After our friends had looked at the machines and partaken of a hearty breakfast—the fact is that the breakfast came before the inspection of the scraping and baling departments—they took a siesta, according to the custom of the country, until the cool hours of the afternoon. Then they mounted horses and accompanied Mr. Honradez in a ride over the estate and through the fields of henequin plants. As they rode along, and paused occasionally to contemplate objects of especial interest, the gentleman explained some of the features of the business.
STOREHOUSE AT THE HACIENDA.
"If you have decided to go into an enterprise of this sort," said he, "you must first get your land by buying it from the Government or a private owner, who is generally the descendant of somebody who obtained an immense grant in consequence of some real or fancied service to the Spanish Crown. The land is covered by a sort of scrub, which must be cleared away. The clearing is effected by cutting and burning, the cutting being done one season and the burning the next. Then the young plants are set out in holes dug in the thin soil; they are set about eight feet apart, and take root at once. You have doubtless learned already that the plants are in condition for cutting when they are five years old, and will yield leaves annually for fifteen or twenty years. A good planter will so arrange it that new plants are constantly coming to maturity; and this he will do by setting out a certain quantity of new ones every year."
Frank asked how many leaves were required for a bale of fibre.
"From six to eight thousand," was the reply, "according as they are large or small. Their size depends considerably upon the amount of rain which falls in the few weeks preceding the time they are cut."
"Is all the fibre made at the hacienda sent out of the country?" queried Fred.
"Not literally all," said the gentleman, "but for practical purposes the whole of it is exported. Four-fifths of our product is sent to the United States, where it is used for cordage, bagging, and many other things of the same sort, and most of the rest to Europe. There are two or three small factories here in Yucatan for making coarse cloth, ropes, and twine out of the fibre; they are owned by Americans or Englishmen, and their machinery is of foreign make, mostly American. With the exception of the overseer, engineer, and machinist, all the employés are natives, many of them being mestizo girls, who are as skilful as the girls of any other country in tending the looms where the cloth is woven. These factories purchase their fibre from the haciendas, but their consumption is small. The Indians use a great deal of fibre in making articles for their personal needs, but they generally scrape it by hand. They are very conservative, and if permitted to have their own way they would destroy every machine in the country before sunset to-morrow."