Show THE MEXICAN HAMMOCK how it la Is made an bixl attendant peculiar circumstances cincu ui snug pile of hammocks isn t icv it asked aked a down clon n town importer of a re i boiter pc pointing inting to a stack of bales on oil the sidewalk in ill front of his place O yes oyes rather what are they mexican spa grass asca sea nonsense hammocks are not made of scara magrass Mi L grass ra s any any moro more than floor matting is those are ao mexican hammocks liu but they are made from tl the I 1 0 fiber of tile plant a species of cactus that flourishes in ill the lie state of yura yuca tin tan all mexican cali hammocks wo arc mado made there and more hammocks aro are exported front from tharo than from any other place li hi the world how aro are they made asked the reporter they ire are made entirely by liand hand and with primitive implements continued the dealer with a couple of straight poles a home made shuttle a thin slab of native wood and a pilo pile of heni hen quen quell leaves the indian of yucatan is pre pared to accept contracts for hammocks by the piece dozen or hundred tile tho poles are arc placed a certain distance op apart art hc uc cording to the length of the hatra hammock mock to be made the thin slab of wood is 13 rapidly fashioned with the aid of a small 1 machette I into a konkas or stripper by the aid of this konkas the fiber of the thick fleshy heni quen leaf which is a species of cactus is denuded of its cover ing and a wisp of hatch kill or rasped liber fiber is the result I 1 the hatch kill is bleached in ill the sun run and then becomes these aie then separated into small heaps containing about the tame same number of fibers when the entire supply on hand is thus laid out the operator takes up tile fibers and with a dexterous roll full between the palm of the haild baud arid and tho the knee transforms them into heavy cords or kuns huns as the natives call them out of this cord the hammocks are made the cord is aund around the two poles which have been planted in the ground and the N oik aik is turned over to the women wor rien they with their wide shuttles accomplish uio the balance of the task in a I 1 remarkably kably rapid and thorough manner when W hen a pile has accumulated tile contractor comes around and gathers fathers them up UD alio th relations between the operator and contractor are very peculiar said the dealer and would exist nowhere else in in the ho world in order to get the hammocks necessary for ilia his trade the tha contractor inest often 1 kiy ay for them three months in in advance as it is only when the lia leatica tica owe money that the lie will consent toworu to work in order to get a chance to awo tins this money tile native will promise to furnish the contractor whom lie knows with a number of ba hammocks at a certain time if the contractor will advance him a sum af mon money ey an on this nooney the oil terp 1 native can live in idi idleness eness tor for several months the COD contractor tractor a agrees to tins if lie doean doesn t lie he can get no ham bain mocks but once the native lias has bound himself to supply the goods they will be forthcoming at the time stipulated should death his relatives perform the contra cc but this advance system is a sore drain on the contractor who is rarely a person of large capital iia he must of necessity accommodate the natives and lie needs outside help to do so this help he be obtains t ains in the te shape of ad ances from the merchants in merida to whom v boni he tin auina tuina ng over over the hammocks lie he secures at a considerable sid erable advance over the anio amount urit they have cost him these merida merchants in turn send tile goods to their newyork new york coric tho liani liam Mucks mocks are carefully sorted in merida before they are baled for ship ment to united states which abdor almost the entire production last las t year it amounted to nearly all the districts of yucatan produce a I 1 greater or lesser quantity of hammocks but the district is by far the largest producer sending bending out it is ii calculated every year year as many as the balance of the state stata amt put together the finest specimens of the hammock makers art however come collie from chemax cheman but few of these ever find their way to the united states they are arc so eagerly sought after at homo home that there is no lie necessity for sending t them away especially as good prices a aro realized on oil the ground hammock making in yucatan is evidently a very tery old art concluded the dealo while on a visit there somo some years ago I 1 found hammock hooks books and beams in neaily all the ruins of the grall franl I 1 prehistoric cities which lie buried in tile the forests foi ests of 01 their history anil and the history his story of the I 1 laces aces which i aich peopled tho the sea cities all trace lias has been lost but the interesting little flirtations which u aich originate and are aio callied on oil in tile the cozy retreat of the hammuck hammock of today I 1 doubt not had their pho many hundreds perhaps ands of years ago in the forests of yucatan for evidently cAi dently the yucatan ins of those daa da s ill all swung swung iu in hammocks now yolk evening avenill Ev enill sun sull |