54 



EMIGRATION. 



[CHAP. III. 



kept down the population. What may have been the cause, 

 in 1768, of the decrease of population, is not recorded ; 

 but in 1839 the greater mortality is to be attributed to 

 small pox, and in 1847 to the famine which then visited the 

 island. 



Under these circumstances, the policy of the Government 

 appears to have been rather to repress than encourage emi- 

 gration ; and the fees exacted before a licence to emigrate can 

 be obtained are very large. When the great demand for 

 labour in Demerara occasioned the offer of a considerable 

 premium to volunteers from Madeira, many of the young 

 men were tempted to leave their families, and were sur- 

 reptitiously smuggled on board the emigrant ships. These 

 emigrants are reported to have made excellent labourers ; but 

 it is said also, that, overworking themselves under a tropical 

 sun, they contracted the diseases of a climate in which the 

 negro alone is capable of enduring much labour, and died by 



Census taken in 1847 

 Population of Madeira 



Porto Santo 

 Total 



Births 

 Deaths 



Increase of Population 

 Census taken in 1849. 



Population of Madeira . 

 „ Porto Santo 



Total 



Births 



Deaths ..... 



Increase of Population 



104,747 

 1,739 



106,486 



3,452 

 3,252 



200 



108,274 

 1,810 



110,084 



3,988 

 2,293 



1,695 



