1806.] On a Pajfage in Mr. Barroxv's Voyage to Cochin China. 423 



To the Editor of the Monthlj/ Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN reading over Mr. Barrow's Voyage 

 to Cochin China, whicli, from the 

 little it contains ot' that country, might 

 as well have been called a voyage to any 

 other part of the world, it is inipolliblc 

 not to be ftruck with the great variety 

 of fubjedts that are introduced into it. 

 Iliftory, travels, botany, chemiftry, elec- 

 tricity, politicid economy, political arith- 

 metic ; in fliort, every fcience from the 

 liighell to the loweft, from the art of 

 governing a Hate to the art of llaughter- 

 lug a bullock, are difcuflcd with equal 

 readinefs and ability in this multifarious 

 compilation; and the author difplays 

 fuch an immenk J'uj>c?-Jicics of knowledge 

 as to leave his reader alloniflied to find 

 " that one fmall head Ihould carry all 

 he knew." In general, however, it is 

 obferved that knowledge becomes atte- 

 nuated in proportion as it is diverlilied 

 or extended ; and it is polfible that fome 

 of his readers may be dilpoi'ed to think 

 that j\lr. Barrow forms no exception to 

 this rule. Without entering into this 

 quellion, which in itfcif is of little im- 

 portance, lihalljull notice one paffage 

 in his work, with the view of doing juf- 

 tice to the memory of the friend who is 

 calumniated in it, rather than from any 

 dehrc to alcertain cither the length or 

 the depth of Mr. Ban-ow's erudition. 



In his account of Madeira, which, 

 confidering his Ihort refuience in the 

 iilaud, is wonderlully circumlhmtial, Mr. 

 B. makes the following obfervation : " I 

 do not remember to ha\e feen or lieard 

 of any remarkable initance of longevity; 

 and the chances are that Dr. Price, in 

 fpeaking of the mortality of this illand 

 ns one in fifty ordy of the population, 

 while that of London he confidcrs as one 

 in twenty, is not lefs inaccurate in thofe 

 infiances than in many others of his cal- 

 culations." It is much to be wiflied, 

 that voyagers and travellers would read 

 before tliey write; fo that in eking out 

 tiicir (lory into a ponderous quarto, they 

 might at leall underftand the extraneous 

 fi'.bjects which are necell'ary to be intro- 

 duced for that pujpofe. Is it polfible 

 that any pcriiin who ever read Dr. Price's 

 " Effay on the Expectations of Lives in 

 London, &c." lliould be fo ignorant as 

 not to know the authority from whicli he 

 derivefl his information rcfpei'ting the 

 probabilities of life in Madeira? Has 

 iie not particularly ftated it to have been 

 deduced from the account given by Dr. 

 Tlioinas Ilebcrdcn, in ihc 57 th voluiiic 



of the PhilofophicaJ Tranfattions } If, 

 therefore, any error has been committed, 

 " the chances are" that it no more be- 

 longs to him than the ijierit of difcover- 

 ing it belongs to Mr. Barrow. The 

 truth however is, that the whole is pcr- 

 fe(':tly correct:; and that neithei error nor 

 inaccuracy are to be found either in Dr. 

 Heberden's account or in Dr. Price's 

 computations. The fonnei" obfenes, 

 that " from an exaCt fuivey made from 

 houfe to houfe, the numiier of inhabi- 

 tants on the illand was found to be 

 C4,614, and that the number of deaths 

 for eight years was 10,351," or about 

 1294 annually. From thele data Dr. 

 Price concludes, as Di-. lleberden had 

 already done, " that a Jiftieth part of 

 the inhabitants of Madeira die in the 

 year;" and I think it will require more 

 Ikill ill arithmetic than Mr. Barrow pof- 

 felVes to prove this couiputatiou to have 

 been wrong. It is very Itrange that a 

 perfon, fo utterly unacquainted with tl»e 

 lubj(.'Ct, Ihould venture to advance his 

 opinions fo readily, and to maintain them 

 with fo little regard to candour and de- 

 cency. Hud he been inllructed even in 

 the firft rudiments of political arithmetic, 

 he would have known that the long^evify 

 of a few perions in any ])Iace alfords no 

 datum for computing the ratio of mor- 

 tality amongft its inhabitants ; s^wd that 

 this could only be determined ia the 

 manner which Dr. Price has purfued. 

 lie does not, indeed, appear either to 

 have examined the regiliers of the birtlis 

 and burials, or to have made the moft 

 diftant enquiry about the adtual number 

 of inhabitants in Madeira ; or, in fliort, 

 to liave taken any other method of ob- 

 taining information, than merely to read 

 the infcriptions on the tomb-rtoncs, or 

 to count the perfons whom he cafuallv 

 met in a ftate of decrepitude. But even 

 of thefe latter it is not probable that he 

 fliould have (cen many ; for, as he li m- 

 felf prcvioully obferves, " tlic rclidcnce 

 of a few days among a foreigji people 

 connot be I'lippoied to fiu-iiifli much in- 

 formation of their manners, character, 

 and condition." The little information, 

 however,, which he did obtain, fli<jtild 

 have taught him to f])cak more rcfpei^t- 

 fully of Dr. Price's accuracy, and to 

 form couclufions direttly the revcife 

 of thofe which he lius adopted ; for in 

 the very next fentence he adds, that 

 " the pcafantry, like all other moun- 

 taineers, are a ftrong hcallliy rucc of 

 men, whofe chief cniploymeiiC coniilts 

 in the various occupations of agricul- 

 3 II 2 ture." 



