The part of Canton inclosed by walls is about six miles in circumference; having a partition wall running east and west, which divides it into two unequal parts. The entire circuit, including the suburbs, is nearly ten miles. The population on land and water, so far as the best data enable one to judge, cannot be less than a million of inhabitants. This estimate has been doubted; and certainty upon the subject is not to be attained, for the census affords no aid in determining this point, owing to the fact that it is set down by districts, and Canton lies partly in two districts, Nanhai and Pwanyü, which extend beyond the walls many miles. Davis says, “the whole circuit of the city has been compassed within two hours by persons on foot, and cannot exceed six or seven miles;”--which is true, but he means only that portion contained within the walls; and there are at least as many houses without the walls as within them, besides the boats. The city is constantly increasing, the western suburbs present many new streets entirely built up within the last ten years. The houses stretch along the river from opposite the Fa tí or Flower grounds to French Folly, a distance of four miles, and the banks are everywhere nearly concealed by the boats and rafts. The situation of Canton is one which would naturally soon attract settlers. The earliest notices of the city date back two centuries before Christ, but traders were doubtless located here prior to that time. It grew in importance as the country became better settled, and in A.D. 700, a regular market was opened, and a collector of customs appointed. When the Manchus overran the country in 1650, this city resisted their utmost efforts to reduce it for the space of eleven months, and was finally carried by treachery. Martini states that a hundred thousand _men_ were killed at its sack; and the whole number who lost their lives at the final assault and during the siege was 700,000--if the native accounts are trustworthy.[80] Since then, it has been rebuilt, and has increased in prosperity until it is regarded as the second city in the empire for numbers, and is probably at present the first in wealth.