Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-10-01
SUGAR ESTATES IN CUBA.
A Picture of Their Conditions Half n
Century Ago.

Coffee plantations, though so beautiful.
havs not increased in numbers of late
years; in fact, many of them have been
Changed into sugar estates which are more
profitable, aud render the owner socially
more important. The owner usually resides
IN Havana, whare his family may enjoy the
pleasures of cultivated society and have the
iuxuries of city; he therefore employs
sort of mlddleman, called a major-domo, to
manage his estate. The owner wants all
the money he can get to maintain his estab-
ilshment In Havana, and the maIor-domo
seeks to Increase his percentage and thus
one poor slaves are ground to the dust and
a. tunes the cruelties practiced are bar
Darous 1be mayorals are usually Canary
Islanders, a hot-tempered and cruel race
and, being without the restraint Of the
presence of the owner, are vindictiyely op-
presslve' and in their inhuman punishm ants
often take life. The horrors which have
been perpetrated in Cuba by the lash
would disgrace barbariaEs
one striking fact attestinS the hardships
OF slave life on a sugar estate is that chill
iren are very rarely seen there. Slave men
In their vigor are more profitable and
hence in q large force of several hundred
men only 4 few women are allowed. The
iahors and hardships which these women
endure tend to prevent increase, and tn.
few children born usually die in infancy
from neglect. There is no care take, to
prevent this result, as they say it IS chap
er to supply the losses or the plantations
Dy new 1mportdtiOnS than by the rearing of
children. The climate. fortunately is so
mild that the slaves need but little cloth
ing and wide palm hat and a cloth about
the loihs are their costume in the fields, the
sun seeming 10 nave but little effect upon
their black skins.
Every week there is ration day On
which they ara drawn up in long lines, and
a few pounds of black-Iooking beef brought
C,rT1 A
OF each, which at night eacn cooks to suit
himself. In addition, a coarse meal or
small hominy tbran and alb is boiled, and
put in trough, from which they eat it
every morning with a spoon, a paddle or
their hands, as they choose.
me Africans brought into Cuba are gen
orally from the coast of Mozambique ard
are called Locoomees and Caravalees They
are large, stout m.n' of dogged will. and
at times are very obstinate.
All these creatures believe implicitly in
! the transmigration Of souls and that if
| they commit suicide they go Immediately
osck 70 Africa To check this evi when
suicide occurs, the mayoral makes each
| OF the slaves bring a bundle of wood and
puiid a funeral pyre, on which the body Is
| burned. The ashes are then scattered in
tne air by the survivors, in whose opinion
| the dead Negroes soul iS thus prevented
| from returning to Africa. In scattering the
| ashes they sigh audibly, Aha! Ahar' as II
| expressing grief that the soul of their COM
/ pdilioH can no longer go home.
The appearance of the sugar estates is
| the very opposite of the beautiful coffee
| plantations. Wide fields of monotonous
| green stretch themselves to the horizon on
every side. while mere and there the royal
| palm lifts Its tufted head above the yerdant
| level The mayorals house the sugar
works, and the dingy barracoons for the
slaves are the only objects to break the
| Donotony Of the desolaIe scene When
| first planted, the cane is laid lengthwise in
| trenches, or burrows, about five or six feet
apart, and than covered. From eaen eve
| Sthere is an eye to each sound joint shoot
| springs up, and sends out Others forming a
| bunch of canes; and thus the fields are
! covered with tho most luXuriant green
| Every year the crop is cut Ut the ground
| and tn next season another crop springs
| up from the roots. which are called vatons
| These vatons will yield crops in this way
| for several years, the length of time de.
| pending on the mildness Of the climate Ir
| Louisiana only three or four crops ar:
| gathered from one planting, while in the
| tropics eighteen or twenty are thus obtain
| ed The grinding of the cane begins about
| the last of October, and continues until th3
beginning of the rainy season, a period OF
| nearly six months. This Is tine time OF
greatest labor on the estate; and, without
| inter1nission Of Sundays or holidays, witt
| but few exceptions. the slaves work inces
| sanity, and men and teams are worn ou
before work Is over. The slaves are siyer
few trifiing presents and are allowed
| soma extra privileges to encourage then
| In undergoing the increased labor.