Directory_and_Chronicle_1845 — Page 234

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license. According to their records, the number of the fraternity in Canton, at the present time, is 7,300.

There is another body of men here, which we must not pass over in silence, but which we know not how to designate or to describe; we refer to the medical community. That these men command high respect and esteem whenever they show themselves skillful in their profession, there can be no doubt; it is generally admitted also, that indivduals do now and then by long experience and observation become able practitioners: but as a community they are anything, rather than masters of the healing art.' They are very numerous, amounting, probably, to not less than two thousand.

No inconsiderable part of the multitude which composes the po- pulation of Canton live in boats. There are officers appointed by government to regulate and control this portion of the inhabitants of the city. Every boat, of all the various sizes and descriptions which are seen here, is registered; and it appears that the whole number, on the river adjacent the city, is eighty-four thousand. A very large majority of these are tán-kiú (egg-house) boats; these are generally not more than twelve or fifteen feet long, about six broad, and so low that a person can scarcely stand up in them; their covering, which is made of bamboo, is very light and can be easily adjusted to the state of the weather. Whole families live in these boats; and in coops lashed on the outside of them, they often rear large broods of ducks and chickens, designed to supply the city markets. Pas- sage-boats, which daily move to and from the neighboring villages and hamlets; ferry-boats, which are constantly crossing and re-cross- ing the river; huge canal-boats, laden with produce from the coun- try; cruises; pleasure-boats, &c., complete the list of these floating habitations, and present to the stranger a very interesting scene.

Population of Canton.

The population of Canton is a difficult subject, about which there has been considerable diversity of opinion. The division of the city, which brings a part of it in Nánhái and a part in Fwányü, precludes the possibility of ascertaining the exact number of inhabitants. The facts which we have brought into view in the preceding pages, perhaps, will afford the data for making an accurate estimate of the population of the city. There are, we have already seen 50,000 persons engaged in the manufacture of cloth, 7,300 barbers, and 4,200 shoemakers; but these three occupations employing 61,500