CUBA COOLIE LABOR Partially printed document accomplished by

Sale 2377 - Lot 43

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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

CUBA. COOLIE LABOR. Partially printed document, accomplished by hand: "I Jun Wong, a native of Chin Chaw (?), China, 17 years of age." Single folio leaf, printed on one side, filled in and signed with a '0' and witnessed in Spanish and Chinese on both sides. The blue paper is watermarked with an image of the seated Queen Isabella. Swatow, 1 July, 1856

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a very early coolie labor contract, number 132. From 1847 to 1874 approximately 125,000 Chinese laborers were imported into Cuba. The end of African slavery in 1834 created a new and very profitable business, once again dominated by the British and the Portuguese. The former ran the actual business, while the Portuguese with their colony in Macao supplied the bodies. One can only imagine the survival rate for the 'Middle-Passage" from China to Cuba, some 9000 miles. The distance from the coast of West Africa to Cuba is roughly half that. This Chinese 'colonist' was advanced 8 pesos, against his monthly salary of that sum, to be subtracted one peso a month. He was also guaranteed three changes of clothes for an additional 4 pesos, leaving him in debt of 12 pesos. He was guaranteed a daily food allotment of 8 ounces of salt pork, 2-1/2 pounds of yams, and other 'healthy food.'