RAGES. 



241 



vicinity of Puerto Principe is nothing more than 

 vast plains, where half wild cattle are pastured. The 

 proprietors, says a modern traveller, are only assidu- 

 ous to put in their chests the money brought by 

 the overseers from their cattle-farms, from whence 

 they bring it forth only for the purposes of play, or 

 to carry on law-suits which have been handed down 

 from generation to generation. 



[Note. — Amid the general prosperity of Cuba, this 

 district now presents the anomaly of a constantly 

 decreasing population, the returns of the last three 

 censuses being as follows :— 



Whites. Free colored. Slaves. 



1827 39,375 6,911 ........ 15,704 



1841... .30,104 7,599 13.383 



1846 23,006 7,403 10,827 



We have never been able to obtain a satisfactory 

 explanation of this fact; perhaps it may arise from 

 the low ratio of profit from the grazing farms, when 

 compared with other branches of#Jabor, and the 

 want of roads and means of communication in the 

 district, which have combined to cause the popula- 

 tion to remove to more favored localities. The 

 recent completion of a railroad from the city of 

 Principe to the port of Nuevitas, and a newly- 

 awakened spirit of enterprise among the landed 



11 



