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those now described, but over which their influence is altogether nominal. These are Corea and Ladak. The former was probably placed in the map from its proximity to the capital, and its peninsular form naturally connecting it with the neighboring districts. But national vanity alone can be the motive for including the remote principality of Ladak within the imperial frontiers, for its ruler has almost no connexion at all with Peking, and has never received troops into his borders. The utter inaccuracy of the map in this portion of it is another proof of the ignorance of the draftsman, for Leh is placed in lat. 30° on the map, instead of 34°, and the sources of the Indus run south of it in three parallel streams due west, without any obstruction. The rajah of Ladak, however, is not so independent as to be able to contemn the advice of the Chinese officers stationed on his eastern frontier at Rodok, Teshigang, Gugé, and other places. Ladak and Little Tibet or Beltistan, comprise the north-western part of Tibet. The former may be said to consist of the uppermost valley of the Indus, here called Sinka-bab, and the latter the same river near its confluence with the Shayuk.

LADAK, formerly called Mar-yul, is bounded north by the Tsung ling, which divide it from Yarkand; east by Rodok and Gardok, along the Sinka-bab, which separate it from Ari; south and south-west by the Himalaya, separating it from Cashmere ; and north-west by Beltistan. Its area is about 30,000 square miles, and population between 150,000 and 200,000, who speak Tibetan, and are Mohammedans as well as Budhists. It is divided into four districts, Leh, Nubra, Zanskar, and Pitti or Purak. The country is an inhospitable, bleak region, consisting of a succession of ridges, between which narrow valleys, presenting small inducements to the farmer, offer the only arable ground. The main river is the Indus, which receives several considerable streams within the limits of Ladak, and some others beyond the borders; few of them are available for navigation or tillage. The climate is clear and cold in winter, seldom above 15° F. from December to February; in summer the heat is 135° F., and even higher. There is little rain, but grain ripens rapidly during the summer, being ready for the sickle in eight or nine weeks after sowing. The frost and rain decompose the sides of the hills, which form the only soil at their bottoms; the inhabitants terrace the base, and raise large crops upon the ground thus

gained, leading the mountain streams from one level to the other.

The people have many resemblances to the Tibetans. They are mild, industrious, and peaceful, and carry on a large manufacture of shawls and other articles from the wool of the goat. Leh, the capital of the country, is situated in lat. 44° 10′ N. and long. 77° 45′ E., about two miles from the Indus, in a well cultivated plain. The city is surrounded by a wall defended by towers, and the houses, about seven hundred in all, are built of stone or unburnt brick two and three stories high, in such a confused manner, and with such a want of arrangement in their position, as to resemble a burrow more than a city. The roofs and floors are composed of layers of earth upon willow or poplar trunks, covered with thatch, and during the rains, the soil pours down into the apartments; the mud thus formed is carefully used for manure. Little furniture is seen in these dwellings. The most considerable building is the palace, which is two hundred and fifty feet long, in front, and several stories high. The inhabitants dress in woollens and skins, and are uncleanly in their persons and houses. The productions consist of three kinds of wheat, buckwheat, and two kinds of barley. Kitchen vegetables are not much known, onions, carrots, turnips, and cabbages, comprising the greatest part. Apples and apricots are the common fruits, but melons, grapes, and other kinds are brought from. Cashmere. The cattle are the yak, the cow, and a hybrid between them, horses, sheep, and goats. Wild animals and birds of many sorts are numerous, and supply both peltry and food to

some extent.

The trade of Ladak is extensive, and a source of profit to the people, for Leh is the great thoroughfare of the caravan trade from Yarkand, H'lassa, and Russia, to Cashmere, Lahore, and India. The principal article of trade is goat's wool, supplied partly from Rodok and Tibet, and sent to the amount of eight hundred camel-loads annually. Much of the transportation over the mountains of Little Tibet is done upon sheep, each carrying twenty to twenty-five pounds weight. Tea, tincal, silks, and Chinese manufactures come from Tibet, but the largest trade is with Yarkand. The government of Ladak is in the hands of a rajah, but most of the real power lies in the priesthood, who monopolize the profits upon the trade. The peaceful

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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

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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.