46 DISTRICT/ 



ranean wealth. On the contrary, we here 

 iind civiHzatlon, and the arts, in the rear. 



This, perhaps, is a natural and inevitable 

 confequence of mining ; which not only 

 immerfes the lower clafs in the rnoft abje(il: 

 employment, and buries them in the depths 

 of ignorance; but, by exciting a fpirit of 

 adventure and fpeculation in the middle and 

 upper clalTes, draws off their attention from 

 the more regular and certain advantages, 

 which accrue from amculture, m.anufac- 

 ture, and the other ufeful arts of life. 



Viewing the fubject in this light, it ap- 

 pears to be found policy in the Chinese 

 Government, to fuppre fs mining, and 

 to dired: the induftry of its myriads of 

 fubjeds to THE CULTURE OF THE 

 SOIL, AND THE MANUFACTURE 

 OF ITS PRODUCE. 



V. THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 

 The infinite variety of furface which this 

 Diftrid: affords, the irregularly winding 

 eftuai-ies,and the rapid torrents, by which it 

 is interfered, and the wild coppices that 

 hang on the fides of its hills, down perhaps 

 to the immediate margins of the rivers and 



elluaries. 



