23.12. 12. Of the Number of Males and Females in different Countries.
I have already observed that there are born in Europe rather more boys
than girls.
[12]
It has been remarked that in Japan there are born rather
more girls than boys:
[13]
all things compared, there must be more
fruitful women in Japan than in Europe, and consequently it must be more
populous.
We are informed that at Bantam there are ten girls to one boy.
[14]
A disproportion like this must cause the number of families there to be to
the number of those of other climates as 1 to 5 1/2 which is a
prodigious difference. Their families may be much larger indeed; but
there must be few men in circumstances sufficient to provide for so
large a family.
Footnotes
[13]
See Kempfer, who gives a computation of the people of Meaco.
[14]
"Collection of Voyages that Contributed to the Establishment of
the East India Company," vol. i, p. 347.
