The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-08-05

tons; and the moment he came in sight,
every Indian arose and took off his hat.
Most of them We're satisfied with a kindly
word from the president, but others
crowded around with persistent appeals
or complaints TO offer. Although the
complaints were trivial, and sometimes
amusing, Barrios listened attentively to
every one and endeavored to adjust it to
the Indian satisfaction. This is prob
ably the secret of his popularity
among them, and it is said that they
would fight for him to the death, if occa.
sion required 1t was Reyna Barrios
who abolished the barbarous laws of
mandamientas, established by his uncle,
which made the Indians virtually slaves.
1898, the municipal and other authorities.
assisted by the general government, made
list of all the Indians in the slightest de-
gree capable OF labor, from the child of
eight years to the septuagenarian; and,
whether willing OF not, they We're
sent to work on the coffee panta-
lions. There was reason for it in
the fact that the Indians will not
work for the white man unless compelled
to do SO, and the coffee crops. the hope of
the country, were spelling for lack of
laborers. No advantage accrued from it
to the government, beyond the general
increase Of general public wealth result
Ing from individual prosperity. Reyna
Barios decree, promulgated late in the
autumn of 93, while abrogating the law
OF mandemientos, substituted for it
disguised system of personal service. "
no better for the Indian, but redounding
to the exclusive benefit OF the govern
ment. 1t is relic of the colonial regime.
by which every Indian fit for labor is re-
quired to purchase his freedom by a tax
OF SO. 90 a year, a very large amount for
these poor fellows whose labor brings but
few cents day. Accustomed by long
and hereditary habit to the AFFECTION of
his condition, the Guatemalan Indian ac-
ceptS it as his natural state of being, with
never thought of bettering it, even with
the means already existing in his hands
Strange as it may seem. since his ances-
tors owned the country, he does not know
the right of ownership of the smallest bit
of land. The little spot on which he
cultivates his traditional milpa, corn and
beans, is not his: it belongs to the Indian
community, or egido Of which he forms
a part, OF to the owner of the plantation
in which he has established himself. He
has simply the use of it, and may be dis
possessed at any time. During the exis-
tence Of the mandamientos he attended
to the cultivation of this spot at odd
moments when not occupied with the
work Of the plantation, just as the negro
slaves Of our own South used to cultivate
their garden patches. Now that the
Indian is nominally free, although more
unjustly taxed than ever, he does no
more for the land upon which he lives.
still working it very specifically, if at
all, leaving the result to the bounty OF
nature Somewhere in this field he
usually las his little jacal, the same kind
of rude hut which his fathers inhabited
before the discovery of America 1t is
built Of small tree trunks, or canes. set
upright in the ground, with floor of earth
and roof of straw. The interior is also
much the same. There is a fireplace of
which are the stones for crushing corn
and cooking tortillas. His dishes, cups,
pl1tters and vessels, are gourds or cocoa
nut shells; his only light by night that of
a pine torch OF stick. His bed is a pile of
canes, or a slight elevation of the floor of
hardened earth; and upon this wretched
sleeping place the whole family throws
itself promiscuously, with no mattress
nor other covering than the clothes they
Wore by day. Having lived thus from
time immemorial, it is hardly to be ex-
pected that creature so densely ignorant
and entirely without ambition or aspira-
ton, will be much benefited by the new
system of education from which SO much
is hoped in Guatemala. Remembering
that these people comprise fully two
thirds of the population, and that they
positively will not work unless compelled
to, we cease to wonder that the country
is confronted with a serious labor ques-
ton.
Acting upon hint from the president,
that the hippodrome is one of the pet in
situations of the government, we boarded
tram-car at his door and went out to
see it. Or rather we went part way by
tram car, for although rails had been laid
to the gates of the hippodrome, three
miles or more from the Plaza d'Armas,
the cars do not run on them beyond the
city limits, except when races are in prog
ress You can walk the last half mile.
on broad, unpaved avenue. lined with
great trees that meet and arch overhead.
On either side, extensive meadows slope
to the foot hills, and the view of the vol
canoes is very fine. The hippodrome is
simply half mile racing track, now
grass grown and used only for runnino