Henequen — The Yucatan Fiber 



with the plant. A quantity of fiber was 

 rudely cleaned by native instruments, 

 and, packed in loose bales of about 200 

 pounds each, was sent to New York. 

 It found a market, but the price was 

 such that there was but scant gain for 

 the seller. The methods of cleaning the 

 fiber were so slow that even with the 

 small wages of the day, the cost per 

 pound to the planter was discouraging. 

 The state government, recognizing the 

 great need. of a suitable machine to clean 

 the fiber, offered a gratuity of $10,000 

 Mexican to the person inventing an ap- 

 paratus capable of producing a stated 

 output per hour. This finally resulted 

 in the ' ' raspador, ' ' the device of a Fran- 

 ciscan friar, which was used for many 

 years. 



The raspador marked a new era for 

 the commerce of Yucatan. With the 

 aid of this machine, two men could clean 

 in one day more than forty could with 

 the tonkas and pacche. Its use became 

 extended, and henequen farms began 

 to multiply and become prosperous. 

 Today, half a dozen machines are in the 

 market, some of them marvels of design 

 and potency. 



The natives of the interior, however, 

 still use the ancient, triangular, sharp- 

 edged piece of wood called the pacche. 

 An able-bodied person can clean with 

 the instrument from 6 to 9 pounds of 

 fiber a day. The fiber obtained thus 

 possesses qualities which that cleaned 

 by machines does not have. In the 

 hammock-making districts of Yucatan 





From a photograph by E- H. Thompson 



A Wild Variety of Agave Found in the Deep Forests of Yucatan 



