Beschreibung:

Survey of Cuba. PRESENTATION MANUSCRIPT ENTITLED "INSTRUCCIÓN DEL ESTADO EN QUE SE HALLA LA YSLA DE CUBA HASTA FINES DEL AÑO 1775", DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR, ANTONIO LÓPEZ GÓMEZ, TO DIEGO JOSÉ NAVARRO GARCÍA DE VALLADARES, GOVERNOR GENERAL AT HAVANA FROM 1777 TO 1780 being an overview of the political, financial and agricultural state of Cuba in 1775, the 13 chapters dealing with, for example, sugar plantations (including an extensive section on the processing of sugar cane), the production of other crops such as tobacco (with a table of prices), saffron, cocoa, coffee, and yuca, and the properties of 65 types of trees; other topics include the government of the island, its legal system, buildings (including a basic census of houses, churches, convents, hospitals (20), sugar plantations (178), etc.), religious orders, public schools, hospitals, common diseases, the 'virtues' of the inhabitants, their crafts (especially carpentry), commerce, taxation and defences; 142 pages, folio, probably written in the author's hand, each page within black and red border, title within illustrated border, hand-coloured map tipped-in after title, bound in calf-backed marbled boards, 1775