QUERY VIII.
THE number of its Inhabitants?
The following table ſhews the number of perſons imported for the eſtabliſhment of our colony in its infant ſtate, and the cenſus of inhabitants at different periods, extracted from our hiſtorians and public records, as particularly as I have had opportunities and leiſure to examine them. Succeſſive lines in the ſame year ſhew ſucceſſive periods of time in that year. I have ſtated the cenſus in two different columns, the whole inhabitants having been ſometimes numbered, and ſometimes the tythes only. This term, with us, includes the free males above 16 years of age, and ſlaves above that age of both ſexes. A further examination of our records would render this hiſtory of our population much more ſatisfactory and perfect, by furniſhing a greater number of intermediate terms. Thoſe however which are here ſtated will enable us to calculate, with a conſiderable degree of preciſion, the rate at which we have increaſed. During the infancy of the colony, while numbers were ſmall, wars, importations, and other accidental circumſtances render the progreſſion fluctuating and irregular. By the year 1654, however,
