and where the system of free labour renders the expense of working the estate infinitely less. That it does produce this effect, seems to be proved by the fact, that one hundred and fifty slaves are employed, in the Island of Cuba, upon a plantation capable of producing one thousand cases, or 16,000 Arrobas of sugar, (vide Humboldt Essai Politique sur I'lle de Cuba;) while, in the valley of Cūāūtlă, one hundred and fifty free labourers are found sufficient for a Hacienda, which yields from thirty-two, to forty thousand Arrobas. Thus, (supposing the expense in other respects to be the same,) in the one case, the produce of each individual would be 2666lbs., and in the other, 5332lbs., or even 6666lbs., taking the maximum of 40,000 Arrobas. The correctness of this calculation, depends, of course, upon the comparative fertility of the soil in the island of Cuba, and in the valley of Cūāūtlă Āmīlpăs, respecting which I am not competent to give an opinion. There is no reason, however, to suppose that there is any superiority in the soil of Cūāūtlă, sufficiently great to account for so marked a difference in the amount of the sugar, raised by an equal number of labourers; for the elevation of the valley above the level of the ocean, renders it impossible to apply Humboldt's estimate of the extraordinary fertility of Veracruz, to the plantations of Cūāūtlă, or Cuernavaca.
I regard all these points as well worthy the attention of capitalists, and it is with this view, and not with that of raising upon them any theory of
