A grand masquerade-charity ball has just taken place at the Tacon Theatre, outside the city walls, and it is computed that seven thousand tickets were sold. The great variety of costumes, within and without, representing all the characters that could be suggested to one’s mind, the multitude of the dances, and the different strains of music, the five tiers of boxes of open bronze-work, displaying the rich robes and dazzling gems of the lady spectators, gave it additional charms.
I have just returned from the plantation of a fellow passenger, and am much pleased with the rack or gait of my horse, which is peculiar to the island of Cuba. The road, which was rough, was of calcareous stone. The shell, which is easily discovered in the rock, can be cut in any shape; it hardens with age. The house which I visited was comfortable, and pleasantly situated, with negro-houses among groves of oranges, citron and lemon trees, and fields of sugar-cane in the background. The reception was a warm one, for the mistress of the place, an affectionate old lady, was delighted at the return of her son; I witnessed her kindness towards her negroes. The Bishop’s Garden gave me an opportunity of seeing tropical plants and fruits in their perfection. It seemed neglected, however, while the Tacon Garden is a splendid affair.
II.
Matanzas, March 1, 1839.
This is a considerable shipping port. Large quantities of lumber are brought hither by New England vessels, which in return take cargoes of sugar, molasses, and coffee. I saw a drove of mules and horses with pack-saddles, fifty in number, all laden with these articles, coming to market. Twenty-eight of them were laden with four kegs, each containing five gallons of molasses, and were tied head and tail together. One man had charge of that number. In this warm climate they stop and wash or swim their animals in the streams to refresh them; the drivers drink the fresh milk from the cocoa. The number of game-cocks owned here attracted my attention; cock-fighting takes place frequently. I noticed, in passing an inclosure, an arena for practising, and stakes were driven for forty of them, to which they were attached by the leg; some are even valued as high as six ounces, or a hundred dollars; two negroes were cracking corn with their teeth to feed them, and others were sprinkling aguardiente or Cuba rum over their heads and bodies; it gives them a reddish color after the feathers are plucked out. If game, they fight until they die. In the pit they take them up and blow in their mouths, lick their heads, raise their wings, run their bills together, and then put them down to see who will conquer.
In the vicinity are found very extensive caves, inhabited by bats, which are well worth a visit. Myself and a fellow-traveller hired a Volante to visit a coffee estate on the banks of the little Canaimar river. The weather was warm; the rays of the sun were oppressive like one of our July days; it was dry and dusty. We met with droves of muzzled mules laden with products; we crossed the river in scow boats, drawn by a rope. The coffee-tree grows about three or five feet high, and is lopped to make the branches expand, otherwise it grows seven or eight feet in height. The blossom is white, the leaf resembles the laurel of our country, only larger; there is a fragrant but insipid flavor to the blossom; the berry is red, and tastes sweet. On opening it you discover two grains of coffee. It is gathered in baskets, and carried to the yard where they have large earthen floors with descents both ways to carry off the rain; here it remains until perfectly dry, then it passes through a machine which completes it. It is then put up in sacks for market. They commence picking about the 1st of November, and continue until they have finished, often as late as February. The tree lasts fifteen or twenty years, if well attended to.
The Canaimar is a beautiful stream, with high banks covered with trees, and is from fifty to eighty yards wide; it is navigable some fifteen or twenty miles, for schooners up to Barcadero. For pretty scenery it reminds me of the Hudson, but decidedly in miniature.
We saw several fine coffee plantations, and others exhausted, devoted to the production of sugar. Our Calesero with his droll costume wore his sword, which he flattered himself was a great protection after nightfall. The roads were rough, and little travelled by carriages; but it was amusing the way we rattled over the hills with three horses attached to our odd-looking vehicle. We have followed up our visits to sugar and coffee plantations in other directions. Some of the latter are most beautiful with avenues of palms, interspersed with orange and myrtle trees. One sugar estate of three hundred acres turned off three hundred hogsheads of sugar. The owner had one hundred and fifty negroes, one hundred of whom were working hands; we visited their cabins and the sugar-works. He had seventy yoke of oxen, thirty on the grinding mill; they work night and day, five pair at a time, cracking the cane with three large rollers. The juice is insipid but healthful; it soon becomes acid when exposed to the sun. It runs direct from the mill in reservoirs, and in the iron boilers with sides of brick-work. It is dipped from one pot to the other, and boiled until the guarappa or syrup passes into reservoirs or granulators, after which it is put into hogsheads, and stands over vats to allow the escape of the treacle or molasses, which is pumped up and forwarded to market. The crushed stalk is dried and used for fuel, when engines are in vogue as they now are. The cane may be used up entirely. In the cutting the cattle follow and consume the tops; the balance decays and enriches the soil. The negroes cut the cane systematically with long knives in the fields. The cane here springs up again without replanting, and lasts from five to seven years.
In the gardens were guava trees, from which the delicious jelly is made, and pomegranates, oranges, and other fruits. The most graceful tree is the palm: it grows straight to a great height, with rings from the root, and looks like a column of marble of greyish blue color until within fifteen feet of the top, when it lessens in size, and is of a bright green color, with an offshoot or thread that grows up like the winding-sheet of a candle, about four feet to the top, from which spread the branches, like an umbrella. From the green spot spring bunches of berries which are green, but ripen red, and are used by the negroes to feed their hogs. The mango, shaddocks, sweet oranges, and forbidden-fruit, are interesting to the stranger. We have just paid the sad rites to one of our Northern invalids; only four of us followed him to the grave. The funeral of a child three years old has just passed; this beautiful infant lies in a half coffin, with face and hands exposed, a wreath of flowers about its head, and a bouquet in its little hand. One half of the coffin is supported by four boys in fashionably cut garments, and bright coat-buttons; the other half is supported by other boys. The friends of the dead do not go to the grave. The manner of burial being so different from ours, one is struck with every peculiarity. Some distinguished person who died recently had ten negro bearers dressed in military apparel, red and grey livery trimmed with lace, with black chapeaux and feathers. Ten Volantes followed. The bodies are buried in trenches, with all their clothing on, which is cut before interment. They are put in the ground without the coffin, quick-lime is thrown upon them with a little earth; others are buried over them. When room is required, the ground is dug over, and the fragments are burned.
The convicts here are employed upon the public works, and in the streets, pounding stone and regulating the thoroughfares; they are guarded by soldiers, and wear chains on one side from the waist to the ankle. I recently accompanied a planter who wanted to add to his stock of negroes. A cargo of two hundred and eighty-five had just arrived from Africa. They were in the Barracoons, men, women, and children. I had some oranges, which I cut up and gave them; they did not know what they were at first, but soon found out, and flocked around me and drove me to the door, with their hands all up, clamoring for more. It was amusing to see the scampering and jubilee when the fruit was thrown among them. They were fond of snuff, tobacco, and pipes. The planter made a selection of twenty, at twenty-four ounces, or four hundred and eight dollars each, and they seemed happy to get out of the barracks.