take into account all such as are useful, and we shall accordingly divide the animal wealth of a country (omitting for the present any wrought produce) into

1. Domestic animals.

2. Raw animal products.

3. Produce of the fisheries.

As for domestic animals, they should be arranged in a way similar to that of the skeleton table No. 6, suppressing or adding the names of animals as occasion may require. Such a table would show at once the annual quantity and value of the domestic animals of the country, together with the proportion employed in agriculture, and for the supply of the cities and town; and, if any be exported, the quantity so disposed of. Some of the data of the table may be made out from the rest. Thus what is annually exported must be replaced, as also all casualties be supplied; and knowing how long the animals usually live, and at what age they begin to be employed, &c., an approximative, though sufficiently exact, estimate may be made of what the country must annually produce over the numbers employed to keep up the supply.

The observations to be made on the methods of rearing and keeping domestic animals will be found stated under the head AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY. As for raw animal products, we must remark that, strictly speaking, this term should be confined to such products only as have undergone no kind of preparation or manipulation; but if so limited, the list of objects usually designated as raw produce would be greatly diminished: besides it must be remembered that every workman regards as raw material the objects he is to work up, although they may have already received many modifications from art. We would, however, confine the term to those objects only that have received no kind of manipulation, or one so slight as to be unworthy of consideration.

In order to point out the quantity and value of raw animal productions furnished by the country, a table similar to that No. 7. should be made out, adding or suppressing articles as may be necessary.

In this table we have included the produce of the chase, instead of giving a separate table for this, because in most civilized countries it is only a secondary object: in some countries, however, it is so important that its details might, like the fisheries, require a table to itself.

The Fisheries are an object of the greatest importance, whether by reason of the food they afford, or for the objects useful in the arts which are derived from them. Thus they constitute a large item in the wealth of a country, and the observations to be made on them will be found immediately after AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY. At present we speak only of the produce; the quantities, value, and destination of which should, if possible, be ascertained and specified by the traveller, who may arrange this object in a tabular form similar to No. 8.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.-As we shall treat elsewhere of the observations to be made on the modes of collecting, preserving, and improving the animal productions of a country, it only remains for us, in this place, to point out a few general remarks which should be made as to the produce itself; its quality and value being stated in tables such as we have given models of, the traveller should ascertain:

If the annual productions are sufficient for the wants of the country, or if any are deficient, and which.

If sufficient attention be paid in the country to this important object; if not, what is the reason, and what might be done?

Have the animal productions generally, or any of them in particular, and which, increased or diminished since a given time, and to what amount; and what has been the cause of these variations? Too much land may sometimes be taken up for pasture, to the detriment of other agricultural produce. What is the consequence where such practice prevails, &c.?

DIVISION III.

THE INHABITANTS OF A COUNTRY.

SECTION I.

POPULATION.

Extent of the Population.-The extent of the population is usually considered a criterion of the prosperity of a country. We shall not however stop to discuss the merits of this proposition, observing merely, that it is of great importance for the solution of problems of political economy, to possess correct data on all that relates to the population of a country. We shall therefore pass on at once to the enumeration of the remarks that should be made on this subject. What is the actual population, men, women, and children, separately and together?

What is the annual number of births, male, female, and together; the annual number of deaths, male, female, and total, and the number of marriages? What difference is there in these respects between the town and the country, between one town and another, and one part of the country and another?

These data will show the relative proportion of male and female births and deaths, and of the total births to the total deaths. This last proportion taken for a number of years will show whether the population be stationary, or whether it be on the increase or the decline, and to what extent. From the total number of births and marriages, the number of children to a marriage will be easily deduced, if care be taken to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate births; in which case, moreover, an additional datum is furnished from which to form an opinion as to the general morality of the people. When the above distinction is not

made in the register of births it is not easy to discover the number of births to a marriage. A general knowledge of the state of morals may enable us to approximate to the truth by striking off a greater or less number of births as illegitimate. Should infanticide be common, the question becomes still more complicated, and the solution still less certain.

In most civilized countries registers of the progress of population and of the ratio of mortality are kept, both for the town and country. These tables show the local differences and the general result; but all countries do not keep these registers with the same degree of accuracy, and when this is the case it is extremely difficult to arrive at correct information.

When tables are kept, the traveller will do well not only to procure these (they are generally published), but he should ascertain if possible how far they may be depended upon, and by what process the government obtains information on this subject. The best method unquestionably is actual enumeration; but this, in very populous states, is not only a difficult but an expensive and tedious process. Another method consists in choosing several villages, circles or districts, in such manner as to have a medium term, independent of the differences occasioned by the peculiar circumstances of different localities, taking an accurate enumeration of the population of these at a given epoch, then, by an examination of the number of births annually, for some years previous to the census, ascertaining the mean annual number, which being divided by the number of inhabitants, will give the proportion of births to the population so much the more correctly as the numbers are greater. This proportion being ascertained, it is easy, from the registered births, throughout the country, to estimate the total population.

It is found by the calculation of probabilities that the first estimate must be made on a number of about a million and a half of inhabitants for a total population of about forty millions, in order to have a sufficient certainty that the errors in determining the population by the number of births will be confined to very narrow limits.

Another important element of statistical inquiry is the proportionate number of individuals of the different ages from 1 to 100 and upwards, as compared with the whole population. Tables of this kind are also published and answer

many useful purposes, both by themselves and in combination with the tables of which we have already spoken. Thus we see at once from the table the number of males in the country capable of bearing arms; and by comparing the number of persons of marriageable age, with the actual number of married persons, we obtain another element for judging of the social state of the country.

The ratio of mortality in a country is also highly interesting; tables on this subject are constructed which show how many, out of a given number of children supposed born at the same moment, are living after a certain number of years; the tables extending from 1 to 100 years and upwards. By such a table we see at once at what age mortality or the chance of dying is greatest; the proportionate number of persons that die annually at any given age, &c.

All these tables, in a well-regulated state, should be made out for each province in particular, in order that local dif ferences may be ascertained and their causes inquired into. But the statistics of population require the addition of many more data than we have here mentioned; for instance, the particular mortality of certain ranks, professions, and callings of men; the density of the population in different districts; the division of the population considered under different points of view, &c., &c. Indeed statistics form not only an extensive but a particular science, the numerous and varied elements of which no traveller can be expected to obtain by cursory observation; many objects, having immediate reference to the subject, will be found in the present volume; but we must now confine ourselves to what more immediately regards the population: upon this subject the traveller should ascertain, as far as he can, the following points :

Is the population increasing, is it stationary or diminishing, and what is the cause in either case? In the first, is the increase owing to good or improved institutions, to the influx and settlement of strangers, or to laws particularly favourable to population and preventive of emigration? We may here remark that, although an increase of population is regarded as a sign of prosperity, a term may be reached beyond which, increase is productive of inconvenience; the means of subsistence not increasing in the same ratio. The possibility of this, we know, is denied by many, but fact is more convincing than abstract reasoning. A wise government, watching over the prosperity of a nation, will provide