addle; the simplest countryman, on his straw
saddle, belts on his rude cutlass, and every man with a skin less dark
than an African appears ready for encounter."--_Rev. Abiel Abbot's
Letters._

[42] "They are men of manly bearing, of thin make, but often of a good
figure, with well-spread shoulders, which, however, have a stoop in
them, contracted, I suppose, by riding always with a short
stirrup."--_W.C. Bryant's Letters._

CHAPTER XI.

A sugar plantation--Americans employed--Slaves on the plantations--A
coffee plantation--Culture of coffee, sugar and tobacco--Statistics
of agriculture--The cucullos, or Cuban fire-fly--Novel ornaments
worn by the ladies--The Cuban mode of harnessing oxen--The montero
and his horse--Curious style of out-door painting--Petty annoyances
to travellers--Jealousy of the authorities--Japan-like
watchfulness--Questionable policy--Political condition of Cuba.

The sugar plantations are the least attractive in external appearance,
but the most profitable, pecuniarily, of all agricultural investments in
the tropics. They spread out their extensive fields of cane without any
relief whatever to the eye, save here and there the tall, majestic and
glorious palm bending gracefully over the undergrowth. The income of
some of the largest sugar plantations in Cuba is set down as high as two
hundred thousand dollars per annum, the lowest perhaps exceeding one
hundred thousand dollars. Some of them still employ ox-power for
grinding the cane; but American steam-engines are fast taking the place
of animal power, and more or less are monthly exported for this purpose
from New York, Philadelphia and Boston. This creates a demand for
engineers and machinists, for whom the Cubans are also dependent upon
this country; and there are said to be at this time two hundred
Bostonians thus engaged, at a handsome remuneration, upon the island. A
Spaniard or Creole would as soon attempt to fly as he would endeavor to
learn how properly to run a steam-engine. As this happens to be a duty
that it is not safe to entrust to even a faithful slave, he is therefore
obliged to send abroad for foreign skill, and to pay for it in round
numbers.

During the manufacturing season a large, well-managed sugar plantation
exhibits a scene of the utmost activity and unremitting labor. The
planter must "make hay while the sun shines;" and when the cane is ripe
no time must be lost in expressing the