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CHAPTER V. 



POPULATION ETHNOGRAPHY RELIGION EDUCATION CRIME. 



THE history of the population of a country is, at all times, an 

 interesting topic ; but it becomes particularly so under certain 

 circumstances. In this respect, a descriptive outline, or general 

 view of the early settlement, and gradual development of the 

 population of Trinidad, is replete with interest, though, at the 

 same time, involving a complicated problem which cannot be 

 easily solved, from want of precise data and unprejudiced observa- 

 tion. I can, therefore, present only the partial results of investi- 

 gation ; but, such as they are, I hope they may prove useful and 

 acceptable. 



During the period of slavery, the records of births and deaths 

 were kept with accuracy; but, immediately after emancipation, 

 everything was neglected in this, as in many other essentials. In 

 the year 1847, however, an ordinance was passed for registering 

 births, deaths, and marriages ; and a registrar-general appointed, 

 as also local registrars. But, from one motive or another, the 

 provisions of the ordinance were made neither sufficiently compre- 

 hensive nor stringent, particularly as regards the registering of 

 births ; so that the ratio is not what it appears to be in the yearly 

 returns, the number of births particularly being, in reality, 

 greater than that recorded. Neither is there any provision for 

 distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate children, a classifica- 

 tion most essential, in so far as it affords the means of testing the 

 progress of a people in morals ; for the proportionate number of 

 marriages is, to a certain extent, one undoubted criterion of the 

 morality of a population. 



It would be well, also, should some regulation be introduced 

 for a separate registry of the deaths occurring amongst immigrants ; 

 such a distinction would prove highly useful in supplying data for 

 appreciating the risks of acclimatisation, and for establishing the 



