Evening star., 1898-01-22
WHERE LIFE Is EASY
On q Coffee Plantation In the limited
States of Colombia.
LAND AND LABOR ARE BOfR Cheap
Americans Are Held IN High Regard
at Santa Marta.
RELICS OF BYGONE DAYS

From the Chicago Inter-ocean
If any man with $4,000 wants 10 max.
a modest fortune and enjoy an easy lifs
while he 10 doing it, said Mr. Henry NJ.
Senter, "all he has to do is to 20 to the
United States OF Colombia. purchase a .ha-
cienda.' and raise coffee. II is the biggest
chance know OF. The climate 10 perfect.
your altitude you may choose at will. you
are right at a seaport. so that the transpor-
tation Of your crop to the ship costs prac.
ticaily nothing. and the demand for coffee
ID never oversupplied. Besides these points,
land and labor are cheap and the property
OF foreigners is sacredly respected.
When say that land is cheap. ! mean
II literally. Government land bonds, each
calling for one hectare of the public do
main. or two and q half acres. are now
selling for q cents. silver. or about IL cents
In our money. This is less than ~ cents
an acre. Claims may be located by the
holders VI these bonds on any unoccupied
government lands. and I have taken up
l,JOO acres about seven miles from the sea-
tort OF Santa Marta. My plantation, Las
Nubes, which means The Clouds is I'm
the Sierra Neyadas, 4. 500 feet above the
level OF the seas The altitude ie an ideal one
Tor growing coffee. and, while ] need no
irrigation, there are three mountain streams
which could easily be turned into my prop
erty so as to frrigate IL perfectly at slight
expense. The manner of taking up land is
the simplest thing in the world. You pur-
chase your land bonds, select your property
and have II surveyed Then you go before
the alcalde and declare your Intentions 10
improve the land. He gives you his bless
Ing and you give him whatever you feel his
blessing is worth. You then begin to clear
the heavy forest. which covers all tho
mountainous parts Of the coast, and a year
fha oil Aa
visit to see that you are in possession and
making improvements. II everything IL
satisfactory. including little recognition
ne issues YOU title deed and you become
monarch of all you survey.
'RecOgnitfon" is Cheap.
Right here it may BE- remarked that
while recognition is expected in Colombia
by public officials II is not a very serious
matter. They are a remarkably reasonable
lot of people, and that is the only way you
are taxed. with the exception of a poll tax.
to 81 silver. or s1.G0 in our
money. 1 am satisfied that you could even
dodge that by recognizing the collector to
the extent of 10 or 20 cents. He'd report
you as dead or away on a vacation.
Labor is cheap. Such men as ara re-
quired 10 clear the land and plant the cof-
fee trees only get $l.40 day in paper
money, which is worth sc cents in our cur
rency- Of course. you needn't do any great
amount of labor yourself, beyond learning
the 14.OOO different methods adopted by the
native laborers to soldier on you These
natives are either Indians or a mixed breed
descended from the negro slaves and tho
aboriginal Indians. They are constitutions
aiiy tired, and need a good deal of drit ing
10 Keep them at work So long as they
nave an adobe hut to sieep in. barely sufi-
cient clothing to cover them, a fish and a
lew plantains TO eat they are ready to defy
tate. Slavery was abolished about seventy
nve years ago. and since that time the
freed negroes and their descendants have
themselves as good az any
white man. Strangely enough the proud
descendants Of the Spaniards seem 10 have
conceded this position. and there Is abso-
luteiy no color line drawn. Negroes and
mulattoes. il they secure wealth. are on an
absolute social equality with The Children .
ana grandchildren Of those who were once
their masters.
Quaint Old Santa Marta.
The population of Colombia, as stated fin
the encyclopedias. is the widest kind of a
guess. for no white man has ever penetrate
ed the interior and the natives are too ig-
rorant to give any reliable estimate. Sam
ia Marta Is a town Of about 5000 II was
founded I'm 1925 and is mainly known to
fame from the fact that Kingsley. i'm
Westward. Ho" used the locality for some
of his scenes. 1t is quaint old place.
with its crooked streets and ancient Span-
ish buildings most Of which consist of one
story surrounding courtyard. Close to
the town are the ruins of several forts
which were demolished by Sir Francis
Drake during one Of his visits to the
Spanish in America. The climate varies
but little the year round, and the nights
are always cool and pleasant. II is a
healthy place, in spite of the fact that it
is perfectly flat and that there Is absolute
iy no attempt at drainage. The water sup
ply is ideal, drawn from the river Mansan-
ari, six miles back in the Sierras. There
are but two seasons; the rainy season ends
about the middle of December and the dry
period about April I. During the rainy
season the mornings are always bright
and clear. but ii rains every afternoon.
The natives are either descendants of tho
old Spaniards or a mixture of Spanish,
Indian and negro. The foreign element is
about equally divided among Americans,
English and Germans. Spanish Is exclu-
sively spoken. and ia the entire town there
are only three natives who can speak
English.
Education is at a very low ebb. The
children of the better classes are sent
remain at home glory In their ignorance.
The weather. class. those who have accu-
mulated money by exporting coffee. hides
and bananas, mainly to the United States.
live with much pomp and circumstances in
the ancient Spanish houses. Speaking OF
reminds me that they ship about
1900 punches every week to New York.
q voyage Of seven days. Their commerce
Is almost entirely with this country. and
Americans are regarded with greater favor
than is bestowed on either the French or
German residents.
Relics Of Ancdent Days.
ITO my mind the most Interesting thing
In the country is the evidence OF an an
caent and forgotten civilization which
forces itself upon one on every hand. In
prehistoric times q mighty and highly civ
nised people inhabited Colombia. On my
land there are beautifully constructed
stone roads and the remains OF two VIII
lages Of about 600 houses each. where we
and stone beads. pottery and ancient tools
from time to time. The water vessels and
urps are OF handsome form. but devoid
,f ornamentation. and frequently contain
human bones An q student Of anatomy I
am able to say. after examining these re-
Mains that the average height Of this
race Of men must have been At laast six
teet six inches. and many were doubtless
much taller. But what became of themf
Are they extinct, or are the savage tribes
II the Interior their descendantsf Those
ire the interesting problems which
should some day like to solve.
'On either side Of the valley between
Co. H. .