From this cause much

rendered productive. land has been brought into cultivation; and still, as the population increases, from the industrious habits of the Chinese, it may reasonably be expected that many of the marshes which now form a part of the landscape in China, will one day produce food for their sustenance. Vast as the population of China is, therefore, the land is still capable of feeding many more millions; for Barrow is inclined to think that one-fourth part of the whole country consists of lakes and uncultivated marshes.

There are no parks or pleasure-grounds reserved from the operations of productive industry in China, except those belonging to the emperor, near Pekin: nor is there any meadow cultivation; nothing is raised for the food of cattle, but all for man. The few cattle there are in China maintain themselves as they can on uncultivated pastures; but these are very few, for man generally performs the work of horses; and while the consumption of animal food among the higher orders is limited, the lower subsist almost exclusively on the productions of tillage. The horse is a rare object in China, for whatever cannot be transported by water is borne on men's shoulders, and the very boats on the canals are guided in their courses by men. Thus, even the ground which would otherwise have been used for roads is made available for purposes of cultivation.

The Chinese, however, do not depend wholly on the land for sustenance. In no country besides is so much food derived from the water. So important an article of diet is fish, that, at a particular period of the year, men are employed on

the great river Keang to procure the spawn to deposit wherever fish can subsist. The Chinese have several modes of taking fish, besides the ordinary contrivances of nets and wicker traps used in other countries. On moonlight nights, they use long narrow boats, having wooden flaps at their sides descending to the surface of the water. These flaps, being painted white, reflect a light, and attract the fish to such a degree that they leap upon them, and are then turned over into the boat with a jerk. Another method of taking fish is by birds, which are trained for this purpose. They disperse themselves over lakes and swamps, and return to their owners with their prey. After the fish is caught, it is mostly salted, and thus consumed with rice.

The vast resources of the Chinese, as regards their natural productions, are frequently cut off by drought, inundations, and the locusts.

At these

seasons they suffer greatly, for the public granaries are poor provisions against dearth. Their original intention is nullified by the malversations and dishonesty of those who conduct them, which has caused the government to prevent their purchasing rice when it is cheap, which leads to its undue consumption. Nor can one province, in which there may be plenty, supply the wants of another; for the Chinese rulers have restricted the intercourse of different parts of the empire to inland navigation; and the inland trade between some provinces on the coast is impeded by lofty mountains, in which unnavigable rivers take their rise. Hence, when famine overtakes the population of a province, coupled with its natural concomitant, disease, in the language of one of the "sacred

The

edicts," it "makes all places desolate." evil is sometimes removed by permission from the government to import grain by sea; but before the required relief is afforded, thousands perish.

This circumstance may be looked upon as a positive check to the growth of population. Infanticide, which prevails among the peasantry of China, also does its fearful work. Taught by the state that parents have power over the lives of their children, they frequently destroy their female offspring, in order to escape the trouble of bringing them up. This inhumanity, this dreadful crime, may likewise be superinduced by poverty. The ordinary wages of labour seem to be equivalent to sixpence a day, which gives little more than a bare subsistence. Many, indeed, die from actual starvation, and that in the midst of plenty. Their principal food is rice, and their best beverage tea boiled over and over again, as long as any bitter remains in the leaves.

The poverty of the Chinese peasantry appears to be most conspicuous in the vicinity of the capital, where the soil is barren and sandy; and in the northern provinces, where the climate is ungenial to the process of vegetation. The cold is so intense in the winter, that, what with their scanty fare, and their lack of fuel, clothing, and even shelter, many perish. "In such a condition," says Barrow, "the ties of nature yield to self-preservation; and children are sold, to save both the parent and offspring from perishing by want, and infants become a prey to hopeless injury." The moral character of the Chinese peasantry

T

near Pekin is represented by travellers in a very unfavourable light: they are idle, and, as a natural consequence, dissipated. In the heart of the country, however, they appear to be a comparatively artless race. Of these Dr. Abel thus speaks: They afforded a pleasing contrast, in their simple manners and civil treatment of strangers, to the cunning designs of the salesmen of Jung-chow, and the brutal importunity of the courtiers of Yuen-ming-yuen. When they have accompanied me along the banks of the river, far in advance of my boat, and have beheld me overcome by fatigue and heat, they have always appeared anxious to relieve my distress. One has hastened to the nearest house for a seat, another has brought me water, and a third has held an umbrella over my head to defend me from the sun, whilst their companions have at some distance formed a circle round me. We were to these people as the inhabitants of another world. Our features, dress, and habits were so opposed to theirs, as to induce them to infer that our country in all its natural characters must equally differ from their own. Have you a

moon, and sun, and rivers in your country?' are their occasional questions. Comprehending no other rational objects for the collecting of plants than their useful qualities, and seeing me gather all indiscriminately, they at once supposed that I sought them merely as objects of curiosity, and laughed heartily at my eagerness to obtain them. They pitied my ignorance, and endeavoured to teach me their relative worth, and were anxious for me to learn the important truth, that from one seed many might be obtained. A

young man, having shaken some ripe seeds from the capsules of the sesamum and the sida, described to me, with much minuteness, that if I took them to my own country, and put them into the ground, they would produce many plants, and I might thus in time obtain the blessing of good rope and oil.'

How afflicting is the reflection that it is the self-same people, of whom this writer is speaking, who are guilty of that foul crime, infanticide. Such are the bitter fruits of pagan philosophy! While the emperor and his subjects complacently deem themselves the only civilized inhabitants of the world, "the dark places" of this idolatrous empire "are full of the habitations of cruelty."