There was, therefore, one school to every 1,455 inhabitants in 1867, one to 1,080 in 1887, and one to 824 in 1893.

There were 214 teachers in the public schools, 113 being males and 101 females. Seven were under 20 years of age; 97 were between 20 and 40; 88 between 40 and 60, and 22 were over 65, and they received salaries varying from 1,500 to 300 pesos, only 2 receiving the former and 42 the latter. The attendance was as follows:

These tables show that the total number of pupils in 1893 in the public and private schools of the province was 22,412. It also appears that there was 1 pupil to every 32 inhabitants in 1867; 1 to every 28 in 1887, and 1 to every 20 in 1893. But in the public schools alone there was 1 pupil to 48 inhabitants in 1867; 1 to 51 in 1887, and 1 to 48 in 1893. The tables show also that 2.07 per cent of the population of the province attended the primary public schools and 2.83 per cent the private, and that 4.90 per cent of the population received primary instruction. A school census of children up to 10 years for 1893 shows that the white boys were more numerous than the girls, being 23,326 to 21,844, while the colored were 8,121 boys to 8,266 girls. The total expense for public primary education in 1893 was 207,666 pesos, which was at the rate of about 22 pesos per pupil.

A general summary of primary instruction for the province of Havana is shown in this table:

In 1877 the whites were 49 per cent and in 1887 55 per cent of the population, and the males were 57 per cent. In 1887 5 per cent of the whites could read only, and 35 per cent could both read and write. Of the colored population 1 per cent could read only, and 6 per cent could both read and write; so that 60 per cent of the white and 93 per cent of the colored could neither read nor write.

The following table gives the number of schools in 1887 and 1894.

There were 156 teachers for the 152 public schools, with salaries ranging from 1,200 pesos to 150 pesos. There were 5,652 pupils in the public schools-3,442 boys and 2,210 girls-and 4,416 pupils in the 117 private schools-2,236 boys and 2,180 girls-making 10,068 in both. This makes 1 public school to 1,743 people, and 1 private school to 2,265 people. There was 1 pupil in the public schools to 47 inhabitants.

The whites were 61 per cent of the population in 1867, 82 per cent in 1877, and 80 per cent in 1887. The males predominated, being 55 per cent in 1867, 63 per cent in 1877, and 53 per cent in 1887.

The public elementary schools were as follows:

Or 1 public school to 2,501 people in 1867; 1 to 2,118 in 1887; 1 to 1,684 in 1894. The private schools at the same periods were:

Or 1 private school to 1,359 people in 1867; 1 to 1,027 in 1887; 1 to 908 in 1894. There were 42 teachers for the 41 public schools in 1894, with salaries from 1,500 pesos (1 teacher) down to 300 pesos (with 16 teachers).

Or 1 pupil to 45 inhabitants in 1867; 1 to 56 in 1887; 1 to 37 in 1894.
The private schools were as follows:

Or 1 private school pupil to 114 people in 1867; 1 to 113 in 1887; 1 to 86 in 1894. In 1894 the attendance was:

In the public schools.....

In the private schools..

Total..

....

1,787 788

2,575

Therefore 2.58 per cent of the population were educated in the public and 1.14 per cent in the private schools-3.72 per cent in all. Over 0 per cent of the white and 70 per cent of the colored population can neither read nor write. The expenses of the public schools in 1894 were 33,548 pesos, so that each pupil cost 18 pesos, and each school 818 pesos.

The summary shows as follows:

The history of primary education in this province may be said to have begun as soon as Velasquez founded the cities of Sancti Spiritus and Trinidad, because Bartolomé de las Casas took part in the founding of Trinidad, and he was among the first to instruct the young Indians. But the church instruction was a different thing from secular education, the beginning of which may be put at 1712 in this province, as will be related in its place.

In 1867 64 per cent of the population were white; in 1877, 64 per cent, and in 1887, 69 per cent. The males were 56, 57, and 55 per cent for the same years. In 1887 2 per cent of the whites and 1.65 per cent of the blacks could read only, and 27.75 per cent of the whites and 10.52 per cent of the blacks could both read and write.

There was, therefore, 1 public school to 3,960 inhabitants in 1867, 1 to 3,026 in 1887, 1 to 1,793 in 1894.

There was 1 private school to 10,290 persons in 1867, 1 to 3,824 in 1887, 1 to 2,721 in 1894.

There were 215 teachers for the 214 public schools, 132 male and 83 female, and their salaries ranged from 1,200 to 300 pesos. The public schools were attended by 4,691 boys and 3,395 girls, 8,089 in all, and the private by 2,279 boys and 2,329 girls, 4,608 in all, making a total attendance of 12,697 pupils. This makes 1 pupil in the public schools to 47 persons, and in the private 1 to 83 persons. The total expenses for the public schools were 150,644 pesos, so that each pupil cost 19 pesos, and each inhabitant was indebted 2.50 pesos for the public schools.

The only statistics available for the two remaining provinces, Pinar del Rio and Santiago de Cuba, are from the Anuario of the Real Universidad, and are for the year 1888-89. They are as follows:

Education of all kinds was greatly neglected in Porto Rico until 1837, many of the towns being without even a primary school, but since the institution of the provincial committees on primary instruction in that year (incorporated in the Royal Academy of Belles Lettres in 1851) much progress has been made. In 1861 there was a public school in every town, besides private ones in those of the first and second class. The city of San Juan had in 1861 six public and four private schools, four of the first for girls and two for boys, and of the last, two for each sex, besides a seminary, founded in 1831, with three professorships proper to the institution, and those of the French and English languages, mathematics, and design, which are supported by the Sociedad Económica de Amigos de Pais. According to a statement of the academy in 1852, the schools of the island were attended by 2,981 scholars. A large number of the boys were (1861) sent to Europe and the United States for education. The young creoles are exceedingly apt scholars, and very few attain manhood without a knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic, as, unfortunately, despising mechanical pursuits, their great aim is to qualify themselves for clerkships. The education of the females was, until 1861, much less attended to, and many could not write.' But in 1878-79 only 5,200 pesos were in the estimates for public instruction in the island, and in 1887 only about 14 per cent of the population could read and write. In 1890 the population was 810,394, with 350,000 whites.

We are fortunate in being able to secure the following more recent information from Mr. F. A. Ober, a gentleman who has made a study of the West Indies, and whose writings, giving the results of his ethnological and historical studies, are well known.

From a text-book upon the geography of the island, by Don Manuel Quiniana y Corton, 1879, he quotes that there were in that year 363 primary schools in the island, attended by 12,144 pupils of both sexes, 256 of which were for boys and 107 for girls. (The population was then about 700,000, more than half of whom were white.) Education was compulsory and gratuitous for poor children, who were supplied with

The Spanish West Indies, Cuba and Porto Rico, from the Spanish of Don J. M. de la Torre (Porto Rico, by J. T. O'Neill), by Richard Swaynson Fisher. [New York, 1861.]