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San Diego, Madringa and Guanabacao Native loadstone has been found in are the best known. The latter, a few the mountain Juaraqua, not far from miles from. Hayana, is the most fre- Santiago, and near the ports of Tanamo quented; the others being difficult of and Naranjo. Chalk is found in the access. Madruga, about 25 miles from Matanzas, is also much frequented. The temperature of the springs of San Diego is about 95° F. The water is clear and transparent, nauseating the stomach, and emitting sulphuretted hydrogen. These baths are found to be efficacious in cutaneous diseases, congestion of the lymphatic glands, scrofula, obstinate syphilis, amenorrhea, chronic diarrheas, strictures of the abdominal viscera, muscular contractions, etc.*

western part of the island. A beautiful variegated marble exists at Regla and Guanabacoa, and in other parts. Chalcedony has also been found at Guanabacoa, superior to that of Hecla. It has also been found in the eastern part of the island. Mines of alum and copperas were formerly worked in the Juragua mountains. Many varieties of the most beautiful and useful slates are found.

POPULATION. Notwithstanding that the early Spanish writers on Cuba are It is not at all improbable, that if the numerous, still their works afford us but isle of Cuba were subjected to a thorough little information regarding the actual geological survey, it would be found to number of the aborigines of the island be immensely rich in silver, iron, gold, when it was discovered by Columbus. and other metals. The alluvial deposits This defect may be traced to the fact, of the island have always been found that an edict, promulgated by the crown auriferous. Those parts of the island of Spain, in 1556, required all works affording the granitic auriferous sands are the mouth of the rivers Damusi and Cannado, which fall into the bay of Jagua; and in those parts of the rivers Sagua la Grande and Agabama which are nearest to Escambray; also, at the point where the Saramaguacan falls into the bay of Nuevitas, and the rivers Holguin, Bayamo and Nipe, in the province of Santiago, as before mentioned. Some specimens of the finest gold have been obtained from the mines of Agabama and Sagua la Grande.

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In 1827, Don Josè Escalante nounced the discovery of silver and copper in the lands of Manicarragua, in the jurisdiction of Villa Clara. The first ores gave no less than seven ounces of pure silver to the quintal of ore; but they have become less productive, perhaps, because they have not been properly worked.

It is very generally believed in Cuba, that iron exists in various parts of the island. The Sierra Maestra gives ample indications of it. No attempts have ever been made to work the iron ores of Cuba, owing to the scarcity of fuel, the difficulty of access to the mines, and many The mountains of Santa Espiritu, Villa Clara, San Juan and Trinidad, contain not only the precious metals, but a great deal of iron.t

other causes.

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written on the affairs of America to be
submitted to the censorship of the Coun-
cil of the Indies. This censorship studi-
ously concealed, as much as possible, all
knowledge of the real value of the Span-
ish possessions in America, and deprived
the world of much valuable informa-
tion. Writers differ very much in re-
gard to the population of the aborigines.
There is a disposition manifested by all
of them, (or perhaps we should blame
the censorship,) to diminish the number,

in order to conceal the atrocities com-
mitted by the Spaniards. Arrate de-
clares that they could not have exceeded
300,000; but this would seem hardly
credible, when we consider the size of
the island, and its natural capabilities of
Some
sustaining a large population.
the time of its conquest in 1511, had
writers state that the isle of Cuba, at
1,000,000 of inhabitants, and that there
remained of that one million, in 1517,
only 14,000! But this appears to be in-
Luys Bertran, a priest who, on leaving
consistent with the statement of Fray
the island, in 1569, in consequence of
the persecutions he suffered from the
European settlers, predicted that "the
200,000 Indians which Cuba contained,
would perish the victims of the cruelty
of the Europeans." So that the Indians
were far from being extinct in 1569.
Gomara, however, in his Hist. de las

* Albert Hüne: Hist. Philos., 1820; vol. i., p. 137.

Population of the Island, and of its Principal Towns.

103

Indias, states that, in 1553, the Indians Florida, believing, according to ancient had entirely disappeared. The accounts traditions, that they were returning to of the bishop of Chiopa, on the popu- the country of their ancestors.* lation of Cuba, are equally contradic

The first census of Cuba was taken in

1775

tory. Humboldt, who weighs all the 1775. That and the subsequent census authorities, inclines to the opinion that are as follows: the original population of Cuba was very small-say 300 or 400,000.* He 1791. thinks that although the island, from 1811-Whites.. the great fertility of its soil, might nourish several millions of Indians; yet, that if such a large population had existed, it would have exhibited a more advanced civilization. Besides, if the population had been as great as is asserted by some, he finds difficulty in believing that it could have disappeared from any of the alleged causesthe tyranny of the conquerors, the faults of governors, the severity of the slavery 1841-Whites... imposed, the small-pox, and the frequency of suicides-in the short space of 30 or 40 years, as is admitted.

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272,140

274,000

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Free blacks.
Slaves..

140,000

.212,000

600,000

1817-Whites.

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Slaves...

115,691

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All the Spanish historians admit that the aborigines of Cuba were enslaved; but most of them endeavored to evade 1849+-Whites the imputation of cruelty on the part of their Spanish masters. Herrera and Oviedo attribute their rapid extermination to their despair on finding themselves subjected to the dominion of Spain, and on being forced to labor.†

Garcilasso relates that the effect of the despair of the natives was such, that the rage of hanging themselves in huts and caverns, by whole families, prevailed, suicide being preferred to labor. Spanish writers have attempted to exculpate the conquestadores, by attributing the disappearance of the natives to their taste for suicide! All cruelty is denied.‡

The oppression of the natives began with the arrival of the "cruel Hernando de Soto," as Humboldt calls him, towards 1539; and to reconcile the statement of Gomara, that in 1553 all the Indians had disappeared, he says, must necessarily admit that there were considerable remains of that people which saved themselves on canoes,

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We have no later statements of the population of the principal cities and towns, except of the city of Havana. In the Diario de la Marina for January 1, 1852, it is stated that the population of Havana in 1849, was 142,002; and in 1850, 150,561 souls.

The population of Cuba is divided into four classes, of which the first are the native Spaniards, the most powerful portion. They comprise, with some exceptions, the merchants, the army, the clergy, and all the government offices, from the Captain-General down to the captain of partido. The Creoles form the second class, and are generally planters, farmers, or lawyers, but are most generally scrupulously excluded from the army and higher civil offices. They find no sympathy among the Spaniards, who treat them with open contempt and hauteur, though inferior to them in intelligence and enterprise. The Creole seeing himself, in his own native land, excluded from all offices in the government, in the army, and in the church, regards with no favorable eye those sent from Spain to rule over him, and to mend their fortunes at his expense by exacting to the utmost from his gains.†

1,853 The slaves of Cuba are divided into
bozales, those recently brought from
Africa; the ladinos, those imported
before the law, in 1821, prohibiting the
slave trade; and the criollos, those born
on the island.* By the laws of Cuba,
every owner of slaves is bound to
instruct them in the Catholic religion,
after the labor of the day has been
finished, to the end that they may be
baptized and partake of the sacrament.
On Sundays and feast days they are not
to be employed more than two hours for
the necessary labors of the estate, the
feeding of the animals, etc., except when
the gathering of the crop admits of no
delay. They are required to have daily
six or eight plantains, or an equivalent
in potatoes, yams, yucas, or other vegeta-
bles, eight ounces of meat or fish, and
four ounces of rice or flour.
The quan-
tity of clothes is also prescribed, and
also the treatment of the women. They
are not to be worked more than nine or
ten hours per day, except during the
harvest of canes, when they may be
employed sixteen hours daily. On Sun-
days and holidays they must be allowed
to attend to their gardens and private
occupations. Those only between six-
teen and sixty can be tasked, and when
liberated they must be allowed a per-
manent subsistence. A slave may pur-
chase his liberty for a price fixed by
three arbiters, one chosen by the master
and two by the Sindico Procurador
General. Liberty and a reward of $50
are to be bestowed on a slave who
reveals a conspiracy. No slave can
receive from his master, for any offence,
more than twenty-five lashes; a crime
requiring more must be punished only
after a judicial investigation. A master
who maltreats his slave, maims him, or
otherwise seriously injures him, is com-
pelled to sell him to another. A master
violating the slave code may be fined
from $20 to $200.

The third class is made up of about an equal number of free mulattoes and free negroes, who are by law excluded from all civil offices. They compose a respectable part of the militia, and would play an active part in any revolutionary movement that might occur. The free colored population of Cuba have many privileges, and are more kindly treated and respected than the same class in our northern states. The Spaniard has not the same antipathy to color that the Anglo-Saxon has. The free colored are forbidden by law to intermarry with the whites, and are also excluded from the learned professions. This obstacle,

This town is remarkable for being the place where Columbus first landed, on the 28th of October, 1482.

Notes on Cuba, p. 198.

* Bozal signies muzzled; ladino, versed in an idiom, or one who has been in the country a year. Criollo means Creole. The term bozal is also rendered nouvellement arrivé, en parlant d'un négre.

Treatment of Slaves-Classes of Nobility-Priesthood.

105

Such is a partial sketch of the Cuban but also for the exemption they confer slave code; but it is necessary to ob- from petty annoyances from captains of serve that its provisions and require- partidos, and other low officers of justice. ments are not strictly regarded. That A Cuban noble can only be tried by part regarding the religious and moral a high tribunal, and cannot be arrested government of the slaves is enforced for debt. Military officers, also, can only only so far as to secure them baptism be indicted before a military court; and burial in consecrated grounds. On and priests only before ecclesiastical a few Spanish estates, says the author of bodies. "Notes on Cuba," prayers are repeated The origin of many of the Cuban to them before going to work in the nobility, while it exposes them to the morning, and before retiring to their private derision of the untitled crowd, dormitories. He also says that the slaves creates among themselves a clannish of Cuba, compared with the manufactur- feeling, and presents an insuperable ing and mining classes of England, labor barrier to a general social spirit among less, and, so far as physical enjoyment the nobility. The marquis of 1832 looks goes, are better off. He declares the down with something like contempt on account of their being killed by over his younger brother of 1835; and those labor, "absurd tales."* of the 17th or 18th century, counting largely on their pedigree and antiquity, hold themselves quite aloof from the mushroom $20,000" sugar noblemen" of the degenerate 19th. The tone of Cuban society is also eminently aristocratic, and certain classes are very exclusive. The native of old Spain does not conceal his hatred of foreigners and his contempt of the Creole.*

There is one other class of citizens in Cuba that we must notice, before leaving this branch of our subject. We allude to the "Nobility of Cuba." These consist of twenty-nine marquises and thirty counts, more than half of whom have been created since 1816. From 1816 to 1833 Ferdinand VII. created eleven marquises and fifteen counts. Most of them had acquired their wealth by sugar plantations, and are jocosely called sugar noblemen." They often adopt the names of their estates, as the Marquis de Santa Lucia, the Conde de CosaRomero. The Marquis del Real Socorro obtained his title by presenting a large sum of money to the government when its coffers were empty; and a few others had theirs conferred for military and other services to the state. The greatest number have, however, been bought, no Nor is the moral character of the consideration being paid to aught but the higher classes of Cuba quite above suswealth of the individual, the mother picion. Their outward decorum may be, country thus taxing the idle arrogance of to a great extent, says a shrewd writer, her colonists. The price paid for a only in appearance, and there is much patent of nobility has varied from reason to believe that the grossest im$20,000 to $50,000, the purchaser being morality and irreligion prevails among compelled to entail a certain amount of them. Religion has become, in fact, in property with the title.

One in Cuba is struck with the number of estates held by titled owners. Many of them are very extensive, and are rented out, paying a fixed annual tribute; so that a large plantation may often be obtained for a yearly tax, without paying any purchase money. Many wealthy persons in Cuba have purchased titles of nobility, not only on account of the rank they give possessors in society,

*Notes on Cuba, pp. 249-263.

The untitled crowd is divided into the sugar planter, the coffee planter, the merchant, the liberal professions, and the literati. All below these form a single class with which the rest do not associate. The planter is one grade above the merchant. The bar and the bench are grossly corrupt and despised. Among the lower classes there is an absence of all refinement, religion, education and decency.

The

Cuba, a mere mockery, the priesthood
being plunged into the grossest im-
morality, and given to a daily violation
of all those rules of conduct which are
so strictly enjoined by the Catholic
churches of the United States.
priests of Cuba and Mexico have be-
come the scandal of the whole Catholic
world; and it would be a gross calumny
on the enlightened Catholic citizens of
the United States, to insinuate that they

*Notes on Cuba, pp. 196-198.

countenanced Catholicism as it now profitable investments. By means of the

exists in Cuba, if even they admit it to be Catholicism at all. The most open infidelity prevails in Cuba, and the priests as a class are universally despised.

MANUFACTURES.-Of these the most important are the making of sugar, molasses, and rum; the preparation of coffee, the manufacture of cigars, the bleaching of wax, and the manipulation of the minor staples of the island. Manufactures, indeed, of any other description, are not to be looked for in any country where the population are not impelled to them by the barrenness of the soil. Salt is manufactured to a limited extent.

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INTERNAL COMMUNICATION RAILROADS.-The means of communication between the interior and the coast are very imperfect generally. The common roads are badly constructed, or rather not constructed at all, and during the rainy season are, in general, impassable for wheel carriages. The evil is diminished by the long and narrow form of the island, which enables the planters to bring their produce to a place of shipment without any very long land journeys. The number of coasting vessels is in consequence very considerable. There are three principal high roads, under the care of the Junto de Fomento; but they are always in bad condition, and quite impassable during the rainy season. They conduct to all parts of the island.

rail-road to Batabano, and the steamers on the southern coast, St. Jago de Cuba can be reached in four days from Havana, and the journey to Jamaica is thus greatly expedited.* Communication with all parts of the island by water is effected by means of steamers, which ply regularly. The number of coasting vessels is very great. The number that entered the port of Havana, in 1851, was 3,523.†

CURRENCY.-Paper money is unknown in Cuba. The circulating medium, like that of Old Spain, consists exclusively of the precious metals. The coins in use are Spanish doubloons, or ounces of gold, which are a legal tender for seventeen hard dollars; also the subdivisions of the doubloon-the half being $8 40; the quarter, $4 20; the eighth, $2 10; and the sixteenth, $1 50. Mexican and Columbian doubloons are also a legal tender for $16. Their aliquot parts are worth 8, 4, 2, and $1, respectively. Of silver coins, the Spanish dollar, and its divisions, and also Mexican, United States and South American dollars, are a legal tender at their nominal value.

The only incorporated banking establishment at Havana, is that called the Royal Bank of Ferdinand VII., which was created in 1827. The capital of this bank, amounting to a million of dollars, was provided by the Spanish government. Its business is confined to the discounting of promissory notes and bills There are six rail-roads on the island. of exchange; and the directors are proThe oldest road, finished in 1838, leads hibited from engaging in any other from Havana to Guines, in the interior, speculation, however lucrative it may a distance of forty-five miles. It now appear, under the penalty of being held belongs, we believe, to a company, who personally responsible. The rate of dishave extended a branch from San count is fixed at 10 per cent. per anFelipe to Batabano; another from Rin- num. No individual or house is accomcon to San Antonio is progressing, and modated beyond $10,000 for three another from Guines to Los Palos. The months. No new discount is allowed rail-road from Regla to the mines of to any party who has been guilty of the Prosperidad has been abandoned. The slightest irregularity, for the space of one from Matanzas to Sabanilla is com- three years afterwards. All property, plete. That from Cardenas to Bemba, even a wife's dowry, is liable for a debt and that from Jucaro to beyond Altami- due the bank. sal are long since finished, as also that from Puerto Principe to Nuevitas. On all these roads the accommodations for passengers are not excelled by any road in the United States. The engines are generally under the care of Americans, and also the general management of the roads. These roads have all proved

The Colonial Minister of Finance is president of the bank. The directors of the bank, three in number, are held responsible for their proceedings to the government, in the sum of $10,000 each, giving mortgages to that amount

*Notes on Cuba, pp. 336-7.
Diario de la Habana.

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