NOT EUGENESIC. 35 



This interpretation is, however, in opposition to two orders 

 of facts. On the one hand, the Negroes and Negresses of 

 South Carolina are perfectly prolific between themselves. 1 

 The climate of that country has not weakened their generative 

 powers, and there is no reason why, by their alliances with a 

 white race acclimated in that part, there should be produced an 

 offspring less acclimated than their parents. The diminished 

 vitality and fecundity can, therefore, not be attributed to the 

 influence of the media in which they are brought up. 



On the other hand, a result similar to that mentioned by 

 Nott, as regards South Carolina, seems to have been obtained 

 in Jamaica under the 18, corresponding nearly to the lati- 

 tude of Senegal and Timbuctoo. This island is situated 

 south of Cuba, Hayti, and Porto Eico, where Negroes and 

 Mulattoes thrive, but these islands have been colonised bv the 

 French and the Spaniards, whilst Jamaica is an English colony. 2 



1 Within ten years from 1840 to 1850, the number of slaves in South Caro- 

 lina has increased by 56,786. In 1840, there were 327,934 slaves ; in 1850, 

 384,720. This is an increase of more than 17 per cent. The slaves of all 

 shades are comprised in this account, but the pure Negroes form the great 

 majority, and it is probable that to them exclusively is owing the laro-e in- 

 crease in the number of slaves. The number of cross-breeds cannot be as- 

 certained by the statistics given. It would, besides, be impossible to distin- 

 guish in the reports given the Mestizos born from the union of Mulattoes 

 and Mulatresses, and those from whites and blacks. Statistics thus throw 

 no light upon the question, whether the Mulatto race maintains itself. But 

 there is a peculiar class of men of colour which is the object of attention of 

 certain governments, who maintain with satisfaction that this class notably 

 diminishes. It is the class of free men of colour, enjoying certain civic rights 

 very inconvenient for the slave states. There was a time when the enfran- 

 chisement of coloured men had no obstacles to contend with, and the number 

 of free men of colour increased rapidly. Many white owners gave freedom 

 to their natural children. But when restrictive laws were introduced, the 

 number of free coloured men began diminishing. They no longer ally them- 

 selves with the Whites, who despise them, nor with the slaves, and are thus 

 reduced to intermarry between themselves. The census of Charleston gave, 

 in 1830, the number of free coloured men and their descendants as amounting 

 to 2,107; in 1848 it was reduced to 1,492, a diminution of 605 in 2,107, more 

 than 29 per cent. The Charleston Mercury published these figures to show 

 that the class of freed slaves need not excite any apprehension in South Ca- 

 rolina, and that the Governor carried his zeal too far in proposing to expel 

 that class. Such an enormous decrease depends, no doubt to a great extent, 

 on the small number of births. There is another circumstance which might 

 have contributed to reduce the caste ; which is, that any freed individual, or 

 his descendant, once leaving the state, is not permitted to return ; this, how- 

 ever, forms but a minor cause of the decay. (See Charleston Medical Journal, 

 May 1851, vol. vi, p. 381). 



2 The first Europeans established at Jamaica were Spaniards or Portuguese ; 

 but the island was, 1655, conquered by the English, when all the old colonists 



d2 



