Many voyages have been undertaken with " views of profit or of plunder, or to gratify "refentment; to procure fome advantage to "ourselves, or do fome mischief to others: but "a voyage is now propofed to visit a diftant "people on the other fide the globe; not to "cheat them, not to rob them, not to seize their "lands, or enflave their perfons; but merely to do "them good, and make them, as far as in our "power lies, to live as comfortably as ourselves.

"It seems a laudable wish that all the nation's "of the earth were connected by a knowlege of "each other, and a mutual exchange of benefits: "but a commercial nation particularly should "wish for a general civilization of mankind, "fince trade is always carried on to much greater "extent with people who have the arts and con"veniencies of life, than it can be with naked favages. We may therefore hope in this un"dertaking to be of fome fervice to our country, as well as to thofe poor people, who, however "diftant from us, are in truth related to us, and "whose interests do, in fome degree, concern every one who can fay Homo fum, &c."

86

66

Scheme of a voyage by fubfcription, to convey the conveniencies of life, as fowls, hogs, goats, cattle, corn, iron, &c. to thofe remote regions which are deftitute of them, and to bring from thence fuch productions as can be cultivated in this kingdom to the advantage of fociety, in a fhip under the command of Alexander Dalrymple.

Catt

Catt or Bark, from the coal trade,

of 350 tons, estimated at about Extra expences, ftores, boats, &c.

To be manned with 60 men at

The expences of this expedition are calculated for three years; but the greatest part of the amount of wages will not be wanted till the ship returns, and a great part of the expence of provifions will be faved by what is obtained in the course of the voyage by barter or otherwife, tho' it is proper to make provifion for contingencies.

Extract of a Letter to Dr. Percival, concerning the Provifion made in China against Famine.

I

HAVE fomewhere read that in China an account is yearly taken of the number of people, and the quantities of provifion produced. This account is transmitted to the Emperor, whose ministers can thence foresee a scarcity likely to happen in any province, and from what province it can best be supplied in good time. To facilitate the collecting of this account, and prevent the neceffity of entering houses and spending time in afking and anfwering queftions, each house is furnished with a little board to be hung without the door, during a certain time each year; on which board are marked certain words, against which the inhabitant is to mark number or quantity, fomewhat in this manner:

Men,
Women,

Children,

Rice or Wheat,
Flesh, &c.

All under 16 are accounted children, and all above, men and women. Any other particulars

which the government defires information of, are occafionally marked on the fame boards. Thus the officers appointed to collect the accounts in each district, have only to pafs before the doors, and enter into their book what they find marked on the board, without giving the least trouble to the family. There is a penalty on marking falfely, and as neighbours must know nearly the truth of each others account, they dare not expose themfelves by a falfe one, to each others accufation. Perhaps fuch a regulation is fcarcely practicable with us *.

[The above paffage is taken from Dr. Percival's Effays, Vol. III. p. 25, being an extract from a letter written to him, by Dr. Franklin, on the fubject of his obfervations on the state of popu lation in Manchester and other adjacent places. E.]

I.

Pofitions to be Examined *.

ALL food or fubfiftence for mankind

arife from the earth or waters.

2. Neceffaries of life that are not foods, and all other conveniencies, have their values estimated by the proportion of food confumed while we are employed in procuring them.

3. A fmall people with a large territory may fubfift on the productions of nature, with no other labour than that of gathering the vegetables and catching the animals.

4. A large people with a small territory finds thefe infufficient, and to fubfift, muft labour the earth, to make it produce greater quantities of vegetable food, fuitable for the nourishment of men, and of the animals they intend to eat.

5. From this labour arifes a great increase of vegetable and animal food, and of materials for clothing, as flax, wool, filk, &c. The superfluity of these is wealth. With this wealth we pay for the labour employed in building our houses, cities, &c. which are therefore only fubfiftence thus metamorphofed.

6. Manufactures are only another shape into which fo much provifions and subsistence are

[This article has been inferted in The Repofitory for fele papers on Agriculture, Arts, and Manufactures. Vol. I. page 350. E.]

turned,