From 1838 to 1853 the importations, according to records laid before the British House of Commons, were as follows: 1838 10,495 1846 419 1839 10,995 1847 1,450 1840 10,104 1848 1,500 1841 8,893 1849 8,700 1842 3,630 1850 3,500 1843 8,000 1851 5,000 1844 10,000 1852 7,924 1845 1,300 1st half 1853 7,329 ------ 99,239 During the early years of the slave trade, the Spanish masters treated their slaves not so well as they treated their work animals. But gradually they began to realize that after all it was cheaper to keep the slaves that they had in good physical condition than to be continually buying new ones, especially when the trade had fallen off because of legal restrictions. A greater number of colored women were imported; the moral condition of the negroes, especially as to marriage, became a subject of greater interest to the plantation owners; the negroes were encouraged to marry, and wives were recruited from among the mulattoes as well as those of pure black blood. Some efforts were made for better sanitary conditions toward the middle of the century, and persons were employed on the estates whose business it was to look after the sick slaves and nurse them. In the last analysis, however, the conditions under which the slaves lived on each plantation rested entirely--as it did in the United States--on the kind of overseers under whom they were employed. There are many touching stories of the devotion of the slaves to their master. This was quite as great as among the old southern families in the United States. The Cuban was naturally a kind master--we wish the Spanish-born planter might always be as well spoken of--and he inspired in his slaves a feeling of real affection. This often developed into a single hearted devotion so great that the slave grew to count his master's enemies as his own.