298 



been very moderately estimated at 470 guntangs the orlong of 

 paddy. The quantity of seed invariably allotted for an orlong 

 of land is four gimtangs. In Siam forty fold is estimated a good 

 average produce. At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast, the maximum 

 rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and is still 

 believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam ; while 

 their average was only twenty-fold. — (Low, on " Straits Settle- 

 ments.") 



E-ice in Cochin-China is the " staff of life," and forms the main 

 article of culture. There are six different sorts grown ; two on 

 the u.plands, used for confectionery, and yielding only one crop 

 annually ; the other sorts affording from two to five crops a year ; 

 but generally two, one in April and another in October ; or three 

 when the inundations have been profuse. 



The late Dr. Grutzlaff stated, at a meeting of the Statistical 

 Society of London, that the population of China was about 

 367,000,000, and the returns of the land subject to tax as used in 

 rice cultivation there, gave nearly half an acre to each living 

 person ; and he farther stated that in the southern and well 

 watered provinces, it is anything but uncommon to take two 

 crops of rice, one of wheat, and one of pulse, from the same land 

 in a single season. Sice is the only article the Chinese ever 

 offer a bounty for ; the price fluctuates according to the seasons, 

 from one and three-qaarfcer dollars to eight dollars per picul. 

 Siam and the Indian Islands, particidarly Bali and Lombok, 

 supply the empire occasionally with large quantities. 



The price of rice in China varies according to the state of the 

 canals leading to the interior ; if they are full of water the prices 

 rise ; if on the contrary they are low, prices fall in proportion at the 

 producing districts. The amount of consumption is controlled, in a 

 considerable degree, by the cost of transit ; when this is cheap 

 prices rise from the general demand ; but when land-carriage to 

 any extent has to be resorted to, they fall ; it raises prices so 

 much at any great distance, that rice must be used very sparingly, 

 from its enhanced price. It is obvious that if the waters are 

 su.ificiently high to allow a boat to pass fully loaded, she does so 

 at an expense of nearly 50 per cent, less than she would do, if, 

 from want of water, she could only take half the quantity ; when 

 transport is cheap every one obtains a full supply ; when it is 

 dear the rice districts have more than they can consume. 



At home we are so much accustomed to the facilities of transit 

 offered by railroads, canal boats, &c., that we do not readily take 

 into consideration, that in China, except by water, all articles are 

 conveyed from one place to another on men's shoulders. Taking 

 the population of Canton at the usual estimate of a million, and 

 allowing to each a catty a day, the quantity of rice required for 

 one day's consumption alone in that city would be 10,000 piculs, 

 of 133 lbs. each= 1,340,000 lbs. 



Java is the granary of plenty for all the Eastern Archipelago ; and 

 the Dutch East India Company occupies itself in this culture with 



