Strangers and to Negotiate their Business for them yet we resolv'd not to be discourag'd but rather taking the greater magnanimity and trusting in Almighty God who sometimes permits Difficulties to appear insupportable by Humane Strength that we may ascribe our happy Success to him alone and return him all Praise and Thanks who brings all our Works to pass with erected Spirits therefore and our Hearts advanc'd we accosted a famous Chinese who is likewise President of the Tribunal of Hospitality for now all their Courts have double Chiefs and Presidents in them the one a Tartar and the other a Chinese earnestly requesting his favorable assistance in this Business for knowing his Authority in his Favor lay our greatest Hopes and he was ever a most friendly Person to us as he had been to the Fathers our Predecessors and one that had a good opinion of our Books and Sciences to whom we Presented a Book written in Chinese Characters a Mirror or Theatre of their part of the World wherein I shew'd him a Description of the Island adjacent to the Province of Fokien and among them a Geographical Map of the Island of Formosa which they vulgarly call Tywan and so took occasion to report those Mischiefs that had befall'n that Isle since the Hollanders invaded and to declare the imminent Danger impending not only over that Province of Fokien but the whole Empire of China by the vicinity of such an Enemy particularly that so long as the Hollanders remain'd upon the Island of Formosa neither Civencheu nor Cincheu the Names of the Cities of the Province of Fokien could ever be secure or flourish but would be in perpetual hazard of decay This Mandorin was wonderfully pleas'd with the Book and promis'd me to shew it to the Council that was to be held about the Hollanders and withal he added this word of Consolation That these Hollanders shall never accomplish and bring to pass their Designs here although I well know they have Brib'd the King of Canton and many other great Officers about the Court for I will never suffer them to enter into China or to be allow'd any Commerce with it And as he promis'd so he likewise perform'd with other Chineses of his Party withstanding the Tartars and anon producing the Book to them whereunto they all gave great estimation and credit because it was written in the Chinese Language At length from the Cognizance that all Great Men took of the Hollanders and the Fame that was spread of them it came to pass that the Tartars shut them up and not only deny'd them liberty to sell any thing or to buy any Necessaries for themselves but also prohibiting them to receive those Entertainments whereunto some of the Vice-Roy of Canton's intimate Friends had invited them nor would they suffer any Man so much as to sit down at their Door whence the Dutch despairing of any good issue of their Negotiations plainly disown'd their Pretence of seeking any Commerce here and pretended their Business to be only a Congratulation of the Emperor in his new Conquest which having now perform'd with their most hearty Wishes for the continuance and increase of his Posterity they desir'd his Majesties leave to return to their Ships and Country Hitherto whatever Father Lodowick Balion and my self have done to defeat the Hollanders if it were not according to our Wishes it was according to our Power and by Divine Assistance it prov'd sufficient in our laying open the Qualities of this Nation to alienate the Affections of the Chineses from them and of many Tartars too who before stood at the most but in a Neutrality and to the striking some terror in those who had been corrupted by their Bribes I say That by Divine Assistance it prov'd sufficient for without that it had been impossible for us to have advanc'd one step in a Business of this nature as well for the vast Gifts and Presents whereby they had gain'd upon Men whom they had found capable of furthering their Design as for the contrary Penury on our side which lost us many Advantages that we could otherwise have taken for at Peking as at old Rome all things are bought and sold. We went often to the old Church to confer with Father Iohn Adam about this Matter and to animate him to acquaint the Emperor with it for he had frequent access to the Emperor's Ear I say to animate him not that he wanted either courage or good will but because as I have formerly written unto your Lordships all Matters of great moment are entirely acted in the Tribunals from whence alone the Emperor is to be inform'd of the Administrations of his Empire whereto he commonly conforms himself yea sometimes if he would he cannot alter the Determinations and Decrees of the sixth Tribunal who are become the Supreme Legislators of that Empire When home-bred and domestick Business of the Country is in question and whereof the Emperor hath any knowledge though it be but small they commonly make their Addresses to his Majesty about it but of Forein Business he hath no knowledge at all till they have finish'd it Nor was it a thing of little danger to move the Emperor in lest they who favor'd the Hollanders might be provok'd to plead that what Father Iohn and we did proceeded meerly from Envy and Covetousness to defame the Hollanders because we would ingross the Trade of Canton in the Hands of the Portuguese excluding all other Nations who probably might be more advantageous to this Empire Yet notwithstanding all which Father Adam did adventure to speak to the Emperor who was always highly pleas'd to favor him and now to entertain his Motion and for his sake to incline to our Party and it pleas'd God so to stop the Mouths of all Gainsayers that none durst open after Your Lordships owe much to Father Iohn Valleat who although he could not negotiate with any abroad out of the Palace as he wish'd was yet very behoveful in his constant solicitation of Father Iohn Adam exhorting him to improve his Interest in the Emperor about our Business and suggesting many Reasons to him of its feasibleness and what he did herein we have extracted out of an Epistle from him to Father Visidore as followeth THe twelfth of this present February I was with the Emperor who being pleas'd according to his wont to honor me with familiar Discourse among other Subjects he fell upon the Hollanders which gave me occasion to represent them in their proper Colours and particularly to admonish the Emperor of that great Lye wherewith they had arm'd themselves upon their coming hither in the poud boasting of their large Dominions as if they had been legal and ancient Owners of great Territories when they the truth is were but violent Possessors of a small part of a Country which they at first had traiterously usurp'd and since rebelliously defended from their lawful Soveraign and thereupon became Vagabonds upon the Sea there
him to have far exceeded in Vertue Learning and Integrity all other Mortals that ever liv'd upon the face of the Earth And certainly if his Works which are extant in Chinese Books were minded with a due regard Men must acknowledge him to have been a Person of great Learning and Vertue In respect whereof the Chineses have to this day so great an opinion of his Name that whatsoever he has writ is never call'd in question but by all maintain'd for good having gain'd to it self the authority of Ipse Dixit in the Schools And not only the Learned but the Kings also have ever since his Death perpetuated his Memory and recorded his Name in their Annals as a Reward of the Vertue and Learning they receiv'd from him And such of his Posterity as yet remain are to this day highly respected by all and not without reason for the Emperors of China have Enobled the Heirs of the Family with great Titles of Honor and exempted them from paying any Publick Taxes or Impositions Nor doth the Knowledge of the Chineses end here for they are great Proficients in the Art of Astrology and in several other Arts and Sciences as also heretofore in that of Arithmetick in the understanding whereof they have of late years much decay'd insomuch that now the Shop-keepers use Boards to tell upon which are full of Holes yet they are so ready at it that with a Peg they know how to cast up an Accompt with as much Method and Expedition as the most skilful European with Counters In the division of the Hemisphere Stars and Constellations therein they differ very much from us of Europe having added to their number more than are known to the most critical of our modern Astronomers The Star-gazers are chiefly employ'd in prognosticating the time of the Suns Eclipses and to observe the various Course of the Planetary Motions But herein they are like themselves and Brethren in the same Art full of Errors and Mistakes as also in their Astrological Observations Calculating of Nativities Horary Questions or the like concerning good or bad Fortunes in their Lives as well as present Successes in their Emergent Occasions together with the Fruitfulness and Barrenness of the ensuing Year for they take it as a main Article of their Belief That all things which happen here upon Earth depend upon the Influences of the Stars and are directed and order'd by the various Signatures of their several Configurations Of this Fortune-telling Part of the Art of Astrology Trigautius the Iesuit gives this following Account in his History of China The present Emperor of China has strictly forbidden this kind of Learning to all but such who have a Right by Inheritance or are otherwise appointed and chosen thereunto And this Prohibition at first sprung from fear lest any having obtained to the exact knowledge of that Art should by pretence thereof have an opportunity to erect any Novelty in the Empire Yet that the Art and the Masters of the same may not seem to be utterly lost or neglected the said Emperor maintains several Star-gazers at a very great Charge for his own use and they are of two sorts namely the Celubden who live within the King's Palace and the Imperial Magistrates who live without Both these have at present at Peking two Benches the one entituled The Bench of the Chineses which is employ'd about making of Almanacks and Prognostications the Suns and Moons Eclipses The other is of the Saraceners whose Studies tend to the same things and are Methodiz'd according to the Grounds and Rules of the Western Astrology After a time the Iudgments of both these Benches are compar'd together and any difference or mistake of either or both is then rectified Both these Societies have a convenient Mansion provided for them upon a very high Hill that they may the better view the Stars and raise Observations from the same Several old Astrological Instruments made of Copper or Brass are kept in this Place Every Night one of the Profession remains here to observe whether any new Star appear in the Firmament which might fore-tell some Novelty and if any such thing happen he immediately gives notice thereof to the Society and they communicate the same to the Emperor and consult with him what it may pâ—rtend and how relate to good or evil And this is the Office or Duty of the Astrologers at Peking As to Physick and Chirurgery they are very expert therein and their Rules of Art differ not much from those of our European Physicians for first they feel the Pulse like them and are very skilful in discovering by the same the inward Distempers of the Body in each Hand they take notice of six distinct beatings of the same namely three high and three low which as they conceive have some secret Coherences with certain Parts of the Body as that of the first to the Heart of the second to the Liver of the the third to the Stomach of the fourth to the Spleen of the fifth to the Reins c. And therefore that they may with the greater certainty of Iudgment deliver their Opinions they are at least half an hour in feeling the Pulse of the sick Person When by the Pulse they have found out the Distemper then in order to the curing of the Patient they apply and make use of several Simples and Roots to say the truth they are generally very well experienc'd in the knowledge of the several Vertues of all kinds of Herbs growing among them And this is observable that there are no Schools in all China for the learning of Physick but every Master of Family teaches his Servant And true it is that although in both the Imperial Cities of Peking and Nanking the Degree of Doctor of Physick is not granted but after Examination yet this Degree when obtain'd doth advance neither the Honor or Respect of the Person And for this reason it is probable that few or none Study Physick but the meaner sort of People because the very Profession thereof which is so honorable in other Places is there is no esteem nor adds the least Reputation to him that gains it But it is quite otherwise with such as Study Philosophy for whosoever hath attain'd to the Perfection thereof is by them accounted to have arriv'd at the highest pitch of humane Happiness attainable in this World The above-mention'd Confutius the Prince of the Chinese Philosophers has collected into order all the Writings of the Ancients in that kind and contracted them into four great Books to which he added a fifth of his own In which Volumes are taught Rules Oeconomical and Political as well the way to Live as to Govern well as also the ancient Examples Manners Offerings and several Poems of ancient Authors But beside these five there is another great Volume writ by some of the Disciples of Confutius and is divided into four Parts and call'd The Four Books The last Volume thus subdivided
the Globe of the Earth was furnish'd with so many and those so Potent Nations and People unknown to them that it should be eucompass'd with so large an Ocean with so great a multiplicity of Islands here and there on every side scatter'd abroad and moreover that Europe should be situate so far off in the ultimate Recesses of the West disjoin'd by the interposal of so many Lands and Seas resplendent for so many Kingdoms and Monarchs and more especially for the Majesty of the Roman Empire also that China should be plac'd in the utmost Corner of the East this indeed they admir'd at and were withal much displeas'd that their Empire beyond which they imagin'd nothing to be remaining yea which was fix'd in the middle of the Earth as a Iewel in a Ring should be cast into the extreme Part of the World Father Riccius being mov'd at this their Displeasure that he might not any way abate of that Reputation he had gain'd amongst them design'd a new Delineation of the Globe of the Earth in a greater Form distinguish'd into two Hemispheres that China the proportion of the Paralells and Meridians being observ'd and kept should be in the middle Lastly he Illustrated all the Kingdoms Regions Provinces Cities Mountains Rivers Seas and Lakes in the Chinesian Characters and Language which Work of so universal Diligence and Labor you can hardly express how much it drew and fastned the Mind and Eyes of all upon it especially seeing that what before they admir'd as a rude indigested Heap having no farther understanding of it now they did not only behold the Constitution of each Part of the World declar'd in their own Language but also comprehended and discover'd all and every Place in it whence when the House was not able to contain the great number of Persons that â—ame to view this hitherto unseen Work that many might become partakers of so great a Good the Map at the Cost of the Vice-Roy was speedily Engraven and abundance of the Copies of it were dispers'd through the whole Empire which excited such a flame in the Minds of Persons that were curious that they believ'd Matthew Riccius like a reviv'd Atlas to be the most excellent Astronomer in the whole World and to have fall'n down from the Clouds The Grandees of the Empire being smitten with those first Fruits of Curiosity every where labor'd to call our Fathers unto them but by this means they were unmeet for so great Undertakings having sent for divers of the Fathers of great Abilities from Maccao they employ'd them in Fishing By this means first the Minds or Phantasies of the Great Personages being allur'd by such preparative Inventions of curious things as they acquir'd an high esteem of their admirable Learning and incomparable Wit so nothing was more easie than by laying hold on the occasion which was the chief inducement of their Voyage into China to discourse concerning the Christian Religion and the God of Heaven Now the Chineses who for a long space of time had a great Controversie about the Worship of the True God being captivated with their great Reasonings that were strengthned with the weight of Arguments concerning the One and True God and the nullity of the Gentile Figments and Images presently submitted themselves to be instructed in their Worship and Discipline whence within a few years Men of Note together with other Persons of all States and Conditions discovering the Vanity of their own Religion being wash'd with the Sacred Water of Baptism were receiv'd into the Bosom of our Holy Mother the Church amongst which were many Noble Persons and Governors of the Empire whom they term Mandorins and Colao's who acknowledging the Benefit of the Divine Call unto the safe Harbor of Saving Faith so warmly embrac'd the Law of Christ that they seem'd hardly able to rest before they had brought over many others to embrace the same Hence many Books which deliver'd the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion were written and dispersed throughout the whole Empire to the incredible advantage of Souls But the great Enemy of Man-kind suffer'd not such a Prey to be rescu'd from him for now Places of Residence being establish'd through the chief Provinces of the Empire and Churches also erected unto the Service of God by the Envy and Hatred of the Bonzii that is their Priests who were almost frantick at the so great Advancement and Propagation of the Divine Gospel so heavy a Persecution was rais'd against our Fathers and Converts that often being clapp'd up in Prison and cruelly tormented and lastly by their withdrawing and the total exilement of the Christian Profession so happy a Progress of the Faith was almost reduc'd unto the extremest hazard but by the Assistance of the Divine Favor the Constancy of our Fathers the Books publish'd by Great Persons whom they had gain'd unto Christ and also by reason of the great Authority they bore and the Innocency of the Fathers demonstrated by the detection of the Calumnies of the Adversaries they were restor'd unto their former Liberty they learning from this one Example that it cannot possibly be brought to pass that such another Persecution should ever go about to obscure the so famous Fruits manag'd for the Glory of the Divine Majesty no more than a Shadow can put out the Light of the Sun therefore Matters being again brought to this tranquillous Condition Christianity arose to so much the more heighth by how much it had been the more lowly and violently depress'd for the Faith did not only extend it self throughout the utmost Bounds of the Empire but also entred the Palace of the Emperor and the inviolable force of Verity was such that it drew the Empress and her Son to the love of it by the Pains of Andrew Cosler and Austrian who being wash'd with the Water of Baptism the Empress had the Name of Helena given her and her Son that of Constantine the chief Minister of whose Court Pan Achilleus having also been instructed in the Christian Religion and being a Person mightily inflam'd with zeal to propagate the Christian Faith often solicited by ardent Entreaties that Letters might be sent unto the Pope and to the General of the Society of Iesus for the sending over of a great plenty of Laborers into China They had so great a Devotion towards the Apostolical See that what Homage and Obedience they could not perform in their own Persons they enjoyn'd Father Michael Boim to discharge at Rome unto the Pope in their steads Things thus prosperously succeeding and according to the Desires of all behold a new Whirlwind with great violence from the North disturb'd the prosperous and fortunate Transaction of the Christian Affairs which being establish'd and confirm'd by the Broad Seal of the Emperor they hop'd might have enlarg'd the Preaching of the Gospel throughout the whole Empire But the Tartars being allur'd or intic'd by the Intestine or Civil Wars of the Chineses and breaking through
will not undertake any Business contrary to the Rules of the Religious Order I thought it necessary to bind him with an absolute Command to undertake this Function and to add the Dignity of the second Order unto the Title of the Master of the Celestial Secrets in which Office he having been employ'd for some Years hath daily increas'd his Diligence and Study And because he hath a Temple or Church near the Gate of the City nam'd Xun Che Muen in which according to the Rites of his Law or Religion he Offereth Sacrifices unto God I therefore contributed some Assistance unto him for the building and adorning of it and when I entred that Temple I discern'd the Images and Utensils of it to have the shapes of strange things and when I had ask'd him what the Books of his Religion which I found on the Table contain'd he answer'd That they contain'd the Explication of the Divine Law Indeed although I had first apply'd my Study to the Doctrine or Religion Yao Xun Cheu and learn'd some things out of their Books Cum Cu and albeit I have read somewhat in the Books Foe and Tau yet notwithstanding I can remember nothing contain'd in them and seeing I could not by reason of the Affairs of my Kingdom hitherto peruse the Books of this Divine Law but onely cursorily therefore I cannot pass an exact Iudgment out of them concerning the Law but if you reflect upon or consider Father Iohn Adam who for many years having been conversant with the Chineses and with us followeth this Law and Preacheth the same then I judge and esteem it the best for Iohn Adam doth so reverence his God that he hath dedicated this Temple unto him with so great Modesty and Integrity for so many years always conforming himself in the same method of this Law and not in the least point varying from it this indeed is an evident sign that the Law is most perfect in which Iohn Adam sheweth himself of most approved Vertue and fulfilleth that exactly by his Fidelity which that Law teacheth or commandeth viz. To serve God to obey Kings and Magistrates to do no wrong to any Person and to have respect to the Good and Welfare of the Commonwealth and our Neighbors And would to God that all my Magistrates Officers and Subjects would imitate this his Method in serving of God and keeping of this his Divine Law and at a long distance would but shadow this in the Homage they owe unto their Emperor without doubt it would fall out better and far more happily with me and my whole Empire As for my own part I praise and greatly approve of this his Belief and Law which he followeth and therefore in a perpetual Commemoration I affix this Title to his Church Tum hiuen hia Kim that is The excellent Place for ascending to Heaven Given at Peking the seventh Year of our Empire This Patent written in the Chinesian and Tartar Languages and Characters on a black Table by a polite and elegant Hand is to be seen in our Study or Gallery and the Tartar Characters do indeed resemble the form of the Syriack wholly different from those of the Chineses Now on what occasion the Tartar granted this Priviledge is related before From whence it is manifestly apparent what affection so great a Monarch had for the Christian Faith and how much he endeavor'd the promotion and promulgation thereof even to the embracing of it himself confessing the only obstacle of his Conversion was Polygamie which Doctrine being so dissonant to the Customs and Nature of the Heathen Princes made them boggle at first and then flie from that True Faith they were ready to receive to the perdition of their Souls But to return to our purpose From this most ardent propensity of the Emperor unto our Religion immediately there succeeded a great Conversion of the Ladies of Honor the Eunuchs and Mandorins the Christian Law being spread abroad in the City of Peking there were gather'd into the Bosom of the Church almost eighty thousand Converts But all this flourishing and Blooming Spring was blasted in the Bud by the sudden Death of the Emperor he not obtaining that Eternal Salvation which he so much desir'd on the behalf of others and although oftentimes he requested the Ghostly Assistance of Father Adam yet by the craft and subtlety of the Lamas and Bonzii who stood before the Emperor in the last Conflict of Life and Death it so fell out that all Address to him was obstructed till it was too late for being frustrate of his hope whom he thought alive he to his incredible sorrow found dead Now when his Funeral Rites were perform'd a Pile being made of precious Wood the Treasures of so wealthy a Prince were cast into the Flames with the dead Corps which put an end to his Imperial Magnificence and Grandeur The Son of this deceased Emperor being a Youth of fourteen Years of Age succeeded him in the Government who as he was under the Discipline and Tuition of Father Adam being wholly committed unto his Care by the Emperor so he devested not himself of that innate Affection which he had to the Christian Faith and our Religious Fathers Now how much the Christian Concerns were augmented under these Emperors in respect of former Times is evidently shewn by the Inscription of the new erected and Consecrated Church at Peking which as being worthy of Consideration I shall here subjoyn in stead of a Conclusion The Inscription of the Church of Peking belonging to the Society of Iesus AFter the Faith introduc'd by St. Thomas the Apostle and after the same was again and that more largely Propagated by the Syrians in the time of the Reign of the Emperor Tam the same being again the third time divulg'd in the time of the Regency of the Emperor Mim by the Conduct of St. Francis Xavier and Father Matthew Riccius of the Society of Iesus both by Preaching and Books publish'd in the Chinesian Tongue perform'd with great Study and Labor but by reason of the inconstancy of the Nation not altogether with equal success The Empire being now devolv'd unto the Tartars the same Society for a conclusion of their Labors in restoring the Calendar call'd The XI of Hien Lie hath publickly plac'd and Dedicated this Temple to the most High God at Peking the Royal City and Palace of the Emperors of China Anno 1650. and the seventh Year of Xun Chi. Father Iohn Adam Schall of Zell a German Professor of the Society of Iesus and Author of the foremention'd Calendar out of the Labor of his Hands bequeatheth this Temple and his Patience unto Posterity P. MATTHAEVS RICCIVS MACERAT of the Society of Iesus the first propagator of the Christian Religion in the Kingdo of Cluna LY PAVLVS GREAT COLAVS OF the Chineses propagator of y christian Lâ—w. P. ADAM SCHALIGER A GERMAN MANDARIN OF Y FIRST ORDER CHAP. VIII Of the Correction of the Chinese
Ornament to the Place for from the Water-gate going directly on to the King's Palace I told in that Line onely no less than thirteen stately Triumphal Arches made of hewn Stone which are so set out with Figures and Inscriptions in Carved Work that all who behold them admire them as Wonders And this being one of the greatest and most considerable Ornaments wherewith the Chineses adorn their Cities I have for the better demonstration of the Workmanship set before you the following Printed Draught of one of them that you may take a full view of every part and so judge of all the rest which are generally built after one and the same fashion These Arches are commonly built with three Stories so artificially that we may very well say that neither Wit nor Ingenuity were wanting in their Contrivance Round about the Pillars and in other places were writ several Chinese Characters and also cut several Flowers Beasts Birds and other curious Ornaments as I suppose Emblematical That you may the better take a view of the Situation of this most famous City I here present two Draughts the one the Prospect as upon the Water the other Ichnographical of their Streets Ground-plats Temples Walls Castles Houses and whatsoever else They say this City before the last War was so wondrous populous and full of Traffick that daily there were at least five or six Men crowded to death in passing through the Gates which will not seem altogether incredible if you consider the number of the adjacent Villages which abound with People constantly resorting thither This City hath been twice subdu'd by Arms and they say that in the last Siege there were slain above a hundred thousand Men. I shall relate to you in short what hapned to Canton during that terrible and bloody Invasion After that the Tartars had made themselves Masters of all China except some few Sea-Towns they fell with such a formidable Army into this Province of Quantung that hardly any City how strong and populous soever durst withstand them but every one endeavor'd for prevention of her total ruine to receive the Conqueror upon the best Terms they could This Canton relying upon her invincible Forts and Castle only bid defiance to the Tartar the Strength of the Place did not a little encourage the Chinese Inhabitants but that which chiefly gave them a Resolution to withstand the Enemy was that they had one Iquon on their side who Commanded a powerful Fleet whereby he daily furnish'd the City with all necessary Provisions which the Tartars could not hinder wanting Sea-Forces and being unskilful in Maritime Affairs But the Besiegers being Masters of the Field spar'd neither pains nor cost to reduce it by force they Storm'd the City three times but were couragiously beaten off by the Besieged with great loss of Men and Arms. This brave Defence of the Inhabitants made the Siege to last a whole year and their strong Garison enabled them to make so many Sallies upon the Besiegers that they at last found themselves necessitated either to make one general Assault with their whole Army or else as Baffled to raise their Leagure THE GROUND PLAT OF KANTON a A Pagode Temple b. a Fort c. The land Gate d The Wall of the City e the Place where the Tartars are exercised f The Quarters of the Tartars g. a Faire Chinese Tower h. The Old kings Palace i. the young kings Palace k. the first Watergate l Second Watergate m. The Ambassadors house n. Artillery house o. the Plaine where the 〈◊〉 was p. Two Water Châ—tlas q. The Dutsh-Ships The Vice-Roys who Govern'd over this Kingdom at that time when we were there had then the chief Command over the Tartars These endeavor'd to corrupt the Governor of Canton with great Promises and Sums of Money signifying withal unto him these words That he should consider into what extream Danger he was brought and what Disasters were hanging over his Head That if so be he either lov'd himself or his Relations he should forthwith surrender the City and this his Favor they promis'd to requite with eternal Friendship higher Preferment and forty thousand Toel of Silver The pusillanimous and faithless Chinese Governor whether that his Heart misgave him or the Money and large Promises tempted the Man so it was that though he might very well have defended the City yet contrary to his Oath and Honor he made a Promise to the same Tartarian Commanders to set open a Gate to the Besiegers at an appointed hour which accordingly he perform'd It was upon the 24. of November 1650. when the Tartars upon this Advantage rush'd with their whole Army into the City which was soon subdu'd by them the Besieged not being in a Condition to make any resistance for no sooner was the Tartar Horse got in but they rid with great swiftness through all the Streets to hinder the Chineses from gathering together and though the Chineses were not inferior in number to the Tartars yet they effected nothing being in Disorder and surpriz'd by the Treachery of their Governor so that the best course any could use was to save himself by flight The whole Tartar Army being got into the City the Place was soon turn'd to a Map of Misery for every one began to tear break and carry away whatsoever he could lay hands on The Cry of Women Children and Aged People was so great that it exceeded all noise of such loud Distractions so that from the 26. of November to the 15. of December there was heard no other Cry in the Streets but Strike Kill and Destroy the rebellious Barbarians all places being full of woful Lamentations Murder and Rapine Those that were able to Ransom bought their Lives at dear Rates and so escap'd the fury of these inhumane Slaughterers At last the Vice-Roys and Chief Commanders of the Army upon the sixth of Winter-Month did strictly forbid any such cruel Murder to be committed thence-forward I was credibly inform'd that during the space of 80 days above eight thousand were kill'd in cold Blood by the Tartars Some amongst which the Iesuit Martinus is one in his Book of the Tartar War say that there were slain above a hundred thousand which is not altogether improbable in regard of the great number there penn'd up But although this City was thus lamentably laid waste yet through the great care of the Vice-Roys it was in a few years after restor'd to its former lustre After that the Ambassadors had been three Weeks Aboard without coming Ashore all that while they had leave given to Land with all their Followers and were most nobly receiv'd in their former Lodgings but yet were so narrowly Guarded by a great number of Foot-Soldiers that they were not permitted to go into the Streets Two Days after there came a Mandorin to them in the Name of the Vice-Roy who propos'd to them That they to obtain their Ends in China could not Present and give to the Emperor's Council
how to express the highness or lowness of the Sounds which are as follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the help of these Marks must the same word which is written in our Letters and mark'd with these Marks be severally pronounced and then they intend several things As for Example Y'a with this Mark ouer it signifies God and with this Mark over it Yá A Wall and Yà with this Mark signifies Dumbness Yet notwithstanding all these Helps the Chinese Language is very difficult to be learn'd and understood as well in regard of the double signification of the words as also because that in this Language there is no certain number of Letters but every Business and Intention of the Mind must be express'd by a particular Character which gives not only an infinite trouble to those that will learn it but causes a vast expence of time taking up ten or twenty years before a man can attain to the Art of speaking and writing this mysterious Language wherein the Natives themselves know far better how to express their Minds in writing than by speaking But in regard I have now spoken of the Character and Writing of the Chineses I will add in a few Words in what manner they place them And herein they quite differ from the Custom of Europe and almost all other Nations Hereof Peter Iarcius thus in his Treasury of Indian Things The Chineses says he do not write from the left hand to the right as the Europeans nor from the right to the left as the Hebreans but they begin from the right side above and write down to the bottom so that they put the one Character under the other and not one after another as we in Europe And when the Line is full from top to bottom then they begin again at the top of another Line and by degrees go down again to the bottom And indeed which is worth observation in this Particular the Chinese differ from all others who absolutely write after another manner for at this day there are in all the known World but four several ways of Writing upon the Account of placing the Letters The first is from the right to the left side and in this manner are written the Books of the Hebreans Chaldeans Syrians Arabians and Aegyptians The second is from the left to the right side and after this manner the Greek and Latin Books are writ and so write at present all the People of Europe The third sort of Writing is in the Greek call'd Bustrophedon which signifies to Plough with Oxen and this manner of Writing is done just as the Oxen make Furrows with the Plow namely to begin the second Line where the first ended This way of Writing as Pausanius relates was us'd by the ancient Grecians and so as is reported were writ the Laws of Solon The fourth and last way of Writing is from the top to the bottom and this manner of Writing as has been said the Chineses use and some of the Salvage Indians But although this manner of Writing whereby each thing is express'd by a particular Character is very burdensom to the Memory yet it is of very great use and advantage to the People who differ very much in Language from each other for hereby they are able to read the Books and Letters of each other if they use common Characters in Writing though the one doth in no wise understand the other in speaking And in this manner it is that those of Iapan Corea Couchen-China use one and the same Books though they differ so very much in the Pronunciation that one cannot understand a Word the other says yet they bear the same sence to the understanding of the most indifferent Reader no otherwise skill'd than in the vulgar Idiom of his Mother-Tongue And which is yet more of wonder that although the several Natives in the Empire of China differ infinitely each from other in their several Dialects so that their varying of Languages makes them seem as Strangers among themselves their Tongues being useless Members to their Intelect yet in their Books one General Character is us'd so that the same are equally intelligible throughout the whole Empire Notwithstanding the great Confusion of Languages in the several Provinces as is before declar'd there is yet through the whole Empire another Common Tongue by the Chineses call'd Quinhoa which signifies The Court or Mandorin Chinese and this at first took its rise from the Magistrates or Mandorins residing in the respective Provinces whereto they were sent with a Superintendent Authority for coming thither as Strangers and esteeming it below their Greatness to be necessitated to learn any other Tongue this Câ—urtly Mandorin Language was introduc'd through the whole Empire wherein not onely all Affairs relating to the Laws are dispatch'd but likewise all Persons of Rank or Quality use the same so that it is as common and as much in use with them as Latin in Europe or Lingua Franca among the Turks and this is the Language that Strangers Merchants and others learn when they come into those Parts This Court-speech though it exceeds all the others for number of Letters yet it consists of no more than 362 Words so that the shortness or conciseness of this Courtly or more Modish manner of speaking makes it flow so pleasantly from the Tongue that it passes for sweet Elocution almost all other Languages yet known As for Example When we will express the manner of taking a thing either with the whole Hand or with one or two Fingers we are enforc'd to add the word Take but the Chineses do express the same quite otherwise for each Substantive as a Cup or Pot signifies the thing to be done as likewise the manner of doing it Thus Nien signifies to take with two Fingers Tzo with one and Chua with the whole Hand The same is likewise observ'd in the word Stand we say To stand in the House to stand Eating to stand Sleeping but they have a Word which denotes the Infinitive Verb To Stand and the manner of standing So likewise when we will express the Leg of a Man or of a Bird we always add the same word Leg but the Chineses express it all in one for Kio is a Man's Leg Chua a Birds and Thi the Foot of any Creature Amongst all the several noble Arts and Sciences wherewith the Europeans are enobled the Chineses have only some insight into that of Philosophy for the knowledge of natural things is much more obscur'd among them by several interpos'd Errors than any ways enlightned The greatest Philosopher of all that Nation was one Confutius born four hundred and fifty one years before Christ's Incarnation and liv'd in such a manner for above seventy years that not only by Example but also by his Writings and Conversation he stirr'd up all others to imitate him in a vertuous and orderly Course of Life whereby he gain'd so great an Esteem amongst the People that they believ'd
treats of the same Subject with those other five And these nine Books are all that are to be found in China amongst the Booksellers out of which all others are compos'd And certainly therein are contain'd most excellent Rules and Directions for the well ordering of all Civil Affairs and such as have proved to the very great advantage of the Empire of China For which cause a Law was made by the ancient Kings That whosoever would be a Learned Man or so reputed must extract the principal Ground-work of his Learning from these Books Nor is it enough to understand the true meaning and sense of the same but he must likewise get them by heart and be able to repeat a considerable part thereof if he will be thought to have arriv'd at an eminent pitch of Learning There are no Publick Schools in all China though some Writers have erroneously told us the contrary but every Person chuses his own Master by whom he is taught in his House at his own Charge And in regard of the great difficulty in Teaching the Chinese Characters in respect of their vast number and variety it is impossible for one to teach many several Persons and therefore every Master of a Family takes an Instructer into his House for his Children of whom if there be two or three to learn they are as many as one Tutor can well teach All such as are found upon Examination to have made good Progress in Philosophy arise to Promotions by three Degrees of Learning The first is call'd Sieucai the second Kiugin the third Cinfu The first Degree of Learning call'd Sieucai is given in every City by a certain Eminent Learned Person appointed by the Emperor for that purpose and according to his Office bears the Name of Tihio This Tihio goes a Circuit through all the Towns of his Province on purpose to Promote Learned Men to this Degree As soon as he is come into any City he makes known his arrival whereupon all such as stand for this Preferment address themselves unto him to be examined and if he find them qualified he immediately prefers them to this first Step of Learning and that their Worth may be taken notice of for a particular Badge of their Dignity they wear a Gown Bonnet and Boots in which Habit none are permitted to go but such as are in this manner become Graduates They enjoy likewise several Honorable Privileges and Immunities and are preferr'd to considerable Employments in the Government The second Degree of Honor to which the Learned Chineses are preferr'd is call'd Kiugin which is given with much more State than the former and is conferr'd only upon such as they judge to be most deserving and this Promotion is made but once in three years and perform'd after this manner In each Capital City is a great and well-built Palace encompass'd with high Walls and set apart only for the Examination of the Scholars In this Place are several Apartments and Mansions for the use of Examiners when they come to Supervise the Scholars Works Beside these Apartments there are at least a thousand Cells in the middle of the Palace but so small that they will only contain only one Person a little Table and a Bench In these no one can speak to his Neighbor nor be seen by him When the King's Examiners are arriv'd in the City they are lock'd up apart in this Palace and not suffer'd to Discourse with any whatsoever while they are there When the time of Examination is come to which are appointed three whole days namely the ninth twelfth and fifteenth Days of the eighth Month then are the Writings of the Scholars with great Iudgment narrowly Examin'd and several Questions propounded to be resolv'd by them The third Degree is call'd Cinsu and is equal with that of Doctor of Divinity Law or Physick in Europe and this is conferr'd likewise every third year and to them only in the Imperial City of Peking To this Honor can only three hundred out of the whole Empire arrive and the Examination of them before they are chosen is perform'd by the King's Examiners in the same Method and State as the former And such as attain to this heighth of Honor by their Learning are preferr'd to the highest Places of Dignity in the Empire and are had in great Esteem and Reputation by the People CHAP. III. Of several Chinese Handicraft-Trades Comedians Iuglers and Beggers THe Chineses are not altogether without some Experience and Skill in Architecture although for neatness and polite Curiosity their Building is not to be compar'd with that in Europe neither are their Edifices so costly or durable in regard they proportion their Houses to the shortness of Life building as they say for themselves not for others And this surely is one reason why the Chineses cannot comprehend nor imagine the costly and Princely Palaces which are in Europe and when they have been told that some of the said Edifices have stood for many Ages they seem as it were amazed thereat But if they consider'd the true Reasons of such continuance they would rather applaud and imitate than wonder for that which makes our Building last so long is because we make deep Foundations whereas in China they dig no Foundations at all but lay the Stones even with the surface of the Ground upon which they build high and heavy Towers and by this means they soon decay and require daily Reparations Neither is this all for the Houses in China are for the most part built of Wood or rest upon woodden Pillars yet they are cover'd with Tyles as in Europe and are contriv'd commodiously within though not beautiful to the Eye without however by the curiosity of the People they are kept very clean and neat Their Temples are most curiously built some whereof in solitary places near the High-ways to the great accommodation of Travellers They are hung full of Images and heavy Lamps which burn continually in memory of one or other that liv'd well and died happily These People have made no small progress in several Sciences by their early being acquainted with the Art of Printing for though those of Europe do therein exceed the Chineses having reduc'd the same to more exactness and certain Method yet says Trigautius in the fourth Chapter of his first Book The use of the Printing-Press was much sooner in China than in Europe for it is most certain that the same has been in use amongst the Chineses for five Ages past nay some stick not to affirm that they us'd Printing before the Birth of Christ. Mercator in his great Atlas writes That the Printing-Press and the use of Cannon are of so great Antiquity in China that it is not known who was the Inventor of them All which if it were taken for granted yet nevertheless they are too large in saying That That Printing has been us'd by them ever since their Country hath been call'd the Empire or Kingdom of China
found guilty of Robbery he was branded upon the Arm with a hot Iron with two Characters If the third time he is branded in the Forehead but if he committed the like Fault the fourth time he was then Whipp'd and Banish'd This neglect of punishing Rogues for Stealing was the cause why China did swarm so very much with Thieves and Vagrants But since the Tartars have been Conquerors of this Empire they have with great prudence and strictness redrest those Abuses and put the Laws in force against all Offenders insomuch that when I was in China Petty Offences were made Criminal for he that was found guilty of the least Fault was punish'd with death In the execution of which Sentence as soon as any one is condemn'd to die his Hands are bound behind him with a Board upon his Back whereon is writ his Offence and so bound he is led by the Sheriff into an open place according to custom either within or without the City and there he is beheaded without any further Ceremony If it happen that any are Pardon'd and have their Lives spar'd them they are punish'd with that extream severity that oftentimes they chuse rather to die than to undergo the Torture which they must suffer to preserve their Lives which is after this manner Two lusty Fellows are commanded to beat the Criminal upon the Calf of his Leg till all the Sinews and Nerves are miserably torn and bruis'd if not broken And this is their ordinary method of Punishment which is inflicted without any distinction of Persons Now as the Punishment is severe to prevent all Disorders and Robberies which stir up this severity there are strict Watches kept every Night in the Streets which go the Rounds through the City at certain Hours as the Guards 〈◊〉 us'd to do in the best Govern'd Cities of Europe CHAP. V. Of their Ceremonies and manner of Burials and of their Tombs or Monuments BY what hath been said in the former Chapters it may appear That the Chineses may be compar'd in many things which concern their manner of Living with the Philosophers and Virtuosi of Europe but they differ very much in things relating to Funerals among which this may be reckon'd the first That those of Europe seldom think of their Mortality and so consequently take little or no care of their Burials while they are living but the Chineses are in nothing more serious and sollicitous than to provide for their Interments whilst they live and are in perfect health and that ignorance may be no excuse they put down in Writing how they will have the same perform'd strictly charging their Children upon their Death-beds and and even at their last gasp to observe their Orders Now there is one Custom through the whole Country inviolably observ'd which is never to bury any one without a Coffin though it be a Child but of two days old for every Person according to his Quality is laid into a Coffin made of the best sort of Wood their ability will reach to But Persons of more Eminency are at far greater Charge for a rich Repository for their poor Carcasses The first Ceremony they observe when they perceive the Patient to lie a dying is this they take him and lay him upon a Mat carry him into the outward Hall of the House there to breathe his last And this Custom though it carries somewhat of Barbarism in it is observ'd through the whole Empire by the Commonalty but for what reason I could never learn notwithstanding all the diligence of my curious and prying Enquiries But among the better sort a Person of equal Quality with themselvs is suffer'd to die in Bed Another phantastick Humor here is whilst the sick Party is breathing forth his last the eldest of his Sons puts on his Bonnet or Cap and coming to the Bed in a distracted manner tears the Curtain and covereth therewith the dead Body which after it hath lain a convenient time is wash'd according to the Custom of the Country and wrapt either in very fine Linnen or Silk Some are yet more extravagant and will dress out the Corps with new Clothes and after they are Embalm'd set them at a Table well furnish'd with Provisions of all sorts and this a great but not much commendable Fashion amongst the Grandees The nearest Relations of the Deceased are invited to this solemn though mournful Entertainment who entreat him to eat and be merry with them as if he were living In the mean time the Priests are busied in Singing and performing the other usual Ceremonies As to the Mourning Habit it differs from all Countries that I have seen not onely for its Colour which generally is white but for the form and shape of it for Sons when they Mourn for their Fathers they Clothe themselves for the first Month in a course stiff Habit hanging down to their Heels and tied about the Middle with a Cord after the manner of the Monks of the Franciscan Order But although they lay aside that Habit then yet it is a constant Custom for Children to Mourn three years for their Parents the reason whereof they alledge in their Books to be this because that Parents carry their Children for the three first years of their Infancy in their Arms with great care and trouble and therefore the Children ought to requite their Affection and Kindness by shewing their Duty in Mourning after this manner But the time of Mourning for other Friends is much abbreviated sometimes it lasts a Year otherwhiles but three Months according as they stand related or affected to one another The legal time of Mourning for the Death of the Emperor or Empress was formerly three years and this outward shew of Sorrow extended even to the furthermost Confines of the Empire But now with the Emperor's consent which is openly proclaim'd the Months are turn'd into Days so that at the present they Mourn but only one Month for his Death but still the extent reaches over all his Dominions All the Funeral Ceremonies are written in a large Book which those concern'd peruse when a Person of Quality dies whereby they know how to order his Burial As soon as any Nobleman is dead the Son or who is next related to him in Blood signifies the same by a Book to all his Kindred and Friends upon the third or fourth day wherein the Mourning is set forth in the usual terms At the same time the Corps is incoffin'd and plac'd in the Hall or Chamber which is hung with white Linnen in the middle whereof is erected an Altar whereon is plac'd the Corps and Portraicture of the Deceased Into this Room come all the Kindred and Friends upon the third or fourth day clad in Mourning and bringing Incense and Wax-Lights to the Altar which being once lighted and burning they tender their Respects to the Dead in bowing and falling upon their Knees four times a while before burning a little Incense over against the Coffin and
manner of punishing Offenders is to lay them flat upon their Faces on the Ground with their Legs bare upon which they give them several Blows with a Whip made of twisted Reed which fetches Blood at every Blow And the great Motive that induces to this more than common Severity in punishing Offences is for that the Chineses are infinitely addicted to Robbing and Stealing There are two extravagant Humors that the Grandees in China are much guilty of The one is the Transmutation of other Metals into Silver about which they often break their Brains and consume their Estates The other is an Opinion they have of obtaining an Immortal Being in this World while they are clad with Flesh and Blood that is to say they fancy such means may be us'd as will preserve them from falling into that common Bosom of Nature the Grave Of both these Mysteries there are an innumerable company of Books both Printed and Written and few or none of the Grandees but as it were by Obligation betake themselves to the Study of these distracting and destructive Sciences To this purpose there is a Story in the Chinese Books of one of their ancient Emperors that was so intoxicated with this Prensie that with the danger and hazard of his Life he endeavor'd after an unattainable Immortality the maner thus This Emperor had caus'd a certain Drink to be prepar'd by some deceitful Masters of this Art of whose Rarity and Perfection he had so great confidence that he believ'd when he had drunk it he should be immortal and from this conceited Imagination he could not be dissuaded nor could the strongest Arguments of his nearest Relations divert him from his Humor At last one of his Friends seeing that no argumentative Ratiocinations would prevail with him came one day to Congratulate the Emperor's Health whose Back being turn'd the Visitant took the Bowl and drank a good Draught which the over-credulous Emperor perceiving fell immediately into a great Passion attended with no less than reiterated threats of Death for depriving him of his immortal Liquor But the bold Attempter answer'd him with an undaunted courage in these terms Do you suppose that you can deprive me of my Life now I have drank of the Immortal Cup sure 't were great madness in you so to think But if in truth you can despoil me thereof then I aver that I have not done any thing amiss for either by participating of your Drink I am become equally Immortal with you or else you are equally Mortal with me If you can take away my Life now I have not robb'd you of your Immortality but shall make you sensible of the Deceit and Guile wherewith you are abus'd The Emperor hearing this was presently pacifi'd and highly commended the Wisdom of his Friend in extricating him so ingeniously out of the greatest Folly and Madness imaginable But though there have not wanted wise Men in China that have always endeavor'd to confute this phantastick Principle and to cure this Distemper of the Mind which in it self is no better than a Fit of raving Madness yet they could never so hinder this Disease from increasing or taking head but at present it overspreads the whole Country and generally gains belief among the Great Ones CHAP. VIII Of several Sects in China Concerning Philosophy and Idol-Worship OF all the Heathen Sects which are come to the knowledge of those in Europe we have not read of any who are fall'n into fewer Errors than the Chineses ever since the first Ages for in their Books we read That these People have from the Beginning worshipp'd the Highest and One God-head whom they call The King or with another and more common Name The Heaven and the Earth Hence it appears they were of opinion That Heaven and Earth were inspir'd and so they worshipp'd the Soul thereof for the highest Deity But beside this Supreme Deity they deviated into the worship of several Spirits to wit of Hills Rivers and such as Command over the four Quarters of the World In all Transactions the ancient Chineses were wont to say That Men ought to hearken to the inbred Light of the Understanding which Light they have receiv'd from Heaven But as to the Supreme Deity and the Spirits which wait upon him we do not find in any of their Books that they did ever broach such licentious Doctrines to the support of Vice as were invented by the Romans Grecians or the Egyptians who in the committing of all manner of Filthiness did implore the assistance of their debauch'd Gods It likewise appears by the yearly Book which comprehend the Transactions of four thousand years that the Chineses have perform'd several brave Works for the Service of their Country and the Publick Good The same is also to be seen by the Books of the ancient and wisest Philosophers which were all in being before the last Invasion of the Tartars but then in the general Conflagration of the Country were most of them burnt wherein were writ good and wholsom Doctrines for the Instruction of Youth in the Ways of Vertue and Goodness These Books mention only three Sects to have been in those Times in the World The first of which is the Sect of the Learned The second is call'd Sciequia And the third Lancu The first of these three Sects is follow'd by all the Chineses and the adjacent People which use the Chinese Characters as the Islanders of Iapan Corea and Couchinchina and by none else and is the ancientest of all the Sects that were ever heard of in China Out of it about which a very great number of Books are writ generally are chosen such Persons as are fit for the Government of the Empire and therefore it is honor'd and esteem'd above all others The Doctrine of this Sect is not learn'd all at once but they suck it in by degrees when they learn to Read or Write The first Founder of this Sect was Confutius the Prince of the Chinese Philosophers who is to this day honor'd by all the Learned with the Title of The most Wise. This Confutius as the Iesuit Semedo relates in his History was a Man of a very good Nature and much inclin'd to Vertue Prudent Subtil and a great Lover of his Country His Writings are to this day had in great honor and esteem as being the Ground-work of all the Learning at this time in use amongst them What concerns his Writings which are contain'd in four large Books we have already made mention Several other Books have been written by the Followers of this Sect some whereof have been brought out of China into Europe the Titles and Contents of which I thought good here to mention and are these that follow 1. The first treats of the Original of the whole World of the first Creator and Preserver of all things Out of this Book are most things selected which relate to Natural Knowledge 2. Of the Eternal Middle 3. Of the Doctrine of the Full
this is the reason that the Houses in China and Iapan glitter and shine so bright that they dazle the Eyes of such as behold them This Paint also lays a shining colour upon Wood which is so beautiful and lasting that they use few or no Table-cloths at their Meals for if they spill any Grease or other Liquor upon the Table it is easily rubb'd off with a little fair Water without loss or damage of Colour CHAP. XV. Of Roots Herbs Flowers Reeds Trees and Fruits THE vast and large Territories of this Empire which reach not only very far from East to West but also from South to North occasioneth that in no part of the Universe so great a variety of Fruits is produced the true and natural cause whereof is the several tempers of the Air which must of necessity be granted in so immense Territories it being by experience known that some grow best under a hot Climate others under a cold and some under a well temper'd Air all which are to be found in this Country The Learned among themselves have describ'd at large in their Books what each Province doth produce by the view whereof and other particular Relations this may be affirm'd for truth in general That all things necessary for the sustenance of Man as well as for delight are to be had there in great abundance without being beholden to their Neighbors And thus much I dare from my own knowledge affirm That whatever is to be had in Europe is likewise found in China and if in truth there want any thing Nature hath supply'd that single defect with divers other things beyond those we have in Europe Now that it may be obvious to every Understanding with what a copious Harvest of Fruits and Vegetables mild Nature has bless'd this Empire and the Inhabitants thereof I shall briefly discourse thereof as followeth In Iungping the Chief City of the Province of Peking grows a very excellent Root and of great esteem call'd by them Ginseng but by the Islanders of Iapan Nisi The reason of the Chinese Name seems to be deriv'd from its shape in regard it artificially resembles a Man It is not much unlike to the Mandrake of Europe only it is much less neither do I much doubt but it is a sort of Mandrake in regard it has the same shape and vertue This Root being dried is yellow of colour and sweetish of taste but being chew'd it seems to be mingled with a little bitterness it is a great enlivener of the Spirits of a Man and therefore such as are of an hot and strong Constitution endanger their Lives by using it in regard of its strengthning Nature and Quality whereas Persons weak and feeble through Sickness or otherwise find great advantage in the use thereof for such is the soveraign Vertue of this Root that it has recover'd some that were brought to Deaths door for which its most rare Qualities it is become of so great Price that it is commonly sold for thrice its weight in Silver In Queicheu near to Liping grows the best Root of China there is of two sorts the true and counterfeit yet both natural the true grows near to this City and in other Places the counterfeit or to speak more properly the wild Root and is that which is brought generally into Europe It is of a reddish colour within but neither so big nor of so great Vertue as the true which grows and increases under Ground almost after the manner of Potatoes in India and especially in old Pine-tree Woods from whence they say this Root proceeds first of all from the Gum or Iuice of the Pine-tree which falling upon the Ground takes Root and brings forth an Herb which by degrees spreads it self upon the Earth and grows under Ground with knotty Roots in shape bigness and colour not unlike to the Indian Coco-Nuts but thinner and softer which they use in several Medicines This Root was first known in Europe in the Year 1535. when the Chineses brought the same to be sold in the City of Goa in India and although the like Root may grow in other parts of India as also in the West-Indies yet is it much inferior in goodness to that of the East the best whereof is tastless heavy sound and firm This Root hath a particular Vertue according to the Relation of Garcias for the Cure of the Spanish Pox and is soveraign against the Itch Tremblings Aches Gout c. It is also very good for a weak Stomach Headache the Stone in the Bladder proceeding from Cold. Here grows also great store of Ginger in this Country so purely and with such celerity as exceeds all in other Countries though it is true in several other Parts there is great store of Ginger to be had as at Bengala and upon the Islands Molucco c. which is for the most part brought into Europe Of this Root there are two sorts Male and Female which last is smaller of Leaf and Root than the first the Leaves are very like those of Reed so that whosoever never saw any Ginger grow would take them to be Reeds The Leaves of the Male sort through which run some greater Sinews or Veins rise not much higher than three Foot above Ground The Roots are of several weights and bigness whereof some have the length of four Spans full of Knots and shooting not deep into the Ground but like Reeds grow upon the surface of the Earth and are digg'd out of the Ground when the Leaves are wither'd which is about the middle of Summer when they take them up they break off a piece and fling it into the Ground again for an increase The Roots fresh taken up by reason of their abounding moisture are not so hot of taste as the dried which are laid a little into the Sun to harden thus prepar'd they fling Mold or Clay upon them to prevent them from being Worm-eaten which this Root is very subject to it increases very fast as do all other Spices which grow in such Places as lie near the Sea And though the Chineses and others Plant Ginger amongst the rest of their Herbs yet however it grows also wild but falls short of the goodness of that which is cultivated When they intend to prepare this Commodity for Sale they first pare it and then put it immediately into Pickle or Vinegar for an hour or two afterwards they take it out and lay it in the Sun to dry for the like space then they take it again into the House put it up into a dry place and there let it lie till all the moisture is drawn out which done they put it into Pickle with good store of Sugar And this kind of ordering makes it pleasant to the Pallat and abates much of its heat And this is generally known by the name of Green-Ginger which as a Sallet is us'd by the Chineses among other Herbs It is very soveraign for several Distempers as pain in the
this following Decree of the Emperor was Publish'd The ultimate Decree of the Emperor To the Kingdom of Holland Health and Peace which out of its Cordial Love to Iustice hath subjected it self to Us and sent Ambassadors through the wide Sea to pay Us Tribute We nevertheless weighing in Our Mind the length of the Voyage with the Dangers incident thereunto do heartily grant them leave to come once every eight years to pay their Tribute unto this Court and this We do to make known to the Universe Our Affections to the People of the remotest Parts In all other things We give Our Royal Consent and Approbation to the Remonstrance of Our Court of Request Thus you see neither the Court nor Emperor have granted them Commerce in this Country which being deny'd there is little reason to think that they will return to pay their Tribute only whence they shall reap neither Honor nor Profit but contrarily Damage and Disgrace for although the Emperor should have return'd them Gifts of equal value to their Presents according to the Custom of other Countries yet the Expence of a Ship or two for the space almost of two years would be burthensom and ridiculous which however allowing the denial of Commerce to them if the Emperor had granted them their Return every year they might well have made up by a private Trade especially being so much in favor with the Vice-Roys of Canton and the Tartars thereabouts who would ingross the Profits thereof Therefore did God stir up the Hearts of the Chinese Mandorins unanimously to oppose and contradict it and at length when both Tartars and Chineses had granted their Return every fifth Year the Emperor by special Divine Providence hath augmented it to the eighth Year and before that Revolution come either the Emperor the Vice-Roys of Canton or the rest of their Favorers will be dead or the Hollanders will be destroy'd or the Times will be chang'd and other Government will succeed but if all these fail and the Hollanders will be so abject to return at the eight years end yet the Lord will minister some means to us for the ruining their Designs albeit there is little probability of their Return since they departed so highly discontented as they did as well by the strict Watches that were set over them as for that they were never admitted to the Emperor's Presence as Father Balion hath acquainted me in an Epistle which he wrote to me by a Post after my departure to Nanking wherein he thus writes The Hollanders may not come into the Kings Presence nor the Muscovites because they will not submit themselves to those Ceremonies of Reverence accustom'd in this Palace They are Novices and ignorant in Affairs and obstinate in refusing to accommodate themselves to the Customs of the Country God will at length discover his Mercies to the Catholick Portugueses here The Court of Requests exhibited a Remonstrance to the Emperor to grant them leave to return every fifth Year but not any liberty of Trade but the Emperor hath alter'd the fifth to the eighth Year which is equivalent with a forbidding them ever to return again The day before Publishing the Emperor's Decree whereof I here send your Father-hood a Copy Father Adam told me he had spoken with the Emperor Thus far Father Balion Your Lordships may observe how much our God doth favor and assist true Catholick Christians for the Tartars and Chineses are highly offended with the Hollanders and account them Barbarians for refusing the Ceremonies and Reverence of the Court and the Hollanders with the Muscovites are equally distasted because they could not be admitted to the Emperors Presence without them and very just is it that Hereticks and Schismaticks should depart with hatred and disgust that by their ill Example they might not give Scandal to the new Christianity here Planted nor cause the Religion of Europe to be ill spoken of Wherefore the most Noble Captain and the rest of the Governors of the Holy City be your Lordships of good Courage and hope strongly in the Bowels of the Mercy of God that as he hath suffer'd his City most faithful to his Divine Majesty of late Years to undergo so many Tribulations he hath done it for Direction only not for Destruction Doth Gold melted in the Furnace come out wasted and consum'd no but more pure bright and precious Can God forget the Piety of such a City which maintains so many Religious of all sorts and where so many Masses and Oblations are daily Offer'd Where is the Refuge and Sanctuary of Religion but in this City which is gloriously call'd The Name of God Can God forget his Promise he hath promis'd Tribulations and an hundred-fold for the Sufferings of his Saints and an hundred he will pay FINIS AN APPENDIX OR Special Remarks TAKEN AT LARGE OUT OF ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S Antiquities of China PART I. CHAP. I. The Cause and Occasion of this Work IT is now about thirty years since I produc'd the Exposition of a certain Syro-Chinesian Monument found in China in the Year 1625. which although it gain'd no small Applause among the Readers of a more than ordinary Apprehension who were taken with the Novelty yet there were not wanting some incompetent Censurers or Criticks who ceased not to wound its Reputation by snarling and trifling Objections stabbing it with critical Steletto's albeit they prov'd in the sequel leaden and blunted viz. That there was never any Monument of such a kind in Nature and that therefore it was a meer Forgery This they endeavor'd by all means possible not only to persuade themselves to believe but also to raise a like Credulity in others These and the like Persons are deservedly and ought to be esteem'd for such who rejecting all Divine and Humane Faith approve of nothing but what they have seen themselves account nothing to be believ'd but what their own Brain hath dictated to them These are they that like troublesom Flesh-Flies flying at any obvious fatness soil that which is sincere and untainted and desist not to bespot that which is pure with a defil'd and Thrasonick Blast Amongst which was a certain modern Writer who blush'd not with all his Might and indeed with an insolent Scoff to question the truth of this Monument sometimes asserting it to be introduc'd by a Iesuitical Cheat and other whiles averring that it was a flat and plain Forgery of the Iesuits feigned both to deceive the Chineses and also to defraud them of their Treasures I shall conceal the Name of the Person partly out of a tenderness to Christian Charity and partly because in the Iudgment of prudent and knowing Men he seemeth unworthy of any Answer seeing that the truth of this Monument is establish'd and confirm'd by the Eye-witness of so many illustrious Authors by so many Books concerning this Method divulg'd throughout the whole Empire by the Chinesian Colais themselves Leo and Paule Persons of great Quality and instructed in the
Stone it self to the Eye of the whole World in the Chinesian Idiome as it was Sculp'd in the Year of Christ 782. that from this most ancient Testimony every one may conjecture how true the Doctrine of the Catholicks is seeing the same was Preach'd in an opposite Quarter of the World amongst the Chineses Anno 636. of our Saviour that is about a thousand years since The Chinesian Original of the Stone is now conserv'd in the Library of the Roman Colledge that belongeth to the Fathers of the Society of Iesus and another Copy is to be seen in the Repository of the House of the Profession I my self also obtain'd from the most Grave Chinese Doctors and Masters at the very time that the Monument was found a Book Printed in the Chinese Language in which the Writing of the Stone was most truly and exactly express'd according to the true Original They advise the Chineses in the larger Preface adjoin'd to the Book that at length they would have recourse to the Masters of the great Occident for so they term the Fathers of the Society of Iesus and discover whether they Preach the same Law amongst the Chineses which their Ancestors with so many Emperors embrac'd a thousand Centuries ago and which the Fathers of the Society of Iesus exhibited in the Books Printed in the Chinese Language before the Stone was found Now it only remaineth that I should declare how this Marble Table was detected When after the Death of St. Francis Xavier the venerable Father Matthew Riccius and other Fathers of the Society of Iesus had introduc'd the Gospel of Christ into the more Inland Parts of China and had erected Residences and Churches in some Provinces and therefore the Propagation of the Holy Faith had made no small progress in that of Xensi Anno 1625. one of the Fathers of the same Society invited by Doctor Philip having Baptiz'd twenty Persons in his native Country of Sanyven he went with the same Doctor to see a Stone which they had found some Months before in the Village Chenche near the Metropolis Siganfu whilst they were casting up the Rubbish for the building of a Wall This Father writes which other Fathers who had fix'd their Abode and erected a Church in Siganfu with the Christians and Heathens also affirm'd That a Stone was found five Hands broad one thick and nine long the top whereof made like an oblong Pyramid of two Hands and one broad on the Vertex the Cross was Engraven above the Clouds that with its Branches seem'd to imitate the Flower-Deluce besides the Chinesian Inscription on the left side and beneath there appear'd the Names of the Syrian Priests and also other Chinesian Names of the same Priests under-written It is the Custom of the Chineses to have many Names whence also the Christians at this Day retain both the Name of the Saints they receiv'd in Baptism and another Chinese Name The Governor of the Place being certifi'd of the finding of this Monument commanded an elegant Composition to be made in praise of it and to be Engraven on such another like Marble Stone causing both of them to be plac'd in the Fane or Temple of the Bonzi that are call'd Tan Su a Mile distant from the Walls of the Metropolis Siganfu as a perpetual remembrance of the same Many other Footsteps of the Catholick Faith Preach'd to the Chineses were discover'd in the following Years which God seemeth not willing to have manifested but only at that very time in which the Preaching of the same Faith arriv'd amongst the Chineses by the Labor of the Fathers of our Society that so both the old and new Testimonies might affect the identity of the Catholick Faith and the truth of the Gospel might be rendred perspicuous and manifest unto all The like Images of the Holy Cross were seen in the Province of Fokien in the Year 1630. In the Province of Kiangsi also a miraculous Light shone forth Anno 1635. which was beheld by the Gentiles and also in the Mountains of Fokien and in the City Cyvencheu 1643. Crosses were found yea the venerable Father Martin Riccius when first he came into China found Xe tsu Kiao to be a Name signifying The Doctrine of the Crosses by which the Christians anciently that were Disciples of that Doctrine of the Cross were nam'd and I doubt not but all that were Christians in the Kingdoms of China when the Tartars about three hundred years past first invaded China and that they liv'd there mix'd with Sarazens Iews Nestorians and Gentiles that is to say in the Time of Marcus Paulus Venetus who travell'd unto Catay which is the very same with that we now call China And now whether St. Thomas or any other Apostle first Preach'd the Gospel to the Chineses is not yet certainly known Father Nicholas Trigautius collecteth from some ancient Testimonies of the Christians of the Church of Malabar in the Arch-bishoprick of Cranganor or De Serra which are termed The Christians of St. Thomas That in that Place as also in Meliapor which formerly was call'd Calamina and now by the Portuguese San Thome the holy Apostle Preach'd by reason that out of their Gaza or Treasury in the Office of St. Thomas is recited or rehearsed That by St. Thomas the Chineses and Ethiopians were Converted to the Truth by St. Thomas the Kingdom of Heaven took its flight and ascended to the Chineses And in the Antiphono the Ethiopians Indians Chineses and Persians in commemoration of St. Thomas Offer up Adoration unto his holy Name Also in an ancient Synodical Canon the Bishops of the great Province viz. those other Metropolitans of China India and Pases do send their Letters of Consent Add withal That he that Govern'd the Church De Serra at the coming of the Portuguese subscrib'd himself Metropolitan of all India and China But in truth things being more narrowly consider'd from those Circumstances and Footsteps which began to be manifest after the time of Father Trigautius we cannot certainly conclude that St. Thomas the Apostle Preach'd the Gospel himself amongst the Chineses for although these Footsteps of the Faith of Christ here found do evidently shew That the Christian Belief hath been in China yet notwithstanding those very Paths or Tracts do demonstrate that the Faith had its entrance into China when the Family of Heuhan Rul'd over three Kingdoms which are now united in Nanking the third Province of the Empire viz. in the Province of Kiangsi at the Shore of the River for Antron-Cross seems by its Inscription to have been fix'd according to the Chinesian Computation about the Year of Christ 239. which Cross weigh'd about three thousand weight whence the Faith and the Preachers of the same are certainly evinc'd to have come amongst the Southern Chineses about a thousand four hundred and fifteen years ago But in some years following the Knowledge of the Gospel being extinguish'd it was again renew'd by Priests out of Tacyu
that is India or Syria in Xensi a Northern Kingdom of the Chineses the Royal Family of Tam then Reigning Anno 639. as the Monument that was found avoucheth where relating the Preachers of the Faith of Christ at that time amongst the Chineses it mentioneth not St. Thomas or any other Apostle which yet if Insculp'd would have been of considerable moment unto their purpose who erected the Stone viz. That the Preachers of the Faith then again Preach'd the same Law that St. Thomas or some other Apostle had before Preach'd amongst the Chineses Moreover it is evident That those Preachers of Tacyu had no knowledge of St. Thomas or any other Apostles Preaching the Law of Christ unto the Chineses and a Conjecture may be made that peradventure neither St. Thomas nor any other Apostle introduc'd the Gospel amongst them And that I may speak most moderately nothing can be certainly deduc'd or drawn concerning this Matter from the Footsteps here found and the Passages before alledg'd are only able to prove That those Priests were sent from the Church of St. Thomas or Babylon which then Govern'd the Malabran Chuch De Serra belonging unto the Christians of St. Thomas as the Portuguese afterwards found to erect an Episcopal Seat and to introduce the Faith amongst the People of China seeing this is testifi'd by the ancient Syrian Language call'd Estrangelo which is now retain'd in that Church and was in former Times in use in Babylon and Syria And as for the Orations compos'd in praise of St. Thomas the Apostle from them we may only conjecture that by the Merits of St. Thomas and his Church the Priests perchance introduc'd first of all the Faith which they had receiv'd from St. Thomas amongst the Chineses and therefore deservedly their Conversion ought to be attributed unto St. Thomas Wherefore seeing there is no mention of St. Thomas to be found in the Paths of the Faith Preached hitherto discover'd we cannot positively assert That St. Thomas or any other Apostle Preach'd the Gospel unto the Chineses but I rather think that many Ages after the Christians of Prester-Iohn's Country whose Emperor Paulus Venetus calleth Usan Can who are term'd The Worshippers of the Cross were those that entred into China either with the Tartars or a little before for those from India or rather from the Syrian Chaldea or those of Malabar as they are far more ancient than the Tartar-Christians so would they have call'd their Disciples that were Followers of a more clear Doctrine Kin Kiao but I believe those Preachers came not out of India for the Syrian Language and Names testifie them to be Syrians and they term'd themselves Iews or of India by reason they Preach'd that Law or Doctrine which had its Original from India But from what Place those Syrian Priests came as also their Syrian Subscriptions these I say we leave to the industrious Disquisitions of the Reverend Father Athanasius Kircher a Person highly meriting of all Antiquity which that he may accomplish with the greater fidelity and solidity we have presented him the same Writing transcrib'd in the Chinese out of the Book by the sole pains and industry of Don Chin Andreas a Noble Chinesian Youth the inseparable Companion of my Voyage to Rome to the Apostolick See which Book was Imprinted and divulg'd throughout the whole Empire by the Chinese Doctors Men of great Fidelity and Authority with my Latin Translation rendred word for word and I have laid up the Book that is altogether consonant to the original Monument in the Study of the same Father together with an Attestation of the Fact by the Subscription of my own Hand and the Hands of those that were Natives of China Eye-witnesses of the Monument as also the Transcribers of this Table from the Original Rome Novemb. 4. Anno 1653. Father Michael Boim Andreas Don Chin a Chinese Matthew a Chinese A Paraphrastical Declaration of a Chinese Inscription Translated word for word out of the Chinese Language into the Portuguese out of that into Italian and from the Italian into the Latin Tongue The Declaration of Xiu Piu or as the Commentator hath it made by a Priest of the Kingdom of Iudea who was call'd Kim Lim. 1. THis therefore I say That he who was always True and Undisturb'd being without any Beginning of a most profound Intellect and eternal Essence by his most excellent Power out of Nothing created All things and by his Divine Wisdom made the Saints This is that Divine Essence Three in Person but One in Substance our Lord who being certainly Infallible without Beginning Olo o yu which in the Chaldee signifies the same with Eloba made the four Parts of the World in form of a Cross gathering together the Chaos He form'd two Kis that is two Virtues or Qualities call'd Inyam the Commentator names them Two Principles chang'd the Abyss that is he took away the Darkness and the Heaven and the Earth appear'd He form'd the Sun and Moon that by their continual Motions they should distinguish the Night and Day He set together and built all things But when he created the first Man besides his Being he endow'd him with Original Righteousness appointing him Lord of the whole Universe which at first of his own Nature was empty and vile fill'd with himself of a plain and equal Understanding and having no mixture of any inordinate Appetite 2. But afterwards by cunning Deceits the Devil brought it to pass that Adam infected whatever was before naturally and in its self Pure and Perfect that is he was the cause of sowing the Seeds of Malice that general Disturber of the Peace in his Heart whereby the equal Temper of his Uprightness was alter'd and Discord fraudulently introduc'd From whence in process of time three hundred and sixty five Sects sprung up one after another each of which drew to themselves as many as they could delude some worshipping the Creature in stead of the Creator others made an empty Principle of all things and a real Ens to this alludes the Sect of the Pagodi and Learned Chineses because they assert That the Principle which produc'd all things was void That the same is to them subtile and undiscernable to the Senses although in it self it be a real and positive Principle But others say That the Principle of things is not only real and positive but that it was of such a Figure and Corpulency as might easily be comprehended by Sense Some did seek Happiness by Sacrifices others took a pride to deceive Men under the specious shew of Goodness using all their Skill and Industry therein making all their Diligence and Intentions subservient to their Affections But in vain and without any profit did they labor still making their progress from bad to worse as it happens to those that would strike Fire out of an Earthen Vessel they add Darkness to Darkness and so indeed once leaving the true Path they can never return to the
Church he is termed Iohn with the addition of the word Presbyter not because he was a Priest but by reason that after the Mode and Custom of a Chief Arch-bishop he had a Cross carried before him by which he declar'd himself a Defender of the Christian Religion Whence Scaliger supposeth him to be so call'd from the Persian word Prestegiani which signifieth Apostolical which the Western People misunderstanding for the word Prestegiani they write Presbyter Iohn I will add his words In truth saith he I have very often admir'd that a Nation altogether ignorant in Navigation should be so potent both at Land and Sea as to extend the Bounds of their Empire from Ethiopia even unto China for from those very Times we have had a knowledge of that Emperor but that under the Name of Prestegiani in the Persian Tongue which is almost common over all Asia as the Latin is with us in the West signifieth Apostolical by which Name it is manifest they understand a Prince that is Christian and Orthodox for in the Persian Prestegiani in the plural Number signifieth Apostles and Prestegini Apostolical as Padischa Prestegini an Apostolical King in the Arabick Melek Arresuli in the Ethiopick Negus Havarjavi That the Empire of the Ethiopians was extended far and wide in Asia is evident by the Ethiopian Crosses which are seen in Iapan China and other Places yea and the Temple of St. Thomas the Apostle situate in the Region of Malabar is wholly Ethiopick as the Crosses the Structure and many other things yea and what you will most wonder at the very Name Thus far Scaliger From which Discourse we may well collect That certain Colonies were sent out from Ethiopia into India China and other Parts of Asia which propagated the Christian Faith in those Parts which we now endeavor to shew but in that he saith Presbyter Iohn was originally an African or that being forc'd out of Asia he should set down in Ethiopia and there Rule and Govern is altogether improbable and without any foundation as we shall see anon Now that this African and Asiatick Emperor were diverse is consented unto by the greater part of the best Authors And the Empire of the Asiatick flourish'd for many Years until it fell unto one David who as Paulus Venetus relateth being overcome or vanquish'd by a certain Commander nam'd Cingis Cublai his Uncle in a great Battel who was elected Emperor by the Scythians and in stead of Presbyter began to be call'd Uncam or Naiam unto the great loss of Christianity put an end both to the Glory of the Empire and the Name of Presbyter Iohn as we have shew'd in the History of Marcus Paulus Venetus I shall now declare by what mistake the Name of Presbyter Iohn was given unto the Emperor of the Abyssines or Ethiopians At that time in which the Portuguese by a Maritime Voyage sought after new Quarters of the Earth the Name of Presbyter Iohn was very famous through Europe for he was reported to be a most potent Emperor Lord of many Kingdoms a Christian by Religion but in what Place he Rul'd was altogether unknown Therefore when Peter Couillan was sent by Iohn the Second King of Portugal first through the Mediterranean Sea and afterwards by a Land-Voyage to find out this Prince he heard in the Asiatick India unto which he had arriv'd that in that Ethiopia which is beneath Egypt there was a certain Prince very powerful who profess'd the Christian Religion he therefore betook himself to him and when he had found many things there with him which were conformable unto the constant Fame that was reported amongst the Europeans he believ'd that that was the Presbyter Iohn so call'd He therefore was the first Person who began to call the Emperor of the Abyssines by the Name of Preste Iean that is Presbyter Iohn Others also in succeeding times who travell'd into Ethiopia imitated him and easily introduc'd the same Error into Europe All which is Learnedly shew'd by Father Balthasar Tellez in his Ethiopian History which he hath compos'd in an elegant and polite Portuguese Style unto which also subscribeth Alphonsus Mendes the most wise Patriarch of Ethiopia and the great Light of our Society in an Epistle prefix'd unto the Work of Father Tellez concerning the Ethiopick Affairs Therefore when we speak of Presbyter Iohn we understand not the Emperor of the Abyssines for besides that his Empire is situate very far distant from that of the Presbyter Iohn of Asia it is evident from the Chronology of the Emperors of Ethiopia which is to be seen in the Vatican Library that there is no mention of transplanting out of Africa into Asia or out of Asia into Africa yea Damianus a Goes in his Book of the Manners and Customs of the Ethiopians doth expresly deny him to be call'd Presbyter Iohn or that he was ever so termed which is also asserted by the Ethiopian Priests above cited but we understand that Great Prince of Asia of whom we have spoken in the precedent Discourse And certainly at this very day there remaineth some Footsteps of this formerly Great Presbyter Iohn in the Kingdom of Tanchut which the Tartars call Barantola the Saracens Boratai and the Natives Lassa as the Fathers of our Society Albert Dorville and Iohn Gruberus who travell'd through it as they return'd from China into Europe Anno 1661. sufficiently testifie who relate incredible things concerning the superstitious Adoration of this Prince Now there are in this Region two Kings the first whereof hath a regard to the Administration of the Political Government and the other whom they term God or The Celestial Father or else The Great Lama or High Priest and Pope of the Priests remaineth in the innermost Recesses of his Palace and receiveth Adoration and Worship from all his People as a Deity and they have him in such high Veneration that they foolishly persuade themselves that the very Filth of his Body and his Excrements are extremely conducing to the curing of all Distempers whence they do not only compound and mix them with their Medicines but also blush not to carry them about in a Box fastned to or hung about their Necks And by reason that Mortality cannot evade or escape the Bonds of Death his Worshippers that he may not be said to perish as other Persons the Devil their Tutor suggesting it to them have found out the following Stratagem or Device They make Inquisition throughout all the Kingdom to find out a Lama as like as may be unto the former whom when they have gotten they advance him by a clandestine and secret Machination or Plot unto the Throne of the Eternal Father as they call it pretending the feigned Deity upon the account of his likeness to the former to have been rais'd from the Dead who is now said to have been rais'd seven times The Reader may fully understand in the following Discourse the Rites and Ceremonies by which the foolish
learn'd from an Astrologer that in time it would become rebellious unto his Empire This City being built four-square comprehendeth in circuit twenty four Miles the side of every Square or Quadrate containing six Miles It hath Walls whited over which are twenty Paces high ten in breadth but in thickness become narrower as they ascend Every Quadrature of these Walls hath three principal Gates there being twelve in all which have each a magnificent Palace built near unto them In the corners also of the Wall there are noble Towers where the Arms and Ammunition of the City are stor'd and kept There are Streets and Passages straight through the City so that there is a free Prospect from one Gate unto another most beautiful Houses being Erected on either side A little farther he saith That without the City of Cambalu there are twelve great Suburbs adjoyning unto each of the twelve Gates in which Merchants and Strangers are continually found All which are so agreeable unto the Princely City of Pequin that there is hardly any difference as Martinius relateth in Page 29. of his Atlas also the Names of the City Tadinfu Cacanfu Quelinfu Cingianfu Sianfu which also is now call'd Siganfu situate not far from the Saffron River which was taken by the Great Cham after three years Siege by the help of battering Engines as yet unknown in China which he caus'd Christian Arrizans to make This hapned Anno 1268. as Marcus Paulus Venetus who with his Father Nicolas and his Uncle that then were resident with the Emperor relateth See Marcus Paulus Venetus in his second Book Chap. 58. For Fu in the Chinesian Language signifieth nothing else but A great City and also Ceu added unto other words or Names denoteth A small or indifferent City which words are proper and known unto no other Region but only that of China Yet nothing so clearly demonstrateth China to be taken for Cathay as the Astronomical Botanical Monuments of the Persians which the Learned Iacobus Golius in his Appendix adjoin'd unto the Atlas Sinicus hath made apparent unto us from the Astronomical Tables of Nasirodim a Persian Mathematician famous throughout the whole East where you may plainly see the Cathaian Names of the twelve Hours into which the natural Day is divided amongst the Chineses or Cathaians so correspondent unto the Chinesian that they differ in nothing which is also testifi'd by as many of the Fathers of our Society as have return'd from China to Rome But that it may be more evident I shall here set down the Names The Names of the Hours into which the Natural Day is divided amongst the Chineses or Cathaians 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cu Cheu Yin Mao Xin Su V Vi Xin Yien Sio Hai. If any one compare the Cycle of sixty Years which as Nasirodim saith the Cathaians use in the Calculation or Account of their Days Weeks and Solary Years with the Chinesian Account he shall find the mode or form of the Computation and the Names by which they call it to be wholly the same and the like we affirm concerning the Cathaian Year which they divide as also the Zodiack into twenty four Parts beginning their Year from the 15 th Degree of Aquarius But concerning this see the above-mention'd Golius in the place cited before who alledgeth Uleg Beg a Persian Astronomer for a Witness from whose Astronomical Tables he sheweth evidently whatsoever hath hitherto been deliver'd from the Harmony or Agreement of the Cathaian Calculations or which is the same that of the Chineses And I also find in the Arabian Physicians the Musk that is found in China often call'd The Musk of Cathay and also that Drink which is made of a certain Herb proper to Cathay is for the most part term'd Cha of Cathay And the Mogors which are originally Tartars and had their Descent from the Line or Stock of Cingis-Can and the other succeding potent Emperors them I say I find to be so call'd from their over-running of the Empire of China by their Historians the Chinesian-Mogulos But what he writeth concerning Quinsai a City of a wonderful and almost incredible magnitude is all found to be true at this day concerning the Metropolitan City Hancheu of which Father Martinius the Author of the excellent Atlas Sinicus thus discourseth Folio 109. That the European Cosmographers may no longer erre in making enquiry after and ridiculously delineating of Quinsai mention'd by Marcus Paulus I shall here give the very exact Portaicture of the same the Shadow of which did not appear unto the Author of the Archontologia Cosmica and if the Divine Majesty be propitious unto my Design I shall peradventure in time send over the Theatre of the Cities of China Printed by the Chineses themseves not known or seen as I suppose hitherto in Europe But to return to the Matter in hand I prove first by most invincible Arguments that this is the same City of Quinsai mention'd by Paulus Venetus for this is that City which is distant the space of five days travel from Singui that is Su Chou which holdeth good if we speak of the Progress or March of the Army in which it is manifest that MarcuS Paulus Venetus was otherwise it is scarce four days Iourney This is that City in which in his time was the Court or Imperial City of China which the Chineses in the elegant Tongue of their Learned Men term Kingsu but in the common Speech of the vulgar sort of Men who tie not up themselves unto that exactness of Phrase Kingsai whence the term of Quinsai in Venetus had its original You must here note moreover that Kingsu is a Name of Dignity common unto Regal Cities and not proper and singular unto one alone for its genuine and true signification is Regal although oftentimes the same City hath otherwise a proper Name as this City is call'd Hancheu which under the Empire of the Family of Sunga was call'd Lingan because the tenth Emperor of this Family nam'd Coacungus Kin flying from the Tartars there fix'd his Court and therefore in the time of Venetus it was call'd Kingsu whatever others think to the contrary This hapned Anno 1135. And also in the same City the Family of Sunga held the Empire until the Western Tartars under the Government of the Great Han erected the Kin Tartars or those of the East out of Cathay that is out of the Northern Provinces and so then they became vanquish'd and a little after they advanc'd their victorious Armies into the Kingdom of Mangin having begun a seizure of those Southern Provinces But to come more near to the Business This is that City which hath such a vast number of high Bridges both within its Walls and without in its Suburbs for there are almost ten thousand as Venetus reckoneth them if you account the Triumphal Arches amongst the Bridges which by reason of their similitude he might esteem for such by the
appearance unto all The Tartars formerly call'd it The Desart Belgian others sometime Samo the Chineses Kalmack others Caracathay that is Black Cathay where you shall find no other Animals but wild Bulls of a mighty bigness Yet the Tartars accustom'd to Desarts wandring to and fro pass over it at all times and there also pitch or fix their Hords where they find a Place or River commodious for the Pasturage of their Cattel their Hords are Pens or Tents fit for the receiving both of Men and Cattel From Lassa or Barantola plac'd under the Elevation of the Pole 29 Degrees and 6 Minutes they came in four Days space to the foot of the Mountain Langur now this Langur is the highest of Mountains so that on the top of it Travellers can hardly breathe by reason of the subtilty and thinness of the Air neither can they pass over it in Summer without manifest hazarding of their Lives by reason of the virulent and poisonous Exhalations of some Herbs No Wagon or Beast can pass over it by reason of the horrible great steepnesses and rocky Paths but you must travel all the Way on foot almost for a Months space even unto the City Cuthi which is the first or Chief City of the Kingdom of Necbal Now although this mountainous Tract be difficult to pass over yet Nature hath plentifully furnish'd it with variety of Waters which break forth of the hollow places of the Mountain in every part thereof These Waters are replenish'd with abundance of Fish for the Sustenance of Man and their Banks afford plenty of Pasturage for Beasts I take this to be the same Tract which Ptolemy calleth Parapanisus which being link'd in the series of the Caucasian Mountains is extended far and wide towards the East and with its Skirts toucheth the South and North. Marcus Paulus Venetus calleth it Belor others give it other Names according to the diversity of Nations through which it passeth From Cuthi in five Days passage they came to the City Nesti in the Kingdom of Necbal in which all the Natives being involv'd in the Shades of Idolatry live without any sign of the Christian Faith yet it aboundeth with all things necessary for the sustaining of Life so that thirty or forty Hens are sold for one Scutum From Nesti they came in five days Iourney to the Metropolitan City of the Kingdom of Necbal which is call'd Cadmendu and plac'd under the Elevation of the Pole 27 Degrees and 5 Minutes where there is a potent King that Ruleth and although an Heathen yet not very much averse unto the Christian Religion From Cadmendu in half a Days time they came unto a City that the Natives call Badda the Regal City of the Kingdom of Necbal From Necbal in a Iourney of five Days you meet with the City Hedonda a Colony of the Kingdom of Maranga being plac'd under the Altitude of the Pole 26 Degrees and 36 Minutes From Hedonda in eight Days space they came even to Mutgari which is the first City of the Kingdom of Mogor From Mutgari is a Voyage of ten Days space even unto Battana which is a City of Bengala towards Ganges plac'd under the Elevation of the Pole 25 Degrees and 44 Minutes From Battana in eight Days space they came to Benares a populous City on Ganges and plac'd under the Elevation of the Pole 24 Degrees and 50 Minutes It is famous for an Academy of the Brachmans which flourisheth there in which all the Sciences proper unto their Religion or rather more truly unheard-of Superstitions are taught From Benares in eleven Days space they came to Catampor and from thence in seven Days to Agran Therefore from Pekin even unto Agran was a continu'd Voyage of two hundred and fourteen Days but if you have respect to the stay of the Caravans it is a Voyage of one whole Year and about two Months And these Relations â— receiv'd by word of Mouth from the above-mention'd Fathers who perform'd the Voyage in the same manner as I have describ'd it CHAP. III. Of the various Habits Manners and Customs of the Men of those Kingdoms which were observ'd and drawn by the aforesaid Fathers Albert Dorville and Gruberus as they pass'd through them AS the Kingdoms which the afore-mention'd Fathers pass'd through by a Voyage never hitherto attempted by any European were unknown to Geographers so also did they observe many things very worthy of consideration in reference to the Habits Manners and Customs of those Nations which on purpose being deliver'd to me what by Pictures and what by Writing they left to be inserted into their Voyage perform'd which I thought fit having now an opportune and convenient time to accomplish Therefore setting forwards from Pekin the Metropolis and Imperial Seat of the Chineses they came in the space of two Months to those most famous Walls at which that vast City Siningfu is situate as it were a certain and most safe Bulwark unto the Walls against the Incursions of the Tartars where in the end of our Book we exhibit the Structure of as much of these Walls as the convenience of the Place would admit of as they were most diligently observ'd and drawn by them and they added that the Walls were of so great a breadth that six Horse-men set orderly abreast might conveniently run a Race without being an hindrance to one another whence they report that they are so frequently visited by the Citizens of Siningfu both for the enjoying of the Air which is most wholsom and which breatheth from the adjacent sandy Desarts and also because they are very opportune for the performing of many other Exercises for easing and recreating of the Mind for they are of that heighth that they easily invite the Inhabitants unto them by their Prospect which is on every side most clear and open and withal exceeding pleasant and also by reason of the great conveniency of the Stairs which give an Ascent unto them now the Longitude unto the broadest part of the Wall even unto the other Port or Gate through which they pass from the Desart unto the City Sucien is so great that it can hardly be pass'd in the space of eighteen Days which many do undertake having first obtain'd leave of the Governor of Siningfu not so much out of any necessity of Trafficking or Merchandise as led by a certain Curiosity and withal being sufficiently furnish'd with Provision for they say that the innumerable Habitations which are within the Wall appear from thence as from an high Mountain but without in the adjacent Desart as the Inhabitants related unto them by word of Mouth they may recreate themselves with the wonderful and unwonted sight as it were from an high Tower of all kinds of wild Beasts such as are Tygers Lions Elephants Rhinoceroses wild Bulls Monoceroses that is a certain kind of Horn'd Asses and all the while being free and out of all danger more especially from that part of the Wall which
589939 5084015 1929057 4770 3544850 420000 3. The Kingdom of Xensi 831051 3934176 2812119 9218 1514749  4. Xantung hath six Metropolitan Cities and ninety two others subject to them 770555 6759675 2414477 54990 3824290  5. The Province of Honan hath eight Metropolitan Cities and a hundred others subject to them 589296 5106270 6106960 9959 2288744  6. The Province of Sucheu 464129 2204170 2167559 6339  149177 7. Huquang hath fifteen Metropolitan Cities 531686 4833590 1616600 17977   8. Kiangsi hath thirteen Metropolitan Cities and sixty two others under them 1363629 6549800 5995034 11516   9. Nanking or Quiang hath fourteen Metropolitan Cities and under them a hundred others 1969116 9967429 2510299 28452 5804217 5808217 10. Chekiang hath eleven great Cities and sixty two others subject unto them It abounds in Silk 1242135 4525470 883115 2574 8704491 44476◠11. Fokien hath eight Metropolitan Cities and unto them forty eight others 509200 1802677 1017772 600   12. Quantung vulgarly Canton hath ten Metropolitan Cities unto which are subject seventy three 483360 1978022 1017772   37380 13. Quangsi hath twelve Metropolitan Cities and subject to these above a hundred others 186719 1054760 431359    14. Queicheu hath eight Metropolitan Cities and to these ten other are subject 45305 231365 47658   56965 15. Iunnan hath twelve Metropolitans and underthem eighty four Cities 132958 1433110 1400568    CHAP. III. Of the Cities of China and the Customs of the Inhabitants FAther Martinius Samedus Trigautius and Gruberus Eye-witnesses relate That the Empire of China is so full of Inhabitants the Towns and Villages so contiguous that did the Wall reach the South Sea it might deservedly be term'd but one City but there are Metropolitans and Chief Cities of Provinces to the number of a hundred and fifty and of those of the inferior rank a thousand two hundred sixty two all fortifi'd with Walls Works and Trenches besides there are Castles Corporation-Towns Villages and Granges without number The Cities for the most part are built four-square Their Houses generally are Wood and not above one Story poor and rude without but within very splendid each House is bound to affix a Shield upon the Door containing the number of Inhabitants and of what Condition each Person is to the end the Mandorins may know how many Persons every City contains for the avoiding of Seditions and to gather in the Revenues by which means it cannot be thought strange that if Foreiners come into China they are discover'd their Landlords being oblig'd under the infliction of a severe Penalty not to conceal them The Mechanick Arts are in great esteem amongst them and they so manage them that they suffer not the vilest Dross to perish but convert it to some Gain The Learned apply themselves unto no other Sciences but Politick and Moral They know not the Name of the Scholastick and Speculative Discipline which is wonderful in a Nation that aboundeth with Ingenious Persons yet their Physicians by Tradition are endow'd with an admirable knowledge of the Palsie by which with incredible Industry they find out the most Latent Causes of Diseases and then apply for Cure their proper Remedies But in the Arts anvil'd out by modern Curiosity as Architecture Sculpture and Weaving if you except the knowledge of Proportions and the Opticks they come not behind the Europeans For their other Acquirements see what I have said in the preceding Discourse and he that desireth more full Information may have recourse to the above-cited Authors CHAP. IV. Of the Mountains of China and the stupendious Prodigies of Nature which are observ'd in them ALthough in this Empire Mountains are so numerous yet the greatest are the continual Theme and Argument of their Studies for what our Astrologers perform by the Celestial Houses they make out by the Terrestrial Hills But amongst their many Enquiries by Terrene Calculations after their good and bad Fortunes there is nothing they more labor in than the Business of their Sepulture about which they spare no Cost or Pains not only observing with no small scrutiny the Summits Tops and Superficies but also making subtle Inspections into the very Bowels of the Mountains to find a fortunate Spot of Ground which they fancy to resemble the Head Tail or Heart of the Dragon which done they joyfully conclude they have found a Place in which the Person Interr'd shall be happy and his Posterity successful which Opinion I believe to have been inculcated by some grave Philosopher to advance a filial Piety to the deceased Parents and more special care of the honor of Funerals Now the Mountains of China are for the most part encompass'd with great Villages pleasant for most beautiful Sepulchral Monuments Chases and Groves and a waving Sea of Rice makes them like a Plain which when Groves and Woods do smile with their Summer Attire renders a most pleasant Prospect the Chappels plac'd on them excelling for Magnitude and Splendor there are also the Monasteries of the Priests but yet in the thick and overgrown Woods liveth a barbarous Nation not yet subjected to the Chineses Many things are observ'd in these Mountains which if true may be deservedly accounted amongst the Miracles of Nature Some by reason of their immense heighth have a perpetual Serenity on their Tops others are cover'd with a continual dark Mantle of ambient thick Mists there are some which triumph only with wholsom Plants exiling all venomous Weeds In the Mountain Queyu both small and great Stones are found in a cubical or four-square Figure which are also in one of the Mountains of Calabria of which we have treated in our Book of the Subterranean World The Mountain Paoki in the Province of Xensi hath the Figure of a Cock who on the approach of a Storm sendeth forth such Murmurs and Rorings as may be heard at a great distance and Olaus Magnus in his History of the Northern Reigons saith That such monstrous Sounds happen in the Mountains of the Botnick Sea That is also worthy of admiration which the Chinesian Oreoscopists relate concerning the Mountain Cio That on the top of it there is a Stone five Perches high and another also in the Kingdom of Fokien which as often 〈◊〉 a Storm is near tottereth and is moved hither and thither as Cypress 〈◊〉 shaken by the Winds There is another Mountain continually cover'd with Frost the cause of which may be conjectur'd to be the Nitrous Spirits which the Mountain together with the Vapors of the Watry Receptacles therein laid up perspireth There is a Mountain in the Province of Kiangsi which hath two Tops the uppermost of which resembles a Dragon seeming to stoop fiercely at the lower Spire which appeareth like a Rampant Tyger from whose various Aspects the Priests make many Rules of Divination for their Disciples Another Mountain by its seven tops configureth the seven Stars in the Constellation of the Greater Bear But the
the Moon Many Writers of Natural Observations report That the Stone call'd Selenitis hath the same effect amongst us This is a kind of Talcus or Specular Stone which I have oftentimes observ'd not only to shine at the Brightness and Splendor of the Moon but perfectly to shew as in a Glass the Figure of the Moon when at Full when an half-Moon and when in a Sextile Figure whence I suppose the Fable to have its original That this Lunary Stone sometimes increaseth and sometimes decreaseth according to the appearance of the Moon They have an Earth call'd Quei a Mineral very bright and much esteem'd by the Women being endow'd with a Cosmetick Faculty which infus'd in Water with a gentle Fucus mundifies the Skin taking away all Morphew Freckles Flushing Pimples and such Rubifying Ebullition they call it Quei Xâ— that is The Noble Lady There is in the Province of Xantung a Stone taken out of a Cows Paunch of a Clay colour about the bigness of a Gooses Egge but inferior to a Bezoar in solidity being of a lighter Substance and therefore thought by some to be the more eminent in Vertue In the Province of Kiangsi at the Mountain Yangkiu is seen a wonderful Stone which being form'd into an humane Shape either by Nature of Art assumeth divers Colours according to the various Temperature of the Air as some affirm by which they prognosticate either fair or foul Weather There is a City call'd Iaocheu on the Northern Bank of the River Po in the Province of Kiangsi which alone hath the honor to make the best Porcelane Ware or China Dishes so highly esteem'd in Europe and elsewhere yet they fetch their Materials from another City that hath that precious Vein of Earth in great abundance which yields them small Audits not being able to make the like use thereof The Body of this Earth is rather of a sandy than claâ—ie Substance tender and brittle which they knead with often sprinkling Water into a contiguous Paste thence raising and modeling Vessels of what size or Shape they please which they bake with great care by gentle yet continu'd Heats till they bring it to some perfection and being broken they new mould them bringing them almost to their first value As the Mountains of China are replenish'd with other Metals so also there are plenty of Gold and Silver Mines but by the Emperor's Edicts they are prohibited to dig them because from the virulent Exhalations of that Earth the Workmen are expos'd to Diseases and Death But they have Golden Ore which they extract from the Sand of Rivers and Springs And besides they have those which promise to themselves and others Mountains of Gold by the Art of Chymistry and there is a Place near Pukiang in the Province of Sucheu that boasts it self for the Birth-place of Hoangtius the first Professor of Alchymie and Transmutation of Metals into Gold two thousand five hundred years before the Birth of our Saviour And that this Empire is rich in Gold and other Metals the plenty of hot Baths the abundance of Nitre Alumen Vitriol Sulphur and Subterranean Fires do sufficiently evidence There is a Spring in the Province of Honan the upper part of whose Water is cold but if you thrust your Hand in a little depth you will find it to be scalding hot But that which is most worthy of admiration is That in the Province of Xansi are Wells of Fire and those as common as Springs of Water in other Parts the Inhabitants dress their Meat therewith closing up the Mouth of the Well that it admitteth of nothing else but the Pot or Kettle and the Heat so contracted easily makes the Pot boil Father Martinius in his Atlas saith That this Fire is thick and not so bright as other Flame and though very hot yet consumeth not Wood cast into it being collected as in a Stove it may easily be carried about and us'd to boil Meat but at last it will expire They have also in this Province Mines of Coal like to that us'd in England being of great use to the Northern Chineses especially for heating their Furnaces they are digg'd up in huge great Pieces but they break them and mix'd with Water they make them up into Lumps which with difficulty take fire but when once kindled burn fiercely and continue long The Fnrnaces in their Stoves are like those in Germany but sometimes they are made like unto a Bed and serve to lie upon in the Winter Thus Martinius in his Atlas SOME Special Remarks TAKEN OUT OF ATHANASIUS KIRCHER'S Antiquities of China PART V. THE PREFACE ALthough the Chineses have not that knowledge of the Speculative Sciences as the Europeans yet they are very capable of them and have profited so far in the Mathematicks that although formerly they hardly understood any part but Astronomy and Arithmetick yet diligently studying the Books Compos'd by the Europeans they have attempted to publish somewhat concerning Occult Philosophy abundantly laboring in the Ethicks and Politicks together with the Oeconomicks judging him fittest for the great Dignities and Employments of the Empire that is best Read therein And in these Arts their Governors are great Proficients as will appear if you consider with what admirable Order their Laws are form'd for the Preservation Glory and Riches of so large an Empire CHAP. I. Of the Bridges and wonderful Fabricks of the Chineses AND first the Bridge call'd Loyang in the Province of Fokien built by a Prefector Governor call'd Cayang exceedeth all admiration the Longitude whereof extendeth about sixty Perches and the Latitude six Where this Bridge now stands there was formerly a Passage for Ships but very dangerous by reason of the extraordinary violence of the Current The building of this Bridge cost 4000000 Crowns concerning which the Author of the Atlas gives this Relation I twice beheld saith he the famous Bridge Loyang with amazement it is all built of one sort of black hewn Stone having no Arches but is erected upon three hundred Massie Stone-Piles all of the Figure of a Ship on each side ending in an acute Angle that they may the less suffer by the force and beating of the Waves on the tops of these Piles are laid Stones of an equal length every one of which is twenty two Paces in length and two in breadth as I measur'd them and of these Stones there are 1400 all alike and to prevent falling off there are Rails with Lions cut in Stone on both sides with many other Ornaments A most stupendious Work and deservedly admir'd But this is only the Description of part of this Bridge which lieth between the Town Logan and a Castle built upon the Bridge the other part being equal That this Bridge should be built with so little Cost is no wonder considering the greatest part of the Laborers serve gratis in Publick Works and those that receive Wages have not the tenth part so much as our Laborers in Europe Marcus Paulus