on which the families of the wealthy and
educated planters reside. And in some cases the administrador is a
younger member or a relative of the family, holding the same social
position; and the permanent administrador will have his family with him.
Yet, it is enough to say that the same causes which render the ingenio
no longer a desirable residence for the owner make it probable that the
administrador will be either a dependent or an adventurer; a person from
whom the owner will expect a great deal, and the slaves but little, and
from whom none will get all they expect, and perhaps none all they are
entitled to.

In the afternoon we went to the sugar-house, and I was initiated into
the mysteries of the work. There are four agents: steam, fire, cane
juice, and Negroes. The results are sugar and molasses. At this ingenio,
they make only the Muscovado, or brown sugar. The processes are easily
described, but it is difficult to give an idea of the scene. It is one
of condensed and determined labor.

To begin at the beginning, the cane is cut from the fields by companies
of men and women, working together, who use an instrument called a
machete, which is something between a sword and a cleaver. Two blows
with this slash off the long leaves, and a third blow cuts off the
stalk, near to the ground. At this work, the laborers move like reapers,
in even lines, at stated distances. Before them is a field of dense,
high-waving cane; and behind them, strewn wrecks of stalks and leaves.
Near, and in charge of the party, stands a driver, or more
grandiloquently, a contramayoral, with the short, limber plantation
whip, the badge of his office, under his arm.

Ox-carts pass over the field, and are loaded with the cane, which they
carry to the mill. The oxen are worked in the Spanish fashion, the yoke
being strapped upon the head, close to the horns, instead of being hung
round the neck, as with us, and are guided by goads, and by a rope
attached to a ring through the nostrils. At the mill, the cane is tipped
from the carts into large piles, by the side of the platform. From these
piles, it is placed carefully, by hand, lengthwise, in a long trough.
This trough is made of slats, and moved by the power of the endless
chain, connected with the engine. In this trough, it is carried between
heavy, horizontal, cylindrical rollers, where it is crushed, its juice
falling into receivers below, and the crushed cane passing off and
falling in