541

541

CUBA.

cliurclies for divilie worship, was exported, in 1776,
to the quantity of 12,550 arrobas, from a single
port of the Havana ; and all of it of as good a
quality as is the wax of Venice. Although the
capital of this island is the city of its name, the
Havana is, at the present day, looked upon as the
principal. Here the governor and captain-general
of the kingdom resides ; and it has gained this
preference from the excellence of its port, and from
other qualifications, which will be found treated of
under that article. We must here confine our-
selves to what we have already said, a more diffuse
account not corresponding to our plan, though,
and if all were said of which the subject
would admit, a very extensive history might be
made. The population consists of tiie following
cities, towns, and places.

Cilies. Las Piedras,

Havana, . Cubita,

Cuba, Vertientes,

Earacoa, San Pedro,

Holguin, Pamarejo,

Matanzas, Cupey,

Trinidad, Arroyo de Arenas,

Santa Maria del Rosario, Pilipinas,

San Juan de Taruco, .liguam,

Compostela. Caney,

Towns. Tiguabos,

Bayamo, El Prado,

Puerto del Principe, Moron,

S. Felipe and Santiago,

S. J uan de los Remedies, El Cano,

Santi Espiritus, Managua,

Santa Clara, Guines,

G uanavacoa, Rio Elanco,

Guamutas,

Settlements. Alvarez,

Consolacion, Planavana

Los Pinos,

Baxa,

Mantua,

Guacamaro,

Las Tuscas,

Y ara,

[Cuba, which, in 1774, contained only 371,628
inhabitants, including 44,328 slaves, and from 5 to
6000 free Negroes, possessed, in 1804, a popula-
tion of 432,000 souls. The same island, in 1792,
exported only 400,000 quintals of sugar ; but, in
1804, its annual exportation of that article had
risen to 1,000,000 of quintals. By a statement of
the export of sugar from the Havana, from 1801 to
1810 inclusive, it appears that the average for the
last 10 years has been 2,850,000 arrohas, or about
644,000 cwt. a year. Notwithstanding this, Cuba

San Miguel,

Santiago de las Vegas.

Macuriges,

Guanajay,

El Ciego,
Cacarajicaras,
Pinal del Rio.

requires annual remittances from Mexico. The
number of Negroes introduced into Cuba, from
1789 to 1803, exceeded 76,000 souls ; and during
the last four years of that period, they amounted to
34,500, or to more than 8600 annually. Accord-
ingly, the population of the island, in 1804, con-
sisted of 108,000 slaves, and 324,000 free persons,
of whom 234,000 were whites, and 90,000 free
blacks and people of colour. The white popula-
tion of Cuba forms therefore or .54 of the
whole number of its inhabitants. In Caracas, the
whites constitute .20 of the total population ; in
New Spain almost .19; in Peru .12; and in Ja-
maica .10.

In speaking of the origin, manners, and customs,
&c. of the natives of Cuba, we are to be understood
as giving also an account of those of Hispaniola,
Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; for there is no doubt
that the inliabitants of all those islands were of one
common origin ; speaking the same language, pos-
sessing the same institutions, and practising similar
superstitions. The fairest calculation as to their
numbers, when first discovered, is 3,000,000. But,
not to anticipate observations that will more pro-
perly appear hereafter, we shall now proceed to the
consideration, -- 1. Of their persons and per sonal
endowments.— 2. Their intellectual faculties and
dispositions.— 3. Their political institutions.—
4. Their religious riles. — 5. Their arts.

1. iYrsows. — Both men and women wore no-
thing more than a slight covering of cotton cloth
round the waist; but in the women it extended
to the knees : the children of both sexes appeared
entirely naked. In stature they were taller, but
less robust than the Caribes. Their colour was
a clear brown, not deeper in general, according
to Columbus, than that of a Spanish peasant who
has been much exposed to the wind and the sun.
Like the Caribes, they altered the natural con-
figuration of the head in infancy ; but after a dif-
ferent mode (the sinciput, or fore-part of the head
from the eye-brows to the coronal suture, was de-
pressed, which gave an unnatural thickness and
elevation to the occiput, or hinder part of the skull);
and by this practice, says Herrera, the crown was
so srengthened that a Spanish broad-sword, instead
of cleaving the skull at a stroke, would frequently
break short upon it ; an illustration which gives an
admirable idea of the clemency of their conquer-
ors ! Their liair was uniformly, black, without
any tendency to curl ; their features were hard
and unsightly ; the face broad, and the nose flat;
but their eyes streamed with good nature, and al-
together there was something pleasing and inviting
in the countenances of most of them, which pro-]