S4 
GEOGRAPHIC LITERA PURE 
in industrial pursuits, and earn about 50 cents (gold) per day. Eaihvay 
and skilled laborers earn from 75 cents to $1 per day. They wear the 
same clothing, chiefly cotton and linen, during the entire year ; sandals 
of the ancient Egyptian pattern.are worn instead of shoes. Trade unions 
do not exist and cooperative action is infrecjnent, except in cases of for- 
eign intervention, concerning which they are extremely sensitive. 
On the plantations, where it is necessary to be exposed to excessive 
tropical heat under the direct ravs of the sun, no laborers have withstood 
it as have the native Indians. In past times unsuccessful colonies were 
formed by Europeans; later, Chinese were contracted for to work on the 
hemj) plantations. They were not altogether satisfactory, as they are 
physically unable to complete the daily task allotted to the native labor- 
ers — that is, to cut a certain number of leaves of hemp (sisal) for a stipu- 
lated price. The daily task is two or three thousand leaves, at the rate 
of 16 cents (gold) per thousand. On this largely depends the pecuniary 
success of the planter ; not that his margin of profit is so limited in what 
it actually costs to produce this fiber, but there is the enormous outlay 
for the preparation of the lands and for the planting ; the necessary delay 
of four or five years before the plant is large enough to cut; the insta- 
bility of the market, which is ever fluctuating ; the onerous export duties, 
state and fetleral ; the large personnel of the plantations— mechanics, 
overseei's, and servants— who, independent of their wages, are advanced 
provisions and clothing and furnished medicine and medical attendance 
Ijy the proprietor. There is now a great scarcity of laborei's, and with the 
new applications of the sisal fiber and its conseciuent increasing demand 
it is becoming a serious question how to meet prospective emergencies. 
A project is on foot to subdue and domesticate the 5Iaya Indians, va- 
riously estimateil at from 10,000 to 20,000 in number, who have from time 
immemorial held invincible sway over the southeastern part of Yucatan. 
It is hoi>ed to augment from them the number of farm hands ; but even 
in the event of accomplishing the subjugation of this semibarbarous race, 
it is exceedingly doubtful if the ]we.sent generation can be utilized, so re- 
fractory are they to civilized pursuits and so indolent and thriftless. Their 
trading-posts are on the boumlary lines of British Honduras. At times 
their chiefs visit Belize to purchase cloth, replenish their ammunition, 
and renew their contracts with the timber merchants, who pay them so 
much per ton for the privilege of cutting wood in their territory. They 
are friendly with the British and never interfere with negro cutters sent 
from Belize, but a 5Iexican or a native of Yucatan dares not encroach 
upon their lands. As this part of Yucatan is more healthful and its soil 
better adapted to the cultivation of fruits, sugar cane, and grains, it is not 
improbable that after the pacification of the 5Iayas the government will 
offer inducements to foreigners seeking homes in the tropics. The geo- 
graphical and the topographical situation of this part of the peninsula 
w< 4 uld indicate that it is essentially a horticultural district. Down by the 
Caribbean sea it is easily accessible to shipping, and its products would 
find a market. It lies in the path of vessels that now ply between the 
southern ports of the United States and ports of British and Spanish Hon- 
duras. This would also be the route for vessels to and from Nicaragua in 
