in the United States in Fifty Years. 73 



Which shows a less, but still extraordinary disproportion in favour 

 of the coloured race ; the proportionate number of the slaves to that 

 of the whites being more than as nine to one, and of the free coloured 

 to the whites as thirty to one. 



It is proper to remark, that the ages of the coloured part of the 

 population are, for the most part, conjectural, their births being 

 rarely recorded even in family registers ; and consequently, that 

 the uncertainty is greatest in the most advanced stages of life. 

 There is, moreover, a very prevalent disposition among the slaves 

 who are past middle age to over-state their ages, either by way of 

 furnishing an excuse for a relaxation of labour, or of presenting 

 stronger claims to kindness and charity. 



On the other hand, the temperate mode of living, the steady but 

 moderate labour to which most of the slaves are habituated ; their 

 freedom from cares about the future, and, as a consequence of these 

 incidents to their condition, their comparative exemption from some 

 of the maladies which greatly abridge life with the whites, as 

 diseases of the stomach, of the liver, and the lungs, obviously tend 

 to increase the proportion of those who attain extraordinary long- 

 evity. It has also been supposed by some that more than a fair 

 quota of the superannuated few are native Africans, who would 

 thus seem to have better constitutions than the average of their 

 race born in the United States. And lastly, it is possible that an 

 undue proportion of the long-lived may be of the mixed breed, and 

 that such may be more tenacious of life than either the white or 

 the negro race. Should this prove to be the fact, it may aid us, as 

 has been already mentioned, in accounting for the greater longevity 

 of the free coloured than of the slaves. It is only by a careful 

 attention to the individual cases of longevity, that these questions 

 in the statistics of life can be solved. 



The following diagram presents to the eye the proportions in 

 which the whites, free coloured persons, and slaves, are respectively 

 distributed, according to age ; and it would accurately show the 

 mortality of each class save for emigration, by which the number 

 of whites is increased and that of the coloured classes is diminished ; 

 and also for emancipation, by which one of these classes gains and 

 the other loses. The horizontal lines indicate the number of persons 

 living at and above the ages annexed to them ; the outer curve 

 marking the numbers of the free coloured, the middle line those of 

 the whites, and the inner line those of the slaves : 



7 



