256 



humboldt's cuba. 



The present export from St. Domingo is very 

 insignificant, 'in 1788 it amounted to 80,360,000 

 kilogrammes, and in 1799 it was still estimated to 

 reach twenty millions kilogrammes. If it had been 

 maintained as in the time of its greatest prosperity, 

 it would augment the export of sugar of all the 

 Antilles 28 per cent, and that of all America 18 per 

 cent. Brazil, Guiana, and Cuba together, with their 

 2,526,000 slaves, supply (in 1825) nearly 230,000,000 

 kilogrammes ; that is to say, exclusive of contraband, 

 three times more sugar than St. Domingo, at the time 

 of its greatest prosperity. The great increase of pro- 

 duct in Brazil, Demarara, and Cuba, has replaced the 

 loss of Haiti, and made the destruction of the sugar 

 industry of that island less sensible. 



The production of Brazil, which contains 1,960,000 

 slaves, and where the sugar-cane is cultivated from 

 the district of Rio Grande to the parallel of Puerto 

 Alegre (30° 2' S. lat.), is much greater than is gene- 

 rally supposed. In 1816 it was, according to very 

 exact data, 200,000 boxes, of 650 kilogrammes each, 

 or 130,000,000 kilogrammes (about 650,000 cwt.). 

 The production of sugar in this country has dimin- 

 ished greatly since 1816, in consequence of domestic 

 disturbances, and in years of great drought has 

 barely reached 140,000 boxes. Those who are con- 

 versant with this branch of American commerce, 



