'77-g- Canton to confine his curiofity. I ihould otherwife have felt
scember. J n r '
- v - w exceedingly tantalized with livin g under the walls o f fo
great a city, fu ll o f objefts o f novelty, without being able
to enter it. T h e account given o f this place by Peres le
Comte and Du Halde, are in every one’s hand. T he authors
have lately been accufed o f great exaggeration by M.
Sonnerat ; for w hich reafon the followin g obfervations,
collected from the information with which I have been
obligingly furnilhed by feveral En gliih gentlemen, who
were a long time refident at Canton', may not be .unacceptable
to the Public.
Canton, including the old and new town, and the fub-
urbs, is about ten miles in circuit. With refpeit to its population,
i f one may ju d g e o f the whole, from what is feen
in the fuburbs, I Ihould conceive it to fall confiderably fliort
o f an European town o f the fame magnitude. Le Comte
eftimated the number o f inhabitants at one million five
hundred thoufand ; Du Halde at one million ; and M. Sonnerat
fays he has afcertained them to be no more than
feventy-five thoufand * : but, as this gentleman has not favoured
us with the grounds on which his calculation was
founded ; and, befides, appears as defirous o f depreciating
every thing that relates to the Chinefe, as the Jefuits may
be o f magn ifyin g, his opinion certainly admits o f fome
doubt. T he fo llowin g circumftances may perhaps lead the
reader to form a judgment with tolerable accuracy on this
fubjeft.
* J’ai vérifié moi-même, avec pluileurs Chinois, la population de Canton, de ia
ville de Tartare, Sc de celle de Battaux, See. Voyage aux Indes, &c. Par M. Son-
.nerat, Tom. II. p. 14.
A Chinefe
A Chinefe houfe, undoubtedly, occupies more fpace than '779.
is ufually taken up by houfes in Europe : but the proportion
fuggefted by M. Sonnerat, o f four or five to one, certainly
goes much beyond the truth. To this ihould be added, that
a great many houfes, in the fuburbs o f Canton, are occupied,
for commercial purpofes only, b y merchants and rich
tradefmen, whofe families live intirely within the city. On
the other hand, a Chinefe family appears to confift, on an
average, o f more perfons than an European. A Mandarine,
according to his rank and fubftance, has from five to twenty
wives. A merchant, from three to five. One o f this clafs
at Canton, had, indeed, twenty-five wives, and thirty-fix
children ; but this was mentioned to me as a ve ry extraordinary
inftance. An opulent tradefman has ufually two;
and the lower clafs o f people very rarely more than one.
Their fervants are at lead double in number to thofe employed
by perfons o f the fame condition in Europe. If,
then, we fuppofe a Chinefe fam ily one-third larger, and an
European houfe two-thirds lefs, than each other, a Chinefe’
city will contain only h a lf the number o f inhabitants contained
in a European town o f the fame fize. Acccording to
thefe data, the city and fuburbs o f Canton may probably
contain about one hundred and fifty thoufand.
With refpect to the number o f inhabited Sampanes, I found
different opinions were entertained; but none placing them
lower than forty thoufand. T h e y are moored in rows clofe
to each other, with a narrow paffage, at intervals, for the
boats to pafs up and down the river. As the Tygris, at Canton,
is fomewhat wider than the Thames, at London; and
the whole river is covered in this manner for the extent o f
at lead a m ile ; this account o f their number does not appear
to me, in the leaft, exaggerated; and i f it be allowed,
Vo l . III. 3 K the