iii.  Both these estimates are exceeded by Dr. T. W. Rhys Davids (intimating also the uncertainty of the statements, and that numbers are no evidence of truth) in the introduction to his “Manual of Buddhism.”  The Buddhists there appear as amounting in all to 500 millions:—­30 millions of Southern Buddhists, in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Anam, and India (Jains); and 470 millions of North Buddhists, of whom nearly 33 millions are assigned to Japan, and 414,686,974 to the eighteen provinces of China proper.  According to him, Christians amount to about 26 per cent of mankind, Hindus to about 13, Mohammedans to about 12 1_2, Buddhists to about 40, and Jews to about 1_2.

In regard to all these estimates, it will be observed that the immense numbers assigned to Buddhism are made out by the multitude of Chinese with which it is credited.  Subtract Cunningham’s 170 millions of Chinese from his total of 222, and there remains only 52 millions of Buddhists.  Subtract Davids’ (say) 414 1_2 millions of Chinese from his total of 500, and there remain only 85 1_2 millions for Buddhism.  Of the numbers assigned to other countries, as well as of their whole populations, I am in considerable doubt, excepting in the cases of Ceylon and India; but the greatness of the estimates turns upon the immense multitudes said to be in China.  I do not know what total population Cunningham allowed for that country, nor on what principal he allotted 170 millions of it to Buddhism;—­perhaps he halved his estimate of the whole, whereas Berghaus and Davids allotted to it the highest estimates that have been given of the people.

But we have no certain information of the population of China.  At an interview with the former Chinese ambassador, Kwo Sung-tao, in Paris, in 1878, I begged him to write out for me the amount, with the authority for it, and he assured me that it could not be done.  I have read probably almost everything that has been published on the subject, and endeavoured by methods of my own to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion;—­without reaching a result which I can venture to lay before the public.  My impression has been that 400 millions is hardly an exaggeration.

But supposing that we had reliable returns of the whole population, how shall we proceed to apportion that among Confucianists, Taoists, and Buddhists?  Confucianism is the orthodoxy of China.  The common name for it is Ju Chiao, “the Doctrines held by the Learned Class,” entrance into the circle of which is, with a few insignificant exceptions, open to all the people.  The mass of them and the masses under their influence are preponderatingly Confucian; and in the observance of ancestral worship, the most remarkable feature of the religion proper of China from the earliest times, of which Confucius was not the author but the prophet, an overwhelming majority are regular and assiduous.