ver thundered from Cuban
pulpits, nor was it ever held that the negro must not be educated nor
instructed in religion. On the contrary, it was required by law that
the slaves should have the advantages of all the services of the church
equally with their masters; and the Spanish aristocrat and his African
slaves thus knelt side by side at the same altar. This attitude of the
races toward each other had two natural results. One was, that the
slaves were generally contented and peaceful, and attempts at
insurrection among them, while not unknown, were rare. The other was,
that amalgamation of the races became frequent and was recognized as
quite legitimate. We have said that miscegenation in illegitimate
fashion, between negro slaves and Europeans, was forbidden. But there
was no ban against marriage between whites and emancipated negroes, and
such unions not infrequently occurred, with satisfactory results.

The importation of negroes naturally increased with the gradual
extermination of the native Indians, and it was favored by the very men
who most strongly inveighed against the enslavement of the Indians. Even
La Casas himself, with all his fervor in behalf of the natives,
acquiesced in negro slavery; favored it, indeed, as a means of saving
the Indians from such a fate. During the second administration of
Guzman, the restrictions which had been placed upon the slave trade were
removed, and free importations, without payment of a royalty, were
thereafter permitted. Indeed, a further step than this was contemplated.
It was urged that if the King wished the Indians to be emancipated, he
should supply their places with negroes. This extraordinary argument
prevailed, and for at least one year all the King's revenues from Cuba
were ordered to be invested in negroes, who were then to be distributed
among the colonists of the island in place of the Indians who were set
free. These were not, however, to be free gifts, but were to be paid for
by the colonists in the course of a term of years. The revenues for that
year amounted to about 7,000 pesos, and it was reckoned that at the
prices then prevailing in the slave market at least 700 slaves could be
purchased. But at the last moment the King, or else the Council for the
Indies, reconsidered the matter, and the slaves were never purchased. At
the same time the enfranchisement of the Indians was postponed.

The early industries of Cuba were, in the order of their importance,