The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-16
CUBAN MULES AND OXEN.
THE INFAMOUS ABUSE OF DUMB
ANIMALS IN HAVANA.

Diminutive Mules Which Have Been
Pounded into Absolute Submissivcness
A Cart with Wheels Ten Feet in
Diameter-Torturinga an Ok.
But if the treatment of the poor by these
people is exceptionally tender, their aouse
OF all dumb animals is infamous There Is
10 exception TO this. horse, mule, or
an OK is a beast OF burden to be drlved anu
loaded to the last limit, and then pounded
and goaded necessarily. Centuries OF this
sort of thing have positively given these
animals hereditary traits Of demure patience
and characteristic humility that are pa
1hetic. A caballero will spur and lash his
PONY to its utmost speed, dish cunt at his
destination with parting kick at the AMI.
NAL which is no bigger than its rider, anu
the painting pony's head will instantly drop
between his knees, while it Will actually
90 to sleep there with look upon its face
which says as plainly as words can, i am
sure to be awakened from this needed rest
by blow" And the mute prophecy comes
true. The Cuban mule has been pounded
into submissiveness that has actually re-
moved from his character all OF those
marked eccentricitics which have made the
mule the helpful friend OF the paraSrapher
every " here else in the world. Here the
latitude and longitude of his ears, the qulver
of his under lip, the rcstlessness OF his TALL,
or the sudden curvature OF his spine mean
nothing. He is shorn uf dynamite powers.
He is not worth illustrating. 1he OK and
the heifer are worked and goaded to despera-
ton. while the bull is reserved for life that
his life may DO taken from him by Gemonlac
torture ..
GU will find here the most primitive
methods in the application of the use OF do
,uestic animals to the neels Of agriculture
and commerce. Havanna is a great city,
but could You have walked the streets OF
old Granada, Madrid, or Barcelona ;OJ
wears ago, YOU would have viewed pre-
cisely the same street scenes as you Will see
here today. You can not find in Cuba
xlray OF a four wheeled wagon. The two
wheeled cart IS used for all hauling pur-
poses 1t is really great affair Inc
wheels are frequently ten feet in diameter,
tie felloes six inches broad and as thick,
the spokes are big as your leg, and the hub
like a half-bushel basket. The bodies OF the
carts are enormous Many are covered
like those "emigrant wagons" our ancestors
"came west" in, and arc also provided with
great rush pouches which dangle and sway
Underneath, while the shafts are together
larger than the little mules whole body.
An iron pin is showed through the end OF
the axle to hold the wheel IN place, aiid
when "yreasing' has been overlooked the
shriekins and groaning of bevy OF these
carts are equal to the wall!ngs OF the OH
Red river trains that once tralled out or st.
l'aul to the far-away EulSon's bay coun-
try. Ionies are rarely used Ill these cartS.
The mule, heifer, OK, and sometimes ouu,
are the motive power, and when IL IS re-
membered that everything brought into
HAVANA in the nature of fruits and pro-
duce by the guajros or country people,
save that portion transported In huge PACKS
and pouches laShed to mules or pony's
back, all carriage between wholesale anu re-
tail establishments, all the moving OF house
hold furniture, and all the vast movement
of freight to and from the docks OF this, tie
eighth ranking commercial capital of the
world, are accomplished exclusively by the
use of such methods of conveyance some
id. a of the primitiveness and pictures !ue-
ness of the everyday working of such
system may be formed.
l have stood at ferry entrances hours to
study all sorts Of Cuban people: but the
carts, the way they ara equipped and
driven, their contents, and, above all, these
carreteros, who are here at their greatest
because of the crowding and clustering,
have always possessed the liveiiest interest
Here may be a mule-cart loaded with
fodder from the country, the little mule
absolutely obscured with cart, harness
which weighs as much as the mule, and
cornstalks, the motive power mystery
were it not disclosed by the bells hung to
the hidden animal, with tine driver running
along on one side and helper OH tho other,
both yelling like demons and prodding saw
agely beneath the overhanging cornstalks
wnere the muli,ed bells and animation are.
Here is great open cart piled ten feet
high with bales Of tassa 20 or South Ameri-
can ierked beef, and drawn by an OK. The
animal is inside OF immense shafts the ends
OF which rest in iron loops depending from
q yoke set, not on his neck, but upon his
head His legs seem spread with the load.
Every step is taken as if doubtfully plunged
into space The vibrations of the shaft
keep his neck and head trembling as with
palsy. His eyes bulge from their sockets
and his mouth is half open. A ring is in
his nose, and cor,'s of plated grass, as
lines, run from this ring to the right and
left Letwecn his horns through rings Set in
the huge yoke, and thence to the carretero's S
left hand, while his right holds long pole,
tipped with a sharp iron brad, like plea
doris pike in the bull ring. The face Of
that OK as he trembles and glares under his
burden is a sad sight to a man with heart
under his vest, but when this bold carre-
tero awakens to the fact that his standing
among men involves his asserting himself, it
is then that the thunders Of his voice are
heard, and the helpless brute is
riked and prodded until the blood spurts
from his tanks and he squats iiat in his
tracks believing piteously in pain l never
prayed God so fervently for sound body
and my old .OU pounds weight as in the
presence of scenes like this, and if my prayer
had been answered would have made tasSajo
out of some OF these noble carreterors, if it
had involved the two governments
You will frequently see several mules at
tached tandem to huge cartload of freight,
when three OF four carreteros or mu:eteros
are required to produce, with scores of I'M
musical bells, the hubbub necessary to pro-
rresa The incessant bowling and larrup.
ing by those muleteros usually prompt un-
inpeded headway; but once let the affair
come to a standst:ll and al Christendom
can not furnish another such din. score
of peighLering drivers will suddenly de-
scend upon the scene, and the whackins,
hell jangling, and bowling become simply
indescribable. 1t is an exceptional thing
to see bulls harnessel to the cart, but they
sometimes are; and then it is curious study
to note the national trait Of critical obser-
yation of the animal by all, tho most dis
tinSuishei ladies included. They will con-