American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1857-04-18
THE cH1Mnsn HNrprRu.

a very interesting account of the
actual condition of China, from the pen
of Sir John Bowring, the representa-
tive of the British government at Hong
Kong, has been recently published in
the London Times. The penal laws
of China make provision for general
system of registration, and, with this
aid, and the most thorough investiga-
tion, the writer estimates the present
population of the Chinese Empire, at
between three hundred and fifty mil
lions and four hundred millions of hui
man beings.
The population in China, he says, is
grouped under four heads: /, scholars;
2, husbandmen; 8, mechanics; d, mer.
chants. There is numerous class
who are considered almost as social out
casts, such as the stage. players, pro-
fessional gamblers, beggars, convicts,
outlaws, and others; and these proba
bly, form no part of the population re-
turns. In the more remote rural dis
triots, on tho other hand the returning
officer most probably contents himself
with giving the average of the more ac-
cessible and better-peopled localities.
Sir John had no means of obtaining
any satisfactory tables to show the
proportions which different ages bear
to one another in China, or the aver
age mortality at different periods of
human life; yet to every decade of life
the Chinese apply some special desig>
nation; the age of 10 is called the open
ing degree; 20, youth expired. 30,
strength and marriage; 40, officially
apt; so, error-knowing; 60, cycle clos.
ing; TO-, rare bird of age; 80, rusty
yisaged; 80, delayed; 100, ages ex-
tremity.
Nearly a tenth of the population de-
rive their means of support from the
fisheries. The river population is en-
ormous, q population, says the writer,
"who live only in boats, who are born
and educated, who marry near their
families and die, who, in o word, begin
and end their existence on the water,
and never have or dream of any shell
ter other than the roof, and who sell
dom tread except on the deck or board
OF their sampans, showing to what an
extent the land is crowded, and how
inadequate it is to maintain the cum
berers of tho soil. In the city of Can.
ton alone, it is estimated that SOC, 900
persons dwell upon the surface of the
riverj the boats, sometimes twenty or
thirty deep, cover some miles, and have
their wants supplied by ambulatory
statesmen, who wend their way through
every accessible passage. Of this vast
population some dwell in decorated riy-
er boats used for every purpose of Ii
cense and festiyity, for theatres, for
concerts, for feasts, for gambling, for
lust, for solitary, and social recreations.
Some crafts are employed in convey
ing goods and passengers, and are in
a constant state of activity; others are
moored, and their owners arc engaged
as servants or labors on shore. Indeed.
their pursuits are probably nearly as
various as those of the land population"
In addition to boats, they dwell on
artificial islands which float upon the
lakes---islands with gardens and hous.
es raised upon the rafters, which the
occupiers have bound upon them, and
on which they cultivate what is needful
for the support of their daily wants.
The Chinese, says Sir John Bow
ring, have no prejudice against any ar
ticle of food except milk TIe never
saw or heardof buttcr, cream, milk, or
whey, at any hasi8e Chinese tables. G