These same men are afraid of a small dog, and will exhibit fear in many ways under most ordinary circumstances. Contradictory elements enter into their composite characters. They are patient, long suffering, and have wonderful endurance. They think nothing of a serious flesh wound, but if one of them has a toothache or headache he will wrap up his head like an old woman with the mumps. Often they wear such a woe-begone, lost look that one would almost believe in their manifest troubles if their cunning ways of shirking a duty were not so well known.
With five centavos in his pocket the roto is a capitalist, and will not work until prompted by necessity. He speaks Spanish badly, and in a mumbling, drawling manner, often using the most vile and profane language in the presence of both men and women of his own class. In stature the Roto Chileno is, as a rule, short, massive and muscular; his skin is an amber brown. He has small, black, beady eyes, slight beard, stiff black hair that grows low upon his forehead. The shape of his head is generally that of a pumpkin, the back of the head being quite flat. He has a short, thick neck, large flat feet, and small tapering hands. The ears, mouth and nose are not out of proportion to his size. He walks with a rapid, ambling gait, body bent forward, legs wide apart and his long arms swinging at his sides. His few, scanty, ragged garments are usually covered with a homemade wool “poncho.” The bottoms of his feet are covered with rawhide sandals, “ojotas,” and he invariably wears a straw hat, “chupalla.” The general appearance of the roto, as one sees him on the road, with dirty face, dingy straw hat drawn well down over his eyes, trousers rolled up at the ankle, shirt open at the chest, a corvo in his belt and a poncho thrown over his shoulders, is that of approaching ruin. His face is more repulsive than ugly, and he is more nearly naked than ragged. Some of the more provident among them, however, wear clean clothes on Sundays and other feast days. They occasionally wash their hands and faces, but never their bodies. They are by nature a pacific people. The fighting spirit is generally aroused in them by the consumption of bad liquor. They help each other in their personal work or difficulties, and are great jokers, one with another.
The “patron” (employer) always furnishes food to his laborers. The universal food of the country for the poor people is “porotos” (beans), and the ration for each man or boy, per day, is all the beans he can hold in his two hands placed together. The rations are cooked together, as many being placed in the pot as there are persons to be provisioned. At meal-time the pot is delivered to the peons who sit on the ground in a circle around the vessel. Each is supposed to have his own spoon, but if not, a flat stick or piece of bark serves the purpose. After all are seated each dips into the pot and eats until the allowance is finished. One meal is all they eat in a day after eight o’clock in the morning, at which hour they eat a loaf of black bread, in exchange for which they may receive a double handful of toasted wheat, “harina tostado.” This diet is never changed, never varied, after they leave the mother’s breast. When the supply of beans is short, “mote” (wheat boiled in lye until the hull is loosened, after which it is removed by rubbing the grains between two stones), is sometimes mixed with the beans.
In the extreme southern part of Chile, the ration is somewhat different. There, “chuchoca” (green corn boiled and dried on the cob) is mixed with the beans. The peons never depart from the established ration. When not working they eat a little parched wheat flour in the morning, or such other food as they may be lucky enough to obtain. If one has no food he goes to some rancho where there is a supply, and where he is invariably served, as they are always generous with each other.
Peons will sleep anywhere, in places wet or dry, clean or unclean. With a stick of wood or a stone for a pillow, and with a poncho spread over him he will sleep the sleep of innocence, without care for the present or thought of the future. An old “mozo” (man servant), known to be honest, through many years of faithful service, went one day to the home of his former employer, where he was given food, and a bed was provided for him in the house. During the night the gentleman was disturbed by sounds of apparent distress in the corridor. Thinking the mozo was ill, he went to inquire the cause of the trouble. The peon informed him that he could not sleep upon that “soft thing,” meaning the mattress, and asked permission to make his bed out-of-doors. He was informed that he could sleep where he pleased. Taking his saddle for a pillow, and a sheepskin for his bed, and spreading a poncho over him he lay down upon the pavement of the patio. In the morning he was found sleeping soundly, his face turned toward heaven, his unkempt beard covered with frost.
Peons in the cities do not receive a daily ration of beans, as is the custom in the country, but are given money, “diario,” with which to buy food. The Chilean peon cannot stand prosperity. As a general rule the worse he is treated and fed, the better service he will render. This applies more directly to the “inquilinos,” than to independent peons.
The rotos are polite to each other and salute when they meet by touching their hats, saying “Buenos dias, Caballeros” (good day, gentlemen). When asking for and receiving a light for a cigarette, they say, “Mil gracias, Dios guarde Ud.,” (a thousand thanks, God guard you). When a peon meets a superior who says, “como le va” (how do you do), the peon answers, “muy bien, para servirle a Ud.,” (very good, I offer you my services). They are rarely insolent to their superiors and when sober, never. They are illiterate to the extreme, having no desire to learn, but they are naturally clever and are capable of rendering good service, where mechanical skill is not required. You cannot out-figure one of them, and he will quickly remind you of any mistake in a transaction, if it counts against him.
Among the roto class, grandfather, father and son all work together, and have always been, as they are now, upon an equality in destitution. Their only apparent ambition seems to be to work enough during the week to secure a few pesos on Saturday night, with which to buy “aguardiente” (raw brandy), “vino” or “chicha” (wine or cider) at the “Cancha de Bola.” When a crowd of peons congregate at any one of the many places where drinks are sold, in the country, first one buys a litro (quart), and after taking a drink, he passes the cup, called “potrillo,” to the friend next to him, and so it is passed until empty. Then another buys a litro and passes it, and they continue to treat each other until all are fighting drunk. This is continued from Saturday night until Monday morning, and not infrequently until Monday night or Tuesday. Employers of labor have learned by experience not to expect anything from or depend upon their workmen for regular service on Monday, as the majority of them are incapacitated from the effects of drink—on Sunday. In the drinking places where the roto spends his Sundays and feast days, in drinking and gambling, there are always a number of women, “cantoras,” who join in the drinking, and between drinks entertain the crowd with dancing and singing, playing accompaniments on guitars.
The Saturday night and Sunday debauch of the peons generally commences after a hard week’s work, and frequently lasts thirty-six hours without sleep, and sixty hours without food. After having slept off the effects of drink, they are ready for business Tuesday or Wednesday morning. When they return to work they give a legal day’s labor, without persuasion to stimulate their activity. All differences are forgotten and no questions asked, knowing that it is only a few days until they will have another spree, and the weekly experience be repeated. They are inveterate gamblers. Men may be seen naked in the road, having lost all their clothing on a game of chance. The game may be cards, dice, topeadura, a cock fight or any contest in which the result is in doubt. The peon is a born gambler, and a cheerful loser. If beaten in a game he accepts the results with the indifference of a stoic or the sang-froid of a professional. He never complains, but bides his time for another chance to recover his losses.
The “Cancha de Bola,” the peon’s clubhouse, is a cemented or smooth floor space, covered with a thatched roof, but not enclosed. The game at the cancha is a sort of Indian billiards, played by rolling large wooden balls over the floor. There men and women meet on Sundays and feast days, to play games, drink and discuss the events of the week. And every cent is coaxed from every pocket to fill the coffers of the owner of the cancha.