437 



approximate number of white Creoles, and even 

 of Europeans. The first, or Hispano-Americans, 

 form in Mexico nearly one fifth, and in the 

 island of Cuba, according to the very accurate 

 enumeration of 1801, a third of the whole popu- 

 lation. When we reflect, that the kingdom of 

 Mexico is inhabited by two millions and a half 

 of natives of the copper-coloured race ; when we 

 consider the state of the coasts, that are bathed 

 by the Pacific Ocean, and the small number of 

 Whites in the intendencies of Pueblaand Oaxaca, 

 comparatively with the natives ; we cannot 

 doubt, that the province of Venezuela at least, 

 if not the Capitania-General, has a greater pro- 

 portion than that of one to five. The island of 

 Cuba*, in which the Whites are even more nu- 

 merous than in Chili, may furnish us with a 

 limiting number, that is to say, the maximum 

 that can be supposed in the Capitania-General 

 of Caraccas. I believe we must stop at two 

 hundred, or two hundred and ten thousand 

 Hispano-Americans, in a total population of 

 nine hundred thousand souls. The number of 

 Europeans included in the white race (not com- 

 prehending the troops sent from the mother 

 country) does not exceed twelve or fifteen thou- 



* I do not mention the kingdom of Buenos-Ayres, where, 

 among a million of inhabitants, the whites are extremely nu- 

 merous in the parts toward the coast j while the table-lands, 

 or provinces of the Sierra, are almost entirely peopled with 

 natives. 



