EXAMINED AND ANSWERED. 177 



guration of the country, improved by art, skill, 

 and intelligence, to seven-tenths 'of a population 

 reckoned at the lowest estimate to amount to 

 200,000,000 of souls. Nor shall we readily find 

 elsewhere boats of such various forms and con- 

 structions, some built with lofty and well-decked 

 prows to pass falls and rapids ; others long, low, 

 and narrow, for speed ; others broad and high, for 

 cargo ; and others for comfort and the convenience 

 of travelling, as well as some gaily ornamented, 

 for pleasure and amusement. 



Again, if we test the navigable condition of the 

 river Min by the population on its banks, we find 

 the city of Foo-chew-foo rated at 500,000 souls. 

 The Rev. G. Smith is disposed to estimate it even 

 as high as 600,000, a population the two thirds of 

 • that of Paris, nearly double that of Vienna , and nearly 

 equal to that of Naples. The population of Ivien- 

 ning-fu was estimated by a census taken in 1790 to 

 contain 250,000 persons — a population superior to 

 Manchester, and nearly equal to Liverpool. The 

 population of Yen-ping-foo, the key of the pro- 

 vince, must also be considerable, and likewise the 

 towns of Kien-Yang-foo, Pu-ching-hien, and others ; 

 so that the population on the banks of the Min 

 alone may not be overstated at one and a half mil- 

 lion of souls. But if we turn to the map of the 

 province in Du Halde, or, still better, to Martini's 

 Geography of China, we shall perceive that the Min 

 and its tributaries cover two thirds of the province ; 



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