LEH, THE CAPITAL OF LADAK. 205 disposition of the Ladakese is in strong contrast to their turbulent neighbors on the west and south, in Lahore, Cashmere, and Badakshan; and it is somewhat remarkable that amidst so many unscrupulous rulers they have been permitted to remain so long unmolested. Ranjit Singh partially extended his dominion over them, but after his death, they regained their independence, but have since been again reduced to vassalage. The rajah annually sends presents to the rulers of Cashmere, Gartope, and H'lassa in Tibet, as a kind of acknowledgment of the trade passing from their possessions through his states. Polyandry exists in Ladak as well as Tibet, but not to so great an extent, so far as has been ascertained. The effects of this singular custom upon the progress and happiness of society have never been examined by observers who have had opportunity to reside in families so constituted, but so far as the reports of the inhabitants to travellers can assist in forming an opinion, it does not appear to materially interfere with the harmony of the household. The excess of females is sold to the people living south in Lahore, Rajasthan, and other states near the Indus. There is little wealth in the country, but the great body of the people have a sufficiency of food and clothing. They are addicted to drunkenness, and spend much of their time in amusements.* * Moorcroft's Travels, Turner's Embassy, Klaproth's Tibet, Chinese Repository, Vols. I. and XIII. CHAPTER V. Population and Statistics. MUCH of the interest appertaining to the country and people here treated of, in the minds of philanthropic and intelligent men, has arisen from the impression they have received of its vast population. A country twice the size of the Chinese empire would present few attractions to the Christian, the merchant, or the ethnologist, if it was no better inhabited than Sahara, or Oregon: a people might possess most admirable institutions, and a matchless form of government, but these excellences would lose their interest, when we heard that it is the duchy of Modena, or on the Angola coast, where they are found. The population of few countries in the world has been accurately ascertained, and probably that of China is less satisfactory than most European or American states. It is far easier to take a census among a people who understand its object, and will honestly assist in its execution, than in a despotic, half-civilized country, where the mass of people are afraid of contact or intercourse with their rulers; in most of such states, as Abyssinia, Turkey, Persia, &c., there is either no census at all, or merely a general estimate, far different from an intelligible enumeration of the people. The subject of the population of China has engaged the attention of the monarchs of the present dynasty, and their censuses have been the best sources of information in making up an opinion upon the matter, by those writers who have examined the question. Whatever may be our views of the actual population of China, it is plain that these censuses, with all their discrepancies and inaccuracies, are the sources of information upon which the most dependance can be placed. The conflicting opinions and conclusions of writers neither give any additional weight to them, nor detract at all from their credibility. As the question stands at present, they can be doubted, but cannot be denied; it is impossible to prove them, while there are many grounds for DIFFICULTIES OF THE SUBJECT. 207 believing them; the enormous population which they exhibit can be declared to be improbable, but not shown to be impossible. No one who has been in China can hesitate to acknowledge, that there are some strong grounds for giving credit to the censuses, but the total goes so far beyond his calculations, that he defers his entire belief till some new data have been furnished. There are, perhaps, more peculiar encouragements in China to the increase of population than in any other country. Among the most powerful are the desire for sons to continue the worship in the ancestral hall, and to assist in maintaining the parents when old. In Japan, India, and Persia, these causes have less influence; in Tibet, they are almost powerless; in Siam and Burmah, they are weak. Security of life and property, continuance of peace, and minuteness of tillage, have also aided to produce the same result. At this point every one must rest, as the result of an examination into the population of the Chinese empire; though, from the survey of its principal divisions, made in the preceding chapters, its capability of maintaining a dense population needs no additional evidence. The mind, however, is bewildered in some degree by the contemplation of millions upon millions of human beings collected in this manner under one government; and it almost wishes there might be grounds for disbelieving the enormous total, from the dreadful results that might follow the tyrannical caprice or unrestrained fury of their rulers, or the still more shocking scenes of rapine and famine, which a bad harvest and insufficient food would necessarily cause. Before entering upon the examination of this question, it will be well to bring together in a tabular form the various estimates taken of the population during the present dynasty. No entire census of the empire has been published for thirty-five years, and, therefore, only an approximation can be made of the present amount; for, if the number given in 1812 be considered worthy of credence, it is highly probable that there has been an increase during the interval. In the city and vicinity of Canton and Macao, it is certain the population has become more dense during this period, to an extent quite evident to many foreigners who have resided there. The details given in this table have been taken from the best sources accessible to foreigners, and are as good as the people at large themselves possess. TABLE OF VARIOUS CENSUSES. 209 Besides these detailed accounts, there have been several aggregates of the whole country given by Chinese authors, and some by foreigners, professedly drawn from original sources, but who have not stated their authorities. The most trustworthy, together with those given in the preceding table, are here placed in chronological order. AUTHORITIES. Mirror of History; Chinese Repository, Vol. X., page 156. O General Statistics of the Empire; Yih Tung Chi, a Statistical work; Mémoires sur les Chinois, tom. VI., "Les Missionaires," De Guignes, tom. III., page 67. General Statistics, Chinese Repo- Yih Tung Chi, a Statistical work; Z. of Berlin, in Chinese Reposi- General Statistics; Dr. Morrison, General Statistics; Chinese Repo- Seven of these censuses, viz. the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 20th, and 21st, are given in detail in the preceding table. The first three belong to the Ming dynasty, and are taken from the Kang Kien Í Chí, or Mirror of History, where these amounts are simply inserted, without giving any details of the population of each province. The same work also contains one census taken previous to these, about A. D. 1000, when the population is set down at 9,955,729. During the Ming dynasty, a part of the country now called the Eighteen Provinces, was not under the control of Hungwu and his descendants. The mode of taking the census in those days is not stated very definitely, but if the three are equally trustworthy, it is evident that there was no increase for more than 150 years. The wars with the Japanese, and with tribes on the north and west, together with the civil |