A CAUCASIAN SLAVE. Adventures of a Gorman in South America.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 213, 30 July 1887, Page 3

A CAUCASIAN SLAVE. Adventures of a Gorman in South America.

Among the passengers who arrived by the steamer San Jose last week fiom Guatemala was a former ic&ident of this city who, during the past year, has had a varied and trying cxpeiience in South America. Joseph Rumbach it> a denna n of about 'SO years of age. He i« a gardenet by trade, and has worked for some of the bes-t people in this city. About ton man Hitago he sailed fiom this city for (Villao in Peru, thinking to better hi* foituno. Like many other*?, he had an idea that &4vor and gold were plentiful in South Auieiiea, and that any intelligent foieigncr could make money faster theio than in this country. A few days in Callao and Lima, hpwever, soon disabused his mind of this idea, and he was glad to accept a place as gardener on the hacienda of a Air Orbegosa, seven day*' ride on mule back Into the interior of the country oAer the Cordillera mountains According lo his letter of instructions, which he has with him, he was to receive 2()dol. a month in silver, a hou&e in the yard of the hacienda house, bed and bedding and his meals. His duties were to be to look after and improve the flower and vegetable gardens attached to the house. When he arrived at the hacienda lie found that it was a barren coffee plantation, and that he was expected to woik with the Indian labourers in the cofiee fields. His house consisted of an adobe hut of one room with no windows, and nothing but a cot mattress and a pair of blankets in the way of furniture. He stuck to his work for about four week?, hoping his position might be improved, but finding no likelihood of a change he resohed to throw up the situation i and try to better himself. He went to the administrator, or manager, and told him that he wished to leave. To his. surprise ! he found that he would not be allowed to do so, but that he must remain and work ; whether lie liked it or not. Tiiib was on Wednesday. On the following Monday he j packed his clothing in a bag, strung it 1 across his shoulders, and staited to retiace on foot the weary journey across the mountains to the coa^t. On the e\ en ing of the second day, while sitting in the house of an Indian in a a illage, there came a knock at the door. It was thrown open and in rushed the administrator of the hacienda with seven men all armed with rifles, at hia back. Rumbach wat> seized and taken to the gaol, where he spent the next twentyfour houi-5. The gaol wa.s a clos?,hot place, without windows or any other mcaih ot ventilation. On the follow ing day he was taken back to the hacienda and forced to go to work again. He was told that he could not get away, and was urged to marry an Indian girl and settle down contentedly to work. About three weeks after his letmn he again told the administrator that he wished fco leave, and was again iefu&ed. That night a Spaniard, who was also a labourer on the plantation, came to him and ivarned him that if he did not comply with the wishes of the adminihtiator he would be put in chains and worked like the Indian*. Rumbach states that the administrator and his chief assistants were absolute master- of all the men on the plantation . They tried them for any infractions of the rule, and sentenced them to the chain gang under a boss who drove them at their work w ith a whip, which he did not scruple to use on the slightest provocation. For more serious offences both imprisonment and whipping were the punishments. T^ot relishing the outlook Rumbach resolved to make another attempt to escape from slavery. At 2 o'clock the next moming he climbed over the wall of the patio, and again started on a tramp to the coast. For six days and nights he tramped over the mountains, carefully avoiding the only "beaten road, for he was warned by some friendly Indians the first day of his journey that he w r as being pursued. He lived on such fruits and berries &> he could pick, and upon the occasional gifts of the Indians who guided and assisted him in his flight. On the .seventh day he reached the coast and made his way to Callao, and from there to Lima. He went to the German Minister and told his story. The Minister told him to go back to work. This Rumbach declined to do, but sought work in Lima. He linally secured a place under the municipal government in the public gardens at Idol, a 'day, out of which he had to pay for rooms and meals. In two months he had managed to save enough to pay ior a passage by steamer to Panama, where he worked tor six weeks and then sailed for Hondures. Another short stay here, with labour on a coffee plantation, gave him the funds to pay liis fare to San Jose de Guatemala, where he secured work in the gardens of the President Barrios, and, after that job was completed, on a coffee plantation owned by a Swiss gentleman. In three months he had enough to bring him back to San Francisco, where he arrived a few days ago, heartily sick of Spanish countries and glad to get back to a land where a foreigner has .some Tights which the natives respect. Peru, he says, is about the worst place in the world for a foreigner. He met there many Americans, Germans, French and English, who were striving to get away. Many of them were actually in a state of starvation. Since the war with Chile money has been scarce. All the work not done by the Indians is in the hands of the Chinese and Italians, who can live on wages which would simply mean slow starvation to anyone else. Rumbach says that there are actually more Chinese in Lima than native Peruvians. Nearly all the business is done by them, and many of them are married to white girls. The Chinese keep the stores, and charge exorbitant prices for everything, as the paper currency of the country is worth only 10 cents on the dollar, and prices are made in accordance with the value of the circulating medium, only in an inverse ratio. His advice to any man who has work of any kind in America is not to go

to Peru with the idea that he can better his position by doing so. In the other Central and South American States the condition of things is not so bad, but no one without capital has a fair chance to make a living.