ferved, depend more on thè care beftowed in the preparation
and in the feleÜion o f the materials, than in any fecret art
•polfefied by them. There are alfo, in this province, large
manufa&ories o f coarfe earthen ware, o f tiles, and bricks.
The extent o f Kiang-fee is from twenty-eight to thirty
degrees, and the temperature, in November, was the fame as
that o f the neighbouring province o f Tfchc-kiang.
I have now to mention a fubjeft on which much has already
been written by various authors, but without the fuccefs of
having carried conviâion into the minds <of their readers, that
the things which they offered as fails were either true Or pof-
fible ; I allude to the populoufnefs o f this extenfive empire.
That none o f the ftatements hitherto pübîiihed are ftriitly true,
I am free to admit, but that thé higheft degree o f populoufnefs
that has yet been affigned may be poffible, and even probable,
lam equally ready to contend. A t the fame time, I acknowledge
that, prepared as we were, from all that we had feen and heard
and read on the fubjeû, for fomething very extraordinary j
yet when the following ftatement was delivered, at the requeft
ò f the Embaffador, by Chou-ta-gin, as the abftrait o f a cenfus
that had been taken the preceding year, the amount appeared
fo enormous as to furpafs credibility. But as we had always
found this officer a plain, Unaffected, and honeft man, who on
no occafion had attempted to deceive or impofe on us, we could
not confiftently confider it in any other light than'as a document
drawn up from authentic materials ; its inaccuracy, however,
was
Was obvious at a fingle glance, from the feveral fums being given
in round millions. I have added to the table the extent o f the
provinces, the number o f people on a fquare mile, and’ the
value o f the furplus taxes remitted to Pekin in the year 1792,
as mentioned in the feventh chapter.
Provinces. Population. Square Miles-.
No. on
each fquare
Mile.
Surplus taxes remitted
to Pekin.
Pe-tche-lee
Kiang-nan
Kiang-fee
Tche*kiang
Fo-kien
THjo uquang f Hou-pee
Ho-nan
Shantung
Shan-fee
Shen-fçe 7 one
Kan-fep \ province
Se-tchuen
Quang-tung
Quang-fee
Yuman
Koei-tchoo,
38.000.000
32.000.000
19.000.000
21.000.000
15,000,000
14,000,000 1
13,000,000 3
25,000,000
24,000,000
27,000,000
18.000.000 7
12,060,0003
27.000.000
21.000.000
10.000.000
S8,qoo,o:©
9,000,000
38,949
92,961 72,176
39, I5° 53.48°
144,770
€3,104
65,104 5J.a68
154,008
l 66,80O
79.45 6
78,250 1,07,969
64.554
644
34+
263
536-
280
187
3S4 368
488
>95
162
264
128
74 1 140
oz: filver.
3.036.000
8.210.000
2,120,000
3.810.000 1,277*000
C 1,310,000
1 i ,345»°°°
3.213.000
3.600.000
3.722.000
C 1,700,000
\ 340,000,
670.000 *
1.340.000
500.000
210.000
145,000,
. ..Tfitals 1 .=9,7.9 9,9 * —¡É 36.148.90,9,
* The meafurement annexed tp each o f the fifteen ancient .provinces was taken
from the maps that were conftru&ed by a very laborious and, as far as we had an
opportunity of comparing them with the country, a i ver;y accurate furvey, which
employed' the Jefuits tep yeafs. i dp npt pretend to fay that the areas, as I have
given them in the table, are mathematically correft., but tfye diraenfions were taken
with as much care as was deemed neceflary for the purpofe, from maps drawn on
a large&ale, o f which a very beautiful manufcript copy is now in his Majefty’s library
at ^uQkinghajprhpiife, xnatje by a*CJ]iipef?, having alf the naines written in
Chinefe and Tartar characters..
Coufidering