Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-02-27
CUBAN SUGAR PLANTATIONS.


Dreary Ileach"s OF ''i'' i"ii N"''
and uordes of isuur snt Blneks'
All large Cuban sugar plantations are
alike. Having seen enc ydn have seen an,
so far rs external ahuirs are concerned
Ii Is often the casa t5at their owners, or
lessees, are people IF culture ana reline-
ment and with hUst OF friends ana Nlsl-
TORS about them live here in style OF
nfIlueut elegance FOR which we can now
find no comparison III our own country.
There was time WaNn we could. But
the dreary reaches OF cane; the long,
snake like tramwaSs and roads Tor maui
inc the emerald loads Of treasure TO the
mill: the white tree Hinged avenue lead
ing from the highway to the batey on
square upon which all the structures are
faced with startling regularity; the i've
hedges of Spanish Gayonet or savage
prickly pear and dirk pointed henlquen
that mark the confines, or divisions, of
the estate; the tail ana lonesome chimleys
of the boiling houses; the SlarlnS Whlte
buildings from villa to "the quarters tuat
look forever so ghostly lonesome and tor
ture your eyes in the pitiless sun; the uhsa-
worry smell of the cane juice in all stages of
conversion into sugar, ana the never end
ing bordes of Ignorant blacks sweltering
and yelling like demons III 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 ire
nuentlv tramways with iron bound
wooden rails, where one mule can easily
amble along with 10000 pounds of the
Fran m 4 ~
these guarda rayos radate in all direc
lions 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 it dry as "A bone,
whether it comes fast or slowly, endwise
or sidewise, and leave the rag like
crushed and hattened stalk in what is
called bagazo. This, dried in the sun,
provides the entire fuel of the never idle
boilers The screaming and whining
of these crushing rolls is one of the
most lugtArious noises one ever listened
to. Then there are the tremendous en-
gines and boilers kept endlessly ranging
by the burning bagazo; countless pipes
and fixtures and the huge nickel plated
''vacuum pans" imbedded in polished
wood, where the cane juice, seemingly
the great watts and reservoirs, and, finally
the swirling, whirling centrifugal ma
chimes that, inside of five minutes, take
the black, nasty, mushy mess and beat it
! antil it is as white as snow and ready for
market From 2,000,0 600 To 5000 600
pounds are frequently made annually
upon each of these plantations, beside
the enormous yield of molasses, which is
an important factor in the crop.
The fact is, these great sugar estates
are now run on so gigantic Il scale that
they are little less than huge factories,
with all the hard characteristics of fac
tory life about them, the home or rural
idea being wholly eliminated. The place
is like factory village, employing and
caring for from 900 to 1900 souls The
discipline is severe; the system perfect
The hands are invariably negroes. They
work in watches, or relays, day and night,
| precisely as they do at your rolling mills.
! The males occupy quarters walled and
| barricaded from the women, and there is
no more chance for intercourse or frolic
/ than in the American peuitentiary. Those
married have separate quarters Edgar
| l.. Wakeman's Letter.