Our host furnished us with horses to make the excursion, and we
took a winding road, over hill and valley, by plantations and forests,
till we stopped at the gate of an extensive pasture-ground. An old negro,
whose hut was at hand, opened it for us, and bowed low as we passed. A
ride of half a mile further brought us in sight of the cane-fields of the
plantation called Saratoga, belonging to the house of Drake & Company, of
Havana, and reputed one of the finest of the island. It had a different
aspect from any plantation we had seen. Trees and shrubs there were none,
but the canes, except where they had been newly cropped for the mill,
clothed the slopes and hollows with their light-green blades, like the
herbage of a prairie.
We were kindly received by the administrator of the estate, an intelligent
Biscayan, who showed us the whole process of making clayed sugar. It does
not differ from that of making the Muscovado, so far as concerns the
grinding and boiling. When, however, the sugar is nearly cool, it is
poured into iron vessels of conical shape, with the point downward, at
which is an opening. The top of the sugar is then covered with a sort of
black thick mud, which they call clay, and which is several times renewed
as it becomes dry. The moisture from the clay passes through the sugar,
carrying with it the cruder portions, which form molasses. In a few days
the draining is complete.
We saw the work-people of the Saratoga estate preparing for the market the
sugar thus cleansed, if we may apply the word to such a process. With a
rude iron blade they cleft the large loaf of sugar just taken from the
mould into three parts, called first, second, and third quality, according
to their whiteness. These are dried in the sun on separate platforms of
wood with a raised edge; the women standing and walking over the fragments
with their bare dirty feet, and beating them smaller with wooden mallets
and clubs. The sugar of the first quality is then scraped up and put into
boxes; that of the second and third, being moister, is handled a third
time and carried into the drying-room, where it is exposed to the heat of
a stove, and when sufficiently dry, is boxed up for market like the other.
The sight of these processes was not of a nature to make one think with
much satisfaction of clayed sugar as an ingredient of food, but the
inhabitants of the island are superior to such prejudices, and use it with
as little scruple as they who do not know in what manner it is made.
In the afternoon we returned to the dwelling of our American host, and
taking the train at _Caobas_, or Mahogany Trees - so called from the former
growth of that tree on the spot - we were at Matanzas an hour afterward.
The next morning the train brought us to this little town, situated
half-way between Matanzas and Havana, but a considerable distance to the
south of either.
Letter XLIX.
Negroes in Cuba. - Indian Slaves.
Havana, _April_ 22, 1849.
The other day when we were at Guines, we heard that a negro was to suffer
death early the next morning by the _garrote_, an instrument by which the
neck of the criminal is broken and life extinguished in an instant. I
asked our landlady for what crime the man had been condemned.
"He has killed his master," she replied, "an old man, in his bed."
"Had he received any provocation?"
"Not that I have heard; but another slave is to be put to death by the
_garrote_ in about a fortnight, whose offense had some palliation. His
master was a man of harsh temper, and treated his slaves with extreme
severity; the negro watched his opportunity, and shot him as he sat at
table."
We went to the place of execution a little before eight o'clock, and found
the preparations already made. A platform had been erected, on which stood
a seat for the prisoner, and back of the seat a post was fixed, with a
sort of iron collar for his neck. A screw, with a long transverse handle
on the side of the post opposite to the collar, was so contrived that,
when it was turned, it would push forward an iron bolt against the back of
the neck and crush the spine at once.
Sentinels in uniform were walking to and fro, keeping the spectators at a
distance from the platform. The heat of the sun was intense, for the
sea-breeze had not yet sprung up, but the crowd had begun to assemble. As
near to the platform as they could come, stood a group of young girls, two
of whom were dressed in white and one was pretty, with no other shade for
their dusky faces than their black veils, chatting and laughing and
stealing occasional glances at the new-comers. In another quarter were six
or eight monteros on horseback, in their invariable costume of Panama
hats, shirts and pantaloons, with holsters to their saddles, and most of
them with swords lashed to their sides.
About half-past eight a numerous crowd made its appearance coming from the
town. Among them walked with a firm step, a large black man, dressed in a
long white frock, white pantaloons, and a white cap with a long peak which
fell backward on his shoulders. He was the murderer; his hands were tied
together by the wrists; in one of them he held a crucifix; the rope by
which they were fastened was knotted around his waist, and the end of it
was held by another athletic negro, dressed in blue cotton with white
facings, who walked behind him.
