cattle or ikilful machinery, it will readily be conceived how
very fmall a portion each family will be likely to employ every
y e a r ; certainly not one-third part o f his average allowance.
The third caufe o f famines may be owing to the nature o f
the prodficfts, particularly to that o f rice. This grain, the ftaff
o f life in China, though it yields abundant returns in favourable
feafons, is more liable to fail than moft others. A drought in
its early ftages withers it on the ground; and an inundation,
when nearly ripe, is equally deftruftive. The birds and the
locufts, more numerous imthis country than an European can
well conceive, infeft it more than any other kind o f grain. In
the northern provinces, where wheat, millet and pulfe are
cultivated, famines more rarely happen ; and I am perfuaded
that i f potatoes and Guinea corn (Zea-Mays) were once
adopted as the common vegetable food o f the people, tbofe
direful famines that produce fuch general mifery would entirely
ceafe, and the encreafe of population be as rapid as that o f Ireland.
This root in the northern provinces, and this grain in
the middle and fouthern ones, would never fail them. An
acre o f potatoes would yield more food than an acre o f rice,
and twice the nouriihment. Rice is the pooreft o f all grain, i f we
may judge from the flender and delicate forms o f all the people
who ufe it as the chief article o f their fu-ftenance; and potatoes
are juft the contrary *.
* The great advantage of a potatoe crop, as I before obferved^ is the certainty
o f its fuccefs. Were a general failure of this root to take place, as fometimes happens
to crops o f rice, Ireland, in its prefent ft ate, would experience all- the horrors
that attend a famine in fome of th& proviixces^of China.
A s
As Dr. Adam Smith obferves, “ The chairmen, porters, and
coal-heavers-in London, and thofe unfortunate women who
“ live by proftitution,' the ftrongeft men and the moft beau-
“ tiful women perhaps in the Britifh dominions, are faid to be,
“ the greater part of them, from the loweft rank of the people
“ in Ireland, who are generally fed with this root ; no food
“ can afford a more decifive proof o f its nouriihing quality,
“ or o f its being peculiarly fuitable to the health o f the human
“ conftitution.” - The Guinea corn requires little or no attention
after the feed is dropped into the ground; and its leaves-
and ju icy items are not more nouriihing for cattle than its prolific
heads are for the fuftenance o f man-
'Various caufes have contributed to the populoufneis off
China. Since the Tartar conqueft it may be faid to have enjoyed
a profound peace; for in the different wars and ikir-
miihes that have taken place with the neighbouring nations on
the fide o f India, and with the- Ruffians on the confines o f
Siberia, a few Tartar foldiers only have been employed. The
Chinefe army is parcelled out as guards for the towns, cities,,
and villages; and ftationed at the numberlefs poils on the roads
and canals. Being feldom relieved from the feveral guards,
they all marry and have families. A certain portion o f land is
allotted for their ufe, which they have lufficient time to cultivate.
As the nation has little ■ foreign commerce there are few
feamen; fuch as belong to the inland navigations are moftly
married. Although there be no direft penalty levied againft
fuch as remain batchelors, as was the cafe among the Romans
4 f 2. when