The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-07-31
CUBAN SUGAR PLANTATIONS.


and Hordes Of Igdorant BI.ck..
All large Cuban sugar plantations mr.,
alike. Having seen one You have seen all
so far as external affairs ara concerned
1t Is often the case that their owners q,
lessees, are people OF culture and refine
ment, and with host Of friends and visi.
tors about them live here in a style OF
afiiuent elegance for which we can now
md no comparison In our own country.
| There was a time when we could. Rnt
the dreary reaches OF cane; the long.
snake like tramways and roads for baul
Ing the emerald loads Of treasure To the
mill; the white tree fringed avenue lead
ing from the highway to the batey or
squire upon which all the structures are
faced with startling regularity: the live
hedges Of Spanish bayOnet or SAVAGE
prickly pear and dirk pointed henioucn
tlIat mark the confines, or d:yisions of
the estate; the tall and lonesome cbimpevs
OF the boiling houses; the glariny white
buildings from villa to ''the quarters, that
look forever so ghOstly lonesome and tor
ture your eyes In the pitiless sun; the unsa.
worry smell of the cane juice in all stages OF
conversion into sugar, and the never end
ing hordes Of ignorant blacks sweIterino
and yelling like demons in their hard
labor are one and the same from one end
of Cuba to another.
The plantation Is divided into number.
less squares or patches, around and from
which, leading direct TO the mill. are
guarda rayOs or roads, which are fire..
quently tramways with iron bound |
wooden rails, where one mule can easily |
amble along with 10000 pounds of the
glIstehihg cane on cars. Frequently
these guarda rayos radiate I'm all direc
tons from the batey or square like the
spokes OF wheel. 1t is one steady stream
Of cane day and night to the ponderous
rolls which squeeze 1t dry as q bone.
whether IL comes fast or slowly, endwise
)r sidewise, and leave the rag like
rushed and fattened stalk i'm what *
'alled bagazO. This, dried in the sun.
provides the entire fuel of the never idle
boilers. The screaming and whining {
# these crushing rolls is one of the
most lugubrious noises one ever listened
o. Then there are the tremendous en- !
ines and boilers kept endlessly ranging /
y the burning bagazo; countless pines I
nd fixtures and the huge nickel plaied :
vacuum pans,' imbedded in polished | i
rood, where the cane juice, seemingly :
uet, is kept at fearful heat by steam: Y
he great watts and reservoirs. and. finally p
ne swirling, whirling centrifugal ma. /,
hines that, inside Of five minutes. take n
he black, nasty, mushy mess and beat il n
NH II Is as white rs snow and ready for ii
arkes. From 100000 to 5000 OO0 IL
,unds are frequently made annually
pom each Of these plantations, beside q
le enormous yield Of molasses. which is If
l important factor in the crop ?,
The fact is, these great sugar estates ri
e now run on so gigantic scale that Sc
ey are little less than huge factories st
it'll all the hard characteristics of fac. m
~ life about them, the home or rural on
"a being wholly eliminated. The place ii,
like factory village, >ssmgloying and in
ring for from 1000 to 1000 souls. IN .IB;
'ripline is severe; the system perfect. I'M
e hands are invariably negroes. They n,
rk in watches, or relays, day and night. in,
'cisely rs they do at your rolling mills pil
e males occupy quarters walled and 81
from the women, and there Is W.
more chance for intercourse or frolic ey
IN in the American penitentiary. Those wi
FRIED have separate quarters. Edgar da
Wakeman's Letter. Pr