into that of the blacks, who live in rude cabins amid
patches of yams and bananas, careless alike of the
present and the future. T h e class known in time of
trouble as “ pacíficos ” are not merely non-combatants,
but those heedless and submissive beings who
take life as it comes in a land where it is “ always
afternoon,” and always going to be to-morrow before
anything happens. But there are also in times
of peace many thrifty farmers and decent villagers
capable of making a useful population.
With an area nearly as large as the State of
New York, a soil and climate that make it capable
of a vastly greater production at much less outlay,
and a situation unrivalled for an independent commerce,
Cuba has barely one fifth of the population
of that State, and its capacity for development is
y e t to be tested.
