----------------+-----------+-----------+---------- | | Increase | Decrease YEARS. | TOTALS. | Per cent. | Per cent. ----------------+-----------+-----------+---------- 1774 | 171,620 | .... | .... 1787 | 176,167 | 2.64 | .... 1792 | 273,939 | 55.49 | .... 1804 | 432,000 | 57.69 | .... 1810 | 600,000 | 38.88 | .... 1817 | 635,604 | 5.93 | .... 1819 | 553,033 | .... | 12.99 1825 | 715,000 | 29.28 | .... 1827 | 704,487 | .... | 1.47 1830 | 755,695 | 7.26 | .... 1841 | 1,007,625 | 33.33 | .... 1846 | 898,754 | .... | 10.80 1849 | 945,440 | 5.19 | .... 1850 | 973,742 | 2.99 | .... 1852 | 984,042 | 1.05 | .... 1855 | 1,044,185 | 6.11 | .... 1857 | 1,110,095 | 6.31 | .... 1859 | 1,129,304 | 1.72 | .... 1860 | 1,199,429 | 6.20 | .... 1862 | 1,396,470 | 16.42 | .... 1867 | 1,426,475 | 2.14 | .... 1869 | 1,399,811 | .... | 1.86 1874 | 1,446,372 | 3.32 | .... 1877 | 1,521,684 | 5.20 | .... 1887 | 1,631,687 | 7.23 | .... 1899 (est.) | 1,200,000 | .... | 2.65 ----------------+-----------+-----------+---------- [Illustration: A COUNTRY VILLA.] Then came the last war, which has been even more disastrous, and many competent authorities put the loss by disease, starvation, and slain at 400,000. It is impossible to verify these figures until we shall have an accurate enumeration of the population, so it must remain guesswork until then. Whatever the result of the next census may show, the fact remains apparent that the population of Cuba, by reason of its misfortunes, is far behind the natural increment; that is, the growth by excess of births over deaths. This is shown by the following table, giving the estimated population of the Island of Cuba from 1774 to 1894, by decades, taking the average rate of increase of the _native_ population in the United States by census decades: