During the year which followed, 1877, more and more the Cuban methods of warfare merited the description which Spain had given of them. It became a war of extermination, rather than battle for independence. Cespedes, Quesada, Agramonte, and many other of the original leaders had died in battle, or had been captured and murdered by the enemy. Foreigners, who knew nothing of early ideals, and indeed little of early struggles, had largely replaced the great Cuban patriots, and their idea was not so much separation from Spain and conquest of the enemy as plunder. Property was no longer respected, the once prosperous island was fast becoming desolate, and on every hand deserted and ruined plantations were covered with weeds, where once had been wide cultivated fields. The insurgents were a motley array of men, of many races, and of varied color, yellow Chinese, and all shades of mulattoes, with only a small proportion of Creoles. The bands were now composed principally of marauders, who destroyed everything that they could not steal. Their victory no longer meant a triumph for democracy, and the establishment of a liberal government where there was now an oppressive one, but rather it would be a menace to civilization, hostile to all ideals of law and order. The constitution of Spain's army at this period is reported to have been two hundred and seventy-three superior officers; three thousand and fifty-four subalterns; sixty-eight thousand one hundred and fifteen privates, with an equipment of eight thousand four hundred and seventy-eight horses; four hundred and sixty-two mules; forty-two field guns, and plenty of small arms and ammunition. The men were properly clothed, and well fed. Notwithstanding the confusion of the Carlist uprising, Spain had been able to send over, during the first year of King Alfonso's reign, twenty-four thousand, four hundred and forty-five soldiers, while her naval force included forty-five vessels, equipped with one hundred and thirty-two guns, and manned by two thousand four hundred and twenty-six men. Besides this, over ten thousand men were on the high seas to reinforce the Spanish army. The disorganized, ragged, weary, badly fed Cuban forces, with the lawless element which now unhappily predominated among them had small chance of victory against such overwhelming odds. Nothing but the natural topography of the country, so favorable to guerrilla warfare, and the knowledge which the natives had of its mountain strongholds, had enabled the Cuban army to prolong thus far the war. The only thing which had saved the island from entire economic destruction was the fact that the belligerents had not invaded the western provinces, and their inhabitants had been free to plant and reap and conduct their lives in an orderly fashion.