^56 



A. D. 1788. 



:.^ra 



An Account of the number of white people, free people of colour, and Ne^. . 

 Jlaves, in each government in the Briti/Jj Wefl-lndies, according to the latejl re- 

 turns ; and alfo of the patented lands in each, and the ejlimated value of the 

 ijohole *. 



Jamaica f 



Virgin islands .... 

 S'. Christophers . 



Nevis 



Antigiia 



Montserrat 



Doniinicj 



S'. Vincents .... 

 Grenada 17S3 and 

 Barbados J 1783 and 



Bahamas § 



Bermuda 



In this efllmate the patented lands with the erections upon them are 

 valued at £5 flerling per acre, the flaves at >C40, and the perfonal pro- 

 perty as equal to one third of the value of the flaves, in all the fugar 

 iflands and the Bahamas. Bin in Bermuda the lands with the erections 

 are valued at;;(^io, and the flaves at';^45. 



It was thought proper, becaufe it exhibits the fubjetl in another light, 

 to eflimate the property in the Britifh Weft-Indies in the following 

 manner. 

 The mercantile !value of the produce exported from the? ^- „„ , i „ 



islands la the year J 787 was^...:.;..^ :..,.,, [ago,389,054 17 7 



wliich, at twelve years' purcluise aniounts to . ..V>. .!■* ...... .^64,668,658 11 O 



The Weft-India planters and merchants eftimated the value of the 

 property^ in the Bricifli fugar colonies, as follows. 



45,000 Negroes at .^50 sterling per head .^22,500,000 



Land, buildings, utensils, cattle^ mules, &c. double the value of thel 



Houses, 8tc. in the towns (those iii^Cingston and Spanishtown in Ja-' 

 niaica being worth .3^1,438,321 sterling) with the trading and 



coasting vessels, and their crews 



* Report, pari iv, n". 15, 17, 18. By the direc- 

 tion of the committee for trade, the eftiniates were 

 prepared by Mr. Chalmers from the bell inforpia- 

 ti'on that could be obtained. ... , ■ L 



f The miniber of Negroes in Jamaica is taken 

 fi-om the tax roU.^, in which the returns from many 

 properties are fuppofed to be much under the truth. 

 And, as it is alfo cuftomaiy to exempt from taxr 

 ation all proprietors of fewer than li.>i flaves, (the 

 numbers of whom, efpecially in the towns, mult 

 be very great) the whole number of flaves in the 

 ifland muft be feveral thoufands more than are here 

 fiatcd. Mr. Edwards fays that the Negroes in 

 Kingflon are in fact 16,659, and only 6,162 by the 

 tax rolls. l^Hifiory cf thi IVeJI ■ Indies , V. \,p. 224.] 



2,500,000 



Total-. ... .^70,000,000 



\ An account, tranfniitted in 1788, makes the 

 number of flaves in Barbados 64.405. But I have 

 retained the number in the tabic, from which the 

 vahie is calculated. 



^ By the return from the earl of IJunmorc, gov- 

 ernor of the Bahamas, \_Report, part m,Jhect i\ CJ 

 it is evident, that no approach to probability could 

 be made in eftimatinsj; the quantity of p'atented 

 land, or the number of any delcription of the peo- 

 ple. 



II The free people of colour are neglefted in the 

 returns from feveral of the iflands. — And the ifiand 

 of Barbud.i is entirely omitted, as is alfo the fettle- 

 ment upon the Bay of Honduras. 



