many small pieces of Paper as we were Men in the Ship which were disposed of in the same places we were in This Machine being placed on two Staves was with no liâ—â—e Ceremony at the noise of a Tabor and a Brazen Bason raised up in view of all the Crew A Seaman in a Bonze's Habit was the Chief Man among 'em playing several Apish Tricks with a Quarter-staff and now and then shouting forth loud Huzza's At length the Mysterious Toy was committed to the Waves and eyed as far as sight could reach accompanied with the Bonze's Acclamations who roar'd with all his might This ridiculous Entertainment diverted the Sailors while we were struck with a sensible Grief at the sight of their blind Error which it was out of our Power to cure An Accident happened soon after which at first gave them less Pleasure but in the end proved an equal Diversion to us all The Mariners fancied they saw a Ship in a part of the Sea much infested with Pyrates They had excellent Spying-glasses thro' which they could perceive the Masts the Sails nay some saw the very Tackling and by the manner of her Sailing it was plain she designed us a Visit. All were very diligent in putting their Ship in a Posture of Defence The Chineze who of all Men love best to sleep in a whole Skin were in great Consternation and the Fear we saw painted in their Faces while they made ready their Cimeters Pikes and Guns for they had no Canon more terrified us than the fancied Enemy which yet caused in us no little Apprehension for indeed I must confess we were then grown as fearful if possible as the Chineze themselves Religion or Martyrdom was not then the thing in question we were in danger of being immediately strangled by Villains who give no Quarter for such is their Custom which they would not have altered for our sakes The only Remedy would have been to have leaped into the Sea and by drowning our selves deferred our End for a few Minutes but the Medicine was somewhat violent and we did not care for the Experiment Our Prospective Glasses were often made use of and to our no little surprize the mighty Vessel as it came near us lessened as did our ill-grounded Terror for we now doubted whether it was a Ship At length it grew a Floating Island then a Sea Horse and then I know not what till at last being in sight it proved to be a Tree which a violent Wind had torn from the Coast. The Earth and Pebbles about its Root made it swim upright so that its Trunk which was very high resembled a Mast and some Branches spread on each side for a Yard with lesser Boughs broken down for Ropes had with the help of the Wind and the Sea 's beating about it which formed a Tract not unlike that a Ship makes thus causlesly alarm'd us Besides that People who trembled as they looked thro' their Glasses might easily be deceived The dreadful Enemy was no sooner known but the Preparations were given over to their great grief who desired nothing more then a Battel and were heartily vexed at the Disappointment But we much suspecting their Courage was affected for it appeared not till all the Danger was vanisht thought not our selves safe till we were landed This was not the only Peril we were likely to encounter for scarce were we in sight of Eâ—nouis an Island of China famous for the Commodiousness of its Harbour and the abundance of Ships of all Nations which resort thither when the sudden veering of the Wind a Calm that followed and black Clouds which on every side darken'd our Horizon made the Pilots fear the approach of some Typhon than which nothing is more terrible in the Seas of China and Iapan for unless the Captain be well skill'd the Crew numerous and the Vessel stout their ruin is most certain This Typhon is a furious Wind or rather a blowing of all the Winds at once so that the Waves confusedly rolling one upon another beset a Ship on all sides and toss it after an extraordinary manner This Wind is so violent that there is no bearing any Sail and so obstinate that the third day scarce sees the end of it At first the Seamens Pains and Industry withstand the Storm but continual Labour tires and disheartens them they yield to the over-ruling Winds the Masts break the Rudder is carried off and the Ship founders or if she be so well built as to sustain the Fury of the Waves she splits against a Rock and not a Man escapes Four days had been spent in expectation of the like Fate and the dreadful Omens increased when it came into our Minds to address St. Francis Xavier whose Miracles had once rendred those Seas so famous We prayed him to divert the Tempest and inforced our Prayers by a Vow Scarce were we off our Knees but whether by a Miracle or the ordinary Course of Nature there blew a favourable Gale of Wind which carried us thro' some Islands into our desired Port. I never saw any thing so Frightful as that infinite number of Rocks and Desert Islands thro' which we were to pass The Channels are in some places so narrow as not to exceed ten Paces in breadth to the great danger of those who Sail thro' 'em We also steered thro' a pretty wide Bay in which the Chineze observe an exact Silence for fear say they of disturbing a neighbouring Dragon and made us follow their Example I know not how they call it as for us we named it the Dumb Man's Bay Having spent some time among those horrid Rocks we at last had sight of a little City they call Tim-bai that is Sea's Limit situated at the Mouth of the River up the which we tided and dropt Anchor three Miles higher near the City of Nimpo a sight of which we so earnestly had wisht for during a Six and thirty days Navigation which the continual Danger and Hardships we were exposed to had rendred very â—edious It was with no little Joy that we reached that Land in which we had during so many years long'd to preach the Gospel It 's sight inspired us with an unusual Zeal and the Joy of viewing that happy Soil which so many good Men had Consecrated by their Labours we thought a large amends for ours But tho' we were so near the City it was not so easie for us to enter it China is a very Ceremonious Country wherein all Strangers but especially the French need have a good stock of Patience The Captain of our Vessel thought sit to hide us and on our arrival we were let down into the Hold where the Heat which increased as we came nearer the Land and several other Inconveniencies we lay under made our Condition almost insupportable But spight of all Caution we were found out an Officer of the Customs spied us and having taken an Account of the Ship 's Cargo set a Man
Platform and proper Instruments which were since removed to Pekin but now only some old Buildings remain and a large square Hall newly built as an Acknowledgment of Emperor Camhy's kind Visit to that City This was a Trick of the Mandarins who under pretence of raising a Monument of that Prince's Favour got considerable Sums of Money from the Inhabitants not half of which was laid out In the third place for a large Tower vulgarly called the China Tower There is without the City and not within as some have wrote a House named by the Chinese The Temple of Gratitude Pao-gren-sse built 300 years ago by Emperor Yonlo It is raised on a Massive Basis built with Brick and surrounded with a Rail of unpolished Marble There are ten or twelve Steps all round it by which you ascend to the lowermost Hall the Floor of which stands one foot higher than the Basis leaving a little Walk two feet wide all round it The Front of this Hall or Temple is adorned with a Gallery and some Pillars The Roofs for in China there are usually two one next to the top of the Wall and a narrower over that are covered with Green varnished shining Tiles and the Ceiling within is painted and made up of several little â—ieces differently wrought one within the other which with the Chinese is no little Ornament I confess that medley of Beams Jices Rafters and Pinions bears a surprising singularity because we must needs judge that such a Walk was not done without great Expence But to speak truth it proceeds only from the Ignorance of their Workmen who never could find out Noble Simplicity which becomes at once the Solidity and Beauty of our Buildings This Hall has no Light but what comes in at the Doors of which there are three very large ones that give admittance into the Tower I speak of which is part of this Temple It is of an Octogonal Figure about 40 Feet broad so that each side is 15 Foot wide A Wall in the like form is built round it at two Fathoms and a half Distance and being moderately high supports the one side of a Pent-house which issues from the Tower and thus makes a pretty kind of a Gallery This Tower is nine Stories high each Story being adorned with a Cornish three Feet wide at the bottom of the Windows and distinguished by little Pent-houses like the former but narrower and like the Tower it self decreasing in breadth as they increase in height The Wall is at the bottom at least twelve Feet thick and above eight and a half at the top incrusted with China Ware laid flat-wise for tho' the Weather has something impaired its Beauty there is yet enough remaining to shew that it is real China tho' of the courser sort since 't is impossible that Bricks could have retained that Lustre above 300 years The Stair-case within is narrow and troublesome the Steps being very high Each Story is made up of thick pieces of Timber laid cross-wise and on them a Floor the Cieling of each Room being enriched with Paintings if their Painting can enrich a Room The Walls of the upper Rooms bear several small Niches full of Carved Idols which makes a pretty kind of Checker The whole Work is Gilt and looks like carved Stone or Marble but I believe it to be only Brick for the Chinese are very skilful in stamping all kind of Ornaments on it which thro' the fineness of their sisted Mould becomes more easie to them then to us The first Floor is the most lofty but the rest are of an equal height I have told the Steps which are 190 in number being almost all 10 large Inches high having measured them very nicely which amounts to 158 Feet If you add to this the height of the Basis that of the ninth Story which has no Steps to mount thence to the Top and the Cubilo the Sum will be at least 200 Feet in height from the Ground This Cubilo is not one of the least Ornaments of that Building being as it were an extraordinary thick Mast or May-Pole which from the Floor of the eighth Story rises above 30 Feet higher than the top of the Tower Round it a great piece of Iron runs in a Spiral-line several Feet distant from the Pole so that it looks like a hollow Cave on the top of which is placed a very large golden Ball. This it is that the Chinese call the Porcelain Tower and with some Europeans would name the Brick-one Whatever it may be made of it is undoubtedly the beâ—â— contrived and noblest Structure of all the East From its Top you have a Prospect of the whole City and especially of the Mountain on which stands the Observatory which lyes a good League North-East and by East from it Nankin was also famous for the bigness of its Bells but their weight having worn down the Steeple which they were hung in the whole Building fell down and they still lye upon the ground There is one in the way between our Colledge the Observatory whose height is 11 Feet and that of its Handle or Ear by which it hangs 2 and its Diameter is 7 the outward Circumference is 22 Feet which indeed lessens towards the top but not in the same proportion with our Bells here for the Figure is almost a Cilinder if you take away a considerable Swelling towards the middle where the Circumference is equal to that of the bottom It s lower Brim is six Inches and a half thick but grows thinner and thinner to the bowing where the Cone begins so that under the Ear it is not above two Inches thick which may be measured exactly enough because they bore their Bells at the top to increase their Sound as they conceit it The Metal is brittle and the Cast not clear being full of little knobs These Bells were cast during the Ninth Reign before this Each have their particular Name the one being called Tchoui The Hanger another Che The Eater a third Choui or So The Sleeper and a fourth Si The Flyer for tho' there are but three in the City the Chinese Geographers place a fourth beyond the River Kiam Now supposing that a Cubical Foot of Brass weighâ— 648 Pound the Bell which I measured should weigh about 90 Thousand supposing it to be of an equal bigness and thickness As for the bigness there is no great difference but the thickness lessens from the bottom to the top where as I have said it is but two Inches think so that allowing it be one with another four Inches thick and better throughout the Bell will weigh about 50000 l. and be twice as heavy as that at Erfort which Father Kircâ—er affirms to be the biggest in the World But this is nothing to what there is at Pekin which can shew seven cast under the Reign of Emperor Youlo near 300 years ago weighing 120000 l. each They are 11 Feet wide 40 round and 12 high
quicken its motion The low Sails are of very thick Matt trimm'd up with Laths and long Poles to strengthen them from two foot to two foot fastened to the whole length of the Masts by several little loops they are not fastened in the middle but have three quarters of their breadth loose that they may be accommodaâ—ed to the Wind and readily tackt about as occasion serves A great many small Cords hanging at the sides of the Sail where they are placed at several distances from the Sail-yard to the bottom are gathered up and keep tight the whole length of the Matt and further the motion when the Ships Course is to be changed As for the Okam to calk withal they do not use melted Pitch and Tar but a Composition made of Lime and Oil or rather of a particular Gum with Flax of rasped Bambou this Matter is not subject to the Accidents of Fire and the Okam is so good that the Vessel seldom or never Leaks neither do they ever use the Pump a Well or two serves to keep the Keel dry In your huge Vessels the Anchors are of Iron in the middle sort they are of an hard heavy Wood and they only strengthen the ends but I have observed that that was not sufficient a Spring-tide or a fresh Gale of Wind runs the Ship adrift when it is not well anchored And to spare the cost of an Iron Anchor they often run the risk to be cast away As for the Cables they are of Flax of Coco Canvas or Rotin The Rotin is a kind of long Cane which they make into Tresses like little Cords the Twists of them are usually flat and are stronger then all the other but because they easily snap under Water when they come to touch upon any Rock they do not much use them but only upon Rivers for to tow against the Tide The Chineses have in their Vessels a Captain as we have but his chief business is to keep the Crew in awe and victual them the Pilot marks out the Rhumb and places the Compass When they can discover no Land or when they do not ken it those upon duty at the Helm steer as they please so soon as they come within ken of the Coast or enter into the Port the Mariners are so vigilant and so intent upon their duty that they don't expect to be commanded You see My Lord by what I have said that we far surpass the Chineses at Sea in the Art of Navigation but it must be confest that upon Rivers and Channels they have a particular address that we are not Masters of they there mannage with a few Mariners huge Barks as big as our Ships and there is such a great number of them in all the Southern Provinces that they always keep Nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine ready equipped amongst those that are designed for the Service of the Emperor After this manner do the People speak for this way of expressing themselves hath a greater Emphasis in their Language and seem to denote something more than if they should say in one word that there are Ten thousand of them it is a hard matter to convince them of an untruth for really there is such a prodigious number of them that they cannot be reckoned they are all flat bottom'd their Sails and Masts are not much different from those I but just now described but the Model is not the same The Body of the Vessel that is alike broad from Prow to Poop hath two Wells upon the first or upon the Deck they build from one end to another little Cabins that are raised above the sides Seven or Eight foot or thereabouts they are painted within and without varnisht gilded and all over so neat and handsome that they are capable of making the longest Voyages too short tho' some they take that last four or five Months without intermission for they lodge they diet and are always aboard these noble Barks and when a good company of Mandarins go together which pretty often happens there is no place where they pass the time away more delightfully They visit one another almost every day without Complement they Play they Treat one another mutually as if they were all of a Family This Society seems so much the more acceptable to them because it is not forced and constrained as in other places by the Incumbrances of nice Ceremonies nor subject to Suspicions that such a free Correspondence would not fail to soment if they behaved themselves so in the Cities Notwithstanding these Barks be extraordinary big and tho' they always be either under Sail or tugg'd along by Ropes yet do they by times make use of Oars when they are upon great Rivers or cross Lakes As for ordinary Barks they do not row them after the European manner but they fasten a kind of a long Oar to the Poup nearer one side of the Bark than to the other and sometimes another like it to the Prow that they make use of as the Fish does of its Tail thrusting it out and pulling it to them again without ever lifâ—ing it above Water This Work produces a continuing rolling in the Bark but it hath this advantage that the Motion is never interrupted whereas the Time and Effort that we employ to lifâ— up our Oars is lost and signifies nothing The knack the Chineses have to Sail upon Torrents is somewhat wonderful and incredible They in a manner force Nature and make a Voyage without any dread which other People dare not so much as look upon without being seized with some Apprehension I speak not of those Cataracts they ascend by meer strength of Arm to pass from one Canal to another which in some Relations are called Sluices but of certain Rivers that flow or rather run headlong quite cross abundance of Rocks for the space of Three or Fourscore Leagues Had I not been upon these perillous Torrents my self I should have much ado to believe upon anothers report what I my self have seen It is a rashness for Travellers to expose themselves if they have been but never so little informed of it and a kind of madness in Sailors to pass their Life in a Trade wherein they are every moment in danger of being destroy'd These Torrents whereof I speak which the People of the Country call Chan are met with in several places of the Empire many of them may be seen when one Travels from Nam-tchamâ—fou the Capital City of Kiam-si to Canton The first time I went that way with Father Fontanâ—y we were hurried away with that Rapidity that all the Endeavours of our Mariners could not overcome our Bark abandoned to the Torâ—ent was turn'd round like a Whirlegigg for a long time amongst the sinuosities and windings that the Course of the Water formed and at last dasht upon a Rock even with the Water with that violence that the Rudder of the thickness of a good Beam broke like a piece of Glass and
an opportunity of improving our Acquaintance with the Mandarines Some sent us Presents others invited us to their Houses and all in general were very kind to us We indeavoured to make use of this opportunity in converting them from Idolatry but it is hard for Souls wholly buried in Flesh and Blood to savour the Things which are of God However the Governor of the City made one Step towards it which gave us great Hopes It was this They had for five Months time been afflicted with a continual Drought so that their Rivers and the Channels they cut out into their Land to water it were now quite dry and a Famine much apprehended The Priests had offered numberless Sacrifices and the Mandarines left nothing undone which they thought might Appease the Anger of the Gods They had often asked us what Methods we used in Europe in such Cases and being answered that by Humiliation Penitence and the Fervency of our Prayers we moved Heaven to Compassion they hoped by the like Means to procure their Idols Pity but alas they called upon Gods that have Ears and cannot hear So the Governor tired with Delays resolved to worship the only God whom all Nature obeys Having understood that in our House we had a pretty handsome Chappel in which we every day celebrated the Sacred Mysteries of our Religion he sent to us to know if we would permit him to come in State and joyn his Prayers with ours We answered we desired nothing more than that he should worship as we did and that all the City would follow his Example and assured him moreover that if he begged with Faith and Sincerity he should undoubtedly obtain We presently went to work to put our Chappel in order and make all things ready to Solemnize his coming when to our great surprize his Secretary came to tell us That his Lord would be with us the next day very early being necessitated to meet at Eight the same Morning at a neighbouring Hill where with some Mandarines he was to offer a Sacrifice to a Dragon In answer to this unexpected Message we ordered our Interpreter to wait on him and make him sensible that the Christian's God was a Iealous God who would not allow of his paying to any others the Honours due to Himself alone that his Gods were Statues or Creatures that had no Power to help themselves nor him and that we humbly craved him to despise those idle Fancies fit only to amuse a credulous sensless Mob but far beneath a Man of his Sence and Merit and to trust in the Only God of Heaven whom his Reason alone must convince him to be the True one I really believe he was almost perswaded but he had engaged himself to the Mandarines and for some worldly Respect durst not break his Promise so he worshipped his Idols whom doubtless he had no Faith in and withdrew from the Only True God of whose Being he was inwardly convinced Then My Lord moved with Indignation at their Blindness and the Devils Tyranny some of us thought of imitating what St. Francis Xavier had done on some like occasion by erecting a Cross in the City under these Conditions First that we would prevail with Heaven to grant the Rain they stood in such want of And secondly that if we did they should pull down their Idols and own That God who should have been so favourable as to grant them their Request Our Minds were different as was our Zeal Some full of Lively Faith which the miraculous and continual Support of Providence thro' the several Perils we had encounter'd had inspired them with could not question the Success of so Bold but Holy an Undertaking Others not so Zealous but perswaded that Prudence ought to be our Guide where the Inspiration is not Evident were of Opinion nothing should be hazarded which failing might Expose our Religion So we were content to mourn within our selves and beg of God not that he would give them Rain but that Celestial Fire which Our Saviour hath brought into the World and desires all Nations may be inflamed with While we were thus busied in promoting the Interest of our Religion the Viceroy was no less in thinking how to Execute the Orders he had received from Court He left our Journey as far as Hamt-chéou to the Governor's Care who provided Boats for us and commanded an inferiour Mandarine to attend us that we might lack for nothing We performed it in five days time without meeting with any of those Accidents which Strangers there are subject to when they are thought to carry things of value with them The Christians at Hamt-chéou were lavish in the Expressions of their Affection to us They came in Crouds to the River whence we were carried as in Triumph to their Church with more Kindness perhaps then Prudence For they had unknown to Father Intorcetta provided for each of us an Elbow-Chair borne by four Men and attended by as many into which we were obliged to suffer our selves to be set not knowing what they meant for our little skill in their Language did not permit us to learn it from themselves Having locked us in we were forced to make our Entry as they would have it which was in this manner A Musick of ten or twelve Hands with some Trumpets led the Van next came some Horse and Foot the former bearing several Standards and Flags and the latter armed with Launces and Pikes and next to these four Officers who supported a large Board varnished with Red on which these words were written in large Golden Characters Doctors of the Heavenly Law sent for to Court We came in the Rear surrounded by a throng of Christians and Gentiles whom the Novelty of the Show had drawn thither In this mortifying Pomp we went thro' the whole City being a long League in length vexed that we had not foreseen their Indiscretion and resolved to reprimand them for it Father Intorcetta waited for us in the Church-door whence he carried us to the Altar There having nine times bowed our selves to the Ground and returned Thanks to the Good God who thro' so many Hazards had in spight of our Enemies brought us to the Promised Land we returned to the Chief of the Christians These we desired the Father to acquaint that we were not unthankful of their Love nor ill satisfied with their Zeal for God's Glory but that the Splended Manner in which they had received us was no ways conformable to a Christian's Humility That the Heathen might indeed celebrate their Triumphs with such Earthly Pomps and Mundane Vanities but that a Christian's Glorying was in the Name of the Lord. These returned no Answer but all on their Knees implored our Blessing Their Fervency and a Meek and Devout Look in which the Chineâ—e do when they will exceed all other Nations wholly disarmed our Wrath we wept for Joy and Compassion and I protest My Lord that one Moment made us a large
amends for all the Troubles we had undergone But how great was our Bliss when we were at liberty to receive the Caresses of the Father Intorcetta whom God had made use of to procure our Admittance into that Empire We already bore him a Veneration due to the Glorious Name of Confessor which his Imprisonment and Sufferings at Pekin had intitled him to but his Goodness Meekness and Charity entirely won our Hearts and made us respect him as the true Pattern of a Perfect Missionary The Character we bore of Persons sent for to Court as Considerable as that of Envâ—y obliged us to visit and be visited by the Chief Mandarines The Viceroy our Enemy was ashamed to see us which he sent us word the multitude of Business he had then on his Hands would not permit but the General of the Tartars received us with all Civility and among other Demonstrations of his Kindness made us a very considerable Present However when we were going the Viceroy who was affraid least he should be informed against sent some Chairs to carry us to the Imperial Barge he had provided for us he order'd some Trumpets and Hautboys to attend us presented us with ten Pistols and gave us an especial Order from Court intituled a Cam-bo in pursuance to which all Places we passed thro' were to find us Boats well man'd while we went by Water or sixty two or more Porters in case the Frost obliged us to go by Land and each City to give us about half a Pistol the same being allowed to the Chief Mandarines who are reputed to have their Charges born by the Emperor tho' this will not amount to the tenth part of their Expence Besides he order'd a Mandarine to accompany us and see all due respect was paid us We would gladly have avoided it but were forced to go thro' what we undesignedly had engaged in The Barge we were on Board was a Second Rate containing in Breadth sixteen feet and in Length seventy and proportionable in Heighth Besides the Cook-room the Master and his Family's for they have no other Dwelling Apartment that of his Crew and another for our Men there was a pretty large Parlour where we dined and three Rooms in which six Persons might lye at ease all which were Vernished Gilt and Painted Now for the manner of our Travelling As soon as Anchor was weighed the Trumpets and Hautboys founded a March then they took their Leave with a kind of Chest wherein were three Iron Barrels which made a greater Report than so many Muskets they were discharged one after another and between each the Musick founded and so continued playing for some time Whenever we met a Mandarine's Barge or some Town in our way the same thing was repeated as also when Night or a contrary Wind obliged us to come to an Anchor This to a Mandarine had not only been a great Honour but a very entertaining Consort As for us we thought it a very inharmonious one whose tediousness made us pay dear for our Honour We had besides a Watch every Night to guard us the manner of which was this About Eight at Night ten or twelve Inhabitants of the Town nearest to the place we anchored in appeared in one Row on the Shoar then the Master came upon the Deck and thence made them a fair Speech concerning the Obligations they lay under of preserving all that belonged to the Emperor and watching for the Mandarines Safety who themselves did so for that of the State Then he descended into Particulars of all the Accidents they were liable to Fire Thieves and Storms exhorting them to be Vigilant and telling them they were responsible for all the Mischief which might happen They answered each Paragraph with a Shout and then retired as a form to Corps de Garde only one Centry was left there who continually struck two Sticks one against another and was hourly relieved by others which made the same Noise that we might know they did not fall asleep which we would gladly have permitted them to do on condition we might have done so our selves But this is the Custom when any Mandarine travels by Water How teazing soever all these Ceremonies might be I must confess that I never met with any way of Travelling less tiresome than this for after Thirteen days Voyage we arriv'd at Yamt-chéou on Ianuary the 3d as fresh as if we had not stirr'd out of our House There we found Father Aleonisa a Franciscan ProVicar to the Bishop of Basilea and Father Galiani a Jesuit who were come thus far to meet us the one from the Bishop to proffer us that Prelate's Assistance and the other by his Credit and Experience to make the rest of our Journey as easie as he could Both knew we had Letters of Commendation from the King and were willing to shew us all the Respect due to those who are under his Majesty's Protection This was not the only Civility we received from them but they have since obliged us so highly that we never can enough express our Gratitude Here the Frost forced us to leave the Great Canal and we had Horses found us for our Men and Porters for our Goods As for our selves the great Cold and Snow which we were unaccustomed to made us choose to go in Litters some of our Horse-men riding about us that we might be the more Secure We shifted our Porters at each City or pretty big Town and what may be wonder'd at is that we could get above a hundred with as much speed and ease as in France we might five or six The Cold increased hourly and became at last so violent that we found the River Hoambo one of the greatest in China almost frozen over a whole Day was spent in breaking the Ice and we passed not without much Trouble and Danger We left Nimpo on the 27th of November 1687. and arriv'd at Pekin the 8th of February following but we rested so often by the way that indeed we had not spent above a Month and an half in our Journey These Honours paid us by so potent a Prince and the good Success of so long and perillous a Voyage together with a prospect of the Benefit our Religion might reap by it would have occasioned in us a well-grounded Mirth had not our Thoughts been cruelly diverted from it Scarce were we in sight of Pekin but we received the most afflicting News of Father Verbiest's Death It struck us with an Astonishment which lessened but to make our Grief more sensible He it was who had procured our Admittance into China who besides in delivering us from the Viceroy of Hamt-chéou had saved our Lives and which we looked on as a greater Kindness was ready to assist us with his Credit in the Designs we had to promote God's Glory and the Interest of our Holy Faith We were not the only Loosers by his Death but I dare say that every Body mist him To his Care
in use which has put us upon inventing new ways of defending our Cities as there were new ones contrived of attacking them I confess My Lord that running over all those Cities which their Inhabitants esteem the strongest in the World I have often with no little pleasure reflected on the facility with which Lewis the Great would subdue those Provinces if Nature had made us a little nearer Neighbours to China he whom the stoutest Places in Europe can at best withstand but during a few days God has by an equal and just Distribution given the Chinese but Ordinary Commanders because no Extraordinary Actions could be performed there but to vanquish such Enemies as ours so great a Hero was wholly necessary It must however be granted that in the way of Fortification the Chinese have outdone all the Ancients in the prodigious Work that defends part of their Country 'T is that which we call the Great Wall and with themselves stile Van li Cham Chim The Wall 10000 Stadium's long which reaches from the Eastern Ocean to the Province of Chansi Not that its length is so great as they speak it but if you reckon all its windings it will really appear to be no less than 500 Leagues You must not conceive it as a plain Wall for it is fortified with Towers much like the City Walls I have mentioned and in the places where the Passes might be more easily forced they have raised two or three Bulworks one behind another which may give themselves a mutual Defence whose enormous Thickness and the Forts which Command all the Avenues being all guarded by great numbers of Forces protect the Chinese from all Attempts on that side China being divided from Tartary by a Chain of Mountains the Wall has been carried on over the highest Hills and is now tall and then low as the Ground allowed for you must not think as some have imagined that the Top of it is level throughout and that from the bottom of the deepest Vales it could have been raised to be as high as the tallest Mountains So when they say that it is of a wonderful height we must understand it of the Spot of Ground it is built on for of it self it is rather lower than those of their Cities and but four or at most five feet in thickness It is almost all built with Brick bound with such strong Mortar that not only it has lasted these several Ages but is scarce the worse It is above 1800 years since Emperor Chihohamti raised it to prevent the Insurrections of the Neighbouring Tartars This was at once one of the greatest and maddest Undertakings that I ever heard of for tho' indeed it was a prudent Caution of the Chinese thus to guard the easiest Avenues how ridiculous was it of them to carry their Wall to the top of some Precipices which the Birds can scarce reach with their Flight and on which it is impossible the Tartarian Horse should ascend And if they could fancy that an Army could have clambered up thither how could they believe that so thin and low a Wall as they have made it in such places could be of any Defence As for my part I admire how the Materials have been conveyed and made use of there and indeed it was not done without a vast Charge and the loss of more Men then would have perished by the greatest Fury of their Enemies It is said that during the Reigns of the Chinese Emperors this Wall was guarded by a Million of Soldiers but now that part of Tartary belongs to China they are content with manning well the worst situated but best fortified Parts of it Among the other Fortresses of the Kingdom there are above a Thousand of the first rate the rest are less remarkable and indeed scarce deserve that Name yet all are very well garrisoned and by that one may judge what vast Armies are constantly kept on foot However that is not the Chinese's chiefest boast for if they are considered but as to the Military part they will raise our wonder but who can enough admire the Numbers Greatness Beauty and Government of their Trading Towns They are generally divided into three Classes of the first there are above 160 of the second 270 and of the third near 1200 besides near 300 walled Cities more which they leave out as not worth observing tho' they are almost all well inhabited and traded The greater and lesser Villages are numberless especially those of the Southern Provinces In the Province of Chanâ—i and Chenâ—i they are for the most part surrounded with Walls and good Ditches with Iron Gates which the Country People shut at Night and guard in the Day-time to protect themselves from Thieves as also from the Soldiers who as they pass by which they continually do would in spight of their Officers insult them The largeness of these Cities is not less amazing then their number Pekin which I have already had the honour to mention to your Highness is not to be compared to Nankin or as it is now called Kiamnin a Town formerly enclosed within three Walls the outermost of which was 16 long Leagues round Some Works of it are still to be seen which one would rather think to be the Bounds of a Province then a City When the Emperors kept their Court there its Inhabitants were no doubt numberless It s Situation Haven Plenty the Fertility of the Neighbouring Lands and the Canals made near it for the Improvement of Trade could not but make it a fine City It has since lost much of its former Splendour however if you include those who live in its Suburbs and on the Canals it is still more populous than Pekin and tho' the unarable Hills the ploughed Lands Gardens and vast empty Places which are within its Walls render it really less then it seems what is inhabited does still make a prodigious big City The Streets are moderately broad but very well paved The Houses low but cleanly and the Shops very rich being filled with Stuffs Silks and other costly Wares In a word it is as the Center of the Empire where you may find all the Curiosities which are produced in it There the most famous Doctors and the Mandarins who are out of Business usually settle themselves having the conveniency of several Libraries filled with choice of good Books their Printing is fairer their Artificers are better Workmen the Tongue more polite and the Accent smother than any where else and truly no other City were more proper for the Emperor's Seat were it not for the State 's advantage that he should reside near the Frontiers It is also famous for several other Reasons First Because of the River Kiam on which it is situated which is the Largest Deepest and most Navigable in the whole Empire being in that part of it which bathes the City near half a League broad Secondly The Royal Observatory on the Top of a Mountain where stood formerly a
them in Case of Necessity Besides that they have every where in Châ—nsi and Chansi for want of Rain certain Pits from Twenty to an Hundred foot deep from which they draw Water by an incredible Toil. Now if by chance they meet with a Spring of Water it is worth observing how cunningly they husband it they Sustain it by Banks in the highest places they turn it here and there an Hundred different ways that all the Country may reap the benefit of it they divide it by drawing it by degrees according as every one hath occasion for it insomuch that a small Rivulet well managed does sometimes produce the Fertility of a whole Province The Rivers of China are no less considerable then its Canals there are two especially which the Relations have made famous The first is called Kiam or Yamçe which they commonly Translate the Son of the Sea But I am afraid they are mistaken for the Letter the Chineses use for to write Yam is different from that which signifies the Sea altho' the Sound and Pronunciation may have some Affinity Amongst several significations that this Letter may have that which they gave it in former times makes for our purpose Under the Reign of the Emperor Yon it signified a Province of China limitted by this River on the North and it is somewhat probable that they gave this same Name to the River because that Prince drain'd all the Water that overflow'd the whole Country into it This Floud takes its rise in the Province of Yunnan crosses the Provinces of Soutchouen Houquam and Nankin and after it hath watered four Kingdoms far and wide for 400 Leagues together it disimbogues into the East-Sea over against the Isle of Tçoummim cast up at its Mouth by the Sands which it carries along with it the Chineses have a Proverb amongst them that says The Sea hath no bounds and the Kiam hath no bottom And in truth in some places there is none to be found in others they pretend there is Two or Three hundred Fathom water I am nevertheless perswaded that their Pilots that carry not above Fifty or Sixty Fathom Cord at longest never had the Curiosity to Sound so deep as Three hundred Fathom and the impossibility of finding the bottom with their ordinary Plummet is sufficient in my opinion to incline them to such like Hyperboly's I have many times sailed upon this River I have moreover taken a diligent account of its Course and Breadth from Nankin to the Mouth of another River into which Men enter to pursue the way to Canton It is off of Nankin Thirty Leagues from the Sea a little half League broad the Passage along it is come dangerous and becomes more and more infamous every day for its Shipwracks In its Course which is exceeding rapid it forms a great number of Isles all of them very beneficial to the Province by reason of that multitude of Bull-rushes Ten or Twelve foot high that it produceth serving for Fuel to all the Cities thereabouts for they have scarce Wood enough for Buildings and Shâ—ips They yield a great Revenew and the Emperor draws considerable Duties from them The River which the Torrents of the Mountains do sometimes swell extraordinarily grow so rapid that many times they bear away the Isles with them or lessen them by the half and for the same reason form other new ones in some other place and one cannot but admire to see them change place in such a short time just as if by diving they had past under Water from one place to another that does not always come to pass But there is observed such considerable Change every year that the Mandarins least they should be mistaken get them to be measured every Three years to augment or diminish the Imposts and Duties according to the Condition they are found to be in The second River of China is called Hoamho as much as to say The yellow River because the Earth it sweeps away with it especially in times of great Rains give it that Colour I have seen a greâ—t many others whose Waters at certain Seasons of the year are so over-charged with slime and so gross and thick that they rather resemble Torrents of Mud than real Rivers The Hoamho takes its source at the Extremity of the Mountains that bound the Province of Soutchouen in the West From thence it throws it self into Tartary where it flows for some time all along the great Wall at which it re-enters China between the Province of Chansi and Chensi After that it waters the Province of Honan and when it hath run cross one part of the Province of Nankin and flowed above Six hundred Leagues into the Land it disimbogues at length into the East-Sea not far from the Mouth of Kiam I have crost it and coasted it in divers places it is every where very broad and rapid yet neither deep nor navigable to speak of This River hath in former times caused great Desolation in China and they are still forced to this very day to keep up the Waters in certain places by long and strong Banks which notwithstanding does not exempt the Cities thereabouts from Apprehensions of Inundation So likewise have they been careful in the Province of Honan the Ground lying very low thereabouts to surround the greatest part of the Cities about a Mile from the Walls with a Terrace cased with Turf to prevent being surprised by Accidents and Casualties in case the Bank be broken as happened about Fifty two years ago For the Emperor endeavouring to force a Rebel who for a long time laid close Siege to the City of Honan to draw off caused one part of the Banks to be broken down thereby to drown the adverse Army But the Relief he afforded the City proved more fatal than â—he Fury of the Besiegers would have been the whole Province almost was laid under Water together with many Cities and abundance of Villages above Three hundred thousand Persons drowned in the Metropolis amongst whom were some of our Missionaries who at that time had a numerous Flock of Christians there they and their Church lost their Lives The Low Country ever since is become a kind of a Marsh or Lake not but that they have some design to repair this loss but the Undertaking is difficult and very expensive The Sovereign Court that takes care of Publick Works importuned the Emperor more than once to send Father Verbiest thither and peradventure that Prince would have consented thereto at last but he discovered that the Mandarins made use of this pretence to remove the Father at a distance from Court and that their Design was to engage him in a difficult Enterprise that was enough to destroy him or out of which he could never have disintangled himself with any honour There is to be seen in China abundance of other Rivers less Famous but yet more Commodious for Commerce and Trade Since they afford nothing uncommon
what he has seen fifty times over in Europe then without a special Caution one is apt to set too mighty a Character and Esteem upon the Climate the Customs and the Wit of the People and what at the bottom is most barbarous becomes most ravishing now in writing to others what we admire before hand our selves the Idea's are heightned in the Description and in the end grow monstrous and all this to tickle the Reader forsooth or our own Vanity with being first in a Relation I have known some very scrupulous this way in appearance but in effect no less wide of the Mark than their Neighbours who stedfastly believe themselves honest in their Assertions but most unlukily make an ill choice of Terms and Modes of Expression To speak intelligibly we read every day one or other that tell us of certain Kingdoms in the Indies much after the rate that we talk of those in Europe The Metropolitan Cities the Counties the Government of Frontier Places the Palace the Ministers of State the Generals of Armies and a hundred other Terms of that stamp presently we think our selves at another Paris Versailles or in our formidable Armies and when all comes to all this same Louvre of a Palace is neither better nor worse than a rambling ill contriv'd wooden Building the Courtiers a Crew of sorry Wretches half naked the Vice-Roys it may be have fifteen or twenty petty Villages under their Government scattered up and down in the Woods and so of the rest Undoubtedly these Terms that represent such grand Idea's to us are very improperly used to signifie such pitiful Kingdoms that have have almost nothing common with ours but the Name 't is my opinion we ought to manage them warily and skilfully lest we should lie in telling the Truth But when the Country we treat of has in good earnest something noble and singular in it we are still apter to miscarry then we are not content barely to draw Esteem from our Readers we covet their Admiration too in this Case a Man must stand upon his guard against his own Evidence and deal with it just as those modest Persons who in their Iudgment retrench half the Merit their own Imagination suggests to 'em lest they should over-value themselves Vpon the whole we ought not to be so violently prepossess'd against Relations of Voyages as to put good and bad under the same Condemnation for as on one hand it were indiscreet to take up with all that come out without Choice Examination or Distinction so on the other hand 't is as foolish an Affectation to reject indifferently the Accounts of Travellers whose Disinterest Condition and Capacity recommend their Credit For my part notwithstanding I have constantly cherished a steddy affection for Truth I durst not venture to put together an entire Story of all that came to my knowledge during a long abode in the Empire of China apprehending lest the want of other Qualifications necessary in such a Work should hardly be atton'd for by that single Vertue nevertheless not knowing well how to contain my self altogether at my return from so far a Country and being less able to forbear publishing the Progress of Religion in the East I confess I have been extreamly delighted in communicating my self on that Subject to several Persons of Quality well affected to our Holy Faith and being under an Obligation to render an Account of my Voyage to some or in Obedience to the express Commands of others or lastly to make a Return for the Civility and good Offices done me by the rest I wrote the following Letters being an Abridgment of those particular Conversations they have honoured me with which comprehend in great part the present State of China and I conceived in publishing this Collection not as a regular Vniversal Account of that vast Empire but as Memoirs and Heads for a General History they might not be unserviceable to those who might one time or other take up such a design mean time I may well fear that the same things which seem'd tolerable in Discourse will not pass so currantly upon a nearer viâ—â— Faults are ever easiest discovered in writing and that loose Irregularity which makes up the pleasure of Conversation will hardly be forgiven here But to conclude a Man that has endeavoured Ten years together to forget his Mother Tongue and to load his Memory with barbarous Words and uncouth Ideas whatever he may have lost another way ought to be allowed the priviledge of writing ill after we have cut the Line four or five times methinks our Stile should not be canvast by the Criticks and for ought I know Politeness in a Missionary would be less edifying than Negligence THE Heads of the LETTERS in the first Part. Letter I. THE Missionaries Voyage from Siam to Pekin p. 1 II. The manner of their Reception by the Emperor of China and what they found remarkable in the City of Pekin 32 III. Of the Cities Buildings and most considerable Works in China 54 IV. Of the Climate Soil Canals Rivers and Fruits of China 92 V. A Character of the Chinese Nation their Antiquity Nobility Habits and Manners 119 VI. Of their Oeconomy and Magnificence 150 VII Of their Language Characters Books and Morals 179 VIII A particular Character of their Wit and Genius 219 LETTERS in the Second Part. I. OF the Chinese Policy and Government p. 241 II. Of their Religion Ancient and Modern 312 III. Of the Establishment and Progress of Christianity in China 345 IV. The Methods used by the Missionaries to propagate the Gospel in China and of the Zeal of the New Converts 384 V. Of the Approbation and Allowance of the Christian Religion by a Publick Edict throughout the Empire of China 441 VI. A General Scheme of the Observations made by the Missionaries in the Indies and China 482 ca cai cam can cao co cou coué coum cha chay cham chan chao ché chin chéou chï chiao chim chin cho choa chou chouaon chouê choui choun choum fa fam fan féou fi fo foe foi fou fouen foum guei haï ham han hao he hem hen heou hi hia hiai hiam hiao hie hien hieou him hin hio hiu hiué hiuen hioum hiun ho hao hoai hoam hoan hoé hoei hoen hou houm houon y ya yai yam ïao ie ien ieou im in ïo ïu ïué ïuen ïum ïun ke kem ken keou ki kia kiao kié kien kieou kim kin kio kiu kiué kieuen kioum kiun la laï lam lan lao le leam leao lem leou lh li lié lien lieou lim lin lio liu lo lou louï loum louan louon lun ma maï mam man mao mau me mem men meou mi miao mié mien mim min mo mou mouen moui moum mouon na naï nam nan nao nem ngaï ngan ngao ngué nguén ngeou ngo ni niam niau niao niâ— nien nieou nio nim
even in their Capital City over Pagan Superstition When we were come to the Burying place the Missionaries in their Surplices read the Prayers of the Church before the Mandarins The Body was besprinkled with Holy Water and perfumed with Incense in the usual manner then it was let down into a very deep square Vault enclosed with four good Brick Walls It was like a Chamber under-ground and in the Scripture Phrase became to him an Everlasting Habitation Having pray'd near it some time we remained on our Knees to hear what the Emperor's Father-in-law had to say to us which was this Father Verbiest has been considerably serviceable to the Emperor and the State of which his Imperial Majâ—sty being sensible has sent me with these Lords to make a Publick Acknowledgment of it on his behalf that all the World may know the singular Affection his Majesty did ever bear him while he lived and the great Grief he has received by his Death We were so moved with the Dismal Ceremony the Christians continual Lamentations our own great Loss and the Emperor's surprising Bounty that we were not able to Reply Every one melted into Tears but that Pâ—ince who expected another Answer from us was obliged to press us for it when at length Father Pereiva thus spoke on our behalf My Lord our Anguish was not so much the cause of our Silence as the Emperor 's unparallel'd Goodness for what can we say or think when we consider that so great a Monarch uses us who are Strangers Unknown Useless and perhaps Troublesome to him as if we had the Honour to be in his Service Were we his Children he could not love us more he takes care of our Health of our Reputation of our Life He honours our very Death not only with his Elogies his Liberality the Presence of the most Noble Lords of his Court but which never can enough be prized by his Grief What Return My Lord can we then make not to all his Favours but to that alone which your Highness has been pleased to deliver We will only be bold to beg your Grace would acquaint his Majesty that we Weep because our Tears may indeed make known our Sorrow but that we remain Silent because no Words can express our Gratitude The Emperor was informed of what had passed and some days after the Chief Court of Rites presented a Petition That his Majesty would suffer them to Decree some new Honours to be paid that Illustrious Father's Memory The Emperor not only granted it but willed them to consider that Stranger of so extraordinary a Merit was not to be look'd upon as an ordinary Man In the very first Meeting they ordered seven hundred golden Crowns should be laid out on a Tomb for him and the Encomium which the Emperor had wrote should be ingraved on a Marble Stone and that some Mandarines should be once more deputed to pay him their last Devoirs in behalf of the Empire Then they promoted him that is gave him a higher Title than any he had enjoyed during his Life While the Emperor honoured the Saint on Earth he no doubt pray'd for him in Heaven For it is very observable that that Prince never was more inquisitive about Religion then at that time He sent one of his Gentlemen every Minute to the Fathers to inquire about the Condition of Souls in the other World about Heaven Hell Purgatory the Existence of a God his Providence and the Means necessary to Salvation So that God seemed to move his Heart after an extraordinary Manner and to affect it with those Holy Doubts which usually precede our Conversion But that happy Moment was not yet come However who knows but Father Verbiest's Prayers and the Care of several zealous Missionaries who have succeeded him may hasten the Execution of those Designs which Providence seems to have on that great Prince I am most respectfully Madam Hour Highnesses most humble and obedient Servant L. J. LETTER III. To his Highness the Cardinal of FURSTEMBERG O fthe Cities Houses and Chief Buildings of China My Lord AMONG the several Empires into which the World has hitherto been divided that of China has ever obtained so considerable a Place that a Prince cannot be wholly ignorant of what concerns it without neglecting one of those Sciences which seem a part of his Prerogative This My Lord was no doubt the Motive that induced your Highness to inquire so particularly into the State of that Country and to desire an Exact Account of the Number and Bigness of its Cities the Multitude of its Inhabitants the Beauty of its Publick Buildings and Manner of its Palaces By this it plainly appears that the vast Genius you have for Business does in no wise lessen the Acuteness of your Judgment in the Sublimest Arts and especially in Architecture of which the most Excellent Works raised by your Directions at Modave Saverne Berni St. Germans and above all in the famous Cathedral of Strasbourg are several Instances It having been my Business to run over all China where in Five years time I have travelled above Two thousand Leagues I may perhaps satisfie your Highness with more ease than any one besides and shall give a Description of what has seemed to me most worth my Observation Pekin that is the North-Court is the chief City of China and the usual Seat of its Emperors It is so named to distinguish it from Nankin the South-Court another very considerable City so called from the Emperor's Residing there in former Ages it being the Finest the most Commodious and best Situated of the whole Empire but the continual Incâ—rsions of the Tartars a Warlike and very Troublesome Neighbour obliged him to settle in the most Northerly Provinces that he might be always ready to oppose them with the numerous Army he usually keeps near his Court. Pekin was the place fixed upon being Situate in the 40th Degree of Northern Latitude in a very Fertile Plain and not far from the Long Wall Its Neighbourhood to the Sea on the East and the great Canal on the South afford it a Communication with several fine Provinces from which it draws part of of its Subsistence This City which is of an exact Square Form was formerly four long Leagues round but Tartars settling there forced the Chinese to live without the Walls where they in a very short while built a new Town which being more Long than Large does with the old one compose an irregular Figure Thus Pekin is made up of two Cities one is called the Tartar's because they permit none else to inhabit it and the other the Chinese as large but much more full than the first Both together are Six great Leagues in Circuit allowing 3600 Paces to each League This I can aver to be true it having been measured by the Emperor 's special Command This My Lord will seem strange to those who are acquainted with Europe only and think Paris the Largest as
it is doubtless the Finest City in the World yet the Difference between them is great Paris according to the Draught Mr. Blondell has made by Order from our Magistrates on the account of a Design they have to surround it with new Walls contains in its greatest Length but 2500 Paces and consequently tho' we should suppose it Square would be but 10000 Paces round so we should find it half as big as the Tartar's Town alone and but a quarter as large as all Pekin But then if one reflects that their Houses are generally but one Story high and ours one with another are four it will appear that Pekin has not more Lodgings than Paris but rather less because its Streets are much wider that the Emperor's Palace which is of a vast Extent is not half inhabited that there are Magazines of Rice for the sustenance of above 200000 Men and large Courts filled with little Houses in which those who stand for their Doctor 's Degree are examined which alone would make a very big City It must not however be inferred that there are at Paris and Pekin the like number of Inhabitants for the Chinese are very close together in their Dwellings so that Twenty or more of them will lye in as little room as Ten with us and it must needs be so since the multitude of People in the Streets is so great that one is frightned at it it being such that Persons of Quality have always a Horseâ—man going before them to make way Even the widest Streets are not free from Confusion and at the sight of so many Horses Mules Camels Wagons Chairs and Rings of 100 or 200 Persons who gather here and there round the Fortune-Tellers one would judge that some unusual Shew had drawn the whole Country to Pekin Indeed to outward appearance our most populous Cities are Wildernesses in respect of this especially considering there are more Women then Men and that among so vast a Multitude you shall very seldom meet with any This I suppose has made some People think both Cities might contain Six or Seven Millions of Souls which was a great mistake By the following Reflexions it will perhaps appear that one must not always guess at the Number of Inhabitants in a Place by the Crowds that are seen in it First From all the Neighbouring Towns a Multitude of Peasants daily flock to Pekin with several useful and necessary Commodities now no River coming up to the City these must be brought by Land which increases the number of Carters Wagons Camels and other Beasts of Burthen So that Morning and Night at the opening or shutting of the Gates there are such Throngs of People going in or out that one must wait a long while before they can go by Now all these who spread about the Streets must not be reckoned among the Citizens Secondly Most Artificers in China work in their Customers Houses as for Example If I want a Suit my Taylour comes in the Morning to my Lodging where he works all Day and at Night returns home and so of the rest These are continually about looking out for Business to the very Smiths which carry with them their Anvil their Furnace and other Implements for their ordinary use This helps to increase the Multitude Thirdly All Persons that are pretty well to pass never go abroad but on Horseâ—back or in Chairs with a numerous Train If at Paris all Officers Gentlemen Lawyers Physicians and wealthy Citizens were always thus attended the Streets would not be so free In the fourth place When a Mandarine goes any where all his Inferiour Officers follow him in all their Formalities so that they form a kind of Procession The Loâ—ds at Court and Princes of the Blood never are without a great Guard of Horse and being necessitated to go almost every Day to Court their very Equipage is sufficiently cumbersome to the City It is evident that these Customs which are peculiar to China do very much increase the Throng and it must not be wondred at that the City should seem much more Populous then it really is And what must convince us is That as I have shewn there may more People lodge in Paris then in Pekin Then taking it for granted that 20 or 25 Persons there take up no more room then 10 here as I have already said we must conclude on the whole that Pekin contains near twice as many as Paris does and I think I shall not be very wide of the Truth if I allow it Two Millions of Inhabitants I have been something prolix upon this Point because I find it but slightly enquired into by most Historians Nothing is more deceitful then Number at first sight We think upon a view of the Sky that the Stars are numberless and when told are surprised to find they are so few To see an Army of a hundred thousand Men in the Field you would imagine all the World were there and even those who are used to such a sight are apt to mistake if they are not aware It is good to examine every thing our selves especially in China where they never reckon but by Millions and tho' in these Cases one cannot be so very exact it is not impossible to come something near the Truth that we may not deceive the inquisitive Reader Almost all the Streets are built in a direct Line the greatest being about a hundred and twenty foot broad and a good League long and the Shops where they sell Silks and China-ware which generally take up the whole Street make a very agreeable Perspective The Chinese have a Custom which adds to the Beauty of the Sight Each Shop-keeper puts out before his House on a little kind of Pedestal a Board twenty or two and twenty Foot high Painted Varnished and often Gilt on which are written in large Characters the Names of the several Commodities he sells These kind of Pilasters thus placed on each side of the Street and almost at an equal Distance from each other make a pretty odd show This is usual in almost all the Cities of China and I have in some places seen so very neat ones that one would think they had designed to make a Stage of the Street Two things however detract much from their Beauty The first That the Houses are not proportionable being neither well built nor high enough The second That they are always pester'd with Mud or Dust. That Country so well regulated in every thing else is very deficient in this Both Winter and Summer are equally troublesome to those that walk abroad and therefore are Horses and Chairs so much in request For the Dirt spoils the silken Boots which they wear there and the Dust sticks to their Clothes especially if they are made of Sattin which they have a way of oyling to give it the more lustre There is so much of the latter raised by the multitude of Horses that the City is always covered with a
the greatest nicety all the Motions of the Heavens which are during the year to happen out of Course However they still continue their Observations Five Mathematicians spend every Night on the Tower in watching what passes over head one is gazing towards the Zenith another to the East a third to the West the fourth turns his Eyes Southwards and a fith Northwards that nothing of what happens in the four Corners of the World may scape their diligent Observation They take notice of the Winds the Rain the Air of unusual Phenomena's such as are Eclipses the Conjunction or Opposition of Planets Fires Meteors and all that may be useful This they keep a strict accompt of which they bring in every Morning to the Surveyor of the Mathematicks to be registred in his Office If this had always been practised by able and careful Mathematicians we should have a great number of curicus Remarks but besides that these Astronomers are very unskilful they take little care to improve that Science and provided their Salary be paid as usual and their Income constant they are in no great trouble about the Alterations and Changes which happen in the Sky But if these Phenomena's are very apparent as when there happens an Eclipse or a Comet appears they dare not be altogether so negligent All Nations have ever been astonished at Eclipses of which they could not discover the Cause there is nothing so extravagant as the several Reasons some have given for it but one would wonder that the Chinese who as to Astronomy may justly claim Seniority over all the World besides have reasoned as absurdly on that Point as the rest They have fancied that in Heaven there is a prodigious great Dragon who is a professed Enemy to the Sun and Moon and ready at all times to eat them up For this reason as soon as they perceive an Eclipse they all make a terrible rattling with Drums and brass Kettles till the Monster frightned at the noise has let go his Prey Persons of Quality who have read our Books have for these several years been undeceived but especially if the Sun looseth its Light the old Customs are still observed at Pekin which as is usual are at once very Superstitious and very Ridiculous While the Astronomers are on the Tower to make their Observations the chief Mandarines belonging to the Lipou fall on their Knees in a Hall or Court of the Palace looking attentively that way and frequently bowing towards the Sun to express the pity they take of him or rather to the Dragon to beg him not to molest the World by depriving it of so necessary a Planet Now all that the Mathematicians have foretold concerning the Eclipse must prove true should it happen sooner or later be greater or less longer or shorter the Surveyor and his Brethren would go near to lose their Places But they never run that hazard let what will happen the Registers are ever exact and provided the Officers be well paid they are ever in Fee with the Heavens I am afraid My Lord that I have been too tedious in this Digression your Highness having for these several years been busied in Affairs of greater moment must needs have little regard for such obstruse Notions unfit to excite you to those elevated Sentiments so natural to such great Souls as yours and I might have spent my time more to your Satisfaction in writing the Wars of the Tartars and the Conquest of China But besides the inclination every Man has to speak of what belongs to his Profession I have perhaps been over-ruled by the habit we contract in China to entertain great Persons with these Matters and have hoped that a Prince curious and endued with a Genius to which nothing is impossible would with patience hear that which makes the Delight of the Greatest and most Learned Emperor in the whole World I should do Pekin a very great injustice if I passed over in silence its noble Gates and stately Walls which indeed become an Imperial City The former are not embellished with Statues or other Carving as are most Publick Buildings in China but all their Beauty consists in a prodigious height which at a Distance makes the finest shew in the World They consist in two large square Buildings built separately but bound together by two tall and very thick Walls so that they form a Square which may contain above Five hundred Men in Battel The first Building which looks like a Fortress faces the Road. There is no way thro' it but you go in at the Side wall where there is a Gate proportionable to all the rest then you turn to the Right and meet with the second Tower which commands the City and has a Gate like the former but whose Gate-way is so long that it grows dark towards the middle There they constantly keep a Corps du Guard and a small Magazine to supply it readily with Stores in case of Necessity If you respect only the neatness of the Workmanship and the Ornaments of Architecture I must indeed confess that the Gates of Paris are incomparably finer But yet when a Man approaches Pekin he must own that these immense Buildings and if I may speak it those proud Masses have in their unshapeness a State preferrable to all our Ornaments The Arches are built with Marble and the rest with very large Brick bound with excellent Mortar The Walls are answerable to their Gates so tall that they hide the whole City and so thick that Centries on Horse-back are placed upon them From place to place at a Bow-shots distance they are defended with square Towers The Ditch is dry but very broad and deep All is regular and as well kept as if they were in continual Apprehension of a Siege This My Lord is a pretty exact Description of the chief City of all China valuable by its Extent large Gates strong Walls sumptuous Palace good Garrison which consists in the best Forces of the whole Empire and the Number of its Inhabitants but commendable for nothing else What may be said of all the rest in general is this The Chinese divide them into two kinds Those which are solely designed for the Defence of the Country they call Cities of War and the rest Towns of Traffick The fortified Places which I have seen are not much stronger than the others unless it be by their Situation which makes some almost inaccessible The Frontier Towns especially those near Tartary are somewhat singular and our Missionaries have assured me that there were several narrow Passages so well fortified that it was almost impossible to force them I my self have seen some which a hundred Men might easily defend against a whole Army Their usual Fortifications are a good Bulwork some Towers Brick-walls and a large and deep Ditch filled with running Water This is all the Chinese Engineers skill consists in which indeed is no wonder since our selves knew no better before Cannons were
besides the Ear which is at least 3 foot in height This My Lord I own is surprising and could scarce be believed had we not Father Verbiest's word for it who himself has exactly measured them But as much as their Bells exceeds ours in bigness so much do ours exceed them in Sound whether our Metal or Cast be better Be pleased however to read what Father Magalbaens writes of that which is in the Palace at Pekin It s sound says he is so clear so pleasant and â—armonious that it seems to proceed from a Musical Instrument much rather than a Bell. All this must be understood comparatively and perhaps the Author had never heard any thing of that kind like it As for my part all the Bells I have heard there have seemed to me to make but a dull obscure noise as one may easily imagine for their Clappers are not made of Iron but Wood. However the thing be for it deserves not a longer Enquiry it is certain that the Chinese have in all their Cities very big ones with which they distinguish the Watches of the Night Of these they usually reckon five from seven or eight of the Clock in the Evening They begin the first with striking once which they repeat a moment after and so on till the second Watch when they strike two strokes at the third three and so on So that these Bells are as so many repeating Clocks which every other moment inform you what time of Night it is They also use for the same purpose a very great Drum which they beat in the same manner These two Imperial Cities which I have now been describing might alone render China deservedly famous but the Metropolis of most Provinces are so big that each were fit to be the Chief of an Empire Signanfou the Capital City of Chensi is three Leagues round I have had the Curiosity to measure it my self which was not difficult the Walls which inclose it making an exact Square Its Ditches which are partly dry and partly filled with water are very fine its Walls thick and tall as well as the square Towers that defend them its Bulworks very broad and its Gates at least some most stately and like those at Pekin The City is divided into two Parts by an Earthen Wall which runs almost from one End to the other The one half is inhabited by the Tartarâ— who keep the biggest Garrison tho' in the other where the Chinese dwell there be also a good Body of Troops There may still be seen an old Palace the former Residence of the ancient Kings of that Country who were powerful not only because of the vast Extent of their Dominions but also thro' the Bravery and Courage of their Subjects for among all the Chinese there are not any better proportioned or more strong stout and laborious than these As for the Houses they are as every where else in China low and not over-well built their Furniture is not so neat as in the Southern Parts their Varnish not so smooth their China so abundant or their Workmen so ingenious Hamt-câ—éou the Chief City of the Province of Chekiam is also one of the richest and greatest in the Empire The Chinese say it is four Leagues round and I believe they tell no lye The Streets are as full of People as at Paris and the Suburbs besides being very large and the Canals crowded with an infinite number of Boats I believe it to be as populous as the greatest Cities in Europe The Garrison consists in 10000 Men 3000 of which are Chinese The Water of their Canals is not clear nor their Streets broad but the Shops are neat and the Merchants there are reputed to be very rich Eastwards from the City runs a River half a League broad being near the Sea but indeed not very considerable for a little higher it is but an useless Torrent which runs thro' abundance of Rocks A Lake lyes close to it to the Westwards which at most is two Leagues round The Water is clear but very shallow Deep enough however for some large Flat-bottom'd Boats which the Chinese keep there like so many floating Islands where their young People take their Pleasure themselves In the middle stands an Island where they usually land having built there a Temple and some Houses for their Diversion Of this Lake some Relations have made an Inchanted Place I have read that it was built round with stately Houses and noble Palaces This might be but if true a great care was certainly taken that not so much as the least Track or Memory of it should remain But perhaps they gave that Name to some Wooden thatched Dwellings in which China does every where abound then indeed a short while might make great Alterations for Time needs not use it 's utmost Efforts to pull them down However if this City is not so eminent for Buildings it is commendable for being one of the best situated in the Empire for the prodigious Number of its Inhabitants the Conveniency of its Canals and the great Traffick which is made there in the finest Silks in the World What is surprising in China is That whereas being gone thro' one of these Cities you would scarce expect to meet with the like you are hardly out of sight of it before you are in view of such another As for example Going along the great Canal from Hamt-chéou you come to Sout-chéou which is not far from it and if you believe the Inhabitants containâ— four Leagues in Circuit being indeed of a vast Extent It is also the usual Residence of a Viceroy and has as great a Trade as any City in the Empire I do not find it to be proportionably as Populous as those I have mentioned but the Suburbs and multitude of Boats amaze new Comers Those who have the Paâ—ience to spend a few Minutes on the Water-side and view the Throngs of People that come to cheapen Commodities would imagine it to be a Fair to which the whole Empire were crowding and the Officers there tho' not over strict are so busied in receiving the Customs that they are obliged to put off to the next day a great many Traders who come to make their Payments This continual Hurry among the most covetous Nation in the World should occasion frequent Quarrels but their Government is so good and the Mandarines Orders so strictly observed that besides Abusive Language in which the Chinese are very fluent other Injuries are seldom offered Not far from Sout-chéâ—u you meet with other Cities at small Distances from each other some a League and a half and some two Leagues round As soon as you are come to the River Kiam you meet with Shin Kiamson a Town built on its Banks one of whose very Suburbs which lyes North-west is a large German League in Circuit This Place is so Populous that when I passed thro' it it was no small trouble to me to make my way thro' the
Rivers the one flows towards the South and after it has watered fifty Leagues of the Country it disimbogues into the Sea near the City of Quamtcheou the other flows contrary viz. to the North crosses several Provinces for the space of two hundred Leagues and turns aside insensibly and enters into the East Sea or Sea of Iapan insomuch that the emboucheurs or mouths of the two Rivers are not distant one from another if you do but even follow the Coasts that separate them above three hundred Leagues or thereabouts Nevertheless the Northern River seems more rapid in its whole Course than those of the South and being besides four times longer it must needs be that the Seas where both of them meet have a different elevation or which is the same thing are not upon the self same level I shall not speak Sir of several other Maps wherein we have reform'd part of the Coasts of Coromandel of Pescberie Molucca Mergui and of Camboje because they have not yet attained to that Perfection that we hope we may be able to give them hereafter But yet I have two of them that at present may venter to come abroad the one represents the entrance into the Port of Nimpo the most dangerous in all the World by reason of the multitude of Isles and Rocks that cover it on all sides and put the skilfullest Pilots to a stand We have subjoined thereto the Course from Siam to China with a prospect of the chief Coasts or Isles that are not met with by the way The other is still more curious and indeed the only one in its Kind the little occasion the Europeans have hitherto had to Sail into the great Tartan obliged Geographers to make use in their Descriptions of it of I know not what memorandums so little consistant with truth that as far as I see they have purposely set themselves to deprive us of the knowledge of it But the War breaking out some years ago between the Emperor of China and the Duke of Moscovy they have on all sides diligently examined the limits of Realms the bigness of Provinces the fertility of Lands Rivers Mountains Deserts and whatsoever could any way be advantageous to these two Provinces and might conduce in time to come to conclude a solid lasting Peace between them Besides these Memoires that fell into Father Gerbillon's hands the Father hath also taken several Journies of three or four hundred Leagues into the very Heart of the Country going sometimes toward the West sometimes to the South observing as much as possibly could be the Longitude and Latitude of the most remarkable Places So that the Map that he hath drawn out begins at present to supply us with a right Idea of the disposition and situation of this vast Country Amongst the things that are most singular in that Country one may observe a ridge of Mountains that are extended so far into the Sea between the East and North that it hath been to this day almost impossible for Mariners to know or to double its Cape which makes some suspect that this part of Asia may peradventure be at this place contiguous to the firm Land of America We have besides all this made several Observations concerning the variation of the Needle upon Tides upon the length of a single Pendulum which may however contribute something to the Perfection of Arts and Sciences Yet these general Observations have not so much taken up our time but that we have spared some to examine what there is in the East most curious in the way of Natural Philosophy Anatomy and Botany Our Sojourning at Siam afforded us an opportunity to view several particular Animals which we seldom or never-see in Europe as for example the Elephant the Nature of which we have described as also its Docibleness Strength Courage Dexterity the interior and exterior Contexture of all its Parts together with divers other Properties that the very People of that Country that are accustomed to them cannot chuse but admire There have we seen Tygres much different from those that are sometimes to be seen in France and other Countries whether you look upon the colour which is redish fallow interlaced with large black streaks or whether you respect the bigness which sometimes is equal to the bigness of Horses they call them Royal Tygres those they call Water Tygres do exactly resemble a Cat. They live upon Fish but do commonly live in Woods or upon the Banks of Rivers There is likewise to be seen your Rhinoceros's one of the oddest Animals in the World in my Opinion it hath some resemblance with a wild Boar only it is a little bigger the Feet of it somewhat thicker and the Body more clouterly shaped its Hide is covered all over with thick large Scales of a blackish colour of an extraordinary hardness they are divided into little squares or buttons rising about a quarter of an inch above the Skin in a manner like those of the Crocodile its Legs seem to be engaged in a kind of Boot and its Head wrap'd about behind with a flat Capuche or Monks Hood which made the Portuguese to call him the Indian Monk its Head is thick and gross its Mouth not wide its Muzzle thrust out and armed with a long thick Horn that makes him terrible to the very Tygres Bufalo's and Elephants But that which seems the most admirable in this Animal is its Tongue which Nature hath covered with such a rough Membrane that it differs but little from a File so that it flees off the Skin of all that it licks In a word as we see some Animals here that make a good Ragoust of Thistles whose little pricks tickle the Fibres or the extremities of the Nerves of the Tongue so likewise your Rhinoceros takes delight in eating Branches of Trees armed on all sides with stiff Thorns I have often given it some of them whose prickles were very hard and long and I admired how cunningly and greedily it bended them immediatly and champ'd them in its Mouth without doing itself any harm 'T is true indeed they sometimes drew blood of him but that very thing made them more pleasant to the Tast and these little slight Wounds made probably no other impression upon its Tongue than Salt and Pepper does upon ours What is to be seen in the Isle of Borneo is yet more remarkable and surpasseth all that ever the History of Animals hath hitherto related to be most admirable the People of the Country assure us as a thing notoriously known to be true that they find in the Woods a sort of Beast called the Savageman whose Shape Stature Countenance Arms Legs and other Members of the Body are so like ours that excepting the Voice only one should have much ado not to reckon them equally Men with certain Barbarians in Africa who do not much differ from Beasts This wild or Savage Man of whom I speak is indued with extraordinary strength and