^AY 28, 18G0.] CHINA. 191 



neighbouring country is very thinly inhabited ; but, by a liberal 

 introduction of Chinese emigrants, and sound commercial regula- 

 tions, Saigon may become a valuable emporium and a convenient 

 harbour of refuge to ships damaged by the storms of the China Sea. 

 China. — In the course of the past year we have had but two com- 

 munications to add to the large stock supplied to us in the previous 

 one by such eminent contributors as our Associates Sir John Davis, 

 Captain Sherard Osborn, Mr. Laurence Oliphant, and Dr. Macgowan 

 of the U.S. The first of these papers, which wo owe to the kindness 

 of one of our Fellows, Mr. Hugh Lindsay, is the diary of Mr. 

 Mickie, kept by him in a voyage from Shanghai to the Gulfs of 

 Pecheli and Laotung. In the course of his paper, this accurate and 

 very intelligent traveller furnishes us with new and valuable 

 information on the hydrography, topography, and climate of the 

 countries he saw. One fact he brings to our knowledge, of which 

 we were but partially informed before, that, through the distracted 

 state of China and the consequent extent of piracy on its coasts, 

 the carrying and coasting trade of the country is in a good measure 

 carried on in European shipping instead of Chinese junks. 



The second communication is contained in a letter to Dr. Shaw 

 from Lieutenant Lindesay Brine, R.N., and gives a very instructive 

 account of the Si-kiang or West Eiver, which has been usually 

 called by us the Broadway, and sometimes the Blue Eiver. This 

 stream, hitherto unvisited by Europeans, was found by the expe- 

 dition under Captain M'Cleverty, r.n., which ascended it in 

 February of last year, to be a broad navigable river to the length of 

 75 miles. 



Kespecting the vast empire which has now become so important 

 to us, I shall only state a few broad facts which appear to me of 

 great interest, not only to the geographer but to the statesman. It 

 is well known that a census of the population of China was taken in 

 1812, which made it in round numbers amount to 360,000,000. 

 Another has recently been taken which raised this large sum to 

 412,000,000, showing that during forty-eight years the inhabitants 

 of China had increased by 52,000,000 — or little short of double 

 our own numbers at the census taken ten years ago. Always 

 closely pressed for the means of subsistence, the people of China 

 are of course at present more so than at any previously known 

 period of their history, and hence the emigration which is going 

 on beyond all precedent with this home-loving people, and this 

 to such remote countries as Australia, California, and even the 



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