Canton, including the old and new town, and the suburbs, is about ten miles in circuit.  With respect to its population, if one may judge of the whole, from what is seen in the suburbs, I should conceive it to fall considerably short of an European town of the same magnitude.  Le Comte estimated the number of inhabitants at one million five hundred thousand; Du Halde at one million; and M. Sonnerat says he has ascertained them to be no more than seventy-five thousand;[105] but as this gentleman has not favoured us with the grounds on which his calculation was founded, and, besides, appears as desirous of depreciating every thing that relates to the Chinese, as the Jesuits may be of magnifying, his opinion certainly admits of some doubt.  The following circumstances may perhaps lead the reader to form a judgment with tolerable accuracy on this subject.

A Chinese house, undoubtedly, occupies more space than is usually taken up by houses in Europe; but the proportion, suggested by M. Sonnerat, of four or five to one, certainly goes much beyond the truth.  To this should be added, that a great many houses, in the suburbs of Canton, are occupied for commercial purposes only, by merchants and rich tradesmen, whose families live entirely within the city.  On the other hand, a Chinese family appears to consist, on an average, of more persons than an European.  A Mandarin, according to his rank and substance, has from five to twenty wives.  A merchant, from three to five.  One of this class at Canton, had, indeed, twenty-five wives, and thirty-six children; but this was mentioned to me as a very extraordinary instance.  An opulent tradesman has usually two; and the lower class of people very rarely more than one.  Their servants are at least double in number to those employed by persons of the same condition in Europe.  If, then, we suppose a Chinese family one-third larger, and an European house two-thirds less than each other, a Chinese city will contain only half the number of inhabitants contained in an European town of the same size.  According to these data, the city and suburbs of Canton may probably contain about one hundred and fifty thousand.

With respect to the number of inhabited sampanes, I found different opinions were entertained; but none placing them lower than forty thousand.  They are moored in rows close to each other, with a narrow passage, at intervals, for the boats to pass up and down the river.  As the Tygris, at Canton, is somewhat wider than the Thames at London; and the whole river is covered in this manner for the extent of at least a mile, this account of their number does not appear to me in the least exaggerated; and if it be allowed, the number of inhabitants in the sampanes alone (for each of them contains one family) must amount to nearly three times the number supposed by M. Sonnerat to be in the whole city.

The military force of the province, of which Canton is the capital, amounts to fifty thousand men.  It is said, that twenty thousand are stationed in and about the city; and, as a proof of this, I was assured, that, on the occasion of some disturbance that had happened at Canton, thirty thousand men were drawn together within the space of a few hours.