Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/44

CHAPTER II.

PROBABLE POPULATION.

THE QUESTION OF POPULATION INTERESTING TO THE PHILOSOPHER, THE POLITICIAN, THE MERCHANT. AND THE CHRISTIAN—THE POSSIBILITY AND PROBABILITY OF A LARGE POPULATION ARGUED FROM THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL—THE EXTENSIVENESS OF THE CULTIVATION—THE PAUCITY OF THE ROADS—THE MANNER OF DISPOSING OF THE DEAD—THE ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN TO AGRICULTURE—THE INDUSTRY OF THE INHABITANTS—THE SKILL OF THE HUSBANDMAN—THE ECONOMY IN FOOD, DRESS, AND DWELLINGS—CONTRASTED WITH THE SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS—AND WANT OF FEELING—EMIGRATION, WITH ITS DIFFICULTIES—BOUNTY ON THE IMPORTATION OF RICE—INFANTICIDE—ITS PREVALENCE—FOUNDLING HOSPITALS—CONCLUSION.

Scarcely any thing has been the subject of so much controversy, and at the same time of so much interest, relative to China, as the number of its population. The philosopher, the politician, the merchant, and the Christian are alike concerned to know, how many individuals are congregated together in that immense empire, and what is the rate of increase of its inhabitants. The population of China has formed the basis of numerous hypotheses among those who treat of the wealth or poverty of nations, and its exceeding populousness has been assumed or denied, according as different writers have sought to establish various propositions relative to the rapid or slow growth of the human family; and in proportion to the amount of their fears lest the increase of population should entrench upon the means of subsistence and produce an extensive and insupportable