Illinois, 3; in the Western States, 11. In England, the density of the population is about 230 persons to the square mile; in France, 160; in Germany, it varies from 100 to 200.* The number of Indians within the U. States was estimated, in 1830, at about 313,000, of which upwards of 215,000 were to the west of the limits above described as inhabited by the *The following curious speculations concerning the future progress of the population of the American continent are deserving of attention. They are taken from the Encyclopædia Britannica, now publishing in Edinburgh, article America. "Humboldt gives the following estimate of the entire population of America in 1823: Proportion. whites; but measures have since been in progress for removing those within the limits of the states to a region on the western borders of Arkansas territory; and we have no certain data as to the actual number now remaining within the settled parts of the U. States. Many of those who remain have become so much intermingled with blacks, that they the same rate. The Mexican Indians, and probably the Peruvians, have also been increasing, but slowly, while nearly all the independent tribes have been mouldering away. The black population does not maintain its numbers in the West Indies it is rather increasing in Brazil, and in the U. States it grows rapidly. Setting aside the West Indies, where the negroes do not Whites, ..........13,471,000 38 per cent. increase, and attending to the continent merely, Indians, 8,610,000 25 19 (slaves, 5,000,000 Negroes, free, 1,433,000 Mixed races,•••••• 6,428,000 18 34,942,000 If we assume the annual ratio of increase to be two per cent. per annum upon the whole, the entire population in 1830 will be about 40,000,000, distributed as follows: The number of blacks in all other parts of America probably does not amount to 100,000.-One of the most interesting questions connected with America, relates to the increase and probable amount, at a future period, of its inhabitants. It was the astonishing progress of the U. States that first clearly unfolded the principles on which the multiplication of human beings depends. We know with certainty that a prosperous community, possessing abundance of unoccupied land, will double its numbers in 25 [23] years, without any aid from emigration; and as the scale ascends in a geometrical ratio, a short time necessarily produces a wonderful change. It is to be observed, however, that the whites, possessing the advantages of superior industry, order, and forethought, naturally increase faster than the other classes. In the U. States, this part of the population increases at the rate of three per cent. [3] per annum; and when the Spanish American republics have settled down into a tranquil state, there is no doubt that their white inhabitants will multiply at let us take the number of each class as it stands at present, and see what the result will be in a course of years, assuming the rate of increase to be three per cent. for the whites, one and a half per cent. for the negroes, and one per cent. for the civilized Indians. If the whole population is 40,000,000 at present, the continental whites will be about 16,000,000, the Indians about 9,500,000, the negroes 5,000,000, and the mixed race 7,000,000. In Spanish America, it may be assumed that the mixed race, consisting almost entirely of mestizoes, will merge into the white, and increase nearly in the same ratio. We shall therefore add five sevenths of the former to the latter, which will raise the whites to 21,000,000. Number of whites in 1830, 21,000,000 42,000,000 84,000,000 .168,000,000 .336,000,000 As the difficulty of providing for the growing annual increment of inhabitants must increase with the magnitude of the population, let us assume that, at the end of a century, the rate of increase falls to two per cent. The period of doubling will then be thirty-six years. Number of whites in 1966,.. 66 66 66 672,000,000 2002,......1,344,000,000 16 2030,......2,380,000,000 Thus, in two centuries, the whites now in America would multiply to a mass of people three times as great as are at present on the whole surface of the globe. The new continent, though less than half the size of the old, contains at least an equal quantity of useful soil, and much more than an equal amount of productive power. Of the 31,000,000 of square miles which compose the three eastern continents, we cannot find that the productive soil constitutes so much as one third, and of that third a part is poor. Now, in estimating the useful soil of America, we reject, 1. all the region northward of the latitude of 53°. amounting to 2,600,000 square miles; 2. a belt of barren land about 300 miles broad by 1000 in length, or 300,000 square miles, lying on the east side of the Rocky mountains; 3. a belt of arid land, of similar extent, situated on the east side of the Andes, between 24° and 40' of south latitude; 4. the desert shore of Peru, equal to 100,000 square miles; 5. an extent of 100.000 square miles for the arid country of California and Sonora; and 6. an extent of 500,000 square may be more properly designated as colored persons than as Indians. (See Indians, American; Indian Languages of America; and Tsulakees.) . Nantucket,.. 7,202 | Newport,... 8,010 Springfield, 6,784 Scituate, .. 6,853 Lowell,(1832) 10,000 Warwick, . . 5,529 Newburyport, 6,388 Connecticut. Lynn,. . . . . 6,138 Towns with a Population of more than Cambridge, 6,071 New Haven, 10,678 5000. miles for the summits of the Andes and the southern extremity of Patagonia. These make an aggregate of 3,900,000 square miles, which, deducted from 13,900,000, the whole surface of the American continent, leaves 10,000,000 square miles as the quantity of useful soil. Now, what relation does the fruitfulness of the ground bear to the latitude of the place? The productive powers of the soil depend on two circumstances, heat and moisture; and these increase as we approach the equator. First, the warm regions of the globe yield larger returns of those plants which they have in common with the temperate zones; and, next, they have peculiar plants, which afford a much greater proportion of nourishment from the same extent of surface. Thus maize, which produces 40 or 50 for 1 in France, produces 150 for 1, on an average, in Mexico; and Humboldt computes that an arpent (five sixths of an acre), which will scarcely support two men when sown with wheat, will support fifty when planted with bananas. From a consideration of these and other facts, we infer that the nutritive powers of the soil will be pretty correctly indicated by combining the ratios of the heat and moisture, expressing the former of these in degrees of the centigrade scale. Thus the same extent of ground which supports four persons at the latitude of 60° would support fifteen at the latitude of 45°, and 100 at the equator. But the food preferred will not always be that which the land yields in greatest abundance; and the power of the human frame to sustain labor is greatly diminished in hot climates. On these grounds, we shall consider the capacity of the land to support population as proportional to the third power of the cosine for the latitude. It will therefore stand thus: Latitude,....... 0° 15° 30° 45° 60° Productiveness,...100 90 65 35 12 Assuming that the number of persons whom a square mile can sustain without pressure is 150 at the latitude of 50°, we have 26 as the sum which expresses the productiveness of this parallel. Then, taking, for the sake of simplicity, 35 as the index of the productiveness of the useful soil beyond 30° in America, and 85 as that of the country within the parallel of 30° on each side of the equator, we have about 4,100,000 square miles, each capable of supporting 200 persons, and 5,700,000 square miles, each capable of supporting 490 persons. It follows that, if the natural re Taunton, 6,045 Hartford,... 9,789 Roxbury,... 5,249 Middletown,. 6,892 Marblehead, . 5,150 Norwich,. 5,169 Middleboro',. 5,008 Rhode Island. Providence, 16,882 New York. New York, 203,007 Brooklyn, 15,396 sources of America were fully developed, it would afford sustenance to 3,600,000,000 of inhabitants, a number five times as great as the entire mass of human beings existing at present upon the globe. And, what is more surprising, there is every probability that this prodigious population will be in existence within three, or, at most, four centuries. The imagination is lost in contemplating a state of things which will make so great and rapid a change in the condition of the world. We almost fancy that it is a dream; and yet the result is based on principles quite as certain as those which govern the conduct of men in their ordinary pursuits. There are many elements of disorder now operating in Spanish America, but these are merely the dregs left by the old Spanish despotism; and the Anglo-American republic is a polestar to guide the people in their course towards freedom and prosperity. Nearly all social improvements spring from the reciprocal influence of condensed numbers and diffused intelligence. What, then, will be the state of society in America two centuries hence, when a thousand or two thousand millions of civilized men are crowded into a space comparatively so narrow, and when this immense mass of human beings speak only two languages! We take for granted that the Portuguese will merge into the Spanish; and it is clear to us that the Russian will never obtain a footing in the new world. Such a state of things may be said to undo the curse of Babel, and restore the great mass of mankind to their pristine facility of intercourse; for the languages spoken by the communities of Europe and Asia will be as unimportant then, in the general scale of the globe, as the dialects of Hungary, Finland and Bohethat wealth, power, science, literature, all follow mia are in Europe at this day. History shows in the train of numbers, general intelligence and freedom. The same causes which transferred the sceptre of civilization from the banks of the Euphrates and the Nile to Western Europe, must, in the course of no long period,carry it from the latter to the plains of the Mississippi and the Amazon. Society, after all, is in its infancy; the habitable world, when its productive powers are regarded, may be said hitherto to have been an untenanted waste. If any one suspects us of drawing on our fancy, we would request him to examine thoroughly the condition and past progress of the North American republic. Let him look at its amazing strides in wealth, intelligence and social improvements; at its indestructible liberty; and, above all, at the prodigious growth of its popalation; and let him answer the question to himself, what power can stop the tide of civilization which is pouring from this single source over an unoccupied world." 1795 26,109,572 Skins and furs,. 33,026,233 Ginseng, 47,989,472 1796 40,764,097 26,300,000 67,064,079 1797 29,850,206 27,000,000 56,850,206 1798 28,527,097 33,000,000 61,527,097 1799 33,142,522 45,523,000 78,665,522 1800 31,840,903 49,130,877 70,971,780 1801 47,473,204 46,642,721 94,115,925 1802 36,708,189, 35,774,971 72,483,160 1803 42,205,961 13,594,072 55,800,033 1804 41,467,477 36,231,597 77,699,074 1805 42,387,002 53,179,019 95,566,021 1806 41,253,727 60,283,236 101,536,963 1807 48,699,592 59,643,558 108,843,150 1808 9,433,546 12,997,414 22,430,960 1809 31,405,702 20,797,531 52,203,233 1810 42,366,675 24,391,295 66,757,970 1811 45,294,043 16,022,790 61,316,833 1812 30,032,109 8,495,127 38,527,236 1813 25,008,152 2,847,845 27,855,997 1814 6,782,272 145,169 6,927,441 1815 45,974,403 6,583,350 52,557,753 1816 64,781,896 17,138,556 81,920,452 1817 68,313,500 19,358,069 82,671,569 1818 73,854,437 19,426,696 93,281,133 1819 50,976,838 19,165,683 70,142,521 1820 51,683,640 18,008,029 69,691,669 1821 43,671,894 21,302,488 64,974,328 1822 49,874,079 22,286,202 72,160,281 1823 47,155,408 27,543,622 74,699,030 1824 50,649,500 25,337,157 75,986,657 1825 66,944,745 32,590,643 99,535,388 1826 53,055,710 24,539,612 77,595,322 1827 58,921,691 23,403,136 82,324,827 1828 50,921,669 21,595,017 72,516,786 1829 55,700,193 16,658,478 72,358,671 1830 59,462,029 14,387,479 73,849,508 The following statement for the year 1831 shows the nature of the domestic exports: Product of Wood Staves, shingles, boards, and 1,467,065 214,105 7,806 Oak bark and other dye-stuffs, 99,116 All manufactures of wood,.. 275,219 Naval stores, tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine,. Ashes, pot and pearl, AGRICULTURE. Product of Animals Beef, tallow, hides, and horn- Butter and cheese, Wheat, Indian corn, 397,687 935,613 829,982 264,796 1,501,654 218,015 14,499 Vegetable Food 523,270 9,938,458 396,617 595,434 71,881 132,717 250,533 41,147 31,148 2,016,267 4,892,388 25,289,492 216,376 26,664 Brown sugar, 10,105 Rye, oats, and other small grain and pulse, Biscuit, or ship bread, Potatoes, Apples, Rice, Tobacco, Cotton, Flaxseed, Hops, |