302 Of the Cliecks to Population Bk. ii. 



the greatest number of the Russian provinces the 

 yearly mortality is 1 in 60.* 



This average number is so high, and some of 

 the proportions in the particular provinces are so 

 extraordinary, that it is impossible to believe 

 them accurate. They have been nearly confirmed, 

 however, by subsequent lists, which, according 

 to Mr. Tooke, make the general mortality in all 

 Russia 1 in 58.| But Mr. Tooke himself seems 

 to doubt the accuracy of this particular depart- 

 ment of the registers ; and I have since heard, 

 from good authority, that there is reason to be- 

 lieve that the omissions in the burials are in all 

 the provinces much greater than the omissions in 

 the births ; and consequently that the very great 

 excess of births, and very small mortality, are 

 more apparent than real. It is supposed that 

 many children, particularly in the Ukraine, are 

 privately interred by their fathers without infor- 

 mation to the priest. The numerous and re- 

 peated levies of recruits take off' great numbers, 

 whose deaths are not recorded. From the fre- 

 quent emigrations of whole families to different 

 parts of the empire and the transportation of 

 malefactors to Siberia, great numbers necessarily 

 die on journeys or in parts where no regular lists 

 are kept ; and some omissions are attributed to 

 the neglect of the parish priests, who have an in- 

 terest in recording the births but not the deaths. 



* Nova Acta Academiae, torn. iv. 



1" View of the Russian Empire, vol. ii. b. iii. p. 148. 



