THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 285 



odd children ; of whom, as I remember, above 50 were 

 daughters. 



It may be objected, that Dr Arbuthnot, in quoting the 

 bills of mortality for twenty years, gave moll unexception- 

 able grounds for his opinion, and that my fmgle afTertion 

 of what happens in a foreign country, without further foun- 

 dation, cannot be admitted as equivalent teftimony ; and I 

 am ready to admit this objection, as bills of mortality there 

 are none in any of thefe countries. I mail therefore fay in 

 what manner I attained the knowledge which I have jufl 

 mentioned. Whenever I went into a town, village, or in- 

 habited place, dwelt long in a mountain, or travelled jour- 

 nies with any fet of people, I always' made it my bufinefs 

 to inquire how many children they had, or their fathers, 

 their next neighbours, or acquaintance. This not being a 

 captious queftion, or what any one would fcruple to an- 

 fwer, there was no intereft to deceive ; and if it had been 

 poflible, that two or three had been fo wrong-headed among 

 the whole, it would have been of little confequence. 



I then afked my landlord at Sidon, (fuppofe him a wea- 

 ver,) how many children he has had ? He tells me how 

 many fons, and how many daughters. The next I afk is a 

 fmith, a tailor, a filk-gatherer, the Cadi of the place, a cow- 

 herd, a hunter, a fifher, in lhort every man that is not a 

 ftranger, from whom I can get proper information. I fay, 

 therefore, that a medium of both fexes ariling from three 

 or four hundred families indiscriminately taken, mall be 

 the proportion in which one differs from the other ; and 

 this, I am confident, will give the remit to be three women 



to 



