SUGAB. 



149 



command, until slavery be abolished of which there seems no 

 present prospect. The slave population numbers about 350,000, 

 and the free coloured population, about 90,000. 



The consumption of sugar, during 1847, very singularly tallied 

 with the production of the British Colonies that year being 

 exactly 289,000 tons ; but as 50,000 tons of foreign sugar were 

 consumed, an accumulation of British plantation sugar necessarily 

 remained on hand. 



The production of the French colonies was 100,000 tons, of 

 which Prance received nine-tenths. 



In 1838, Jamaica made 1,136,554 cwt. of sugar. In 1840, its 

 produce had fallen oft' to 545,600 cwt. ; but in the same years, 

 Porto E/ico had increased its sugar crop, from 498,000 cwt., to 

 1,000,000 cwt. In 1837, Cuba made 9,060,058 arrobas of sugar, 

 equal to 132,765 hhds. ; in 1841, it had increased to 139,000 hhds. 

 The largest crop grown in the West Indies, since 1838, was that 

 of 1847, which amounted to 159,600 tons. 



The annexed returns of the sugar crops of Barbados and 

 Jamaica, for a series of years may, be interesting : 



The average of the five years ending 1851, being the first five of 

 Free trade, shows an annual export from Jamaica of 41,678 hhds. 



The quantity of unrefined sugar imported from the British West 

 Indies and Gruiana in a series of years since the emancipation, is 

 shown by the following abstract : - 



