The Republic of Costa Rica

VI.

POPULATION.

The population of Costa Rica is nearly all white and mostly descendants of Spaniards from Galicia. The Indians are not numerous and are completely distinct from the civilized race. The Negroes and mixed breeds live almost exclusively on the coast-lands.

The Costa Ricans are a well formed, robust and healthy people with regular features. The women are gracious, have splendid eyes and abundance of hair, and appear affable in manner. The men are intelligent, industrious, economical, honest and peaceable, as well as polite, truthful and generous. They respect order and property, love to work, and are proud of their wealth and of the independence of their nation.

Every Costa Rican owns property of some kind. The better class of women follow in their dress the fashions of Europe; the lower classes have gowns of muslin or calico, and wear petticoats, rebozos and very often panama hats. Some adorn themselves with earrings and other jewelry and some wear shoes.

The men dress in European style. The lower class, consisting of hard-working farmers, owners of small coffee plantations and ox-carts and oxen for internal traffic, wear coarse cloth coats, drill or cotton trousers, and straw or felt hats. Most of these people go barefooted.

The houses of the wealthy have all modern conveniences. Those of the poorer classes are nearly comfortless. They are mostly low and built of adobes, with a roof of tiles, and are arranged in regular streets crossing each other at right angles. The public buildings are spacious and ornamental.

Among the principal buildings in San José are the New National Theatre, in which about 1,000,000 pesos were invested; the National Palace; the Palace of Justice; the Executive Mansion; the Episcopal Palace; the National Distillery; the Market; the University; the High School for Young Ladies; the High School for Young Men; the Custom House; the Mint, etc.

The city possesses charitable institutions, such as hospitals, orphan asylums, insane asylums, etc., all under the management of corporations and associations constantly laboring for their improvement. The cemeteries are under the supervision of charitable associations. There are several parks, a Museum, a Public Library and scientific, legal, medical, literary and musical societies, an International Club and a German Club, etc.

The streets are mostly macadamized or paved with stones and lighted by electricity. Nearly every city is well-supplied with water conducted through pipes.

The food of the poor comprises meat, beans, corn, rice, tortillas and plantains.

Saturday is the especial market day of the cities, and from sunrise till noon the market-places are crowded with sellers and buyers. Here can be found all kind of vegetables and fruits, potatoes, corn, beans, coffee, tobacco, sugar, cheese, meat and other food, besides earthenware, hammocks, hats, rebozos, charcoal, etc.

The population of Costa Rica in 1897 was calculated to be 288,769, as follows:

The last census, that of 1892, gave 243,205 as the entire population of the Republic.

The following table shows the population of the different “cantones” in 1892 and 1897:

The following table shows the constant natural increase of the population, beginning with the year of 1868:

The population of Costa Rica prior to 1868 was as follows:

Costa Rica being a country of immense resources, with great opportunities for success in industrial, agricultural and commercial enterprises, it may be interesting to know its smaller subdivisions, called barrios or districts, as presented in the following table, taken from the latest census, that of 1892: