“The price of labour, in 1895, for cutting cane, etc., before the insurrection commenced, varied from fourteen dollars to twenty dollars per month, Spanish gold. This has fallen off to from twelve dollars to fifteen dollars, Spanish silver, paid during the past crop for the same labour—in American gold about fifty-five per cent. of this. The maintenance per month per man is nine dollars, Spanish gold. This fall in wages was necessitated by the fall in the price of sugar, and by the fact that but few plantations in the neighbourhood were able to continue working.”

It is useless to try to create new industries until the old and strong industries of the Island are re-established. If it is difficult, after the Spanish soldiers leave, to secure the necessary labour for the plantations, producing, as they will this year, a maximum of 400,000 tons of sugar for export, where are the labourers coming from to produce the high-water mark of 1,100,000 tons of sugar? The process of industrial reconstruction will necessarily be slow and depend in a large degree upon the stability of the Government and the rapidity with which the people settle down to work. There is no possibility, however, of a surplus labour supply. Work can be found for all capable and willing to perform hard labour now that the affairs of the Island have passed into the hands of the United States military authorities and the new customs tariff has gone into force. From this time the work of repairing the dismantled sugar plantations should go forward and thousands of labourers will be required. Whatever may be the future of Cuba, the present must be provided for and life and property and the right to labour be protected.

In the opening chapter of this volume the point was made that Cuba, had it been permitted to remain in peace and enjoy its advantages, should have had a population ranging from 4,500,000 to 5,000,000. That this statement is borne out may be noted in the subjoined table, which gives the estimated population of the Island of Cuba from 1774 to 1894, taking the average rate of increase of the total population in the United States, by census decades:

The rate of growth of the Western Hemisphere, had Cuba been allowed to enjoy her natural advantages, would have found her at the close of 1900 with close upon 5,000,000 population and a country as flourishing as that pictured in the early part of this volume.

The population of the Island of Cuba, as enumerated on the 31st of December, 1887, was 1,631,687. This population was scattered over an area of about 122,606 square kilometres. These figures give an average density of population of 13.31 inhabitants to the square kilometre, the maximum of which appeared to be in the province of Havana (52.49), and the minimum in the province of Puerto Principe (2.10).

Distributed as white population and coloured people, the latter comprising negroes and half-breeds and Asiatics, the proportions were as follows:

It will be observed that the number of whites is greatest in the province of Havana, but the highest percentage of whites is found in the province of Puerto Principe (80.52). The province of Matanzas shows the greatest number of the coloured race, which is explained by the fact that slavery prevailed more extensively in that province than elsewhere. The proportion of males and females was as follows:

Notice that in each province, males are in excess of females. The immigration of women into Cuba has always been small. The proportion of males and females of the white and coloured races is as follows:

Notice that the proportion of males is larger in the white race than in the coloured. The enumeration of the population of Cuba in 1877 resulted as follows:

The Cuban is more analytical than inventive. His mind easily grasps subjects on which he has received very little information; but he is decidedly lacking in inventive and constructive power.

The Cuban mother is very affectionate, but her maternal fondness often leads her into indulgence of the many failings of childhood, that, in later life, are impossible to overcome. Prevarication and pilfering are no uncommon failings of child-life in Cuba. Despite these weaknesses, children are so generous that their parents find it hard to prevent them from sharing their pocket-money with their young friends. Their politeness and affability are striking.

Cuban hospitality is proverbial. In the old and prosperous days of wealth it was a common thing for whole families to constitute themselves guests at the country-house of some friendly sugar-planter, and spend Christmas or Holy Week there without having given the host a word of warning. The planter, far from resenting this proceeding, invariably provided entertainment for his self-invited guests in the shape of riding parties, picnics, and dancing, considering himself highly honoured by the unforeseen advent of his friends. Like most Southerners, the Cubans are musically inclined. They dance well, and prolonged dancing parties are a favourite form of amusement.

Cubans are very much attached to family life. Deep affection usually exists among the members of families, and they follow each other’s affairs with great interest, even after the families break up.

In Cuban houses, the first morning meal, or “coffee” as it is called, consists of coffee and rolls; breakfast then follows at ten or eleven o’clock, consisting, usually, of fried eggs, hash, fried plantains, sweet potatoes, meat, and café au lait. Dinner takes place at six or seven o’clock. Occasionally fruit is served at two or three o’clock. Visits are exchanged in the evening; but ladies follow the European custom of calling in the afternoon. Most families have an “at home” one evening every week to receive their friends. Married ladies may go out shopping alone early in the day. Among intimate friends young men occasionally call on their young lady friends alone, but this is not general, European customs prevailing.

Baseball, bull-fights, and cock-fights were the most popular entertainments until recently; cock-fights have waned now in popularity considerably, whilst bull-fights are patronised by the Spanish element exclusively. Baseball continues to hold public favour, and since its introduction some twenty years ago a taste for athletics has developed among the Cubans, which was lacking before. Horse-racing was in vogue while there was capital to import foreign half-breeds, but it has now completely died out.

The foreign population of the Island is comparatively limited. A large number of German merchants are engaged in all branches of the tobacco business, which they practically control. It will be found that the knowledge and experience of the Germans in this respect have given them preferment in the direction and management of the largest syndicates and tobacco firms. A sprinkling of English, Americans, and French are to be found throughout the country.

The coloured inhabitants of Cuba (mulattoes) are usually the children of black women and white fathers—the cases of a white woman having children with a black father being so rare as to be nearly unknown. In the cities the mulattoes are servants,—not hotel waiters, for they are all Spaniards,—barbers, and occasionally musicians. Mulatto women, though usually very statuesque in appearance, are unprincipled and insolent.

The savagery of the African negro has, unfortunately, shown itself among his descendants in the Island. Some years ago a secret society called “Ñañigos” was introduced in Havana. These Ñañigos are divided into bands, whose object is to fight and kill each other. They commit all sorts of depredations and crimes. It has often been shown that the police have been in their pay. Some four hundred were banished some time ago to Spanish penitentiaries, together with political suspects, with whom they were chained in couples and marched through the streets of Havana prior to embarking. This is one of the many acts of refined cruelty that the Spaniards committed during the late insurrection; most respectable and honourable men, accused of sympathising in the cause of the rebellion, were chained arm to arm with negroes of the lowest caste, who, besides being convicted for crime, defiled the very atmosphere around them from the filth of their attire. The Ñañigos have lately been returned to Havana and set free, where they have lost no time in renewing their criminal work.

The Chinese element was brought over by contract for working on sugar plantations. They were virtually slaves until the Chinese Government intervened in their behalf.

The following extract from the comprehensive report of Mr. Robert T. Hill, of the United States Geological Survey on the Island of Cuba, may be considered as authority on the subject of population: