The census of the slaves in San Domingo was annually taken upon the capitation-tax which each planter had to pay; thus the children, and negroes above forty-five years of age, escaped counting.  But in 1789, Schoelcher says that the census declared five hundred thousand slaves; that is, in twelve years the increase had been two hundred thousand.  How many negroes deported from Africa do these figures represent! what number who died soon after landing, too feeble and diseased to become acclimated!

Here is the prospectus of an expedition to the coast of Guinea in 1782 for the purpose of landing seven hundred slaves in the Antilles.  They were shipped in two vessels, one of six hundred tons, the other a small corvette.

Outfit of large vessel, 150,000 livres
" " corvette, 50,000 "
Purchase of 700 negroes at 300 livres per head, 210,000 "
Insurance upon the passage at 15 per cent., 61,500 "
" " " premiums at 15 per cent., 9,225 "
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Total cost of the passage, 480,725 "

The passage was a very prosperous one:  only 35
negroes spoiled, or 5 per cent, of the whole
number.  The remaining 665 were sold in San
Domingo at an average price of 2,000 livres,
making 1,330,000 "
Deduct commissions of ships’ officers and
correspondents in West Indies, at 11-1/2 per cent 152,950 "
---------
1,177,050 "
Deduct expenses in West Indies, 17,050 "
---------
1,160,000 "
Deduct exchange, freight, and insurance upon
return passage of the vessels, 20 per cent., 232,000 "
---------
928,000 "
Deduct crews’ wages for 10 months, reckoning the
length of the voyage at 13 months, 55,000 "
---------
873,000 "
Add value of returned vessels, 90,000 "
---------
963,000 "
Deduct original cost of the whole, 480,725 "
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The profit remains, 100 per cent., 482,275 "

Two hundred and seventy-four slavers entered the ports of San Domingo, from 1767 to 1774, bringing 79,000 negroes.  One-third of these perished from various causes, including the cold of the mountains and the unhealthiness of the coffee-plantations, so that only 52,667 remained.  These could not naturally increase, for the mortality was nearly double the number of births, and the negroes had few children during the first years after their arrival.  Only one birth was reckoned to thirty slaves.  There was always a great preponderance of males, because they could bear the miseries of the passage better than the women, and were worth more upon landing.  Include also the effects of forced labor, which reduced the average duration of a slave’s life to fifteen years, and carried off yearly one-fifteenth of the whole number, and the reason for the slaver’s profits and for his unscrupulous activity become clear.