10 THE CENSUS OF 1861. 



find forty-one counties with an aggregate population of 626,830, the 

 returns from which appear to be tolerably perfect, and they shew 

 26,954 baptisms and 9,939 burials, which represent 



Births ------ 4.300 per cent, on the population. 



Deaths ----- 1.586 " 



Natural Increase - - - 2.714 " 



■These numbers, I have no doubt are rather understated for the 

 counties, in consequence of the imperfection of some of the returns, 

 but the greater mortality of the cities will reduce the rate for the 

 whole Province. To approximate to this we may estimate the re- 

 maining counties from the fprty-one from which we have returns and 

 then add the cities. Upon this principle I have included the towns 

 of Three Rivers and Sherbrooke, amongst the counties, and I have 

 taken the county of Quebec with the city, as they cannot be clearly 

 distinguished in the returns. The result shews, for all Lower Canada, 



Births, 4.034 per cent. 



Deaths. 1.755 



Natural Increase, - - - 2.279 " 



With a view of still further testing the subject, I analysed, with 

 great care, the Prothonotaries' returns from 1851 to 1857, inclusive, 

 since which latter date they have not been published. The returns 

 for 1853 are also missing. With the exception of Rimouski, Kam- 

 -ouraska, Ottawa and Pontiac, the returns of the Roman Catholic 

 Clergy seem very perfect, but those of the Protestant denominations, 

 except in the cilies, are often w^anting, and when they do appear, they 

 are obviously imperfect. I therefore only took the Catholic baptisms 

 and burials, and the Catholic population, leaving out those counties 

 or parishes, from which no returns were given, and rectifying the 

 population to the date of each return by the average annual rate of 

 increase from 1852 to 1861. This calculation, which does not seem 

 liable to any serious objection, gives the following result for the 

 Roman Catholic population of Lower Canada : 



