ON MARRIAGE AND INFANTICIDE IN CHINA. 179 



In these densely crowded regions, the mass of the people are ex- 

 tremely poor. They live in miserable houses; they wear very little 

 clothing ; they are scantily fed. At Amoy the ordinary daily wages 

 of common labourers cannot exceed five cents. Sixteen labourers 

 could readily be obtained for one dollar a day. Carpenters, joiners, 

 masons, blacksmiths, and tailors earn only about one eighth of a dol- 

 lar daily. In a country where rice costs two cents a pound ; beef, 

 five cents ; and pork, seven, it is evident that the wages of mechanics 

 can procure only very poor food. And, when it is remembered that, 

 among the common people, house rent, and fuel, and food, and cloth- 

 ing, for wife and children, are to be procured, it is plain that the pres- 

 sure is very great. It is, indeed, wonderful how life can be main- 

 tained in such circumstances. 



One result of this extreme poverty is that the natural development 

 of children is very slow and tardy. A rich man's son, at sixteen 

 years of age, is evidently verging on manhood. The voice has chan- 

 ged, the larynx is enlarged, the shoulders are broad, the neck is thick, 

 the full height is reached, the beard is appearing. It is not at all un- 

 common for the sons of the rich to be married before the age of 

 eighteen. 



Among the poor, on the other hand, at the same age, the stature is 

 that of a child, and none of the signs of manhood have appeared. 

 The voice is often unchanged at twenty, and the whole frame child- 

 like. 



It is thus e^vident that among the Chinese the experiment has been 

 made shewing the minimum of food consistent with life and health. 

 Many are unable to obtain even this, and use food unfitted to their 

 wants and tending to induce disease. Putrid fish are often eaten. 

 Salted vegetables constitute a large part of the food of the very poor. 

 Hence permanent dyspepsia with all its serious consequences. 



Such being the condition of the poor, we might naturally suppose 

 that marriage would be confined to those in easy circumstances, and 

 that the redundancy of population would thus, in a few years, dis- 

 appear. 



But in China marriage offers the only provision for old age. It is 

 the " Savings' Bank " of the people. Sons are expected to support 

 their aged parents. Every man, therefore, desires to marry, that he 

 may have three or four sons to maintain him when he is old. But, in 

 order to marry, money is needed. A wife costs eighty dollars, and a 



Vol. XI. M 



