1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 3Q3 



merchant, from three to five. One of this class at 

 Canton, had indeed, twenty-five wives, and thirty-six 

 children ; but this was mentioned to me as a very 

 extraordinary instance. An opulent tradesman has 

 usually two ; and the lower class of people very 

 rarely more than one. Their servants are at least 

 double in number to those employed by persons of 

 the same condition in Europe, li', then, we suppose 

 a Chinese family one-third larger, and an European 

 house two-thirds less, than each other, a Chinese 

 city will contain only half the number of inhabitants 

 contained in an European town of the same size. 

 According to these data, the city and suburbs of 

 Canton may probably contain about one hundred 

 and fifty thousand. 



With respect to the number of inhabited sam- 

 panes, I found different opinions were entertained ; 

 but none placing them lower than forty thousand. 

 They are moored in rows close to each other, with 

 a narrow passage, at intervals, for the boats to pass 

 up and down the river. As the Tygris at Canton 

 is somewhat wider than the Thames at London, 

 and the whole river is covered in this manner for 

 the extent of at least a mile, this account of their 

 number does not appear to me, in the least, ex- 

 aggerated; and, if it be allowed, the number of 

 inhabitants in the sampanes alone (for each of them 

 contains one family), must amount to nearly three 

 times the number supposed by M. Sonnerat to be in 

 the whole city. 



The military force of the province, of which 

 Canton is the capital, amounts to fifty thousand 

 men. It is said that twenty thousand are stationed 

 in and about the city ; and, as a proof of this, 1 was 

 assured, that, on the occasion of some, disturbance 

 that had happened at Canton, thirty thousand men 

 were drawn together within the space of a few 

 hours. 



