Origin And Character Of The Modern Inhabitants Of Puerto Rico


During the initial period of conquest and colonization, no Spanish

females came to this or any other of the conquered territories.

Soldiers, mariners, monks, and adventurers brought no families with

them; so that by the side of the aboriginals and the Spaniards "pur

sang" there sprang up an indigenous population of mestizos.



The result of the union of two physically, ethically, and

intellectually widely d
ffering races is not the transmission to the

progeny of any or all of the superior qualities of the progenitor, but

rather his own moral degradation. The mestizos of Spanish America, the

Eurasians of the East Indies, the mulattoes of Africa are moral, as

well as physical hybrids in whose character, as a rule, the worst

qualities of the two races from which they spring predominate. It is

only in subsequent generations, after oft-repeated crossings and

recrossings, that atavism takes place, or that the fusion of the two

races is finally consummated through the preponderance of the

physiological attributes of the ancestor of superior race.



The early introduction of negro slaves, almost exclusively males, the

affinity between them and the Indians, the state of common servitude

and close, daily contact produced another race. By the side of the

mestizo there grew up the zambo. Later, when negro women were brought

from Santo Domingo or other islands, the mulatto was added.



Considering the class to which the majority of the first Spanish

settlers in this island belonged, the social status resulting from

these additions to their number could be but little superior to that

of the aboriginals themselves.



The necessity of raising that status by the introduction of white

married couples was manifest to the king's officers in the island, who

asked the Government in 1534 to send them 50 such couples. It was not

done. Fifty bachelors came instead, whose arrival lowered the moral

standard still further.



It was late in the island's history before the influx of respectable

foreigners and their families began to diffuse a higher ethical tone

among the creoles of the better class. Unfortunately, the daily

contact of the lower and middle classes with the soldiers of the

garrison did not tend to improve their character and manners, and the

effects of this contact are clearly traceable to-day in the manners

and language of the common people.



From the crossings in the first degree of the Indian, negro, and white

races, and their subsequent recrossings, there arose in course of time

a mixed race of so many gradations of color that it became difficult

in many instances to tell from the outward appearance of an individual

to what original stock he belonged; and, it being the established

rule in all Spanish colonies to grant no civil or military employment

above a certain grade to any but Peninsulars or their descendants of

pure blood, it became necessary to demand from every candidate

documentary evidence that he had no Indian or negro blood in his

veins. This was called presenting an "expediente de sangre," and the

practise remained in force till the year 1870, when Marshal Serrano

abolished it.



Whether it be due to atavism, or whether, as is more likely, the

Indians did not really become extinct till much later than the period

at which it is generally supposed their final fusion into the two

exotic races took place, it is certain that Indian characteristics,

physical and ethical, still largely prevail among the rural population

of Puerto Rico, as observed by Schoelzer and other ethnologists.



The evolution of a new type of life is now in course of process. In

the meantime, we have Mr. Salvador Brau's authority for stating

the general character of the present generation of Puerto Ricans to be

made up of the distinctive qualities of the three races from which

they are descended, to wit: indolence, taciturnity, sobriety,

disinterestedness, hospitality, inherited from their Indian ancestors;

physical endurance, sensuality, and fatalism from their negro

progenitors; and love of display, love of country, independence,

devotion, perseverance, and chivalry from their Spanish sires.



A somewhat sarcastic reference to the characteristics due to the

Spanish blood in them was made in 1644 by Bishop Damian de Haro in a

letter to a friend, wherein, speaking of his diocesans, he says that

they are of very chivalric extraction, for, "he who is not descended

from the House of Austria is related to the Dauphin of France or to

Charlemagne." He draws an amusing picture of the inhabitants of the

capital, saying that at the time there were about 200 males and 4,000

women "between black and mulatto." He complains that there are no

grapes in the country; that the melons are red, and that the butcher

retails turtle meat instead of beef or pork; yet, says he, "my table

is a bishop's table for all that."



To a lady in Santo Domingo he sent the following sonnet:





This is a small island, lady,

With neither money nor provisions;

The blacks go naked as they do yonder,

And there 're more people in the Seville prison.

The Castilian coats of arms

Are conspicuous by their absence,

But there are plenty cavaliers

Who deal in hides and ginger,

There's water in the tanks, when 't rains,

A cathedral, but no priests,

Handsome women, but not elegant,

Greed and envy are indigenous.

Plenty of heat and palm-tree shade,

And best of all a refreshing breeze.



Of the moral defects of the people it would be invidious to speak.

The lower classes are not remarkable for their respect for the

property of others. On the subject of morality among the rural

population we may cite Count de Caspe, the governor's report to the

king: " ... Destitute as they are of religious instruction and moral

restraint, their unions are without the sanction of religious or civil

law, and last just as long as their sensual appetites last; it may

therefore be truly said, that in the rural districts of Puerto Rico

the family, morally constituted, does not exist."



Colonel Flinter's account of the people and social conditions of

Puerto Rico in 1834 is a rather flattering one, though he acknowledges

that the island had a bad reputation on account of the lawless

character of the lower class of inhabitants.



All this has greatly changed for the better, but much remains to be

done in the way of moral improvement.



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