244 



humboldt's cuba. 



The population of Cuba is so unequally distributed, 

 that we may consider five-sixths of the island as 

 uninhabited. There are several parishes (Consola- 

 tion, Macuriges,- Hanabana), in which there are 

 barely fifteen inhabitants to the square league ; 

 while, on the other hand, in the triangle between 

 Bahia Honda, Batabano, and Matanzas (or, more 

 correctly stated, between the Pan of Guajaibon, 

 Batabano, and Guamacaro), there are 300,000 inha- 

 bitants in 410 square leagues, or in one-ninth of the 

 total area of the island ; this is three-sevenths of its 

 population, and six-sevenths of its agricultural and 

 commercial wealth. Yet this triangle contains only 

 732 inhabitants to the square league, its extent 

 being somewhat less than that of two of the medium 

 departments of France, and its density of population 

 one-half smaller. We should remember, that even 

 in this small triangle between Guajaibon, Batabano, 

 and Guamacaro, the southern portion is entirely 

 uninhabited. 



The least populous parishes, containing only graz- 

 ing farms, are those of Santa Cruz de los Pinos, 

 Guanacape, Cacaragicaras, Pinal del Rio, Guane, 

 and Baja, in the Vuelta de Abajo, and Macuriges, 

 Hanabana, Guamacaro, and Alvarez, in the Vuelta 

 de Arriba. 1 The hatos (large cattle farms), with 



1 These districts of the Vuelta de Arriba have now become the 



