392 cook's voyage to dec. 



accused of great exaggeration by M. Sonnerat ; for 

 which reason the following observations, collected 

 from the information with which I have been 

 obligingly furnished by several English gentlemen, 

 who were a long time resident at Canton, may not 

 be unacceptable to the public. 



Canton, including the old and new town, and the 

 suburbs, is about ten miles in circuit. With respect 

 to its population, if one may judge of the whole, 

 from what is seen in the suburbs, I should conceive 

 it to fall considerably short of an European town of 

 the same magnitude. Le Comte estimated the 

 number of inhabitants at one million five hundred 

 thousand ; Du Halde at one million ; and M. 

 Sonnerat says he has ascertained them to be no 

 more than seventy-five thousand * : but, as this 

 gentleman has not favoured us with the grounds on 

 which his calculation was founded; and, besides, 

 appears as desirous of depreciating every thing that 

 relates to the Chinese, as the Jesuits mav be of 

 magnifying, his opinion certainly admits of some 

 doubt. The following circumstances may perhaps 

 lead the reader to form a judgment with tolerable 

 accuracy on this subject. 



A Chinese house undoubtedly occupies more 

 space than is usually taken up by houses in Europe; 

 but the proportion suggested by M. Sonnerat, of 

 four or five to one, certainly goes much beyond the 

 truth. To this should be added, that a great many 

 houses in the suburbs of Canton, are occupied for 

 commercial purposes only, by merchants and rich 

 tradesmen, whose families live entirely within the 

 city. On the other hand, a Chinese family appears 

 to consist, on an average, of more persons than an 

 European. A Mandarine, according to his rank 

 and substance, has from five to twenty wives. A 



* " J'ai verifie moi-meme, avec plusieurs Chinois, la population 

 de Canton, de la ville de Tartare, et de celle de Battaux," &c. 

 Voyage aux Indes, %c. par M. Sonnerat, torn. ii. p. 14. 



