so 



INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES. 



" country, about fifty years ago, was uncultivated and almoft 

 " deilitute of inhabitants. 



" A Cbinefe merchant, commander of a veffel which he em- 

 " ployed in commerce, frequented thefe coafts ;, being a man c^f 

 " that intelligent reflective genius, which fo characfteriftically 

 " marks his nation, he could not, without pain, behold immenfe 

 " trails of ground condemned to fterility, though naturally more 

 « fertile than thofe which formed the riches of his own 

 « country ; he formed, therefore, a plan for their improvement : 

 " with this view, having firll of all hired a number of la- 

 " borers, feme Cbinefe, others from the neighboring nations, 

 ** he, with great addrefs, infinuated himfclf into the favor of 

 " the moft powerful princes, who, for a certain fubfidy, afligned 

 " him a guard for his protcvflion. 



"In the courfe of his voyage to Batavia, and the Philippine 

 " iflands, he borrowed frorh the Europeans their moft ufeful dif- 

 " coveries and improvements, particularly the art of fortifica- 

 " tion and defence ; with regard to internal police, he gave the 

 ** preference to the Cbinefe. The profits of his commerce foon 

 *< enabled him to raife ramparts, fink ditches, and provide ar- 

 ** tillery ; thefe preliminary precautions fecured him from a 

 " coup de main, and protected him from the enterprizes of the 

 ** furrounding nations of barbarians. 



** He diftributed the land"^ to his laborers, without the leaft 

 ** refervation of any of thofe duties or taxes known by the names 

 " of fervice, or fines of alienation ; duties which, by allowing no 

 " real property, become the moft fatal fcourge to agriculture, 

 <* and is an idea which revolts againft the common fenfe of 



*' every 



