Bayamo

“ Santiago. He and those that remained, having bought horses, set out on their journey, and at the end of twenty-five leagues came to Báyamo, the first town. They were lodged, as they arrived, in parties of four and six, where their food was given to them; and nothing was paid for any other thing than maize for the beasts; because the Governor at each town assessed tax on the tribute paid, and the labor done, by the Indians.
A deep river runs near Báyamo, larger than the Guadiana, called Tanto. The monstrous alligators do harm in it sometimes to the Indians and animals in the crossing. ”

“ Terror-stricken,{274} the inhabitants fled to neighboring towns or hid in the country. The city faced gradual depopulation. Even the Bishop D. Friu Juan de las Cabezas and some of the government officials withdrew to Bayamo, which, for a time at least, offered safety.
But in the year 1604 even the roads in the vicinity of Bayamo were no longer safe for travelers. When the bishop was on a tour of visitation in the neighborhood, in company with the canons Francisco Pueblo and Diego Sanchez, a horde of pirates under the leadership of the notorious Giron surprised him at the stock farm of Yara. ”

“ The Spaniards declare that a force of ten thousand men is necessary to take provisions to Bayamo in safety.
But it is not alone the importance of their victory which pleases the Cubans in the capture of Las Tunas. Their great cause for rejoicing is that at this battle the Spaniards for the first time accorded them the rights of belligerents. That is to say, the Spaniards treated them as soldiers engaged in legitimate warfare, not as brigands and bandits.
The Spanish commander himself requested that the Cubans should consent to an exchange of prisoners. ”

“ About twelve miles from the city, westward, is the town of Santiago del Prade, near which the rich copper mines, before mentioned, are situated, giving employment in one way or another, to nearly all of its two thousand inhabitants.
Bayamo, or St. Salvador,—sixty miles west of Santiago, numbers nearly ten thousand souls. Manzanilla, thirty miles south from this, has three thousand.
Trinidad de Cuba, two hundred miles further west, and about two hundred and fifty from Havana, has a population of thirteen thousand, of whom six thousand are whites, and four thousand five hundred, free colored. ”

“ The region between Manzanillo and Bayamo contains soil as rich as any to be found in Cuba, and there is no doubt but that the construction of a railroad would be followed by a thorough development of the section through which it would pass.{274}
The Nipe Bay district is the seat of the greatest progress being made to-day in Cuba, a progress typical of the development that has in different parts of the Island followed the introduction of American capital and the application of American business methods. The Bay itself is equalled by few in the world. ”

“ When the Indians of the province of Mayci were reduced under subjection, Velasquez distributed them among the Spaniards as had formerly been done in Hispaniola by Obando, taking the inhabitants of five Indian towns to himself. He likewise founded a town at a harbour on the north side of the island, called Barracoa by the natives, which was the first Spanish colony in this island. From this place Velasquez sent Narvaez with thirty men to reduce the province of Bayamo, about 50 leagues from Barracoa, a fine open country, very fertile and agreeable. ”

“ So strong were the insurgents becoming in that province that they began to exercise the functions of civil government, in the carrying of mails and the collection of taxes. Beside Henry Brooks and Perico Perez, under whom were the largest forces, Bartolome Maso, who had returned from Havana, held Manzanillo with a thousand troops, Jesus Rabi occupied Baire and Jiguani with 1,500, and Quintin Banderas, Amador Guerra and Esteban Tomayo had among them 2,000 more. After his repulse at Guantanamo the Spanish Colonel Santocildes went to Bayamo, where he was attacked and routed with heavy loss. ”

“ A bayou runs irregularly across this low land, the bottom of which, however, is above the surface of the Big Black at ordinary stages. When the river is full water runs through it, converting the point of land into an island. The bayou was grown up with timber, which the enemy had felled into the ditch. At this time there was a foot or two of water in it. The rebels had constructed a parapet along the inner bank of this bayou by using cotton bales from the plantation close by and throwing dirt over them. The whole was thoroughly commanded from the height west of the river. ”

“ Island of Ybabao. Southeast of the island of Baybay, lies the island of Ybabao, or as it is also called, the island of Candaya [also Tandaya] . It is about one hundred and ten leagues in circumference. No one has yet gone through the land, and therefore its width is not known. They say that its population is as large as that of the island of Baybay, and that it is a fertile and well-provisioned island. The people seen by the Spaniards will number about five thousand Indians, who are scattered through the following villages:
The village of Daguisan. ”

“ Then entering Bezamo, a province of the kingdom of Damot, and Gamarchausa, part of Goiama, it returns within a short day’s journey of its spring; though to pursue it through all its mazes, and accompany it round the kingdom of Goiama, is a journey of twenty-nine days. So far, and a few days’ journey farther, this river confines itself to Abyssinia, and then passes into the bordering countries of Fazulo and Ombarca.
These vast regions we have little knowledge of: they are inhabited by nations entirely different from the Abyssins; their hair is like that of the other blacks, short and curled. ”

“ Bagamoyo also lies only a few miles to the south of the Rufu or Kingani estuary, and thus com- mands the entrance to a thickly peopled fluvial valley, which descends from the Usagara uplands, strategical centre of the whole country. Thanks to these favourable conditions, Bagamoyo has already become a large African town, with a population of as many as ten thousand during the season for engaging porters to join the caravans which are here equipped for the interior. Like Zanzibar and other Arab towns, it has its bazaar, and several of its buildings have been constructed in the European style. ”

“ Farther to the northwest from Çubú are Baybay, Bayugo, Abuyo, Cavalian, Tandaya, Bairciogama, and other islets, among these which I have mentioned. They are divided among the same citizens of Çubú. Very few of them have peaceable inhabitants. With them as with the others, it is best to bring about peace in these islands. Rice, cotton, great numbers of swine and fowls, wax, and honey are produced there in great abundance. There are many mines, as has been shown, and the natives say that they are well populated. There is gold in all of these islands ”

“ The Hazorta speak the same language, and their chief tribes are called Assa-karré and Assa-lessan; both of which are evidently derived from some connection with the salt-plain; "assa," in the Geez language, signifying "salt."
To the north of the Shiho, are found people called Mara, Boja and Manda: beyond these are the Juma-jum, the Taguié, and Beja-rubroo; and these last border on the tribes in the neighbourhood of Suakin. The inhabitants of Massowa are accustomed to make trading excursions among these different nations, and the Nayib keeps up a pretty regular intercourse with their chiefs. ”

“ These islands are the Bijougas, or Bissagos, the older 'Biziguiches,' inhabited by the most ferocious negroes on the coast, who massacred the Portuguese and who murder all castaways. They are said to shoot one another as Malays 'run amok,' and some of their tribal customs are peculiar to themselves.
Here, about 350 miles north of Sierra Leone, was established the unfortunate Bulama colony. Its first and last governor, the redoubtable Captain Philip Beaver, R.N., has left the queerest description of the place and its people. ”

“ They often wear the hair collected in a mass on the upper and back part of the head, while it is all shaven off the forehead and temples. The Babisa and Waiau or Ajawa heads have more of the round bullet-shape than those of the Manganja, indicating a marked difference in character; the former people being great traders and travellers, the latter being attached to home and agriculture. The Manganja usually intrust their ivory to the Babisa to be sold at the Coast, and complain that the returns made never come up to the high prices which they hear so much about before it is sent. ”

“ So Aioma, as he worked, saw Uta Matu and his warriors and the old canoe-builders, not as dead and gone figures, but as realities though beyond touch and hail of voice and sight of the eye of flesh.
Since the war, years ago, between the northern and southern tribes, a large proportion of the children born on the island had been boys, whilst most of the women had developed manly attributes in accordance with that natural law which rules in the remotest island as well as in the highest and broadest civilization. ”

“ They are a small tribe of that large family of “blacks” [437] known as Bechuanas, who, as a whole, are probably the most widely distributed and the most powerful of all the dark-colored nations in Southern Africa. The Batoana have not been long dwellers in the Lake regions; they came as conquerors under Lecholètébè’s father. Having dispossessed the aborigines, they reduced them to a state of slavery, giving them a name corresponding to their condition, viz., Bakoba or Makoba, that is, “serfs.” These people, however, style themselves Bayeye, or “Men;” ”

“ The Ajawa having been defeated and driven off while we were on the Lake, had sent word that they desired to live at peace with the English. Many of the Manganja had settled round Magomero, in order to be under the protection of the Bishop; and it was hoped that the slave-trade would soon cease in the highlands, and the people be left in the secure enjoyment of their industry. The Mission, it was also anticipated, might soon become, to a considerable degree, self-supporting, and raise certain kinds of food, like the Portuguese of Senna and Quillimane. ”

“ The bayou curved like a crescent around the point of land on which La Folle's cabin stood. Between the stream and the hut lay a big abandoned field, where cattle were pastured when the bayou supplied them with water enough. Through the woods that spread back into unknown regions the woman had drawn an imaginary line, and past this circle she never stepped. ”

“ About one o'clock they landed at a considerable large and spacious town, called Bajiebo, inhabited by Nouffie people, although, it is situated on the Yarriba, or western side of the river. For dirt, bustle, and nastiness of all kinds, this place exceeded anything they had ever seen before. For two hours after their arrival they were obliged to wait in a close diminutive hut, till a more convenient and becoming habitation could be procured for their reception, and the pleasure of the chief with regard to them should be known. ”

“ All Indian trains from the capital to the province pass through Baeza, where the trail divides; one branch passing on easterly to San José, and thence down through Abila and Loreto to Santa Rosa; the other leading to the Napo through Archidona. Here we rested one day, taking possession of one half of the larger hut—a mere stockade with a palm-leaf roof, without chairs, chimney, or fire-place, except any place on the floor. We swung our hammocks, while our Indians stretched themselves on the ground beneath us. The island of Juan Fernandez is not a more isolated spot than Baeza. ”

“ The cool mountain air from without and fear from within caused her to shiver a great deal. Day finally came; Marie rode on.
Following the Magat river she finally reached the city of Bayombong with a population of 20,000 people. Here she learned from the natives that Aguinaldo and a loyal remnant of his appointed congress had passed through the city ahead of her, en route northward.
At Bayombong she was advised to follow down the Magat river for twenty miles, then to bear to the northeast along the pathway made by Aguinaldo and his followers in their recent retreat. ”

“ Its water is excellent, and the whole land is quite fertile and healthful, and abounds in rice, swine, fowls, and palm-wine; and there is much hunting of buffaloes, deer, wild hogs, and birds. A great amount of wax, cotton, and gold is collected in this district, in which articles the natives pay their tribute. Two leagues opposite the bar of the river Taxo is the dense population of the Babuyanes Islands. One island is an encomienda under the control of his Majesty, and is said to contain one thousand men. ”

“ Upon the slopes of all the mountains and hills, and in the river beds, gold in abundance is found; and in the latter, fish of delicious flavour; only one is to be excepted, which from its source in the mountains to the sea is perpetually salt. This river is called Bahaun, and flows through Maguana, a district of the province of Bainoa. It is thought that this river passes through chalk and saline strata, of which there are many in the island, and of which I shall later speak more fully. ”

“ This form of face is very common in this country, and leads to the belief that the true type of the negro is not that met on the West Coast, from which most people have derived their ideas of the African.
Chinsamba had many Abisa or Babisa in his stockade, and it was chiefly by the help of their muskets that he had repulsed the Mazitu: these Babisa are great travellers and traders. ”