33
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) CUBAN COOLIE LABOR CONTRACT.
Digo Yo, Zheng [I state that I Zheng].
Long folio sheet, printed document, in
Spanish on one side and Chinese on the other, accomplished by hand; an 8 year contract of
indenture as a laborer; signed by the Spanish agent, De Castro and Zheng himself, age 28,
with his signature or “chop.”
Tientsin, China, July 28, 1855
[600/800]
An early, very large and complex labor contract, under the new 1854 Spanish laws regulating
Chinese workers, or “colonists” as they were euphemistically called. Between 1847 and 1862,
600,000 Chinese yearly were shipped (mainly on American vessels) to Cuba alone - with a
loss of 13 to 15% on the 9000 mile “Pacific Passage.” Most worked for 4 pesos a month with
as much as half or more of that subtracted for housing etc. Coolies were often re-named, as in
this case, Zheng became “Jacinto.”
34
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(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION—CUBA.) BARNARD, GEORGE, PHOTOG-
RAPHER.
Six Stereopticon Views of slaves in Cuba, circa 1860.
Classic albumen
photo “stereo cards” on yellow mounts, with descriptive captions on the reverse.
SHOULD
BE SEEN
.
New York: E & H.T. Anthony & Co, circa 1860
[1,000/1,500]
A series of “Vistas Cubanas” or Cuban Views taken by George Barnard in 1860. The sub-
ject of these views was the activities of the slaves on the sugar plantations on the island of
Cuba, a Spanish colony at the time. This group comprises some of the most significant views
taken by Barnard: No 116, Interior of a Spanish Kitchen, 119 Plantation Scene, 168
Plantation View, 174 the Cooper’s Shop, 176 Plantation View in a Sugar Mill, the Fire
Hole, 178 Interior of a Sugar House, Negroes making sugar.
34 (Detail)
