Adventures of a Young Naturalist
as mine. Perhaps in about ten years' time you may enjoy that privilege;
but, in the mean time, walk naturally--without either effort or hurry.
One, two, three!--now you are perfect. Keep on without noticing me; you
can't walk at my pace, so I must take to yours."
As our journey was to extend to the distance of three hundred leagues,
it was quite requisite that the boy should accustom himself to a regular
step. After several attempts this was accomplished, and all progressed
together.
We now directed our course towards the heights. Our intention was to
make our way into the Cordillera, and, passing round the volcano of
Orizava, to descend into the savannahs beyond, slanting off to the left
so as ultimately to reach the sea. Then we thought of traversing the
prairies and forests of the Terre-Chaude, so as again to come to our
starting-point through the mountains of Songolica. This circuit would
represent a journey of a hundred and fifty leagues as the crow flies, or
at least three hundred leagues, reckoning all the circuits and bends we
should be obliged to make. During this long expedition, we had made up
our minds to seek, when opportunity offered, the hospitality of any
Indian villages that might come in our road, and only when absolutely
necessary to camp in the open air.
About eleven, the heat became overpowering, and Lucien began to inquire
about breakfast. We were just then passing through a plantation, I might
almost say a forest of sugar-canes. The stems of the plants were either
of a yellowish hue or veined with blue, and were more than six feet
high. The latter kind will ultimately supersede its rival; for the
cultivators assert that, although not so large, it affords a much more
certain crop. L'Encuerado, seizing his _machete_ (a straight and a short
cutlass, indispensable to the inhabitants of the Terre-Chaude), cut down
a magnificent stem, and, peeling it, offered each of us a piece. The
sugar-cane is extremely hard, and it is necessary to cut it up in order
to break the cellules in which the sweet juice is contained. My
companions set to work to chew the pith of the valuable plant; and even
Gringalet seemed to be just as fond of it as they were.
Not far from the cane-field, some Indians were working on a new
plantation. The ground was covered with ashes. The foreman explained to
us that when the canes are cut down, the first thing is to pull off the
long leaves, which are left on the ground. In eight days this rubbish is
dried by the tropical sun; they then set them on fire, and the ashes
which result serve as manure. Five or six Aztecs were cultivating this
apparently sterile ground by means of a primitive kind of plough, made
of a mere stake attached to circular discs of wood forming spokeless
wheels; it was drawn by two oxen yoked together.
Sumichrast took Lucien by the hand.
"In future," said he, "when you crunch a lump of sugar, you shall know
something of the manufacture of what you are eating. The sugar-cane is
called, in Latin, _Saccharum officinale_, that is, 'druggist's sugar,'
because the product of this plant was so rare that it was sold only at
the druggists' shops. The plant itself is said to be a native of India,
and is, as you see, a tuft of vegetation, from which spring six to
twenty tall stalks, with joints varying, both in number and in distance,
from each other. The most esteemed variety, the Tahiti cane, is striped
with violet. The specimen you are looking at is one of the most
remarkable as regards size, for it must be nearly thirteen feet high."
"It is like a stalk of maize," said the boy.
"That's true, except that maize has only one stem. Look, there's an
Indian about to cut down the very plant I was showing you; he has
severed it through obliquely at a single blow, as near the ground as
possible. Now he is stripping off the leaves, and with another blow of
his weapon lops away the green top, which is used for fodder. Next, he
cuts it in lengths, taking care to sever it between the knots, as they
are required for planting new ground."
"Planting!" repeated Lucien; "the knots are not seed?"
"No, Master 'Sunbeam;' the seed of the sugar-cane comes to maturity too
slowly. It takes four years to produce a plant from it which is
profitable. Now, as young fellows of your kind are rather numerous, and
consume a good many preserves and sugar-plums, it is highly necessary to
devise some rapid method of supplying the sugar you devour. This method
has been found out. Each of these pieces of cane will be stuck into the
earth, and the knot, from which in the open air the leaves spring, will
send down roots into the soil. Small as it is, it will grow vigorously;
and in a year, or eighteen months at most, it will have produced a dozen
stalks quite as fine as the one you have been looking at."
During this long explanation l'Encuerado, who, on account of his load,
disliked standing still, had kept moving, so we had to increase our pace
to catch him up. As we were passing on, Lucien saw the Indian planting
the very pieces of cane he had just observed cut up. Ere long we came
upon a fresh plantation, in which the tender shoots, almost like grass,
appeared over the ground. Sumichrast dug a little hole round one of the
plants, and showed to his wondering pupil that the fragment of the stem
was already provided with small rootlets.
Suddenly, at the turn of a path, I was saluted by a man on horseback.
It was the steward of the estate that we were crossing.
"Hallo! Don Luciano, where are you off to with all that train?" cried
the new-comer.
"To visit the forest of the Cordillera," I replied.
"May you travel safely! but is the young gentleman going with you?"
"Yes, to be sure. Good-bye, Antonio, till we meet again!"
"Till we meet again? By my word, you shall not say that just yet. The
goodwife has some eggs and fried beans ready for breakfast; and I ought
to have some bottles of Spanish wine, in which we'll drink to your
pleasant journey, unless you're too proud to accept the hospitality of a
poor man."
Being very hungry, with pleasure we accepted this cordial invitation.
The steward further insisted upon taking our little traveller up in
front of him. The child was only too pleased.
"Oh dear!" said Sumichrast; "why, it's spoiling the boy at the outset."
"It will be half a league the less for his poor legs," said Antonio;
and, spurring his horse, he galloped off with Lucien to get our
breakfast ready.
Gringalet was in consternation at his young master's departure. Raising
his intelligent face, he seemed as if he wished to question us, and
pricked up his ears as if to listen to the sound of the horse's feet
dying away in the distance. At last he raised a plaintive howl, and
started off in pursuit.
Surprised at not seeing l'Encuerado, I turned back, fancying he had
remained behind. I was expecting to see him appear, when Sumichrast
burst out laughing. At a turn of the road he had caught a sight of the
horseman, with the dog on one side and the Indian on the other, who, in
spite of his load, kept up without difficulty.
This feat on the part of my servant did not much surprise me, for I do
not think that in the whole world there are any more indefatigable
runners than the Mistec Indians.
At twelve o'clock, just as the bell was calling home the laborers, I
entered the courtyard of the sugar-mill, where I caught sight of my
youngster sitting on the ground, with his dog at his feet, looking with
rapture at some ducks that were enjoying themselves in a muddy pool.
CHAPTER II.
SUGAR.--GRINGALET IN THE MOLASSES TANK.--L'ENCUERADO'S OBSTINATE
IDEA.--AN INDIAN SUPPER.
The breakfast was a cheerful one, thanks to the Spanish wine spoken of
by our host. The Indian laborers, with their wives and children,
assembled in inquisitive groups round the windows of the dwelling.
Lucien certainly carried the day, for he it was that they chiefly sought
to see. As for Gringalet, he was much less cordially received by his
brother-dogs belonging to the place; consequently, he scarcely left his
young master's side, and showed his teeth incessantly.
Sumichrast wishing, before we set out again, to explain to his pupil how
sugar was made, took him to the mill, situated in a wide rotunda. Here
two upright wooden cylinders, fitting close to one another, revolved on
a pivot, set in action by means of two oxen yoked together, crushing the
canes which an Aztec[C] was introducing between them. The machine
groaned, and seemed almost ready to fall to pieces under the impetus of
the powerful animals, which were urged on both by voice and gesture.
Lucien remarked that the canes were cut in lengths of about a yard, and
bevelled off at the ends, so as to be more readily caught between the
two cylinders. After having been subjected to this heavy pressure, they
came out squeezed almost dry, and the sweet juice, or _sirup_, flowed
down into a large trough hollowed out of the trunk of a tree.
As soon as this receptacle was full of juice, an enormous valve was
opened, and the turbid, muddy-looking liquid flowed along a trench, and
emptied into a brick reservoir. On its way it passed through the meshes
of a coarse bag, and was thus roughly filtered; it was then conveyed
into immense coppers placed over a hot furnace. The fragments of crushed
cane, having been rapidly dried in the sun, were used to feed the fire
which boiled the juice so lately squeezed out of them.
Near the aloe-fibre filtering-bag, in front of which the morsels of cane
and rubbish constantly accumulated, stood a little boy about twelve
years old, whose duty it was to keep the passage clear. Lucien pulled my
coat, to call my attention to the fact that the lad had only one arm.
"How did you lose your left arm, pobricito?" I asked.
"Between the crushers, senor."
"Was it your own fault?"
"Alas! yes. My father looked after the machine, and I helped him to
drive the oxen; and he had forbidden my going near the cylinders. One
day he went away for a few minutes, and I tried to put a piece of cane
between the rollers; but my finger caught, and my arm was drawn in and
crushed."
"It was a terrible punishment for your disobedience," I said.
"More terrible than you think, senor. My father died six months ago, and
I have several little brothers. If I had both my arms, I could earn a
quarter of a piastre a day, and also help my mother."
"How much do they give you for watching this filtering-bag from morning
till night?"
"Only a medio,"[D] he answered.
I looked hard at Lucien, who threw himself into my arms.
"Oh! I will always obey you," he cried, with emotion; "but do allow me
to give all the money in my purse to this little boy."
"Give him a piastre, my boy; we shall meet with others in want, and you
must reserve something for them."
"Oh! young gentleman," said the poor mutilated lad, looking with wonder
at the coin which represented sixteen days' work, "we will all pray for
you!"
And he hurried to clear out the bag, which was already too full.
The process adopted in the sugar-mill we speak of was of most primitive
simplicity. The European manufacturers employ iron cylinders turned by
steam or water power; also lift and force pumps, which quickly convey
the sap into the basins in which it is to be clarified by fermentation.
But for comprehending easily all the operations required in the
extraction of sugar, Antonio's _hacienda_, in which every thing was done
before our eyes, was much preferable to any of the modern mills provided
with all kinds of improved apparatus.
When our young traveller saw the thick, muddy, and turbid liquid, which
was being stirred up by a gigantic "agitator," he could hardly believe