©rops to average 4.000, aUhotigh not relieved, 

 Rhe would not have been addUionaUy burUiened; 

 and if, on the other hand, she produced coi.stder* 

 ably above the 4,000 gantangs* the English to 

 v,hom ber irureasinfr prosperity was mainly 

 attributable, were entitled both by Treaty and 

 gratitude to the tenth of her crops. 



It has been sometimes urged that, notwith- 

 standing the long connection which hm subsist- 

 ed between Nanning and the different European 

 governments, she has made no advance in pro»- 

 perity.» or at least not in a ratio commensurate 

 ^ith her advantages; but thin opiiuon is not 

 borne out. by facu. During; the time of the 

 Dutch administration, she wat^ not thoroughly 

 subjected to European control, and petty feuds 

 amongst the Chieftains frequeuily rendered both 

 life and property insecure ; whilst ber rulers en- 

 deavoured to obtain as large a revenue as practica- 

 ble from lier peasantry, even though they wrung , 

 them above the fair proportion of the produce of 

 the&cil. Industry and wealth reside not with 

 anarchy, oppression, and misrule ; and it is an 

 argument in favor of the future prosperity of 

 Nauning that, if she did not visibly progress, she 

 at least did not retrograde, under the influence 

 of these adverse circumstances. 



When we discuss the prosperity oi a ; . -e 

 should have a just crilerion whereby to judge it* 

 It is easy to look to the capabilities of the soil, 

 and, comparing its natural fertility viiih its actu- 

 al produce, to attribute the vast tracts of waste, 

 uncultivated, land to mis-goverument ; but, al- 



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