178 PREJUDICES AGAINST FOOCHEW-FOO 



and if we reckon the whole population at 8,000,000, 

 agreeably to the Pere Allerstain *, in lieu of 

 15,000,000, as given by the highest modern authori- 

 ties, still even this estimate, low as it may be, would 

 furnish to the Min and its tributaries a popula- 

 tion of 5,500,000. And can a free and easy com- 

 munication with a population of this magnitude 

 be a matter of indifference, as affecting our imports 

 into China ? Or, is it probable that a commercial 

 population, of double the amount of that of the 

 second commercial city of Great Britain, could 

 have risen up in the principal city of the province, 

 without possessing, like Liverpool, all the attributes 

 which an extended commerce demands ? 



Du Halde informs us, that no less than 10,000 

 porters are regularly employed at the town of Pu- 

 ching-hien, in the transport of goods across the 

 mountainous range which separates Fokien from 

 Chekiang, which is the direct route from Foo-chew- 

 foo to Hang-chew-foo and the grand canal. This 

 mountain pass extends for thirty leagues, and is 

 furnished with towns full of inns for lodging tra- 

 vellers.f Thus it is obvious, from the number of 

 towns, inns, and porters employed, that this route 

 must be a much-frequented one, and that consider- 

 able traffic consequently exists on the river Min, 

 to and from the province of Chekiang. 



The trade of Foo-chew-foo is also considerable. 



* Memoires cles Chinois, torn. vi. p. 275. 



j Du Halde's China, vol. i. p. 87., translation. 



