122 Of the Checks to Population Bk. i. 



instead of looking for the causes which prevented 

 a further progress in population, we can only be 

 astonished at the force of that principle of increase, 

 which could furnish fresh harvests of human beings 

 for the scythe of each successive conqueror. 

 Our inquiries will be more usefully directed 

 to the present state of the Tartar nations, and the 

 ordinary checks to their increase, when not under 

 the influence of these violent convulsions. 



The immense country, inhabited at present by 

 those descendants of the Moguls and Tartars, 

 who retain nearly the same manners as their an- 

 cestors, comprises in it almost all the middle 

 regions of Asia, and possesses the advantage of a 

 very fine and temperate climate. The soil is in 

 general of great natural fertility. There are com- 

 paratively but few genuine deserts. The wide- 

 extended plains without a shrub, which have 

 sometimes received that appellation, and which 

 the Russians call steppes, are covered with a lux- 

 uriant grass, admirably fitted for the pasture of 

 numerous herds and flocks. The principal defect 

 of this extensive country is a want of water; but 

 it is said that the parts which are supplied with 

 this necessary article, would be sufficient for the 

 support of four times the number of its present 

 inhabitants, if it were properly cultivated.* Every 

 Orda, or tribe, has a particular canton belonging 

 to it, containing both its summer and winter pas- 

 tures; and the population of this vast territory, 



* Geneal. Hist, of Tartars, vol. ii. sec. i. 8vo. 1730. 



