190 



humboldt's ctjba. 



remedy the evil, to prevent public calamities, and to 

 console the unfortunate beings who belong to an ill- 

 treated race, and who are feared more than is 

 acknowledged, it is necessary to probe the sore ; for 

 there exists in social, as well as organic bodies, 

 reparative forces, which, when ^ell directed, may 

 triumph over the most inveterate evils. 



In 1811, when the Ayuntamiento and the Consu- 

 lado estimated the total population of the island at 

 600,000, of which 326,000 were colored, free and 

 slave ; the distribution of this mass of negroes, 

 between the towns and the rural districts, showed 

 the following results, comparing each partial num- 

 ber with the whole number of blacks, considered as 

 a unit : 



Western department. 



Free. 



Slave. 



Total. 





11 



iii 



22£ 





... H 



34 



35£ 



Eastern department. 











11 





20i 





11 



m 



2H 





m 



65* 



100 



It appears, from this table, which may be subject 

 to correction by subsequent investigations, that, in 

 1811, nearly three-fifths of the blacks resided in the 

 district of Havana, between Cape San Antonio and 

 Alvarez ; that, in that part of the island, there were 



