POPULATION. 12/ 



« after an innumerable multitude of boats, which covered the 

 " furface of the water : thefe were thoufands of fifliermen, 

 " whofe induftry drew from the deeps fubhltence for numbers. 

 ** The land now began to rile to my view. I advanced to the 

 *' mouth of the river, ftill aniidft crowds of fifliers, throwing 

 " out their lines on every fide. 1 entered the river oi Kantoii\ 

 " it is peopled like the land; its banks lined with fiiips at an- 

 " chor; a prodigious number of fmall craft are continually 

 ** gliding along in every diredlion, fome with fails, others with 

 " oars, vanifliing often fuddenly from the light, as they enter 

 '* the numberlefs canals, dug with amazing labour acrofs ex- 

 ** tenfive plains, which they water and fertilize. Immenfe fields, 

 *' covered with all the glory of the harveft, with ftately villages 

 *' rifing to the eye on every fide, adorn the remoter view, whilll: 

 " mountains, covered with verdure, cut into terraces, and fhaped 

 " into amphitheatres, form the back ground of this noble land- 

 " fcape." 



The Chinefe divide their cities into firit rate, fecond, and third. Ca.nton', 

 The firil may be known by the addition of /o(7, the lecond by 

 that of tcboo^ the third by that of hyejt. ^ang-tchoo-foo, or 

 Canton^ is chief among the firft, as it is fuppofed to contain a mil- 

 lion of inhabitants. Facban, a village a fev/ miles higher, has 

 the fame number. This in fome meafure inchnes us to think 

 that Voltaire's calculation is not very far out of the way. The Very Poputous. 

 land, and the very water is inhabited. iMiliions live in the Sam- 

 panes^ or veflTels, placed on each fide of the great rivers. 

 Thole of Canton alone may contain two hundred and twenty- 

 five thoufand inmates. Thoufands and thoufands dwell on the 



exalted 



