Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/49

 ground to be capable of sustaining one individual. (though some say each acre will support five,) then we have cultivable ground in China sufficient for the support of 415,000,000 of persons. Thus by a very moderate calculation, we see that it is by no means impossible for China to contain the full population which the highest census assigns to it.

Again, if we compare China with other countries of the globe, and calculate the population of each square mile, we shall find that that empire is not more thickly peopled than some other countries; and if it be possible for other regions to sustain their population, then is it also possible for China to do the same. In Holland, for instance, we have 210 inhabitants to the square mile; in England, including the army and navy, 244; in Ireland, 256; and in Belgium, 333. While in China, if we take the population at the highest census, given in 1812, namely, 361,279,897, we shall find that its population is about 278 individuals to the square mile, being somewhat more than the population of Ireland, but by no means equal to that of Belgium. Now as the people of Ireland can live, and those of Belgium can afford to maintain a separate and expensive government, and keep a large army on foot,—there is nothing extravagant in the supposition that China contains and is able to sustain the population assigned to it.

We next come to consider the probability of such a supposition; and in so doing we shall find that it is not unlikely that China contains a large amount of population from the fertility of its soil, combined with the great quantity of land under cultivation; the encouragement that is given to agriculture; and the industry and skill of the inhabitants, contrasted with the