CHAPTER XVIII 



THE PEOPLE 



Statistical details of number, sex, nativity, race, and literacy. Excess of 

 males. Small proportion of foreign people. Divisions into classes. 

 The " Spaniards " (white Porto Ricans). The gibaros, or peasantry. 

 The negroes. Former conditions of slavery in Porto Rico. 



THE number, sex, nativity, race, and literacy of the 

 population of Porto Rico, according to the latest 

 census obtainable, that of 1887, are shown in the accom- 

 panying table. 



Some of the essential features of the statistics are as fol- 

 lows: The small proportion of foreigners, less than one 

 per cent., shows how thoroughly the population has become 

 indigenous. Another peculiar feature is that the white race 

 outnumbers the combined black and colored people, prov- 

 ing that Porto Rico, at least, has not become Africanized, 

 as have all the other West Indies excepting Cuba. Eighty- 

 seven per cent, of the people are illiterate, like the mass of 

 the peasantry of the mother-country, from whom they have 

 descended. 



The population of the island by natural increase has 

 multiplied two and one half times since the census of 1830, 

 the whites having tripled and the black and colored doubled 

 their numbers. The density of 221 to the square mile is 

 equal to that of many of the European countries, although 



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