224 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



" it into the current of the river, that they may 

 *f lose sight of it immediately, and take from it at 

 " once all chance of life."* 



Such writings appear to be most authentic 

 documents respecting the general prevalence of 

 infanticide. 



Sir George Staunton has stated, from the best 

 information which he could collect, that the num- 

 ber of children annually exposed at Pekin is about 

 two thousand ;f but it is highly probable that the 

 number varies extremely from year to year, and 

 depends very much upon seasons of plenty or 

 seasons of scarcity. After any great epidemic or 

 destructive famine, the number is probably very 

 small; it is natural that it should increase gradu- 

 ally on the return to a crowded population ; and 

 it is without doubt the greatest, when an unfavour- 

 able season takes place, at a period in which the 

 average produce is already insufficient to support 

 the overflowing multitude. 



These unfavourable seasons do not appear to 

 be unfrequent, and the famines which follow them 

 are perhaps the most powerful of all the positive 

 checks to the Chinese population ; though at some 

 periods the checks from wars and internal com- 

 motions have not been inconsiderable.^: In the 

 annals of the Chinese monarchs, famines are often 

 mentioned ;\ and it is not probable that they 



* Lettres Edif. torn. xix. p. 1 24. 

 f Embassy to China, vol. ii. p. 159. 



% Annals of the Chinese Monarchs. Duhalde's China, vol. i. 

 p. 136. 

 § Ibid. 



