The Kansas herald of freedom. [volume] (Wakarusa, Kan. Territory) 1854-1860, 1859-06-25
LAWRENCE, KANSAS. JUNE 25, 1859.
The cooli. MarEe, of III. Havana.

The Coolie Market Of the Havana.
Yesterday l drove out to the Cerro, to
see the coolie jail, or market, where the
coolies are kept for sale. 1t is well
known place, and open to all visitors.
The building has q fair-looking front
and through this l entered, by two porters,
into an open yard in the rear, where on
the gravel ground are squatting double
line of coolies, with heads shaved, except
a tuft on the crown, dressed in loose Chi
nese garments of blue and yellow. The
deaie. 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 double line, facing in
ward, and we pass through them, pre-.
coded by driver armed with the usual
badge of the plantation driver, the short
timber whip. The dealer does not hest.
tate to tell me the terms on which the
contracts are made, as the trade is not
illegal. His account is this +: The i'm
porter receives $40 for each coolie, and
the purchaser agrees to pay the coolie 81
per month, and to give him food, and two
suits of clothes year. For this, he has
his service for eight years. The contract
is reduced to writing before magistrate
and two originals are made, one kept by
the coolie and one by the purchaser, and
each in Chinese and Spanish.
This is strange and striking exhibi.
ton of power. Two or three white men
bringing hundreds of Chinese thousand.
of miles, to a new climate and people
holding them prisoners, selling their ser
vices to masters having an unknown
tongue and an unknown religion, to work
at unknown trades, for inscrutable pur
poses
The coolies did not look unhealthy
though some had complaints of the eyes
yet they looked, or l fancied they looked
some of them-unhappy, and some o.
them stolid. One am sure had the lep
rosy; although the dealer would not ad
NIT it. The dealer did not deny theil
tendency to suicide, and the danger o
attempting to chast:se them, but alleged
their great superiority to the negro in in
telligence, and commended that their con-
dition was good, and better than in Chi
ma, having four dollars month, and be-
ing free at the end of eight years. H,
said, which l found to be true, that afte
being separated aud employed in work
they let their hair grow, and adopt tn,
habits and dress of the country. TIL,
newly arrived coolies wear tufts, and blu,
and yellow, loose, Chinese clothes. Thos,
who have been here long are distinguish
able from the whites only by the peculia
tinge of the cheek, and the form of tn,
eye.
The only respect in which his accoun
differed from what heard elsewhere wa
in the amount the importer receives
which has always been stated to me a
$500 sf
While pam talking with him, gen
tleman comes and passes down the line
He is probably purchaser, Ijudge; anc
1 leave my informant to follow what i
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, withou
women or children, taking no root in tn
land, has not come to a solution. Th
constant question is-will they remain
and mix with the other races? vii
they be permitted to remain Will the,
be able to go back ?
So far as l can learn, there is no law il
China regulating the contracts and ship
ment of Chinese coolies, and none in Gu
ba regulating their transportation, land
ing or treatment while here. The trad
has grown up and been permitted an
recognized, but not regulated. 1t is ye
to be determined how far the contract
enforceable against either party. Thos
coolies that are taken from the Births
East Indies to British islands are take
under contracts, with regulations, as t
their expectation and return, understood
and enforced. Not so the Chinese coolie!
Their importers are lege sotuti. Some da
the government will insist on their bein
returned. But the prevailing impressio
is that they will be brought in debt, an
bound over again for their debts, or i
some other way secured to a life-lon
servitude.-R. H. Dana, Jr.