Ch. xi. Indostan and Tibet. 201 



In Tibet, according to Turner's account of that 

 country, a custom of this kind prevails generally. 

 Without pretending absolutely to determine the 

 question of its origin, Mr. Turner leans to the 

 supposition that it arose from the fear of a popu- 

 lation too great for an unfertile country. From 

 travelling much in the east he had probably been 

 led to observe the effects necessarily resulting 

 from an overflowing population, and is in conse- 

 quence one among the very few writers, who see 

 these effects in their true light. He expresses 

 himself very strongly on this subject, and, in refe- 

 rence to the above custom, says, " It certainly 

 " appears, that a superabundant population in an 

 " unfertile country must be the greatest of all 

 * calamities, and produce eternal warfare or 

 " eternal want. Either the most active and the 

 " most able part of the community must be com- 

 " pelled to emigrate, and to become soldiers of 

 " fortune or merchants of chance ; or else, if they 

 " remain at home, be liable to fall a prey to 

 " famine in consequence of some accidental failure 

 " in their scanty crops. By thus linking whole 

 " families together in the matrimonial yoke, the 

 " too rapid increase of population was perhaps 

 ** checked, and an alarm prevented, capable of 

 " pervading the most fertile region upon the earth, 

 " and of giving birth to the most inhuman and 

 " unnatural practice, in the richest, the most pro- 

 " ductive and the most populous country in the 

 " world. I allude to the Empire of China, where 

 " a mother, not foreseeing the means of raising or 



