Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-01-22
AUrtester 4a1Ip Spp.
From Ida Pfeiffer's last travels.
SUGAR PLANTATIONS AND COOLIES AT THE
MAURITIUS.


the direction OF Pamplemousse, in which also
the botanical gardens are situated. / visited
the Monchoisy plantation, the property of Mr..
Lambert. The manager, Mr.. Gat, was kind
enough to escort me through the fields and
buildings, and to give me such a lucid explain
alton OF the method of growing and preparing
the sugar cane, that l cannot do better than
give his own words, as nearly as | can remem
Der them.
"The sugar cane is not raised from seed,
but pieces of cane are planted. The first cane
requires eighteen months to ripen; but as,
during this time, the chief stem puts out
shoots, each of the following harvests can be
gathered in at intervals of twelve months, so
that three crops are obtained in four years and
halt After the fourth harvest tile field must
be thoroughly cleared of the cane II the land
is virgin soil on which no former crop has
been raised, fresh slips of cane can at once be
planted, and thus eight crops can be- obtained
in nine years. If this is not the case, ambre-
zades must be planted-a leaty plant, which
grows to the height of eight or nine feet and
whose leaves, continually falling, decay on the
ground and fertilize it. After two years the
plants are rooted out, and the land becomes
sugar pantation.again
For about the last ten years the custom has
prevailed of dressing the land with guano, and
very good results have been obtained On
good ground 5000 pounds per acre have been
raised, and on bad soil, that formerly yielded
1000 pounds, at the most the produce has
been doubled.
l was much astonshed to see the beautiful
widespread plains of Pamplemousse covered
with great pieces Of lava. 1t would appear as
if nothing could grow under such circumstan-
ces, but | heard that this popularity of the
soil is favorable to the sugar cane, which will
not bear long drought. 1t is planted between
these fragments of rock, and the rain water,
collecting in pools in the cefts and holes, keep
the ground moist for long time.
When the canes are ripe and the harvest
begins, no more is cut down each day than
can be pressed and boiled at once, for the great
heat soon spois the sap in the canes. The
cane is pressed between two rollers, turned by
steam, with such force that it is crushed quite
fiat and dry, it is then used as fuel for boiling
the kettles.
The juice runs successfully into six kettles
or pans, OF which the first is most fiercely
heated; the force OF the fire is made to dmin.
lsh under each OF the others. In the last ket-
tie the sugar is found almost half produced 1t
Is then placed on great wooden tables, where
it is left to cool and here the mass graduates
into crystals OF the size OF a pin head. AS a
final operation, it is poured into wooden yes.
sells perforated with small holes, through
which the molasses still contained in the SUI
gu may ultSl' L IlC hllOie pIUCGS5 requires
eight or ten days for its completion. Before
the sugar is packed, it is spread out on great
terraces to dry for some hours in the sun. 1t
is shipped in bags containing $50 pounds each.
MIR. LambertS sugar plantation contains
1000 acres of land, but of course only part of
this is planted each year. He has 600 labor.
ers, who are engaged for seven months in the
year in the field, and during the other five in
getting in the crop and boiling it. In good
thot &c xul,n, fbo
early and lasts long-NIr. Lamberts gets three
million pounds of sugar from his plantation
but he is well content with two millions and a
half hundred pounds of sugar are worth
from nine to twelve shiiiings.
The largest planter in the Mauritius is
Mr. Rocheconte, who is said to produce nearly
seven million pounds of sugar annually.
Sugar, and nothing but sugar, is TO be seen
in this island. Everything has reference to
sugar, and all the conversation is about sugar.
Mauritius might be called the sugar island,
and its coat of arms should be bundle of SUI
gar-canes and three sugar-bags rampant.
During residence Of some weeks | had OPP
portunities OF observing the condition and cir
cumstances OF the laborers. They are called
COOLIES" and come, as | have mentioned,
from all parts of India. They hire themselves
for five years, and the planter who hires them
has to give each labOrer IS. or los. month,
fifty pounds of rice, four pounds of dried fish,
four pounds of beans, four pounds OF tat or
oil, suficiency Of salt, and little hut TO live
in, besides the sum he has to pay the govern
ment for their passage.
The laborer's condition is not nearly so
good as that of servant. He has to work
heavily i'll the cane.tield and the boiling house
and is much more exposed than the domestic
servant to the arbitrary power of his master !;
for he may not leave until his five years con
tract has expired He may. certainly go and
complain if he is hardly used, for thtle are
judges to hear, and laws to redless his woes
but, as the judges are frequently planters
themselves, the poor aborer seldom finds the
verdict given in his favor The aborer has
frequently to walk eight or ten miles before
he gets to the court. In the week he has no
tme1o CO. and on Sunday he finds it closed
If, after much trouble, he at length succeeds
IN reaching the abode of justice, he finds, per.
haps that the court is engaged in multiplied
ty of affairs, and is told to go and come again
some other day. To make the thing more diff
ficult for him, he is not admitted at all, unless
he brings Witnesses. How is he 10 get these
None OF his companions in misfortune will
dare to render him such a service, tor fear of
punishment, or even corporal ill usage at the
hands Of his master.
will relate an incident which happened
during my residence in the Mauritius.
On one OF the plantations ten labOrerS wished
upon the expiration of their contract, TO quit
their employer and take service with another.
The planter heard of this, and three weeks
before the articles of these ten men expired
he persuaded ten others to give in the papers
OF the malcontents as their own, and to have
the contract renewed for year Then he
called the discontinued laborers separately be-
fore him, showed each one the contract. and
told him he had another year to serve. OF
course the people persisted that this was i'm.
possible, as they had not been at the court at
all, and never had the writing in their hands.
The planter replied that the contract was per
tecty valid, and declared that if they com.
planned before the court they would not be
heard, and that corporal chastisement would
most likely be their reward, moreover, it they
went he would not pay the wages he owed
them for five months work, unless under COM
pulsion.
The poor fellows were at loss what to do.
Fortunately, an official of high position lived
close by, and one who was known as an hon.
est pbilanthropc man To him they went,
told their story, and begged his protection,
which he at once promised. The affair came
before the court, but the trial went Gu very
slowly, as none of the planters people dared
to give evidence, even if they had the will, it
would have been difficult for them TO do so, as
the planter forbade his people to 20 out and
had them carefully watched and prevented
from communicating with any one all the time
the action was pending.
In the course of some ten weeks, five sit
lungs or hearings took place The first three
were held before single judge, who was a