POP 



101 



P O R 



ilation 





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I 



Porcelain. 



The following Table shows the relation of the slave 

 to the free population, and the increments of the 

 slaves and free persons in different year* and different 

 states. 



POPULATION OF HINDOSTAN. 



The following is an approximate estimate of the po- 

 pulation of the principal cities of Hindustan. 



The total population of Hindostan is estimated at 

 134,000,000, and 1,280,000 square miles. 



Name. PORCELAIN is a species of the finest earthen- 



ware, denominating dishes or vessels of any size or form, 

 semi-pellucid, and of a character partaking of the na- 

 ture of earth and of glass. Porcelain is also designated 

 china-ware, because that manufacture was first invent- 

 ed in China, and has attained there, notwithstanding 

 the various attempts made in Europe, to a degree of 

 perfection hitherto almost unrivalled. In China this 

 manufacture is named tse-ki, a word peculiar to that 

 country ; and the term porcelain, now in common use 

 except in the east, is evidently of European derivation, 

 as the Chinese language recognises no such sounds. 



Of the origin and meaning of this modern term, various 

 conflicting conjectures have been made. Nor can the 

 question now be settled. But the most common and 

 the most satisfactory opinion seems to be, either that it 

 is derived from the Portuguese porcelana, a cup, be- 

 cause the Portuguese were the first to introduce this 

 manufacture into Europe, or is compounded of the 

 French words pour cent anntet, because it was errone- 

 ously supposed that the materials of which porcelain 

 is composed required to be matured under ground for 

 a hundred years. 



The manufacture of porcelain, as hinted above, was Origin and 

 invented and carried on in China many centuries, history, 

 it is ascertained, ere that country was known to Euro* 

 peans. It is mentioned in the Chinese annals as an im- 

 portant and extensive manufacture so early as the year 

 442. The invention of this art, however, must have 

 taken place long prior to this date, as porcelain was 

 then made of the same materials as at present, and as 

 it had then also arrived at a degree of perfection which 

 no subsequent skill or experience has been able to 

 surpass. On the contrary, it is universally believed in 

 China, that the porcelain-ware of former times was 

 much superior to any of which the present age can 

 boast. This manufacture has been attempted in vari- 

 ous parts of China, in Quan-tong and Fo-kien ; but it 

 has attained to its greatest eminence in King-te-tching, 

 a town, or, to use the language of the country, a village 

 in the province of Kiangsi, the place from which the 

 European trade is chiefly supplied, and which has thus 

 the distinction of furnishing the greater part of the 

 world with this elegant and delicate commodity. This 



