212 Of the Checks to Population in Bit. i. 



irrigation and by careful and judicious industry 

 of every kind. The labour of man is little diverted 

 from that industry, to minister to the luxuries of 

 the opulent and powerful, or in employments of 

 no real use. Even the soldiers of the Chinese 

 army, except during the short intervals of the 

 guards which they are called upon to mount, or 

 the exercises or other occasional services which 

 they perform, are mostly employed in agriculture. 

 The quantity of subsistence is increased also by 

 converting more species of animals and vegetables 

 to that purpose, than is usual in other countries.* 



This account, which is given by Sir George 

 Staunton, is confirmed by Duhalde and the other 

 Jesuits; who agree in describing the persevering 

 industry of the Chinese, in manuring, cultivating 

 and watering their lands, and their success in 

 producing a prodigious quantity of human sub- 

 sistence.f The effect of such a system of agricul- 

 ture on population must be obvious. 



Lastly, the extraordinary encouragements that 

 have been given to marriage, which have caused 

 the immense produce of the country to be divided 

 into very small shares, and have consequently 

 rendered China more populous, in proportion to 

 its means of subsistence, than perhaps any other 

 country in the world. 



The Chinese acknowledge two ends in mar- 



* Embassy to China, Staunton, vol. ii. p. 545. 

 t Duhalde, chapter on Agriculture, vol. i. p. 272 ; chapter on 

 Plenty, p. 314. 



