +back to his mind his Prussian prison, a little too forcibly to be +agreeable. He felt as if he were in keeping again, and was thinking how +he should feel if, just as we got to the gate, an officer were to bow +and say, "Dr. Howe?" "Yes, sir." "You may remain here. There is a charge +against you of seditious language, since you have been in the island." +No man would meet such a danger more calmly, and say less about it, than +he, if he thought duty to his fellow-beings called him to it.</p> + +<p>The open air, the chainless ocean, and the ships freely coming and +going, were a pleasant change to the eye, even of one who had never +suffered bonds for conscience sake. It seemed strange to see that all +persons outside were doing as they pleased.</p> + +<h3><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Bullfight</h4> + +<p>A bullfight has been advertised all over the town, at the Plaza de +Toros. Shall we go? I would not, if it were only pleasure that I was +seeking. As I am sure I expect only the contrary, and wish merely to +learn the character of this national recreation, I will go.</p> + +<p>The Plaza de Toros is a wooden amphitheater, in the suburbs, open at the +top—a circle of rising seats, with the arena in the center. I am late. +The cries of the people inside are loud, sharp, and constant; a full +band is blowing its trumpets and beating its drums; and the late +stragglers are jostling for their tickets. I go through at a low door, +find myself under benches filled with an eager, stamping, shouting +multitude, make my way through a passage, and come out on the shady +side, for it is a late afternoon sun, and take my place at a good point +of view. A bull, with some blood about his fore-quarters and two or +three darts (banderillas) sticking in his neck, is trotting harmlessly +about the arena, "more sinned against than sinning," and seeming to have +no other desire than to get out. Two men, each carrying a long, stout, +wooden pole, pointed with a short piece of iron, not long enough to +kill, but only to drive off and to goad, are mounted on two of the +sorriest nags eyes ever beheld—reprieved jades, whom it would not pay +to feed and scarcely pay to kill, and who have been left to take their +chances of death here. They could hardly be pricked into a trot, and +were too weak to escape. I have seen horses in every stage of life and +in every degree of neglect, but no New York Negro hack-driver would have +taken these for a gift, if he were obliged to keep them. The bull could +not be said to run away from the horses, for they did not pursue; but +when, distracted by sights and sounds, he came against a horse, the +horse stood still to be gored, and the bull only pushed against him +with his head, until driven off by the punching of the iron-pointed pole +of the horseman.</p> + +<p>Around the arena are sentry-boxes, each large enough to hold two men, +behind which they can easily jump, but which the bull cannot enter; and +from these, the cowardly wretches run out, flourish a red cloth at the +bull, and jump back. Three or four men, with darts in hand, run before +the bull, entice him by flapping their red cloths, and, as he trots up +to them, stick banderillas into his neck. These torment the bull, and he +tries to shake them off, and paws the ground; but still he shows no +fight. He trots to the gate, and snuffs to get out. Some of the +multitude cry "Fuera el toro! Fuera el toro!" which means that he is a +failure, and must be let out at the gate. Others are excited, and cry +for the killer, the matador; and a demoniacal scene follows, of yells +and shouts, half-drowned by twenty or thirty drums and trumpets. The +cries to go on prevail; and the matador appears, dressed in a +tight-fitting suit of green small-clothes, with a broad silver stripe, +jerkin, and stockings—a tall, light-complexioned, elegantly made, +glittering man, bearing in one hand a long, heavy, dull black sword, and +in the other a broad, red cloth. Now comes the harrying and distracting +of the bull by flags, and red cloths, and darts; the matador runs +before, flings his cloth up and down; the bull trots towards it—no +furious rush, or maddened dash, but a moderate trot—the cloth is +flashed over his face and one skilfully directed lunge of the sword into +his back neck, and he drops instantly dead at the feet of the matador, +at the very spot where he received the stab. Frantic shouts of applause +follow; and the matador bows around, like an applauded circus-rider, and +retires. The great gate opens, and three horses abreast are driven in, +decked with ribbons, to drag the bull round the arena. But they are such +feeble animals that, with all the flourish of music and the whipping of +drivers, they are barely able to tug the bull along over the tan, in a +straight line for the gate, through which the sorry pageant and +harmless bull disappear.</p> + +<p>Now, some meager, hungry, sallow, sweaty, mean-looking degenerates of +Spain jump in and rake over the arena, and cover up the blood, and put +things to rights again; and I find time to take a view of the company. +Thankful I am, and creditable it is, that there are no women. Yes, there +are two mulatto women in a seat on the sunny side, which is the cheap +side. And there are two shrivelled, dark, Creole women, in a box; and +there is one girl of eight or ten years, in full dress, with an elderly +man. These are all the women. In the State Box, under the faded royal +arms, are a few officials, not of high degree. The rest of the large +company is a motley collection, chiefly of the middle or lower classes, +mostly standing on the benches, and nearly all smoking.</p> + +<p>The music beats and brays again, the great gates open, and another bull +rushes in, distracted by sights and sounds so novel, and for a few +minutes shows signs of power and vigor; but, as he becomes accustomed to +the scene, he tames down; and after several minutes of flaunting of +cloths and flags, and piercing with darts, and punching with the poles +of the horsemen, he runs under the poor white horse, and upsets him, but +leaves him unhurt by his horns; has a leisurely trial of endurance with +the red horse, goring him a little with one horn, and receiving the pike +of the driver—the horse helpless and patient, and the bull very +reasonable and temperate in the use of his power—and then is enticed +off by flags, and worried with darts; and, at last, a new matador +appears—a fierce-looking fellow, dressed in dark green, with a large +head of curling, snaky, black hair, and a skin almost black. He makes a +great strut and flourish, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts +to get the bull head on, at length, getting a fair chance, plunges his +black sword to the hilt in the bull's neck—but there is no fall of the +bull. He has missed the spinal cord and the bull trots off, bleeding in +a small stream, with a sword-handle protruding a few inches above the +hide of his back-neck. The spectators hoot their contempt for the +failure; but with no sign of pity for the beast. The bull is weakened, +but trots about and makes a few runs at cloths, and the sword is drawn +from his hide by an agile dart-sticker (banderillero), and given to the +black bully in dark green, who makes one more lunge, with no better +success. The bull runs round, and reels, and staggers, and falls half +down, gets partly up, lows and breathes heavily, is pushed over and held +down, until a butcher dispatches him with a sharp knife, at the spinal +cord. Then come the opened gates, the three horses abreast, decked with +ribbons, the hard tug at the bull's body over the ground, his limbs +still swaying with remaining life, the clash and clang of the band, and +the yells of the people.</p> + +<p>Shall I stay another? Perhaps it may be more successful, and—if the new +bull will only bruise somebody! But the new bull is a failure. After all +their attempts to excite him, he only trots round, and snuffs at the +gates; and the cry of "Fuera el toro!" becomes so general, with the +significant triple beat of the feet, in time with the words, all over +the house, that the gates are opened, and the bull trots through, to his +quarters.</p> + +<p>But the meanness, and cruelty, and impotency of this crowd! They cry out +to the spear-men and the dart-men, and to the tormentors, and to the +bull, and to the horses, and to each other, in a Babel of sounds, where +no man's voice can possibly be distinguished ten feet from him, all +manner of advice and encouragement or derision, like children at a play. +One full grown, well-dressed young man, near me, kept up a constant cry +to the men in the ring, when I am sure no one could distinguish his +words, and no one cared to—until I became so irritated that I could +have throttled him.</p> + +<p>But, such you are! You can cry and howl at bull-fights and cockfights +and in the pits of operas and theaters, and drive bulls and horses +distracted, and urge gallant gamecocks to the death, and applaud opera +singers into patriotic songs, and leave them to imprisonment and +fines—and you yourselves cannot lift a finger, or join hand to hand, +or bring to the hazard life, fortune, or honor, for your liberty and +your dignity as men. Work your slaves, torture your bulls, fight your +gamecocks, crown your dancers and singers—and leave the weightier +matters of judgment and justice, of fame by sea and land, of letters and +arts and sciences, of private right and public honor, the present and +future of your race and of your native land, to the care of others—of a +people of no better blood than your own, strangers and sojourners among +you!</p> + +<p>The next bull is treated to a refinement of torture, in the form of +darts filled with heavy China crackers, which explode on the neck of the +poor beast. I could not see that even this made him really dangerous. +The light-complexioned, green-and-silver matador dispatches him, as he +did the first bull, with a single lunge, and—a fall and a quiver, and +all is over!</p> + +<p>The fifth bull is a failure and is allowed to go out of the ring. The +sixth is nearly the same with the others, harmless if let alone, and +goaded into short-lived activity, but not into anything like fury or +even a dangerous animosity. He is treated to fire-crackers, and gores +one horse a little—the horse standing, side on, and taking it, until +the bull is driven off by the punching of the spear; and runs at the +other horse, and, to my delight, upsets the rider, but unfortunately +without hurting him, and the black-haired matador in green tries his +hand on him and fails again, and is hooted, and takes to throwing darts, +and gets a fall, and looks disconcerted, and gets his sword again, and +makes another false thrust; and the crippled and bleeding animal is +thrown down and dispatched by the butcher with his short knife, and +drawn off by the three poor horses. The gates close, and I hurry out in +a din of shouts and drums and trumpets, the great crowd waiting for the +last bull—but I have seen enough.</p> + +<p>There is no volante waiting, and I have to take my seat in an omnibus, +and wait for the end of the scene. The confusion of cries and shouts and +the interludes of music still goes on, for a quarter of an hour, and +then the crowd begins to pour out, and to scatter over the ground. Four +faces in a line are heading for my omnibus. There is no mistaking that +head man, the file leader. "Down East" is written legibly all over his +face. Tall, thin, sallow, grave, circumspect! The others are not +counterparts. They vary. But "New England" is graven on all.</p> + +<p>"Wa-a-al!" says the leader, as he gets into the omnibus. No reply. They +take their seats, and wipe their foreheads. One expectorates. Another +looks too wise for utterance. "By," ... a long pause—How will he end +it?—"Jingoes!" That is a failure. It is plain he fell short, and did +not end as he intended. The sentiment of the four has not yet got +uttered. The fat, flaxen-haired man makes his attempt. "If there is a +new milch cow in Vermont that wouldn't show more fight, under such +usage, than them bulls, I'd buy her and make a present of her to +Governor <i>Cunchy</i>—or whatever they call him."</p> + +<p>This is practical and direct, and opens the way to a more free +interchange. The northern ice is thawed. The meanness and cruelty of the +exhibition is commented upon. The moral view is not overlooked, nor +underrated.—None but cowards would be so cruel. And last of all, it is +an imposition. Their money has been obtained under false pretences. A +suit would lie to recover it back; but the poor devils are welcome to +the money. The coach fills up with Cubans; and the noise of the +pavements drowns the further reflections of the four philanthropists, +patriots and economists.</p> + +<h3><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: More Manners and Customs</h4> + +<p>The people of Cuba have a mode of calling attention by a sound of the +tongue and lips, a sort of "P—s—t!" after the fashion of some parts of +the continent of Europe. It is universal here; and is used not only to +servants and children, but between themselves, and to strangers. It has +a mean sound, to us. They make it clear and penetrating; yet it seems a +poor, effeminate sibilation, and no generous, open-mouthed call. It is +the mode of stopping a volante, calling a waiter, attracting the +attention of a friend, or calling the notice of a stranger. I have no +doubt, if a fire were to break out at the next door, a Cuban would call +"P—s—t!"</p> + +<p>They beckon a person to come to them by the reverse of our motion. They +raise the open hand, with the palm outwards, bending the fingers toward +the person they are calling. We should interpret it to be a sign to go +away.</p> + +<p>Smoking is universal, and all but constant. I have amused myself, in the +street, by seeing what proportion of those I meet have cigars or +cigarettes in their mouths. Sometimes it has been one half, sometimes +one in three. The cigar is a great leveller. Any man may stop another +for a light. I have seen the poor porters, on the wharf, bow to +gentlemen, strangers to them, and hold out a cigar, and the gentlemen +stop, give a light, and go on—all as of course.</p> + +<p>In the evening, called on the Señoritas F——, at the house of Mr. +B——, and on the American young lady at Señor M—— 's, and on Mrs. +Howe, at Mde. Almy's, to offer to take letters or packets. At Mrs. +Almy's, there is a gentleman from New York, Mr. G——, who is dying of +consumption. His only wish is to live until the "Cahawba" comes in, that +he may at least die at sea, if he cannot survive until she reaches New +York. He has a horror of dying here, and being buried in the Potter's +Field. Dr. Howe has just come from his chamber.</p> + +<p>I drove out to the bishop's, to pay my parting respects. It is about +half-past eight in the evening. He has just returned from his evening +drive, is dressed in a cool, cambric dressing-gown, after a bath, and is +taking a quiet cigar, in his high-roofed parlor. He is very cordial and +polite, and talks again about the Thirty Millions Bill, and asks what I +think of the result, and what I have seen of the island, and my opinion +of the religious and charitable institutions. I praise the Belén and the +Sisters of Charity, and condemn the prison, and he appears to agree with +me. He appreciates the learning and zeal of the Brothers of Belén; +speaks in the highest terms of the devotedness of the Sisters of +Charity; and admits the great faults of the prison, but says it was +built recently, at an enormous out-lay, and he supposes the government +is reluctant to be at the expense of abandoning it and building another. +He charges me with messages of remembrance and respect to acquaintances +we have in common. As I take my leave, he goes with me to the outer +gate, which is kept locked, and again takes leave, for two leave-takings +are the custom of the country, and returns to the solitude of his house.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I drove out to the Cerro, to see the coolie jail, or market, +where the imported coolies are kept for sale. It is a well-known place, +and open to all visitors. The building has a fair-looking front; and +through this I enter, past two porters, into an open yard in the rear, +where, on the gravel ground, are squatting a double line of coolies, +with heads shaved, except a tuft on the crown, dressed in loose Chinese +garments of blue and yellow. The dealer, who is a calm, shrewd, +heartless-looking man, speaking English as well as if it were his native +tongue, comes out with me, calls to the coolies, and they all stand up +in a double line, facing inward, and we pass through them, preceded by a +driver armed with the usual badge of the plantation driver, the short, +limber whip. The dealer does not hesitate to tell me the terms on which +the contracts are made, as the trade is not illegal. His account is +this—The importer receives $340 for each coolie, and the purchaser +agrees to pay the coolie four dollars per month, and to give him food, +and two suits of clothes a year. For this, he has his services for eight +years. The contract is reduced to writing before a magistrate, and two +originals are made, one kept by the coolie and one by the purchaser, and +each in Chinese and Spanish.</p> + +<p>This was a strange and striking exhibition of power. Two or three white +men, bringing hundreds of Chinese thousands of miles, to a new climate +and people, holding them prisoners, selling their services to masters +having an unknown tongue and an unknown religion, to work at unknown +trades, for inscrutable purposes!</p> + +<p>The coolies did not look unhealthy, though some had complaints of the +eyes; yet they looked, or I fancied they looked, some of them, unhappy, +and some of them stolid. One I am sure had the leprosy although the +dealer would not admit it. The dealer did not deny their tendency to +suicide, and the danger of attempting to chastise them, but alleged +their great superiority to the Negro in intelligence, and contended that +their condition was good, and better than in China, having four dollars +a month, and being free at the end of eight years. He said, which I +found to be true, that after being separated and employed in work, they +let their hair grow, and adopt the habits and dress of the country. The +newly-arrived coolies wear tufts, and blue-and-yellow, loose, Chinese +clothes. Those who have been here long are distinguishable from the +whites only by the peculiar tinge of the cheek, and the form of the eye. +The only respect in which his account differed from what I heard +elsewhere was in the amount the importer receives, which has always been +stated to me at $400. While I am talking with him, a gentleman comes and +passes down the line. He is probably a purchaser, I judge; and I leave +my informant to follow what is more for his interest than talking with +me.</p> + +<p>The importation has not yet existed eight years. So the question, what +will become of these men, exotics, without women or children, taking no +root in the land, has not come to a solution. The constant question +is—will they remain and mix with the other races? Will they be +permitted to remain? Will they be able to go back? In 1853, they were +not noticed in the census; and in 1857, hardly noticed. The number +imported may, to some extent, be obtained from the records and files of +the aduana, but not so as to be relied upon. I heard the number +estimated at 200,000 by intelligent and well-informed Cubans. Others put +it as low as 60,000. Certain it is that coolies are to be met with +everywhere, in town and country.</p> + +<p>So far as I can learn, there is no law in China regulating the contracts +and shipment of Chinese coolies, and none in Cuba regulating their +transportation, landing, or treatment while here. The trade has grown up +and been permitted and recognized, but not regulated. It is yet to be +determined how far the contract is enforceable against either party. +Those coolies that are taken from the British East Indies to British +islands are taken under contracts, with regulations, as to their +exportation and return, understood and enforced. Not so the Chinese +coolies. Their importers are <i>lege soluti</i>. Some say the government will +insist on their being returned. But the prevailing impression is that +they will be brought in debt, and bound over again for their debts, or +in some other way secured to a life-long servitude.</p> + +<p>Mr.——, a very wealthy and intelligent planter, tells me he is to go +over to Regla, to-morrow morning, to see a lot of slaves offered for +sale to him, and asks me if I have ever seen a sale of slaves. I never +have seen that sight, and accept his invitation. We are to leave here at +half-past six, or seven, at the latest. All work is early here; I +believe I have mentioned that the hour of 'Change for merchants is 7.30 +<span class="smcap">A.M.</span></p> + +<h3><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h3> + +<h4>HAVANA: Slaves, Lotteries, Cockfights and Filibusters</h4> + +<p>Rise early, and walk to the sea-baths, and take a delightful float and +swim. And refreshing it is, after a feverish night in my hot room, where +I did not sleep an hour all night, but heard every quarter-hour struck, +and the boatswain's whistle of the watchmen and their full cry of the +hour and the weather, at every clock-strike. From the bath, I look out +over the wall, far to the northeast, in the hope of catching a glimpse +of the "Cahawba's" smoke. This is the day of her expected arrival. My +New York friends and myself feel that we have seen Havana to our +satisfaction, and the heat is becoming intense. We are beginning to +receive advice against eating fruit after <i>café au lait</i>, or bananas +with wine, and in favor of high-crowned hats at noon to prevent +congestion from heat, and to avoid fogs in the morning. But there is no +"Cahawba" in sight, and I hear only the bray of trumpets and roll of +drums from the Morro and Cabaña and Punta, and the clanking march of the +chain-gang down the Paseo, and the march of the guard to trumpet and +drum.</p> + +<p>Mr.—— is punctual at seven, his son with him, and a man in a suit of +white linen, who is the broker employed by Mr.——. We take a ferry-boat +and cross to the Regla; and a few minutes' walk brings us to a small +nail factory, where all the workmen are coolies. In the back-yard of +this factory is a line of low buildings, from which the slaves are +brought out, to be shown. We had taken up, at the ferry-boat, a small, +thin, sharp-faced man, who was the dealer. The slaves are formed in a +semicircle, by the dealer and broker. The broker pushed and pulled them +about in a coarse, careless manner, worse than the manner of the dealer. +I am glad he is not to be their master. Mr.—— spoke kindly to them. +They were fully dressed; and no examination was made except by the eye; +and no exhibitions of strength or agility were required, and none of +those offensive examinations of which we read so much. What examination +had been made or was to be made by the broker, out of my presence, I do +not know. The "lot" consisted of about fifty, of both sexes and of all +ages, some being old, and some very young. They were not a valuable lot, +and Mr.—— refused to purchase them all. The dealer offered to separate +them. Mr.—— selected about half of them, and they were set apart. I +watched the countenances of all—the taken and the left. It was hard to +decipher the character of their emotions. A kind of fixed hopelessness +marked the faces of some, listlessness that of others, and others seemed +anxious or disappointed, but whether because taken or rejected, it was +hard to say. When the separation was made, and they knew its purpose, +still no complaint was made and no suggestion ventured by the slaves +that a tie of nature or affection was broken. I asked Mr.—— if some of +them might not be related. He said he should attend to that, as he never +separated families. He spoke to each of those he had chosen, separately, +and asked if they had parent or child, husband or wife, or brother or +sister among those who were rejected. A few pointed out their relations, +and Mr.—— took them into his lot. One was an aged mother, one a wife, +and another a little daughter. I am satisfied that no separations were +made in this case, and equally satisfied that neither the dealer nor the +broker would have asked the question.</p> + +<p>I asked Mr.—— on what principle he made his selection, as he did not +seem to me always to take the strongest. "On the principle of race," +said he. He told me that these Negroes were probably natives of Africa, +bozales, except the youngest, and that the signs of the races were known +to all planters. A certain race he named as having always more +intelligence and ambition than any other; as more difficult to manage, +but far superior when well managed. All of this race in the company, he +took at once, whatever their age or strength. I think the preferred +tribe was the Lucumí, but am not certain.</p> + +<p>From this place, I made a short visit to the almacén de azúcar, in the +Regla, the great storehouses of sugar. These are a range of one-story, +stone warehouses, so large that a great part of the sugar crop of the +island, as I am told, could be stored in them. Here the vessels go to +load, and the merchants store their sugar here, as wine is stored in the +London docks.</p> + +<p>The Cubans are careful of the diet of foreigners, even in winter. I +bought a couple of oranges, and young Mr.—— bought a sapote, a kind +of sweet-sour apple, when the broker said "Take care! Did you not have +milk with your coffee?" I inquired, and they told me it was not well to +eat fresh fruit soon after taking milk, or to take bananas with wine, or +to drink spirits. "But is this in winter, also?" "Yes; and it is already +very hot, and there is danger of fever among strangers."</p> + +<p>Went to La Dominica, the great restaurant and depot of preserves and +sweetmeats for Havana, and made out my order for preserves to take home +with me. After consultation, I am advised to make up my list as follows: +guava of Peru, limes, mamey apples, soursop, coconut, oranges, guava +jelly, guava marmalade, and almonds.</p> + +<p>The ladies tell me there is a kind of fine linen sold here, called +bolan, which it is difficult to obtain in the United States, and which +would be very proper to take home for a present. On this advice, I +bought a quantity of it, of blue and white, at La Diana, a shop on the +corner of Calle de Obispo and San Ignacio.</p> + +<p>Breakfasted with a wealthy and intelligent gentleman, a large planter, +who is a native of Cuba, but of European descent. A very nice breakfast, +of Spanish mixed dishes, rice cooked to perfection, fruits, claret, and +the only cup of good black tea I have tasted in Cuba. At Le Grand's, we +have no tea but the green.</p> + +<p>At breakfast, we talked freely on the subject of the condition and +prospects of Cuba; and I obtained from my host his views of the +economic and industrial situation of the island. He was confident that +the number of slaves does not exceed 500,000, to 200,000 free blacks, +and 600,000 or 700,000 whites. His argument led him to put the number of +slaves as low as he could, yet he estimated it far above that of the +census of 1857, which makes it 375,000. But no one regards the census of +slaves as correct. There is a tax on slaves, and the government has +little chance of getting them stated at the full number. One planter +said to a friend of mine, a year or two ago, that his two hundred slaves +were returned as one hundred. I find the best opinions put the slaves at +650,000, the free blacks at 200,000, and the whites at 700,000.</p> + +<p>Havana is flooded with lottery-ticket vendors. They infest every +eating-house and public way, and vex you at dinner, in your walks and +rides. They sell for one grand lottery, established and guaranteed by +the government, always in operation, and yielding to the state a net +revenue of nearly two millions a year. The Cubans are infatuated with +this lottery. All classes seem to embark in it. Its effect is especially +bad on the slaves, who invest in it all they can earn, beg, or steal, +allured by the glorious vision of possibly purchasing their freedom, and +elevating themselves into the class of proprietors.</p> + +<p>Some gentlemen at Le Grand's have been to a cock-fight. I shall be +obliged to leave the island without seeing this national sport for which +every town, and every village has a pit, a Valle de Gallos. They tell me +it was a very exciting scene among the spectators. Negroes, free and +slave, low whites, coolies, and men of high condition were all +frantically betting. Most of the bets were made by holding up the +fingers and by other signs, between boxes and galleries. They say I +should hardly credit the large sums which the most ordinary looking men +staked and paid.</p> + +<p>I am surprised to find what an impression the López expedition made in +Cuba—a far greater impression than is commonly supposed in the United +States. The fears of the government and hopes of sympathizers +exaggerated the force, and the whole military power of the government +was stirred against them. Their little force of a few hundred +broken-down men and lads, deceived and deserted, fought a body of eight +times their number, and kept them at bay, causing great slaughter. The +railroad trains brought the wounded into Havana, car after car; rumors +of defeat filled the city; artillery was sent out; and the actual loss +of the Spaniards, in killed and wounded, was surprisingly large. On the +front wall of the Cabaña, plainly seen from the deck of every vessel +that leaves or enters the port, is a monument to the honor of those who +fell in the battle with the filibusteros. The spot where López was +garroted, in front of the Punta, is pointed out, as well as the slope of +the hill from the castle of Atares, where his surviving followers were +shot.</p> + +<h3><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h3> + +<h4>A SUMMING-UP: Society, Politics, Religion, Slavery, Resources and +Reflections</h4> + +<p>To an American, from the free states, Cuba presents an object of +singular interest. His mind is occupied and almost oppressed by the +thought of the strange problems that are in process of solution around +him. He is constantly a critic, and a philosophizer, if not a +philosopher. A despotic civil government, compulsory religious +uniformity, and slavery are in full possession of the field. He is +always seeking information as to causes, processes and effects, and +almost as constantly baffled. There are three classes of persons in +Cuba, from whom he receives contradictory and irreconcilable statements: +the Cubans, the Spaniards, and foreigners of other nations. By Cubans, I +mean the Criollos (Creoles), or natives of Cuba. By Spaniards, I mean +the Peninsulares, or natives of Old Spain. In the third class are +comprised the Americans, English, French, Germans, and all other +foreigners, except Spaniards, who are residents on the island, but not +natives. This last class is large, possesses a great deal of wealth, and +includes a great number of merchants, bankers and other traders.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards, or Peninsulares, constitute the army and navy, the +officers of the government in all departments, judicial, educational, +fiscal and postal, the revenue and the police, the upper clergy, and a +large and wealthy class of merchants, bankers, shopkeepers, and +mechanics. The higher military and civil officers are from all parts of +Spain; but the Catalans furnish the great body of the mechanics and +small traders. The Spaniards may be counted on as opponents of the +independence of Cuba, and especially of her annexation to the United +States. In their political opinions, they vary. Some belong to the +liberal, or Progresista party, and others are advocates of, or at least +apologists for, the present order of things. Their force and influence +is increased by the fact that the government encourages its military and +civil officers, at the expiration of their terms of service, to remain +in the island, still holding some nominal office, or on the pay of a +retired list.</p> + +<p>The foreign residents, not Spaniards, are chiefly engaged in commerce, +banking, or trade, or are in scientific or mechanic employments. These +do not intend to become citizens of Cuba. They strike no root into the +soil, but feel that they are only sojourners, for purposes of their own. +Of all classes of persons, I know of none whose situation is more +unfavorable to the growth and development of sentiments of patriotism +and philanthropy, and of interest in the future of a race, than +foreigners, temporarily resident, for purposes of money-making only, in +a country with which they have nothing in common, in the future or the +past. This class is often called impartial. I do not agree to that use +of the term. They are, indeed, free from the bias of feeling or +sentiment; and from the bias generated by the combined action of men +thinking and feeling alike, which we call political party. But they are +subject to the attractions of interest; and interest will magnetize the +mind as effectually as feeling. Planted in a soil where the more tender +and delicate fibers can take no hold, they stand by the strong tap-root +of interest. It is for their immediate advantage to preserve peace and +the existing order of things; and even if it may be fairly argued that +their ultimate interests would be benefited by a change, yet the process +is hazardous, and the result not sure; and, at most, they would do no +more than take advantage of the change, if it occurred. I should say, as +a general thing, that this class is content with the present order of +things. The island is rich, production is large, commerce flourishes, +life and property are well protected, and if a man does not concern +himself with political or religious questions, he has nothing to fear. +Of the Americans in this class, many, doubtless, may be favorably +inclined toward annexation, but they are careful talkers, if they are +so; and the foreigners, not Americans, are of course earnestly opposed +to it, and the pendency of the question tends to draw them towards the +present government.</p> + +<p>It remains only to speak of the Cubans. They are commonly styled +Creoles. But as that word includes natives of all Spanish America, it is +not quite definite. Of the Cubans, a few are advocates of the present +government—but very few. The far greater part are disaffected. They +desire something approximating to self-government. If that can be had +from Spain, they would prefer it. If not, there is nothing for them but +independence, or annexation to some other power. Not one of them thinks +of independence; and if it be annexation, I believe their present +impulse is toward the United States. Yet on this point, among even the +most disaffected of the Cubans, there is a difference of opinion. Many +of them are sincere emancipationists, and fear that if they come in at +the southern end of our Union, that question is closed for ever. Others +fear that the Anglo-Saxon race would swallow up the power and property +of the island, as they have done in California and Texas, and that the +Creoles would go to the wall.</p> + +<p>It has been my fortune to see persons of influence and intelligence from +each of these chief divisions, and from the subdivisions, and to talk +with them freely. From the sum of their conflicting opinions and +conflicting statements, I have endeavored to settle upon some things as +certain; and, as to other things, to ascertain how far the debatable +ground extends, and the principles which govern the debate. From all +these sources, and from my own observations, I will endeavor to set down +what I think to be the present state of Cuba, in its various interesting +features, trusting to do it as becomes one whose acquaintance with the +island has been so recent and so short.</p> + +<h5>POLITICAL CONDITION</h5> + +<p>When the liberal constitutions were in force in Spain, in the early part +of this century, the benefits of them extended to Cuba. Something like +a provincial legislature was established; juntas, or advisory boards and +committees, discussed public questions, and made recommendations; a +militia was organized; the right to bear arms was recognized; tribunals, +with something of the nature of juries, passed upon certain questions; +the press was free, and Cuba sent delegates to the Spanish Cortes. This +state of things continued, with but few interruptions or variations, to +1825.</p> + +<p>Then was issued the celebrated Royal Order of May 29, 1825, under which +Cuba has been governed to the present hour. This Royal Order is the only +constitution of Cuba. It was probably intended merely as a temporary +order to the then Captain-General; but it has been found convenient to +adhere to it. It clothes the Captain-General with the fullest powers, +the tests and limit of which are as follows: " ... fully investing you +with the whole extent of power which, by the royal ordinances, is +granted to the governors of besieged towns. In consequence thereof, His +Majesty most amply and unrestrictedly authorizes your Excellency not +only to remove from the island such persons, holding offices from +government or not, whatever their occupation, rank, class, or situation +in life may be, whose residence there you may believe prejudicial, or +whose public or private conduct may appear suspicious to you...." Since +1825, Cuba has been not only under martial law, but in a state of siege.</p> + +<p>As to the more or less of justice or injustice, of honesty or +peculation, of fidelity or corruption, of liberality or severity, with +which these powers may have been exercised, a residence of a few days, +the reading of a few books, and conversations with a few men, though on +both sides, give me no right to pronounce. Of the probabilities, all can +judge, especially when we remember that these powers are wielded by +natives of one country over natives of another country.</p> + +<p>Since 1825, there has been no legislative assembly in Cuba, either +provincial or municipal. The municipal corporations (ayuntamientos) +were formerly hereditary, the dignity was purchasable, and no doubt the +bodies were corrupt. But they exercised some control, at least in the +levying and expending of taxes; and, being hereditary, were somewhat +independent, and might have served, like those of Europe in the middle +ages, as nuclei of popular liberties. These have lost the few powers +they possessed, and the members are now mere appointees of the +Captain-General. Since 1836, Cuba has been deprived of its right to a +delegation in the Cortes. Since 1825, vestiges of anything approaching +to popular assemblies, juntas, a jury, independent tribunals, a right of +voting, or a right to bear arms, have vanished from the island. The +press is under censorship; and so are the theaters and operas. When "I +Puritani" is played, the singers are required to substitute Lealtad for +Libertad, and one singer was fined and imprisoned for recusancy; and +Facciolo, the printer of a secretly circulated newspaper, advocating the +cause of Cuban independence, was garroted. The power of banishing, +without a charge made, or a trial, or even a record, but on the mere +will of the Captain-General, persons whose presence he thinks, or +professes to think, prejudicial to the government, whatever their +condition, rank, or office, has been frequently exercised, and hangs at +all hours over the head of every Cuban. Besides, that terrible power +which is restrained only by the analogy of a state of siege, may be at +any time called into action. Cubans may be, and I suppose usually are, +regularly charged and tried before judges, on political accusations; but +this is not their right; and the judges themselves, even of the highest +court, the Real Audiencia, may be deposed and banished, at the will of +the military chief.</p> + +<p>According to the strictness of the written law, no native Cuban can hold +any office of honor, trust, or emolument in Cuba. The army and navy are +composed of Spaniards, even to the soldiers in the ranks, and to the +sailors at the guns. It is said by the supporters of the government that +this order is not adhered to; and they point to a capitán-general, an +intendente, and a chief of the customs, who were Cubans. Still, such is +the written law; and if a few Cubans are put into office against the +law, those who are so favored are likely to be the most servile of +officers, and the situation of the rest is only the more degraded. +Notwithstanding the exceptions, it may be said with substantial truth +that an independent Cuban has open to him no career, civil or military. +There is a force of volunteers, to which some Cubans are admitted, but +they hold their places at the will of the government; and none are +allowed to join or remain with them unless they are acceptable to the +government.</p> + +<p>There are vexatious and mortifying regulations, too numerous and minute +to be complied with or even remembered, and which put the people in +danger of fines or extortion at every turn. Take, for instance, the +regulation that no man shall entertain a stranger over night at his +house, without previous notice to the magistrate. As to the absolute +prohibition of concealed weapons, and of all weapons but the regulation +sword and pistols—it was no doubt introduced and enforced by Tacón as a +means of suppressing assassinations, broils and open violence; and it +has made life safer in Havana than it is in New York; yet it cannot be +denied that it created a serious disability. In fine, what is the +Spanish government in Cuba but an armed monarchy, encamped in the midst +of a disarmed and disfranchised people?</p> + +<p>The taxes paid by the Cubans on their property, and the duties levied on +their commerce, are enormous, making a net income of not less than +$16,000,000 a year. Cuba pays all the expenses of its own government, +the salaries of all officers, the entire cost of the army and navy +quartered upon it, the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, and +of all the charitable and benevolent institutions, and sends an annual +remittance to Spain.</p> + +<p>The number of Spanish men-of-war stationed on the coast, varies from +twenty-five to thirty. Of the number of soldiers of the regular army in +Cuba, it is difficult to form an opinion. The official journal puts +them at 30,000. The lowest estimate I heard, was 25,000; and the highest +was 40,000. Judging from the number of sick I saw at the Hospital +Militar, I should not be surprised if the larger estimate was nearer the +truth.</p> + +<p>But details are of little importance. The actual administration may be a +little more or less rigid or lax. In its legal character, the government +is an unmixed despotism of one nation over another.</p> + +<h5>RELIGION</h5> + +<p>No religion is tolerated but the Roman Catholic. Formerly the church was +wealthy, authoritative and independent, and checked the civil and +military power by an ecclesiastical power wielded also by the dominant +nation. But the property of the church has been sequestrated and +confiscated, and the government now owns all the property once +ecclesiastical, including the church edifices, and appoints all the +clergy, from the bishop to the humblest country curate. All are salaried +officers. And so powerless is the church, that, however scandalous may +be the life of a parish priest, the bishop cannot remove him. He can +only institute proceedings against him before a tribunal over which the +government has large control, with a certainty of long delays and entire +uncertainty as to the result. The bishopric of Havana was formerly one +of the wealthiest sees in Christendom. Now the salary is hardly +sufficient to meet the demands which custom makes in respect of charity, +hospitality and style of living. It may be said, I think with truth, +that the Roman Catholic Church has now neither civil nor political power +in Cuba.</p> + +<p>That there was a long period of time during which the morals of the +clergy were excessively corrupt, I think there can be no doubt. Make +every allowance for theological bias, or for irreligious bias, in the +writers and tourists in Cuba, still, the testimony from Roman Catholics +themselves is irresistible. The details, it is not worth while to +contend about. It is said that a family of children, with a recognized +relation to its female head, which the rule of celibacy prevented ever +becoming a marriage, was general with the country priesthood. A priest +who was faithful to that relation, and kept from cockfighting and +gambling, was esteemed a respectable man by the common people. Cuba +became a kind of Botany Bay for the Romish clergy. There they seem to +have been concealed from the eye of discipline. With this state of +things, there existed, naturally enough, a vast amount of practical +infidelity among the people, and especially among the men, who, it is +said, scarcely recognized religious obligations at all.</p> + +<p>No one can observe the state of Europe now, without seeing that the +rapidity of communication by steam and electricity has tended to add to +the efficiency of the central power of the Roman Catholic Church, and to +the efficacy and extent of its discipline. Cuba has begun to feel these +effects. Whether they have yet reached the interior, or the towns +generally, I do not know; but the concurrent testimony of all classes +satisfied me that a considerable change has been effected in Havana. The +instrumentalities which that church brings to bear in such cases, are in +operation: frequent preaching, and stricter discipline of confession and +communion. The most marked result is in the number of men, and men of +character and weight, who have become earnest in the use of these means. +Much of this must be attributed, no doubt, to the Jesuits; but how long +they will be permitted to remain here, and what will be the permanent +effects of the movement, I cannot, of course, conjecture.</p> + +<p>I do not enter into the old field of contest. "We care not," says one +side, "which be cause and which effect;—whether the people are Papists, +because they are what they are, or are as they are because they are +Papists. It is enough that the two things coexist." The other side +replies that no Protestant institutions have ever yet been tried for any +length of time, and to any large extent, with southern races, in a +tropical climate; and the question—what would be their influence, and +what the effect of surrounding causes upon them, lies altogether in the +region of conjecture, or, at best, of faith.</p> + +<p>Of the moral habits of the clergy, as of the people, at the present +time, I am entirely unable to judge. I saw very little that indicated +the existence of any vices whatever among the people. Five minutes of a +street view of London by night, exhibits more vice, to the casual +observer, than all Havana for a year. I do not mean to say that the +social morals of the Cubans are good, or are bad; I only mean to say +that I am not a judge of the question.</p> + +<p>The most striking indication of the want of religious control is the +disregard of the Lord's Day. All business seems to go on as usual, +unless it be in the public offices. The chain-gang works in the streets, +under public officers. House-building and mechanic trades go on +uninterrupted; and the shops are more active than ever. The churches, to +be sure, are open and well filled in the morning; and I do not refer to +amusements and recreations; I speak of public, secular labor. The Church +must be held to some responsibility for this. Granted that Sunday is not +the Sabbath. Yet, it is a day which, by the rule of the Roman Church, +the English Church in England and America, the Greek Church and other +Oriental Churches—all claiming to rest the rule on Apostolic authority, +as well as by the usage of Protestants on the continent of +Europe—whether Lutherans or Calvinists—is a day of rest from secular +labor, and especially from enforced labor. Pressing this upon an +intelligent ecclesiastic, his reply to me was that the Church could not +enforce the observance—that it must be enforced by the civil +authorities; and the civil authorities fall in with the selfishness and +gratifications of the ruling classes. And he appealed to the change +lately wrought in Paris, in these respects, as evidence of the +consistency of his Church. This is an answer, so far as concerns the +Church's direct authority; but it is an admission either of feeble moral +power, or of neglect of duty in times past. An embarrassment in the way +of more strictness as to secular labor, arises from the fact that slaves +are entitled to their time on Sundays, beyond the necessary labor of +providing for the day; and this time they may use in working out their +freedom.</p> + +<p>Another of the difficulties the church has to contend with, arises out +of Negro slavery. The Church recognizes the unity of all races, and +allows marriage between them. The civil law of Cuba, under the +interpretations in force here, prohibits marriage between whites and +persons who have any tinge of the black blood. In consequence of this +rule, concubinage prevails, to a great extent, between whites and +mulattoes or quadroons, often with recognition of the children. If +either party to this arrangement comes under the influence of the +Church's discipline, the relation must terminate. The Church would allow +and advise marriage; but the law prohibits it—and if there should be a +separation, there may be no provision for the children. This state of +things creates no small obstacle to the influence of the Church over the +domestic relations.</p> + +<h5>SLAVERY</h5> + +<p>It is difficult to come to a satisfactory conclusion as to the number of +slaves in Cuba. The census of 1857 puts it at 375,000; but neither this +census nor that of 1853 is to be relied upon, on this point. The Cubans +are taxed for their slaves, and the government find it difficult, as I +have said, to get correct returns. No person of intelligence in Cuba, +however desirous to put the number at the lowest, has stated it to me at +less than 500,000. Many set it at 700,000. I am inclined to think that +600,000 is the nearest to the truth.</p> + +<p>The census makes the free blacks, in 1857, 125,000. It is thought to be +200,000, by the best authorities. The whites are about 700,000. The only +point in which the census seems to agree with public opinion, is in the +proportion. Both make the proportion of blacks to be about one free +black to three slaves; and make the whites not quite equal to the entire +number of blacks, free and slave together.</p> + +<p>To ascertain the condition of slaves in Cuba, two things are to be +considered: first, the laws, and secondly, the execution of the laws. +The written laws, there is no great difficulty in ascertaining. As to +their execution, there is room for opinion. At this point, one general +remark should be made, which I deem to be of considerable importance. +The laws relating to slavery do not emanate from the slave-holding mind; +nor are they interpreted or executed by the slave-holding class. The +slave benefits by the division of power and property between the two +rival and even hostile races of whites, the Creoles and the Spaniards. +Spain is not slave-holding, at home; and so long as the laws are made in +Spain, and the civil offices are held by Spaniards only, the slave has +at least the advantage of a conflict of interests and principles, +between the two classes that are concerned in his bondage.</p> + +<p>The fact that one Negro in every four is free, indicates that the laws +favor emancipation. They do both favor emancipation, and favor the free +blacks after emancipation. The stranger visiting Havana will see a +regiment of one thousand free black volunteers, parading with the troops +of the line and the white volunteers, and keeping guard in the Obra Pia. +When it is remembered that the bearing arms and performing military duty +as volunteers is esteemed an honor and privilege, and is not allowed to +the whites of Creole birth, except to a few who are favored by the +government, the significance of this fact may be appreciated. The Cuban +slave-holders are more impatient under this favoring of the free blacks +than under almost any other act of the government. They see in it an +attempt, on the part of the authorities, to secure the sympathy and +coöperation of the free blacks, in case of a revolutionary movement—to +set race against race, and to make the free blacks familiar with +military duty, while the whites are growing up in ignorance of it. In +point of civil privileges, the free blacks are the equals of the whites. +In courts of law, as witnesses or parties, no difference is known; and +they have the same rights as to the holding of lands and other +property. As to their social position, I have not the means of speaking. +I should think it quite as good as it is in New England, if not better.</p> + +<p>So far as to the position of the blacks, when free. The laws also +directly favor emancipation. Every slave has a right to go to a +magistrate and have himself valued, and on paying the valuation, to +receive his free papers. The valuation is made by three assessors, of +whom the master nominates one and the magistrate the other two. The +slave is not obliged to pay the entire valuation at once; but may pay it +in installments, of not less than fifty dollars each. These payments are +not made as mere advances of money, on the security of the master's +receipt, but are part purchases. Each payment makes the slave an owner +of such a portion of himself, <i>pro parte indivisa</i>, or as the common law +would say, in tenancy-in-common, with his master. If the valuation be +one thousand dollars, and he pays one hundred dollars, he is owned, +one-tenth by himself and nine-tenths by his master. It has been said, in +nearly all the American books on Cuba, that, on paying a share, he +becomes entitled to a corresponding share of his time and labor; but, +from the best information I can get, I think this is a mistake. The +payment affects the proprietary title, but not the usufruct. Until all +is paid, the master's dominion over the slave is not reduced, as +respects either discipline, or labor, or right of transfer; but if the +slave is sold, or goes by operation of law to heirs or legatees or +creditors, they take only the interest not paid for, subject to the +right of future payment under the valuation.</p> + +<p>There is another provision, which, at first sight, may not appear very +important, but which is, I am inclined to think, the best practical +protection the slave has against ill-treatment by his master: that is, +the right to a compulsory sale. A slave may, on the same process of +valuation compel his master to transfer him to any person who will pay +the money. For this purpose, he need establish no cause of complaint. It +is enough if he desires to be transferred, and some one is willing to +buy him. This operates as a check upon the master, and an inducement to +him to remove special causes of dissatisfaction; and it enables the +better class of slave-holders in a neighborhood, if cases of ill-usage +are known, to relieve the slave, without contention or pecuniary loss.</p> + +<p>In making the valuation, whether for emancipation or compulsory +transfer, the slave is to be estimated at his value as a common laborer, +according to his strength, age, and health. If he knows an art or trade, +however much that may add to his value, only one hundred dollars can be +added to the estimate for this trade or art. Thus the skill, industry +and character of the slave, do not furnish an obstacle to his +emancipation or transfer. On the contrary, all that his trade or art +adds to his value, above one hundred dollars, is, in fact, a capital for +his benefit.</p> + +<p>There are other provisions for the relief of the slave, which, although +they may make even a better show on paper, are of less practical value. +On complaint and proof of cruel treatment, the law will dissolve the +relation between master and slave. No slave can be flogged with more +than twenty-five lashes, by the master's authority. If his offence is +thought greater than that punishment will suffice for, the public +authorities must be called in. A slave mother may buy the freedom of her +infant, for twenty-five dollars. If slaves have been married by the +Church, they cannot be separated against their will; and the mother has +the right to keep her nursing child. Each slave is entitled to his time +on Sundays and all other holidays, beyond two hours allowed for +necessary labor, except on sugar estates during the grinding season. +Every slave born on the island is to be baptized and instructed in the +Catholic faith, and to receive Christian burial. Formerly, there were +provisions requiring religious services and instruction on each +plantation, according to its size; but I believe these are either +repealed, or become a dead letter. There are also provisions respecting +the food, clothing and treatment of slaves in other respects, and the +providing of a sick room and medicines, &c.; and the government has +appointed magistrates, styled síndicos, numerous enough, and living in +all localities, whose duty it is to attend to the petitions and +complaints of slaves, and to the measures relating to their sale, +transfer or emancipation.</p> + +<p>As to the enforcement of these laws, I have little or no personal +knowledge to offer; but some things, I think, I may treat as reasonably +sure, from my own observation, and from the concurrent testimony of +books, and of persons of all classes with whom I have conversed.</p> + +<p>The rule respecting religion is so far observed as this, that infants +are baptized, and all receive Christian burial. But there is no +enforcement of the obligation to give the slaves religious instruction, +or to allow them to attend public religious service. Most of those in +the rural districts see no church and no priest, from baptism to burial. +If they do receive religious instruction, or have religious services +provided for them, it is the free gift of the master.</p> + +<p>Marriage by the Church is seldom celebrated. As in the Roman Church +marriage is a sacrament and indissoluble, it entails great inconvenience +upon the master, as regards sales or mortgages, and is a restraint on +the Negroes themselves, to which it is not always easy to reconcile +them. Consequently, marriages are usually performed by the master only, +and of course, carry with them no legal rights or duties. Even this +imperfect and dissoluble connection has been but little attended to. +While the slave-trade was allowed, the planters supplied their stock +with bozales (native Africans) and paid little attention, even on +economic principles, to the improvement, or, speaking after the fashion +of cattle-farms, to the increase of stock on the plantation. Now that +importation is more difficult, and labor is in demand, their attention +is more turned to their own stock, and they are beginning to learn, in +the physiology of increase, that canon which the Everlasting has fixed +against promiscuous intercourse.</p> + +<p>The laws respecting valuation, the purchase of freedom at once or by +instalments, and the compulsory transfer, I know to be in active +operation in the towns, and on plantations affording easy access to +towns or magistrates. I heard frequent complaints from slave-holders and +those who sympathized with them, as to the operation of these +provisions. A lady in Havana had a slave who was an excellent cook; and +she had been offered $1700 for him, and refused it. He applied for +valuation for the purpose of transfer, and was valued at $1000 as a +laborer, which, with the $100 for his trade, made a loss to the owner of +$600, and, as no slave can be subsequently sold for a larger sum than +his valuation, this provision gave the slave a capital of $600. Another +instance was of a planter near Matanzas, who had a slave taught as a +carpenter; but after learning his trade, the slave got himself +transferred to a master in the city, for the opportunity of working out +his freedom, on holidays and in extra hours. So general is the +enforcement of these provisions that it is said to have resulted in a +refusal of many masters to teach their slaves any art or trade, and in +the hiring of the labor of artisans of all sorts, and the confining of +the slaves to mere manual labor. I heard of complaints of the conduct of +individuals who were charged with attempting to influence the credulous +and too ready slaves to agree to be transferred to them, either to +gratify some ill-will against the owner, or for some supposed selfish +interest. From the frequency of this tone of complaint and anecdote, as +well as from positive assertions on good authority, I believe these +provisions to have considerable efficacy.</p> + +<p>As to the practical advantage the slaves can get from these provisions +in remote places; and as to the amount of protection they get anywhere +from the special provisions respecting punishment, food, clothing, and +treatment generally, almost everything lies in the region of opinion. +There is no end to statement and anecdote on each side. If one cannot +get a full and lengthened personal experience, not only as the guest of +the slave-holder, but as the companion of the local magistrates, of the +lower officers on the plantation, of slave-dealers and slave-hunters, +and of the emancipated slaves, I advise him to shut his ears to mere +anecdotes and general statements, and to trust to reasonable deductions +from established facts. The established facts are, that one race, having +all power in its hands, holds an inferior race in slavery; that this +bondage exists in cities, in populous neighborhoods, and in remote +districts; that the owners are human beings, of tropical races, and the +slaves are human beings just emerging from barbarism, and that no small +part of this power is exercised by a low-lived and low-minded class of +intermediate agents. What is likely to be the effect on all the parties +to this system, judging from all we know of human nature?</p> + +<p>If persons coming from the North are credulous enough to suppose that +they will see chains and stripes and tracks of blood; and if, taking +letters to the best class of slave-holders, seeing their way of life, +and hearing their dinner-table anecdotes, and the breakfast-table talk +of the ladies, they find no outward signs of violence or corruption, +they will probably, also, be credulous enough to suppose they have seen +the whole of slavery. They do not know that that large plantation, with +its smoking chimneys, about which they hear nothing, and which their +host does not visit, has passed to the creditors of the late owner, who +is a bankrupt, and is in charge of a manager, who is to get all he can +from it in the shortest time, and to sell off the slaves as he can, +having no interest, moral or pecuniary, in their future. They do not +know that that other plantation, belonging to the young man who spends +half his time in Havana, is an abode of licentiousness and cruelty. +Neither do they know that the tall hounds chained at the kennel of the +house they are visiting are Cuban bloodhounds, trained to track and to +seize. They do not know that the barking last night was a pursuit and +capture, in which all the white men on the place took part; and that, +for the week past, the men of the plantation have been a committee of +detective and protective police. They do not know that the ill-looking +man who was there yesterday, and whom the ladies did not like, and all +treated with ill-disguised aversion, is a professed hunter of slaves. +They have never seen or heard of the Sierra del Cristal, the +mountain-range at the eastern end of Cuba, inhabited by runaways, where +white men hardly dare to go. Nor do they know that those young ladies, +when little children, were taken to the city in the time of the +insurrection in the Vuelta de Arriba. They have not heard the story of +that downcast-looking girl, the now incorrigibly malignant Negro, and +the lying mayoral. In the cities, they are amused by the flashy dresses, +indolence and good-humor of the slaves, and pleased with the +respectfulness of their manners, and hear anecdotes of their attachment +to their masters, and how they so dote upon slavery that nothing but bad +advice can entice them into freedom; and are told, too, of the worse +condition of the free blacks. They have not visited the slave-jails, or +the whipping-posts in the house outside the walls, where low whites do +the flogging of the city house-servants, men and women, at so many reals +a head.</p> + +<p>But the reflecting mind soon tires of the anecdotes of injustice, +cruelty and licentiousness on the one hand, and of justice, kindness and +mutual attachment, on the other. You know that all coexist; but in what +proportion you can only conjecture. You know what slavery must be, in +its effect on both the parties to it. You seek to grapple with the +problem itself. And, stating it fairly, it is this—Shall the industry +of Cuba go on, or shall the island be abandoned to a state of nature? If +the former, and if the whites cannot do the hard labor in that climate, +and the blacks can, will the seven hundred thousand whites, who own all +the land and improvements, surrender them to the blacks and leave the +island, or will they remain? If they must be expected to remain, what is +to be the relation of the two races? The blacks must do the hard work, +or it will not be done. Shall it be the enforced labor of slavery, or +shall the experiment of free labor be tried? Will the government try the +experiment, and if so, on what terms and in what manner? If something is +not done by the government, slavery will continue; for a successful +insurrection of slaves in Cuba is impossible, and manumissions do not +gain upon the births and importations.</p> + +<h5>MATERIAL RESOURCES AND EDUCATION</h5> + +<p>Cuba contains more good harbors than does any part of the United States +south of Norfolk. Its soil is very rich, and there are no large wastes +of sand, either by the sea or in the interior. The coral rocks bound the +sea, and the grass and trees come down to the coral rocks. The surface +of the country is diversified by mountains, hills and undulating lands, +and is very well wooded, and tolerably well watered. It is interesting +and picturesque to the eye, and abounds in flowers, trees of all +varieties, and birds of rich plumage, though not of rich notes. It has +mines of copper, and probably of iron, and is not cursed with gold or +silver ore. There is no anthracite, but probably a large amount of a +very soft, bituminous coal, which can be used for manufactures. It has +also marble, and other kinds of stone; and the hard woods, as mahogany, +cedar, ebony, iron-wood, lignum vitæ, &c., are in abundance. Mineral +salt is to be found, and probably in sufficient quantities for the use +of the island. It is the boast of the Cubans that the island has no wild +beasts or venomous reptiles. This has been so often repeated by tourists +and historians that I suppose it must be admitted to be true, with the +qualification that they have the scorpion, and tarantula, and nigua; but +they say that the bite of the scorpion and tarantula, though painful, is +not dangerous to life. The nigua, (sometimes called chigua, and by the +English corrupted into jigger,) is troublesome. With these exceptions, +the claim to freedom from wild or venomous animals may be admitted. +Their snakes are harmless, and the mosquitoes no worse than those of New +England.</p> + +<p>As to the climate, I have no doubt that in the interior, especially on +the red earth, it is healthy and delightful, in summer as well as in +winter; but on the river borders, in the low lands of black earth, and +on the savannas, intermittent fever and fever-and-ague prevail. The +cities have the scourge of yellow fever and, of late years, also the +cholera. In the cities, I suppose, the year may be divided, as to +sickness, into three equal portions: four months of winter, when they +are safe; four of summer, when they are unsafe; and four of spring and +autumn, when they are passing from one state to the other. There are, +indeed, a few cases of vómito in the course of the winter, but they are +little regarded, and must be the result of extreme imprudence. It is +estimated that twenty-five per cent of the soldiers die of yellow fever +the first years of their acclimation; and during the year of the +cholera, sixty per cent of the newly-arrived soldiers died. The mean +temperature in winter is 70 degrees, and in summer 83 degrees, +Fahrenheit. The island has suffered severely from hurricanes, although +they are not so frequent as in others of the West India islands. They +have violent thunderstorms in summer, and have suffered from droughts in +winter, though usually the heavy dews keep vegetation green through the +dry season.</p> + +<p>That which has been to me, personally, most unexpected, is the industry +of the island. It seems to me that, allowing for the heat of noon and +the debilitating effect of the climate, the industry in agriculture and +trade is rather striking. The sugar crop is enormous. The annual +exportation is about 400,000 tons, or about 2,000,000 boxes, and the +amount consumed on the island is very great, not only in coffee and in +daily cooking, but in the making of preserves and sweetmeats, which are +a considerable part of the food of the people. There is also about half +a million hogsheads of molasses exported annually. Add to this the +coffee, tobacco and copper, and a general notion may be got of the +industry and productions of the island. Its weak point is the want of +variety. There are no manufactures of any consequence; the mineral +exports are not great; and, in fact, sugar is the one staple. All Cuba +has but one neck—the worst wish of the tyrant.</p> + +<p>As to education, I have no doubt that a good education in medicine, and +a respectable course of instruction in the Roman and Spanish law, and +in the natural sciences, can be obtained at the University of Havana; +and that a fair collegiate education, after the manner of the Latin +races, can be obtained at the Jesuit College, the Seminario, and other +institutions at Havana, and in the other large cities; and the Sisters +of the Sacred Heart have a flourishing school for girls at Havana. But +the general elementary education of the people is in a very low state. +The scattered life of planters is unfavorable to public day-schools, +nay, almost inconsistent with their existence. The richer inhabitants +send their children abroad, or to Havana; but the middle and lower +classes of whites cannot do this. The tables show that, of the free +white children, not more than one in sixty-three attend any school, +while in the British West India islands, the proportion is from one in +ten to one in twenty. As to the state of education, culture and literary +habits among the upper classes, my limited experience gives me no +opportunity to judge. The concurrent testimony of tourists and other +writers on Cuba is that the habits of the Cuban women of the upper and +middle classes are unintellectual.</p> + +<p>Education is substantially in the hands of the government. As an +instance of their strictness, no man can take a degree at the University +unless he makes oath that he does not belong to, has never belonged to, +and will not belong to, any society not known to and permitted by the +government.</p> + +<h5>REFLECTIONS</h5> + +<p>To return to the political state and prospects of Cuba. As for those +persons whose political opinions and plans are not regulated by moral +principle, it may be safely said that, whatever their plans, their +object will not be the good of Cuba, but their own advantage. Of those +who are governed by principle, each man's expectation or plan will +depend upon the general opinion he entertains respecting the nature of +men and of society. This is going back a good way for a test; but I am +convinced it is only going to the source of opinion and action. If a +man believes that human nature in an unrestrained course, is good, and +self-governing, and that when it is not so, there is a temporary and +local cause to be assigned for the deviation; if he believes that men, +at least in civilized society, are independent beings, by right entitled +to, and by nature capable of, the exercise of popular self-government, +and that if they have not this power in exercise, it is because they +have been deprived of it by somebody's fraud or violence, which ought to +be detected and remedied, as we abate a public nuisance in the highway; +if a man thinks that overturning a throne and erecting a constitution +will answer the purpose;—if these are his opinions as to men and +society, his plan for Cuba, and for every other part of the world, may +be simple. No wonder such a one is impatient of the inactivity of the +governed masses, and is in a constant state of surprise that the fraud +and violence of a few should always prevail over the rights and merits +of the many—when they themselves might end their thraldom by a blow, +and put their oppressors to rest—by a bare bodkin!</p> + +<p>But if the history of the world and the observation of his own times +have led a man to the opinion that, of divine right and human necessity, +government of some sort there must be, in which power must be vested +somewhere, and exercised somehow; that popular self-government is rather +of the nature of a faculty than of a right; that human nature is so +constituted that the actual condition of civil society in any place and +nation is, on the whole, the fair result of conflicting forces of good +and evil—the power being in proportion to the need of power, and the +franchises to the capacity for using franchises; that autocrats and +oligarchs are the growth of the soil; and that every people has, in the +main, and in the long run, a government as good as it deserves; if such +is the substance of the belief to which he has been led or forced, he +will look gravely upon the future of such people as the Cubans, and +hesitate as to the invention and application of remedies. If he +reflects that of all the nations of the southern races in North and +South America, from Texas to Cape Horn, the Brazilians alone, who have a +constitutional monarchy, are in a state of order and progress; and if he +further reflects that Cuba, as a royal province, with all its evils, is +in a better condition than nearly all the Spanish republican states, he +may well be slow to believe that, with their complication of +difficulties, and causes of disorder and weakness—with their half +million or more of slaves and quarter million or less of free blacks, +with their coolies, and their divided and hostile races of whites—their +Spanish blood, and their utter want of experience in the discharge of +any public duties, the Cubans will work out successfully the problem of +self-government. You cannot reason from Massachusetts to Cuba. When +Massachusetts entered into the Revolution, she had had one hundred and +fifty years of experience in popular self-government under a system in +which the exercise of this power was more generally diffused among the +people, and extended over a larger class of subjects, and more +decentralized, than had ever been known before in any part of the world, +or at any period of the world's story. She had been, all along, for most +purposes, an independent republic, with an obligation to the British +Empire undefined and seldom attempted to be enforced. The thirteen +colonies were ships fully armed and equipped, officered and manned, with +long sea experience, sailing as a wing of a great fleet, under the +Admiral's fleet signals. They had only to pass secret signals, fall out +of line, haul their wind, and sail off as a squadron by themselves; and +if the Admiral with the rest of the fleet made chase and gave battle, it +was sailor to sailor and ship to ship. But Cuba has neither officers +trained to the quarter-deck, nor sailors trained to the helm, the yard, +or the gun. Nay, the ship is not built, nor the keel laid, nor is the +timber grown, from which the keel is to be cut.</p> + +<p>The natural process for Cuba is an amelioration of her institutions +under Spanish auspices. If this is not to be had, or if the connection +with Spain is dissolved in any way, she will probably be substantially +under the protection of some other power, or a part of another empire. +Whatever nation may enter upon such an undertaking as this, should take +a bond of fate. Beside her internal danger and difficulties, Cuba is +implicated externally with every cause of jealousy and conflict. She has +been called the key to the Gulf of Mexico. But the Gulf of Mexico cannot +be locked. Whoever takes her is more likely to find in her a key to +Pandora's box. Close upon her is the great island of Jamaica, where the +experiment of free Negro labor, in the same products, is on trial. Near +to her is Haiti where the experiment of Negro self-government is on +trial. And further off, separated, it is true, by the great Gulf Stream, +and with the neighborhood of the almost uninhabited and uninhabitable +sea coast of southern Florida, yet near enough to furnish some cause for +uneasiness, are the slave-states of the Great Republic. She is an +island, too; and as an island, whatever power holds or protects her, +must maintain on the spot a sufficient army and navy, as it would not do +to rely upon being able to throw in troops and munitions of war, after +notice of need.</p> + +<p>As to the wishes of the Cubans themselves, the degree of reliance they +place, or are entitled to place, on each other, and their opportunities +and capacity for organized action of any kind, I have already set down +all I can be truly said to know; and there is no end to assertion and +conjecture, or to the conflicting character of what is called +information, whether received through men or books.</p> + +<h3><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h3> + +<h4>LEAVE-TAKING</h4> + +<p>All day there have been earnest looks to the northwest, for the smoke of +the "Cahawba." We are willing and desirous to depart. Our sights are +seen, our business done, and our trunks packed. While we are sitting +round our table after dinner, George, Mr. Miller's servant, comes in, +with a bright countenance, and says "There is a steamer off." We go to +the roof, and there, far in the N. W., is a small but unmistakable cloud +of steamer's smoke, just in the course the "Cahawba" would take. "Let us +walk down to the Punta, and see her come in." It is between four and +five o'clock, and a pleasant afternoon, and we saunter along, keeping in +the shade, and sit down on the boards at the wharf, in front of the +Presidio, near to where politicians are garroted, and watch the progress +of the steamer, amusing ourselves at the same time with seeing the +Negroes swimming and washing horses in the shallow water off the bank. A +Yankee flag flies from the signalpost of the Morro, but the Punta keeps +the steamer from our sight. It draws towards six o'clock, and no vessel +can enter after dark. We begin to fear she will not reach the point in +season. Her cloud of smoke rises over the Punta, the city clocks strike +six, the Morro strikes six, the trumpets bray out, the sun is down, the +signals on the Morro are lowering—"She'll miss it!"—"No—there she +is!"—and, round the Punta comes her sharp black head, and then her full +body, her toiling engine and smoking chimney and peopled decks, and +flying stars and stripes—Good luck to her! and, though the signal is +down, she pushes on and passes the forts without objection, and is lost +among the shipping.</p> + +<p>My companions are so enthusiastic that they go on board; but I return to +my hotel and take a volante, and make my last calls, and take my last +looks, and am ready to leave in the morning.</p> + +<p>In half an hour, the arrival of the "Cahawba" is known over all Havana, +and the news of the loss of her consort, the "Black Warrior," in a fog +off New York—passengers and crew and specie safe. My companions come +back. They met Capt. Bullock on the pier, and took tea with him in La +Dominica. He sails at two o'clock to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="top5">I shall not see them again, but there they will be, day after day, day +after day—how long?—aye, how long?—the squalid, degraded chain-gang! +The horrible prison!—profaning one of the grandest of sites, where +city, sea and shore unite as almost nowhere else on earth! These were my +thoughts as, in the pink and gray dawn, I walked down the Paseo, to +enjoy my last refreshing in the rock-hewn sea-baths.</p> + +<p>This leave-taking is a strange process, and has strange effects. How +suddenly a little of unnoticed good in what you leave behind comes out, +and touches you, in a moment of tenderness! And how much of the evil and +disagreeable seems to have disappeared! Le Grand, after all, is no more +inattentive and intractable than many others would become in his place; +and he does keep a good table, and those breakfasts are very pretty. +Antonio is no hydropathist, to be sure, and his ear distinguishes the +voices that pay best; yet one pities him in his routine, and in the fear +he is under, being a native of Old Spain, that his name will turn up in +the conscription, when he will have to shoulder his musket for five +years in the Cabaña and Punta. Nor can he get off the island, for the +permit will be refused him, poor fellow!</p> + +<p>One or two of our friends are to remain here for they have pulmonary +difficulties, and prefer to avoid the North in March. They look a little +sad at being left alone, and talk of going into the country to escape +the increasing heat. A New York gentleman has taken a great fancy to +the volantes, and thinks that a costly one, with two horses, and +silvered postilion in boots and spurs and bright jacket would eclipse +any equipage in Fifth Avenue.</p> + +<p>When you come to leave, you find that the strange and picturesque +character of the city has interested you more than you think; and you +stare out of your carriage to read the familiar signs, the names of +streets, the Obra Pia, Lamparilla, Mercaderes, San Ignacio, Obispo, +O'Reilly, and Oficios, and the pretty and fantastic names of the shops. +You think even the narrow streets have their advantages, as they are +better shaded, and the awnings can stretch across them, though, to be +sure, they keep out the air. No city has finer avenues than the Isabel +and the Tacón; and the palm trees, at least, we shall not see at the +North. Here is La Dominica. It is a pleasant place, in the evening, +after the Retreta, to take your tea or coffee under the trees by the +fountain in the court-yard, and meet the Americans and English—the only +public place, except the theater, where ladies are to be seen out of +their volantes. Still, we are quite ready to go; for we have seen all we +have been told to see in Havana, and it is excessively hot, and growing +hotter.</p> + +<p>But no one can leave Cuba without a permit. When you arrive, the visé of +your passport is not enough, but you must pay a fee for a permit to land +and remain in the island; and when you wish to return, you must pay four +dollars to get back your passport, with a permit to leave. The +custom-house officials were not troublesome in respect to our luggage, +hardly examining it at all, and, I must admit, showed no signs of +expecting private fees. Along the range of piers, where the bows of the +vessels run in, and on which the labor of this great commerce is +performed, there runs a high, wide roof, covering all from the intense +rays of the sun. Before this was put up, they say that workmen used to +fall dead with sunstrokes, on the wharves.</p> + +<p>On board the "Cahawba," I find my barrel of oranges from Iglesia, and +box of sweet-meats from La Dominica, and boxes of cigars from Cabaña's, +punctually delivered. There, once more, is Bullock, cheerful, and +efficient; Rodgers, full of kindness and good-humor; and sturdy, +trustworthy Miller, and Porter, the kindly and spirited; and the pleased +face of Henry, the captain's steward; and the familiar faces of the +other stewards; and my friend's son, who is well and very glad to see +me, and full of New Orleans, and of last night, which he spent on shore +in Havana. All are in good spirits, for a short sea voyage with old +friends is before us; and then—home!</p> + +<p>The decks are loaded and piled up with oranges: oranges in barrels and +oranges in crates, filling all the wings and gangways, the barrels cut +to let in air, and the crates with bars just close enough to keep in the +oranges. The delays from want of lighters, and the great amount of +freight, keep us through the day; and it is nearly sundown before we get +under way. All day the fruit boats are along-side, and passengers and +crew lay in stocks of oranges and bananas and sapotes, and little boxes +of sweetmeats. At length, the last barrel is on board, the permits and +passenger-lists are examined, the revenue officers leave us, and we +begin to heave up our anchor.</p> + +<p>The harbor is very full of vessels, and the room for swinging is small. +A British mail-steamer, and a Spanish man-of-war, and several +merchantmen, are close upon us. Captain Bullock takes his second mate +aft and they have a conference, as quietly as if they were arranging a +funeral. He is explaining to him his plan for running the warps and +swinging the ship, and telling him beforehand what he is to do in this +case, and what in that, and how to understand his signs, so that no +orders, or as few as possible, need be given at the time of action. The +engine moves, the warp is hauled upon, the anchor tripped, and dropped +again, and tripped again, the ship takes the right sheer, clear of +everything, and goes handsomely out of the harbor, the stars and stripes +at her peak, with a waving of hats from friends on the Punta wharf. The +western sky is gorgeous with the setting sun, and the evening drums and +trumpets sound from the encircling fortifications, as we pass the Casa +Blanca, the Cabaña, the Punta, and the Morro. The sky fades, the ship +rises and falls in the heave of the sea, the lantern of the Morro gleams +over the water, and the dim shores of Cuba are hidden from our sight.</p> + +<hr /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To Cuba and Back, by Richard Henry Dana + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO CUBA AND BACK *** + +***** This file should be named 33455-h.htm or 33455-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/5/33455/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: To Cuba and Back + +Author: Richard Henry Dana + +Release Date: August 17, 2010 [EBook #33455] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO CUBA AND BACK *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: in this ASCII text the Spanish words of the origina +lack accents. This is a pronunciation key to the words containing the +Spanish letter n with tilde, or "enye": Cabana == cabanya; Senor == +senyor; Senorita == senyorita; Banos == banyos; duenas == duenyas.] + + + + +TO CUBA AND BACK + +BY + +RICHARD HENRY DANA, JR. + +1887 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I.--From Manhattan to El Morro + +II.--Havana: _First Glimpses (1)_ + +III.--Havana: _First Glimpses (2)_ + +IV.--Havana: _Prisoners and Priests_ + +V.--Havana: _Olla Podrida_ + +VI.--Havana: _A Social Sunday_ + +VII.--Havana: _Belen and the Jesuits_ + +VIII.--Matanzas + +IX.--To Limonar by Train + +X.--A Sugar Plantation: _The Labor_ + +XI.--A Sugar Plantation: _The Life_ + +XII.--From Plantation to Plantation + +XIII.--Matanzas and Environs + +XIV.--Reflections via Railroad + +XV.--Havana: _Social, Religious and Judicial Tidbits_ + +XVI.--Havana: _Worship, Etiquette and Humanitarianism_ + +XVII.--Havana: _Hospital and Prison_ + +XVIII.--Havana: _Bullfight_ + +XIX.--Havana: _More Manners and Customs_ + +XX.--Havana: _Slaves, Lotteries, Cockfights and Filibusters_ + +XXI.--A Summing-up: _Society, Politics, Religion, Slavery, Resources and +Reflections_ + +XXII.--Leave-taking + + + + +I. + +FROM MANHATTAN TO EL MORRO + + + +The steamer is to sail at one P.M.; and, by half-past twelve, her decks +are full, and the mud and snow of the pier are well trodden by men and +horses. Coaches drive down furiously, and nervous passengers put their +heads out to see if the steamer is off before her time; and on the +decks, and in the gangways, inexperienced passengers run against +everybody, and mistake the engineer for the steward, and come up the +same stairs they go down, without knowing it. In the dreary snow, the +newspaper vendors cry the papers, and the book vendors thrust yellow +covers into your face--"Reading for the voyage, sir--five hundred pages, +close print!" And that being rejected, they reverse the process of the +Sibyl--with "Here's another, sir, one thousand pages, double columns." +The great beam of the engine moves slowly up and down, and the black +hull sways at its fasts. A motley group are the passengers. Shivering +Cubans, exotics that have taken slight root in the hothouses of the +Fifth Avenue, are to brave a few days of sleet and cold at sea, for the +palm trees and mangoes, the cocoas and orange trees, they will be +sitting under in six days, at farthest. There are Yankee shipmasters +going out to join their "cotton wagons" at New Orleans and Mobile, +merchants pursuing a commerce that knows no rest and no locality; +confirmed invalids advised to go to Cuba to die under mosquito nets and +be buried in a Potter's Field; and other invalids wisely enough avoiding +our March winds; and here and there a mere vacationmaker, like myself. + +Captain Bullock is sure to sail at the hour; and at the hour he is on +the paddle-box, the fasts are loosed, the warp run out, the crew pull in +on the warp on the port quarter, and the head swings off. No word is +spoken, but all is done by signs; or, if a word is necessary, a low +clear tone carries it to the listener. There is no tearing and rending +escape of steam, deafening and distracting all, and giving a kind of +terror to a peaceful scene; but our ship swings off, gathers way, and +enters upon her voyage, in a quiet like that of a bank or counting-room, +almost under a spell of silence. + +The state-rooms of the "Cahawba," like those of most American sea-going +steamers, are built so high above the water that the windows may be open +in all but the worst of weather, and good ventilation be ensured. I have +a very nice fellow for my room-mate, in the berth under me; but, in a +state-room, no room-mate is better than the best; so I change my +quarters to a state-room further forward, nearer "the eyes of her," +which the passengers generally shun, and get one to myself, free from +the rattle of the steering gear, while the delightful rise and fall of +the bows, and leisurely weather roll and lee roll, cradle and nurse one +to sleep. + +The routine of the ship, as regards passengers, is this: a cup of +coffee, if you desire it, when you turn out; breakfast at eight, lunch +at twelve, dinner at three, tea at seven, and lights put out at ten. + +Throughout the day, sailing down the outer edge of the Gulf Stream, we +see vessels of all forms and sizes, coming in sight and passing away, as +in a dioramic show. There is a heavy cotton droger from the Gulf, of +1200 tons burden, under a cloud of sail, pressing on to the northern +seas of New England or Old England. Here comes a saucy little Baltimore +brig, close-hauled and leaning over to it; and there, half down in the +horizon, is a pile of white canvas, which the experienced eyes of my two +friends, the passenger shipmasters, pronounce to be a bark, outward +bound. Every passenger says to every other, how beautiful! how +exquisite! That pale thin girl who is going to Cuba for her health, her +brother travelling with her, sits on the settee, propped by a pillow, +and tries to smile and to think she feels stronger in this air. She says +she shall stay in Cuba until she gets well! + +After dinner, Capt. Bullock tells us that we shall soon see the high +lands of Cuba, off Matanzas, the first and highest being the Pan of +Matanzas. It is clear over head, but a mist lies along the southern +horizon, in the latter part of the day. The sharpest eyes detect the +land, about 4 P.M., and soon it is visible to all. It is an undulating +country on the coast, with high hills and mountains in the interior, and +has a rich and fertile look. That height is the Pan, though we see no +special resemblance, in its outline, to a loaf of bread. We are still +sixty miles from Havana. We cannot reach it before dark, and no vessels +are allowed to pass the Morro after the signals are dropped at sunset. + +We coast the northern shore of Cuba, from Matanzas westward. There is no +waste of sand and low flats, as in most of our southern states; but the +fertile, undulating land comes to the sea, and rises into high hills as +it recedes. "There is the Morro! and right ahead!" "Why, there is the +city too! Is the city on the sea? We thought it was on a harbor or bay." +There, indeed, is the Morro, a stately hill of tawny rock, rising +perpendicularly from the sea, and jutting into it, with walls and +parapets and towers on its top, and flags and signals flying, and the +tall lighthouse just in front of its outer wall. It is not very high, +yet commands the sea about it. And there is the city, on the sea-coast, +indeed--the houses running down to the coral edge of the ocean. Where is +the harbor, and where the shipping? Ah, there they are! We open an +entrance, narrow and deep, between the beetling Morro and the Punta; and +through the entrance, we see the spreading harbor and the innumerable +masts. But the darkness is gathering, the sunset gun has been fired, we +can just catch the dying notes of trumpets from the fortifications, and +the Morro Lighthouse throws its gleam over the still sea. The little +lights emerge and twinkle from the city. We are too late to enter the +port, and slowly and reluctantly the ship turns her head off to seaward. +The engine breathes heavily, and throws its one arm leisurely up and +down; we rise and fall on the moonlit sea; the stars are near to us, or +we are raised nearer to them; the Southern Cross is just above the +horizon; and all night long, two streams of light lie upon the water, +one of gold from the Morro, and one of silver from the moon. It is +enchantment. Who can regret our delay, or wish to exchange this scene +for the common, close anchorage of a harbor? + + + + +II. + +HAVANA: First Glimpses (I) + + +We are to go in at sunrise, and few, if any, are the passengers that are +not on deck at the first glow of dawn. Before us lie the novel and +exciting objects of the night before. The Steep Morro, with its tall +sentinel lighthouse, and its towers and signal staffs and teeth of guns, +is coming out into clear daylight; the red and yellow striped flag of +Spain--blood and gold--floats over it. Point after point in the city +becomes visible; the blue and white and yellow houses, with their roofs +of dull red tiles, the quaint old Cathedral towers, and the almost +endless lines of fortifications. The masts of the immense shipping rise +over the headland, the signal for leave to enter is run up, and we steer +in under full head, the morning gun thundering from the Morro, the +trumpets braying and drums beating from all the fortifications, the +Morro, the Punta, the long Cabana, the Casa Blanca and the city walls, +while the broad sun is fast rising over this magnificent spectacle. + +What a world of shipping! The masts make a belt of dense forest along +the edge of the city, all the ships lying head in to the street, like +horses at their mangers; while the vessels at anchor nearly choke up the +passage ways to the deeper bays beyond. There are the red and yellow +stripes of decayed Spain; the blue, white and red--blood to the fingers' +end--of La Grande Nation; the Union crosses of the Royal Commonwealth; +the stars and stripes of the Great Republic, and a few flags of Holland +and Portugal, of the states of northern Italy, of Brazil, and of the +republics of the Spanish Main. We thread our slow and careful way among +these, pass under the broadside of a ship-of-the-line, and under the +stern of a screw frigate, both bearing the Spanish flag, and cast our +anchor in the Regla Bay, by the side of the steamer "Karnac," which +sailed from New York a few days before us. + +Instantly we are besieged by boats, some loaded with oranges and +bananas, and others coming for passengers and their luggage, all with +awnings spread over their sterns, rowed by sallow, attenuated men, in +blue and white checks and straw hats, with here and there the familiar +lips and teeth, and vacant, easily-pleased face of the Negro. Among +these boats comes one, from the stern of which floats the red and yellow +flag with the crown in its field, and under whose awning reclines a man +in a full suit of white linen, with straw hat and red cockade and a +cigar. This is the Health Officer. Until he is satisfied, no one can +come on board, or leave the vessel. Capt. Bullock salutes, steps down +the ladder to the boat, hands his papers, reports all well--and we are +pronounced safe. Then comes another boat of similar style, another man +reclining under the awning with a cigar, who comes on board, is closeted +with the purser, compares the passenger list with the passports, and we +are declared fully passed, and general leave is given to land with our +luggage at the custom-house wharf. + +Now comes the war of cries and gestures and grimaces among the boatmen, +in their struggle for passengers, increased manifold by the fact that +there is but little language in common between the parties to the +bargains, and by the boatmen being required to remain in their boats. +How thin these boatmen look! You cannot get it out of your mind that +they must all have had the yellow fever last summer, and are not yet +fully recovered. Not only their faces, but their hands and arms and legs +are thin, and their low-quartered slippers only half cover their thin +yellow feet. + +In the hurry, I have to hunt after the passengers I am to take leave of +who go on to New Orleans:--Mr. and Mrs. Benchley, on their way to their +intended new home in western Texas, my two sea captains, and the little +son of my friend, who is the guest, on this voyage, of our common friend +the captain, and after all, I miss the hearty hand-shake of Bullock and +Rodgers. Seated under an awning, in the stern of a boat, with my trunk +and carpet-bag and an unseasonable bundle of Arctic overcoat and fur cap +in the bow, I am pulled by a man with an oar in each hand and a cigar in +mouth, to the custom-house pier. Here is a busy scene of trunks, +carpet-bags, and bundles; and up and down the pier marches a military +grandee of about the rank of a sergeant or sub-lieutenant, with a +preposterous strut, so out of keeping with the depressed military +character of his country, and not possible to be appreciated without +seeing it. If he would give that strut on the boards, in New York, he +would draw full houses nightly. + +Our passports are kept, and we receive a license to remain and travel in +the island, good for three months only, for which a large fee is paid. +These officers of the customs are civil and reasonably rapid; and in a +short time my luggage is on a dray driven by a Negro, and I am in a +volante, managed by a Negro postilion, and am driving through the narrow +streets of this surprising city. + +The streets are so narrow and the houses built so close upon them, that +they seem to be rather spaces between the walls of houses than highways +for travel. It appears impossible that two vehicles should pass abreast; +yet they do so. There are constant blockings of the way. In some places +awnings are stretched over the entire street, from house to house, and +we are riding under a long tent. What strange vehicles these volantes +are!--A pair of very long, limber shafts, at one end of which is a pair +of huge wheels, and the other end a horse with his tail braided and +brought forward and tied to the saddle, an open chaise body resting on +the shafts, about one third of the way from the axle to the horse; and +on the horse is a Negro, in large postilion boots, long spurs, and a +bright jacket. It is an easy vehicle to ride in; but it must be a sore +burden to the beast. Here and there we pass a private volante, +distinguished by rich silver mountings and postilions in livery. Some +have two horses, and with the silver and the livery and the long +dangling traces and a look of superfluity, have rather an air of high +life. In most, a gentleman is reclining, cigar in mouth; while in +others, is a great puff of blue or pink muslin or cambric, extending +over the sides to the shafts, topped off by a fan, with signs of a face +behind it. "Calle de los Oficios," "Calle del Obispo," "Calle de San +Ignacio," "Calle de Mercaderes," are on the little corner boards. Every +little shop and every big shop has its title; but nowhere does the name +of a keeper appear. Almost every shop advertises "por mayor y menor," +wholesale and retail. What a Gil Blas-Don Quixote feeling the names of +"posada," "tienda," and "cantina" give you! + +There are no women walking in the streets, except negresses. Those suits +of seersucker, with straw hats and red cockades, are soldiers. It is a +sensible dress for the climate. Every third man, perhaps more, and not a +few women, are smoking cigars or cigarritos. Here are things moving +along, looking like cocks of new mown grass, under way. But presently +you see the head of a horse or mule peering out from under the mass, and +a tail is visible at the other end, and feet are picking their slow way +over the stones. These are the carriers of green fodder, the fresh cut +stalks and blades of corn; and my chance companion in the carriage, a +fellow passenger by the "Cahawba," a Frenchman, who has been here +before, tells me that they supply all the horses and mules in the city +with their daily feed, as no hay is used. There are also mules, asses, +and horses with bananas, plantains, oranges and other fruits in panniers +reaching almost to the ground. + +Here is the Plaza de Armas, with its garden of rich, fragrant flowers in +full bloom, in front of the Governor's Palace. At the corner is the +chapel erected over the spot where, under the auspices of Columbus, mass +was first celebrated on the island. We are driven past a gloomy convent, +past innumerable shops, past drinking places, billiard rooms, and the +thick, dead walls of houses, with large windows, grated like dungeons, +and large gates, showing glimpses of interior court-yards, sometimes +with trees and flowers. But horses and carriages and gentlemen and +ladies and slaves, all seem to use the same entrance. The windows come +to the ground, and, being flush with the street, and mostly without +glass, nothing but the grating prevents a passenger from walking into +the rooms. And there the ladies and children sit sewing, or lounging, or +playing. This is all very strange. There is evidently enough for me to +see in the ten or twelve days of my stay. + +But there are no costumes among the men, no Spanish hats, or Spanish +cloaks, or bright jackets, or waistcoats, or open, slashed trousers, +that are so picturesque in other Spanish countries. The men wear black +dress coats, long pantaloons, black cravats, and many of them even +submit, in this hot sun, to black French hats. The tyranny of +systematic, scientific, capable, unpicturesque, unimaginative France, +evidently rules over the realm of man's dress. The houses, the vehicles, +the vegetation, the animals, are picturesque; to the eye of taste + + "_Every prospect pleases, and only man is vile._" + +We drove through the Puerta de Monserrate, a heavy gateway of the +prevailing yellow or tawny color, where soldiers are on guard, across +the moat, out upon the "Paseo de Isabel Segunda," and are now +"extramuros," without the walls. The Paseo is a grand avenue running +across the city from sea to bay, with two carriage-drives abreast, and +two malls for foot passengers, and all lined with trees in full foliage. +Here you catch a glimpse of the Morro, and there of the Presidio. This +is the Teatro de Tacon; and, in front of this line of tall houses, in +contrast with the almost uniform one-story buildings of the city, the +volante stops. This is Le Grand's hotel. + + + + +III. + +HAVANA: First Glimpses (2) + + +To a person unaccustomed to the tropics or the south of Europe, I know +of nothing more discouraging than the arrival at the inn or hotel. It is +nobody's business to attend to you. The landlord is strangely +indifferent, and if there is a way to get a thing done, you have not +learned it, and there is no one to teach you. Le Grand is a Frenchman. +His house is a restaurant, with rooms for lodgers. The restaurant is +paramount. The lodging is secondary, and is left to servants. Monsieur +does not condescend to show a room, even to families; and the servants, +who are whites, but mere lads, have all the interior in their charge, +and there are no women employed about the chambers. Antonio, a swarthy +Spanish lad, in shirt sleeves, looking very much as if he never washed, +has my part of the house in charge, and shows me my room. It has but one +window, a door opening upon the veranda, and a brick floor, and is very +bare of furniture, and the furniture has long ceased to be strong. A +small stand barely holds up a basin and ewer which have not been washed +since Antonio was washed, and the bedstead, covered by a canvas sacking, +without mattress or bed, looks as if it would hardly bear the weight of +a man. It is plain there is a good deal to be learned here. Antonio is +communicative, on a suggestion of several days' stay and good pay. +Things which we cannot do without, we must go out of the house to find, +and those which we can do without, we must dispense with. This is odd, +and strange, but not uninteresting, and affords scope for contrivance +and the exercise of influence and other administrative powers. The Grand +Seigneur does not mean to be troubled with anything; so there are no +bells, and no office, and no clerks. He is the only source, and if he is +approached, he shrugs his shoulders and gives you to understand that +you have your chambers for your money and must look to the servants. +Antonio starts off on an expedition for a pitcher of water and a towel, +with a faint hope of two towels; for each demand involves an expedition +to remote parts of the house. Then Antonio has so many rooms dependent +on him, that every door is a Scylla, and every window a Charybdis, as he +passes. A shrill, female voice, from the next room but one, calls +"Antonio! Antonio!" and that starts the parrot in the court yard, who +cries "Antonio! Antonio!" for several minutes. A deep, bass voice +mutters "Antonio!" in a more confidential tone; and last of all, an +unmistakably Northern voice attempts it, but ends in something between +Antonio and Anthony. He is gone a good while, and has evidently had +several episodes to his journey. But he is a good-natured fellow, speaks +a little French, very little English, and seems anxious to do his best. + +I see the faces of my New York fellow-passengers from the west gallery, +and we come together and throw our acquisitions of information into a +common stock, and help one another. Mr. Miller's servant, who has been +here before, says there are baths and other conveniences round the +corner of the street; and, sending our bundles of thin clothes there, we +take advantage of the baths, with comfort. To be sure, we must go +through a billiard-room, where the Creoles are playing at the tables, +and the cockroaches playing under them, and through a drinking-room, and +a bowling-alley; but the baths are built in the open yard, protected by +blinds, well ventilated, and well supplied with water and toilet +apparatus. + +With the comfort of a bath, and clothed in linen, with straw hats, we +walk back to Le Grand's, and enter the restaurant, for breakfast--the +breakfast of the country, at 10 o'clock. Here is a scene so pretty as +quite to make up for the defects of the chambers. The restaurant with +cool marble floor, walls twenty-four feet high, open rafters painted +blue, great windows open to the floor and looking into the Paseo, and +the floor nearly on a level with the street, a light breeze fanning the +thin curtains, the little tables, for two or four, with clean, white +cloths, each with its pyramid of great red oranges and its fragrant +bouquet--the gentlemen in white pantaloons and jackets and white +stockings, and the ladies in fly-away muslins, and hair in the sweet +neglect of the morning toilet, taking their leisurely breakfasts of +fruit and claret, and omelette and Spanish mixed dishes, (ollas,) and +cafe noir. How airy and ethereal it seems! They are birds, not +substantial men and women. They eat ambrosia and drink nectar. It must +be that they fly, and live in nests, in the tamarind trees. Who can eat +a hot, greasy breakfast of cakes and gravied meats, and in a close room, +after this? + +I can truly say that I ate, this morning, my first orange; for I had +never before eaten one newly gathered, which had ripened in the sun, +hanging on the tree. We call for the usual breakfast, leaving the +selection to the waiter; and he brings us fruits, claret, omelette, fish +fresh from the sea, rice excellently cooked, fried plantains, a mixed +dish of meat and vegetables (olla), and coffee. The fish, I do not +remember its name, is boiled, and has the colors of the rainbow, as it +lies on the plate. Havana is a good fishmarket; for it is as open to the +ocean as Nahant, or the beach at Newport; its streets running to the +blue sea, outside the harbor, so that a man may almost throw his line +from the curb-stone into the Gulf Stream. + +After breakfast, I take a volante and ride into the town, to deliver my +letters. Three merchants whom I call upon have palaces for their +business. The entrances are wide, the staircases almost as stately as +that of Stafford House, the floors of marble, the panels of porcelain +tiles, the rails of iron, and the rooms over twenty feet high, with open +rafters, the doors and windows colossal, the furniture rich and heavy; +and there sits the merchant or banker, in white pantaloons and thin +shoes and loose white coat and narrow necktie, smoking a succession of +cigars, surrounded by tropical luxuries and tropical protections. In the +lower story of one of these buildings is an exposition of silks, cotton +and linens, in a room so large that it looked like a part of the Great +Exhibition in Hyde Park. At one of these counting-palaces, I met Mr. +Theodore Parker and Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, who preceded me, in the +"Karnac." Mr. Parker is here for his health, which has caused anxiety to +his friends lest his weakened frame should no longer support the strong +intellectual machinery, as before. He finds Havana too hot, and will +leave for Santa Cruz by the first opportunity. Dr. Howe likes the warm +weather. It is a comfort to see him--a benefactor of his race, and one +of the few heroes we have left to us, since Kane died. + +The Bishop of Havana has been in delicate health, and is out of town, at +Jesus del Monte, and Miss M---- is not at home, and the Senoras F---- I +failed to see this morning; but I find a Boston young lady, whose +friends were desirous I should see her, and who was glad enough to meet +one so lately from her home. A clergyman to whom, also, I had letters, +is gone into the country, without much hope of improving his health. +Stepping into a little shop to buy a plan of Havana, my name is called, +and there is my hero's wife, the accomplished author and +conversationist, whom it is an exhilaration to meet anywhere, much more +in a land of strangers. Dr. and Mrs. Howe and Mr. Parker are at the +Cerro, a pretty and cool place in the suburbs, but are coming in to Mrs. +Almy's boarding-house, for the convenience of being in the city, and for +nearness to friends, and the comforts of something like American or +English housekeeping. + +In the latter part of the afternoon, from three o'clock, our parties are +taking dinner at Le Grand's. The little tables are again full, with a +fair complement of ladies. The afternoon breeze is so strong that the +draught of air, though it is hot air, is to be avoided. The passers-by +almost put their faces into the room, and the women and children of the +poorer order look wistfully in upon the luxurious guests, the colored +glasses, the red wines, and the golden fruits. The Opera troupe is here, +both the singers and the ballet; and we have Gazzaniga, Lamoureux, Max +Maretzek and his sister, and others, in this house, and Adelaide +Phillips at the next door, and the benefit of a rehearsal, at nearly all +hours of the day, of operas that the Habaneros are to rave over at +night. + +I yield to no one in my admiration of the Spanish as a spoken language, +whether in its rich, sonorous, musical, and lofty style, in the mouth of +a man who knows its uses, or in the soft, indolent, languid tones of a +woman, broken by an occasional birdlike trill-- + + "_With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,_ + _The melting voice through mazes running_"-- + +but I do not like it as spoken by the common people of Cuba, in the +streets. Their voices and intonations are thin and eager, very rapid, +too much in the lips, and, withal, giving an impression of the +passionate and the childish combined; and it strikes me that the +tendency here is to enfeeble the language, and take from it the openness +of the vowels and the strength of the harder consonants. This is the +criticism of a few hours' observation, and may not be just; but I have +heard the same from persons who have been longer acquainted with it. +Among the well educated Cubans, the standard of Castilian is said to be +kept high, and there is a good deal of ambition to reach it. + +After dinner, walked along the Paseo de Isabel Segunda, to see the +pleasure-driving, which begins at about five o'clock, and lasts until +dark. The most common carriage is the volante, but there are some +carriages in the English style, with servants in livery on the box. I +have taken a fancy for the strange-looking two-horse volante. The +postilion, the long, dangling traces, the superfluousness of a horse to +be ridden by the man that guides the other, and the prodigality of +silver, give the whole a look of style that eclipses, the neat +appropriate English equipage. The ladies ride in full dress, +decolletees, without hats. The servants on the carriages are not all +Negroes. Many of the drivers are white. The drives are along the Paseo +de Isabel, across the Campo del Marte, and then along the Paseo de +Tacon, a beautiful double avenue, lined with trees, which leads two or +three miles, in a straight line, into the country. + +At 8 o'clock, drove to the Plaza de Armas, a square in front of the +governor's house, to hear the Retreta, at which a military band plays +for an hour, every evening. There is a clear moon above, and a blue +field of glittering stars; the air is pure and balmy; the band of fifty +or sixty instruments discourses most eloquent music under the shade of +palm trees and mangoes; the walks are filled with promenaders, and the +streets around the square lined with carriages, in which the ladies +recline, and receive the salutations and visits of the gentlemen. Very +few ladies walk in the square, and those probably are strangers. It is +against the etiquette for ladies to walk in public in Havana. + +I walk leisurely home, in order to see Havana by night. The evening is +the busiest season for the shops. Much of the business of shopping is +done after gas lighting. Volantes and coaches are driving to and fro, +and stopping at the shop doors, and attendants take their goods to the +doors of the carriages. The watchmen stand at the corners of the +streets, each carrying a long pike and a lantern. Billiard-rooms and +cafes are filled, and all who can walk for pleasure will walk now. This +is also the principal time for paying visits. + +There is one strange custom observed here in all the houses. In the +chief room, rows of chairs are placed, facing each other, three or four +or five in each line, and always running at right angles with the street +wall of the house. As you pass along the street, you look up this row of +chairs. In these, the family and the visitors take their seats, in +formal order. As the windows are open, deep, and large, with wide +gratings and no glass, one has the inspection of the interior +arrangement of all the front parlors of Havana, and can see what every +lady wears, and who is visiting her. + + + + +IV. + +HAVANA: Prisoners and Priests + + +If mosquito nets were invented for the purpose of shutting mosquitoes in +with you, they answer their purpose very well. The beds have no +mattresses, and you lie on the hard sacking. This favors coolness and +neatness. I should fear a mattress, in the economy of our hotel, at +least. Where there is nothing but an iron frame, canvas stretched over +it, and sheets and a blanket, you may know what you are dealing with. + +The clocks of the churches and castles strike the quarter hours, and at +each stroke the watchmen blow a kind of boatswain's whistle, and cry the +time and the state of the weather, which, from their name (serenos), +should be always pleasant. + +I have been advised to close the shutters at night, whatever the heat, +as the change of air that often takes place before dawn is injurious; +and I notice that many of the bedrooms in the hotel are closed, both +doors and shutters, at night. This is too much for my endurance, and I +venture to leave the air to its course, not being in the draught. One is +also cautioned not to step with bare feet on the floor, for fear of the +nigua (or chigua), a very small insect, that is said to enter the skin +and build tiny nests, and lay little eggs that can only be seen by the +microscope, but are tormenting and sometimes dangerous. This may be +excessive caution, but it is so easy to observe, that it is not worth +while to test the question. + +There are streaks of a clear dawn; it is nearly six o'clock, the cocks +are crowing, and the drums and trumpets sounding. We have been told of +sea-baths, cut in the rock, near the Punta, at the foot of our Paseo. I +walk down, under the trees, toward the Presidio. What is this clanking +sound? Can it be cavalry, marching on foot, their sabres rattling on +the pavement? No, it comes from that crowd of poor-looking creatures +that are forming in files in front of the Presidio. It is the +chain-gang! Poor wretches! I come nearer to them, and wait until they +are formed and numbered and marched off. Each man has an iron band +riveted round his ankle, and another round his waist, and the chain is +fastened, one end into each of these bands, and dangles between them, +clanking with every movement. This leaves the wearers free to use their +arms, and, indeed, their whole body, it being only a weight and a badge +and a note for discovery, from which they cannot rid themselves. It is +kept on them day and night, working, eating, or sleeping. In some cases, +two are chained together. They have passed their night in the Presidio +(the great prison and garrison), and are marshalled for their day's toil +in the public streets and on the public works, in the heat of the sun. +They look thoroughly wretched. Can any of these be political offenders? +It is said that Carlists, from Old Spain, worked in this gang. Sentence +to the chain-gang in summer, in the case of a foreigner, must be nearly +certain death. + +Farther on, between the Presidio and the Punta, the soldiers are +drilling; and the drummers and trumpeters are practising on the rampart +of the city walls. + +A little to the left, in the Calzada de San Lazaro, are the Banos de +Mar. These are boxes, each about twelve feet square and six or eight +feet deep, cut directly into the rock which here forms the sea-line, +with steps of rock, and each box having a couple of portholes through +which the waves of this tideless shore wash in and out. This arrangement +is necessary, as sharks are so abundant that bathing in the open sea is +dangerous. The pure rock, and the flow and reflow, make these +bathing-boxes very agreeable, and the water, which is that of the Gulf +Stream, is at a temperature of 72 degrees. The baths are roofed over, +and partially screened on the inside, but open for a view out, on the +side towards the sea; and as you bathe, you see the big ships floating +up the Gulf Stream, that great highway of the Equinoctial world. The +water stands at depths of from three to five feet in the baths; and they +are large enough for short swimming. The bottom is white with sand and +shells. These baths are made at the public expense, and are free. Some +are marked for women, some for men, and some "por la gente de color." A +little further down the Calzada, is another set of baths, and further +out in the suburbs, opposite the Beneficencia, are still others. + +After bath, took two or three fresh oranges, and a cup of coffee, +without milk; for the little milk one uses with coffee must not be taken +with fruit here, even in winter. + +To the Cathedral, at 8 o'clock, to hear mass. The Cathedral, in its +exterior, is a plain and quaint old structure, with a tower at each +angle of the front; but within, it is sumptuous. There is a floor of +variegated marble, obstructed by no seats or screens, tall pillars and +rich frescoed walls, and delicate masonry of various colored stone, the +prevailing tint being yellow, and a high altar of porphyry. There is a +look of the great days of Old Spain about it; and you think that knights +and nobles worshipped here and enriched it from their spoils and +conquests. Every new eye turns first to the place within the choir, +under that alto-relief, behind that short inscription, where, in the +wall of the chancel, rest the remains of Christopher Columbus. Borne +from Valladolid to Seville, from Seville to San Domingo, and from San +Domingo to Havana, they at last rest here, by the altar side, in the +emporium of the Spanish Islands. "What is man that thou art mindful of +him!" truly and humbly says the Psalmist; but what is man, indeed, if +his fellow men are not mindful of such a man as this! The creator of a +hemisphere! It is not often we feel that monuments are surely deserved, +in their degree and to the extent of their utterance. But when, in the +New World, on an island of that group which he gave to civilized man, +you stand before this simple monumental slab, and know that all of him +that man can gather up, lies behind it, so overpowering is the sense of +the greatness of his deeds, that you feel relieved that no attempt has +been made to measure it by any work of man's hands. The little there is, +is so inadequate, that you make no comparison. It is a mere +finger-point, the _hic jacet_, the _sic itur_. + +The priests in the chancel are numerous, perhaps twenty or more. The +service is chanted with no aid of instruments, except once the +accompaniment of a small and rather disordered organ, and chanted in +very loud and often harsh and blatant tones, which reverberate from the +marble walls, with a tiresome monotony of cadence. There is a degree of +ceremony in the placing, replacing, and carrying to and fro of candles +and crucifixes, and swinging of censers, which the Roman service as +practised in the United States does not give. The priests seem duly +attentive and reverent in their manner, but I cannot say as much for the +boys, of whom there were three or four, gentlemen-like looking lads, +from the college, doing service as altar boys. One of these, who seemed +to have the lead, was strikingly careless and irreverent in his manner; +and when he went about the chancel, to incense all who were there, and +to give to each the small golden vessel to kiss, (containing, I suppose +a relic), he seemed as if he were counting his playmates out for a game, +and flinging the censer at them and snubbing their noses with the golden +vessel. + +There were only about half a dozen persons at mass, beside those in the +chancel; and all but one of these were women, and of the women two were +Negroes. The women walk in, veiled, drop down on the bare pavement, +kneeling or sitting, as the service requires or permits. A Negro woman, +with devout and even distressed countenance, knelt at the altar rail, +and one pale-eyed priest, in cassock, who looked like an American or +Englishman, knelt close by a pillar. A file of visitors, American or +English women, with an escort of gentlemen, came in and sat on the only +benches, next the columns; and when the Host was elevated, and a priest +said to them, very civilly, in English, "Please to kneel down," they +neither knelt nor stood, nor went away, but kept their seats. + +After service, the old sacristan, in blue woollen dress, showed all the +visitors the little chapel and the cloisters, and took us beyond the +altar to the mural tomb of Columbus, and though he was liberally paid, +haggled for two reals more. + +In the rear of the Cathedral is the Seminario, or college for boys, +where also men are trained for the priesthood. There are cloisters and a +pleasant garden within them. + + + + +V. + +HAVANA: Olla Podrida + + +Breakfast, and again the cool marble floor, white-robed tables, the +fruits and flowers, and curtains gently swaying, and women in morning +toilets. Besides the openness to view, these rooms are strangely open to +ingress. Lottery-ticket vendors go the rounds of the tables at every +meal, and so do the girls with tambourines for alms for the music in the +street. As there is no coin in Cuba less than the medio, 6-1/4 cents, +the musicians get a good deal or nothing. The absence of any smaller +coin must be an inconvenience to the poor, as they must often buy more +than they want, or go without. I find silver very scarce here. It is +difficult to get change for gold, and at public places notices are put +up that gold will not be received for small payments. I find the only +course is to go to one of the Cambios de Moneda, whose signs are +frequent in the streets, and get a half doubloon changed into reals and +pesetas, at four per cent discount, and fill my pockets with small +silver. + +Spent the morning, from eleven o'clock to dinner-time, in my room, +writing and reading. It is too hot to be out with comfort. It is not +such a morning as one would spend at the St. Nicholas, or the Tremont, +or at Morley's or Meurice's. The rooms all open into the court-yard, and +the doors and windows, if open at all, are open to the view of all +passers-by. As there are no bells, every call is made from the veranda +rail, down into the court-yard, and repeated until the servant answers, +or the caller gives up in despair. Antonio has a compeer and rival in +Domingo, and the sharp voice of the woman in the next room but one, who +proves to be a subordinate of the opera troupe, is calling +out,"Do-meen-go! Do-meen-go!" and the rogue is in full sight from our +side, making significant faces, until she changes her tune to "Antonio! +Antonio! adonde esta Domingo?" But as she speaks very little Spanish, +and Antonio very little French, it is not difficult for him to get up a +misapprehension, especially at the distance of two stories; and she is +obliged to subside for a while, and her place is supplied by the parrot. +She is usually unsuccessful, being either unreasonable, or bad pay. The +opera troupe are rehearsing in the second flight, with doors and windows +open. And throughout the hot middle day, we hear the singing, the piano, +the parrot, and the calls and parleys with the servants below. But we +can see the illimitable sea from the end of the piazza, blue as indigo; +and the strange city is lying under our eye, with its strange blue and +white and yellow houses, with their roofs of dull red tiles, its strange +tropical shade-trees, and its strange vehicles and motley population, +and the clangor of its bells, and the high-pitched cries of the vendors +in its streets. + +Going down stairs at about eleven o'clock, I find a table set in the +front hall, at the foot of the great staircase, and there, in full view +of all who come or go, the landlord and his entire establishment, except +the slaves and coolies, are at breakfast. This is done every day. At the +cafe round the corner, the family with their white, hired servants, +breakfast and dine in the hall, through which all the customers of the +place must go to the baths, the billiard rooms, and the bowling-alleys. +Fancy the manager of the Astor or Revere, spreading a table for +breakfast and dinner in the great entry, between the office and the +front door, for himself and family and servants! + +Yesterday and to-day I noticed in the streets and at work in houses, men +of an Indian complexion, with coarse black hair. I asked if they were +native Indians, or of mixed blood. No, they are the coolies! Their hair, +full grown, and the usual dress of the country which they wore, had not +suggested to me the Chinese; but the shape and expression of the eye +make it plain. These are the victims of the trade, of which we hear so +much. I am told there are 200,000 of them in Cuba, or, that so many have +been imported, and all within seven years. I have met them everywhere, +the newly-arrived, in Chinese costume, with shaved heads, but the +greater number in pantaloons and jackets and straw hats, with hair full +grown. Two of the cooks at our hotel are coolies. I must inform myself +on the subject of this strange development of the domination of capital +over labor. I am told there is a mart of coolies in the Cerro. This I +must see, if it is to be seen. + +After dinner drove out to the Jesus del Monte, to deliver my letter of +introduction to the Bishop. The drive, by way of the Calzada de Jesus +del Monte, takes one through a wretched portion, I hope the most +wretched portion, of Havana, by long lines of one story wood and mud +hovels, hardly habitable even for Negroes, and interspersed with an +abundance of drinking shops. The horses, mules, asses, chickens, +children, and grown people use the same door; and the back yards +disclose heaps of rubbish. The looks of the men, the horses tied to the +door-posts, the mules with their panniers of fruits and leaves reaching +to the ground, all speak of Gil Blas, and of what we have read of humble +life in Spain. The little Negro children go stark naked, as innocent of +clothing as the puppies. But this is so all over the city. In the front +hall of Le Grand's, this morning, a lady, standing in a full dress of +spotless white, held by the hand a naked little Negro boy, of two or +three years old, nestling in black relief against the folds of her +dress. + +Now we rise to the higher grounds of Jesus del Monte. The houses improve +in character. They are still of one story, but high and of stone, with +marble floors and tiled roofs, with court-yards of grass and trees, and +through the gratings of the wide, long, open windows, I see the decent +furniture, the double, formal row of chairs, prints on the walls, and +well-dressed women maneuvering their fans. + +As a carriage with a pair of cream-colored horses passed, having two men +within, in the dress of ecclesiastics, my driver pulled up and said that +was the Bishop's carriage, and that he was going out for an evening +drive. Still, I must go on; and we drive to his house. As you go up the +hill, a glorious view lies upon the left. Havana, both city and suburbs, +the Morro with its batteries and lighthouse, the ridge of fortifications +called the Cabana and Casa Blanca, the Castle of Atares, near at hand, a +perfect truncated cone, fortified at the top--the higher and most +distant Castle of Principe, + + "_And, poured round all,_ + _Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste_"-- + +No! Not so! Young Ocean, the Ocean of to-day! The blue, bright, +healthful, glittering, gladdening, inspiring Ocean! Have I ever seen a +city view so grand? The view of Quebec from the foot of the Montmorenci +Falls, may rival, but does not excel it. My preference is for this; for +nothing, not even the St. Lawrence, broad and affluent as it is, will +make up for the living sea, the boundless horizon, the dioramic vision +of gliding, distant sails, and the open arms and motherly bosom of the +harbor, "with handmaid lamp attending":--our Mother Earth, forgetting +never the perils of that gay and treacherous world of waters, its change +of moods, its "strumpet winds"--ready is she at all times, by day or by +night, to fold back to her bosom her returning sons, knowing that the +sea can give them no drink, no food, no path, no light, nor bear up +their foot for an instant, if they are sinking in its depths. + +The regular episcopal residence is in town. This is only a house which +the Bishop occupies temporarily, for the sake of his health. It is a +modest house of one story, standing very high, with a commanding view of +city, harbor, sea, and suburbs. The floors are marble, and the roof is +of open rafters, painted blue, and above twenty feet in height; the +windows are as large as doors, and the doors as large as gates. The +mayordomo shows me the parlor, in which are portraits in oil of +distinguished scholars and missionaries and martyrs. + +On my way back to the city, I direct the driver to avoid the +disagreeable road by which we came out, and we drive by a cross road, +and strike the Paseo de Tacon at its outer end, where is a fountain and +statue, and a public garden of the most exquisite flowers, shrubs, and +trees, and around them are standing, though it is nearly dark, files of +carriages waiting for the promenaders, who are enjoying a walk in the +garden. I am able to take the entire drive of the Paseo. It is straight, +very wide, with two carriageways and two footways, with rows of trees +between, and at three points has a statue and a fountain. One of these +statues, if I recollect aright, is of Tacon; one of a Queen of Spain; +and one is an allegorical figure. The Paseo is two or three miles in +length; reaching from the Campo de Marte, just outside the walls, to the +last statue and public garden, on gradually ascending ground, and lined +with beautiful villas, and rich gardens full of tropical trees and +plants. No city in America has such an avenue as the Paseo de Tacon. +This, like most of the glories of Havana, they tell you they owe to the +energy and genius of the man whose name it bears.--I must guard myself, +by the way, while here, against using the words America and American, +when I mean the United States and the people of our Republic; for this +is America also; and they here use the word America as including the +entire continent and islands, and distinguish between Spanish and +English America, the islands and the main. + +The Cubans have a taste for prodigality in grandiloquent or pretty +names. Every shop, the most humble, has its name. They name the shops +after the sun and moon and stars; after gods and goddesses, demi-gods +and heroes; after fruits and flowers, gems and precious stones; after +favorite names of women, with pretty, fanciful additions; and after all +alluring qualities, all delights of the senses, and all pleasing +affections of the mind. The wards of jails and hospitals are each known +by some religious or patriotic designation; and twelve guns in the Morro +are named for the Apostles. Every town has the name of an apostle or +saint, or of some sacred subject. The full name of Havana, in honor of +Columbus, is San Cristobal de la Habana; and that of Matanzas is San +Carlos Alcazar de Matanzas. It is strange that the island itself has +defied all the Spanish attempts to name it. It has been solemnly named +Juana, after the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; then Ferdinandina, +after Ferdinand himself; then Santiago, and, lastly, Ave Maria; but it +has always fallen back upon the original Indian name of Cuba. And the +only compensation to the hyperbolical taste of the race is that they +decorate it, on state and ceremonious occasions, with the musical prefix +of "La siempre fidelisima Isla de Cuba." + +At 7.30 P.M. went with my New York fellow-passengers to hear an opera, +or, more correctly, to see the people of Havana at an opera. The Teatro +de Tacon is closed for repairs. This is unfortunate, as it is said by +some to be the finest theater, and by all to be one of the three finest +theaters in the world. This, too, is attributed to Tacon; although it is +said to have been a speculation of a clever pirate turned fish-dealer, +who made a fortune by it. But I like well enough the Teatro de +Villanueva. The stage is deep and wide, the pit high and comfortable, +and the boxes light and airy and open in front, with only a light +tracery of iron to support the rails, leaving you a full view of the +costumes of the ladies, even to their slippers. The boxes are also +separated from the passage-ways in the rear, only by wide lattice work; +so that the promenaders between the acts can see the entire contents of +the boxes at one view; and the ladies dress and sit and talk and use the +fan with a full sense that they are under the inspection of a "committee +of the whole house." They are all in full dress, decolletees, without +hats. It seemed, to my fancy, that the mature women were divisible into +two classes, distinctly marked and with few intermediates--the obese and +the shrivelled. I suspect that the effect of time in this climate is to +produce a decided result in the one direction or the other. But a single +night's view at an opera is very imperfect material for an induction, I +admit. The young ladies had, generally, full figures, with tapering +fingers and well-rounded arms; yet there were some in the extreme +contrast of sallow, bilious, sharp countenances, with glassy eyes. There +is evidently great attention to manner, to the mode of sitting and +moving, to the music of the voice in speaking, the use of the hands and +arms, and, perhaps it may be ungallant to add, of the eyes. + +The Governor-General, Concha (whose title is, strictly, +Capitan-General), with his wife and two daughters, and two +aides-de-camp, is in the Vice-regal box, hung with red curtains, and +surmounted by the royal arms. I can form no opinion of him from his +physiognomy, as that is rather heavy, and gives not much indication. + +Between the acts, I make, as all the gentlemen do, the promenade of the +house. All parts of it are respectable, and the regulations are good. I +notice one curious custom, which I am told prevails in all Spanish +theaters. As no women sit in the pit, and the boxes are often hired for +the season, and are high-priced, a portion of an upper tier is set apart +for those women and children who cannot or do not choose to get seats in +the boxes. Their quarter is separated from the rest of the house by +gates, and is attended by two or three old women, with a man to guard +the entrance. No men are admitted among them, and their parents, +brothers, cousins and beaux are allowed only to come to the door, and +must send in refreshments, and even a cup of water, by the hands of the +duenas. + +Military, on duty, abound at the doors and in the passage-ways. The men +to-night are of the regiment of Guards, dressed in white. There are +enough of them to put down a small insurrection, on the spot. The +singers screamed well enough, and the play was a poor one, "Maria de +Rohan," but the prima donna, Gazzaniga, is a favorite, and the excitable +Cubans shout and scream, and throw bouquets, and jump on the benches, +and, at last, present her with a crown, wreathed with flowers, and with +jewels of value attached to it. Miss Adelaide Phillips is here, too, and +a favorite, and has been crowned, they say; but she does not sing +to-night. + + + + +VI. + +HAVANA: A Social Sunday + + +To-morrow, I am to go, at eight o'clock either to the church of San +Domingo, to hear the military mass, or to the Jesuit church of Belen; +for the service of my own church is not publicly celebrated, even at the +British consulate, no service but the Roman Catholic being tolerated on +the island. + +To-night there is a public mascara (mask ball) at the great hall, next +door to Le Grand's. My only window is by the side of the numerous +windows of the great hall, and all these are wide open; and I should be +stifled if I were to close mine. The music is loud and violent, from a +very large band, with kettle drums and bass drums and trumpets; and +because these do not make noise and uproar enough, leather bands are +snapped, at the turns in the tunes. For sleeping, I might as well have +been stretched on the bass drum. This tumult of noises, and the heat are +wearing and oppressive beyond endurance, as it draws on past midnight, +to the small hours; and the servants in the court of the hall seem to be +tending at tables of quarrelling men, and to be interminably washing and +breaking dishes. After several feverish hours, I light a match and look +at my watch. It is nearly five o'clock in the morning. There is an hour +to daylight--and will this noise stop before then? The city clocks +struck five; the music ceased; and the bells of the convents and +monasteries tolled their matins, to call the nuns and monks to their +prayers and to the bedsides of the sick and dying in the hospitals, as +the maskers go home from their revels at this hideous hour of Sunday +morning. The servants ceased their noises, the cocks began to crow and +the bells to chime, the trumpets began to bray, and the cries of the +streets broke in before dawn, and I dropped asleep just as I was +thinking sleep past hoping for; when I am awakened by a knocking at the +door, and Antonio calling, "Usted! Usted! Un caballero quiere ver a +Usted!" to find it half-past nine, the middle of the forenoon, and an +ecclesiastic in black dress and shovel hat, waiting in the passage-way, +with a message from the bishop. + +His Excellency regrets not having seen me the day before, and invites me +to dinner at three o'clock, to meet three or four gentlemen, an +invitation which I accept with pleasure. + +I am too late for the mass, or any other religious service, as all the +churches close at ten o'clock. A tepid, soothing bath, at "Los banos +publicos," round the corner, and I spend the morning in my chamber. As +we are at breakfast, the troops pass by the Paseo, from the mass +service. Their gait is quick and easy, with swinging arms, after the +French fashion. Their dress is seersucker, with straw hats and red +cockades: the regiments being distinguished by the color of the cloth on +the cuffs of the coat, some being yellow, some green, and some blue. + +Soon after two o'clock, I take a carriage for the bishop's. On my way +out I see that the streets are full of Spanish sailors from the +men-of-war, ashore for a holiday, dressed in the style of English +sailors, with wide duck trousers, blue jackets, and straw hats, with the +name of their ship on the front of the hat. All business is going on as +usual, and laborers are at work in the streets and on the houses. + +The company consists of the bishop himself, the Bishop of Puebla de los +Angeles in Mexico, Father Yuch, the rector of the Jesuit College, who +has a high reputation as a man of intellect, and two young +ecclesiastics. Our dinner is well cooked, and in the Spanish style, +consisting of fish, vegetables, fruits, and of stewed light dishes, made +up of vegetables, fowls and other meats, a style of cooking well adapted +to a climate in which one is very willing to dispense with the solid, +heavy cuts of an English dinner. + +The Bishop of Puebla wore the purple, the Bishop of Havana a black robe +with a broad cape, lined with red, and each wore the Episcopal cross and +ring. The others were in simple black cassocks. The conversation was in +French; for, to my surprise, none of the company could speak English; +and being allowed my election between French and Spanish, I chose the +former, as the lighter infliction on my associates. + +I am surprised to see what an impression is made on all classes in this +country by the pending "Thirty Millions Bill" of Mr. Slidell. It is +known to be an Administration measure, and is thought to be the first +step in a series which is to end in an attempt to seize the island. Our +steamer brought oral intelligence that it had passed the Senate, and it +was so announced in the Diario of the day after our arrival, although no +newspaper that we brought so stated it. Not only with these clergymen, +but with the merchants and others whom I have met since our arrival, +foreigners as well as Cubans, this is the absorbing topic. Their future +seems to be hanging in doubt, depending on the action of our government, +which is thought to have a settled purpose to acquire the island. I +suggested that it had not passed the Senate, and would not pass the +House; and, at most, was only an authority to the President to make an +offer that would certainly be refused. But they looked beyond the form +of the act, and regarded it as the first move in a plan, of which, +although they could not entirely know the details, they thought they +understood the motive. + +These clergymen were well informed as to the state of religion in the +United States, the relative numbers and force of the various +denominations, and their doctrinal differences; the reputations of +Brownson, Parker, Beecher, and others; and most minutely acquainted with +the condition of their own church in the United States, and with the +chief of its clergy. This acquaintance is not attributable solely to +their unity of organization, and to the consequent interchange of +communication, but largely also to the tie of a common education at the +Propaganda or St. Sulpice, the catalogues of whose alumni are familiar +to the educated Catholic clergy throughout the world. + +The subject of slavery, and the condition and prospects of the Negro +race in Cuba, the probable results of the coolie system, and the +relations between Church and State in Cuba, and the manner in which +Sunday is treated in Havana, the public school system in America, the +fate of Mormonism, and how our government will treat it, were freely +discussed. It is not because I have any reason to suppose that these +gentlemen would object to all they said being printed in these pages, +and read by all who may choose to read it in Cuba, or the United States, +that I do not report their interesting and instructive conversation; but +because it would be, in my opinion, a violation of the universal +understanding among gentlemen. + +After dinner, we walked on the piazza, with the noble sunset view of the +unsurpassed panorama lying before us; and I took my leave of my host, a +kind and courteous gentleman of Old Spain, as well as a prelate, just as +a few lights were beginning to sprinkle over the fading city, and the +Morro Light to gleam on the untroubled air. + +Made two visits in the city this evening. In each house, I found the +double row of chairs, facing each other, always with about four or five +feet of space between the rows. The etiquette is that the gentlemen sit +on the row opposite to the ladies, if there be but two or three present. +If a lady, on entering goes to the side of a gentleman, when the other +row is open to her, it indicates either familiar acquaintance or +boldness. There is no people so observant of outguards, as the Spanish +race. + +I notice, and my observation is supported by what I am told by the +residents here, that there is no street-walking, in the technical sense, +in Havana. Whether this is from the fact that no ladies walk in the +streets--which are too narrow for comfortable or even safe walking--or +by reason of police regulations, I do not know. From what one meets with +in the streets, if he does not look farther, one would not know that +there was a vice in Havana, not even drunkenness. + + + + +VII. + +HAVANA: Belen and the Jesuits + + +Rose before six, and walked as usual, down the Paseo, to the sea baths. +How refreshing is this bath, after the hot night and close rooms! At +your side, the wide blue sea with its distant sails, the bath cut into +the clean rock, the gentle washing in and out of the tideless sea, at +the Gulf Stream temperature, in the cool of the morning! As I pass down, +I meet a file of coolies, in Chinese costume, marching, under overseers, +to their work or their jail. And there is the chain-gang! clank, clank, +as they go headed by officers with pistols and swords, and flanked by +drivers with whips. This is simple wretchedness! + +While at breakfast, a gentleman in the dress of the regular clergy, +speaking English, called upon me, bringing me, from the bishop an open +letter of introduction and admission to all the religious, charitable, +and educational institutions of the city, and offering to conduct me to +the Belen (Bethlehem). He is Father B. of Charleston, S. C. temporarily +in Havana, with whom I find I have some acquaintances in common, both in +America and abroad. We drive together to the Belen. I say drive; for few +persons walk far in Havana, after ten o'clock in the morning. The +volantes are the public carriages of Havana; and are as abundant as cabs +in London. You never need stand long at a street door without finding +one. The postilions are always Negroes; and I am told that they pay the +owner a certain sum per day for the horse and volante, and make what +they can above that. + +The Belen is a group of buildings, of the usual yellow or tawny color, +covering a good deal of ground, and of a thoroughly monastic character. +It was first a Franciscan monastery, then a barrack, and now has been +given by the government to the Jesuits. The company of Jesus here is +composed of a rector and about forty clerical and twenty lay brethren. +These perform every office, from the highest scientific investigations +and instruction, down to the lowest menial offices, in the care of the +children; some serving in costly vestments at the high altar, and others +in coarse black garb at the gates. It is only three years since they +established themselves in Havana, but in that time they have formed a +school of two hundred boarders and one hundred day scholars, built +dormitories for the boarders, and a common hall, restored the church and +made it the most fully attended in the city; established a missionary +work in all parts of the town, recalled a great number to the discipline +of the Church, and not only created something like an enthusiasm of +devotion among the women, who are said to have monopolized the religion +of Cuba in times past, but have introduced among the men, and among many +influential men, the practices of confession and communion, to which +they had been almost entirely strangers. I do not take this account from +the Jesuits themselves, but from the regular clergy of other orders, and +from Protestants who are opposed to them and their influence. All agree +that they are at work with zeal and success. + +I met my distinguished acquaintance of yesterday, the rector, who took +me to the boys' chapel, and introduced me to Father Antonio Cabre, a +very young man of a spare frame and intellectual countenance, with hands +so white and so thin, and eyes so bright, and cheek so pale! He is at +the head of the department of mathematics and astronomy, and looks +indeed as if he had outwatched the stars, in vigils of science or of +devotion. He took me to his laboratory, his observatory, and his +apparatus of philosophic instruments. These I am told are according to +the latest inventions, and in the best style of French and German +workmanship. I was also shown a collection of coins and medals, a +cabinet of shells, the commencement of a museum of natural history, +already enriched with most of the birds of Cuba, and an interesting +cabinet of the woods of the island, in small blocks, each piece being +polished on one side, and rough on the other. Among the woods were the +mahoganies, the iron-wood, the ebony, the lignum vitae, the cedar, and +many others, of names unfamiliar to me, which admit of the most +exquisite polish. Some of the most curious were from the Isla de Pinos, +an island belonging to Cuba, and on its southern shore. + +The sleeping arrangement for the boys here seemed to me to be new, and +to be well adapted to the climate. There is a large hall, with a roof +about thirty feet from the floor, and windows near the top, to give +light and ventilation above, and small portholes, near the ground, to +let air into the passages. In this hall are double rows of compartments, +like high pews, or, more profanely, like the large boxes in restaurants +and chop-houses, open at the top, with curtains instead of doors, and +each large enough to contain a single bed, a chair, and a toilet table. +This ensures both privacy and the light and air of the great hall. The +bedsteads are of iron; and nothing can exceed the neatness and order of +the apartments. The boys' clothes are kept in another part of the house, +and they take to their dormitories only the clothes that they are using. +Each boy sleeps alone. Several of the Fathers sleep in the hall, in +curtained rooms at the ends of the passage-ways, and a watchman walks +the rounds all night, to guard against fire, and to give notice of +sickness. + +The boys have a playground, a gymnasium, and a riding-school. But +although they like riding and fencing, they do not take to the robust +exercises and sports of English schoolboys. An American whom I met here, +who had spent several months at the school, told me that in their +recreations they were more like girls, and like to sit a good deal, +playing or working with their hands. He pointed out to me a boy, the son +of an American mother, a lady to whom I brought letters and kind wishes +from her many friends at the North, and told me that he had more pluck +than any boy in the school. + +The roof of the Belen is flat, and gives a pleasant promenade, in the +open air, after the sun is gone down, which is much needed, as the +buildings are in the dense part of the city. + +The brethren of this order wear short hair, with the tonsure, and dress +in coarse cassocks of plain black, coming to the feet, and buttoned +close to the neck, with a cape, but with no white of collar above; and +in these, they sweep like black spectres, about the passage-ways, and +across the halls and court-yards. There are so many of them that they +are able to give thorough and minute attention to the boys, not only in +instruction, both secular and religious, but in their entire training +and development. + +From the scholastic part of the institution, I passed to the church. It +is not very large, has an open marble floor, a gallery newly erected for +the use of the brethren and other men, a sumptuous high altar, a +sacristy and vestry behind, and a small altar, by which burned the +undying lamp, indicating the presence of the Sacrament. In the vestry, I +was shown the vestments for the service of the high altar, some of which +are costly and gorgeous in the extreme, not probably exceeded by those +of the Temple at Jerusalem in the palmiest days of the Jewish hierarchy. +All are presents from wealthy devotees. One, an alb, had a circle of +precious stones; and the lace alone on another, a present from a lady of +rank, is said to have cost three thousand dollars. Whatever may be +thought of the rightfulness of this expenditure, turning upon the old +question as to which the alabaster box of ointment and the ordained +costliness of the Jewish ritual "must give us pause," it cannot be said +of the Jesuits that they live in cedar, while the ark of God rests in +curtains; for the actual life of the streets hardly presents any greater +contrast, than that between the sumptuousness of their apparel at the +altar, and the coarseness and cheapness of their ordinary dress, the +bareness of their rooms, and the apparent severity of their life. + +The Cubans have a childish taste for excessive decoration. Their altars +look like toyshops. A priest, not a Cuban, told me that he went to the +high altar of the cathedral once, on a Christmas day, to officiate, and +when his eye fell on the childish and almost profane attempts at +symbolism--a kind of doll millinery, if he had not got so far that he +could not retire without scandal, he would have left the duties of the +day to others. At the Belen there is less of this; but the Jesuits find +or think it necessary to conform a good deal to the popular taste. + +In the sacristy, near the side altar, is a distressing image of the +Virgin, not in youth, but the mother of the mature man, with a sword +pierced through her heart--referring to the figurative prediction "a +sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." The handle and a part +of the blade remain without, while the marks of the deep wound are seen, +and the countenance expresses the sorest agony of mind and body. It is +painful, and beyond all legitimate scope of art, and haunts one, like a +vision of actual misery. It is almost the only thing in the church of +which I have brought away a distinct image in my memory. + +A strange, eventful history is that of the Society of Jesus! Ignatius +Loyola, a soldier and noble of Spain, renouncing arms and knighthood, +hangs his trophies of war upon the altar of Monserrate. After intense +studies and barefoot pilgrimages, persecuted by religious orders whose +excesses he sought to restrain, and frowned upon by the Inquisition, he +organizes, with Xavier and Faber, at Montmartre, a society of three. +From this small beginning, spreading upwards and outwards, it +overshadows the earth. Now, at the top of success, it is supposed to +control half Christendom. Now, his order proscribed by State and Church +alike and suppressed by the Pope himself, there is not a spot of earth +in Catholic Christendom where the Jesuit can place the sole of his foot. +In this hour of distress, he finds refuge in Russia, and in Protestant +Prussia. Then, restored and tolerated, the order revives here and there +in Europe, with a fitful life; and, at length, blazes out into a glory +of missionary triumphs and martyrdoms in China, in India, in Africa, and +in North America; and now, in these later days, we see it advancing +everywhere to a new epoch of labor and influence. Thorough in education, +perfect in discipline, absolute in obedience--as yielding, as +indestructible, as all-pervading as water or as air! + +The Jesuits make strong friends and strong enemies. Many, who are +neither the one nor the other, say of them that their ethics are +artificial, and their system unnatural; that they do not reform nature, +but destroy it; that, aiming to use the world without abusing it, they +reduce it to subjection and tutelage; that they are always either in +dangerous power, or in disgrace; and although they may labor with more +enthusiasm and self-consecration than any other order, and meet with +astonishing successes for a time, yet such is the character of their +system that these successes are never permanent, but result in +opposition, not only from Protestants, and moderate Catholics, and from +the civil power, but from other religious orders and from the regular +clergy in their own Church, an opposition to which they are invariably +compelled to yield, at last. In fine, they declare, that, allowing them +all zeal, and all ability, and all devotedness, their system is too +severe and too unnatural for permanent usefulness anywhere--medicine and +not food, lightning and not light, flame and not warmth. + +Not satisfied with this moderated judgment, their opponents have met +them, always and everywhere, with uniform and vehement reprobation. They +say to them--the opinion of mankind has condemned you! The just and +irreversible sentence of time has made you a by-word and a hissing, and +reduced your very name, the most sacred in its origin, to a synonym for +ambition and deceit! + +Others, again, esteem them the nearest approach in modern times to that +type of men portrayed by one of the chiefest, in his epistle: "In much +patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in +imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by +pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering; ... by honor and dishonor; by +evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true; as unknown, and +yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not +killed; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many +rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." + + + + +VIII. + +MATANZAS + + +As there are no plantations to be seen near Havana, I determine to go +down to Matanzas, near which the sugar plantations are in full tide of +operation at this season. A steamer leaves here every night at ten +o'clock, reaching Matanzas before daylight, the distance by sea being +between fifty and sixty miles. + +Took this steamer to-night. She got under way punctually at ten o'clock, +and steamed down the harbor. The dark waters are alive with +phosphorescent light. From each ship that lies moored, the cable from +the bows, tautened to its anchor, makes a run of silver light. Each +boat, gliding silently from ship to ship, and shore to shore, turns up a +silver ripple at its stem, and trails a wake of silver behind; while the +dip of the oar-blades brings up liquid silver, dripping, from the opaque +deep. We pass along the side of the two-decker, and see through her +ports the lanterns and men; under the stern of one frigate, and across +the bows of another (for Havana is well supplied with men-of-war); and +drop leisurely down by the Cabana, where we are hailed from the rocks; +and bend round the Morro, and are out on the salt, rolling sea. Having a +day of work before me, I went early to my berth, and was waked up by the +letting off of steam, in the lower harbor of Matanzas, at three o'clock +in the morning. My fellow-passengers, who sat up, said the little +steamer tore and plunged, and jumped through the water like a thing that +had lost its wits. They seemed to think that the Cuban engineer had got +a machine that would some day run away with him. It was, certainly, a +very short passage. + +We passed a good many vessels lying at anchor in the lower harbor of +Matanzas, and came to anchor about a mile from the pier. It was clear, +bright moonlight. The small boats came off to us, and took us and our +luggage ashore. I was landed alone on a quay, carpet-bag in hand, and +had to guess my way to the inn, which was near the water-side. I beat on +the big, close-barred door; and a sleepy Negro, in time, opened it. Mine +host was up, expecting passengers, and after waiting on the very tardy +movements of the Negro, who made a separate journey to the yard for each +thing the room needed, I got to bed by four o'clock, on the usual piece +of canvas stretched over an iron frame, in a room having a brick floor, +and windows without glass closed with big-bolted shutters. + +After coffee, walked out to deliver my letters to Mr.----, an American +merchant, who has married the daughter of a planter, a gentleman of +wealth and character. He is much more agreeable and painstaking than we +have any right to expect of one who is served so frequently with notice +that his attentions are desired for the entertainment of a stranger. +Knowing that it is my wish to visit a plantation, he gives me a letter +to Don Juan Chartrand, who has an ingenio (sugar plantation), called La +Ariadne, near Limonar, and about twenty-five miles back in the country +from Matanzas. The train leaves at 2.30 P.M., which gives me several +hours for the city. + +Although it is not yet nine o'clock, it is very hot, and one is glad to +keep on the shady side of the broad streets of Matanzas. This city was +built later and more under foreign direction than Havana, and I have +been told, not by persons here however, that for many years the +controlling influences of society were French, English, and American; +but that lately the policy of the government has been to discourage +foreign influence, and now Spanish customs prevail--bull-fights have +been introduced, and other usages and entertainments which had had no +place here before. Whatever may be the reason, this city differs from +Havana in buildings, vehicles, and dress, and in the width of its +streets, and has less of the peculiar air of a tropical city. It has +about 25,000 inhabitants, and stands where two small rivers, the Yumuri +and the San Juan, crossed by handsome stone bridges, run into the sea, +dividing the city into three parts. The vessels lie at anchor from one +to three miles below the city, and lighters, with masts and sails, line +the stone quays of the little rivers. The city is flat and hot, but the +country around is picturesque, hilly, and fertile. To the westward of +the town, rises a ridge, bordering on the sea, called the Cumbre, which +is a place of resort for the beauty of its views; and in front of the +Cumbre, on the inland side, is the deep rich valley of the Yumuri, with +its celebrated cavern. These I must see, if I can, on my return from the +plantation. + +In my morning walk, I see a company of coolies, in the hot sun, carrying +stones to build a house, under the eye of a taskmaster who sits in the +shade. The stones have been dropped in a pile, from carts, and the +coolies, carry them, in files, to the cellar of the house. They are +naked to the waist, with short-legged cotton trousers coming to the +knees. Some of these men were strongly, one or two of them powerfully +built, but many seemed very thin and frail. While looking on, I saw an +evident American face near me, and getting into conversation with the +man, found him an intelligent shipmaster from New York, who had lived in +Matanzas for a year or two, engaged in business. He told me, as I had +heard in Havana, that the importer of the coolies gets $400 a head for +them from the purchaser, and that the coolies are entitled from the +purchaser to four dollars a month, which they may demand monthly if they +choose, and are bound to eight years' service, during which time they +may be held to all the service that a slave is subject to. They are more +intelligent, and are put to higher labor than the Negro. He said, too, +it would not do to flog a coolie. Idolaters as they are, they have a +notion of the dignity of the human body, at least as against strangers, +which does not allow them to submit to the indignity of corporal +chastisement. If a coolie is flogged, somebody must die; either the +coolie himself, for they are fearfully given to suicide, or the +perpetrator of the indignity, or some one else, according to their +strange principles of vicarious punishment. Yet such is the value of +labor in Cuba, that a citizen will give $400, in cash, for the chance of +enforcing eight years' labor, at $4 per month, from a man speaking a +strange language, worshipping strange gods or none, thinking suicide a +virtue, and governed by no moral laws in common with his master--his +value being yet further diminished by the chances of natural death, of +sickness, accident, escape, and of forfeiting his services to the +government, for any crime he may commit against laws he does not +understand. + +The Plaza is in the usual style--an enclosed garden, with walks; and in +front is the Government House. In this spot, so fair and so still in the +noonday sun, some fourteen years ago, under the fire of the platoons of +Spanish soldiers, fell the patriot and poet, one of the few popular +poets of Cuba, Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdez. Charged with being the +head of that concerted movement of the slaves for their freedom which +struck such terror into Cuba, in 1844, he was convicted and ordered to +be shot. At the first volley, as the story is told, he was only wounded. +"Aim here!" said he, pointing to his head. Another volley, and it was +all over. + +The name and story of Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdez are preserved by +the historians and tourists of Cuba. He is best known, however, by the +name of Placido, that under which he wrote and published, than by his +proper name. He was a man of genius and a man of valor, but--he was a +mulatto! + + + + +IX. + +TO LIMONAR BY TRAIN + + +Took the train for Limonar, at 2.30 P.M. There are three classes of +cars, all after the American model, the first of about the condition of +our first-class cars when on the point of being condemned as worn out; +the second, a little plainer; and the third, only covered wagons with +benches. The car I entered had "Davenport & Co., makers, Cambridgeport, +Mass.," familiarly on its front, and the next had "Eaton, Gilbert & Co., +Troy, N. York." The brakemen on the train are coolies, one of them a +handsome lad, with coarse, black hair, that lay gracefully about his +head, and eyes handsome, though of the Chinese pattern. They were all +dressed in the common shirt, trousers and hat, and, but for their eyes, +might be taken for men of any of the Oriental races. + +As we leave Matanzas, we rise on an ascending grade, and the bay and +city lie open before us. The bay is deep on the western shore, under the +ridge of the Cumbre, and there the vessels lie at anchor; while the rest +of the bay is shallow, and its water, in this state of the sky and +light, is of a pale green color. The lighters, with sail and oar are +plying between the quays and the vessels below. All is pretty and quiet +and warm, but the scene has none of those regal points that so impress +themselves on the imagination and memory in the surroundings of Havana. + +I am now to get my first view of the interior of Cuba. I could not have +a more favorable day. The air is clear, and not excessively hot. The +soft clouds float midway in the serene sky, the sun shines fair and +bright, and the luxuriance of a perpetual summer covers the face of +nature. These strange palm trees everywhere! I cannot yet feel at home +among them. Many of the other trees are like our own, and though, +tropical in fact, look to the eye as if they might grow as well in New +England as here. But the royal palm looks so intensely and exclusively +tropical! It cannot grow beyond this narrow belt of the earth's surface. +Its long, thin body, so straight and so smooth, swathed from the +foot--in a tight bandage of tawny gray, leaving only its deep-green +neck, and over that its crest and plumage of deep-green leaves! It gives +no shade, and bears no fruit that is valued by men. And it has no beauty +to atone for those wants. Yet it has more than beauty--a strange +fascination over the eye and the fancy, that will never allow it to be +overlooked or forgotten. The palm tree seems a kind of _lusus naturae_ +to the northern eye--an exotic wherever you meet it. It seems to be +conscious of its want of usefulness for food or shade, yet has a dignity +of its own, a pride of unmixed blood and royal descent--the hidalgo of +the soil. + +What are those groves and clusters of small growth, looking like Indian +corn in a state of transmigration into trees, the stalk turning into a +trunk, a thin soft coating half changed to bark, and the ears of corn +turning into melons? Those are the bananas and plantains, as their +bunches of green and yellow fruits plainly enough indicate, when you +come nearer. But, that sad, weeping tree, its long yellow-green leaves +drooping to the ground! What can that be? It has a green fruit like a +melon. There it is again, in groves! I interrupt my neighbor's tenth +cigarrito, to ask him the name of the tree. It is the cocoa! And that +soft green melon becomes the hard shell we break with a hammer. Other +trees there are, in abundance, of various forms and foliage, but they +might have grown in New England or New York, so far as the eye can teach +us; but the palm, the cocoa, the banana and plantain are the +characteristic trees you could not possibly meet with in any other zone. + +Thickets--jungles I might call them--abound. It seems as if a bird could +hardly get through them; yet they are rich with wild flowers of all +forms and colors, the white, the purple, the pink, and the blue. The +trees are full of birds of all plumage. There is one like our brilliant +oriole. I cannot hear their notes, for the clatter of the train. Stone +fences, neatly laid up, run across the lands;--not of our cold +bluish-gray granite, the color, as a friend once said, of a miser's eye, +but of soft, warm brown and russet, and well overgrown with creepers, +and fringed with flowers. There are avenues, and here are clumps of the +prim orange tree, with its dense and deep-green polished foliage +gleaming with golden fruit. Now we come to acres upon acres of the +sugar-cane, looking at a distance like fields of overgrown broomcorn. It +grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and very thick. An army could +be hidden in it. This soil must be deeply and intensely fertile. + +There, at the end of an avenue of palms, in a nest of shade-trees, is a +group of white buildings, with a sea of cane-fields about it, with one +high furnace-chimney, pouring out its volume of black smoke. This is a +sugar plantation--my first sight of an ingenio; and the chimney is for +the steam works of the sugar-house. It is the height of the sugar +season, and the untiring engine toils and smokes day and night. Ox +carts, loaded with cane, are moving slowly to the sugar-house from the +fields; and about the house, and in the fields, in various attitudes and +motions of labor, are the Negroes, men and women and children, some +cutting the cane, some loading the carts, and some tending the mill and +the furnace. It is a busy scene of distant industry, in the afternoon +sun of a languid Cuban day. + +Now these groups of white one-story buildings become more frequent, +sometimes very near each other, all having the same character--the group +of white buildings, the mill, with its tall furnace-chimney, and the +look of a distillery, and all differing from each other only in the +number and extent of the buildings, or in the ornament and comfort of +shade-trees and avenues about them. Some are approached by broad alleys +of the palm, or mango, or orange, and have gardens around them, and +stand under clusters of shade-trees; while others glitter in the hot +sun, on the flat sea of cane-fields, with only a little oasis of +shade-trees and fruit-trees immediately about the houses. + +I now begin to feel that I am in Cuba; in the tropical, rich, +sugar-growing, slave-tilled Cuba. Heretofore, I have seen only the +cities and their environs in which there are more things that are common +to the rest of the world. The country life tells the story of any people +that have a country life. The New England farm-house shows the heart of +New England. The mansion-house and cottage show the heart of Old +England. The plantation life that I am seeing and about to see, tells +the story of Cuba, the Cuba that has been and that is. + +As we stop at one station, which seems to be in the middle of a +cane-field, the Negroes and coolies go to the cane, slash off a piece +with their knives, cut off the rind and chew the stick of soft, +saccharine pulp, the juice running out of their mouths as they eat. They +seem to enjoy it so highly, that I am tempted to try the taste of it, +myself. But I shall have time for all this at La Ariadne. + +These stations consist merely of one or two buildings, where the produce +of the neighborhood is collected for transportation, and at which there +are very few passengers. The railroad is intended for the carriage of +sugar and other produce, and gets its support almost entirely in that +way; for it runs through a sparse, rural population, where there are no +towns; yet so large and valuable is the sugar crop that I believe the +road is well supported. At each station are its hangers-on of free +Negroes, a few slaves on duty as carriers, a few low whites, and now and +then someone who looks as if he might be an overseer or mayoral of a +plantation. + +Limonar appears in large letters on the small building where we next +stop, and I get out and inquire of a squad of idlers for the plantation +of Senor Chartrand. They point to a group of white buildings about a +quarter of a mile distant, standing prettily under high shade-trees, and +approached by an avenue of orange trees. Getting a tall Negro to +shoulder my bag, for a real, I walk to the house. It is an afternoon of +exquisite beauty. How can any one have a weather sensation, in such an +air as this? There is no current of the slightest chill anywhere, +neither is it oppressively hot. The air is serene and pure and light. +The sky gives its mild assurance of settled fair weather. All about me +is rich verdure, over a gently undulating surface of deeply fertile +country, with here and there a high hill in the horizon, and, on one +side, a ridge that may be called mountains. There is no sound but that +of the birds, and in the next tree they may be counted by hundreds. Wild +flowers, of all colors and scents, cover the ground and the thickets. +This is the famous red earth, too. The avenue looks as if it had been +laid down with pulverized brick, and all the dust on any object you see +is red. Now we turn into the straight avenue of orange trees--prim, deep +green trees, glittering with golden fruit. Here is the one-story, +high-roofed house, with long, high piazzas. There is a high wall, +carefully whitewashed, enclosing a square with one gate, looking like a +garrisoned spot. That must be the Negroes' quarters; for there is a +group of little Negroes at the gate, looking earnestly at the +approaching stranger. Beyond is the sugar-house, and the smoking +chimney, and the ox carts, and the field hands. Through the wide, open +door of the mansion, I see two gentlemen at dinner, an older and a +younger--the head of gray, and the head of black, and two Negro women, +one serving, and the other swinging her brush to disperse the flies. Two +big, deep-mouthed hounds come out and bark; and the younger gentleman +looks at us, comes out, and calls off the dogs. My Negro stops at the +path and touches his hat, waiting permission to go to the piazza with +the luggage; for Negroes do not go to the house door without previous +leave, in strictly ordered plantations. I deliver my letter, and in a +moment am received with such cordial welcome that I am made to feel as +if I had conferred a favor by coming to see them. + + + + +X. + +A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Labor + + +At some seasons, a visit may be a favor, on remote plantations; but I +know this is the height of the sugar season, when every hour is precious +to the master. After a brief toilet, I sit down with them; for they have +just begun dinner. In five minutes, I am led to feel as if I were a +friend of many years. Both gentlemen speak English like a native tongue. +To the younger it is so, for he was born in South Carolina, and his +mother is a lady of that state. The family are not here. They do not +live on the plantation, but in Matanzas. The plantation is managed by +the son, who resides upon it; the father coming out occasionally for a +few days, as now, in the busy season. + +The dinner is in the Spanish style, which I am getting attached to. I +should flee from a joint, or a sirloin. We have rice, excellently +cooked, as always in Cuba, eggs with it, if we choose, and fried +plantains, sweet potatoes, mixed dishes of fowl and vegetables, with a +good deal of oil and seasoning, in which a hot red pepper, about the +size of the barberry, prevails. Catalonia wine, which is pretty sure to +be pure, is their table claret, while sherry, which also comes direct +from the mother-country, is for dessert. I have taken them by surprise, +in the midst of the busiest season, in a house where there are no +ladies; yet the table, the service, the dress and the etiquette, are +none the less in the style of good society. There seems to be no letting +down, where letting down would be so natural and excusable. + +I suppose the fact that the land and the agricultural capital of the +interior are in the hands of an upper class, which does no manual labor, +and which has enough of wealth and leisure to secure the advantages of +continued intercourse with city and foreign society, and of occasional +foreign travel, tends to preserve throughout the remote agricultural +districts, habits and tone and etiquette, which otherwise would die out, +in the entire absence of large towns and of high local influences. + +Whoever has met with a book called "Evenings in Boston," and read the +story of the old Negro, Saturday, and seen the frontispiece of the Negro +fleeing through the woods of Santo Domingo, with two little white boys, +one in each hand, will know as much of Mr. Chartrand, the elder, as I +did the day before seeing him. He is the living hero, or rather subject, +for Saturday was the hero, of that tale. His father was a wealthy +planter of Santo Domingo, a Frenchman, of large estates, with wife, +children, friends and neighbors. These were gathered about him in a +social circle in his house, when the dreadful insurrection overtook +them, and father, mother, sons, and daughters were murdered in one +night, and only two of the children, boys of eight and ten, were saved +by the fidelity of Saturday, an old and devoted house servant. Saturday +concealed the boys, got them off the island, took them to Charleston, +South Carolina, where they found friends among the Huguenot families, +and the refugees from Santo Domingo. There Mr. Chartrand grew up; and +after a checkered and adventurous early life, a large part of it on the +sea, he married a lady of worth and culture, in South Carolina, and +settled himself as a planter, on this spot, nearly forty years ago. His +plantation he named "El Laberinto," (The Labyrinth,) after a favorite +vessel he had commanded, and for thirty years it was a prosperous +cafetal, the home of a happy family, and much visited by strangers from. +America and Europe. The causes which broke up the coffee estates of Cuba +carried this with the others; and it was converted into a sugar +plantation, under the new name of La Ariadne, from the fancy of Ariadne +having shown the way out of the Labyrinth. Like most of the sugar +estates, it is no longer the regular home of its proprietors. + +The change from coffee plantations to sugar plantations--from the +cafetal to the ingenio, has seriously affected the social, as it has +the economic condition of Cuba. + +Coffee must grow under shade. Consequently the coffee estate was, in the +first place, a plantation of trees, and by the hundred acres. Economy +and taste led the planters, who were chiefly the French refugees from +Santo Domingo to select fruit trees, and trees valuable for their wood, +as well as pleasing for their beauty and shade. Under these plantations +of trees, grew the coffee plant, an evergreen, and almost an +ever-flowering plant, with berries of changing hues, and, twice a year, +brought its fruit to maturity. That the coffee might be tended and +gathered, avenues wide enough for wagons must be carried through the +plantations, at frequent intervals. The plantation was, therefore, laid +out like a garden, with avenues and foot-paths, all under the shade of +the finest trees, and the spaces between the avenues were groves of +fruit trees and shade trees, under which grew, trimmed down to the +height of five or six feet, the coffee plant. The labor of the +plantation was in tending, picking, drying, and shelling the coffee, and +gathering the fresh fruits of trees for use and for the market, and for +preserves and sweetmeats, and in raising vegetables and poultry, and +rearing sheep and horned cattle and horses. It was a beautiful and +simple horticulture, on a very large scale. Time was required to perfect +this garden--the Cubans call it paradise--of a cafetal; but when +matured, it was a cherished home. It required and admitted of no +extraordinary mechanical power, or of the application of steam, or of +science, beyond the knowledge of soils, of simple culture, and of plants +and trees. + +For twenty years and more it has been forced upon the knowledge of the +reluctant Cubans, that Brazil, the West India islands to the southward +of Cuba, and the Spanish Main, can excel them in coffee-raising. The +successive disastrous hurricanes of 1843 and 1845, which destroyed many +and damaged most of the coffee estates, added to the colonial system of +the mother-country, which did not give extraordinary protection to this +product, are commonly said to have put an end to the coffee +plantations. Probably, they only hastened a change which must at some +time have come. But the same causes of soil and climate which made Cuba +inferior in coffee-growing, gave her a marked superiority in the +cultivation of sugar. The damaged plantations were not restored as +coffee estates, but were laid down to the sugar-cane; and gradually, +first in the western and northern parts, and daily extending easterly +and southerly over the entire island, the exquisite cafetals have been +prostrated and dismantled, the groves of shade and fruit trees cut down, +the avenues and foot-paths ploughed up, and the denuded land laid down +to wastes of sugar-cane. + +The sugar-cane allows of no shade. Therefore the groves and avenues must +fall. To make its culture profitable, it must be raised in the largest +possible quantities that the extent of land will permit. To attempt the +raising of fruit, or of the ornamental woods, is bad economy for the +sugar planter. Most of the fruits, especially the orange, which is the +chief export, ripen in the midst of the sugar season, and no hands can +be spared to attend to them. The sugar planter often buys the fruits he +needs for daily use and for making preserves, from the neighboring +cafetals. The cane ripens but once a year. Between the time when enough +of it is ripe to justify beginning to work the mill, and the time when +the heat and rains spoil its qualities, all the sugar-making of the year +must be done. In Louisiana, this period does not exceed eight weeks. In +Cuba it is full four months. This gives Cuba a great advantage. Yet +these four months are short enough; and during that time, the +steam-engine plies and the furnace fires burn night and day. + +Sugar-making brings with it steam, fire, smoke, and a drive of labor, +and admits of and requires the application of science. Managed with +skill and energy, it is extremely productive. Indifferently managed, it +may be a loss. The sugar estate is not valuable, like the coffee estate, +for what the land will produce, aided by ordinary and quiet manual labor +only. Its value is in the skill, and the character of the labor. The +land is there, and the Negroes are there; but the result is loss or +gain, according to the amount of labor that can be obtained, and the +skill with which the manual labor and the mechanical powers are applied. +It is said that at the present time, in the present state of the market, +a well-managed sugar estate yields from fifteen to twenty-five per cent +on the investment. This is true, I am inclined to think, if by the +investment be meant only the land, the machinery, and the slaves. But +the land is not a large element in the investment. The machinery is +costly, yet its value depends on the science applied to its construction +and operation. The chief item in the investment is the slave labor. +Taking all the slaves together, men, women, and children, the young and +the old, the sick and the well, the good and the bad, their market value +averages about $1000 a head. Yet of these, allowing for those too young +or too old, for the sick, and for those who must tend the young, the old +and the sick, and for those whose labor, like that of the cooks, only +sustains the others, not more than one half are able-bodied, productive +laborers. The value of this chief item in the investment depends largely +on moral and intellectual considerations. How unsatisfactory is it, +then, to calculate the profits of the investment, when you leave out of +the calculation the value of the controlling power, the power that +extorts the contributions of labor from the steam and the engine and the +fire, and from the more difficult human will. This is the "plus x" of +the formula, which, unascertained, gives us little light as to the +result. + +But, to return to the changes wrought by this substitution of sugar for +coffee. The sugar plantation is no grove, or garden, or orchard. It is +not the home of the pride and affections of the planter's family. It is +not a coveted, indeed, hardly a desirable residence. Such families as +would like to remain on these plantations are driven off for want of +neighboring society. Thus the estates, largely abandoned by the families +of the planters, suffer the evils of absenteeism, while the owners live +in the suburbs of Havana and Matanzas, and in the Fifth Avenue of New +York. The slave system loses its patriarchal character. The master is +not the head of a great family, its judge, its governor, its physician, +its priest and its father, as the fond dream of the advocates of +slavery, and sometimes, doubtless, the reality, made him. Middlemen, in +the shape of administradores, stand between the owner and the slaves. +The slave is little else than an item of labor raised or bought. The +sympathies of common home, common childhood, long and intimate relations +and many kind offices, common attachments to house, to land, to dogs, to +cattle, to trees, to birds--the knowledge of births, sicknesses, and +deaths, and the duties and sympathies of a common religion--all those +things that may ameliorate the legal relations of the master and slave, +and often give to the face of servitude itself precarious but +interesting features of beauty and strength--these they must not look to +have. This change has had some effect already, and will produce much +more, on the social system of Cuba. + +There are still plantations on which the families of the wealthy and +educated planters reside. And in some cases the administrador is a +younger member or a relative of the family, holding the same social +position; and the permanent administrador will have his family with him. +Yet, it is enough to say that the same causes which render the ingenio +no longer a desirable residence for the owner make it probable that the +administrador will be either a dependent or an adventurer; a person from +whom the owner will expect a great deal, and the slaves but little, and +from whom none will get all they expect, and perhaps none all they are +entitled to. + +In the afternoon we went to the sugar-house, and I was initiated into +the mysteries of the work. There are four agents: steam, fire, cane +juice, and Negroes. The results are sugar and molasses. At this ingenio, +they make only the Muscovado, or brown sugar. The processes are easily +described, but it is difficult to give an idea of the scene. It is one +of condensed and determined labor. + +To begin at the beginning, the cane is cut from the fields by companies +of men and women, working together, who use an instrument called a +machete, which is something between a sword and a cleaver. Two blows +with this slash off the long leaves, and a third blow cuts off the +stalk, near to the ground. At this work, the laborers move like reapers, +in even lines, at stated distances. Before them is a field of dense, +high-waving cane; and behind them, strewn wrecks of stalks and leaves. +Near, and in charge of the party, stands a driver, or more +grandiloquently, a contramayoral, with the short, limber plantation +whip, the badge of his office, under his arm. + +Ox-carts pass over the field, and are loaded with the cane, which they +carry to the mill. The oxen are worked in the Spanish fashion, the yoke +being strapped upon the head, close to the horns, instead of being hung +round the neck, as with us, and are guided by goads, and by a rope +attached to a ring through the nostrils. At the mill, the cane is tipped +from the carts into large piles, by the side of the platform. From these +piles, it is placed carefully, by hand, lengthwise, in a long trough. +This trough is made of slats, and moved by the power of the endless +chain, connected with the engine. In this trough, it is carried between +heavy, horizontal, cylindrical rollers, where it is crushed, its juice +falling into receivers below, and the crushed cane passing off and +falling into a pile on the other side. + +This crushed cane (bagazo), falling from between the rollers, is +gathered into baskets by men and women, who carry it on their heads into +the fields and spread it for drying. There it is watched and tended as +carefully as new-mown grass in haymaking, and raked into cocks or +windrows, on an alarm of rain. When dry, it is placed under sheds for +protection against wet. From the sheds and from the fields, it is loaded +into carts and drawn to the furnace doors, into which it is thrown by +Negroes, who crowd it in by the armful, and rake it about with long +poles. Here it feeds the perpetual fires by which the steam is made, the +machinery moved, and the cane-juice boiled. The care of the bagazo is +an important part of the system; for if that becomes wet and fails, the +fires must stop, or resort be had to wood, which is scarce and +expensive. + +Thus, on one side of the rollers is the ceaseless current of fresh, +full, juicy cane-stalks, just cut from the open field; and on the other +side, is the crushed, mangled, juiceless mass, drifting out at the +draught, and fit only to be cast into the oven and burned. This is the +way of the world, as it is the course of art. The cane is made to +destroy itself. The ruined and corrupted furnish the fuel and fan the +flame that lures on and draws in and crushes the fresh and wholesome; +and the operation seems about as mechanical and unceasing in the one +case as in the other. + +From the rollers, the juice falls below into a large receiver, from +which it flows into great, open vats, called defecators. These +defecators are heated by the exhaust steam of the engine, led through +them in pipes. All the steam condensed forms water, which is returned +warm into the boiler of the engine. In the defecators, as their name +denotes, the scum of the juice is purged off, so far as heat alone will +do it. From the last defecator, the juice is passed through a trough +into the first caldron. Of the caldrons, there is a series, or, as they +call it, a train, through all which the juice must go. Each caldron is a +large, deep, copper vat, heated very hot, in which the juice seethes and +boils. At each, stands a strong Negro, with long, heavy skimmer in hand, +stirring the juice and skimming off the surface. This scum is collected +and given to the hogs, or thrown upon the muck heap, and is said to be +very fructifying. The juice is ladled from one caldron to the next, as +fast as the office of each is finished. From the last caldron, where its +complete crystallization is effected, it is transferred to coolers, +which are large, shallow pans. When fully cooled, it looks like brown +sugar and molasses mixed. It is then shovelled from the coolers into +hogsheads. These hogsheads have holes bored in their bottoms; and, to +facilitate the drainage, strips of cane are placed in the hogshead, with +their ends in these holes, and the hogs-head is filled. The hogsheads +are set on open frames, under which are copper receivers, on an inclined +plane, to catch and carry off the drippings from the hogsheads. These +drippings are the molasses, which is collected and put into tight casks. + +I believe I have given the entire process. When it is remembered that +all this, in every stage, is going on at once, within the limits of the +mill, it may well be supposed to present a busy scene. The smell of +juice and of sugar-vapor, in all its stages, is intense. The Negroes +fatten on it. The clank of the engine, the steady grind of the machines, +and the high, wild cry of the Negroes at the caldrons to the stokers at +the furnace doors, as they chant out their directions or wants--now for +more fire, and now to scatter the fire--which must be heard above the +din, "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" "E-e-cha candela!" "Pu-er-ta!", and the +barbaric African chant and chorus of the gang at work filling the +cane-troughs--all these make the first visit at the sugar-house a +strange experience. But after one or two visits, the monotony is as +tiresome as the first view is exciting. There is, literally, no change +in the work. There are the same noises of the machines, the same cries +from Negroes at the same spots, the same intensely sweet smell, the same +state of the work in all its stages, at whatever hour you visit it, +whether in the morning, or evening, at midnight, or at the dawn of the +day. If you wake up at night, you hear the "A-a-b'la! A-a-b'la!" +"E-e-cha! E-e-cha!" of the caldron-men crying to the stokers, and the +high, monotonous chant of the gangs filling the wagons or the trough, a +short, improvisated stave, and then the chorus--not a tune, like the +song of sailors at the tackle and falls, but a barbaric, tuneless +intonation. + +When I went into the sugar-house, I saw a man with an unmistakably New +England face in charge of the engine, with that look of intelligence and +independence so different from the intelligence and independence of all +other persons. + +"Is not that a New England man?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Chartrand, "he is from Lowell; and the engine was built +in Lowell." + +When I found him at leisure, I made myself known to him, and he sat down +on the brickwork of the furnace, and had a good unburdening of talk; for +he had not seen any one from the United States for three months. He +talked, like a true Yankee, of law and politics--the Lowell Bar and Mr. +Butler, Mr. Abbott and Mr. Wentworth; of the Boston Bar and Mr. Choate; +of Massachusetts politics and Governor Banks; and of national politics +and the Thirty Millions Bill, and whether it would pass, and what if it +did. + +This engineer is one of a numerous class, whom the sugar culture brings +annually to Cuba. They leave home in the autumn, engage themselves for +the sugar season, put the machinery in order, work it for the four or +five months of its operation, clean and put it in order for lying by, +and return to the United States in the spring. They must be machinists, +as well as engineers; for all the repairs and contrivances, so necessary +in a remote place, fall upon them. Their skill is of great value, and +while on the plantation their work is incessant, and they have no +society or recreations whatever. The occupation, however, is healthful, +their position independent, and their pay large. This engineer had been +several years in Cuba, and I found him well informed, and, I think, +impartial and independent. He tells me, which I had also heard in +Havana, that this plantation is a favorable specimen, both for skill and +humanity, and is managed on principles of science and justice, and +yields a large return. On many plantations--on most, I suspect, from all +I can learn--the Negroes, during the sugar season, are allowed but four +hours sleep in the twenty-four, with one for dinner, and a half hour for +breakfast, the night being divided into three watches, of four hours +each, the laborers taking their turns. On this plantation, the laborers +are in two watches, and divide the night equally between them, which +gives them six hours for sleep. In the day, they have half an hour for +breakfast and one hour for dinner. Here, too, the very young and the +very old are excused from the sugar-house, and the nursing mothers have +lighter duties and frequent intervals of rest. The women worked at +cutting the cane, feeding the mill, carrying the bagazo in baskets, +spreading and drying it, and filling the wagons; but not in the +sugar-house itself, or at the furnace doors. I saw that no boys or girls +were in the mill--none but full-grown persons. The very small children +do absolutely nothing all day, and the older children tend the cattle +and run errands. And the engineer tells me that in the long run this +liberal system of treatment, as to hours and duties, yields a better +return than a more stringent rule. + +He thinks the crop this year, which has been a favorable one, will +yield, in well-managed plantations a net interest of from fifteen to +twenty-five per cent on the investment; making no allowance, of course, +for the time and skill of the master. This will be a clear return to +planters like Mr. Chartrand, who do not eat up their profits by interest +on advances, and have no mortgages, and require no advances from the +merchants. + +But the risks of the investment are great. The cane-fields are liable to +fires, and these spread with great rapidity, and are difficult to +extinguish. Last year Mr. Chartrand lost $7,000 in a few hours by fire. +In the cholera season he lost $12,000 in a few days by deaths among the +Negroes. + +According to the usual mode of calculation, I suppose the value of the +investment of Mr. Chartrand to be between $125,000 and $150,000. On +well-managed estates of this size, the expenses should not exceed +$10,000. The gross receipts, in sugar and molasses, at a fair rate of +the markets, cannot average less than between $35,000 and $40,000. This +should leave a profit of between eighteen and twenty-two per cent. +Still, the worth of an estimate depends on the principle on which the +capital is appraised. The number of acres laid down to cane, on this +plantation, is about three hundred. The whole number of Negroes is one +hundred, and of these not more than half, at any time, are capable of +efficient labor; and there are twenty-two children below the age of five +years, out of a total of one hundred Negroes. + +Beside the engineer, some large plantations have one or more white +assistants; but here an intelligent Negro has been taught enough to take +charge of the engine when the engineer is off duty. This is the highest +post a Negro can reach in the mill, and this Negro was mightily pleased +when I addressed him as maquinista. There are, also, two or three white +men employed, during the season, as sugar masters. Their post is beside +the caldrons and defecators, where they are to watch the work in all its +stages, regulate the heat and the time for each removal, and oversee the +men. These, with the engineer, make the force of white men who are +employed for the season. + +The regular and permanent officers of a plantation are the mayoral and +mayordomo. The mayoral is, under the master or his administrador, the +chief mate or first lieutenant of the ship. He has the general oversight +of the Negroes, at their work or in their houses, and has the duty of +exacting labor and enforcing discipline. Much depends on his character, +as to the comfort of master and slaves. If he is faithful and just, +there may be ease and comfort; but if he is not, the slaves are never +sure of justice, and the master is sure of nothing. The mayoral comes, +of necessity, from the middle class of whites, and is usually a native +Cuban, and it is not often that a satisfactory one can be found or kept. +The day before I arrived, in the height of the season, Mr. Chartrand had +been obliged to dismiss his mayoral, on account of his conduct to the +women, which was producing the worst results with them and with the men; +and not long before, one was dismissed for conniving with the Negroes in +a wholesale system of theft, of which he got the lion's share. + +The mayordomo is the purser, and has the immediate charge of the stores, +produce, materials for labor, and provisions for consumption, and keeps +the accounts. On well regulated plantations, he is charged with all the +articles of use or consumption, and with the products as soon as they +are in condition to be numbered, weighed, or counted, and renders his +accounts of what is consumed or destroyed, and of the produce sent away. +There is also a boyero, who is the herdsman, and has charge of all the +cattle. He is sometimes a Negro. + +Under the mayoral, are a number of contramayorales, who are the +boatswain's mates of the ship, and correspond to the "drivers" of our +southern plantations. One of them goes with every gang when set to work, +whether in the field or elsewhere, and whether men or women, and watches +and directs them, and enforces labor from them. The drivers carry under +the arm, at all times, the short, limber plantation whip, the badge of +their office and their means of compulsion. They are almost always +Negroes; and it is generally thought that Negroes are not more humane in +this office than the low whites. On this plantation, it is three years +since any slave has been whipped; and that punishment is never inflicted +here on a woman. Near the Negro quarters, is a penitentiary, which is of +stone, with three cells for solitary confinement, each dark, but well +ventilated. Confinement in these, on bread and water, is the extreme +punishment that has been found necessary for the last three years. The +Negro fears solitude and darkness, and covets his food, fire, and +companionship. + +With all the corps of hired white labor, the master must still be the +real power, and on his character the comfort and success of the +plantation depend. If he has skill as a chemist, a geologist, or a +machinist, it is not lost; but, except as to the engineer, who may +usually be relied upon, the master must be capable of overseeing the +whole economy of the plantation, or all will go wrong. His chief duty is +to oversee the overseers, to watch his officers, the mayoral, the +mayordomo, the boyero, and the sugar masters. These are mere hirelings, +and of a low sort, such as a slave system reduces them to; and if they +are lazy, the work slackens; and if they are ill-natured, somebody +suffers. The mere personal presence of the master operates as a stimulus +to the work. This afternoon young Mr. Chartrand and I took horses and +rode out to the cane-field, where the people were cutting. They had been +at work a half hour. He stopped his horse where they were when we came +to them, and the next half hour, without a word from him, they had made +double the distance of the first. It seems to me that the work of a +plantation is what a clock would be that always required a man's hand +pressing on the main spring. With the slave, the ultimate sanction is +force. The motives of pride, shame, interest, ambition, and affection +may be appealed to, and the minor punishments of degradation in duties, +deprivation of food and sleep, and solitary confinement may be resorted +to; but the whip, which the driver always carries, reminds the slave +that if all else fails, the infliction of painful bodily punishment lies +behind, and will be brought to bear, rather than that the question be +left unsettled. Whether this extreme be reached, and how often it be +reached, depends on the personal qualities of the master. If he is +lacking in self-control, he will fall into violence. If he has not the +faculty of ruling by moral and intellectual power--be he ever so humane, +if he is not firm and intelligent, the bad among the slaves will get the +upper hand; and he will be in danger of trying to recover his position +by force. Such is the reasoning _a priori_. + +At six o'clock, the large bell tolls the knell of parting day and the +call to the Oracion, which any who are religious enough can say, +wherever they may be, at work or at rest. In the times of more religious +strictness, the bell for the Oracion, just at dusk, was the signal for +prayer in every house and field, and even in the street, and for the +benediction from parent to child and master to servant. Now, in the +cities, it tolls unnoticed, and on the plantations, it is treated only +as the signal for leaving off work. The distribution of provisions is +made at the storehouse, by the mayordomo, my host superintending it in +person. The people take according to the number in their families; and +so well acquainted are all with the apportionment, that in only one or +two instances were inquiries necessary. The kitchen fires are lighted in +the quarters, and the evening meal is prepared. I went into the quarters +before they were closed. A high wall surrounds an open square, in which +are the houses of the Negroes. This has one gate, which is locked at +dark; and to leave the quarters after that time is a serious offence. +The huts were plain, but reasonably neat, and comfortable in their +construction and arrangement. In some were fires, round which, even in +this hot weather, the Negroes like to gather. A group of little Negroes +came round the strange gentleman, and the smallest knelt down with +uncovered heads, in a reverent manner, saying, "Buenos dias Senor." I +did not understand the purpose of this action, and as there was no one +to explain the usage to me, I did them the injustice to suppose that +they expected money, and distributed some small coins among them. But I +learned afterwards that they were expecting the benediction, the hand on +the head and the "Dios te haga bueno." It was touching to see their +simple, trusting faces turned up to the stranger--countenances not yet +wrought by misfortune, or injury, or crime, into the strong expressions +of mature life. None of these children, even the smallest, was naked, as +one usually sees them in Havana. In one of the huts, a proud mother +showed me her Herculean twin boys, sprawling in sleep on the bed. Before +dark, the gate of the quarters is bolted, and the night is begun. But +the fires of the sugar-house are burning, and half of the working people +are on duty there for their six hours. + +I sat for several hours with my host and his son, in the veranda, +engaged in conversation, agreeable and instructive to me, on those +topics likely to present themselves to a person placed as I was--the +state of Cuba, its probable future, its past, its relations to Europe +and the United States, slavery, the coolie problem, the free-Negro labor +problem, and the agriculture, horticulture, trees and fruits of the +island. The elder gentleman retired early, as he was to take the early +train for Matanzas. + +My sleeping-room is large and comfortable, with brick floor and glass +windows, pure white bed linen and mosquito net, and ewer and basin +scrupulously clean, bringing back, by contrast, visions of Le Grand's, +and Antonio, and Domingo, and the sounds and smells of those upper +chambers. The only moral I am entitled to draw from this is, that a +well-ordered private house with slave labor, may be more neat and +creditable than an ill-ordered public house with free labor. As the +stillness of the room comes over me, I realize that I am far away in the +hill country of Cuba, the guest of a planter, under this strange system, +by which one man is enthroned in the labor of another race, brought from +across the sea. The song of the Negroes breaks out afresh from the +fields, where they are loading up the wagons--that barbaric undulation +of sound: + + "_Na-nu, A-ya,--Na-ne, A-ya:_" + +and the recurrence of here and there a few words of Spanish, among which +"Manana" seemed to be a favorite. Once, in the middle of the night, I +waked, to hear the strains again, as they worked in the open field, +under the stars. + + + + +XI. + +A SUGAR PLANTATION: The Life + + +When I came out from my chamber this morning, the elder Mr. Chartrand +had gone. The watchful negress brought me coffee, and I could choose +between oranges and bananas, for my fruit. The young master had been in +the saddle an hour or so. I sauntered to the sugar-house. It was past +six, and all hands were at work again, amid the perpetual boiling of the +caldrons, the skimming and dipping and stirring, the cries of the +caldron-men to the firemen, the slow gait of the wagons, and the +perpetual to-and-fro of the carriers of the cane. The engine is doing +well enough, and the engineer has the great sheet of the New York Weekly +Herald, which he is studying, in the intervals of labor, as he sits on +the corner of the brickwork. + +But a turn in the garden is more agreeable, among birds, and flowers, +and aromatic trees. Here is a mignonette tree, forty feet high, and +every part is full and fragrant with flowers, as is the little +mignonette in our flower-pots. There is the allspice, a large tree, each +leaf strong enough to flavor a dish. Here is the tamarind tree: I must +sit under it, for the sake of the old song. My young friend joins me, +and points out, on the allspice tree, a chameleon. It is about six +inches long, and of a pea-green color. He thinks its changes of color, +which are no fable, depend on the will or on the sensations, and not on +the color of the object the animal rests upon. This one, though on a +black trunk, remained pale green. When they take the color of the tree +they rest on, it may be to elude their enemies, to whom their slow +motions make them an easy prey. At the corner of the house stands a +pomegranate tree, full of fruit, which is not yet entirely ripe; but we +find enough to give a fair taste of its rich flavor. Then there are +sweet oranges, and sour oranges, and limes, and coconuts, and +pineapples, the latter not entirely ripe, but in the condition in which +they are usually plucked for our market, an abundance of fuchsias, and +Cape jasmines, and the highly prized night-blooming cereus. + +The most frequent shade-tree here is the mango. It is a large, dense +tree, with a general resemblance, in form and size, to our lime or +linden. Three noble trees stand before the door, in front of the house. +One is a Tahiti almond, another a mango, and the third a cedar. And in +the distance is a majestic tree, of incredible size, which is, I +believe, a ceiba. When this estate was a cafetal, the house stood at the +junction of four avenues, from the four points of the compass: one of +the sweet orange, one of the sour orange, one of palms, and one of +mangoes. Many of these trees fell in the hurricanes of 1843 and '45. The +avenue which leads from the road, and part of that leading towards the +sugar-house, are preserved. The rest have fallen a sacrifice to the +sugar-cane; but the garden, the trees about the house, and what remains +of the avenues, give still a delightful appearance of shelter and +repose. + +I have amused myself by tracing the progress, and learning the habits of +the red ants, a pretty formidable enemy to all structures of wood. They +eat into the heart of the hardest woods; not even the lignum vitae, or +iron-wood, or cedar, being proof against them. Their operations are +secret. They never appear upon the wood, or touch its outer shell. A +beam or rafter stands as ever with a goodly outside; but you tap it, and +find it a shell. Their approaches, too, are by covered ways. When going +from one piece of wood to another, they construct a covered way, very +small and low, as a protection against their numerous enemies, and +through this they advance to their new labors. I think that they may sap +the strength of a whole roof of rafters, without the observer being able +to see one of them, unless he breaks their covered ways, or lays open +the wood. + +The course of life at the plantation is after this manner. At six +o'clock, the great bell begins the day, and the Negroes go to their +work. The house servants bring coffee to the family and guests, as they +appear or send for it. The master's horse is at the door, under the +tree, as soon as it is light, and he is off on his tour, before the sun +rises. The family breakfasts at ten o'clock, and the people--la gente, +as the technical phrase is for the laborers, breakfast at nine. The +breakfast is like that of the cities, with the exception of fish and the +variety of meats, and consists of rice, eggs, fried plantains, mixed +dishes of vegetables and fowls, other meats rarely, and fruits, with +claret or Catalonia and coffee. The time for the siesta or rest, is +between breakfast and dinner. Dinner hour is three for the family, and +two for the people. The dinner does not differ much from the breakfast, +except that there is less of fruit and more of meat, and that some +preserve is usually eaten, as a dessert. Like the breakfast, it ends +with coffee. In all manner of preserves, the island is rich. The almond, +the guava, the cocoa, the soursop, the orange, the lime, and the mamey +apple afford a great variety. After dinner, and before dark, is the time +for long drives; and, when the families are on the estates, for visits +to neighbors. There is no third meal; but coffee, and sometimes tea, is +offered at night. The usual time for bed is as early as ten o'clock, for +the day begins early, and the chief out-door works and active +recreations must be had before breakfast. + +In addition to the family house, the Negro quarters, and the +sugar-house, there is a range of stone buildings, ending with a kitchen, +occupied by the engineer, the mayoral, the boyero, and the mayordomo, +who have an old Negro woman to cook for them, and another to wait on +them. There is also another row of stone buildings, comprising the +store-house, the penitentiary, the hospital, and the lying-in room. The +penitentiary, I have described. The hospital and lying-in room are airy, +well-ventilated, and suitable for their purposes. Neither of them had +any tenants to-day. In the center of the group of buildings is a high +frame, on which hangs the great bell of the plantation. This rings the +Negroes up in the morning, and in at night, and sounds the hours for +meals. It calls all in, on any special occasion, and is used for an +alarm to the neighboring plantations, rung long and loud, in case of +fire in the cane-fields, or other occasions for calling in aid. + +After dinner, to-day, a volante, with two horses, and a postilion in +bright jacket and buckled boots and large silver spurs, the harness +well-besprinkled with silver, drove to the door, and an elderly +gentleman alighted and came to the house, attired with scrupulous nicety +of white cravat and dress coat, and with the manners of the _ancien +regime_. This is M. Bourgeoise, the owner of the neighboring large +plantation, Santa Catalina, one of the few cafetals remaining in this +part of the island. He is too old, and too much attached to his +plantation, to change it to a sugar estate; and he is too rich to need +the change. He, too, was a refugee from the insurrection of Santo +Domingo, but older than M. Chartrand. Not being able to escape, he was +compelled to serve as aid-de-camp to Jacques Dessalines. He has a good +deal to say about the insurrection and its results, of a great part of +which he was an eye-witness. The sight of him brought vividly to mind +the high career and sad fate of the just and brave Toussaint +L'Ouverture, and the brilliant successes, and fickle, cruel rule, of +Dessalines--when French marshals were out-maneuvered by Negro generals, +and pitched battles were won by Negroes and mulattoes against European +armies. + +This gentleman had driven over in the hope of seeing his friend and +neighbor, Mr. Chartrand, the elder. He remained with us for some time, +sitting under the veranda, the silvered volante and its black horses and +black postilion standing under the trees. He invited us to visit his +plantation, which I was desirous to do, as a cafetal is a rarity now. + +My third day at La Ariadne is much like the preceding days: the early +rising, the coffee and fruit, the walk, visits to the mill, the fields, +the garden, and the quarters, breakfast, rest in-doors with reading and +writing, dinner, out of doors again, and the evening under the veranda, +with conversations on subjects now so interesting to me. These +conversations, and what I had learned from other persons, open to me new +causes for interest and sympathy with my younger host. Born in South +Carolina, he secured his rights of birth, and is a citizen of the United +States, though all his pecuniary interests and family affections are in +Cuba. He went to Paris at the age of nine, and remained there until he +was nineteen, devoting the ten years to thorough courses of study in the +best schools. He has spent much time in Boston, and has been at sea, to +China, India, and the Pacific and California--was wrecked in the Boston +ship "Mary Ellen," on a coral reef in the India seas, taken captive, +restored, and brought back to Boston in another ship, whence he sailed +for California. There he had a long and checkered experience, was +wounded in the battle with the Indians who killed Lieut. Dale and +defeated his party, was engaged in scientific surveys, topographical and +geological, took the fever of the south coast at a remote place, was +reported dead, and came to his mother's door, at the spot where we are +talking this evening, so weak and sunken that his brothers did not know +him, thinking it happiness enough if he could reach his home, to die in +his mother's arms. But home and its cherishings, and revived moral +force, restored him, and now, active and strong again, when in +consequence of the marriage of his brothers and sisters, and the +departure of neighbors, the family leave their home of thirty-five years +for the city, he becomes the acting master, the administrador of the +estate, and makes the old house his bachelor's hall. + +An education in Europe or the United States must tend to free the youth +of Cuba from the besetting fault of untravelled plantation-masters. They +are in no danger of thinking their plantations and Cuba the world, or +any great part of it. In such cases, I should think the danger might be +rather the other way--rather that of disgust and discouragement at the +narrowness of the field, the entire want of a career set before them--a +career of any kind, literary, scientific, political, or military. The +choice is between expatriation and contentment in the position of a +secluded cultivator of sugar by slave labor, with occasional +opportunities of intercourse with the world and of foreign travel, with +no other field than the limits of the plantation afford, for the +exercise of the scientific knowledge, so laboriously acquired, and with +no more exciting motive for the continuance of intellectual culture than +the general sense of its worth and fitness. + + + + +XII. + +FROM PLANTATION TO PLANTATION + + +If the master of a plantation is faithful and thorough, will tolerate no +misconduct or imposition, and yet is humane and watchful over the +interests and rights, as well as over the duties of the Negroes, he has +a hard and anxious life. Sickness to be ministered to, the feigning of +sickness to be counteracted, rights of the slaves to be secured against +other Negroes, as well as against whites, with a poor chance of getting +at the truth from either; the obligations of the Negro _quasi_ marriage +to be enforced against all the sensual and childish tendencies of the +race; theft and violence and wanderings from home to be detected and +prevented; the work to be done, and yet no one to be over-worked; and +all this often with no effectual aid, often with only obstructions, from +the intermediate whites! Nor is it his own people only that are to be +looked to. The thieving and violence of Negroes from other plantations, +their visits by night against law, and the encroachments of the +neighboring free blacks and low whites, are all to be watched and +prevented or punished. The master is a policeman, as well as an +economist and a judge. His revolver and rifle are always loaded. He has +his dogs, his trackers and seizers, that lie at his gate, trained to +give the alarm when a strange step comes near the house or the quarters, +and ready to pursue. His hedges may be broken down, his cane trampled or +cut, or, still worse, set fire to, goats let into his pastures, his +poultry stolen, and sometimes his dogs poisoned. It is a country of +little law and order, and what with slavery and free Negroes and low +whites, violence or fraud are imminent and always formidable. No man +rides far unarmed. The Negroes are held under the subjection of force. A +quarter-deck organization is established. The master owns vessel and +cargo, and is captain of the ship, and he and his family live in the +cabin and hold the quarter-deck. There are no other commissioned +officers on board, and no guard of marines. There are a few petty +officers, and under all, a great crew of Negroes, for every kind of +work, held by compulsion--the results of a press-gang. All are at sea +together. There are some laws, and civil authorities for the protection +of each, but not very near, nor always accessible. + +After dinner to-day, we take saddle-horses for a ride to Santa Catalina. +Necessary duties in the field and mill delay us, and we are in danger of +not being able to visit the house, as my friend must be back in season +for the close of work and the distribution of provisions, in the absence +of his mayoral. The horses have the famous "march," as it is called, of +the island, an easy rapid step, something like pacing, and delightful +for a quiet ride under a soft afternoon sky, among flowers and sweet +odors. I have seen but few trotting horses in Cuba. + +The afternoon is serene. Near, the birds are flying, or chattering with +extreme sociability in close trees, and the thickets are fragrant with +flowers; while far off, the high hills loom in the horizon; and all +about us is this tropical growth, with which I cannot yet become +familiar, of palms and cocoas and bananas. We amble over the red earth +of the winding lanes, and turn into the broad avenue of Santa Catalina, +with its double row of royal palms. We are in--not a forest, for the +trees are not thick and wild and large enough for that--but in a huge, +dense, tropical orchard. The avenue is as clear and straight and wide as +a city mall; while all the ground on either side, for hundreds of acres, +is a plantation of oranges and limes, bananas and plantains, cocoas and +pineapples, and of cedar and mango, mignonette and allspice, under whose +shade is growing the green-leaved, the evergreen-leaved coffee plant, +with its little dark red berry, the tonic of half the world. Here we +have a glimpse of the lost charm of Cuba. No wonder that the aged +proprietor cannot find the heart to lay it waste for the monotonous +cane-field, and make the quiet, peaceful horticulture, the natural +growth of fruit and berry, and the simple processes of gathering, +drying, and storing, give place to the steam and smoke and drive and +life-consuming toil of the ingenio! + +At a turn in the avenue, we come upon the proprietor, who is taking his +evening walk, still in the exact dress and with the exact manners of +urban life. With truly French politeness, he is distressed, and all but +offended, that we cannot go to his house. It is my duty to insist on +declining his invitation, for I know that Chartrand is anxious to +return. At another turn, we come upon a group of little black children, +under the charge of a decent, matronly mulatto, coming up a shaded +footpath, which leads among the coffee. Chartrand stops to give a kind +word to them. + +But it is sunset, and we must turn about. We ride rather rapidly down +the avenue, and along the highway, where we meet several travellers, +nearly all with pistols in their holsters, and one of the mounted +police, with carbine and sword; and then cross the brook, pass through +the little, mean hamlet of Limonar, whose inmates are about half blacks +and half whites, but once a famed resort for invalids, and enter our own +avenue, and thence to the house. On our way, we pass a burying-ground, +which my companion says he is ashamed to have me see. Its condition is +bad enough. The planters are taxed for it, but the charge of it is with +the padre, who takes big fees for burials, and lets it go to ruin. The +bell has rung long ago, but the people are waiting our return, and the +evening duties of distributing food, turning on the night gang for night +work, and closing the gates are performed. + +To-night the hounds have an alarm, and Chartrand is off in the darkness. +In a few minutes he returns. There has been some one about, but nothing +is discovered. A Negro may have attempted to steal out, or some strange +Negro may be trying to steal in, or some prowling white, or free black, +has been reconnoitering. These are the terms on which this system is +carried on; and I think, too, that when the tramp of horses is heard +after dark, and strange men ride towards the piazza, it causes some +uneasiness. + +The morning of the fourth day, I take my leave, by early train for +Matanzas. The hour is half-past six; but the habits of rising are so +early that it requires no special preparation. I have time for coffee, +for a last visit to the sugar-house, a good-by to the engineer, who will +be back on the banks of the Merrimack in May, and for a last look into +the quarters, to gather the little group of kneelers for "la +benedicion," with their "Buenos dias, Senor." My horse is ready, the +Negro has gone with my luggage, and I must take my leave of my +newly-made friend. Alone together, we have been more intimate in three +days than we should have been in as many weeks in a full household. +Adios!--May the opening of a new home on the old spot, which I hear is +awaiting you, be the harbinger of a more cheerful life, and the creation +of such fresh ties and interests, that the delightful air of the hill +country of Cuba, the dreamy monotony of the day, the serenity of nights +which seem to bring the stars down to your roof or to raise you half-way +to them, and the luxuriance and variety of vegetable and animal life, +may not be the only satisfactions of existence here. + +A quiet amble over the red earth, to the station, in a thick morning +mist, almost cold enough to make an overcoat comfortable; and, after two +hours on the rail, I am again in Matanzas, among close-packed houses, +and with views of blue ocean and of ships. + + + + +XIII. + +MATANZAS AND ENVIRONS + + +Instead of the posada by the water-side, I take up my quarters at a +hotel kept by Ensor, an American, and his sister. Here the hours, +cooking, and chief arrangements are in the fashion of the country, as +they should be, but there is more of that attention to guests which we +are accustomed to at home than the Cuban hotels usually give. + +The objects to be visited here are the Cumbre and the valley of the +Yumuri. It is too late for a morning ride, and I put off my visit until +afternoon. Gazzaniga and some of the opera troupe are here; and several +Americans at the hotel, who were at the opera last night, tell me that +the people of Matanzas made a handsome show, and are of opinion that +there was more beauty in the boxes than we saw at the Villanueva. It +appears, too, that at the Retreta, in the Plaza de Armas, when the band +plays, and at evening promenades, the ladies walk about, and do not keep +to their carriages as in Havana. + +As soon as the sun began to decline, I set off for the Cumbre, mounted +on a pacer, with a Negro for a guide, who rode, as I soon discovered, a +better nag than mine. We cross the stone bridges, and pass the great +hospital, which dominates over the town. A regiment, dressed in +seersucker and straw hats, is drilling, by trumpet call, and drilling +well, too, on the green in front of the barracks while we take our +winding way up the ascent of the Cumbre. + +The bay, town, and shipping lie beneath us; the Pan rises in the +distance to the height of some 3,000 feet; the ocean is before us, +rolling against the outside base of the hills; and, on the inside, lies +the deep, rich, peaceful valley of the Yumuri. On the top of the Cumbre, +commanding the noblest view of ocean and valley, bay and town, is the +ingenio of a Mr. Jenkes, a merchant bearing a name that would put +Spanish tongues to their trumps to sound, were it not that they probably +take refuge in the Don Guillermo, or Don Enrique, of his Christian name. +The estate bears the name of La Victoria, and is kindly thrown open to +visitors from the city. It is said to be a model establishment. The +house is large, in a classic style, and costly, and the Negro quarters, +the store-houses, mechanic shops, and sugar-house are of dimensions +indicating an estate of the first class. + +On the way up from the city, several fine points of sight were occupied +by villas, all of one story, usually in the Roman or Grecian style, +surrounded by gardens and shade-trees, and with every appearance of +taste and wealth. + +It is late, but I must not miss the Yumuri; so we dive down the short, +steep descent, and cross dry brooks and wet brooks, and over stones, and +along bridle-paths, and over fields without paths, and by wretched +hovels, and a few decent cottages, with yelping dogs and cackling hens +and staring children, and between high, overhanging cliffs, and along +the side of a still lake, and after it is so dark that we can hardly see +stones or paths, we strike a bridle-path, and then come out upon the +road, and, in a few minutes more, are among the gas-lights and noises of +the city. + +At the hotel, there is a New York company who have spent the day at the +Yumuri, and describe a cave not yet fully explored, which is visited by +all who have time--abounding in stalactites, and, though much smaller, +reminding one of the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. + +I cannot leave Matanzas without paying my respects to the family to +whose kindness I owe so much. Mr. Chartrand lives in a part of the +suburbs called Versailles, near the barracks, in a large and handsome +house, built after the style of the country. There I spend an agreeable +evening, at a gathering of nearly all the family, sons and daughters, +and the sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. There is something strangely +cosmopolitan in many of the Cuban families--as in this, where are found +French origin, Spanish and American intermarriage, education in Europe +or the United States, home and property in Cuba, friendships and +sympathies and half a residence in Boston or New York or Charleston, and +three languages at command. + +Here I learn that the Thirty Millions Bill has not passed, and, by the +latest dates, is not likely to pass. + +My room at Ensor's is on a level with the court-yard, and a horse puts +its face into the grating as I am dressing, and I know of nothing to +prevent his walking in at the door, if he chooses, so that the Negro may +finish rubbing him down by my looking-glass. Yet the house is neatly +furnished and cared for, and its keepers are attentive and deserving +people. + + + + +XIV. + +REFLECTIONS VIA RAILROAD + + +Although the distance to Havana, as the bird flies, is only sixty miles, +the railroad, winding into the interior, to draw out the sugar freights, +makes a line of nearly one hundred miles. This adds to the length of our +journey, but also greatly to its interest. + +In the cars are two Americans, who have also been visiting plantations. +They give me the following statistics of a sugar plantation, which they +think may be relied upon. Lands, machinery, 320 slaves, and 20 coolies, +worth $500,000. Produce this year, 4,000 boxes of sugar and 800 casks of +molasses, worth $104,000. Expenses, $35,000. Net, $69,000, or about 14 +per cent. This is not a large interest on an investment so much of which +is perishable and subject to deterioration. + +The day, as has been every day of mine in Cuba, is fair and beautiful. +The heat is great, perhaps even dangerous to a Northerner, should he be +exposed to it in active exercise, at noon--but, with the shade and +motion of the cars, not disagreeable, for the air is pure and elastic, +and it is only the direct heat of the sun that is oppressive. I think +one notices the results of this pure air, in the throats and nasal +organs of the people. One seldom meets a person that seems to have a +cold in the head or the throat; and pocket handkerchiefs are used +chiefly for ornament. + +I cannot weary of gazing upon these new and strange scenes; the +stations, with the groups of peasants and Negroes and fruit-sellers that +gather about them, and the stores of sugar and molasses collected there; +the ingenios, glimmering in the heat of the sun, with their tall furnace +chimneys; the cane-fields, acres upon acres; the slow ox-carts carrying +the cane to the mill; then the intervals of unused country, the jungles, +adorned with little wild flowers, the groves of the weeping, drooping, +sad, homesick cocoa; the royal palm, which is to trees what the camel or +dromedary is among animals seeming to have strayed from Nubia or +Mesopotamia; the stiff, close orange tree, with its golden balls of +fruit; and then the remains of a cafetal, the coffee plant growing +untrimmed and wild under the reprieved groves of plantain and banana. + +It is certainly true that there is such a thing as industry in the +tropics. The labor of the tropics goes on. Notwithstanding all we hear +and know of the enervating influence of the climate, the white man, if +not laborious himself, is the cause that labor is in others. With all +its social and political discouragements, with the disadvantages of a +duty of about twenty-five per cent on its sugars laid in the United +States, and a duty of full one hundred per cent on all flour imported +from the United States, and after paying heavier taxes than any people +on earth pay at this moment, and yielding a revenue, which nets, after +every deduction and discount, not less than sixteen millions a +year--against all these disadvantages, this island is still very +productive and very rich. There is, to be sure, little variety in its +industry. In the country, it is nothing but the raising and making of +sugar; and in the towns, it is the selling and exporting of sugar. With +the addition of a little coffee and copper, more tobacco, and some fresh +fruit and preserves, and the commerce which they stimulate, and the +mechanic and trading necessities of the towns, we have the sum of its +industry and resources. Science, arts, letters, arms, manufactures, and +the learning and discussions of politics, of theology, and of the great +problems and opinions that move the minds of the thinking world--in +these, the people of Cuba have no part. These move by them, as the great +Gulf Stream drifts by their shores. Nor is there, nor has there been in +Cuba, in the memory of the young and middle-aged, debate, or vote, or +juries, or one of the least and most rudimental processes of +self-government. The African and Chinese do the manual labor, the +Cubans hold the land and the capital, and direct the agricultural +industry; the commerce is shared between the Cubans, and foreigners of +all nations; and the government, civil and military, is exercised by the +citizens of Old Spain. No Cuban votes, or attends a lawful political +meeting, or sits on a jury, or sees a law-making assembly, except as a +curiosity abroad, even in a municipality; nor has he ever helped to +make, or interpret, or administer laws, or borne arms, except by special +license of government granted to such as are friends of government. In +religion, he has no choice, except between the Roman Catholic and none. +The laws that govern him are made abroad, and administered by a central +power, a foreign Captain-General, through the agency of foreign civil +and military officers. The Cuban has no public career. If he removes to +Old Spain, and is known as a supporter of Spanish royal power, his +Creole birth is probably no impediment to him. But at home, as a Cuban, +he may be a planter, a merchant, a physician, but he cannot expect to be +a civil magistrate, or to hold a commission in the army, or an office in +the police; and though he may be a lawyer, and read, sitting, a written +argument to a court of judges, he cannot expect to be himself a judge. +He may publish a book, but the government must be the responsible +author. He may edit a journal, but the government must be the +editor-in-chief. + +At the chief stations on the road, there are fruit-sellers in abundance, +with fruit fresh from the trees: oranges, bananas, sapotes, and +coconuts. The coconut is eaten at an earlier stage than that in which we +see it at the North, for it is gathered for exportation after it has +become hard. It is eaten here when no harder than a melon, and is cut +through with a knife, and the soft white pulp, mixed with the milk, is +eaten with a spoon. It is luscious and wholesome, much more so than when +the rind has hardened into the shell, and the soft pulp into a hard +meat. + +A little later in the afternoon, the character of the views begins to +change. The ingenios and cane-fields become less frequent, then cease +altogether, and the houses have more the appearance of pleasure retreats +than of working estates. The roads show lines of mules and horses, +loaded with panniers of fruits, or sweeping the ground with the long +stalks of fresh fodder laid across their backs, all moving towards a +common center. Pleasure carriages appear. Next comes the distant view of +the Castle of Atares, and the Principe, and then the harbor and the sea, +the belt of masts, the high ridge of fortifications, the blue and white +and yellow houses, with brown tops; and now we are in the streets of +Havana. + +Here are the familiar signs--Por mayor y menor, Posada y Cantina, +Tienda, Panaderia, Relojeria, and the fanciful names of the shops, the +high-pitched falsetto cries of the streets, the long files of mules and +horses, with panniers of fruit, or hidden, all but their noses and +tails, under stacks of fresh fodder, the volantes, and the motley +multitude of whites, blacks, and Chinese, soldiers and civilians, and +occasionally priests--Negro women, lottery-ticket vendors, and the girl +musicians with their begging tambourines. + +The same idlers are at the door of Le Grand's; a rehearsal, as usual, is +going on at the head of the first flight; and the parrot is blinking at +the hot, white walls of the court-yard, and screaming bits of Spanish. +My New York friends have got back from the country a day before me. I am +installed in a better room than before, on the house-top, where the sun +is hot, but where there is air and a view of the ocean. + + + + +XV. + +HAVANA: Social, Religious and Judicial Tidbits + + +The warm bath round the corner is a refreshment after a day's railroad +ride in such heat; and there, in the front room, the man in his shirt +sleeves is serving out liquor, as before, and the usual company of +Creoles is gathered about the billiard tables. After a dinner in the +handsome, airy restaurant of Le Grand's, I drive into the city in the +evening, to the close streets of the Extramuros, and pay a visit to the +lady whom I failed to see on my arrival. I am so fortunate as to meet +her, and beside the pleasure to be found in her society, I am glad to be +able to give her personal information from her attached and sympathizing +friends, at the North. + +While I am there, a tinkling sound of bells is heard in the streets, and +lights flash by. It is a procession, going to carry the viaticum, the +last sacrament, to a dying person. + +From this house, I drove towards the water-side, past the Plaza de +Armas, the old Plaza de San Francisco, with its monastery turned into an +almacen (a store-house of merchandise,) through the Calle de los +Oficios, to the boarding-house of Madame Almy, to call upon Dr. and Mrs. +Howe. Mr. Parker left Havana, as he intended, last Tuesday, for Santa +Cruz. He found Havana rather too hot for his comfort, and Santa Cruz, +the most healthful and temperate of the islands, had always been his +destination. He had visited a few places in the city, and among others, +the College of Belen, where he had been courteously received by the +Jesuits. I found that they knew his reputation as a scholar and writer, +and a leading champion of modern Theism in America. Dr. Howe had called +at Le Grand's, yesterday, to invite me to go with him to attend a trial, +at the Audiencia, which attracted a good deal of interest among the +Creoles. The story, as told by the friends of Senor Maestri, the +defendant, is that in the performance of a judicial duty, he discharged +a person against whom the government was proceeding illegally, and that +this lead to a correspondence between him and the authorities, which +resulted in his being deposed and brought to trial, before the +Audiencia, on a charge of disrespect to the Captain-General. I have no +means of learning the correctness of this statement, at present-- + + "_I say the tale as 'twas said to me._" + +The cause has, at all events, excited a deep interest among the Creoles, +who see in it another proof of the unlimited character of the +centralized power that governs them. I regret that I missed a scene of +so much interest and instruction. Dr. Howe told me that Maestri's +counsel, Senor Azcarate, a young lawyer, defended his friend +courageously; but the evidence being all in writing, without the +exciting conflicts and vicissitudes of oral testimony, and the written +arguments being delivered sitting; there was not much in the proceedings +to stimulate the Creole excitability. No decision was given, the Court +taking time to deliberate. It seems to have been a Montalembert trial, +on a small theater. + +To-night there is again a mascara at the next door, but my room is now +more remote, and I am able to sleep through it. Once I awoke. It was +nearly five o'clock. The music was still going on, but in softer and +more subdued tones. The drums and trumpets were hushed, and all had +fallen, as if by the magic touch of the approaching dawn, into a trance +of sound, a rondo of constantly returning delicious melody, as nearly +irresistible to the charmed sense as sound can be conceived to be--just +bordering on the fusing state between sense and spirit. It is a +contradanza of Cuba. The great bells beat five, over the city; and +instantly the music ceases, and is heard no more. The watchmen cry the +hour, and the bells of the hospitals and convents sound their matins, +though it is yet dark. + + + + +XVI. + +HAVANA: Worship, Etiquette and Humanitarianism + + +At break of day, I am in the delightful sea-baths again, not ill-named +Recreo and Eliseo. But the forlorn chain-gang are mustered before the +Presidio. It is Sunday, but there is no day of rest for them. + +At eight o'clock I present myself at the Belen. A lady, who was passing +through the cloister, with head and face covered by the usual black +veil, turned and came to me. It was Mrs.----, whom I had seen last +evening. She kindly took me to the sacristy, and asked some one to tell +Father---- that I was there, and then went to her place in church. While +waiting in the sacristy, I saw the robing and unrobing of the +officiating priests, the preparation of altar ceremonials by boys and +men, and could hear the voices and music in the church, on the other +side of the great altar. The manner of the Jesuits is in striking +contrast with that at the Cathedral. All is slow, orderly and +reverential, whether on the part of men or boys. Instead of the hurried +walk, the nod and duck, there is a slow march, a kneeling, or a +reverential bow. At a small side altar, in the sacristy, communion is +administered by a single priest. Among the recipients are several men of +mature years and respectable position; and side by side with them, the +poor and the Negroes. In the Church, there is no distinction of race or +color. + +Father---- appears, is unrobed, and takes me to the gallery of the +church, near the organ. From this, I looked down upon a sea of rich +costumes of women, veiled heads, and kneeling figures, literally +covering the floor of the church. On the marble pavement, the little +carpets are spread, and on these, as close as they can sit or kneel, are +the ladies of rank and wealth of Havana. A new-comer glides in among +them seeking room for her carpet, or room of charity or friendship on a +carpet already spread; and the kneelers or sitters move and gather in +their wide skirts to let her pass. Here and there a servant in livery +winds his way behind his mistress, bearing her carpet, and returns to +the porch when it has been spread. The whole floor is left to women. The +men gather about the walls and doorways, or sit in the gallery, which is +reserved for them. But among the women, though chiefly of rank and +wealth, are some who are Negroes, usually distinguished by the plain +shawl, instead of the veil over the head. The Countess Villanueva, +immensely rich, of high rank, and of a name great in the annals of Cuba, +but childless, and blind, and a widow, is lead in by the hand by her +Negro servant. The service of the altar is performed with dignity and +reverence, and the singing, which is by the Jesuit Brothers themselves, +is admirable. In the choir I recognized my new friends, the Rector and +young Father Cabre, the professor of physics. The "Tantum ergo +Sacramentum," which was sung kneeling, brought tears into my eyes, and +kept them there. + +After service, Mr.---- came to me, and made an engagement to show me the +benevolent institutions on the Bishop's list, accepting my invitation to +breakfast at Le Grand's, at eleven o'clock. At eleven he came, and after +a quiet breakfast in a side room, we went to the house of Senor----, +whom he well knows, in the hope that he would go with us. The Senor was +engaged to meet one of the Fathers at noon, and could not go, but +introduced to me a relative of his, a young student of medicine in the +University, who offered to take me to the Presidio and other places, the +next day. + +It occurred to us to call upon a young American lady, who was residing +at the house of a Spanish lady of wealth and rank, and invite her to go +with us to see the Beneficencia, which we thought she might do, as it is +an institution under the charge of nuns, and she was to go with a Padre +in full dress. But the customs of the country are rigid. Miss---- was +very desirous to go, but had doubts. She consulted the lady of the +house, who would know, if any one could, the etiquette of Havana. The +Senora's reply was, "You are an American, and may do anything." This +settled the matter in the negative, and we went alone. Now we drive to +Don Juan---- 's. The gate is closed. The driver, who is a white, gets +off and makes a feeble and timid rap at the door. "Knock louder!" says +my friend, in Spanish. "What cowards they are!" he adds to me. The man +makes a knock, a little louder. "There, see that! Peeking into the +keyhole! Mean! An Englishman would beat the door down before he would do +that." Don Juan is in the country, so we fail of all our expected +companions. + +The Casa de Beneficencia is a large institution, for orphan and +destitute children, for infirm old persons, and for the insane. It is +admirably situated, bordering on the open sea, with fresh air and very +good attention to ventilation in the rooms. It is a government +institution, but is placed under charge of the Sisters of Charity, one +of whom accompanied us about the building. Though called a government +institution, it must not be supposed that it is a charity from the +crown. On the contrary, it is supported by a specific appropriation of +certain of the taxes and revenues of the island. In the building is a +church not yet finished, large enough for all the inmates, and a quiet +little private chapel for the Sisters' devotions, where a burning lamp +indicated the presence of the Sacrament on the small altar. I am sorry +to have forgotten the number of children. It was large, and included +both sexes, with a separate department for each. In a third department +are the insane. They are kindly treated and not confined, except when +violent; but the Sister told us they had no medical treatment unless in +case of sickness. (Dr. Howe told me that he was also so informed.) The +last department is for aged and indigent women. + +One of the little orphans clung to the Sister who accompanied us, +holding her hand, and nestling in her coarse but clean blue gown; and +when we took our leave, and I put a small coin into her little soft +hand, her eyes brightened up into a pretty smile. + +The number of the Sisters is not full. As none have joined the order +from Cuba, (I am told literally none,) they are all from abroad, chiefly +from France and Spain; and having acclimation to go through, with +exposure to yellow fever and cholera, many of those that come here die +in the first or second summer. And yet they still come, in simple, +religious fidelity, under the shadow of death. + +The Casa de Beneficencia must be pronounced by all, even by those +accustomed to the system and order of the best charitable institutions +in the world, a credit to the island of Cuba. The charity is large and +liberal, and the order and neatness of its administration are beyond +praise. + +From the Beneficencia we drove to the Military Hospital. This is a huge +establishment, designed to accommodate all the sick of the army. The +walls are high, the floors are of brick and scrupulously clean, as are +all things under the charge of the Sisters of Charity; and the +ventilation is tolerable. The building suffered from the explosion of +the magazine last year, and some quarters have not yet been restored for +occupation. The number of sick soldiers now in hospital actually exceeds +one thousand! Most of them are young, some mere lads, victims of the +conscription of Old Spain, which takes them from their rustic homes in +Andalusia and Catalonia and the Pyrenees, to expose them to the tropical +heats of Cuba, and to the other dangers of its climate. Most had fevers. +We saw a few cases of vomito. Notwithstanding all that is said about the +healthfulness of a winter in Cuba, the experienced Sister Servant +(which, I believe, is the title of the Superior of a body of Sisters of +Charity) told us that a few sporadic cases of yellow fever occur in +Havana, in all seasons of the year; but that we need not fear to go +through the wards. One patient was covered with the blotches of recent +smallpox. It was affecting to see the wistful eyes of these poor, +fevered soldier-boys, gazing on the serene, kind countenances of the +nuns, and thinking of their mothers and sisters in the dear home in Old +Spain, and feeling, no doubt, that this womanly, religious care was the +nearest and best substitute. + +The present number of Sisters, charged with the entire care of this +great hospital, except the duty of cooks and the mere manual and +mechanic labor necessarily done by men, is not above twenty-five. The +Sister Servant told us that the proper complement was forty. The last +summer, eleven of these devoted women died of yellow fever. Every +summer, when yellow fever or cholera prevails, some of them die. They +know it. Yet the vacancies are filled up; and their serene and ever +happy countenances give the stranger no indication that they have bound +themselves to the bedside of contagious and loathsome diseases every +year, and to scenes of sickness and death every day. + +As we walked through the passage-ways, we came upon the little private +chapel of the Sisters. Here was a scene I can never forget. It was an +hour assigned for prayer. All who could leave the sick wards--not more +than twelve or fourteen--were kneeling in that perfectly still, +secluded, darkened room, in a double row, all facing to the altar, on +which burned one taper, showing the presence of the Sacrament, and all +in silent prayer. That double row of silent, kneeling women, unconscious +of the presence of any one, in their snow-white, close caps and long +capes, and coarse, clean, blue gowns--heroines, if the world ever had +heroines, their angels beholding the face of their Father in heaven, as +they knelt on earth! + +It was affecting and yet almost amusing--it would have been amusing +anywhere else--that these simple creatures, not knowing the ways of the +world, and desirous to have soft music fill their room, as they knelt at +silent prayer, and not having (for their duties preclude it) any skill +in the practice of music, had a large music-box wound and placed on a +stand, in the rear, giving out its liquid tones, just loud enough to +pervade the air, without forcing attention. The effect was beautiful; +and yet the tunes were not all, nor chiefly, religious. They were such +as any music-box would give. But what do these poor creatures know of +what the world marches to, or dances to, or makes love by? To them it +was all music, and pure and holy! + +Minute after minute we stood, waiting for, but not desiring, an end of +these delightful sounds, and a dissolving of this spell of silent +adoration. One of the Sisters began prayers aloud, a series of short +prayers and adorations and thanksgivings, to each of which, at its +close, the others made response in full, sweet voices. The tone of +prayer of this Sister was just what it should be. No skill of art could +reach it. How much truer than the cathedral, or the great ceremonial! It +was low, yet audible, composed, reverent: neither the familiar, which +offends so often, nor the rhetorical, which always offends, but that +unconscious sustained intonation, not of speech, but of music, which +frequent devotions in company with others naturally call out; showing us +that poetry and music, and not prose and speech, are the natural +expressions of the deepest and highest emotions. + +They rose, with the prayer of benediction, and we withdrew. They +separated, to station themselves, one in each ward of the hospital, +there, aloud and standing, to repeat their prayers--the sick men raising +themselves on their elbows, or sitting in bed, or, if more feeble, +raising their eyes and clasping their hands, and all who can or choose, +joining in the responses. + + + + +XVII. + +HAVANA: Hospital and Prison + + +Drove out over the Paseo de Tacon to the Cerro, a height, formerly a +village, now a part of the suburbs of Havana. It is high ground, and +commands a noble view of Havana and the sea. Coming in, I met the +Bishop, who introduced me to the Count de la Fernandina, a dignified +Spanish nobleman, who owns a beautiful villa on this Paseo, where we +walked a while in the grounds. This house is very elegant and costly, +with marble floors, high ceilings, piazzas, and a garden of the richest +trees and flowers coming into the court-yard, and advancing even into +the windows of the house. It is one of the most beautiful villas in the +vicinity of Havana. + +There are several noblemen who have their estates and titles in Cuba, +but are recognized as nobles of Spain--in all, I should say, about fifty +or sixty. Some of these have received their titles for civil or military +services; but most of them have been raised to their rank on account of +their wealth, or have purchased their titles outright. I believe there +are but two grades, the marquis and the count. Among the titles best +known to strangers are Villanueva, Fernandina, and O'Reilly. The number +of Irish families who have taken rank in the Spanish service and become +connected with Cuba, is rather remarkable. Beside O'Reilly, there are +O'Donnel, O'Farrel, and O'Lawlor, descendants of Irishmen who entered +the Spanish service after the battle of the Boyne. + +Dr. Howe had seen the Presidio, the great prison of Havana, once; but +was desirous to visit it again; so he joined me, under the conduct of +our young friend, Senor----, to visit that and the hospital of San Juan +de Dios. The hospital we saw first. It is supported by the +government--that is to say, by Cuban revenues--for charity patients +chiefly, but some, who can afford it, pay more or less. There are about +two hundred and fifty patients. This, again, is in the charge of the +Sisters of Charity. As we came upon one of the Sisters, in a +passage-way, in her white cap and cape, and black and blue dress, Dr. +Howe said, "I always take off my hat to a Sister of Charity," and we +paid them all that attention, whenever we passed them. Dr. Howe examined +the book of prescriptions, and said that there was less drugging than he +supposed there would be. The attending physician told us that nearly all +the physicians had studied in Paris, or in Philadelphia. There were a +great many medical students in attendance, and there had just been an +operation in the theater. In an open yard we saw two men washing a dead +body, and carelessly laying it on a table, for dissection. I am told +that the medical and surgical professions are in a very satisfactory +state of advancement in the island, and that a degree in medicine, and a +license to practise, carry with them proofs of considerable proficiency. +It is always observable that the physical and the exact sciences are the +last to suffer under despotisms. + +The Presidio and Grand Carcel of Havana is a large building, of yellow +stone, standing near the fort of the Punta, and is one of the striking +objects as you enter the harbor. It has no appearance of a jail without, +but rather of a palace or court; but within, it is full of live men's +bones and of all uncleanness. No man, whose notions are derived from an +American or English penitentiary of the last twenty years, or fifty +years, can form an idea of the great Cuban prison. It is simply +horrible. There are no cells, except for solitary confinement of +"incomunicados"--who are usually political offenders. The prisoners are +placed in large rooms, with stone floors and grated windows, where they +are left, from twenty to fifty in each, without work, without books, +without interference or intervention of any one, day and night, day and +night, for the weeks, months or years of their sentences. The sights are +dreadful. In this hot climate, so many beings, with no provision for +ventilation but the grated windows--so unclean, and most of them naked +above the waist--all spend their time in walking, talking, playing, and +smoking; and, at night, without bed or blanket, they lie down on the +stone floor, on what clothes they may have, to sleep if they can. The +whole prison, with the exception of the few cells for the +"incomunicados," was a series of these great cages, in which human +beings were shut up. Incarceration is the beginning, middle and end of +the whole system. Reformation, improvement, benefit to soul or body, are +not thought of. We inquired carefully, both of the officer who was sent +to attend us, and of a capitan de partido, who was there, and were +positively assured that the only distinction among the prisoners was +determined by the money they paid. Those who can pay nothing, are left +to the worst. Those who can pay two reals (twenty-five cents) a day, are +placed in wards a little higher and better. Those who can pay six reals +(seventy-five cents) a day, have better places still, called the "Salas +de distincion," and some privileges of walking in the galleries. The +amount of money, and not the degree of criminality, determines the +character of the punishment. There seems to be no limit to the right of +the prisoners to talk with any whom they can get to hear them, at +whatever distance, and to converse with visitors, and to receive money +from them. In fact, the whole scene was a Babel. All that was insured +was that they should not escape. When I say that no work was done, I +should make the qualification that a few prisoners were employed in +rolling tobacco into cigars, for a contractor; but they were very few. +Among the prisoners was a capitan de partido (a local magistrate), who +was committed on a charge of conniving at the slave-trade. He could pay +his six reals, of course; and had the privileges of a "Sala de +distincion" and of the galleries. He walked about with us, cigar in +mouth, and talked freely, and gave us much information respecting the +prison. My last request was to see the garrotte; but it was refused me. + +It was beginning to grow dark before we got to the gate, which was duly +opened to us, and we passed out, with a good will, into the open air. +Dr. Howe said he was nowise reluctant to be outside. It seemed to bring +back to his mind his Prussian prison, a little too forcibly to be +agreeable. He felt as if he were in keeping again, and was thinking how +he should feel if, just as we got to the gate, an officer were to bow +and say, "Dr. Howe?" "Yes, sir." "You may remain here. There is a charge +against you of seditious language, since you have been in the island." +No man would meet such a danger more calmly, and say less about it, than +he, if he thought duty to his fellow-beings called him to it. + +The open air, the chainless ocean, and the ships freely coming and +going, were a pleasant change to the eye, even of one who had never +suffered bonds for conscience sake. It seemed strange to see that all +persons outside were doing as they pleased. + + + + +XVIII. + +HAVANA: Bullfight + + +A bullfight has been advertised all over the town, at the Plaza de +Toros. Shall we go? I would not, if it were only pleasure that I was +seeking. As I am sure I expect only the contrary, and wish merely to +learn the character of this national recreation, I will go. + +The Plaza de Toros is a wooden amphitheater, in the suburbs, open at the +top--a circle of rising seats, with the arena in the center. I am late. +The cries of the people inside are loud, sharp, and constant; a full +band is blowing its trumpets and beating its drums; and the late +stragglers are jostling for their tickets. I go through at a low door, +find myself under benches filled with an eager, stamping, shouting +multitude, make my way through a passage, and come out on the shady +side, for it is a late afternoon sun, and take my place at a good point +of view. A bull, with some blood about his fore-quarters and two or +three darts (banderillas) sticking in his neck, is trotting harmlessly +about the arena, "more sinned against than sinning," and seeming to have +no other desire than to get out. Two men, each carrying a long, stout, +wooden pole, pointed with a short piece of iron, not long enough to +kill, but only to drive off and to goad, are mounted on two of the +sorriest nags eyes ever beheld--reprieved jades, whom it would not pay +to feed and scarcely pay to kill, and who have been left to take their +chances of death here. They could hardly be pricked into a trot, and +were too weak to escape. I have seen horses in every stage of life and +in every degree of neglect, but no New York Negro hack-driver would have +taken these for a gift, if he were obliged to keep them. The bull could +not be said to run away from the horses, for they did not pursue; but +when, distracted by sights and sounds, he came against a horse, the +horse stood still to be gored, and the bull only pushed against him +with his head, until driven off by the punching of the iron-pointed pole +of the horseman. + +Around the arena are sentry-boxes, each large enough to hold two men, +behind which they can easily jump, but which the bull cannot enter; and +from these, the cowardly wretches run out, flourish a red cloth at the +bull, and jump back. Three or four men, with darts in hand, run before +the bull, entice him by flapping their red cloths, and, as he trots up +to them, stick banderillas into his neck. These torment the bull, and he +tries to shake them off, and paws the ground; but still he shows no +fight. He trots to the gate, and snuffs to get out. Some of the +multitude cry "Fuera el toro! Fuera el toro!" which means that he is a +failure, and must be let out at the gate. Others are excited, and cry +for the killer, the matador; and a demoniacal scene follows, of yells +and shouts, half-drowned by twenty or thirty drums and trumpets. The +cries to go on prevail; and the matador appears, dressed in a +tight-fitting suit of green small-clothes, with a broad silver stripe, +jerkin, and stockings--a tall, light-complexioned, elegantly made, +glittering man, bearing in one hand a long, heavy, dull black sword, and +in the other a broad, red cloth. Now comes the harrying and distracting +of the bull by flags, and red cloths, and darts; the matador runs +before, flings his cloth up and down; the bull trots towards it--no +furious rush, or maddened dash, but a moderate trot--the cloth is +flashed over his face and one skilfully directed lunge of the sword into +his back neck, and he drops instantly dead at the feet of the matador, +at the very spot where he received the stab. Frantic shouts of applause +follow; and the matador bows around, like an applauded circus-rider, and +retires. The great gate opens, and three horses abreast are driven in, +decked with ribbons, to drag the bull round the arena. But they are such +feeble animals that, with all the flourish of music and the whipping of +drivers, they are barely able to tug the bull along over the tan, in a +straight line for the gate, through which the sorry pageant and +harmless bull disappear. + +Now, some meager, hungry, sallow, sweaty, mean-looking degenerates of +Spain jump in and rake over the arena, and cover up the blood, and put +things to rights again; and I find time to take a view of the company. +Thankful I am, and creditable it is, that there are no women. Yes, there +are two mulatto women in a seat on the sunny side, which is the cheap +side. And there are two shrivelled, dark, Creole women, in a box; and +there is one girl of eight or ten years, in full dress, with an elderly +man. These are all the women. In the State Box, under the faded royal +arms, are a few officials, not of high degree. The rest of the large +company is a motley collection, chiefly of the middle or lower classes, +mostly standing on the benches, and nearly all smoking. + +The music beats and brays again, the great gates open, and another bull +rushes in, distracted by sights and sounds so novel, and for a few +minutes shows signs of power and vigor; but, as he becomes accustomed to +the scene, he tames down; and after several minutes of flaunting of +cloths and flags, and piercing with darts, and punching with the poles +of the horsemen, he runs under the poor white horse, and upsets him, but +leaves him unhurt by his horns; has a leisurely trial of endurance with +the red horse, goring him a little with one horn, and receiving the pike +of the driver--the horse helpless and patient, and the bull very +reasonable and temperate in the use of his power--and then is enticed +off by flags, and worried with darts; and, at last, a new matador +appears--a fierce-looking fellow, dressed in dark green, with a large +head of curling, snaky, black hair, and a skin almost black. He makes a +great strut and flourish, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts +to get the bull head on, at length, getting a fair chance, plunges his +black sword to the hilt in the bull's neck--but there is no fall of the +bull. He has missed the spinal cord and the bull trots off, bleeding in +a small stream, with a sword-handle protruding a few inches above the +hide of his back-neck. The spectators hoot their contempt for the +failure; but with no sign of pity for the beast. The bull is weakened, +but trots about and makes a few runs at cloths, and the sword is drawn +from his hide by an agile dart-sticker (banderillero), and given to the +black bully in dark green, who makes one more lunge, with no better +success. The bull runs round, and reels, and staggers, and falls half +down, gets partly up, lows and breathes heavily, is pushed over and held +down, until a butcher dispatches him with a sharp knife, at the spinal +cord. Then come the opened gates, the three horses abreast, decked with +ribbons, the hard tug at the bull's body over the ground, his limbs +still swaying with remaining life, the clash and clang of the band, and +the yells of the people. + +Shall I stay another? Perhaps it may be more successful, and--if the new +bull will only bruise somebody! But the new bull is a failure. After all +their attempts to excite him, he only trots round, and snuffs at the +gates; and the cry of "Fuera el toro!" becomes so general, with the +significant triple beat of the feet, in time with the words, all over +the house, that the gates are opened, and the bull trots through, to his +quarters. + +But the meanness, and cruelty, and impotency of this crowd! They cry out +to the spear-men and the dart-men, and to the tormentors, and to the +bull, and to the horses, and to each other, in a Babel of sounds, where +no man's voice can possibly be distinguished ten feet from him, all +manner of advice and encouragement or derision, like children at a play. +One full grown, well-dressed young man, near me, kept up a constant cry +to the men in the ring, when I am sure no one could distinguish his +words, and no one cared to--until I became so irritated that I could +have throttled him. + +But, such you are! You can cry and howl at bull-fights and cockfights +and in the pits of operas and theaters, and drive bulls and horses +distracted, and urge gallant gamecocks to the death, and applaud opera +singers into patriotic songs, and leave them to imprisonment and +fines--and you yourselves cannot lift a finger, or join hand to hand, +or bring to the hazard life, fortune, or honor, for your liberty and +your dignity as men. Work your slaves, torture your bulls, fight your +gamecocks, crown your dancers and singers--and leave the weightier +matters of judgment and justice, of fame by sea and land, of letters and +arts and sciences, of private right and public honor, the present and +future of your race and of your native land, to the care of others--of a +people of no better blood than your own, strangers and sojourners among +you! + +The next bull is treated to a refinement of torture, in the form of +darts filled with heavy China crackers, which explode on the neck of the +poor beast. I could not see that even this made him really dangerous. +The light-complexioned, green-and-silver matador dispatches him, as he +did the first bull, with a single lunge, and--a fall and a quiver, and +all is over! + +The fifth bull is a failure and is allowed to go out of the ring. The +sixth is nearly the same with the others, harmless if let alone, and +goaded into short-lived activity, but not into anything like fury or +even a dangerous animosity. He is treated to fire-crackers, and gores +one horse a little--the horse standing, side on, and taking it, until +the bull is driven off by the punching of the spear; and runs at the +other horse, and, to my delight, upsets the rider, but unfortunately +without hurting him, and the black-haired matador in green tries his +hand on him and fails again, and is hooted, and takes to throwing darts, +and gets a fall, and looks disconcerted, and gets his sword again, and +makes another false thrust; and the crippled and bleeding animal is +thrown down and dispatched by the butcher with his short knife, and +drawn off by the three poor horses. The gates close, and I hurry out in +a din of shouts and drums and trumpets, the great crowd waiting for the +last bull--but I have seen enough. + +There is no volante waiting, and I have to take my seat in an omnibus, +and wait for the end of the scene. The confusion of cries and shouts and +the interludes of music still goes on, for a quarter of an hour, and +then the crowd begins to pour out, and to scatter over the ground. Four +faces in a line are heading for my omnibus. There is no mistaking that +head man, the file leader. "Down East" is written legibly all over his +face. Tall, thin, sallow, grave, circumspect! The others are not +counterparts. They vary. But "New England" is graven on all. + +"Wa-a-al!" says the leader, as he gets into the omnibus. No reply. They +take their seats, and wipe their foreheads. One expectorates. Another +looks too wise for utterance. "By," ... a long pause--How will he end +it?--"Jingoes!" That is a failure. It is plain he fell short, and did +not end as he intended. The sentiment of the four has not yet got +uttered. The fat, flaxen-haired man makes his attempt. "If there is a +new milch cow in Vermont that wouldn't show more fight, under such +usage, than them bulls, I'd buy her and make a present of her to +Governor _Cunchy_--or whatever they call him." + +This is practical and direct, and opens the way to a more free +interchange. The northern ice is thawed. The meanness and cruelty of the +exhibition is commented upon. The moral view is not overlooked, nor +underrated.--None but cowards would be so cruel. And last of all, it is +an imposition. Their money has been obtained under false pretences. A +suit would lie to recover it back; but the poor devils are welcome to +the money. The coach fills up with Cubans; and the noise of the +pavements drowns the further reflections of the four philanthropists, +patriots and economists. + + + + +XIX. + +HAVANA: More Manners and Customs + + +The people of Cuba have a mode of calling attention by a sound of the +tongue and lips, a sort of "P--s--t!" after the fashion of some parts of +the continent of Europe. It is universal here; and is used not only to +servants and children, but between themselves, and to strangers. It has +a mean sound, to us. They make it clear and penetrating; yet it seems a +poor, effeminate sibilation, and no generous, open-mouthed call. It is +the mode of stopping a volante, calling a waiter, attracting the +attention of a friend, or calling the notice of a stranger. I have no +doubt, if a fire were to break out at the next door, a Cuban would call +"P--s--t!" + +They beckon a person to come to them by the reverse of our motion. They +raise the open hand, with the palm outwards, bending the fingers toward +the person they are calling. We should interpret it to be a sign to go +away. + +Smoking is universal, and all but constant. I have amused myself, in the +street, by seeing what proportion of those I meet have cigars or +cigarettes in their mouths. Sometimes it has been one half, sometimes +one in three. The cigar is a great leveller. Any man may stop another +for a light. I have seen the poor porters, on the wharf, bow to +gentlemen, strangers to them, and hold out a cigar, and the gentlemen +stop, give a light, and go on--all as of course. + +In the evening, called on the Senoritas F----, at the house of Mr. +B----, and on the American young lady at Senor M---- 's, and on Mrs. +Howe, at Mde. Almy's, to offer to take letters or packets. At Mrs. +Almy's, there is a gentleman from New York, Mr. G----, who is dying of +consumption. His only wish is to live until the "Cahawba" comes in, that +he may at least die at sea, if he cannot survive until she reaches New +York. He has a horror of dying here, and being buried in the Potter's +Field. Dr. Howe has just come from his chamber. + +I drove out to the bishop's, to pay my parting respects. It is about +half-past eight in the evening. He has just returned from his evening +drive, is dressed in a cool, cambric dressing-gown, after a bath, and is +taking a quiet cigar, in his high-roofed parlor. He is very cordial and +polite, and talks again about the Thirty Millions Bill, and asks what I +think of the result, and what I have seen of the island, and my opinion +of the religious and charitable institutions. I praise the Belen and the +Sisters of Charity, and condemn the prison, and he appears to agree with +me. He appreciates the learning and zeal of the Brothers of Belen; +speaks in the highest terms of the devotedness of the Sisters of +Charity; and admits the great faults of the prison, but says it was +built recently, at an enormous out-lay, and he supposes the government +is reluctant to be at the expense of abandoning it and building another. +He charges me with messages of remembrance and respect to acquaintances +we have in common. As I take my leave, he goes with me to the outer +gate, which is kept locked, and again takes leave, for two leave-takings +are the custom of the country, and returns to the solitude of his house. + +Yesterday I drove out to the Cerro, to see the coolie jail, or market, +where the imported coolies are kept for sale. It is a well-known place, +and open to all visitors. The building has a fair-looking front; and +through this I enter, past two porters, into an open yard in the rear, +where, on the gravel ground, are squatting a double line of coolies, +with heads shaved, except a tuft on the crown, dressed in loose Chinese +garments of blue and yellow. The dealer, who is a calm, shrewd, +heartless-looking man, speaking English as well as if it were his native +tongue, comes out with me, calls to the coolies, and they all stand up +in a double line, facing inward, and we pass through them, preceded by a +driver armed with the usual badge of the plantation driver, the short, +limber whip. The dealer does not hesitate to tell me the terms on which +the contracts are made, as the trade is not illegal. His account is +this--The importer receives $340 for each coolie, and the purchaser +agrees to pay the coolie four dollars per month, and to give him food, +and two suits of clothes a year. For this, he has his services for eight +years. The contract is reduced to writing before a magistrate, and two +originals are made, one kept by the coolie and one by the purchaser, and +each in Chinese and Spanish. + +This was a strange and striking exhibition of power. Two or three white +men, bringing hundreds of Chinese thousands of miles, to a new climate +and people, holding them prisoners, selling their services to masters +having an unknown tongue and an unknown religion, to work at unknown +trades, for inscrutable purposes! + +The coolies did not look unhealthy, though some had complaints of the +eyes; yet they looked, or I fancied they looked, some of them, unhappy, +and some of them stolid. One I am sure had the leprosy although the +dealer would not admit it. The dealer did not deny their tendency to +suicide, and the danger of attempting to chastise them, but alleged +their great superiority to the Negro in intelligence, and contended that +their condition was good, and better than in China, having four dollars +a month, and being free at the end of eight years. He said, which I +found to be true, that after being separated and employed in work, they +let their hair grow, and adopt the habits and dress of the country. The +newly-arrived coolies wear tufts, and blue-and-yellow, loose, Chinese +clothes. Those who have been here long are distinguishable from the +whites only by the peculiar tinge of the cheek, and the form of the eye. +The only respect in which his account differed from what I heard +elsewhere was in the amount the importer receives, which has always been +stated to me at $400. While I am talking with him, a gentleman comes and +passes down the line. He is probably a purchaser, I judge; and I leave +my informant to follow what is more for his interest than talking with +me. + +The importation has not yet existed eight years. So the question, what +will become of these men, exotics, without women or children, taking no +root in the land, has not come to a solution. The constant question +is--will they remain and mix with the other races? Will they be +permitted to remain? Will they be able to go back? In 1853, they were +not noticed in the census; and in 1857, hardly noticed. The number +imported may, to some extent, be obtained from the records and files of +the aduana, but not so as to be relied upon. I heard the number +estimated at 200,000 by intelligent and well-informed Cubans. Others put +it as low as 60,000. Certain it is that coolies are to be met with +everywhere, in town and country. + +So far as I can learn, there is no law in China regulating the contracts +and shipment of Chinese coolies, and none in Cuba regulating their +transportation, landing, or treatment while here. The trade has grown up +and been permitted and recognized, but not regulated. It is yet to be +determined how far the contract is enforceable against either party. +Those coolies that are taken from the British East Indies to British +islands are taken under contracts, with regulations, as to their +exportation and return, understood and enforced. Not so the Chinese +coolies. Their importers are _lege soluti_. Some say the government will +insist on their being returned. But the prevailing impression is that +they will be brought in debt, and bound over again for their debts, or +in some other way secured to a life-long servitude. + +Mr.----, a very wealthy and intelligent planter, tells me he is to go +over to Regla, to-morrow morning, to see a lot of slaves offered for +sale to him, and asks me if I have ever seen a sale of slaves. I never +have seen that sight, and accept his invitation. We are to leave here at +half-past six, or seven, at the latest. All work is early here; I +believe I have mentioned that the hour of 'Change for merchants is 7.30 +A.M. + + + + +XX. + +HAVANA: Slaves, Lotteries, Cockfights and Filibusters + + +Rise early, and walk to the sea-baths, and take a delightful float and +swim. And refreshing it is, after a feverish night in my hot room, where +I did not sleep an hour all night, but heard every quarter-hour struck, +and the boatswain's whistle of the watchmen and their full cry of the +hour and the weather, at every clock-strike. From the bath, I look out +over the wall, far to the northeast, in the hope of catching a glimpse +of the "Cahawba's" smoke. This is the day of her expected arrival. My +New York friends and myself feel that we have seen Havana to our +satisfaction, and the heat is becoming intense. We are beginning to +receive advice against eating fruit after _cafe au lait_, or bananas +with wine, and in favor of high-crowned hats at noon to prevent +congestion from heat, and to avoid fogs in the morning. But there is no +"Cahawba" in sight, and I hear only the bray of trumpets and roll of +drums from the Morro and Cabana and Punta, and the clanking march of the +chain-gang down the Paseo, and the march of the guard to trumpet and +drum. + +Mr.---- is punctual at seven, his son with him, and a man in a suit of +white linen, who is the broker employed by Mr.----. We take a ferry-boat +and cross to the Regla; and a few minutes' walk brings us to a small +nail factory, where all the workmen are coolies. In the back-yard of +this factory is a line of low buildings, from which the slaves are +brought out, to be shown. We had taken up, at the ferry-boat, a small, +thin, sharp-faced man, who was the dealer. The slaves are formed in a +semicircle, by the dealer and broker. The broker pushed and pulled them +about in a coarse, careless manner, worse than the manner of the dealer. +I am glad he is not to be their master. Mr.---- spoke kindly to them. +They were fully dressed; and no examination was made except by the eye; +and no exhibitions of strength or agility were required, and none of +those offensive examinations of which we read so much. What examination +had been made or was to be made by the broker, out of my presence, I do +not know. The "lot" consisted of about fifty, of both sexes and of all +ages, some being old, and some very young. They were not a valuable lot, +and Mr.---- refused to purchase them all. The dealer offered to separate +them. Mr.---- selected about half of them, and they were set apart. I +watched the countenances of all--the taken and the left. It was hard to +decipher the character of their emotions. A kind of fixed hopelessness +marked the faces of some, listlessness that of others, and others seemed +anxious or disappointed, but whether because taken or rejected, it was +hard to say. When the separation was made, and they knew its purpose, +still no complaint was made and no suggestion ventured by the slaves +that a tie of nature or affection was broken. I asked Mr.---- if some of +them might not be related. He said he should attend to that, as he never +separated families. He spoke to each of those he had chosen, separately, +and asked if they had parent or child, husband or wife, or brother or +sister among those who were rejected. A few pointed out their relations, +and Mr.---- took them into his lot. One was an aged mother, one a wife, +and another a little daughter. I am satisfied that no separations were +made in this case, and equally satisfied that neither the dealer nor the +broker would have asked the question. + +I asked Mr.---- on what principle he made his selection, as he did not +seem to me always to take the strongest. "On the principle of race," +said he. He told me that these Negroes were probably natives of Africa, +bozales, except the youngest, and that the signs of the races were known +to all planters. A certain race he named as having always more +intelligence and ambition than any other; as more difficult to manage, +but far superior when well managed. All of this race in the company, he +took at once, whatever their age or strength. I think the preferred +tribe was the Lucumi, but am not certain. + +From this place, I made a short visit to the almacen de azucar, in the +Regla, the great storehouses of sugar. These are a range of one-story, +stone warehouses, so large that a great part of the sugar crop of the +island, as I am told, could be stored in them. Here the vessels go to +load, and the merchants store their sugar here, as wine is stored in the +London docks. + +The Cubans are careful of the diet of foreigners, even in winter. I +bought a couple of oranges, and young Mr.---- bought a sapote, a kind +of sweet-sour apple, when the broker said "Take care! Did you not have +milk with your coffee?" I inquired, and they told me it was not well to +eat fresh fruit soon after taking milk, or to take bananas with wine, or +to drink spirits. "But is this in winter, also?" "Yes; and it is already +very hot, and there is danger of fever among strangers." + +Went to La Dominica, the great restaurant and depot of preserves and +sweetmeats for Havana, and made out my order for preserves to take home +with me. After consultation, I am advised to make up my list as follows: +guava of Peru, limes, mamey apples, soursop, coconut, oranges, guava +jelly, guava marmalade, and almonds. + +The ladies tell me there is a kind of fine linen sold here, called +bolan, which it is difficult to obtain in the United States, and which +would be very proper to take home for a present. On this advice, I +bought a quantity of it, of blue and white, at La Diana, a shop on the +corner of Calle de Obispo and San Ignacio. + +Breakfasted with a wealthy and intelligent gentleman, a large planter, +who is a native of Cuba, but of European descent. A very nice breakfast, +of Spanish mixed dishes, rice cooked to perfection, fruits, claret, and +the only cup of good black tea I have tasted in Cuba. At Le Grand's, we +have no tea but the green. + +At breakfast, we talked freely on the subject of the condition and +prospects of Cuba; and I obtained from my host his views of the +economic and industrial situation of the island. He was confident that +the number of slaves does not exceed 500,000, to 200,000 free blacks, +and 600,000 or 700,000 whites. His argument led him to put the number of +slaves as low as he could, yet he estimated it far above that of the +census of 1857, which makes it 375,000. But no one regards the census of +slaves as correct. There is a tax on slaves, and the government has +little chance of getting them stated at the full number. One planter +said to a friend of mine, a year or two ago, that his two hundred slaves +were returned as one hundred. I find the best opinions put the slaves at +650,000, the free blacks at 200,000, and the whites at 700,000. + +Havana is flooded with lottery-ticket vendors. They infest every +eating-house and public way, and vex you at dinner, in your walks and +rides. They sell for one grand lottery, established and guaranteed by +the government, always in operation, and yielding to the state a net +revenue of nearly two millions a year. The Cubans are infatuated with +this lottery. All classes seem to embark in it. Its effect is especially +bad on the slaves, who invest in it all they can earn, beg, or steal, +allured by the glorious vision of possibly purchasing their freedom, and +elevating themselves into the class of proprietors. + +Some gentlemen at Le Grand's have been to a cock-fight. I shall be +obliged to leave the island without seeing this national sport for which +every town, and every village has a pit, a Valle de Gallos. They tell me +it was a very exciting scene among the spectators. Negroes, free and +slave, low whites, coolies, and men of high condition were all +frantically betting. Most of the bets were made by holding up the +fingers and by other signs, between boxes and galleries. They say I +should hardly credit the large sums which the most ordinary looking men +staked and paid. + +I am surprised to find what an impression the Lopez expedition made in +Cuba--a far greater impression than is commonly supposed in the United +States. The fears of the government and hopes of sympathizers +exaggerated the force, and the whole military power of the government +was stirred against them. Their little force of a few hundred +broken-down men and lads, deceived and deserted, fought a body of eight +times their number, and kept them at bay, causing great slaughter. The +railroad trains brought the wounded into Havana, car after car; rumors +of defeat filled the city; artillery was sent out; and the actual loss +of the Spaniards, in killed and wounded, was surprisingly large. On the +front wall of the Cabana, plainly seen from the deck of every vessel +that leaves or enters the port, is a monument to the honor of those who +fell in the battle with the filibusteros. The spot where Lopez was +garroted, in front of the Punta, is pointed out, as well as the slope of +the hill from the castle of Atares, where his surviving followers were +shot. + + + + +XXI. + +A SUMMING-UP: Society, Politics, Religion, Slavery, Resources and +Reflections + + +To an American, from the free states, Cuba presents an object of +singular interest. His mind is occupied and almost oppressed by the +thought of the strange problems that are in process of solution around +him. He is constantly a critic, and a philosophizer, if not a +philosopher. A despotic civil government, compulsory religious +uniformity, and slavery are in full possession of the field. He is +always seeking information as to causes, processes and effects, and +almost as constantly baffled. There are three classes of persons in +Cuba, from whom he receives contradictory and irreconcilable statements: +the Cubans, the Spaniards, and foreigners of other nations. By Cubans, I +mean the Criollos (Creoles), or natives of Cuba. By Spaniards, I mean +the Peninsulares, or natives of Old Spain. In the third class are +comprised the Americans, English, French, Germans, and all other +foreigners, except Spaniards, who are residents on the island, but not +natives. This last class is large, possesses a great deal of wealth, and +includes a great number of merchants, bankers and other traders. + +The Spaniards, or Peninsulares, constitute the army and navy, the +officers of the government in all departments, judicial, educational, +fiscal and postal, the revenue and the police, the upper clergy, and a +large and wealthy class of merchants, bankers, shopkeepers, and +mechanics. The higher military and civil officers are from all parts of +Spain; but the Catalans furnish the great body of the mechanics and +small traders. The Spaniards may be counted on as opponents of the +independence of Cuba, and especially of her annexation to the United +States. In their political opinions, they vary. Some belong to the +liberal, or Progresista party, and others are advocates of, or at least +apologists for, the present order of things. Their force and influence +is increased by the fact that the government encourages its military and +civil officers, at the expiration of their terms of service, to remain +in the island, still holding some nominal office, or on the pay of a +retired list. + +The foreign residents, not Spaniards, are chiefly engaged in commerce, +banking, or trade, or are in scientific or mechanic employments. These +do not intend to become citizens of Cuba. They strike no root into the +soil, but feel that they are only sojourners, for purposes of their own. +Of all classes of persons, I know of none whose situation is more +unfavorable to the growth and development of sentiments of patriotism +and philanthropy, and of interest in the future of a race, than +foreigners, temporarily resident, for purposes of money-making only, in +a country with which they have nothing in common, in the future or the +past. This class is often called impartial. I do not agree to that use +of the term. They are, indeed, free from the bias of feeling or +sentiment; and from the bias generated by the combined action of men +thinking and feeling alike, which we call political party. But they are +subject to the attractions of interest; and interest will magnetize the +mind as effectually as feeling. Planted in a soil where the more tender +and delicate fibers can take no hold, they stand by the strong tap-root +of interest. It is for their immediate advantage to preserve peace and +the existing order of things; and even if it may be fairly argued that +their ultimate interests would be benefited by a change, yet the process +is hazardous, and the result not sure; and, at most, they would do no +more than take advantage of the change, if it occurred. I should say, as +a general thing, that this class is content with the present order of +things. The island is rich, production is large, commerce flourishes, +life and property are well protected, and if a man does not concern +himself with political or religious questions, he has nothing to fear. +Of the Americans in this class, many, doubtless, may be favorably +inclined toward annexation, but they are careful talkers, if they are +so; and the foreigners, not Americans, are of course earnestly opposed +to it, and the pendency of the question tends to draw them towards the +present government. + +It remains only to speak of the Cubans. They are commonly styled +Creoles. But as that word includes natives of all Spanish America, it is +not quite definite. Of the Cubans, a few are advocates of the present +government--but very few. The far greater part are disaffected. They +desire something approximating to self-government. If that can be had +from Spain, they would prefer it. If not, there is nothing for them but +independence, or annexation to some other power. Not one of them thinks +of independence; and if it be annexation, I believe their present +impulse is toward the United States. Yet on this point, among even the +most disaffected of the Cubans, there is a difference of opinion. Many +of them are sincere emancipationists, and fear that if they come in at +the southern end of our Union, that question is closed for ever. Others +fear that the Anglo-Saxon race would swallow up the power and property +of the island, as they have done in California and Texas, and that the +Creoles would go to the wall. + +It has been my fortune to see persons of influence and intelligence from +each of these chief divisions, and from the subdivisions, and to talk +with them freely. From the sum of their conflicting opinions and +conflicting statements, I have endeavored to settle upon some things as +certain; and, as to other things, to ascertain how far the debatable +ground extends, and the principles which govern the debate. From all +these sources, and from my own observations, I will endeavor to set down +what I think to be the present state of Cuba, in its various interesting +features, trusting to do it as becomes one whose acquaintance with the +island has been so recent and so short. + + +POLITICAL CONDITION + +When the liberal constitutions were in force in Spain, in the early part +of this century, the benefits of them extended to Cuba. Something like +a provincial legislature was established; juntas, or advisory boards and +committees, discussed public questions, and made recommendations; a +militia was organized; the right to bear arms was recognized; tribunals, +with something of the nature of juries, passed upon certain questions; +the press was free, and Cuba sent delegates to the Spanish Cortes. This +state of things continued, with but few interruptions or variations, to +1825. + +Then was issued the celebrated Royal Order of May 29, 1825, under which +Cuba has been governed to the present hour. This Royal Order is the only +constitution of Cuba. It was probably intended merely as a temporary +order to the then Captain-General; but it has been found convenient to +adhere to it. It clothes the Captain-General with the fullest powers, +the tests and limit of which are as follows: " ... fully investing you +with the whole extent of power which, by the royal ordinances, is +granted to the governors of besieged towns. In consequence thereof, His +Majesty most amply and unrestrictedly authorizes your Excellency not +only to remove from the island such persons, holding offices from +government or not, whatever their occupation, rank, class, or situation +in life may be, whose residence there you may believe prejudicial, or +whose public or private conduct may appear suspicious to you...." Since +1825, Cuba has been not only under martial law, but in a state of siege. + +As to the more or less of justice or injustice, of honesty or +peculation, of fidelity or corruption, of liberality or severity, with +which these powers may have been exercised, a residence of a few days, +the reading of a few books, and conversations with a few men, though on +both sides, give me no right to pronounce. Of the probabilities, all can +judge, especially when we remember that these powers are wielded by +natives of one country over natives of another country. + +Since 1825, there has been no legislative assembly in Cuba, either +provincial or municipal. The municipal corporations (ayuntamientos) +were formerly hereditary, the dignity was purchasable, and no doubt the +bodies were corrupt. But they exercised some control, at least in the +levying and expending of taxes; and, being hereditary, were somewhat +independent, and might have served, like those of Europe in the middle +ages, as nuclei of popular liberties. These have lost the few powers +they possessed, and the members are now mere appointees of the +Captain-General. Since 1836, Cuba has been deprived of its right to a +delegation in the Cortes. Since 1825, vestiges of anything approaching +to popular assemblies, juntas, a jury, independent tribunals, a right of +voting, or a right to bear arms, have vanished from the island. The +press is under censorship; and so are the theaters and operas. When "I +Puritani" is played, the singers are required to substitute Lealtad for +Libertad, and one singer was fined and imprisoned for recusancy; and +Facciolo, the printer of a secretly circulated newspaper, advocating the +cause of Cuban independence, was garroted. The power of banishing, +without a charge made, or a trial, or even a record, but on the mere +will of the Captain-General, persons whose presence he thinks, or +professes to think, prejudicial to the government, whatever their +condition, rank, or office, has been frequently exercised, and hangs at +all hours over the head of every Cuban. Besides, that terrible power +which is restrained only by the analogy of a state of siege, may be at +any time called into action. Cubans may be, and I suppose usually are, +regularly charged and tried before judges, on political accusations; but +this is not their right; and the judges themselves, even of the highest +court, the Real Audiencia, may be deposed and banished, at the will of +the military chief. + +According to the strictness of the written law, no native Cuban can hold +any office of honor, trust, or emolument in Cuba. The army and navy are +composed of Spaniards, even to the soldiers in the ranks, and to the +sailors at the guns. It is said by the supporters of the government that +this order is not adhered to; and they point to a capitan-general, an +intendente, and a chief of the customs, who were Cubans. Still, such is +the written law; and if a few Cubans are put into office against the +law, those who are so favored are likely to be the most servile of +officers, and the situation of the rest is only the more degraded. +Notwithstanding the exceptions, it may be said with substantial truth +that an independent Cuban has open to him no career, civil or military. +There is a force of volunteers, to which some Cubans are admitted, but +they hold their places at the will of the government; and none are +allowed to join or remain with them unless they are acceptable to the +government. + +There are vexatious and mortifying regulations, too numerous and minute +to be complied with or even remembered, and which put the people in +danger of fines or extortion at every turn. Take, for instance, the +regulation that no man shall entertain a stranger over night at his +house, without previous notice to the magistrate. As to the absolute +prohibition of concealed weapons, and of all weapons but the regulation +sword and pistols--it was no doubt introduced and enforced by Tacon as a +means of suppressing assassinations, broils and open violence; and it +has made life safer in Havana than it is in New York; yet it cannot be +denied that it created a serious disability. In fine, what is the +Spanish government in Cuba but an armed monarchy, encamped in the midst +of a disarmed and disfranchised people? + +The taxes paid by the Cubans on their property, and the duties levied on +their commerce, are enormous, making a net income of not less than +$16,000,000 a year. Cuba pays all the expenses of its own government, +the salaries of all officers, the entire cost of the army and navy +quartered upon it, the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, and +of all the charitable and benevolent institutions, and sends an annual +remittance to Spain. + +The number of Spanish men-of-war stationed on the coast, varies from +twenty-five to thirty. Of the number of soldiers of the regular army in +Cuba, it is difficult to form an opinion. The official journal puts +them at 30,000. The lowest estimate I heard, was 25,000; and the highest +was 40,000. Judging from the number of sick I saw at the Hospital +Militar, I should not be surprised if the larger estimate was nearer the +truth. + +But details are of little importance. The actual administration may be a +little more or less rigid or lax. In its legal character, the government +is an unmixed despotism of one nation over another. + + +RELIGION + +No religion is tolerated but the Roman Catholic. Formerly the church was +wealthy, authoritative and independent, and checked the civil and +military power by an ecclesiastical power wielded also by the dominant +nation. But the property of the church has been sequestrated and +confiscated, and the government now owns all the property once +ecclesiastical, including the church edifices, and appoints all the +clergy, from the bishop to the humblest country curate. All are salaried +officers. And so powerless is the church, that, however scandalous may +be the life of a parish priest, the bishop cannot remove him. He can +only institute proceedings against him before a tribunal over which the +government has large control, with a certainty of long delays and entire +uncertainty as to the result. The bishopric of Havana was formerly one +of the wealthiest sees in Christendom. Now the salary is hardly +sufficient to meet the demands which custom makes in respect of charity, +hospitality and style of living. It may be said, I think with truth, +that the Roman Catholic Church has now neither civil nor political power +in Cuba. + +That there was a long period of time during which the morals of the +clergy were excessively corrupt, I think there can be no doubt. Make +every allowance for theological bias, or for irreligious bias, in the +writers and tourists in Cuba, still, the testimony from Roman Catholics +themselves is irresistible. The details, it is not worth while to +contend about. It is said that a family of children, with a recognized +relation to its female head, which the rule of celibacy prevented ever +becoming a marriage, was general with the country priesthood. A priest +who was faithful to that relation, and kept from cockfighting and +gambling, was esteemed a respectable man by the common people. Cuba +became a kind of Botany Bay for the Romish clergy. There they seem to +have been concealed from the eye of discipline. With this state of +things, there existed, naturally enough, a vast amount of practical +infidelity among the people, and especially among the men, who, it is +said, scarcely recognized religious obligations at all. + +No one can observe the state of Europe now, without seeing that the +rapidity of communication by steam and electricity has tended to add to +the efficiency of the central power of the Roman Catholic Church, and to +the efficacy and extent of its discipline. Cuba has begun to feel these +effects. Whether they have yet reached the interior, or the towns +generally, I do not know; but the concurrent testimony of all classes +satisfied me that a considerable change has been effected in Havana. The +instrumentalities which that church brings to bear in such cases, are in +operation: frequent preaching, and stricter discipline of confession and +communion. The most marked result is in the number of men, and men of +character and weight, who have become earnest in the use of these means. +Much of this must be attributed, no doubt, to the Jesuits; but how long +they will be permitted to remain here, and what will be the permanent +effects of the movement, I cannot, of course, conjecture. + +I do not enter into the old field of contest. "We care not," says one +side, "which be cause and which effect;--whether the people are Papists, +because they are what they are, or are as they are because they are +Papists. It is enough that the two things coexist." The other side +replies that no Protestant institutions have ever yet been tried for any +length of time, and to any large extent, with southern races, in a +tropical climate; and the question--what would be their influence, and +what the effect of surrounding causes upon them, lies altogether in the +region of conjecture, or, at best, of faith. + +Of the moral habits of the clergy, as of the people, at the present +time, I am entirely unable to judge. I saw very little that indicated +the existence of any vices whatever among the people. Five minutes of a +street view of London by night, exhibits more vice, to the casual +observer, than all Havana for a year. I do not mean to say that the +social morals of the Cubans are good, or are bad; I only mean to say +that I am not a judge of the question. + +The most striking indication of the want of religious control is the +disregard of the Lord's Day. All business seems to go on as usual, +unless it be in the public offices. The chain-gang works in the streets, +under public officers. House-building and mechanic trades go on +uninterrupted; and the shops are more active than ever. The churches, to +be sure, are open and well filled in the morning; and I do not refer to +amusements and recreations; I speak of public, secular labor. The Church +must be held to some responsibility for this. Granted that Sunday is not +the Sabbath. Yet, it is a day which, by the rule of the Roman Church, +the English Church in England and America, the Greek Church and other +Oriental Churches--all claiming to rest the rule on Apostolic authority, +as well as by the usage of Protestants on the continent of +Europe--whether Lutherans or Calvinists--is a day of rest from secular +labor, and especially from enforced labor. Pressing this upon an +intelligent ecclesiastic, his reply to me was that the Church could not +enforce the observance--that it must be enforced by the civil +authorities; and the civil authorities fall in with the selfishness and +gratifications of the ruling classes. And he appealed to the change +lately wrought in Paris, in these respects, as evidence of the +consistency of his Church. This is an answer, so far as concerns the +Church's direct authority; but it is an admission either of feeble moral +power, or of neglect of duty in times past. An embarrassment in the way +of more strictness as to secular labor, arises from the fact that slaves +are entitled to their time on Sundays, beyond the necessary labor of +providing for the day; and this time they may use in working out their +freedom. + +Another of the difficulties the church has to contend with, arises out +of Negro slavery. The Church recognizes the unity of all races, and +allows marriage between them. The civil law of Cuba, under the +interpretations in force here, prohibits marriage between whites and +persons who have any tinge of the black blood. In consequence of this +rule, concubinage prevails, to a great extent, between whites and +mulattoes or quadroons, often with recognition of the children. If +either party to this arrangement comes under the influence of the +Church's discipline, the relation must terminate. The Church would allow +and advise marriage; but the law prohibits it--and if there should be a +separation, there may be no provision for the children. This state of +things creates no small obstacle to the influence of the Church over the +domestic relations. + + +SLAVERY + +It is difficult to come to a satisfactory conclusion as to the number of +slaves in Cuba. The census of 1857 puts it at 375,000; but neither this +census nor that of 1853 is to be relied upon, on this point. The Cubans +are taxed for their slaves, and the government find it difficult, as I +have said, to get correct returns. No person of intelligence in Cuba, +however desirous to put the number at the lowest, has stated it to me at +less than 500,000. Many set it at 700,000. I am inclined to think that +600,000 is the nearest to the truth. + +The census makes the free blacks, in 1857, 125,000. It is thought to be +200,000, by the best authorities. The whites are about 700,000. The only +point in which the census seems to agree with public opinion, is in the +proportion. Both make the proportion of blacks to be about one free +black to three slaves; and make the whites not quite equal to the entire +number of blacks, free and slave together. + +To ascertain the condition of slaves in Cuba, two things are to be +considered: first, the laws, and secondly, the execution of the laws. +The written laws, there is no great difficulty in ascertaining. As to +their execution, there is room for opinion. At this point, one general +remark should be made, which I deem to be of considerable importance. +The laws relating to slavery do not emanate from the slave-holding mind; +nor are they interpreted or executed by the slave-holding class. The +slave benefits by the division of power and property between the two +rival and even hostile races of whites, the Creoles and the Spaniards. +Spain is not slave-holding, at home; and so long as the laws are made in +Spain, and the civil offices are held by Spaniards only, the slave has +at least the advantage of a conflict of interests and principles, +between the two classes that are concerned in his bondage. + +The fact that one Negro in every four is free, indicates that the laws +favor emancipation. They do both favor emancipation, and favor the free +blacks after emancipation. The stranger visiting Havana will see a +regiment of one thousand free black volunteers, parading with the troops +of the line and the white volunteers, and keeping guard in the Obra Pia. +When it is remembered that the bearing arms and performing military duty +as volunteers is esteemed an honor and privilege, and is not allowed to +the whites of Creole birth, except to a few who are favored by the +government, the significance of this fact may be appreciated. The Cuban +slave-holders are more impatient under this favoring of the free blacks +than under almost any other act of the government. They see in it an +attempt, on the part of the authorities, to secure the sympathy and +cooperation of the free blacks, in case of a revolutionary movement--to +set race against race, and to make the free blacks familiar with +military duty, while the whites are growing up in ignorance of it. In +point of civil privileges, the free blacks are the equals of the whites. +In courts of law, as witnesses or parties, no difference is known; and +they have the same rights as to the holding of lands and other +property. As to their social position, I have not the means of speaking. +I should think it quite as good as it is in New England, if not better. + +So far as to the position of the blacks, when free. The laws also +directly favor emancipation. Every slave has a right to go to a +magistrate and have himself valued, and on paying the valuation, to +receive his free papers. The valuation is made by three assessors, of +whom the master nominates one and the magistrate the other two. The +slave is not obliged to pay the entire valuation at once; but may pay it +in installments, of not less than fifty dollars each. These payments are +not made as mere advances of money, on the security of the master's +receipt, but are part purchases. Each payment makes the slave an owner +of such a portion of himself, _pro parte indivisa_, or as the common law +would say, in tenancy-in-common, with his master. If the valuation be +one thousand dollars, and he pays one hundred dollars, he is owned, +one-tenth by himself and nine-tenths by his master. It has been said, in +nearly all the American books on Cuba, that, on paying a share, he +becomes entitled to a corresponding share of his time and labor; but, +from the best information I can get, I think this is a mistake. The +payment affects the proprietary title, but not the usufruct. Until all +is paid, the master's dominion over the slave is not reduced, as +respects either discipline, or labor, or right of transfer; but if the +slave is sold, or goes by operation of law to heirs or legatees or +creditors, they take only the interest not paid for, subject to the +right of future payment under the valuation. + +There is another provision, which, at first sight, may not appear very +important, but which is, I am inclined to think, the best practical +protection the slave has against ill-treatment by his master: that is, +the right to a compulsory sale. A slave may, on the same process of +valuation compel his master to transfer him to any person who will pay +the money. For this purpose, he need establish no cause of complaint. It +is enough if he desires to be transferred, and some one is willing to +buy him. This operates as a check upon the master, and an inducement to +him to remove special causes of dissatisfaction; and it enables the +better class of slave-holders in a neighborhood, if cases of ill-usage +are known, to relieve the slave, without contention or pecuniary loss. + +In making the valuation, whether for emancipation or compulsory +transfer, the slave is to be estimated at his value as a common laborer, +according to his strength, age, and health. If he knows an art or trade, +however much that may add to his value, only one hundred dollars can be +added to the estimate for this trade or art. Thus the skill, industry +and character of the slave, do not furnish an obstacle to his +emancipation or transfer. On the contrary, all that his trade or art +adds to his value, above one hundred dollars, is, in fact, a capital for +his benefit. + +There are other provisions for the relief of the slave, which, although +they may make even a better show on paper, are of less practical value. +On complaint and proof of cruel treatment, the law will dissolve the +relation between master and slave. No slave can be flogged with more +than twenty-five lashes, by the master's authority. If his offence is +thought greater than that punishment will suffice for, the public +authorities must be called in. A slave mother may buy the freedom of her +infant, for twenty-five dollars. If slaves have been married by the +Church, they cannot be separated against their will; and the mother has +the right to keep her nursing child. Each slave is entitled to his time +on Sundays and all other holidays, beyond two hours allowed for +necessary labor, except on sugar estates during the grinding season. +Every slave born on the island is to be baptized and instructed in the +Catholic faith, and to receive Christian burial. Formerly, there were +provisions requiring religious services and instruction on each +plantation, according to its size; but I believe these are either +repealed, or become a dead letter. There are also provisions respecting +the food, clothing and treatment of slaves in other respects, and the +providing of a sick room and medicines, &c.; and the government has +appointed magistrates, styled sindicos, numerous enough, and living in +all localities, whose duty it is to attend to the petitions and +complaints of slaves, and to the measures relating to their sale, +transfer or emancipation. + +As to the enforcement of these laws, I have little or no personal +knowledge to offer; but some things, I think, I may treat as reasonably +sure, from my own observation, and from the concurrent testimony of +books, and of persons of all classes with whom I have conversed. + +The rule respecting religion is so far observed as this, that infants +are baptized, and all receive Christian burial. But there is no +enforcement of the obligation to give the slaves religious instruction, +or to allow them to attend public religious service. Most of those in +the rural districts see no church and no priest, from baptism to burial. +If they do receive religious instruction, or have religious services +provided for them, it is the free gift of the master. + +Marriage by the Church is seldom celebrated. As in the Roman Church +marriage is a sacrament and indissoluble, it entails great inconvenience +upon the master, as regards sales or mortgages, and is a restraint on +the Negroes themselves, to which it is not always easy to reconcile +them. Consequently, marriages are usually performed by the master only, +and of course, carry with them no legal rights or duties. Even this +imperfect and dissoluble connection has been but little attended to. +While the slave-trade was allowed, the planters supplied their stock +with bozales (native Africans) and paid little attention, even on +economic principles, to the improvement, or, speaking after the fashion +of cattle-farms, to the increase of stock on the plantation. Now that +importation is more difficult, and labor is in demand, their attention +is more turned to their own stock, and they are beginning to learn, in +the physiology of increase, that canon which the Everlasting has fixed +against promiscuous intercourse. + +The laws respecting valuation, the purchase of freedom at once or by +instalments, and the compulsory transfer, I know to be in active +operation in the towns, and on plantations affording easy access to +towns or magistrates. I heard frequent complaints from slave-holders and +those who sympathized with them, as to the operation of these +provisions. A lady in Havana had a slave who was an excellent cook; and +she had been offered $1700 for him, and refused it. He applied for +valuation for the purpose of transfer, and was valued at $1000 as a +laborer, which, with the $100 for his trade, made a loss to the owner of +$600, and, as no slave can be subsequently sold for a larger sum than +his valuation, this provision gave the slave a capital of $600. Another +instance was of a planter near Matanzas, who had a slave taught as a +carpenter; but after learning his trade, the slave got himself +transferred to a master in the city, for the opportunity of working out +his freedom, on holidays and in extra hours. So general is the +enforcement of these provisions that it is said to have resulted in a +refusal of many masters to teach their slaves any art or trade, and in +the hiring of the labor of artisans of all sorts, and the confining of +the slaves to mere manual labor. I heard of complaints of the conduct of +individuals who were charged with attempting to influence the credulous +and too ready slaves to agree to be transferred to them, either to +gratify some ill-will against the owner, or for some supposed selfish +interest. From the frequency of this tone of complaint and anecdote, as +well as from positive assertions on good authority, I believe these +provisions to have considerable efficacy. + +As to the practical advantage the slaves can get from these provisions +in remote places; and as to the amount of protection they get anywhere +from the special provisions respecting punishment, food, clothing, and +treatment generally, almost everything lies in the region of opinion. +There is no end to statement and anecdote on each side. If one cannot +get a full and lengthened personal experience, not only as the guest of +the slave-holder, but as the companion of the local magistrates, of the +lower officers on the plantation, of slave-dealers and slave-hunters, +and of the emancipated slaves, I advise him to shut his ears to mere +anecdotes and general statements, and to trust to reasonable deductions +from established facts. The established facts are, that one race, having +all power in its hands, holds an inferior race in slavery; that this +bondage exists in cities, in populous neighborhoods, and in remote +districts; that the owners are human beings, of tropical races, and the +slaves are human beings just emerging from barbarism, and that no small +part of this power is exercised by a low-lived and low-minded class of +intermediate agents. What is likely to be the effect on all the parties +to this system, judging from all we know of human nature? + +If persons coming from the North are credulous enough to suppose that +they will see chains and stripes and tracks of blood; and if, taking +letters to the best class of slave-holders, seeing their way of life, +and hearing their dinner-table anecdotes, and the breakfast-table talk +of the ladies, they find no outward signs of violence or corruption, +they will probably, also, be credulous enough to suppose they have seen +the whole of slavery. They do not know that that large plantation, with +its smoking chimneys, about which they hear nothing, and which their +host does not visit, has passed to the creditors of the late owner, who +is a bankrupt, and is in charge of a manager, who is to get all he can +from it in the shortest time, and to sell off the slaves as he can, +having no interest, moral or pecuniary, in their future. They do not +know that that other plantation, belonging to the young man who spends +half his time in Havana, is an abode of licentiousness and cruelty. +Neither do they know that the tall hounds chained at the kennel of the +house they are visiting are Cuban bloodhounds, trained to track and to +seize. They do not know that the barking last night was a pursuit and +capture, in which all the white men on the place took part; and that, +for the week past, the men of the plantation have been a committee of +detective and protective police. They do not know that the ill-looking +man who was there yesterday, and whom the ladies did not like, and all +treated with ill-disguised aversion, is a professed hunter of slaves. +They have never seen or heard of the Sierra del Cristal, the +mountain-range at the eastern end of Cuba, inhabited by runaways, where +white men hardly dare to go. Nor do they know that those young ladies, +when little children, were taken to the city in the time of the +insurrection in the Vuelta de Arriba. They have not heard the story of +that downcast-looking girl, the now incorrigibly malignant Negro, and +the lying mayoral. In the cities, they are amused by the flashy dresses, +indolence and good-humor of the slaves, and pleased with the +respectfulness of their manners, and hear anecdotes of their attachment +to their masters, and how they so dote upon slavery that nothing but bad +advice can entice them into freedom; and are told, too, of the worse +condition of the free blacks. They have not visited the slave-jails, or +the whipping-posts in the house outside the walls, where low whites do +the flogging of the city house-servants, men and women, at so many reals +a head. + +But the reflecting mind soon tires of the anecdotes of injustice, +cruelty and licentiousness on the one hand, and of justice, kindness and +mutual attachment, on the other. You know that all coexist; but in what +proportion you can only conjecture. You know what slavery must be, in +its effect on both the parties to it. You seek to grapple with the +problem itself. And, stating it fairly, it is this--Shall the industry +of Cuba go on, or shall the island be abandoned to a state of nature? If +the former, and if the whites cannot do the hard labor in that climate, +and the blacks can, will the seven hundred thousand whites, who own all +the land and improvements, surrender them to the blacks and leave the +island, or will they remain? If they must be expected to remain, what is +to be the relation of the two races? The blacks must do the hard work, +or it will not be done. Shall it be the enforced labor of slavery, or +shall the experiment of free labor be tried? Will the government try the +experiment, and if so, on what terms and in what manner? If something is +not done by the government, slavery will continue; for a successful +insurrection of slaves in Cuba is impossible, and manumissions do not +gain upon the births and importations. + + +MATERIAL RESOURCES AND EDUCATION + +Cuba contains more good harbors than does any part of the United States +south of Norfolk. Its soil is very rich, and there are no large wastes +of sand, either by the sea or in the interior. The coral rocks bound the +sea, and the grass and trees come down to the coral rocks. The surface +of the country is diversified by mountains, hills and undulating lands, +and is very well wooded, and tolerably well watered. It is interesting +and picturesque to the eye, and abounds in flowers, trees of all +varieties, and birds of rich plumage, though not of rich notes. It has +mines of copper, and probably of iron, and is not cursed with gold or +silver ore. There is no anthracite, but probably a large amount of a +very soft, bituminous coal, which can be used for manufactures. It has +also marble, and other kinds of stone; and the hard woods, as mahogany, +cedar, ebony, iron-wood, lignum vitae, &c., are in abundance. Mineral +salt is to be found, and probably in sufficient quantities for the use +of the island. It is the boast of the Cubans that the island has no wild +beasts or venomous reptiles. This has been so often repeated by tourists +and historians that I suppose it must be admitted to be true, with the +qualification that they have the scorpion, and tarantula, and nigua; but +they say that the bite of the scorpion and tarantula, though painful, is +not dangerous to life. The nigua, (sometimes called chigua, and by the +English corrupted into jigger,) is troublesome. With these exceptions, +the claim to freedom from wild or venomous animals may be admitted. +Their snakes are harmless, and the mosquitoes no worse than those of New +England. + +As to the climate, I have no doubt that in the interior, especially on +the red earth, it is healthy and delightful, in summer as well as in +winter; but on the river borders, in the low lands of black earth, and +on the savannas, intermittent fever and fever-and-ague prevail. The +cities have the scourge of yellow fever and, of late years, also the +cholera. In the cities, I suppose, the year may be divided, as to +sickness, into three equal portions: four months of winter, when they +are safe; four of summer, when they are unsafe; and four of spring and +autumn, when they are passing from one state to the other. There are, +indeed, a few cases of vomito in the course of the winter, but they are +little regarded, and must be the result of extreme imprudence. It is +estimated that twenty-five per cent of the soldiers die of yellow fever +the first years of their acclimation; and during the year of the +cholera, sixty per cent of the newly-arrived soldiers died. The mean +temperature in winter is 70 degrees, and in summer 83 degrees, +Fahrenheit. The island has suffered severely from hurricanes, although +they are not so frequent as in others of the West India islands. They +have violent thunderstorms in summer, and have suffered from droughts in +winter, though usually the heavy dews keep vegetation green through the +dry season. + +That which has been to me, personally, most unexpected, is the industry +of the island. It seems to me that, allowing for the heat of noon and +the debilitating effect of the climate, the industry in agriculture and +trade is rather striking. The sugar crop is enormous. The annual +exportation is about 400,000 tons, or about 2,000,000 boxes, and the +amount consumed on the island is very great, not only in coffee and in +daily cooking, but in the making of preserves and sweetmeats, which are +a considerable part of the food of the people. There is also about half +a million hogsheads of molasses exported annually. Add to this the +coffee, tobacco and copper, and a general notion may be got of the +industry and productions of the island. Its weak point is the want of +variety. There are no manufactures of any consequence; the mineral +exports are not great; and, in fact, sugar is the one staple. All Cuba +has but one neck--the worst wish of the tyrant. + +As to education, I have no doubt that a good education in medicine, and +a respectable course of instruction in the Roman and Spanish law, and +in the natural sciences, can be obtained at the University of Havana; +and that a fair collegiate education, after the manner of the Latin +races, can be obtained at the Jesuit College, the Seminario, and other +institutions at Havana, and in the other large cities; and the Sisters +of the Sacred Heart have a flourishing school for girls at Havana. But +the general elementary education of the people is in a very low state. +The scattered life of planters is unfavorable to public day-schools, +nay, almost inconsistent with their existence. The richer inhabitants +send their children abroad, or to Havana; but the middle and lower +classes of whites cannot do this. The tables show that, of the free +white children, not more than one in sixty-three attend any school, +while in the British West India islands, the proportion is from one in +ten to one in twenty. As to the state of education, culture and literary +habits among the upper classes, my limited experience gives me no +opportunity to judge. The concurrent testimony of tourists and other +writers on Cuba is that the habits of the Cuban women of the upper and +middle classes are unintellectual. + +Education is substantially in the hands of the government. As an +instance of their strictness, no man can take a degree at the University +unless he makes oath that he does not belong to, has never belonged to, +and will not belong to, any society not known to and permitted by the +government. + + +REFLECTIONS + +To return to the political state and prospects of Cuba. As for those +persons whose political opinions and plans are not regulated by moral +principle, it may be safely said that, whatever their plans, their +object will not be the good of Cuba, but their own advantage. Of those +who are governed by principle, each man's expectation or plan will +depend upon the general opinion he entertains respecting the nature of +men and of society. This is going back a good way for a test; but I am +convinced it is only going to the source of opinion and action. If a +man believes that human nature in an unrestrained course, is good, and +self-governing, and that when it is not so, there is a temporary and +local cause to be assigned for the deviation; if he believes that men, +at least in civilized society, are independent beings, by right entitled +to, and by nature capable of, the exercise of popular self-government, +and that if they have not this power in exercise, it is because they +have been deprived of it by somebody's fraud or violence, which ought to +be detected and remedied, as we abate a public nuisance in the highway; +if a man thinks that overturning a throne and erecting a constitution +will answer the purpose;--if these are his opinions as to men and +society, his plan for Cuba, and for every other part of the world, may +be simple. No wonder such a one is impatient of the inactivity of the +governed masses, and is in a constant state of surprise that the fraud +and violence of a few should always prevail over the rights and merits +of the many--when they themselves might end their thraldom by a blow, +and put their oppressors to rest--by a bare bodkin! + +But if the history of the world and the observation of his own times +have led a man to the opinion that, of divine right and human necessity, +government of some sort there must be, in which power must be vested +somewhere, and exercised somehow; that popular self-government is rather +of the nature of a faculty than of a right; that human nature is so +constituted that the actual condition of civil society in any place and +nation is, on the whole, the fair result of conflicting forces of good +and evil--the power being in proportion to the need of power, and the +franchises to the capacity for using franchises; that autocrats and +oligarchs are the growth of the soil; and that every people has, in the +main, and in the long run, a government as good as it deserves; if such +is the substance of the belief to which he has been led or forced, he +will look gravely upon the future of such people as the Cubans, and +hesitate as to the invention and application of remedies. If he +reflects that of all the nations of the southern races in North and +South America, from Texas to Cape Horn, the Brazilians alone, who have a +constitutional monarchy, are in a state of order and progress; and if he +further reflects that Cuba, as a royal province, with all its evils, is +in a better condition than nearly all the Spanish republican states, he +may well be slow to believe that, with their complication of +difficulties, and causes of disorder and weakness--with their half +million or more of slaves and quarter million or less of free blacks, +with their coolies, and their divided and hostile races of whites--their +Spanish blood, and their utter want of experience in the discharge of +any public duties, the Cubans will work out successfully the problem of +self-government. You cannot reason from Massachusetts to Cuba. When +Massachusetts entered into the Revolution, she had had one hundred and +fifty years of experience in popular self-government under a system in +which the exercise of this power was more generally diffused among the +people, and extended over a larger class of subjects, and more +decentralized, than had ever been known before in any part of the world, +or at any period of the world's story. She had been, all along, for most +purposes, an independent republic, with an obligation to the British +Empire undefined and seldom attempted to be enforced. The thirteen +colonies were ships fully armed and equipped, officered and manned, with +long sea experience, sailing as a wing of a great fleet, under the +Admiral's fleet signals. They had only to pass secret signals, fall out +of line, haul their wind, and sail off as a squadron by themselves; and +if the Admiral with the rest of the fleet made chase and gave battle, it +was sailor to sailor and ship to ship. But Cuba has neither officers +trained to the quarter-deck, nor sailors trained to the helm, the yard, +or the gun. Nay, the ship is not built, nor the keel laid, nor is the +timber grown, from which the keel is to be cut. + +The natural process for Cuba is an amelioration of her institutions +under Spanish auspices. If this is not to be had, or if the connection +with Spain is dissolved in any way, she will probably be substantially +under the protection of some other power, or a part of another empire. +Whatever nation may enter upon such an undertaking as this, should take +a bond of fate. Beside her internal danger and difficulties, Cuba is +implicated externally with every cause of jealousy and conflict. She has +been called the key to the Gulf of Mexico. But the Gulf of Mexico cannot +be locked. Whoever takes her is more likely to find in her a key to +Pandora's box. Close upon her is the great island of Jamaica, where the +experiment of free Negro labor, in the same products, is on trial. Near +to her is Haiti where the experiment of Negro self-government is on +trial. And further off, separated, it is true, by the great Gulf Stream, +and with the neighborhood of the almost uninhabited and uninhabitable +sea coast of southern Florida, yet near enough to furnish some cause for +uneasiness, are the slave-states of the Great Republic. She is an +island, too; and as an island, whatever power holds or protects her, +must maintain on the spot a sufficient army and navy, as it would not do +to rely upon being able to throw in troops and munitions of war, after +notice of need. + +As to the wishes of the Cubans themselves, the degree of reliance they +place, or are entitled to place, on each other, and their opportunities +and capacity for organized action of any kind, I have already set down +all I can be truly said to know; and there is no end to assertion and +conjecture, or to the conflicting character of what is called +information, whether received through men or books. + + + + +XXII. + +LEAVE-TAKING + + +All day there have been earnest looks to the northwest, for the smoke of +the "Cahawba." We are willing and desirous to depart. Our sights are +seen, our business done, and our trunks packed. While we are sitting +round our table after dinner, George, Mr. Miller's servant, comes in, +with a bright countenance, and says "There is a steamer off." We go to +the roof, and there, far in the N. W., is a small but unmistakable cloud +of steamer's smoke, just in the course the "Cahawba" would take. "Let us +walk down to the Punta, and see her come in." It is between four and +five o'clock, and a pleasant afternoon, and we saunter along, keeping in +the shade, and sit down on the boards at the wharf, in front of the +Presidio, near to where politicians are garroted, and watch the progress +of the steamer, amusing ourselves at the same time with seeing the +Negroes swimming and washing horses in the shallow water off the bank. A +Yankee flag flies from the signalpost of the Morro, but the Punta keeps +the steamer from our sight. It draws towards six o'clock, and no vessel +can enter after dark. We begin to fear she will not reach the point in +season. Her cloud of smoke rises over the Punta, the city clocks strike +six, the Morro strikes six, the trumpets bray out, the sun is down, the +signals on the Morro are lowering--"She'll miss it!"--"No--there she +is!"--and, round the Punta comes her sharp black head, and then her full +body, her toiling engine and smoking chimney and peopled decks, and +flying stars and stripes--Good luck to her! and, though the signal is +down, she pushes on and passes the forts without objection, and is lost +among the shipping. + +My companions are so enthusiastic that they go on board; but I return to +my hotel and take a volante, and make my last calls, and take my last +looks, and am ready to leave in the morning. + +In half an hour, the arrival of the "Cahawba" is known over all Havana, +and the news of the loss of her consort, the "Black Warrior," in a fog +off New York--passengers and crew and specie safe. My companions come +back. They met Capt. Bullock on the pier, and took tea with him in La +Dominica. He sails at two o'clock to-morrow. + + * * * * * + +I shall not see them again, but there they will be, day after day, day +after day--how long?--aye, how long?--the squalid, degraded chain-gang! +The horrible prison!--profaning one of the grandest of sites, where +city, sea and shore unite as almost nowhere else on earth! These were my +thoughts as, in the pink and gray dawn, I walked down the Paseo, to +enjoy my last refreshing in the rock-hewn sea-baths. + +This leave-taking is a strange process, and has strange effects. How +suddenly a little of unnoticed good in what you leave behind comes out, +and touches you, in a moment of tenderness! And how much of the evil and +disagreeable seems to have disappeared! Le Grand, after all, is no more +inattentive and intractable than many others would become in his place; +and he does keep a good table, and those breakfasts are very pretty. +Antonio is no hydropathist, to be sure, and his ear distinguishes the +voices that pay best; yet one pities him in his routine, and in the fear +he is under, being a native of Old Spain, that his name will turn up in +the conscription, when he will have to shoulder his musket for five +years in the Cabana and Punta. Nor can he get off the island, for the +permit will be refused him, poor fellow! + +One or two of our friends are to remain here for they have pulmonary +difficulties, and prefer to avoid the North in March. They look a little +sad at being left alone, and talk of going into the country to escape +the increasing heat. A New York gentleman has taken a great fancy to +the volantes, and thinks that a costly one, with two horses, and +silvered postilion in boots and spurs and bright jacket would eclipse +any equipage in Fifth Avenue. + +When you come to leave, you find that the strange and picturesque +character of the city has interested you more than you think; and you +stare out of your carriage to read the familiar signs, the names of +streets, the Obra Pia, Lamparilla, Mercaderes, San Ignacio, Obispo, +O'Reilly, and Oficios, and the pretty and fantastic names of the shops. +You think even the narrow streets have their advantages, as they are +better shaded, and the awnings can stretch across them, though, to be +sure, they keep out the air. No city has finer avenues than the Isabel +and the Tacon; and the palm trees, at least, we shall not see at the +North. Here is La Dominica. It is a pleasant place, in the evening, +after the Retreta, to take your tea or coffee under the trees by the +fountain in the court-yard, and meet the Americans and English--the only +public place, except the theater, where ladies are to be seen out of +their volantes. Still, we are quite ready to go; for we have seen all we +have been told to see in Havana, and it is excessively hot, and growing +hotter. + +But no one can leave Cuba without a permit. When you arrive, the vise of +your passport is not enough, but you must pay a fee for a permit to land +and remain in the island; and when you wish to return, you must pay four +dollars to get back your passport, with a permit to leave. The +custom-house officials were not troublesome in respect to our luggage, +hardly examining it at all, and, I must admit, showed no signs of +expecting private fees. Along the range of piers, where the bows of the +vessels run in, and on which the labor of this great commerce is +performed, there runs a high, wide roof, covering all from the intense +rays of the sun. Before this was put up, they say that workmen used to +fall dead with sunstrokes, on the wharves. + +On board the "Cahawba," I find my barrel of oranges from Iglesia, and +box of sweet-meats from La Dominica, and boxes of cigars from Cabana's, +punctually delivered. There, once more, is Bullock, cheerful, and +efficient; Rodgers, full of kindness and good-humor; and sturdy, +trustworthy Miller, and Porter, the kindly and spirited; and the pleased +face of Henry, the captain's steward; and the familiar faces of the +other stewards; and my friend's son, who is well and very glad to see +me, and full of New Orleans, and of last night, which he spent on shore +in Havana. All are in good spirits, for a short sea voyage with old +friends is before us; and then--home! + +The decks are loaded and piled up with oranges: oranges in barrels and +oranges in crates, filling all the wings and gangways, the barrels cut +to let in air, and the crates with bars just close enough to keep in the +oranges. The delays from want of lighters, and the great amount of +freight, keep us through the day; and it is nearly sundown before we get +under way. All day the fruit boats are along-side, and passengers and +crew lay in stocks of oranges and bananas and sapotes, and little boxes +of sweetmeats. At length, the last barrel is on board, the permits and +passenger-lists are examined, the revenue officers leave us, and we +begin to heave up our anchor. + +The harbor is very full of vessels, and the room for swinging is small. +A British mail-steamer, and a Spanish man-of-war, and several +merchantmen, are close upon us. Captain Bullock takes his second mate +aft and they have a conference, as quietly as if they were arranging a +funeral. He is explaining to him his plan for running the warps and +swinging the ship, and telling him beforehand what he is to do in this +case, and what in that, and how to understand his signs, so that no +orders, or as few as possible, need be given at the time of action. The +engine moves, the warp is hauled upon, the anchor tripped, and dropped +again, and tripped again, the ship takes the right sheer, clear of +everything, and goes handsomely out of the harbor, the stars and stripes +at her peak, with a waving of hats from friends on the Punta wharf. The +western sky is gorgeous with the setting sun, and the evening drums and +trumpets sound from the encircling fortifications, as we pass the Casa +Blanca, the Cabana, the Punta, and the Morro. The sky fades, the ship +rises and falls in the heave of the sea, the lantern of the Morro gleams +over the water, and the dim shores of Cuba are hidden from our sight. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To Cuba and Back, by Richard Henry Dana + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO CUBA AND BACK *** + +***** This file should be named 33455.txt or 33455.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/5/33455/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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