Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1840 Excerpt: ... human race is continually on the decline. The former country has exhibited in every 'age the most extraordinary instances of rapid vicissitudes in the population.i; 'In the time of Shah Abbas, who was contemporary with Queen Elizabeth, Ispahan contained 1,000,000 of inhabitants, and was surrounded by 1400 villages. Now its population does not exceed 100,000, and only 200 of the surrounding villages remain. The devastation of the Affghan conquerors in the eighteenth century has been perpetuated by the oppression and insecurity which has since prevailed un der the arbitrary rule of-the Persian princes. So late as the time of the Emperor Claudius, the population of Persia was computed at 40,000,000;'j' the widest computations of the present day do not make it amount to one-fifth of that number.i In the Mahometan states, the continual diminution in the numbers of the people has been observed by every traveller, which is the more remarkable, as, amidst the hardships of the adjoining deserts, the Arabs multiply with surprising rapidity." The feeble and languid resources of the Turkish empire are unable to supply the voids occasioned by the plague or the sword: cities which a few years ago were of considerable magnitude, now contain only a few houses;1l the richest plains even in the heart of the country are as desolate as the steppes of the Ukraine;"' and in Constantinople itself the diminution is computed at 500,000 souls within the last twenty years.fl Such was the law of nature in the ancient world, and such is the system which still prevails in those countries where society is established on the ancient basis. As the principle of population was unrestrained in its operation, some irresistible checks were necessary to..."