der special inducements, but they were free to go after one week. Payment was made directly to the man at the end of each week—by the piece system or at one dollar Mexican per week, if employed on that basis.
The day's work bore a strong contrast to that in industrial communities. The men were rousted out between six and seven in the morning, they came to a central house where they received a drink of sugar cane rum "forty drinks to the liter and so strong you could burn it in a lamp." Each man got all the beans he could eat, half of a large corn cake, and a ball of boiled hominy, which latter he took to the fields with him for his three lunches at nine, twelve, and four o'clock. At noon there was a two-hour rest. Work was, as a rule, by the tarea system. There were frequent interruptions. Though they were paid by the piece, the men had to be followed up constantly or they would loaf and play. On the average the work day was about nine hours. Returning at night each man received another drink of rum, all the beans he could eat, and the other half of his corn cake.
Along with these Indian laborers there were often employed in Chiapas another group, generally with some mixture of Spanish blood, who worked under contracts more nearly approaching the peonage system as usually reported. The man who wished to become a peon came to the employer and asked for a loan under the usual employment contract. This was given. Then, if the relation was newly established and the man was without family, he disappeared for an agreed period. This time passed and the money gone he reappeared,
