The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-27
CUBA YEARS AGO AND NOW.
LIFE ON THE PLANTATIONS, AWAY
FROM THE BEATEN PATHS.

n Experienced with All Sorts and
Conditions OF the Isinnd's Psopie-At ths
oranaee's Table, AnenE the Creoiss, and
In Contnaua or tho Pretty
Girl who Smoked cigarettes and n Beau.
thu, Woman who Never Let Her Cigar
GO out-Hsninissenees of Slavery Days-
Fighting Cane FIres-wsnaerful YrGe-
tation-Game without ANY Sort OF End.
have not been in Cuba since the end of my
residence there. years ago. nut tho Spaniards
are so conservative that little progress has
been made on the island even In the last genera
ton. The Spanish Government in 1880 en-
acted an emancipation law, the first Law OF
the kind, passed ten years before, having
become imperative, and thus made slaves free
in 1887.
have read almost all tn. books of travels
that have been written about Cuba. and find
. great sameness about them. Much is said
about Havana, which is almost the only
place foreigners can visit and have tho usual
comforts of civilization. Havana has been de.
scribed over and over again, and one descriu-
ton Is just the samo as another, It never
changes. for Speniards are the most conserva-
tive of people. Those who visited the city last
year write Of It Just as those who wrote fifty
years ago. Tho only changes that seem to
have occurred since / was there are that the
volante 10 nearly superseded by q small four
wheeled vehicle; the bonnet, as n woman's
headdress. is driving out the moro becomin
mantfla, and owing to the greater poverty of
the people, ladies are sometimes seen on foot
In the streets.
Few authors write ANYTHING OF the country,
and no doubt 1t 10 as little changed rs the
cities, for 1t Is very hard for strangers to get
an invitation to visit the plantation or any
place in the country, though many years a:o
the coffee planters were said to have Deen very
hospitablo. but In the constant drive Of the
sugar estate there Is no time to wait on VISIT
ors. II you leave the beaten track and try to
SEQ the country. difficulty and discomfort
meet you everywhere. particularly II you are
not familiar with the Spanish language. There
are no hotels or any stopping places having
the ordinary conveniences of life. no public
conveyances for hire, and no places who re
horses can be obtained. No one travels ex-
cent on business, and, IL he is q stranger going
to q plantation, horses !or himself and guide
are sent to tho railroad station from the estate
TO meet him. As for vie VS. afoot," they
would seem to be out Of the question in q coun-
try where no ono walks. as a pedestrian world
DO an object of suspicion TO every one, for a
Creole could not conceive of any one walking
for pleasure. In all other parts of the world
thoEo VI caton phLIlb WOTu enOOtQ Dy men 3
feet. even where there is no track for horse
man or vehicles; but in Cuba these are miss
ing, and the track is worn into deep holes for
the feet Of oxen. into which horses must put
their feet. making the roads very UNPLEASANT
for mon on foot, as l found out to nv sorrow.
for l once had to walk five miles on them. The
ordinary baggage of q traveller includes a SAGA
ing for . cot bed, q pair of blankets, and, If he
is very fastidious. q pair Of sheets, for even
such common conveniences cannot be found
On the sugar estates, much less in the huts of
the small farmers, and these could hardly be
carried in n knapsack II there was to be much
room for anything else. Tho estates are far
apart. ard the buildings are situated in the
middle of the great cane fields. and the dogs
would make IL unpleaS ant for q stranger on foot.
The traveller would find It difficult to get
anything to eat. even IL he were able to swallow
the food Of the country. for with my long ex.
perienoe with Creole cooking I have seen tables
set in country taverns that turned my stomach
By the flthiness OF the room. tho smell of the
viands, the rancid oil In which everything Is
cooked. and the ever-present garlic. Nothing
would look eatable except boiled eggs and gar
dimes. II you opened the box yourself.
But a stranger would say: II could get along
II / could get plenty of bread. butter. or milk"
But these things. so common in the United
States. are utterly unknown outside of tho
cities. A traveller might throw himself upon
the hospitality Of the administrator or owner
of o sugar estate. out this Is q thing l never
heard of being done. and on those plantations
on which I lived visitors ,were not welcome.
AS Things went on there that would. not look
well to strangers.
The ride from Guanaisy, the terminus of the
Vuelta Abajo Railroad. to the Injenia Mercedita
was my first experience on horseback in Cuba.
~ --IA a. -s--l- 4 L., a-- III -. l---
q regIo leading the procession sitting on the
TOD of q pack saddle. his legs sticking out at an
anglo OF 90 degrees from the centre limo Of tho
horse. In the pockets of the saddle. which was
made of straw mating, was deposited our bag
gage, which was reduced to a valise for each
person. My companion was the contractor
who had charge of the construction of the SUI
gar mills re were to erect. The roads were
vile, and the country billy, the streams we're
crossed by fording, rs there were no bridges.
The way was worn by the feet of oxen into
holes about n foot deep in regular order, as If
they bad been spaced out by compRsses. This
accounted for the peculiar gait of the horses
that never trotted, but paced or racked, COW
fashion. waving the ridere' body from side to
hde on the square box-shaped saddles. The
,eins are left loose, and the horses arc guided
by the spurs. or by pressing the neck with the
rein instead Of pulling Mt tho bit, for tighten
ing the lines always stops the horse.
We met many crude OK wagons loaded with
boxes of sugar. the cattle dra wing tho load by
the horns instead of by their necks, the rude
Jokes being dashed behind tho horns by many
turns of rope. The drivers, of course, were
and with q train of a dozen or more
rode a tare.footed white man with
one spur on his right heel, a panama hat, his
shirt over his trouers, a red sash around his
WaJaf in which wa HING n maclALR or ruda
sword, and n short knife was stuck on the other
side. He rode with holsters for pistols, but
his principal arm was q whip with q short.
heavy handle and braided lash about twelve
feet long, which, as lie used it on mon or oxen
inlinerently, was n fearful weapon. Every
man and boy kept up a constant screaming at
the cattle, and the gads and the riders
whips were novor idle. On this road ] found
out why such An outlandish vehicle as a vo.
lante ever came into use, Ms l saw a planter
10 his estate who was too luxurious