POPULATION. 



193 



now contained in the Republic of Colombia, or in all 

 the archipelago of the Antilles. Yet Jamaica has 

 1,914,000 acres of waste land. 



The most remote official census and statistics that 

 I could obtain, during my residence in Havana, are 

 those of 1774 and 1775, compiled by order of the 

 Marquis de la Torre, and that of 1791, by order of 

 Don Luis de las Casas. 1 Everyone is aware that 

 both these were made with great negligence, and a 

 large part of the population was omitted. The cen- 

 sus of 1775, which is known as that of the Abb6 

 Eaynal, gives the following figures : 



Even under this hypothesis, the ratio of population would not be 

 equal to that of Ireland, — H. 



1 This governor was the founder of the Patriotic Society, the 

 Board of Agriculture and Trade, the Chamber of Commerce, the 

 Orphan Asylum, the Chair of Mathematics, and several primary 

 schools. He intended to ameliorate the barbarous forms of criminal 

 law, and created the noble office of advocate for the poor. The 

 improvement and ornament of the city of Havana, the building of 

 the highway to Guanajay, the construction of docks, the protection 

 atforded to writers for the press, that they might give vigor to pub- 

 lic spirit, all date from his time. Don Luis de las Casas y Aragorri, 

 captain-general of Cuba (1790-1796), was born in the village of 

 Sopuerta, in Biscay ; he fought with great distinction in Portugal, at 

 Pensacola, in the Crimea, before Algiers, at Mahon, and at Gibral- 

 tar. He died in- July, 1800, at Puerto Santa Maria, at the age of 55 

 years. See the compendiums of his life by friar Juan Gonzalez, and 

 by Don Tomas Koniay. — H. 



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