CHAPTER XXX.

POTTERY AND HAMMOCK MARKETS.--HAMMOCKS IN YUCATAN; THEIR GENERAL USE FOR SLEEPING PURPOSES.--YUCATEO SALUTATIONS.--AN AWKWARD SITUATION.--FASHIONABLE, MESTIZO, AND INDIAN BALLS.--CHARACTERISTIC INDIAN DANCES.--WORSHIP OF THE SUN AMONG THE ANCIENT YUCATEOS.--NATIVE MUSIC.--ZOPILOTE DANCE.--VISIT TO A HENEQUIN HACIENDA.--THE _VOLAN COCHÉ_; A VEHICLE OF THE COUNTRY.--A RACE AND HOW IT ENDED.--ARRIVAL AT THE HACIENDA.--THE SCRAPING AND BALING MACHINERY.--STARTING A PLANTATION.--PRICE OF THE FIBRE IN THE MARKET.--"NO MONEY IN THE BUSINESS."--FIBRE-FACTORIES IN YUCATAN.--HOW THE OWNERS OF ESTATES LIVE.

"The market we have described," wrote Fred, "is for the sale of articles of food only. There is another market where pottery, cotton fabrics, and other miscellaneous wares are sold, and still another which is entirely given up to the makers and venders of hats and hammocks. Hammock-making is a great industry in Yucatan, and thousands of these articles are sent to New York, London, and other foreign ports. A curious circumstance about this industry is that the best hammocks are those for home consumption; the foreign markets are unwilling to pay the prices of the fine qualities, and consequently none are sent away except upon special orders. When you next buy a Yucatan hammock in New York you may make up your mind that it is one in which only a very poor man here would sleep.

"Hammocks are in use for sleeping purposes all through this country, and the natives prefer them to beds. Our personal experience is that a hammock is a very good thing to lounge in, or even to take a nap, but for an all-night sleep it doesn't give the rest and refreshment to the tired body that we find in a bed. But habit has a great deal to do with this, as with many other things of life; a Japanese pillow is torture to a European quite as much as the European one is to a Japanese.

"The advantages claimed for a hammock are that the sleeper is protected from many insects that would trouble him in a bed, and the opportunity for the air to circulate, which is a very desirable matter in a hot country. Both these arguments are well founded, and so is the further one that the hammock-sleeper can carry his bed with him, as it weighs only a few ounces and can be rolled into a small parcel.

"We asked the prices and were staggered at the figures. In New York we think $2 a good price, and the majority of the hammocks sold there bring $1 or $1.50 each. The cheapest they showed us was $7, and they had them all the way up to $15, $18, $20, $25, and even $30. The dealer said that if these were not fine enough for our purpose we might have them made to order, and he could give us something superb for $50. We bought some of the cheapest kind, and they were far better than anything we ever saw at home. The best qualities are made of very fine fibre, and if care is taken with them they last for several years.

"While walking along the streets near the market we met some ladies to whom we had been introduced. They recognized and saluted us; they were on the opposite sidewalk, and at first we thought they were beckoning for us to cross over to their side. Then we remembered what we had been told about the Yucateo form of salutation, and replied by raising our hats and bowing. This is what they did:

"Each lady raised her hand until it was on a level with her eyes, and then she 'wiggled' her fingers back and forth in a way that is impossible to describe in words. It is very much what one would do in our country if she wished to speak to you, and we can readily believe what we have been told, that this form of salutation is a great puzzle to the stranger.

"One day an Englishman, who was thus saluted, went up to his fair recognizer, a lady to whom he had been presented at a party on the previous evening, and stood waiting for her to begin the conversation. She was accompanied by another lady, neither of whom could speak English, while the Englishman did not know a word of any language but his own. The situation was awkward, and after both had pronounced several phrases that the other side could not comprehend, the Englishman bowed and proceeded to walk away. The lady repeated the Merida salutation, and this puzzled the stranger more than ever, as he supposed she wished him to follow. He gallantly complied, and walked demurely along till he happened to meet the gentleman who had introduced him. Explanations followed, and all parties concerned had a good laugh over the occurrence. It is probable that the Englishman's laugh was less hearty than that of the others, as he could not fail to be somewhat mortified at his awkward misunderstanding.

"In the fashionable hours for strolling on the paseo everybody is there, and no matter how often you meet any one whom you know you are expected to salute. This keeps everybody on the alert, as the turns of the paseo are likely to bring the same individuals face to face every few minutes.

"It was our good-fortune to be in Merida in the season of dancing, and we were invited to go to a ball, in fact to several balls. We went first to an aristocratic one, which was given in the Casino, a large, two-storied building, with balconies or verandas all around, and brilliantly lighted. It is built around a court-yard planted with tropical trees and flowers in great profusion, and is a very attractive place.

"The ball-room occupied three sides of the upper story of the building, while the fourth contained the dressing and supper rooms. The orchestra was in the corridor just outside the dancing-hall, and while everybody could hear the music, very few could see the musicians. We got there before the dance began and while the ladies were coming out of the dressing-rooms and taking seats at the side of the ball-room, very much as they are seated in other countries. We observed that the gentlemen held the ladies by the hand as they escorted them to their seats, and not by giving them their arms as we do.

"It was a real beauty show when the ladies were ranged along the wall, and they seemed to know it just as well as did their admirers, who congregated at one end of the hall and in the corridors, and smoked cigarettes. The gentlemen chatted with each other with more or less animation, but watched the line of señoritas, whose eyes sparkled like diamonds and were a sharp contrast to their pearly white teeth. Under the light the señoritas' complexions were as glowing as that of a young English girl; of course, we cannot say how much of it is due to nature, and how much to cosmetics. They all had splendid heads of coal-black hair, arranged in the tasteful way for which Spanish ladies are famous.

"The music struck up for a waltz, and then each gentleman advanced towards the lady of his choice, and whirled her away for the round of the hall. The theory of these balls is that everybody knows everybody else, and the gentlemen did not ask the ladies whether they wanted to dance or not. Of course, it is to be presumed that they were there with that object in view, but we thought it would be more graceful if they had been consulted before being lifted from their seats and set in motion.

"We had wondered how it was possible for people to dance in this hot atmosphere, but when we heard how slowly the music played, and saw that the waltz was only a slow gliding and sliding over the floor, as though the waltzers were not more than half awake, we wondered no longer. It is nothing like the exciting whirl of a waltz in northern countries; and the same may be said of the other dances of this very select assemblage. We remained half an hour or so, and then went to the mestizo ball, where it was a good deal more animated.

"The mestizo girls wore the white dresses already described; some of them had only a few ribbons or flowers for ornaments, while others were loaded down with bracelets, rings, and other ornaments, in which diamonds had a more or less prominent part. A gentleman who was with us said many of the diamonds were hired for the occasion, and he had no doubt that a good share of them were paste. The men were the most comical sights you can imagine, as they all wore their hats, and the most of them had their shirts waving outside, after the custom of the country. Some of them had coats and jackets. A man thus clad was looked upon as an aristocrat; but to be so considered he was obliged to suffer some inconvenience, as the outer garment is a serious burden in the heavy tropical atmosphere, made doubly oppressive by the heat of the room. Two or three men carried their jackets on their arms, and some flung them into a corner at the risk of never finding them again.

"The musicians were native Indians, who played with perfect time and melody, as though they had graduated from the schools of the most accomplished masters of Europe. All these people are natural musicians; a very little instruction suffices for them, and with careful training they ought to be able to astonish the world. The men and women dance to perfection; we did not see a false step taken during the time we looked on at the ball, and yet it is not likely that any of the dancers ever had the advantage of a professional instructor. The members of the orchestra at the mestizo ball were dressed in the shirt and drawers already mentioned, and, like the dancing men of the party, retained their hats all the time they played.

"The dances were more interesting than those of the fashionable ball, inasmuch as the latter were European in character, while those of the mestizos had a peculiarity of their own. One was called the zopilote, or buzzard dance; a man and a woman each carrying a handkerchief which they twirled above their heads, and in all sorts of directions whirled and twisted themselves along the floor, all the while keeping perfect time to the music of the performers. It reminded us very much of one of the national dances of the Russians, which is often given by the ballet troupes of the imperial theatres of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and may be seen in its simplicity in almost any town or village of the great northern empire.

"But more interesting to us than either of the balls we have mentioned was that of the Indians, where they were indulging in historic dances which have been preserved from ancient times. When we entered the room, which was pretty well filled with people who respectfully made way for us, the performance had already begun. We will remark here that the ancient Yucateos, like the Parsees, were worshippers of the sun; the reverence for that luminary has descended to this day, though it is by no means preserved in its former purity.

"Mr. Ober, the author of 'Travels in Mexico,' seems to have witnessed a better performance of this dance than we did, as he saw the beginning, which we did not see, so we will quote his account, which is as follows:

"'The first thing these Indians did was to spread a banner in the centre of the room, on which was painted a figure of the sun, with two people kneeling in adoration of it. The chief of this band of about twenty Indians then suspended from his neck a bright-colored representation of the sun stamped on tin. At the foot of the banner-staff crouched an old man, with a drum made by stretching the skin of a calf or goat over one end of a hollow log; at the side of the drum hung the shell of a land-tortoise, and the old man beat the drum and rattled the shell in unison. The article with which he beat the drum attracted my attention, and I examined it and found it to be the gilded horn of a deer. This hollow drum, with turtle-shell and deer's antler, fully confirms the statement that the music is aboriginal; for one of the old chroniclers, in an account of a terrible battle with the Indians of Campeachy, writing not long after the event, says that they made a most horrible and deafening noise with these instruments: "They had flutes and large sea-shells for trumpets, and turtle-shells, which they struck with deer's horns."

"'After the banner was spread, the band ran around it in a crouching attitude; in one hand each held a rattle, and in the other a fan of turkey feathers, with a handle formed by the foot and claw of the bird. Each one wore a wire mask, with a handkerchief over his head, and a mantle embroidered with figures of animals, and hung with small sea-shells. The costume was that of the mestizo women--a skirt from the waist to the ankles, with their peculiar dress over it--just such an one as was worn by their ancestors centuries ago, and by the ancient Egyptians. On their feet they wore sandals, tied on with hempen rope. The chief was distinguished by a high crown of peacock feathers. He chanted something in the Maya language, and they replied, and then the music struck up a weird strain and they danced furiously, assuming ludicrous postures, yet all having seeming significance, shaking their rattles and fans to right and left, and all keeping perfect time. After nearly half an hour of dancing they stopped at a signal from the chief, and gathered about the banner, gazing upon the image of the sun with looks of adoration.

"'This was the dance of sorrow or supplication; after it came the dance of joy, an Indian fandango; then the flag was furled and the floor occupied by two couples.'"

Their night in the round of balls caused our friends to sleep rather late the next morning. While they were at breakfast an invitation came to visit a henequin hacienda near the city, in the company of one of the owners, to whom they had been introduced. It is hardly necessary to say that they accepted at once.

They were to start at an early hour on the following morning, and at the appointed time a _volan coché_ was announced at the door. Frank's description of this vehicle will be interesting to our readers.

"It is the travelling carriage of Yucatan, and well adapted to the bad roads of the country. It consists of a shallow box on two wheels, the box being suspended on leather springs and having a thick mattress spread over the bottom and just filling it. One or two Europeans form a load for one of these carriages, but it will easily hold half a dozen natives of assorted sizes. There are no seats; one is obliged to lie at full length or sit Turkish fashion, and hold on with one or both hands. Doctor Bronson says the volan coché is warmly recommended for dyspeptics, as it is guaranteed to kill or cure them in a very short time.

"The driver sits on the foot-board, very much as in a Canadian calèche, and if there is any baggage it is piled on a projecting frame behind the passengers. The carriage has a top to shelter passengers from sun and rain, and there are curtains to be let down or rolled up as one may wish.

"Three mules are the regulation team for a volan coché. They are harnessed abreast, and under the control of a vigorous driver they get over the roads with commendable rapidity, when all things are considered. There is a great deal of swing to the vehicle, and it overturns occasionally, though not often. The roads of Yucatan are not at all good; one man told us they were made by Cortez three and a half centuries ago, and have never had a dollar of expenditure for repairs since they were constructed."

As our friends went to the door they met their host, who had just descended from the carriage and was ready for them. Frank and Fred wondered if all four of them, the host and his three guests, were to ride in one coché, and while the wonderment continued another vehicle of the same kind came dashing around the corner.

Their entertainer, Mr. Honradez, suggested that Doctor Bronson and himself would ride in one carriage, while the two youths occupied the other. As they were to spend a night at the hacienda, each of the travellers carried a small hand-bag, and these articles, added to some cushions which Mr. Honradez had thoughtfully placed in the seatless vehicles, added considerably to the comfort of the ride.

Away they dashed along the rough streets of Merida and out through the thickly shaded suburbs. They met dozens of natives bringing into the city loads of country produce to sell in the market-place; the bearers bent beneath their burdens, and many of them had travelled all night in order to reach the city in the morning. The most conspicuous of these porters were the sellers of _ramon_, the branches of a tree that serve as food for horses and mules, which eat the leaves and twigs of ramon as they do grass or hay. According to its bulk, the stuff is very light, and a ramon-seller is completely hidden beneath his apparently enormous but really comfortable load.

"Mr. Honradez made things interesting," said Fred, "by getting up a race between our two carriages. He promised two reals to the driver who would get first to a village which he named, and the fellows went at it in earnest. They stood up on the shafts of their vehicles and yelled at their mules; at the same time they were not sparing of their whips, and the result was that the poor beasts went at a furious gallop for a mile or more. Our driver got in advance, and as we saw that the race would be kept up as long as the teams could run, Frank and I suggested to him that we would give him three reals to let the other man win. He immediately accepted the offer and dropped to the rear, shouting something in Maya to his competitor as the latter passed him. After that we went on at a more respectable pace, and were heartily glad that the breakneck speed was not kept up.

"At the village, the name of which I have forgotten, we rested ten or fifteen minutes and then went on, reaching the hacienda just as the forenoon was beginning to be uncomfortably warm. The great heat of Yucatan renders it desirable to make all journeys in the night as much as possible, and hence our early start from Merida.

"The hacienda covers a large area of ground, there being thousands of acres devoted to the culture of henequin. Then there is a considerable amount of sugar and corn grown on the place--enough for the use of all the employés, and something more besides. In the sugar-making industry the machinery is primitive, the cane being crushed in a mill propelled by oxen in the old-fashioned way, and the sugar obtained from the juice by the processes of half a century ago. The real profit of the hacienda is in the production of fibre, and in this the latest machinery is in use. The old process of making fibre by hand is altogether discarded as unprofitable, and the stripping of the leaves of the henequin is performed by great machines built in the United States or England, and driven by a powerful steam-engine of American make.

"The machinery is not at all complex, and it is evident that no great ingenuity was required to invent it. The scraper consists of a large wheel armed with strong and blunt knives all around its rim. The henequin leaves are pressed against this rim, and by means of a lever, worked by the hand and foot of an Indian, the knives, drawn by the swiftly revolving wheel, remove in an instant the pulp which covers the fibre and lay it bare. Considerable dexterity is required for this work, and we looked on in admiration at the deftness of the Indian who performed it.

"The pulp being removed, the fibre is taken from the leaf in long strips like a 'hank' of very fine silk thread of a beautiful green tinge. It is made into small bundles and placed in the sun to dry. In drying it loses its color and becomes white and silky, and when thoroughly dried it is ready for baling. The only care requisite in the drying process is to see that it does not get wet by the rain, and that all its natural moisture is expelled. Unless this is the case it will ferment after baling, and fermentation means a great reduction in the commercial value of the article.

"We watched the machine turning out the fibre, and then went to the baling-house, where the stuff was being put up by a cotton-press into bales of about 450 pounds each. In this condition it is shipped to market; one scraper, requiring the labor of four men to tend it, will produce about one bale of fibre daily, provided the leaves are of fairly good size and quality and the workmen are not novices. The average value of henequin fibre is about $20 a bale, delivered at the nearest railway-station; of course it has its ups and downs, like any other commodity in the world."

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.

"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."

It was evening before the ride was concluded, and the party returned to the hacienda, where a dinner of substantial character awaited them. Of course Mr. Honradez insisted that there was "no money in the business," and said he would be glad to sell out for less than what his estate had cost him. But Fred made a mental note of the fact that he did not name any price at which he would sell, and that he lived in princely style both at the hacienda and in Merida. He had two sons at school in Paris, a daughter was being educated in Merida by a specially imported governess, and the gentleman himself spent a good half of his time in other countries. From these facts, and from information of various kinds that reached them, the youths concluded that the henequin culture was profitable; and in this view they have many supporters both in the country and out of it.