University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXII.

Tuesday, March 1.—Rise early, and walk
to the sea-baths, and take a delightful float
and swim. And refreshing it is, after a feverish
night in my hot room, where I did not
sleep an hour all night, but heard every quarter-hour
struck, and the boatswain's whistle
of the watchmen and their full cry of the hour
and the weather, at every clock-strike. From
the bath, I look out over the wall, far to the
northeast, in the hope of catching a glimpse of
the Cahawba's smoke. This is the day of her
expected arrival. My New York friends and
myself feel that we have seen Havana to our
satisfaction, and the heat is becoming intense.
We are beginning to receive advice against
eating fruit after café au lait, or bananas with
wine, and in favor of high crowned hats at
noon to prevent congestion from heat, and to

avoid fogs in the morning. But there is no
Cahawba in sight, and I hear only the bray of
trumpets and roll of drums from the Morro and
Cabaña and Punta, and the clanking march
of the chain-gang down the Paseo, and the
march of the guard to trumpet and drum.

Mr.—is punctual at seven, his son with
him, and a man in a suit of white linen, who
is the broker employed by Mr.—. We
take a ferry-boat and cross to the Regla; and
a few minutes' walk brings us to a small nail
factory, where all the workmen are Coolies.
In the back yard of this factory is a line
of low buildings, from which the slaves are
brought out, to be shown. We had taken up,
at the ferry-boat; a small, thin, sharp-faced
man, who was the dealer. The slaves are
formed in a semicircle, by the dealer and
broker. The broker pushed and pulled them
about in a coarse, careless manner, worse than
the manner of the dealer. I am glad he is not
to be their master. Mr.—spoke kindly to
them. They were fully dressed; and no examination
was made except by the eye; and no
exhibitions of strength or agility were required,

and none of those offensive examinations of
which we read so much. What examination
had been made or was to be made by the
broker, out of my presence, I do not know.
The "lot" consisted of about fifty, of both
sexes and of all ages; some being old, and
some very young. They were not a valuable
lot, and Mr.—refused to purchase them all.
The dealer offered to separate them. Mr.—
selected about half of them, and they were set
apart. I watched the countenances of all,—the
taken and the left. It was hard to decipher
the character of their emotions. A kind of
fixed hopelessness marked the faces of some,
listlessness that of others, and others seemed
anxious or disappointed, but whether because
taken or rejected, it was hard to say. When
the separation was made, and they knew its
purpose, still no complaint was made and no
suggestion ventured by the slaves that a tie
of nature or affection was broken. I asked
Mr.—if some of them might not be related.
He said he should attend to that, as
he never separated families. He spoke to
each of those he had chosen, separately, and
asked if they had parent or child, husband or
wife, or brother or sister among those who were
rejected. A few pointed out their relations,
and Mr.—took them into his lot. One was
an aged mother, one a wife, and another a
little daughter. I am satisfied that no separations
were made in this case, and equally satisfied
that neither the dealer nor the broker
would have asked the question.

I asked Mr.—on what principle he made
his selection, as he did not seem to me always
to take the strongest. "On the principle of
race," said he. He told me that these negroes
were probably natives of Africa, (bozales,) except
the youngest, and that the signs of the
races were known to all planters. A certain
race he named as having always more intelligence
and ambition than any other; as more
difficult to manage, but far superior when well
managed. All of this race in the company, he
took at once, whatever their age or strength.
I think the preferred tribe was the Lucumí,
but am not certain.

From this place, I made a short visit to the
Almacen de azucar, in the Regla, the great

storehouses of sugar. These are a range of
one-story, stone warehouses, so large that a
great part of the sugar crop of the island, as I
am told, could be stored in them. Here the
vessels go to load, and the merchants store
their sugar here, as wine is stored in the London
docks.

The Cubans are careful of the diet of foreigners,
even in winter. I bought a couple of
oranges, and young Mr.—bought a sapote,
a kind of sweet-sour apple, when the broker
said "Take care! Did you not have milk
with your coffee?" I inquired, and they told
me it was not well to eat fresh fruit soon after
taking milk, or to take bananas with wine,
or to drink spirits. "But is this in winter,
also?" "Yes; and it is already very hot, and
there is danger of fever among strangers."

Went to La Dominica, the great restaurant
and depot of preserves and sweetmeats for
Havana, and made out my order for preserves
to take home with me. After consultation,
I am advised to make up my list as follows:
guava of Peru, limes, mammey apples, sour-sop,
cocoa-nut, oranges, guava jelly, guava
marmalade, and almonds.

The ladies tell me there is a kind of fine
linen sold here, called bolan, which it is difficult
to obtain in the United States, and which
would be very proper to take home for a present.
On this advice, I bought a quantity of it,
of blue and white, at La Diana, a shop on the
corner of Calle de Obispo and San Ignacio.

Breakfasted with a wealthy and intelligent
gentleman, a large planter, who is a native of
Cuba, but of European descent. A very nice
breakfast, of Spanish mixed dishes, rice cooked
to perfection, fruits, claret, and the only cup
of good black tea I have tasted in Cuba. At
Le Grand's, we have no tea but the green.

At breakfast, we talked freely on the subject
of the condition and prospects of Cuba; and
I obtained from my host his views of the economical
and industrial situation of the island.
He was confident that the number of slaves
does not exceed 500,000, to 200,000 free
blacks, and 600,000 or 700,000 whites. His
argument led him to put the number of slaves
as low as he could, yet he estimated it far
above that of the census of 1857, which makes
it 375,000. But no one regards the census

of slaves as correct. There is a tax on slaves,
and the government has little chance of getting
them stated at the full number. One
planter said to a friend of mine a year or
two ago, that his two hundred slaves were
returned as one hundred. I find the best
opinions put the slaves at 650,000, the free
blacks at 200,000, and the whites at 700,000.

Havana is flooded with lottery-ticket venders.
They infest every eating-house and public
way, and vex you at dinner, in your walks
and rides. They sell for one grand lottery,
established and guarantied by the government,
always in operation, and yielding to the State
a net revenue of nearly two millions a year.
The Cubans are infatuated with this lottery.
All classes seem to embark in it. Its effect
is especially bad on the slaves, who invest in
it all they can earn, beg, or steal, allured by
the glorious vision of possibly purchasing their
freedom, and elevating themselves into the
class of proprietors.

Some gentlemen at Le Grand's have been
to a cock-fight. I shall be obliged to leave
the island without seeing this national sport,

for which every town, and every village has
a pit, a Valle de Gallos. They tell me it was
a very exciting scene among the spectators.
Negroes, free and slave, low whites, Coolies,
and men of high condition, were all frantically
betting. Most of the bets were made
by holding up the fingers and by other signs,
between boxes and galleries. They say I
should hardly credit the large sums which the
most ordinary looking men staked and paid.

I am surprised to find what an impression
the Lopez expedition made in Cuba,—a far
greater impression than is commonly supposed
in the United States. The fears of the government
and hopes of. sympathizers exaggerated
the force, and the whole military power of the
government was stirred against them. Their
little force of a few hundred broken-down men
and lads, deceived and deserted, fought a
body of eight times their number, and kept
them at bay, causing great slaughter. The
railroad trains brought the wounded into Havana,
car after car; rumors of defeat filled the
city; artillery was sent out; and the actual loss
of the Spaniards, in killed and wounded, was

surprisingly large. On the front, wall of the
Cabaña, plainly seen from the deck of every
vessel that leaves or enters the port, is a monument
to the honor of those who fell in the
battle with the Filibusteros. The spot where
Lopez was garroted, in front of the Punta, is
pointed out, as well as the slope of the hill
from the castle of Atares, where his surviving
followers were shot.