216 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



" most flourishing empire of the world is notwith- 

 " standing, in one sense, the poorest and the most 

 " miserable of all. The country, however exten- 

 " sive and fertile it may be, is not sufficient to 

 " support its inhabitants. Four times as much 

 " territory would be necessary to place them at 

 " their ease. In Canton alone, there is, without 

 " exaggeration, more than a million of souls, and 

 " in a town three or four leagues distant a still 

 " greater number. Who then can count the inha- 

 " bitants of this province? But what is this to 

 " the whole empire, which contains fifteen great 

 " provinces, all equally peopled? To how many 

 " millions would such a calculation amount? A 

 " third part of this infinite population would 

 " hardly find sufficient rice to support itself pro- 

 " perly. 



" It is well known, that extreme misery impels 

 " people to the most dreadful excesses. A spec- 

 " tator in China, who examines things closely, 

 " will not be surprised that mothers destroy or 

 " expose many of their children; that parents sell 

 " their daughters for a trifle; that the people 

 " should be interested; and that there should be 

 " such a number of robbers. The surprise is, 

 " that nothing still more dreadful should happen; 

 " and that in the times of famine which are here 

 ''• but too frequent, millions of people should perish 

 " with hunger, without having recourse to those 

 " dreadful extremities, of which we read examples 

 " in the histories of Europe. 



" It cannot be said in China, as in Europe, that 



