Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/50

 

POPULATION.

The first census ever taken of the population of Mexico, was that made in the year 1793, by the orders of the Viceroy, Count Revillagigedo, by which it appeared, that the number of inhabitants registered amounted to 4,483,529. This was the minimum of the population; as, independently of the difficulty with which statistical researches are always attended, it is well known, that, in America, a census was regarded as the prelude to some new system of taxation, which the natives endeavoured to elude, by diminishing the number of those, upon whom it was to operate. Humboldt adds one-sixth, in order to cover the deficiency, and estimates the total (in 1794) at 5,200,000 souls. He conceives, that, in nineteen years, this population ought to double, according to the average proportion of births to deaths, given by the parish registers in every part of the country, (170 to 100,) unless its progress be checked by pestilence, or famine; and he regards it as more than probable, that, at the period of his visit, (1803,) it already amounted to six millions and a half.

Since that time, only one very imperfect census has been taken, (in 1806,) which, however, proved Humboldt's estimate to be correct, by giving six millions and a half as the minimum (that is, the registered amount) of the population. The civil wars by which the country has since been desolated, must have rendered any considerable increase impossible, not only by the mortality which they occasioned on the field of