BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

94 BARBAROUS MEXICO
times bananas or other tropical fruits, tobacco is the only
considerable product of the valley. The plantations are
usually large, there being only about thirty in the entire
district. Of this number twelve are owned by Balsa Hermanos
(Brothers), who operate a large cigar factory in
Veracruz and another in the city of Oaxaca.
After dinner we went for a stroll about town and for
a bodyguard the prcsidente assigned us a policeman, Juan
Hernandez. We proceeded to question the policeman.
"All the slaves are kept until they die—all," said
Hernandez. "And when they are dead the bosses do not
always take the trouble to bury them. They throw them
in the swamps where the alligators eat them. On the
plantation 'Hondura de Nanche' so many are given to the
alligators that an expression has arisen among the slaves:
'Throw me to The Hungry!' There is a terrible fear
among those slaves that they will be thrown to 'The
Hungry' before they are dead and while they are yet conscious,
as this has been done!"
Slaves who are worn out and good for nothing more,
declared the policeman, and yet who are strong enough
to cry out against being thrown to "The Hungry," are
turned out on the road without a cent, and in their rags
many of them crawl to the town to die. The Indians give
them some food and on the edge of the town there is an
old house in which the miserable creatures are permitted
to pass their last hours. This place is known as "The
House of Pity." We visited it with the policeman and
found an old woman lying on her face on the bare floor.
She did not move when we came in, nor when we spoke
to each other and finally to her, and for some time we
were not sure that she was alive. At last she groaned
feebly. It can be imagined how we felt, but we could do
nothing, so we tip-toed to the door and hurried away.