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LIFE AND SOCIETY IN OLD CUBA.

FOURTH PAPER.

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF JONATHAN S. JENKINS, AN AMERICAN PAINTER OF MINIATURES, WRITTEN IN 1859.1

THE BULL-RING.

P to within a few years past the bullbaits, cock-fights, and displays of a like character took place in the city of Havana; but one of the reforms of General Tacon banished them from the city to the town of Regla, on the other side of the harbor. By some strange perversion of morals, these brutal sights are always enacted on Sunday or some one of the many religious festivals.

Bull-baiting is undoubtedly a cruel sport, and the better classes of the Spaniards do not usually countenance it with their presence. Once a boy of seven, son of one of the matadors, was announced to appear in full dress and kill a bull-calf: but when the time came, the child exhibited fear and began to cry; upon which the spectators derided him and his father, and pelted them with oranges in token of their displeasure.

The bull-fights were varied at times by matters calculated to amuse the audience. A matador would incase himself in a round frame, made of iron hoops, over which was stretched some strong cloth, and, thus protected, would throw himself before the bull, which dashed at him, and tumbled him over and over, amid roars of laughter from the audience. Again, the figure of a fat woman filled with explosives, and dressed in a gaudy style to excite the beast, would be placed in the middle of the arena. The bull would rush upon it, but, finding that it did not move, would sheer off and pass it by. Then the spectators would yell with applause, crying out: "He is a very polite bull; he will not hurt a woman!" This movement would be repeated several times, when at last the bull would drive his horns into the figure, and the crackers and rockets would explode suddenly with great noise and confusion.

COCK-FIGHTING.

EVERY species of gambling was forbidden by General Tacon except betting on cock-fights,

1 Mr. Jenkins was United States Consul in the Navigator's (now Samoan) Islands in 1856. These extracts have been selected and edited by his great-nephew,

and this exception doubtless gave cock-fighting a greater stimulus. While I was in Cuba I did not once see monte or any other game of cards played for money. If a person lost money, and complained to Tacon, he would require the amount lost to be returned, and would imprison the participants in the game. The Spaniards are born gamblers, and will even bet on the color of an uncut watermelon. At times several doubloons would be staked. The principal cocking-mains were fought at Regla and Guanabacoa, but in every country village there was a cockpit and a billiard-table. The cock-fights are exclusively attended by men, and men of all classes are found there-the baron and the beggar, the priest and the layman, mingling with true democratic equality.

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

IT is by no means easy to become acquainted with young Spanish girls of wealth and position, and if by some fortuitous circumstance this difficulty is overcome, it will be found that the fair ones prefer as husband or lover one of their own customs, language, religion, and manners. All these are accumulated barriers in the path of the American gallant. Our cold manners and careful speech do not please the frank and buoyant Teresa or Catalina, who loves the extravagant compliments and devoted professions of the gay Don Juan. He dances the bolero with faultless step and graceful ease; he has a smile for her on the paseo, when her volante moves slowly by, and with an elegant twirl of the fan she daintily throws him a kiss. These little coquetries are the sunshine and flowers of their May, that would darken and wither in the chill of our wintry manners. But if the foreigner is so fortunate as to find his love returned, he must then prove that he left his own country single and is a Catholic, and must fee the priest liberally and give the bride presents of costly jewels suited to her station in life.

In most of the cases of marriage between Joseph Cooper Boyd, Esq., of Baltimore. As stated in a previous paper, the author's first visit to Cuba was made in 1835.

Americans and Cubans that have come under my observation, the former have married beneath them socially, and would be ashamed to introduce their wives among their own kindred; they naturally grow 'sick of their bargains, and the union results unhappily. The whole circle of the wife's kindred prove their gratification at the marriage by living in numbers upon the new American connection. This habit of imposition by these idle fellows without means or occupation has been reduced to a system; "loafing around" is a perfect science with them.

SIDE-SADDLES:

LADIES' saddles in Cuba are constructed with the horn on the opposite side from that on which it is placed with us, so that the left leg must be thrown over the horn instead of the right. As the left is the proper bridle-hand according to correct equestrianship, I regard the Spanish saddle for women as correct in principle and ours wrong, for the former places the rider on the right side of the horse, with her left hand forward to the reins.

POISONOUS INSECTS.

IN the soft climate on the southern side of Cuba there is nothing to disturb the pleasure of existence except mosquitos and alacrans, or scorpions; for while a huge snake of the boa-constrictor species is sometimes encountered, it is considered harmless, as, in fact, are all the reptiles of the island. Alacrans and mosquitos are, however, a great pest, and the last-named are so numerous that it is very desirable for the traveler in that part of the country to carry a net with him. The poisonous alacran has a body very much like a crab, with a tail of sufficient length to make the creature from three to five inches long in all. The tail is a succession of diminishing joints terminating in a curved sting, which, as it is not retractile, is always exposed. These ugly creatures infest the houses, get under the bedclothes, or even in the clothes on one's person, and when disturbed they instantly sting. The wound is slight, but the posion is so acrid that it is extremely painful, and though not dangerous to life in grown persons, children are often killed. I knew of one instance where one of these venomous creatures secreted itself in a gourd, and a woman who drank from it was stung on the tongue and came near dying.

There is an insect in Cuba called the bebehana, a kind of ant, which constructs high conical mounds and does great injury to

lands. Indeed, the first question asked by a purchaser usually is, "Are there any bebehanas on the land?" The value of the land is greatly diminished by their presence. The destructive power of these insects is remarkable and is exercised with great rapidity, as the following illustration of their methods will show: They will select a tree, sometimes two or three miles from their mound, and march to it in a procession about a foot wide, when they ascend, pick off its leaves piecemeal, and bear them home. If a leaf is large, several ants will each take a strip, while they bear away the small leaves entire. In this way, in fortyeight hours these busy depredators will strip the largest tree of every leaf, and transport them to their nests in the earth. The crowded procession of workers, each bearing aloft its piece of leaf, presents a curious spectacle, and when a light breeze blows across them, waving the leaves, it looks like an army with a multitude of green banners. The Spanish government has offered the sum of two hundred thousand dollars to any one who will devise some method of exterminating this pest.

There is another ant still more destructive, called by the Spaniards the comeje, the jaws of which are so formidable that it can destroy every sort of wood, even the toughest, with great ease.

A planter who had built a costly residence of wood near Simonal owned a great many fowls, of which he was very fond, and ordered his negroes to cut the warts on the trunks of trees, which are filled with the larvæ of this ant, and feed them to the chickens. In this way these ants were introduced into the timbers of his residence, and when the astonished owner discovered their presence, the ravages were such that he was forced to have extensive repairs made at once; but their depredations continued in spite of every effort to arrest them. The large timbers of the house were honeycombed, and it was literally destroyed. These ants eat out the interior of the timber without cutting through the surface, so that it will look sound on the outside when it is ready to crumble to pieces.

CUBAN DRINKS.

THE Cubans are a very sober people, and, while there are cafés, drunkenness is rare. The most common and popular of their drinks is composed of white sugar, water, and the white of an egg; another is a drink of absinthe and water; then absinthe and a

decoction of aniseed mixed, which they call champorian. Orchata is also a favorite drink; it is made from the juice of almonds, and is as white as milk. During the summer the water of a green cocoanut flavored with a little gin is sometimes indulged in. Light wines are often used at table as substitutes for tea and coffee, which are ill adapted for such a warm climate. Agrass, which is the pure juice of the grape, costing twenty-five cents a glass, is a drink of the wealthy. This list contrasts favorably with our formidable catalogue of brandy smashes, cocktails, punches, etc., which the Spaniards regard with horror, and never use except when Americans drink with them.

I once asked an old Cuban why he did not have his son taught to speak English. He very significantly shook his head, and replied that as soon as a Spaniard learned English he began to drink cognac and soon became worthless.

A SPECULATION IN MINT JULEPS.

AFTER the introduction of ice from Boston into Havana an enterprising Yankee named Welsh conceived the idea of making a large fortune by introducing a new drink into Cuba-nothing less than the fragrant mint julep. The idea seemed plausible, and success was assured if the dons could be brought to appreciate it. Desiring to have the good thing all to himself, Welsh bought from the captain-general a monopoly of manufacturing it throughout Cuba. Just think of it! the sole right to make iced mint juleps for the whole of Cuba! The monopolist had already a vision of an outpouring of doubloons from the horn of fortune.

The usual form was gone through of fitting up an elegant saloon and advertising an opening on a certain day, when iced mint juleps would be served for the first time in Havana. The first day curiosity brought crowds. The dons drank, contracted their brows, held their breaths, paid their money, and departed without a word. About four hundred juleps went down Spanish throats; but the next day the sales dropped to fifty, and the next there were still fewer, until finally the saloon of the newcomer was passed by for the old cafés. If you asked a don how he liked the mint julep, he shrugged his shoulders, and replied that it was too irritating. Welsh's visions of gold vanished into thin air, leaving him with a very real load of debt, of which he relieved himself by escaping to the United States.

A FIGURE OF SPEECH.

THE stranger is bewildered by the boundless generosity of the Spanish and their profuse offers of favor or service. If you admire a diamond ring or a costly pin worn by a Spaniard, or even look often at it, it is unhesitatingly offered you, and its acceptance is urged. When a visit is paid, part of the salutation is to place everything at the disposal of the visitor; nothing is too costly or dear to be excepted from the offer. But bear in mind that all this is empty compliment and formal ceremony, as no breach of good manners could be greater than to accept the proffer, and no one would be more astounded at such an act than the ceremonious Spaniard. I recall an amusing incident illustrating the truth of my statement. An American who had only recently arrived in Cuba, and knew little of the Spanish language or customs, was the guest of a wealthy planter. When the latter happened to display a costly watch, and the American expressed his great admiration of it, the polite Spaniard instantly begged him in such a pressing and apparently sincere manner to accept it that the American rather reluctantly did so, and put it in his pocket with many expressions of thanks. The astonished and chagrined don was fairly outdone, but could say nothing, and indicated his surprise only by an altered manner. A day or two after, the donor met a neighboring American planter, and narrated the occurrence to him with great warmth and in terms by no means flattering to his countryman. The American assured the indignant Spaniard that the visitor had accepted the watch only through his ignorance of the manners of the country, and that it should be returned. Soon after this, meeting his countryman, he inquired the time. The Spaniard's splendid watch was exhibited, and, to display his knowledge of the language, the possessor placed it at his disposicion. It was promptly accepted, and the other could say nothing, as he had acquired it in the same manner. When the American planter again met his Spanish friend, he returned him his watch, and narrated the manner in which he had recovered it, to the great amusement of the don; but cautioned him in the future to be less lavish in his offers to our matter-of-fact people.

The proper thing for a guest when a nobleman offers his palace is to protest that he is too humble to occupy such a sumptuous residence, and that it is suitable only for one

as distinguished as the owner. At table the Cuban gentleman will offer you his glass of sugar and water, or any dainty that he may have on his plate, and your reply should be: "May you have a good appetite for it, señor." Such things are mere formal salutations among well-bred people, and are intended only as indicative of friendship, although, unhappily, occasionally misunderstood, and some scenes occur in consequence. Notwithstanding this formality, the Spaniards are truly a very kind and hospitable people, and the stranger may be certain of meeting with true friends wherever he may go in this country.

FAMILY CUSTOMS.

IN my rambles through the island I made it a rule, whenever I entered a town or new partido, to call on the alcalde, or captain, of the partido, and through this important official I would be introduced to the leading men of the country or place, and frequently invited to visit them at their homes. If opportunity offered, I would paint the miniatures of themselves or some member of their family, which would act as an announcement of my profession and procure me patronage. No people are more cheerful in their homes, and the Spanish father and husband is proverbial for his kindness and agreeable demeanor toward his family. The young women of the wealthier classes never wear the same dress twice, but after it is once worn it is given to the housemaids, so that, with the exception of the jewels, these servants are as finely dressed as their mistresses. This fact renders costly jewels the principal feature in the toilet of a Spanish beauty. The young women in humbler circumstances usually wear,white dresses which can be washed. Much of the time of the young people of both classes is spent in cut

ting out and making new dresses, or satin shoes upon which a thin sole of leather is stitched. These housewifely occupations. are more necessary as these demoiselles rarely read, but depend upon evening games, dances, or music for their recreation.

The slaves reared in the house with the planter's own children as nurses or maids are much attached to their owners, and the family is to them; indeed, the relation is as loyal on the part of the slaves and as kind on that of the family as I have found it under similar circumstances in South Carolina.

A NEGRO FESTIVAL.

NEGROES have amusements peculiar to themselves, which they greatly enjoy. The feast of "All Kings' day," the 12th of January, is a holiday as peculiarly devoted to their festivities as Christmas with us is a time of unrestrained jollity. The negroes of many African tribes mingle in a grotesque saturnalia, marked by the utmost extravagance of costume, representing every wild device of bird, beast, or devil of which the barbarous imagination can conceive, accompanied by the most frantic cries and gestures. Thus are brought out in bold relief the wild spirit and savage customs of the Africans. The more subdued and civilized housemaids, loaded up with the utmost finery that their young mistresses place on them, will at first reject with disdain the proffered gallantries of their strapping and gaudy admirers; but their native character gradually asserts itself despite their prudery and veneer of civilization, and by night they may be seen mingling in the savage dance, as bold and barbaric as the wildest, making the most hideous of grimaces, their finery reeking with dust and perspiration, and they themselves half dead from excitement and exertion.

End

TOPICS OF THE TIME

"Loose, Disunited, and Unrelated."

N his article in THE CENTURY for September Mr. Whitelaw Reid, since appointed a member of the Peace Commission, earnestly called attention to the evils of admitting our tropical annexations into full statehood. The following is Mr. Reid's emphatic language:

The chief aversion to the vast accessions of territory with which we are threatened springs from the fear that ultimately they must be admitted into the Union as States. No public duty is more urgent at this moment than to resist from the very outset the concession of such a possibility. In no circumstances likely to exist within a century should they be admitted as a State of the Union. The loose, disunited, and unrelated federation of independent States to which this would inevitably lead, stretching from the Indian Archipelago to the Caribbean Sea, embracing all climes, all religions, all races, -black, yellow, white, and their mixtures, -all conditions, from pagan ignorance and the verge of cannibalism to the best product of centuries of civilization, education, and self-government, all with equal rights in our Senate and representation according to population in our House, with an equal voice in shaping our national destinies that would, at least in this stage of the world, be humanitarianism run mad, a degeneration and deg radation of the homogeneous continental Republic of our pride too preposterous for the contemplation of serious and intelligent men. Quite as well might Great Britain now invite the swarming millions of India to send rajahs and members of Parliament, in proportion to population, to swamp the Lords and Commons and rule the English people. If it had been supposed that even Hawaii, with its overwhelming preponderance of Kanakas and Asiatics, would become a State, it could not have been annexed. If the territories we are conquering must become States, we might better renounce them at once and place them under the protectorate of some humane and friendly European power with less nonsense in its blood. This is not to deny them the freest and most liberal institutions they are capable of sustaining.

As serious as are the problems now upon us in connection with the accessions to national territory already made in Atlantic and Asiatic waters, this is as nothing to the difficulties which may be feared if Porto Rico, Hawaii, and other islands of the tropics should ever be brought into the Union as sovereign States. The troubles connected with questions of race and religion, especially the former, are disturbing enough in some of our home communities. Even as we write, a race war in one of the States of the Middle West is counting its dead and wounded by the dozen. But add to ineradicable race tendencies the permanent element inherent in the effect of a tropical climate upon the character and disposition of the people, and the difficulty of securing a homogeneous self-governing citizenship in these islands of the

sea is a hundredfold enhanced-a citizenship which should be reasonably homogeneous with that of the continental States, and to which these States would willingly accord a constant hand in the home government-a voice in the selection of presidents and in the making of national laws. Imagine a hotly contested Presidential election in the United States, and the balance of power held in Porto Rico or in Hawaii! Could our national compact stand many strains of this nature? But the optimist will say: "Why is such a midsummer madness as statehood for our new territorial acquisitions given a moment's consideration? Whoever suggests that our people will be so foolish is unpatriotic-the unprofitable concocter of political bugaboos."

Yet when certain official emissaries of the American government-the very first sent out by us-actually hold up to the people of these islands in reported utterances the hope of ultimate statehood, the time has come for _serious apprehension and strenuous protest. If ever this country shall drop to pieces by its own weight it will be on account of the consummation of schemes like this. We all know how easy it has been for a majority party to increase its margin in the United States Senate by the unwarranted creation of new States. Sooner or later the pressure will come to thrust one or more of these islands into the partizan circle. It must be resisted by the effectual barrier of enlightened public opinion.

Sidneys of Our Day.

No fact connected with the recent war is more striking than the uniform testimony as to the heroic patience and knightly courtesy of the sick or wounded American soldiers. The accounts by eye-witnesses of the Santiago campaign differ in many particulars, but all agree in this. The stories of the Sir Philip Sidney stamp are told alike of our regulars and volunteers, and of soldiers from all parts of the country.

If these stories have to do more with the army than with the navy it is only because there were fewer casualties in the navy. In the present number of THE CENTURY, Captain Sigsbee, in referring to the wounded at the time of the blowing up of his vessel, says that "the patient way in which they bore themselves left no doubt that they added new honors to the service when the Maine went down." That was a scene that would have gone well into Stevenson's chronicle of gentlemanliness, where the dying sailor in the Spanish hospital, instead of deploring his own fate, actually offered condolence to the captain for his "bad luck" in losing his ship.

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