BUENAVENTURA TO CALI 15 



fertile and attractive part of the valley. The ranch-house, 

 occupying a site in the centre, is a rambling two-story build- 

 ing of generous proportions and attractive appearance. 

 The gardens, surrounding it with a riot of color, give it a 

 quaint, old-fashioned charm; there has been no studied 

 effect, no precision in the arrangement of plants or flowers; 

 oleanders, roses, hibiscus, geraniums, and hollyhocks grow 

 in matted profusion. Clumps of magnolias, chinaberries 

 and oranges conceal the high stone fence. Immediately 

 without the wall surrounding the house is the peon village 

 consisting of some fifty-odd houses of uniform size and ap- 

 pearance, and the sugar-factory. The peons are of Spanish, 

 Indian, and negro blood, or of a mixture of any two or all 

 three, and require constant supervision to secure the best 

 results. 



All the land is under cultivation, mostly in cane, for the 

 production of which it is well suited. The soil is a rich al- 

 luvial loam. Some of the cane-fields at La Manuelita had 

 not been replanted in ninety years; others on the estate of 

 William Barne3 r , former United States consul in Cali, had 

 been producing one hundred and twenty years, and were still 

 yielding eighty tons or more of cane to the acre. It was 

 said, and all indications substantiate the report, that the 

 entire region was at one time covered by a great lake ! This 

 accounts for the continued productiveness of the soil. 



Cane grows to a height of fifteen feet, there being a dozen 

 or more stalks to each hill. It requires eight to ten months 

 to mature. The fields are divided into sections and cut at 

 different intervals so as to provide a succession of ripe cane 

 for the mill, and furnish steady employment for the several 

 hundred peons. 



The factory is modern in nearly every respect; its ca- 

 pacity is from five to eight tons of sugar daily, of good 

 quality. It required a number of years to bring the heavy 

 machinery over the mountains from Buenaventura. The 

 more cumbersome pieces were slowly drawn up the steep 

 slopes with the aid of block and tackle and oxen; the ap- 



