" 1828.................... 2020 " 1829 "
" 1831.................... 2266 " 1781 "

The births, it will be observed, steadily diminished in number.

At the peace of 1763, DOMINICA contained 6000 slaves. The net amount
of importation, _in four years_, 1784 to 1787, was 23,221;[6] and yet
the total population in 1788 was but 14,967! Here we have a waste of
life so far exceeding that of Jamaica that we might almost feel
ourselves called upon to allow five imported for every one remaining
on the island. Forty-four years afterwards, in 1832, the slave
emancipation returns gave 14,834 as remaining out of the vast number
that had been imported. The losses by death and the gains by births,
for a part of the period preceding emancipation, are thus given:--

1817 to 1820................. 1748 deaths, 1433 births.
1820 to 1823................. 1527 " 1491 "
1823 to 1826................. 1493 " 1309 "

If we look to BRITISH GUIANA, we find the same results.[7]

In 1820, Demerara and Essequebo had a
slave population of............................... 77,376
By 1826, it had fallen to......................... 71,382
And by 1832, it had still further fallen to....... 65,517

The deaths and births of this colony exhibit a waste of life that
would be deemed almost incredible, had not the facts been carefully
registered at the moment:--