known to all who are acquainted with those regions, and the piteous scenes presented in winter by whole hosts of peasants almost destitute of food or fuel, are enough to affect most deeply the minds of the compassionate. The common wages of the day labourer is but fourpence a day, and the remuneration to a schoolmaster from each of his scholars is only ten shillings a year; while provisions are sometimes nearly as high as they are in Europe.
The want of feeling generally apparent among the Chinese, argues their deep poverty; for where provisions are scarce and dear, the human heart, unsanctified by Divine grace, soon becomes closed against the cry of distress, and the sick poor are allowed to perish by the road side, without a helping hand to relieve them. There is some charity manifested towards kindred, but none to strangers, who are left alike destitute of public provision and private benevolence. Canton is infested with beggars, who gain a scanty relief by their untiring importunity; and, in other parts of the country, the needy present their dismal tale of miseries to the too heedless spectators.
Persons in danger of being' drowned, or burnt, are seldom rescued; and numbers are turned out to die in the open air, to save the trouble of tending them while sick, and the expense of cleansing the house of their ghosts, when dead. This disregard of the wants and miseries of others, must be partly occasioned by the pressure of personal want, and the great number of individuals needing relief.
The subject of emigration, is one which considerably affects the question of the population of China. The government of that country being restrictive and exclu-
