PRELIMINARY 



ESSAY. 



An essay upon the Island of Cuba, without some 

 treatment of the political and social questions which 

 affect its present condition and future develop- 

 ment, would justly be deemed an unsatisfactory 

 and incomplete work. We do not presume to 

 bring to the subject anything like the clear precision, 

 and charm of thought and style, which the admirable 

 writer and traveller, Baron Humboldt, has thrown 

 round the production we have ventured to reproduce 

 in the translation which follows. But we have made 

 these questions the subject of study for several years, 

 under new aspects which have developed themselves 

 since Humboldt wrote, and venture to offer the result 

 of our observations and reflections, in the hope that 

 they may supply an existing want, and prove inter- 

 esting and serviceable to the American reader. 



The complete view of the population and industrial 

 condition of Cuba, presented in the work of Baron 

 Humboldt, renders unnecessary any further remarks 



