narrower according to the number of the Family Here they lie and sleep upon Matts or Carpets and in the day time sit together either upon Carpets or Matts without which it would be impossible to endure the great Cold of the Climate On the side of the Stove there is a little Oven wherein they put the Coal of which the Flame the Smoak and Heat spread themselves to all the sides of the Stove through Pipes made on purpose and have a passage forth through a little opening and the Mouth of the Oven in the which they bake their Victuals heat their Wine and prepare their Cha or Thè for that they always drink their Drink hot The Halls and Chambers of Wealthy Persons have every one their Stove not rais'd like those of the Poor but underneath so that the Floor serves for the Stove where they Eat Study Walk and Sleep either upon Carpets Beds or Chairs The Cooks of the Grandees and Mandarins as also the Tradesmen that deal in Fire as Smiths Bakers Dyers and the like both Summer and Winter make use of this Coal the Heat and Smoak of which are so violent that several Persons have been smother'd therewith and sometimes it happens that the Stove takes Fire and that all that are asleep upon it are burnt to Death Therefore to avoid the pernicious Effects of this Smoak there needs no more then to set by the side of the Stove a large Vessel full of clear and fresh Water For the smoak gathers to the Water and intermixes with it in such a manner that the next day the Water will smell as strong and loathsome as the smoak it self The fourth Proof is that Marcus Paulus in the 37th Chapter of his second Book describes a famous Bridge seated two Leagues and a half from Pekim towards the West in these words When you leave the City of Cambalu after you have travell'd ten Miles you meet with a River call'd Puli Sangan which empties it self into the Ocean and is Navigable for many Vessels that carry Merchants Goods Upon this River there is a very fair Stone Bridge and perhaps there is not the like of it in the World. This Bridge is in Length three hundred Geometrical Paces and eight in Breadth so that ten Horsemen may conveniently ride a Breast There are four and twenty Arches and five and twenty Piles that support it and it is all made of Serpentine Stone wrought with wonderful Curiosity The Securities to lean upon on both sides are made of Tables of Marble and Pillars rang'd with an extraordinary Symmetry At the two Extreams it is broader then at the top of the Ascent but when you are up you find it as flat and level as if it had been laid with a Line In that part there is a very large and high Column rear'd upon a Tortoise of Marble with a huge Lyon near the Base and another above Over against this there is another very fair Column with a Lyon distant about one Pace and a half from the former The Columns of support that serve for rails are a Foot and a half one from another and the spaces between are fill'd up with Tables of Marble adorn'd with several Sculptures to prevent People from falling into the River In a word upon every Pillar there is a Lyon of Marble which is a very pleasant Sight to behold These are the Words of M. Paulus It seems the Printer forgot some words toward the End which render the Author's Description obscure However I have translated them as they ought to be and according to the Structure of the Bridge This Bridge is the most beautiful in China but it is not the biggest for there are those which are much longer The Author says the River is call'd Puli Sangan which is a name given it by the Western Tartars who were then Masters of that Empire and of whom there are still at Pekim many intermix'd among the Eastern It is call'd by the Chineses Hoen Ho or the muddy River by reason that the rapidness of its stream carries along with it a world of Earth that renders it all the Year long thick and muddy He says that this Bridge has four and twenty Arches whereas it has but thirteen and that several Vessels Sail upon this River which is Impossible For tho' it be very well fill'd with Water it is not Navigable by reason of the great Number of Falls Windings and Rocks of which it is full But that which carried M. Paulus into these Mistakes was this that about three Leagues farther toward the West there is another River and another Bridge of four and twenty Arches Of which there are five in the middle vaulted the rest are flat and cover'd with long and very broad Tables of Marble very well wrought and cut in a streight Line In the midst of the Bridge the Columns are to be seen of which M. Paulus speaks in his Description The River is called Cieu li hô or the River of Glass because it is clear quiet and Navigable And thus you see the Author mistakes one Bridge for the other The first is the fairest in China and perhaps the fairest in the World for the excellency of the Workmanship and the Materials of which it is made It is all of white Marble very fine and well wrought according to the perfect rules of Architecture On the sides stand a Hundred and forty Pillars of Support allowing Seventy to each side They are a Pace and a half distant one from another and the Spaces between fill'd up with square panes of Marble Carv'd with several sorts of Flowers Fruitages Birds and other Creatures a piece of Workmanship no less Magnificent then perfect and to be admir'd At the entrance of the Bridge toward the East there are two fair Pedestals rais'd high and cover'd with Tables of Marble upon which are two Lyons of an extraordinary Size and carv'd as the Chineses represent them Between the Legs upon the Backs Sides and Breasts of these Figures are cut in the same Marble several young Lyons in several Postures some slightly fastned to the Lyons some Rampant other Couchant some Descending some Ascending with a surprizing Beauty and Delicacy At the other end toward the West are to be seen upon two Pedestals two Elephants both of the same Marble wrought with as much Art and Perfection as the Lyons M. Paulus forgot to make mention either of the one or the other unless perhaps they might be added afterwards However the Chineses averr that this Bridge was built two Thousand Years ago without having sustain'd the least damage in all that time till our Days But upon the Vigil of St. Laurence's Day in the Year 1668. after an Extraordinary Drought which had lasted all that Year it began to Rain and the Rain continu'd Day and Night till the sixteenth of August with so much Violence as if whole Rivers had pour'd down from Heaven The Seventeenth of August about eight of the
Clock in the Morning of a sudden there came a Deluge that overflow'd the new City the Suburbs and the Planes adjoining Presently they shut up the Gates of the old City and stopp'd up all the holes and clefts with Chalk and Bitumen mingled together to prevent the entrance of the Water But the third part of the Houses of the new City were overturn'd and an infinite number of poor Creatures especially Women and Children were either drown'd or buried in the Ruins A great number of Villages and Houses of pleasure were carried away by the Impetuosity of the Inundation and the same thing happen'd to the Neighbouring Cities All the People fled for Refuge to the high Places or clim'd up to the tops of the Trees where several confounded with their Fears or fainting for want of Food dropt down into the Water and miserably perish'd In other Provinces their happen'd Accidents and Calamities yet more strange occasion'd by dreadful Earthquakes So that it seem'd to be the Pleasure of God to punish those Insidels for the Persecution which they had rais'd against the Christian Religion and the Preachers of the Gospel Never was â—…en the like Consternation in that Court where all Men were reduc'd to utmost despair not being able to divine the Cause of so extraordinary a Deluge At last the King having sent out certain People upon Rafts of Timber for they have no Boats at Pekim to examine the Reason they found that the troubled River of which we have already made mention had broken down the Damms and made it self a new Channel cross the Fields and Suburbs of the City which begat such an amazing Fear in the Minds of the People that the King and the Grandees were just upon the point of removing to some other place The same Fury of the Inundation carried away several Rocks which knocking against the Piles of the famous Bridge shook it in such a manner that they broke down two of the Arches The fifth Proof is that M. Paulus in the thirty second Chapter of the same Book speaks of that great River which the Tartars call Caramoran and the Chineses Hoâm Hô or the yellow River in regard that the slimy Mud which it carries with it makes the Waters to look of that Colour In the thirty sixth Chapter he makes mention of another River which he calls in the Chinese Language ô Kiam or the great River and which the Chineses as we have said already call Yam cu Kiam or the River Son of the Sea. In the thirty sixth Chapter describing the City which he calls Kimsai and which erroneously he will have to signifie the City of Heaven tho' the word as we shall shew hereafter signifies a Court he reports several Particulars concerning it for example that the City is seated between a Great Lake and a great River and that round about the Lake are to be seen several Palaces of the Grandees and divers Temples of the Bonzes and many other things which are very true only that he stretches too far where he says that the City is an hundred Miles in Circuit wherein he shews himself rather a Poet then an Historian However it be the Description which he makes of the City and Palace of Cambalu sufficiently demonstrate that Catai is a part of China and that what he says of the City of Kimsai is enough to prove that Mangi is another part of the same Empire for that the greatest part of his Relation is entirely conformable to what we our selves have seen Yet if M. Paulus had understood the Chinese Language as he says he understood that of the Tartars he had with more Exactness set down the Names of the Cities and Provinces and other particulars which he reports concerning that Empire But it is no wonder he should so often corrupt the Names since we our selves who upon our first arrival appli'd our selves with all the industry imaginable to understand the Chinese Letters and Language after the Study of several Years were frequently deceiv'd and quite mistook some part of the words So that we must not be surpriz'd if a Knight who only minded his Military Designs and to court the Favour of the great Han and only convers'd with the Tartars who for want of Politeness are the greatest Corrupters of Words above other Nations should fall into the same Inconvènience For he has corrupted Names in such a manner that they among us who have the greatest Knowledge of the Language and the Empire have much ado to pick out the meaning of many of his Mistakes Nevertheless by a strict Examination of the Situation of the Places and other Circumstances of his Relations we at length find out what he intends Father Martin Martini so famous for his Atlas of China as witty and ingenious as he was could not exempt himself from committing the like Errors Insomuch that we who have resided in this Empire for so many years have found it very difficult to understand the Persons and the Places of which he speaks especially in the Names that ought to terminate in M and which he always ends in Ng. For example instead of saying Pekim Nankim Chekîam Yûmlie Cûmchîm he always writes Peking Nanking Chekiang Yeunglie Cungching Wherein he must of necessity be deceived because that manner of writing does no ways correspond with the Chinese Pronunciation which answers to that of our M. and not of Ng Nor will it avail to say that the Germans pronounce I'm open with a soft production of the sound almost like Ng because they express it somewhat through the Nose for that the letter M whether pronunced open or close has always a much greater correspondence with the Chinese and Latin Pronunciation then the letters Ng. So much the more because the Germans pronounce I 'm final open rather like In or En then Im or Em. So that indeed this Reason might have been in some measure pardonable had the Father written in High-Dutch or only to the Germans But having writ in Latin and for the benefit of all Europe he ought to have conformed to the most exact and common Pronunciation Philip Cluverius in his sixth Chapter of his sixth Book makes a doubt whether the City of Kimsai of which M. Polo makes mention in his sixty eighth Chapter of his second Book wâ—…re the Court of the King of Tartary or the King of China He also with good reason takes notice of the Hyperboles which M. Polo makes us in describing the said City of Kimsai For the resolving of which Difficulties it will be necessary to observe that instead of Kimsai he ought to have written Kimsu the Master Court. For that Kim signifies a Court and Su a Master The Court being as it were the Model of the Rest of the Kingdom Kimsai then or Kimsu was the Court of the Princes of the Family of Sum whom the Western Tartars despoil'd of the Kingdom in the time of M. Polo A hundred years after that Nankim and
A NEW HISTORY OF CHINA Containing a DESCRIPTION OF THE Most Considerable Particulars OF THAT Uast Empire Written by Gabriel Magaillans of the Society of Iesus Missionary Apostolick Done out of French. LONDON Printed for Thomas Newborough at the Golden Ball in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1688. THE PREFACE FOR these Hundred Years last past there have been Printed such a great number of Relations of China that they who have read them will perhaps believe too readily that they can receive no New Information from this However my Confidence is such that if they will but take the Pains to read it they will hardly find therein any thing which they have read before in others China is a Country so Vast so Rich so Fertile and so Temperate the Multitude of the People so infinite their Industry in Manufacture and their Policy in Government so extraordinary that it may be truly said that ever since the undertaking of Long Voyages there was never any Discovery made that might stand in Competition with this Kingdom These are things known to all the World and so there needs not much more to be said to make the Learned apprehensive that the Subject is large enough to fill many more Volumes then yet are extant and to employ the most able and judicious Writers To this it might be added That among all the great numbers of Relations that have been Printed upon this Subject there are few that merit Public Reputation or that have been written with a design to inform us of the most considerable Particulars of that Vast Empire The Relation of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto in all other places where he does not speak of the Portugal Affairs is stuft with Fables and Chimera's which he has invented with a most wonderful fertility of Imagination And which he has season'd with so many Circumstances and studied Discourses to persuade and prepare the belief of his Reader that there are several Persons who take them for real Truths But those are Errors now not at all to be regarded seeing that the most part of the Nations of Europe have given us very exact and sincere Descriptions of China and many other Countries of which that Author speaks For Example He says that the City of Nan Kim which is known to be seated in a smooth and level Plain is situated upon a Mountain That the River of Kiam which runs through it and is call'd Barampina comes from Pe kim and the Greater Tartary That China contains Thirty two Kingdoms That the City of Pe kim is Thirty large Leagues in compass whereas it is not above Four in circuit or Five at most taking in the New City That it has Three hundred and Sixty Gates An Hundred and Twenty Canals of Three Fathom deep and Twelve broad and Eighteen hundred Bridges of Free-stone whereas there are only Nine Gates and one small River that belongs to it That in one single Prison of two Leagues square there are kept Three hundred Thousand Prisoners appointed still for the Repair of the Great Wall That there are other Buildings also to be seen as wonderful or as extravagant and one among the rest of a League in circuit built in the middle of the pretended River of Barampina c. That the King of Tartary came and sat down before Pekim with Twelve hundred Thousand Foot Six hundred Thousand Horse Seventeen thousand Ships and Fourscore Thousand Rhinoceroces that carry'd the Baggage belonging to the Army and that the same King lost in six Months and a half above Seven hundred and fifty Thousand Men. I could give an account of several other of his Fables particularly of what he tells us of Two pretended Emperors both of equal Puissance Siammon and Calaminban the first of which had in his Empire Seven hundred Provinces Fifty thousand Elephants and Eighteen hundred and fifty Thousand Soldiers in continual Pay and many other things which none but this Author ever heard of But I shall forbear to make any longer stop upon these Fables and Stories which there is no Man but will be asham'd to believe more especially since there is not the least shadow of Truth in any thing that he says of the Island of Calempluy or in what he reports concerning the Language Names Manners and Government of the Chineses The Relation of F. Gonzalez de Mendoza is true and sincere as to what he recounts of the the Travels of Martin de Harrada and Ierome Marin into China But both those two Fathers and the Author himself listen'd with too much credulity to the vaunting Relations which the Chineses made of the Grandeur of their Empire as may be seen by that which follows For he allows China to be Eighteen hundred Leagues in length tho' all the World knows that it lies within Twenty two or Twenty three Degeees that is to say not above Four hundred and fifty Leagues in length He Alters and changes the Names of the Provinces in such a manner that it is almost impossible to know them again He makes the City of Pe Kim as big as Ferdinand Mendez Pinto does assuring us in two Places of his Relation that a Man mounted upon a good Horse and riding from Morning till Night will have much adoe to cross the City within the Walls for the Suburbs are not included in this Journey which take up altogether as much Ground To which he adds That the Chineses also report it to be larger He says moreover That in the single Province of Paguia which must certainly be Pekim there are Two Millions Five hundred and fifty Thousand Soldiers and within the whole Kingdom Five Millions Eight hundred forty six Thousand five Hundred Foot and Nine Hundred Forty eight Thousand Three Hundred and Fifty Horse Pedro Cubero Sebastian in his Voyage of the World Printed at Naples in 1682. says almost the same things But that is nothing to be wonder'd at for that besides that he often mistakes in speaking of the most Known Countries of Europe it is apparent that he has copy'd what he speaks of China from the Authors before mention'd I could cite several other Relations of China the Authors of which appear to have been very much mis-inform'd in several things But besides that such a Rehersal would be both troublesom and unprofitable we have several others that make us amends for the Imperfections of the other Among the rest the Relations which seem to me most worthy of Credit and Esteem are those of Father Trigaut the Annual Letters of China the Relations of Father Semedo Father Martini and the Modern Ones of Father Adam Schall Father Greslon Father Rougemont Father Couplet R. P. of Orleance and some others The Relation of Father Trigauâ—… was the first that ever gave us any exact Information of China But in regard his Principal design was to give an account of the Origiginal of the Missions of the Society of Jesus in that vast Country and of their Settlement by Father Matthew Ricci ' he never
a stranger could not understand the force of the Language but hearing the Tartars so often call the Southern Chineses Mangi believ'd it to be the Name of the Kingdom or Nation and not a name of Reproach However that there may be no farther doubt but that the Names of Catai and Mangi are quite different and do not both of them signifie China I shall here translate a piece of the forty fourth Chapter of the second Book of Marcus Paulus by which it will evidently appear that what I affirm is a constant and assured Truth For having spoken in the former Chapter of the great River which by reason of the vastness of its Stream the Chineses call â—… âm eu Kiam or the River Son of the Sea he goes on in this manner Caingui â—…s a small City upon the Banks of this River upon the South-side where they gather ever Year a great quantity of Rice the greatest part of which is carried to Cambalu to supply the Court of the great Cam. These Provisions are transported to Catai by Water over Rivers and Lakes and one large and deep Canal which the great Cam has caus'd to be made for the passage of Vessels from one River to another and to go from the Province of Mangi to Cambalu without going by Sea. This is a work of wonder for its Situation and its Length but more for the benefit which the Cities receive from it The Great Cham also caus'd to be rais'd all along the Banks of the said Rivers and Canal very strong and spacious Damms for Travellers to walk upon These are the words of M. Paulus and we shall speak of this great Work in the seventh Chapter But as for Caingui mention'd by that Author to speak properly it is neither a Town nor a City The Chineses call it Chim Kiam Keu that is the Mouth of the Son of the River in regard that an Arm of the River separates in that place and after it has run through part of the Province of Nan Kim crosses the Country of Che Kiam as far as the Capital City of it call'd Ham Cheu On both the sides of this Mouth there is one of those sort of places which the Chineses call Mâ teû that is a Place frequented for the sake of Trade Because the Barques there meet and come to an Anchor to ride secure in the Night time Now this Place of which Marcus Paulus speaks might well be call'd a Town by reason of the extraordinary number of Vessels that resort thither tho it be neither wall'd nor have buildings enow to form a City Now tho' this be perfectly known by all such as are employ'd as Missionaries into this Kingdom yet I cannot forbear to the end I may make this matter yet more evident to unfold some other passages of the same Author and to begin with the names of so many Cities of which he makes mention in his History In the twenty seventh Chapter of his second Book he speaks of the City of Tainfu which the Chineses call Tai yuen fu and which as we have said is the Capitol of the Province of Xansi In the 28th Chapter he speaks of another City of the same Province call'd by the Chineses Pim yam fu and which is a City of the second Rank as being the most Rich and Potent in the whole Empire except that of Sucheu in the Province of Nankin In the 56th Chapter he speaks of the City of Coiganzù which is called Hoaì gââ—… fû which is a Town of great Trade and very Rich by reason of the great quantity of Salt which is there made as in the Territory round about and which is thence transported into several parts of the Empire as M. Paulus observes in the same Chapter In the 65th Chapter he speaks of the City of Chian gian fu which is call'd Chim Kiam fu In his seventieth Chapter he describes the City of Tâ—…pinxu otherwise Tai 〈◊〉 fu in the Province of Namkim In the 75th he mentions the City of Fogiu otherwise Fo Cheu the Capital of the Province of Fo Kien In the 76th He has the City of Quelinfu which is called Kien nim fu He also reports that about this City there are a great number of Lions and that he repeats several times in other places which gives us to understand that he was mis-inform'd in most things since it is certain that the Chineses never saw a Lyon not so much as in Picture and therefore they paint a Lyon quite another Creature than he is For my part I am perswaded that M. Paulus is mistaken in believing those great and furious Tygres which are so common in that Empire to be Lyons And he confirms me in this Perswasion by saying in the 14th Chapter of his second Book that the Great Han has Lyons train'd up to hunt the other wild Beasts and that they are mark'd with white black and red lists or streaks and are larger then the Lyons of Babylon All which perfectly agrees with the descriptions of the Tygres or Leopards which several of the Princes of Asia make use of in their Châ—…ces but not at all with the descriptions of Lyons The same Author makes mention of several other Cities the names of which are so changed that they are so far from being Chinesie that they have no resemblance to the Language Nevertheless we clearly find that the Provinces and Cities which he places in Catai and Mangi belong all to China because they generally end with the Syllable fu which in the Chinesie Language signifies a City For example the Metropolis of the Province of Canton is Quam cheu fu Quam cheu being the proper name that distinguishes it from the rest and fu signifies a City as Polis among the Greeks and so Constantinopolis signifies the City of Constantine and Adrianopolis the City of Adrian We draw the second Proof of the Description which M. Paulus makes in the sixteenth and seven teenth Chapters of his second Book of the old and new City of Pekim and the King's Palace in regard that all that he speaks of it is conformable to what we see at this day and to what we shall describe in the Progress of this Relation The third is drawn from the Wine which is drank in that Court and the Stone-Coal which they burn there and is call'd Muy This Coal is brought from certain Mountains two Leagues distant from the City and it is a wonderful thing that the Mine has never fail'd notwithstanding that for above these four Thousand Years not only this City so large and Populous but also the greatest part of the Province has consum'd such an incredible quantity there being not any one Family tho' never so poor which has not a Stove heated with this Coal that lasts and preserves a Heat much more Violent then Charcoal These Stoves are made of Brick like a Bed or Couch three or four Hands Breadth high and broader or
of Suchuen The Relation of Father Anthony de Andrada calls it also the Country of Ussanguè and says that it is situated to the East of the Kingdom of Tibet twenty days journey from China P. 3. Father Antony de Andrada c. Father Anthony de Andrada travelled twice into the Kingdom of Tibet The Relation of his Second Travels in the year 1624. with Father Concalo de Sousa which was Printed at Lisbon in the year 1628. speaks very clearly of China For there we find that it is not above twenty days journey from the Kingdom of Ussanguè or Ussang and that Ussang is not above forty days journey from the City of Caparange where the King of Tibet keeps his Court and where those Fathers arriv'd from Agra in less then two months and a half passing through Sirinagar As for Catai in regard the People of Tibet are very ignorant they spoke of it very confusedly to Father Andrada to whom they asserted that Catai was a great City By the way we may observe that by that Relation and by the Atlas of Father Martini who in his History of the War of the Tartars tells us also that the Province of Suchuen borders upon the Kingdom of Tibet that the Kingdom of Tibet is situated to the East of the Country of the Great Mogul and not to the North where the most part of our Maps place it So much the rather for that Father Benedict Goez in his Travels which he made always to the North of the Empire of the Great Mogul from the Country of the Usbegs travelling continually Eastward as far as China P. 5. The Tartarian Alphabet which we shall give you in due place Father Magaillans not being able to perfect his Work has not given us this Tartarian Alphabet But it is to be found in the Grammar made by Father Ferdinand de Verbiest which will suddenly be printed at Paris P. 6. Mangi or Mantzu Barbarians Father Nicholas Longobardo in his Letter written from China 1598. and printed in Latin at Mayence in 1601. tells us that the Chineses call'd those of the Province of Quamtum Mangi that is to say Barbarians Manginos that is Barbarous People which confirms the opinion of Father Magaillans P. 10. Stone-Coal and Stoves of China Almost all Authors that speak of China agree that in the Northern Provinces the cold is much more intense then it ought to be considering the climate and situation under the fortieth or forty second degree They also speak of the Stoves which are very Common and built all alike in all those Northern Provinces See the Relation of Father Trigant l. 4. c 3. Father Semedo Part 1. c. 3. and Father Martini's Atlas in his Description of the Provinces of Xansi and Pekim where he says that the two Mountains out of which they dig their coal are very near to the City of Pimko and are call'd Kie and Siu vu P. 12. That which causes M. Polo to commit these Mistakes is this that three leagues c. Father Martini in the Description of the Province of Pekim confirms this conjecture in these words The River Lu keu which is also call'd Sangean passes to the South-West of the Royal City You cross over a stately Bridge where a man may count several Arches of Stone 't is plain that he speaks of the River that runs to the West of Pekim and the Bridge built over it and that this is that of which M. Polo makes mention For that there is no great difference between the name of Sangean which Father Martini gives it and that of Sangean or Buli Sangan as M. Polo calls it Father Greslon in his History of China l. 3. c. 8. speaks of an Eastern Bridge in these words In the Province of Pekim there was a Bridge of an admirable Structure above three hundred paces in length of which two Arches are broken And Father Magaillans tells the true reason of the fall of those two Arches the ninth of August 1668. To which Father Greslon adds That the rest of the Bridge fell the 26. of the month of Aug. the same year He says moreover that it was call'd Lo-Co-Kaio that it had been built a thousand years and that it was not above six Leagues from Pekim The Fathers Rougemont and Intorcetta in their Relations confirm the fall of the rest of the Bridge the 26 of August 1668. three thousand years after it was first laid And the first of those Fathers tells us that the same Bridge was three hundred and sixty paces in length P. 15. These Reasons of Father Magaillans are so much the stronger because his Opinion is conformable to the practice of all those that have wrote concerning China both before and after him as Father Adam a German Father Greslon a Frenchman Father Semedo an Italian Father Rougemont a Flemming c. And for that Father Martini has not been follow'd by any but by the Author of the Embassie who has either copy'd or borrowed from Father Martini all that he speaks concerning China except the Gests of the Embassadors from Camtum to Pekim and their Negotiations So that 't is no wonder the one has imitated the other in his Orthography Father Greslon also in the Preface to his Relation proves against Father Martini that the Chinese words ought to be pronounced as our Author tells us P. 16. We could add several other Reasons to prove that Catai is no other then China deduc'd from the Silk many Fruits Plants and Animals which according to M. Polo breed and grow in China and are not to be found in any part of Tartary But this has been so often bandy'd about for these hundred years and all Authors who have writ upon this Subject have prov'd it by so many different Arguments besides what our Author alledges that it would be but time ill spent to labour any more about it Besides that there is no person now that questions or can doubt of it unless he would be wilfully blind I shall only observe that the reason why men might formerly be deluded was this because that when the Western Tartars undertook the Conquest of China there were two Emperors The one was the Real Chinese Emperor of the Family Sum who possess'd the twelve Southern Provinces the other was the King of the Eastern Tartars of the Family Tai-kin who possessed the three Northern Provinces the Country of Leaotum and the Eastern Tartary These two Emperors were vanquish'd one after the other and their Kingdoms subdu'd between the years 1225. and 1280. This being granted it may be readily apprehended how easie it was for the Oriental Authors and such as had heard talk of those Conquests to believe that the real Emperor of China was Master of all China as now we know it and that the other Emperor of the Family Tai-kin whose Empire was more Northerly liv'd in Tartary to the North of the great Wall where for that reason our Ancient Geographers have placed
Cambalu and many other Cities and Countries CHAP. II. Of the Extent and Division of China Of the Number of the Cities and other wall'd Towns And some other particulars observed by the Chinese Authors IT is now eighteen years since Father Francis Fierrado Vice-Provincial of China and afterwards Visitor of Iapan and China order'd me to write the History of this Empire and the Progress of the Gospel there first begun to be preach'd now fourscore and thirteen years ago But the Employments of the Mission and the Persecutions we have undergone have hindr'd me from going on with it The Fathers Nicholas Trigaut a Flemming Alvaro Semedo a Portuguese Martini Native of Trent Antony Govea and Ignatius de Costa in their yearly Relations have treated very largely upon this Subject But the Beauty the Grandeur and the Antiquity of this Empire are such copious Subjects that though there has been much already written concerning them yet there remains much more to be said Wherefore I thought it my duty to set down in this place the chiefest Observations which I have collected together China is seated almost at the utmost Extremities of Asia towards the East It lies under twenty three degrees from North to South from the Fortress of Cai Pim placed upon the Frontiers of the Province of Pekim in forty one degrees of Latitude to the Meridional point of the Island of Hai Nan in eighteen degrees of Elevation and A to the South of the Province of Quamtum So that the length of China from North to South according to the Chinese Books is five thousand seven hundred and fifty Li or Furlongs Which makes 402½ Spanish or Portugal Leagues at 17½ to a degree 575 French Leagues at 25. to a degree â—…45 German at 15. to a degree 1380 Italian Miles at 60. to a degree 5750 Li or Chinese Furlongs at 250. to a degree From the Point of Nîm Pô a Sea-port Town in the Province of Che-kiam where the Portugals were formerly wont to trade and which Ferdinand Mendez calls Leam Po to the extremity of the Province of Suchuen in a streight Line from East to West it is accounted 297 Spanish and Portugal Leagues 426 French Leagues 255 German Miles 1020 Italian Miles 4080 Chinese Furlongs at 240 to a degree But if you would have the length of China where it is longest you must take it from the last place to the North-west of the Province of Leaotum call'd Caiyven to the last City of the Province of Yunnan call'd Cin tien Kiun min Fu. Take it thus and then the longest length of this Empire will bâ—… 525 Spanish Leagues 750 French Leagues 1800 Italian Miles 8400 Chinese Furlongs at four and a half to a Mile of Italy The truest breadth of China to take it from Tam Chan the most Easterly place of the Country of Leao tum and which joins to the Kingdom of Corea to the Place call'd Tum tim to the West of the Province of Xensi is 350 Spanish Leagues 500 French Leagues 300 German Miles 1200 Italian Miles 5400 Chinese Furlongs There are fifteen Provinces in this Empire which for their largeness their Riches and Fertility may well be call'd Kingdoms Which the Chineses rank in this Order according to their Antiquity and Precedency Pe kim Nan kim now call'd KiaÌ„m Nân Xansi Xantum Hô nân Xénsi Che Kiam Kiam si Hù quam Su chuen Fo Kien Quám tuÌ„m Quam si Yunnan Quei cheum The Country of Leao tum might also well deserve the Name of a Province by reason of its extent but the Chineses include it within the Province of Xan tum The Provinces that lie upon the Sea are Pe kim Xan tum Nan kim Che Kiam Fo Kien and Quam tum Those that border upon Foreign Kingdoms are Pekim Xansi Xensi Su chuen Yunnan Quamsi The Midland Provinces are Honan Hu quam Kiamsi Quci cheu By which it appears that Cluverius trusted too unwarily to false Relations when he reckons up Eighteen Provinces in China and among the rest the Kingdom of Cochinchina For tho' that Kingdom and that of Tum Kim were formerly subject to China 't was but for a very few Years and it is a long time ago since they threw off that subjection There are several Islands also belonging to China as the Great and Little Lieu Kieu Tai Van which the Portugueses call Formosa where the Hollanders had a Fortress which was wrested out of their hands by a Chinese Pirate some Years since and where they lost a great number of Men and great Guns and a great quantity of Goods Hai Nan and Hiam Xan where stands the City of Amagao or Macao upon the Southern Promontory of that Island and a great number of others some Inhabited others quite Desart The Kingdom of Corea is not an Island adjoining to China as Cluverius believes but a great Promontory of the Firm Land extending it self from the North to the South Neither is Xam Haì an Island as Martini writes in his Atlas and marks it in his Map but a Fortress so vast and so well fortisi'd by Art and Nature that it may compare with the best in Europe It stands upon the firm Land near the Sea between the Province of Pe Kim and the Country of Leao tum The Places Wall'd in through the whole extent of this Empire amount to the number of Four Thousand Four Hundred and Two and are divided into Two Orders the Civil and Military The Civil Order comprehends Two Thousand Forty Five Wall'd Towns that is to say One Hundred Seventy Five Cities of the first Rank which the Chineses call Fu Two Hundred Seventy Four of the Second Order which they call CheuÌ„ One Thousand Two Hundred Eighty and Eight Cities which they call Hièn Two Hundred and Five Royal Hosteries or Places of Entertainment call'd Ye and an Hundred and Three Courts of Guard or Royal Hosteries of the Second Rank which they call Cham Chin. Among the Cities and Towns of this Empire I reckon several seated in the Provinces of Yun Nan Quei cheum Quam Si and Su chuen which however pay no Tribute to the Emperour nor yeild him any Obedience but are govern'd by particular and absolute Princes These Towns are for the most part so environ'd with high Mountains and steep Rocks as if Nature had taken a particular Care of their Fortification Within which Mountains lie Fields and Plains for several Days Journeys where are to be seen Cities both of the first and second Rank together with many Towns and Villages The Chineses call these Lords Tù Sù or Tù Quon that is to say Mandarins of the Country For that as they believe there is no Emperour of the World but the Emperour of China so they are conceited that there are no other Princes or Lords but such as they to whom the Emperour gives that Title Nor do they give the Title of Mandarins of the Land or Country to those but to distinguish
his vain Pleasures was so tak'n with the Queens contrivance that he appointed all things to be done according to the Advice of his Lascivious Queen And when all things were done according to his wish He spent a whole Year in this Palace abandoning himself to all manner of dishonest and voluptuous Pleasures minding neither his Court nor his Kingdom And these follies together with several other unjust and crue Actions enforc'd his Subjects to revolt and choose in his Place the Emperor Cham tum the Chief of another New Family of which we have already spok'n After the Death of the Emperor Kie the Chineses destroy'd his new Palace where he had perpetrated so many wicked Actions and abolish'd all the Laws and Statutes enacted by that same cruel Tyrant unless it were his Invention of Flambeaux and Lanthorns which they preserv'd to Celebrate the Festival before mention'd The Chineses also relate how that about Two Thousand Years afterwards another Emperor of the Tenth Royal Family who was call'd Tam suffer'd himself to be Deluded and Govern'd by a Mountebank of the Sect of those that are call'd Tao Su whose Profession it is to Cheat the People the Nobility the Learned Men and even the Princes themselves by means of their Chymical Operations and their Gorgeous and Glorious Promises of continual streams of Gold and Silver Life almost Eternal and to Empower them to flie from one Mountain City or Province to another in a few Minutes Now then this Emperor having surrender'd his Understanding to one of these Impostors or Magicians told him that he had a great desire to see the Lanthorns in the City of Yâm Cheu in the Province of Kiam Nan the most Curious and most Celebrated over all the Empire for their Beauty their Riches and their Workmanship but said he I am afraid that if I go Incognito and in Disguise least some Disorder or Tumult should happen in the mean time in the Court or Kingdom or if I should take this Progress with an Attendance and Train suitable to my Dignity besides the Burthen and Charge that I shall be to the People I fear that all Men will condemn me of Folly and think it strange that so great an Emperor should take a Journy so long and tedious for the Divertisement of a few Hours Let not your Majesty be disturb'd at that repli'd the Magician for I promise your Majesty that without exposing your self to any of these Inconveniences which you have propounded to me I will so order the matter that the next Lanthorn Night which is not far off you shall set forward return to your Palace and see the Lanthorns with all the satisfaction you can wish or desire In a few Hours after that there appear'd in the Air Chariots and Thrones all of White Clouds and drawn by Swans Immediately the King and Queen betook themselves to their Chariots with a great number of Damsels and Ladies of Honnour together with the Musicians of the Palace and then away flew the Swans with an extraordinary swiftness and in a few Moments arriv'd at Yâm Cheu which the Clouds enlarging themselves cover'd all over And then it was that the King at leisure view'd the Lanthorns which the People had Lighted and to recompense them for the Divertisement which they had given him he caus'd his Musicians to Charm their Ears with a Consort of Voices and Instruments at the end of which he set forward again for his Capital City and in the Twinkling of an Eye found himself at home in his own Palace Within a Month after there came a Courier according to custom with a Dispatch by which Intelligence was giv'n to the King that upon a Lanthorn Night several Holy Men were seen hovering over the City of Yâm Cheu upon Thrones of Clouds drawn by Swans and who at the same time had Ravish'd their Ears with a most Harmonious Musical Consort of Voices and Instruments Lastly they tell you that about Five Hundred Years ago there was a King of the Family of Sûm renown'd for his Noble Qualities and Vertues more especially for his Mildness and Affability That this Prince to show the Affection which he had for the Nobility and People was wont every Year to appear publickly in his Palace for Eight Nights together without his Guards and all the Gates set open and to suffer the Multitude to take a view of all the Fire-Works and Lanthorns which were very large and magnificent and of several forms that were in the Halls and Courts all the while entertaining his Subjects with Musick befitting the Grandeur of an Emperor that made himself so familiar to the whole Assembly These are the Stories which the Chineses recount touching the Original and Augmentation of Honour given to the Lanthorn Festival so famous over all China Upon which I have the longer insisted to the end that by this same pattern the Reader may judge what might be enlarg'd upon other Subjects Notes upon the Sixth Chapter A. P. 110. Yam Cheu in the Province of Kiam Nan. THE City of Yam Cheu is seated near the Mouth of the Grand Canal in the River Kiam It is very Wealthy Eminent for Trade and Adorn'd with Magnificent Houses built for the most part by the Merchants themselves who are Enrich'd by their Traffick in Salt of which there are vast Quantities drawn out of several Salt-pits upon the East side of the City The Wealth of this City is the Cause that the Inhabitants are exorbitantly addicted to their Pleasure insomuch that several Little Girls are there bred up the most Beautiful that can be found and taught to Dance and Sing and instructed in all other Female Allurements that may render them Agreeable who being thus accomplish'd â—…re sold at dear Rates for Concubines to the more Wealthy sort No wonder then that they spare for no Cost to Divertise themselves and to render their Lanthorn Festival the most Pompous and Magnificent above all others in China Almost all the Relations mention this Feast after the same manner as our Author does but not with so many Circumstances Kiam nan signifies a Province to the South of the River Kiam Under the Chinese Kings this Province was call'd Nan Kim as also the Capital City belonging to it that is to say the Court of the South as Pe-kim is call'd the Court of the North. For then there were two Courts and the City of Nan Kim enjoy'd the same Priviledges and Immunities which the City of Pe-kim did But the Tartars have depriv'd them of their Franchises and chang'd the Name of Nan Kim into that of Kiam Nim that is to say the Repose of the River Kiam Which Custom of altering Names is very Ancient in China and has also been practis'd from time to time in reference to other Cities CHAP. VII Of the Publick Works and Edifices of the Chineses and particularly of the Grand Canal THE Publick Works and Structures of the Chineses in my Opinion surpass in number
severity of Punishment as Confiscation of Goods Banishment or Death then after they have inform'd the King they send back the Indictment and the Person indicted to this Tribunal where after another re examination of the cause the definitive sentence is pronounc'd To the Palace appointed for this Tribunal belong fourteen more inferiour Courts or Tribunals for the fourteen Provinces of the Kingdom as we have already observ'd in the description of the second Tribunal The Torments also and Executions which this Court inflicts upon Criminals are of various sorts which I omit for fear of being too tedious I shall onely observe one custome among the Chineses quite contrary to what is usual in Europe where Noble men are beheaded and ordinary offenders are hang'd whereas in China the greatest ignominy that can befall a man is to have his head cut off And therefore when the King would shew an extraordinary favour to a great Lord or Mandarin condem'nd to dye he sends him a very soft peice of Silk to be hang'd in instead of a Halter And the reason which the Chineses give to justifie this conceit of theirs is this because they say that of necessity such as are beheaded must have been disobedient to their Parents who gave them sound and perfect Bodies till they by their disobedience and their crimes made a separation and disfigurement of the members And they are so possest with this Opinion that the Chineses will buy of the Hangman the Bodies of the Malefactors executed if they were their Parents for five ten or twenty Crowns nay sometimes they will not spare for hundreds and thousands of Crowns according to their wealth or poverty and then they sow the head to the body again with a world of lamentation and showers of tears to satisfie in some measure for their disobedience They report that the original of this Ceremony proceeded from a Disciple of Cum fu cius call'd Tsem â—…su This Philosopher lying at the point of death sent for his Children and Disciples and after he had shewn them his head his arms and his feet he took his last farewell of them in these words Children said he learn of your Father and your Master to be as obedient as I have been to them who gave me my being in this world and brought me up with so much care since by that means I have preserv'd entire and perfect the body which they bestowed upon me I said but now that the Chineses purchased the bodies of Parents at great rates which is true for they that are condemn'd to be beheaded are also sentenc'd to be depriv'd of common burial which is a most terrible infamy among them For this reason the hangman is oblig'd after he has stript the body to throw it into the next Ditch and in selling the body he exposes himself to the hazard of being severely punish'd or at least to give the Mandarin or the informer that discovers the sale a good part of the money which he receiv'd and therefore he must sell dear that he may give the more Among the rest of the Laws there is one observ'd by this Tribunal which was enacted by one of the Ancient Kings of which I cannot omit the rehearsal that when any criminal either for his good qualities or for any other reason deserves to be pitied whether he be condemn'd in the Spring the Winter or the Summer he shall be repriev'd till the end of the next Autumn following For that it is an ancient custome among the Chineses upon the Birth or Marriage of a Prince or upon any other cause of publick rejoycing or after an Earthquake or upon any extraordinary alteration of the Seasons or Elements to release all sorts of Prisoners except some few that are excepted and by that means those that are reprieved are set at liberty or at least live in fair hopes for some months The sixth and last superiour Tribunal is call'd Cum Pu or the Tribunal of the publick Works This Tribunal takes care to build and repair the King's Palaces their Sepulchres and Temples wherein they honour their Predecessors or where they adore their Deities the Sun Moon Heaven and Earth c. as also the Palaces of all the Tribunals throughout the Empire and those of the great Lords They are also the Surveyors and Overseers of all the Towers Bridges Damms Rivers Lakes and of all things requisite to render Rivers navigable as High-ways Wagons Barks Boats and the like To this Palace belong four more inferiour Courts The first is call'd Vin Xen Su which examines and draws the Designs of all the works that are to be done The Second Yu hem su which has the ordering of all the Work-houses and Shops in all the Cities of the Kingdom for the making of warlike Arms and Weapons The third Tum Xui su takes care to make the Rivers and Lakes Navigable to level the High Ways to build and repair Bridges and for the making of Wagons and Boats and other things necessary for the convenience of commerce The fourth Ce Tien su are the Overseers of the King's Houses and Lands which he lets out to hire and of which he has both the Rent and the Fruits of the Harvest By what has been said it appears that the six superiour Tribunals have under them four and forty inferiour Courts which have their peculiar Palaces within the circuit of the Palace of that Tribunal to which they belong with Halls Chambers and other conveniences Every one of these forty four Courts has also a President and twelve Counsellors four of which are of the first degree of the fifth Order of Mandarins four of the second degree of the fifth and the other four of the sixth Order In the Tribunals of the Exchequer and the Criminal Tribunal the number of Judges is double where all the inferiour Tribunals have a President and twenty four Counsellers But besides these graduated Mandarins there are some employ'd who are under no degree and yet are Mandarins for all that however after some years service the King advances them to the Ninth and eighth Order of Mandarins Moreover all these Tribunals have a great number of Prothonotarys Registers Clerks Controllers Merchants Ushers Porters Messengers Attendants and Servants Jailors Provosts Serjeants Bayliffs Beadles to whip and punish Offenders Sweepers Cooks to dress their Viands people to lay the Cloath and wait at Table and all at the King's charges Observe by the way however that what we have said as to the number of Mandarins relates onely to the reign of the preceding Family for at present their number is double in all the Courts For example the lower Court which consisted of no more than twelve Mandarins has now twenty four that is to say twelve Tartars and twelve Chineses These are the six Tribunals that govern all China and which are so famous over all the Kingdom However that neither the one nor the other should grow too powerfull the Ancient Kings that
Jurisdiction He takes care to solicit the Governours of the Towns and Cities to make quick payments of their duties to the King There are some also that take no less care of the Rivers and Sea Coasts in their Quarters They that look after the Rivers are call'd Ho tao and the Surveyors of the Sea Coasts Hâ—… tao All these Mandarins belong to the Tribunal of Inspecters or Overseers call'd Co tao of which we have already spoken All the Cities of the first rank whether Capital or no have a Tribunal where the Governour of the City or Territory presides who is a Mandarin of the fourth Order and is call'd Chi fu He has three Assessors the first call'd Tum chi the second Tum puâ—…n and the third Chui Quen who are of the sixth and seventh Order They are also call'd second third and fourth Lord of the second third or fourth Chair or of the second third or fourth City in regard the President is call'd the first Lord the first Chair and the first City There are four other inferiour Mandarins call'd Kim lie chu su Chao mo and Kim kâ—…ao which are onely of the seventh eighth or ninth Order The Imployment of this Tribunal is the same with that of the Governour of Pe Kim All the Cities of the Empire are provided with such Mandarins as these But if it be a place of great trade or that the Territory be of a large extent then the number of these Mandarins is doubl'd The Cities of the second rank call'd Cheu are of two sorts Those of the first sort are subject to the Capitals onely as the Cities of the first Rank and have Cities which depend upon them Those of the second sort are subject to the Cities of the first Order whether they have Cities depending upon them or no. The President of these Cities is call'd Chi cheu He is of the second degree of the fifth Order and has two Assessors of which the first is call'd Cheu â—…um and the second Cheu poon who are of the second degree of the sixth and second Order He has under him also a third Mandarin call'd Lâ—… mo of the second degree of the ninth Order The people call this Governour Tai Ye or the great or first Lord the other three the second third or fourth Lord. Their Employment is the same with the Governours of the Cities of the first Rank All the other Cities of the Empire have a Tribunal of which the President is call'd Chi hien and is of the first degree of the seventh Order He has also two Assessors of which the first is call'd Hien chim of the eighth Order and the second who is of the Ninth is call'd Chu pu He has also a third under him who is call'd Tien su who is of no Order but if he acquit himself well of his employment for three years the Governor of the City gives him a Certificate to the Governour of the Superiour City and the Governour of that City to the Governour of the Capital The last Governour certifies to the two grand Tribunals of the Capital City and they to the Viceroy The Viceroy writes to the grand Tribunal of the Mandarins and they to the Counsellors of State who inform the King and by him generally he is made a Mandarin of the eighth or ninth Order This is the Road which the Mandarins observe for their promotion to new dignities But this good Fortune never befalls them if they do not purchase it by Presents proportionable to what they may squeeze out of their Employments and this kind of trade is driven as openly as if it were an establish'd Law among them This is the reason that Justice and Employments are sold as at an outry all over the Empire but more especially at Court so that there is no body but the King who can be properly said to mind the publick good all the rest regarding nothing but their private interests And of this manner of proceeding I will bring ye one example of which I my self was an eye witness There was a young Gentleman whose name was Simon a very good Christian who was a Mandarin of a City of the second Rank by a particular favour which the Emperour shew'd him in regard his Father Viceroy of the Province of â—…n si was slain fighting against an Army of Robbers that had rais'd a Rebellion in the Province The three years of his Employment being expired he was advanced to be Mandarin of a City of the first Rank and after the expiration of that Employment he repaired to Court according to the custome in hopes to be preferred to another City yet more considerable for the recompence of his Services duely perform'd The King referr'd his Petition to the Tribunal of the 〈◊〉 Presently Letters were sent him from that Tribunal to leâ—… him know that if he would deposite in a third hand fourteen Vâ—…n of Silver which amounts to about a hundred thousand Crowns they would give him the Government of the City of â—…un â—…m in the Province of Xan si which is one of the best peopl'd the most remarkable for Trade and the richest Cities of the whole Empire To which this vertuous Christian return'd for answer that if he had such a summ by him nay though it were far less he would never go about to move for any more employment in regard a smaller summ than that would suffice him to live at his ease Nor did he think it convenient to take up so large a sum at great interest as others did by which they were forc'd for satisfaction of their Creditors and to glut their insatiate avarice to turn real Tyrants and greedy Wolves that devour'd the Cities and opprest the miserable people wherever they came which they were otherwise bound to protect and defend So that they might dispose of that Employment to him that was able to purchase it but that for his part he would be contented with what sell to his â—…t Now it is the custom to write as many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as there are Mandarins that stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon little thin boards which are thrown into a Vessel and every one is Governour of that City of which he draws the Name Nevertheless when a man has agreed with the Tribunal the Tablets are so order'd that the Person draws the City which he desires However this Artifice fail'd a Mandarin in the year 1669 who had given a good Summ to a Prothonotary who had promis'd him the ready draught of a City of great Trade and not far distant For he drew a miserable City in the Province of Quei cheu the most remote and the poorest in the whole Empire Thereupon the wretched and unfortunate Mandarin quite out of his wits at his ill Success without any respect to the Tribunal or the presence of above three hundred Mandarins rose up all in a rage for they draw upon their knees crying out with a loud voice he was undone and throwing off
of the Kingdom or lastly because it is much more considerable than all the barbarous and poor Kingdoms that surround it That same Hyperbolical Word also Tien Hia or the Kingdom that contains all that is under Heaven is very frequently made use of So that when they say Tien Hia 〈◊〉 â—…im all that is under Heaven is in Peace it is the same thing as to say China is in Peace China likewise has other Names which I forbear to mention because they are less in Practice Foreigners call it Hara Kitai Catai Cataio Mangi Nica Corum Chin China and Kina The Tartars that lie to the West call the Chineses Hara Kitai or the Black Barbarians which is the Name they give also to China it self The Europeans instead of Hara say Cara for that in regard the Tartars pronounce Ha with a very strong Aspiration strangers believe they say Cara and not Hara For that Reason it is that Marcus Paulus and other Authors call by the name of Can that Emperor who between the years 1260 and 1275. conquer'd the Western Tartary and all China instead of calling him Han that is to say King in the Language of the Western Tartars The same word also is at present in use among the Eastern Tartars who are Masters of China and who were formerly so barbarous that they had not any King nor any word to signifie a King as we shall relate in its due place The Muscovites as I was inform'd by some residing in this Court in imitation of the Tartars call it Kitai The Kingdom of Chahamalaha the Inhabitants of which are Mahumetans and which confines to the Province of Xansi the Kingdom of Tumet or Tibet which environs a good part of the Provinces of Xensi and Xansi and that of Usangue bordering upon the Province of Sù Chuen having corrupted the word Kita call it Kataâ—… and the Merchants that come from Indostan and other parts of the Indies call it Cataio By which we clearly find that the Kingdom of Cataio of which Father Anthony de Andradâ—… speaks in his Relation of Tibet where he had been signifies no more than China and that Grand Catai is no other then Grand China to which alone may be attributed whatever has been said of China So much the rather for that of all the Kingdoms seated between the Indies and the Eastern Extremities of Asia only those that lie upon the Sea are known the rest are small barbarous poor and untilled The Eastern Tartars moreover in derision call'd China Nica Corum or the Kingdom of the Barbarians tho' at present now they are setled therein and are become Masters of it they call it Tulimpa Corum or the Kingdom of the Middle The Kingdoms of the Indians as Canara Bengala and others call it Chin as I was inform'd in the Province of Sù Chuen by two Iognes of which the one had been at Goa and had learnt some Portugal Words and as I understood at Pekim by some Merchants of the Country This name of Chin seems to have been given to China by the Indians because of the Family of Chin who reign'd a Hundred sixty nine Years after Christ though I find more probability to believe that it comes from the Family of Cin who reign'd two Hundred forty six before Christ the chief of which Family was Master of all China and among the rest of the Province of Yûn nân which is not far distant from Bengala because the Chineses pronouncing strongly and whistling the Word Cin through the Teeth the Indians that cannot imitate them pronounce it Chin and the Portugals who took this word from the Indians not having any word in their Language that ends in N have added an A at the latter End. The Italians write China like the Portugheses but they pronounce it Kâ—…na and so they ought to write it Cina to give it the same sound as the Germans who write schina By what has been said we find apparently that Cataio Hara Kitai and China are all one and the same thing and not different Kingdoms as Cluverius would have them to be who in his fifth Book of his Introductions to Geography Chapter Fifth frames several Kingdoms as Catai Tangut Tainfu and others which he seems to have borrow'd from Marcus Paulus whereas they are not the names of Kingdoms but only the corrupted names of certain Cities of China And this is particularly manifest by the word Tainfu which is no other then Tai Yuenfu the Metropolis of the Province of Xansi where the Tartars settled their Court before they Conquer'd the Province of Pekim The Description also which Cluverius gives of the Province of Tainfu agrees perfectly with that City and the Country that belongs to it For there are the best Grapes in China and good store of Iron near the City of Lû gân which furnishes Pekim and the rest of the Provinces especially those that lie toward the North with Nails and all sorts of Iron Utensils and Instruments Marcus Paulus speaks of another City of that Province which he calls Pianfu tho' the Chineses call it Pim yà m fù Cluverius has also borrow'd from Marcus Paulus the corrupted word Cambalu the Capital City of Catai for neither the Western nor Eastern Tartars have any B. as we shall shew in due place in our Tartarian Alphabet so that Marcus Paulus instead of Cam should have written Han that is King and instead of Balu Palu which signifies Court and consequently instead of Cambalu Hanpalu which in the Tartarian Language signifies the Kings Court. And then he should have taken notice that there were two Hanpalu's or Kings Courts the ancient Court at present but a mean place distant about three Leagues from Pekim toward the East which is called Tum Cheum and the new Court which is Pekim which Marcus Paulus calls Taidu instead of Tai tu which signifies the great Court. Some Authors question whether the Kingdom of Mangi of which M. Paulus makes such frequent mention be not a different Kingdom from China but there is no doubt to be made but that it is comprehended within it For M. Paulus divides China into two Kingdoms Catai and Mangi Comprising under the Name of Catai all the Nor thern Provinces and under that of Mangi all the Southern The word Mangi is deriv'd from Mânt Zù which signifies Barbarous For that the Southern Chineses to mock the Northern call them Pe tai that is Fools of the North and the other to pay the Southern Chineses in the same Coin call them Nân Mân Barbarians of the South or else barely Mantzu Barbarians The Tartarians likewise in contempt of the Chineses call them also Mantzu or Barbarians But in regard the Tartarians especially the Eastern cannot well pronounce the Syllable tzu they say gi Mangi which I have heard a Thousand and a Thousand times for three and twenty Years together that I liv'd among them And so without question it was in the time of M. Paulus who being
Pekim were the Courts of the Princes of the Family of Mim which of later Years was destroyed by the Eastern Tartars Which being granted I answer that Father Martin to whom I refer the Reader for fear of being tedious has very well unravell'd those Difficulties and corrected the Hyperboles of M. Polo who like a Young man as he was has enlarg'd many things much beyond the Truth Nevertheless as to the number of twelve thousand Bridges which M. Polo tells us there are in Kimsai and which Father Martin grants for a Truth I cannot so easily give my consent For besides that we have seen the contrary the Chineses themselves who stuff their Writings with so many impertinent particulars would never have omited a circumstance of that Importance Also what M. Polo relates of the vastness of several Bridges under which Vessels may Sail without striking their Masts is no way probable since it is not to be believed that they should be all so ruin'd that there should be no traces of such Structures remaining Thus much I know that a Famous Chinese Author who has written a Treatise of the Grandeur of this Empire and of whom I shall relate many things hereafter does not allow the City of Ham Cheu which is the same with Kimsai above five considerable Bridges Nor would he have fail'd to have spoken of that extravagant height of the Bridges of his Country had there been any ground for his so doing The rest that M. Polo relates concerning this City is true granting him only some Excursions and Enlargements according to his Custom But to clear all disputes concerning this same City of Kimsai more especially because Father Martini speaking of this Ham Cheù in his Atlas Fol. 109. varies in what he says of the Oriental and Western Tartars I shall here produce an extract which I took for this very purpose out of the Chronicles of China To the end then that Family may be reckon'd into the number of the Imperial Families of this Empire of necessity that Family must either have subdu'd the whole or the greatest part of it For if it has conquered no more then only two or three Provinces that Family is only call'd Pam-Chao or a Collateral Kingdom nor is it to be admitted into the Direct Line of the Imperial Families Those then that we are now to speak of are of that Number In the year of JESUS CHRIST 1200. A Captain of the Oriental Tarâ—…ars that some years since subdu'd this Empire made himself Master of the Provinces of Pekim Xansi and Xantum which the yellow River separates from the other Twelve Thereupon he caused himself to be Crown'd King and Named his Family Tai-Leao Some Years after another Captain of the Eastern Tartars made War upon him got possession of his Kingdom exterminated the Reigning Family and call'd his Own and his Kingdom Tai-Kinque or the Kingdom of Gold which continued till the year 1260. At what time the other twelve Provinces were subdued by an Emperor of the Family of Sûm Upon this some of his chief Ministers advis'd him to send great Presents to the Grand Han who had a little before subdu'd the Western Tartars and to desire his Assistance for the Expulsion of the Tartars out of the three Provinces which they had Usurp'd But others of his Councellors laid before him the ill consequence of provoking that terrible Nation of the Western Tartars or molesting the Eastern with whom they had for several years preserv'd an Amicable Correspondence withal that it was no good Policy to expel Tigres and bring more cruel Lions into their Room Nevertheless the first Counsel tho the worst was follow'd And the Grand Han was called in with his Tartars already the Vanquishers of so many Nations who in a short time exterminated the Family of Tai Kim and made themselves Masters of the three Provinces But so soon as they had finish'd that Conquest perfidiously they turn'd their Arms against the King of China who kept his Court in a City belonging to the Provinces of Hônân bordering upon the yellow River This Prince being terrifi'd by the Neighbourhood of those Barbarians fled in all hast to the City of Ham Cheû in the Province of the Che Kiam where he setled his Court. Of which the Han no sooner had intelligence but he cross'd the yellow River and after little or no resistance made himself Master of the Provinces of Ho Nam Nan Kim and Che Kiam and consequently of the Village of Ham Cheû which M. Polo calls Kimsai Thereupon the King of China fled into the Province of Fo-Kien and from thence into that of Quamtum where having Embark'd himself with a design to seek out Foreign shelter he suffer'd Shipwrack in the Golf of the Island of Haî Nân and there miserably perish'd so that all the rest of China submitted voluntarily to the Grand Har. This is what I have taken out of the Histories of China by which it is clearly to be seen that Ham Cheû and Kimsai are one and the same City And that the word Tai Kim does not signifie a Mountain there being no such thing in Tartary as it is imagin'd but the Kingdom of Gold. Which is the Title that was formerly given to the Oriental Tartars Notes and Explanations of the first Chapter P. 3. As we shall relate in it's due place THE Author as has been already said in the Preface not being able to finish this Work has not according to his promise made out the Original of the Eastern Tartars Nevertheless several Authors have made some mention of them as Father Martini in his History of the War of the Tartars and in his Preface to his Atlas of China The Embassie of the Hollanders to Pekim Father Adam Schall in his Letters printed at Vienna in the year 1665. And Father Couplet in his Chronology of China printed this year By which Authors and particularly by the two latter it appears that it is not above a little while since the Eastern Tartars now Masters of China have had any Kings and that the Original of those Princes is so obscure that as modern as it is it is altogether intermixed with Fables Father Adam reports that the Eldest of the Uncles of the Emperor Xunchi the Father of him that now reigns had told him several times that it was about ten Generations since that three Nymphs or Goddesses called Augela Chaugula and Foecula descended from Heaven to bath themselves in a River of Tartary That Foecula having discover'd under her Cloths which she left upon the shore a sort of Nightshade or Herb call'd Alkakengi with red Fruit devour'd it with such a greedy Appetite that she became with Child That her two Companions returning to Heaven she remain'd upon Earth till she was brought to bed of a Boy which she suckl'd and afterwards left in an Island of the River telling him that she was returning to Heaven but that a Fisherman would come and take
care of his Education which happen'd accordingly That this Child became a Man of an extraordinary Valour and that his Sons and Grand Children rul'd this Country But that in the fifth Generation the People rebell'd against this Family which they defeated and exterminated all but one who betook himself to flight This Prince being close pursu'd and not being able to run any farther sate himself down upon the ground despairing to save his life At what time a Mag-pye came and perch'd upon his head and deluded his Enemies who took him for the stump of a Tree and not for a Man. And thus it is easie to see as Father Adam observes that thus far the Relation is altogether Fabulous and clearly demonstrates that the Original of the Emperor of China is very obscure and has nothing of Illustrious or Renowned That which follows is certain and unquestionable In regard the Person such as he was liv'd at the beginning of this Age and made himself sufficiently known by the bloody War which he made upon the Chineses in revenge of the Death of his Father whom the Chinese Mandarins had caus'd to be murdered and of other outrages committed against his Nation Father Adam says that he was Lord of the Valley of Moncheu which Father Martini takes for a great City The Emperor Van-liè gave him the Government of that same Valley and the neighbouring Countries upon condition he should defend them against the Incursions of the Oriental Tartars who were divided into seven small Principalities He was call'd Tiel Mini and died in the year 1628. His Son a Person of more Wisdom and Moderation continued the War till his death which happen'd in the year 1634. Cumtè his Son in some measure compleated the Conquest of the Empire of China but died before he obtain'd the possession of it in the year 1644. His Son Xunchi at the age of six years was acknowledg'd Emperor at Pekim and di'd in the year 1662. Leaving for his Successor his Son Camtri the Monarch reigning at present This Catalogue of the Tartarian Princes of Father Adam's confirm'd by Father Couplet in his Chronology by Father Rougemont in his Historia Tartaro-Sinica and the Embassie of the Hollanders gives us to understand that Father Magaillans had good reason to justifie himself for saying that the Tartars had neither any King nor any word to signifie a King seeing that it was but in this Age that their Princes have deriv'd their Original from a petty Captain of a Hord or chief leader of Banditi's or wandering Tartars Here we are farther to observe that Tartary which comprehends all the Nothern Asia is divided by the Chineses into Western and Eastern The Inhabitants both of the one and the other are for the most part wanderers with their Flocks and Herds and live in Tents But the Western are incomparably more potent then the Eastern in regard they possess all that Country which lies between the extream part of the Province of Pekim and the Countries of the Mogul the Persian and the Muscovite All which they possess'd entirely in the Reign of Saint Lewis The Eastern Tartary reaches from the Country of Leaotûm beyond Iapon and comprehends the Province of Niuchè to the North of Corea The Province of Niulhan to the North of Niuchè that of Yupi to the East of Niuchè and the Country of Yâ—…co to the North-East of Iapon and to the East of Yupi But these Countries are poor and ill peopled There being not above two or three little Cities in them all the rest is barren uncultivated and full of Woods and Mountains Nevertheless these Tartars are not a little formidable when they are united as being harden'd to labour in a rigorous Climate and almost always ahorleback and employ'd in hunting or busied in War. They made themselves known by their incursions into China above two hundred years before the Birth of Christ And in the twelfth Age after the Incarnation they possess'd themselves of the Provinces of Leaotum Pekim Xensi Xansi and Xantum But the Ancestors of the Tartarian Prince who Reigns in China were so far from being Masters of all the Eastern Tartary that they were not Lords of all the Province of Niuchè where as has been said there were seven or eight destinct Sovereigns And Father Adam observes that Tienâ—…um Great Grand Father to the Emperor Reigning at Present when he enter'd into China had not above eight thousand men which were soon encreased by the concourse of the rest of the Eastern Tartars and an innumerable Number of the Western Tartars which the fame of his Victories and the noise of prodigious Booty drew to his Assistance P. 3. The Kingdom of Chahamalaha whose Inhabitants are Mahometans and which borders upon the Province of Xensi This Name of Chahamalaha is not to be found as I verily believe in any Mapp nor in any other Relation But I am perswaded by what our Author say's of it that it is the same place which Father Martini calls Samahania and which as he does I take to be the Country of the Usbegs or of Mavralnara of which Samarcand is the chief City For that we know not of any other Kingdom of Mahometans to the West of Xensi where there are several considerable Cities Palaces and Houses artificially built and good Architecture store of Gold and Silver-Plates and other things which the Chineses allow the Country of Samahania or Samahan by the report of Father Martini Nor must we be surpriz'd that the Chineses assure us that this Kingdom borders upon the Province of Xensi for that they never travel toward the West nor have any other knowledge of the Countries situated Westward then what they learn from the Information of the Caravans that come once in two or three years to trade in China under pretence of an Embassie For the Merchants make use of that Invention to get leave to enter into China which would be otherwise deny'd them They rendevouze in the Kingdom of Cascar as you may find in the Travels of Benedict Goez inserted into the Relation of Father Trigaut But formerly and especially in the time of Tamerlan who made Samarcand one of the chiefest Cities in the World they went for the most part from that City And it is very probable that those Merchants to give themselves the greater reputation assum'd to themselves to be all of the Kingdom of Samarcand and that the Chineses who want the Letter R and easily confound C. with H wrote Samahand instead of Samarcand For the same reason also the Chineses observing the Merchants arrive à Sucheu the last City of the Province of Xensi and styling themselves all Natives of Samahan or Samarcand might readily believe that Samahan border'd upon the Province of Xensi P. 3. Usanguè This must certainly be the same Country which Father Martini calls Usucang and which is contained within the Kingdom which the Chineses call Sifan situated to the West of the Province
them from others by a kind of Contempt of Foreigners The People that are subject to these Lords speak the same Language with the Chineses altho' besides that they have a particular Language also Their Manners and Customs are somewhat different from those of the Chineses nevertheless their Complexion and the Shape of their Bodies are altogether alike but as to their Courage you would think them to be quite another Nation The Chineses stand in fear of them so that after several Tryals which they have made of their Prowess they have been forc'd to let them live at their own liberty and to consent to a free Traffick and Commerce with them In the Relation which I have made of that Famous Tyrant Châm Hiém Chùm concerning which Father Martini wrote to me upon his return out of Europe that he had left a Copy of it in the Secretary's Office at Rome and another in the College of Conimbre where it was publickly read I give an account of what beâ—…ell one of these Sovereign Lords I shall here repeat it in few words to the end the Puissance of this Empire may be the better understood where they make little account of the Forces of these Lords tho' they are very considerable and that their Dominions are seated in the heart of the Provinces of China The Tyrant Cham Hien Chum not enduring there should be any one that refus'd to yield him Obedience in the Province where he had caus'd himself to be Crown'd and where he vaunted that he had laid the Foundations of his Empire sent a Command to one of these Lords whose Principality lay nearest to his Court to come and attend his Person acknowledge him his Sovereign and pay him that Tribute which was due to him The Lord sent him back for Answer that neither he nor his Predecessors had ever paid any Tribute to the Emperour of China which Answer put the Tyrant into such a Chase that he immediately sent an Army to force him to Obedience But his Army was in a short time deseated by the Prince C ham Hien Chum thereupon rais'd another Army more numerous then the first and march'd himself in person to enter the Territories of the Prince who being a person of great Courage and favour'd by the Advantage of the Places gave the Tyrant Battel overthrew him and forc'd him to retire enrag'd at his ill Success yet more animated to Revenge then ever For that reason he rais'd a Third Army and gave the Command of it to his first adopted Son call'd Sum Co vam of whom I have sometimes made mention in the Annual Letters of this Mission He was a Person Learned Prudent Courageous and so affable and good natur'd that many times he effected those things by his Prudence and Sweetness which his Father could not bring to pass with all his Armed Force and Cruelty And indeed he knew so well to manage the haughty Spirit of the stubborn Prince that he not only oblig'd the Prince to acknowledge his Father for his Sovereign but to assist him with Men and Money to compleat his Conquest of China He carry'd him in his company to the Court with all his Army consisting of Forty Thousand Men all pick'd and chosen Young Men clad in the same Colour'd Habit and Arm'd with a sort of Cuirasses and Head-pieces of quilted Cotton Upon his arrival the Prince Muster'd his Army in the place appointed for those kinds of Exercises in every City of China The Tyrant on the other side receiv'd him with many Extraordinary Caresses and Marks of his Favour and hearty Affection and invited him publickly to a solemn Feast the next day where the Prince fail'd not to attend him But in the midst of the Musick the Comedy and Jollity of the Banquet the Persidious and Cruel Tyrant order'd a most rank and nimble Poison to be presented him in a Glass of Wine which dispatch'd him in a few Moments Which done he caus'd his whole Army ready drawn up for that purpose to surround and put to the Sword all the Forces of the unfortunate Prince and not to let a Man escape Which was executed with so much the more ease because the poor People not mistrusting any such Treachery were surpriz'd without a Leader without Arms and all in disorder And of this accident I my self was an Eye-witness which I therefore here relate to shew the Grandeur of this Empire Nor ought any Man to scruple the belief of what I have here related concerning the Number of the Cities and Towns far more numerous then what Father Martini sets down in regard I take in all those belonging to these Petty Sovereigns whose Principalities tho' they do not acknowledge the Emperour are nevertheless seated in the middle of his Empire in the Four Provinces which I have nam'd I have also included the Cities and Towns of Leao tum and of the Province of Yun Nan which the Chineses excessively addicted to their own Formalities never put into their Ordinary Catalogues but in the particular which I have said they make of the Raigns of certain Families The Chineses have caus'd to be Printed a Publick â—…inerary which contains all the Roads and Passages as well by Water as by Land from Pe kim to the utmost parts of the Empire This Book the Mandarins buy when they go from Court to their several Governments and Employments at a distance as also all other Travellers to the end they may be able to know the Roads the distance of one place from another and the Furlongs of every Journey In this Book all the Royal High-ways in the Empire are divided into Eleven Hundred Forty Five Days Journeys every one of which have a certain place where the Mandarins are Lodged and Entertain'd at the King's Expences when they go to their several Employments But when they deprive them of their Charges they lose also the Privilege of Royal Entertainment These Eleven Hundred Forty Five Places are call'd Ye or Chin that is to say Places of Entertainment and Attendance And this Name is given to them not without reason For there they wait for the coming of the Mandarins with as much care and circumspection as if they were upon their Guard against an Armed Enemy Of these Places there are Seven Hundred Thirty Five in the Cities of the first and second Order in the Frontier Town and in the Castles in the heart of the Empire Two Hundred and Five in the Places call'd Ye and Three Hundred and Three in the Places call'd Chin. Both the one and the other were formerly built in those places where there were no Towns and may be call'd Towns of the second Rank because they are all Wall'd have Mandarins for their Governours and because there are some which are larger and better peopl'd then many Towns and Cities There are a Hundred and Two which have no Walls but such as are very large and very Populous The Day before the Mandarin sets forward a Courier
restrain some within the bounds of Duty then the Tartars enlarged their Offers But then such was the eager desire of those persidious Officers to heap up Wealth that at length they surrender'd into the hands of a small Number of half Barbarians the Richest and most Populous Kingdom in the World. In the same Book you see the number of Souldiers that keep Guard upon the Frontiers to the number of Nine hundred and two Thousand and fifty four The Auxiliary Forces that lie ready to March to their Assistance when the Tartars are upon entring into China are innumerable there being Nine hundred fourscore and nine Thousand an hundred sixty seven Horses appointed for those Forces The Emperors Expences for the Payment of the Officers and Souldiers amounts every year to five Millions thirty four Thousand seven hundred and fourteen Livers Were these Books printed and their Maps Engraven with that skill and exactness as Maps are done in Europe they would be the Admiration of all curious Persons It were to be wish'd that some one would take the pains to give us a lively Representation of the Walls Fortresses and other the most remarkable things in this Empire Now by what we have said concerning the Number of Souldiers appointed to Guard the Walls and Frontiers against the Tartars an easie judgment may be made of the Number of those that are employed upon the Borders of the Provinces in the Cities Towns and other wall'd Places of the Provinces of which there is not any one that has not a Garrison They amount to the Number of seven hundred sixty seven Thousand nine hundred and seventy Men which in time of Peace Guard and attend in the day time upon the Mandarin's Embassadors and other Persons whose Expences the King defrays and in the Night time keep Guard about their Barques or their Lodgings The Horses also which the King keeps as well for the Service of his Troops as for his Posts and Messengers amount to five hundred sixty four Thousand and nine hundred But when there happens any Revolt or any War the Armies which rendevouze from all the Provinces are almost innumerable And now because my time is short and my occasions oblige me to Brevity I shall here set down the Principal Wonders of this Empire of which the Author before mentioned gives a larger account There are in the fifteen Provinces three hundred thirty and one Famous Bridges not much inferior to that of which we have already spoken and to those which are describ'd by Father Martini and M. Polo in their Descriptions of China And therefore I shall say no more upon this Subject seeing that if I were to describe every Structure in particular that is considerable it would require the labour of several Volumes There are also in China two thousand fourscore and nineteen Mountains Famous â—…her for being cut into the shape of Monstrous Idols as is that which I have mentioned in the Relation of my Travels from the Province of Kiam nân or Nankim to that of Su Chuen and which I sent into Europe in the year 1643. Or for their Fountains their particular Plants and their Minerals of great Virtue or for their extraordinary strength and other Prerogatives which distinguish them from others Their Famous Waters such as are their Lakes full of Fish their hot Fountains no less Medicinal than Wonderful the large Streams and Navigable Rivers are to the number of one Thousand four Hundred Seventy and Two. There are one Thousand Fourscore and Nineteen Peices of Antiquity to be seen as Statues Famous Paintings and Vessels of high Price and greatly esteemed One Thousand one Hundred Fifty Nine Towers Triumphal Arches and other such like Magnificent Pieces of Workmanship Erected in Honour of Renowned Princes Men famous for their Valour or their Learning or of Widows and Virgins renowned for their Chastity and Vertue Two hundred seventy two Libraries embellish'd with sundry Ornaments stored with great numbers of Books and built at vast Expences There are likewise to be seen seven Hundred and Nine Temples Erected by the Chineses at several times in memory of their Ancestors and considerable for their Largness and the Beauty of their Architecture For it is the Custom of the Chineses to testifie an extraordinary Affection and Obedience to their Parents especially after their Death and therefore to make this manifest to the World they cause to be built at great Expences most stately Halls wherein instead of Images and Statues they set up in Cartredges the Names of their Ancestors and Parents Also upon certain days of the Year appointed by the Family to which the Temple belongs they assemble all together in these Halls where they prostrate themselves upon the ground in token of Love and Veneration Which done they offer Incense and afterwards make a spendid Feast at several Tables richly set Forth and adorn'd with an extraordinary Decency and a great Number of Dishes and Viands well dress'd They reckon about four Hundred and Fourscore Temples of Idols very Famous and much frequented by reason of their Riches their Magnisicence and the Pretended Miracles and Fables which they report concerning their Idols In these Temples and in others of which the Number through the whole Empire is incredible no less than three Hundred Thousand Bonzes have their Habitations I must confess I could not conceive there should be so great a Number and therefore I put the Question to a Mandarin of the Tribune of Ceremonies who was one of my friends whether it were true or no â—… For that the Bonzes are under the Jurisdiction of this Tribunal and receive their Licences from it which they call Tutie This Mandarin upon a diligent search inform'd me that within the City and Court of Pekim only there were Six Thousand Six Hundred Sixty eight Bonzes unmarry'd call'd by them Ho xám and five Thousand and Twenty Two Marry'd and which like the former have also their Pass-ports and Licences by which said he you may judge of the number dispers'd over the whole Empire Besides that you are farther to observe that within the Number of three Hundred and fifty Thousand mention'd by the Chinese Historian are only comprehended the Bonzes which have Licences But in regard that among six or seven Bonzes not above one or two generally have Licences should they all be reckon'd into the Number they would certainly amount to above a Million There are moreover six Hundred Fourscore and five Mausoleums Famous for their Architecture and their Riches For in China all Persons are prohibited under great Penalties to bury their dead within the Walls of their Cities or of any other place whatever So that after they have put the Corps in the Cossin all the Chincks and Jointures of which are stopp'd up with Bitumen to prevent the scent of the dead Body they leave them in the House where they died for some Months and many times for two or three years together the Magistrate in all that
At Court he is lodg'd in the Royal Court whether the Emperor sends him at every two days end a Feast ready dress'd out of his own Kitchin as a Mark of his Favour and Good-will For the Kings of China above all things study to receive and entertain all Strangers with Splendor and Magnisicence as F. Buglio and my self have frequently found by Experience for the space of two years that we were lodg'd in the Royal Inn when we came from the Province of Su chuen to the Court. 'T is true indeed that this Civility is not always perform'd with the same Decency and regularity nevertheless the fault is no way to be attributed to the King but to the Baseness and self-Interest of his Officers who privately purloyn and turn to their own Use what the King with an extraordinary Bounty allows for the entertainment of Strangers There is not any Nation that equals the Chineses in the Multitude and Variety of Titles and Honourable Names by them made use of in their Complements which I am not able to explain because that neither our Languages nor the Greek and Latin have any words by which they may be express'd They have also a great number of Names whereby they distinguish the various Degrees of Parentage For example we have onely the Names of Grandfather and Grandmother whither by the Father or Mother's side but the Chineses have all different to distinguish the four Relations In like manner we have only the word Uncle to signifie the Brothers of the Father and Mother But the Chineses have words which not only distinguish the Brothers of the Father from those of the Mother but also tell ye which are Younger or Elder then the Father or the Mother and so of the rest of the Kindred This Nation also surpasses all others in the care which they take of their Garments in regard there is not any Person tho' never so poor which is not modestly fashionably and decently habited 'T is a surprizing thing to see them all upon the first day of the year in their new Cloths fashionable spruce and clean Insomuch that you shall not meet any one person how wretched soever but what affords a pleasing object to the Eye Nor is the modesty of this Nation less to be admir'd The Learned Men are always so compos'd that they believe it crime or a sin to make appear the least Gesture or Motion which is not exactly conformable to the Rules of Decent Behaviour and Urbanity The Women affect Modesty Chastity and Honesty to that degree that a man would think those Vertues were born with them They live in perpetual Retirement never so much as shewing their hands bare so that if they are oblig'd to present any thing to their Brothers or Brothers-in-Law they lay the Present upon the Table with their hands exactly cover'd with their Sleeves which for that Reason are very long and large and then the Brothers come and receive it Which is the Reason that the Chineses are highly offended when they see the Images of our Saints with naked Feet and truly for my part I think they have very good Reason for it For that those Representations do no way agree with that Angelick Modesty and Purity which those Saints profess'd and therefore those Pictures are defective and counterfeit in regard they neither resemble the Originals nor in their Imitation sufficiently follow either the History or Nature which is the perfection of Painting Besides that there is no likelihood that young Virgins should go bare-foot and that it is a ridiculous hing to Paint them in glorious and Rich Habits and not allow them Shoes and Stockins The Chineses reduce their Civility or Conversation one among another to five Heads that is to say Of a King towards his Subjects of a Father towards his Sin Of a Husband towards his Wife Of an Elder Brother toward the Younger and of one Friend toward another These rules include a great part of their Morals but I shall dilate no farther upon this Subject for that I should never be able to make an end should I go about to give an account of all that they write of the Loyalty of Subjects towards their Prince Of Obedience of Children towards their Parents Of the Submission of Wives toward theirs Husbands Of Brotherly Affection and that Amity and respect which ought to be among Friends I could speak of the Noble Order observ'd in their Political Goverment but for that I shall reserve a whole Chaptâ—…r before I finish this Relation Among the Festivals of the Chineses one of those which they celebrate with most joy and solemnity is the fifteenth Day of the first Moon of their Year That day they kindle so many Bonfires and light up so many Lanthorns that if the whole Empire were to be seen at one time from the top of some high Mountain You would believe it all in a Blaze like some Vast Fire-work There is hardly any person either in City or Country upon the Sea shores or upon the Rivers that does not set up Lanthorns painted and fashion'd after several manners or that does not fling about Squibs and Bombs burning in the Air like Boats Towers Fish Dragons Tigers Elephants with a Thousand other surprizing sorts of Fire-works Which gives me an Occasion to relate what I saw with my own eyes in the year 1644. In the Province of Su chuen at what time F. Lewis Buglio and my self were detain'd Prisoners by that Cruel Tyrant Cham hien Chum He invited us to see the Fire-works which he had order'd to be prepared against the Night of this same fifteenth day and indeed there was an infinite number admirable for their Curiosity and their Invention But that which most surpriz'd me was the following Machime This was an Arbor cover'd with a Vine of Red Grapes of which all the Joyners work burnt without consuming while on the other side the Stock of the Vine the Branches the Leaves the Clusters and Grapes themselves consum'd by degrees yet not so but that you might all the while discern the Redness of the Clusters the Green of the Leaves the Chestnut colour of the Vine so lively represented that you would have sworn that every thing had been natural and not counterfeited But that which more astonish'd us was to see that the Fire which is an Element so active and so devouring should move so leisurely that it seem'd to have quitted its own Nature to obey the precepts and commands of Art which were only to represent the Arbor to the life and not to burn it Nor are the Lanthorns less to be admir'd For as I have said already there is not any House whether Poor or Rich where you do not see them hanging up in their Halls in their Courts and before their Windows and they are of so many different Fashions that there is not any Figure which they do not represent Those that are made for the Poor are of a small
and largeness all those of other Kingdoms which are known to us The Palaces of the Princes and Principal Mandarins appear to be Cities and the Houses of Wealthy Private Persons resemble so many Palaces They consist of Five or Six Apartments not one above another as in Europe but one beyond another and upon the same Platform Every Apartment is separated from the other by a large Court from which you ascend into the Halls and Chambers by an ascent of Six or Seven Steps I have spoken in general of their Works and Buildings in the Second Chapter I have also describ'd in the First Chapter the Celebrated Bridge which is to be seen not far from Pe-kim and I intend to speak more at large in the last of the Emperor's Palace Nevertheless that I may give a more just Idea of the Grandeur and Magnificence of the Publick Works of China I shall here make a Rehearsal of what I have already said in the Annual Letters of the Year 1659. touching the Grand Canal which if I am not deciev'd surpasses all other Works of this Nature which are upon the Earth It is now above Four Hundred Years ago since the Western Tartars Conquer'd all China Their Emperor settl'd his Residence in the City of Pe-kim which he founded anew to the end he might Govern his Territories with more ease for that he was also Lord of all the Western Tartary which extends it self from the Province of Pekim to the Territories of the Mogul to Persia and the Caspian Sea. But in regard the Northern Provinces could not furnish so large a City with Provisions necessary for their subsistance he order'd a great number of Vessels to be built to bring Victuals Spices and Merchandize of all sorts to Pe-kim from the Southern Provinces However perceiving the Incertainty of those Voyages and how that Calms and Tempests caus'd the loss of an infinite Quantity of Provisions and Merchandize he employ'd Workmen without number who at vast Expences and with an unparallel'd Industry open'd a Canal Three Thousand Five Hundred Chinese Furlongs or Two Hundred Forty Five Portugal Leagues in length through several Provinces This Canal as well to weaken the Current of the Stream as to make it more deep by retaining the Water within it is furnish'd with Seventy Two Sluces which the Chineses call Chā They have every one great Gates which are made of large Pieces of Timber and which are shut up in the Night but set open in the Day time for the passage of the Barks And the greatest part of these Sluces are pass'd through with a great deal of ease But there are some which are not to be shot but with a great deal of Pains and Danger More especially one which the Chineses call Tien Fi-cha or the Queen and Mistress of Heaven thereby to express in Hyperbolical Terms the extraordinary Height of it When the Barks are row'd against the Stream and come to the bottom of this Sluce the Watermen fasten to the Prow a great number of Cables and Cordage which are drawn on both sides the Canal by Four or Five Hundred Men and sometimes more according to the Burthen of the Vessel and the Weight of the Lading Others at the same time labour at Capstanes plac'd upon the Walls of the Sluce which are very broad and built of Free-Stone Besides the Ropes already mention'd there are others which are very strong wound about great Pillars of Stone or Wood to hold the Vessel if any of the other Cordage should chance to break When these Cords are all fasten'd they begin to Haule by degrees as it were keeping time to the sound of a Bason upon which they knock at first but softly and with some intervals between the stroaks but when half the Bark at least is rais'd to the height of the upper Channel in regard the Current is then much stronger they knock upon the Bason with thicker stroaks at what time the Four or Five Hundred Haule all together with loud Hey Boys and give such a stretch that the Vessel mounts up in a Moment and is secur'd in the dead Water between the sides of the Canal and the middle of the Current The Vessels on the other side fall down with more speed and ease but with more danger For the prevention of which they fasten a great number of Cords to the Poop which are let go or held tite with equal Care and Observation by those that hold the Ropes on both sides the Canal At the same time there are other Men on both sides the Vessel who with long Poles with Iron Heads guide the Bark through the middle of the Canal to prevent her striking against the Jaumes or great Stones to which the Gates are fasten'd Which when the Bark has pass'd the Cords are le ts go which kept her from plunging and at the same time the Currant carries her as swift as an Arrow out of a Bow till she stop by degrees as the Stream grows weaker and weaker and carries her according to her usual course This Canal begins at the City of Tum Cheu distant about two Leagues and a half from Pe-kim There is in the same place a River with the Current of which Vessels drive till near the Sea it falls into another through which the Vessels Sail for some few Days But then you come into a Canal made with hands and after you have Sail'd Twenty or Five and Twenty Leagues you come to a Temple call'd Fuen Hui Miaò or the Temple of the Spirit which divides the Waters As far as this place you Row upon the Canal against the Stream but when you come just against this Temple you begin to Swim with the Stream and make use only of your Oars Now I would fain know of our Engineers and famous Wits of Europe how this can be and whether it be a Work of Art or Nature A Bark lies cross the middle of the Canal with the Prow to the West on the Temple side and the Poop to the East Now on the one side the Water runs toward the North on the other side it runs toward the South To unfold this Riddle you are to understand that on the East side at the distance of about half a Days Journy there lies a great Lake between high Mountains the Waters of which swell'd a good large River that bent its course toward the Sea upon the East side Now the Chineses stop'd up that Outlet and having cut through the Mountain open'd a Canal by which they brought the Water to the Temple In that part they hallow'd two other Canals one toward the North the other toward the South and this with so true a proportion and regular Line that the Waters coming to the middle before the Temple take their leaves and one part of the Streams runs equally to the North and the other toward the South as you may see by the following Figure This Canal in some places runs through the middle of
Cities in other places along by the Walls It crosses one part of the Province of Pe-Kim afterwards all the Province of Xan tum and after it has enter'd into the Province of Nan kim discharges it self into that great and rapid River which the Chineses call the Yellow River Upon this River you Sail for about two days and then you come into another where you Sail about the length of two Musquet Shot at what time you meet with a Canal which the Chineses open'd upon the South-side of this last River and which runs toward the City of Hoai ngan afterwards this Canal runs through many Cities and Towns till it come to the City of Yam cheu the most famous Sea-port Town of all in the Empire Soon after it discharges it self into the River Kiam a good days Journey from the City of Nan Kim Certainly this was an Undertaking and Performance very great and Magnificent nor is the Building of Eleven hundred forty five Royal Inns much inferiour to it Only the raising of several Thousands Fortresses and the Walls Five hundred Leagues in length which environ China is more to be wondred at Notes upon the Seventh Chapter A. P. 114. It is now above Four hundred years ago since the Western Tartars conquer'd c. CHingis Can the Founder of the Monarchy of the Tartars the largest that ever was in the World or at least his Son Octay Can about the year 1220. began the Conquest of North China setting upon the Eastern Tartars in whose Possession it had been about a Hundred and seventeen years according to the Chronology of F. Couplet But the entire Conquest of China was not Compleated till the year 1220. by the Fifth Emperor after Ching is Can call'd by our Historians in imitation of the Eastern Tartars Cublay Can or Cobila The Chineses who give him great Encomiums call him Xi Su and affirm that formerly he was call'd Ho pie lie which I believe to be no other than the Name of Cublay or Cobila corrupted in regard the Chineses Pronounce very ill and corrupt almost all the Names and Words of other Nations as our Author has observ'd in his first Chapter that M. Polo had Corrupted the â—…artar Name of the Ancient Pe Kim calling it Can bâ—…lu instead of Han palu The Chineses commit the same Mistakes in the Pronunciation of Foreign Languages changing Letters and adding Vowels to facilitate Pronunciation in regard that all the Words of their Language are Monosyllables Thus I have seen in a Manuscript Discourse of the Necessity of performing Divine Service in the Chinese Language which highly deserves to be Printed that the Chineses instead of Crux Pronounce Cu lu câ—… Instead of Pronouncing Beatus they say Pe jâ—… su sâ—… For Baptizo they cry Pa pe ti so and in stead of Bartholmeus Pa ulh to lo meusu And in the same manner 't is very probable that they might have said Ho pie lie instead of Cublay or Cobila changing the C into H and the b into p so reading Hopili instead of Cobili and adding e to facilitate the Pronunciation This Prince Xi Su or Cubluy Can it was that caus'd the Grand Canal to be made which the Author describes with his usual Exactness and which is without question one of the most Magnificent and Admirable undertakings in the Universe Only there is one thing we would fain know whether these Sluces are made like those in France and the Low-Countries that is to say whether they are made of two Gates at a distance one from the other between which the water rises For by the Relation of Father Magaillans and that of F. Trigant the Chinese Sluces seem to be no more than only a bâ—…re Gate made fast with pieces of Wood let fall perpendicularly till the Overture be wholly stopt up The water being swell'd in this manner they draw up these pieces of Wood one after another and then cause the Vessels to ascend or fall which sometimes would not be able to Sail for want of Water in the Canal if iâ—… were not retain'd and stopp'd by this Invention But this is not so convenient as a Sluce with two Gates and a Hutch between both Thus the Author of the Relation of the Dutch Embassy reports that the Sluces in China are not open'd but with great difficulty and that they are a great hindrance to the Voyage However this is a Thing very Remarkable that a man may at any time go from one end of China to the other for the space of above Six hundred Leagues unless it be one Iourney only by Land between the Provinces of Quam Tum and Kiamsi or between the Cities of Nan hium and Nan gan where you Embark again upon the River of Can. Upon which it will not be amiss to observe that the Author of the Dutch Embassy made a considerable Mistake in confounding the River Can with the great River Kiam which comes from the Province of Iunnan and touches only the Northern Extremity of the Province of Kiamsi whereas the River Can divides it in two running through it from South to North. CHAP. VIII Of the great Industry of this Nation THe Magnificence and great Number of Publick Works in China is not only the Effect of vast Charges and Expences but of the extraordinary Industry of the Nation They do all manner of Mechanick Works with a far less number of Tools and with more Ease than we do For as in this Country here is not a foot of Land that lyes wast so there is not any Man or Woman young or old lame deaf or blind that has not a way to get a Livelyhood or that has not some Trade or Employment The Chineses have a common Proverb ChuÌ„m quÌ„e vù y vo In China there is nothing thrown away How vile and useless a thing may appear to be it has its Use and may turn to Profit For example in the City of Pekim only there are above a Thousand Families who have no other Trade to subsist on but only by Selling of matches for Tinderboxes and weeks for Candles There are also as many that have nothing else to live upon but by picking up in the Streets and among the Sweepings of Houses Rags of Silk Cotton and Linnen-Cloth pieces of Paper and other things which they wash make clean and then Sell to others that make use of them in several Trades Their Invention also for the carrying of Burthens is very curious for they do not carry their Burthens by main Strength as we do but by Policy in this manner They fasten the things which they are to carry either with Cords or Hooks or put them in Baskets or Hampers and hang them afterwards at both ends of a flat piece of Wood made on purpose which they take up upon their Shoulders equally pois'd so that the Burthen weighs as much on the one side as on the other Which Invention is a very great Convenience it being most
P. 121. They fasten the things which are to be carried c. THis Invention as it is describ'd is altogether like to that which the Women in Holland he might have said the Men in England make use of to carry their Milk-Pails about the Streets of which no question but that F. Magaillans was ignorant But it is of no use in the world to carry a Burthen of one entire piece B. P. 123. The City Drum is fifteen City Cubics Diameter c. I have observ'd in the first Note upon the second Chapter that the Chinese Cubit was a Parisian Foot as seven to eight So that these fifteen Cubits amount to thirteen foot and â…› of Paris Which shews us that this Drum is of a Prodigious bigness seeing that by the Proportion of the Diameter to the Circumference this Drum must be Forty one foot and a quarter or near seven fathom in Compass C. P. 123. F. Athanasius Kircher c. affirms that the Bell of the City of Erfort c. Father Kirker certainly had never heard of several Bells in Europe bigger than that of Erfort For to go no farther than France the Bell of Roan call'd George d' Amboise weighs about Forty thousand weight as the Inscription upon it declares Those of Rhodez of St. John of Lyon and the two which were cast for Nostre Dame in Paris are almost as big as that of Roan As certain it is that F. Kirker had never heard of the Bells at Pe-kim since he has acknowledg'd his Error in his China illustrata after F. Gruber had sent him the Extract of a Letter from F. Ferdinand Verbiest containing the Description of that Bell at Pe-kim which F. Kirker has quoted and Printed in his China Illustrated Neither had F. Magaillans ever seen this last Piece of F. Kirker As for the Bells of Pekim F. Ferdinand Verbiest in his Letter and F. Couplet in his Chronology tells us that they were cast about the year 1404. by the Order of the Emperor Chim su otherwise Yum lo the Uncle of Kien ven ti second Son of Hum vu who expell'd the Western Tartars out of China and founded the Royal Family Tai min ga extirpated this last Age by the Eastern Tartars This Emperor Chim su caus'd five of these Bells to be cast every one of which weighs a Hundred and twenty thousand weight and there is no question to be made but that then they were the biggest in the World. But James Rutenfels in his Relation of Muscovie which he wrote in Latin affirms that there is one much bigger in the Palace of the Grand Duke at Moscow which weighs Three hundred and twenty thousand Pound and that it is of that Prodigious weight that no Art of Man can raise it nor hang it in the Tower callâ—…d Yvan velichi at the bottom of which it lyes upon pieces of Timber Father Rougemont tells us in his History that F. Adam caus'd two of the Bells at Pekim to be cran'd up into a Tower a Hundred and fifty Chinese Cubits or One hundred thirty one Foot and ¼ high by the help of Two hundred Workmen only to the great Astonishment of the Chineses who thought he must have employ'd as many Thousands and that two years after he caus'd a third Bell to be cran'd up in the same manner but with more Ease though he employ'd no more than a Hundred and twenty young Men. F. Intorcetta observes in his Relation that the Bells of China have no Clappers only they make them sound by striking with a Hammer upon the outside of the Skirt CHAP. IX Of the Navigation of the Chineses NAvigation is so common and so Universal in this Kingdom that there is hardly any City or Town especially in the Southern Provinces that does not enjoy the benefit of some River some Lake some Canal or some Navigable Arm of the Sea insomuch that there are almost as many Inhabitants upon the Water as upon the dry Land. Which is a Sight no less pleasing then surprizing when a Stranger comes to any Port in the Evening to see one City of Vessels upon the Water and another of Houses upon the Land. They that put off very early or come too late are forc'd to Sail or Row for several Hours together between Vessels that lye not far from the Shoar on both sides Moreover there is such a Trade at some of these Ports that it is half a days time and sometimes more before a Man can get clear of the Vessels that lye before the Town Insomuch that a Man may say there are two Empires in China the one upon the Water and the other upon the Land and as many Venice's as there are Cities For these Vessels serve instead of Houses to them that are the Masters of them There they dress their Meat there they are born there they are bred and there they dye there they have their Dogs and their Catts there they breed their Pigs their Ducks and their Geese Their Vessels are some of good Burthen others less Some belong to the King some to the Mandarins some to the Merchants and some to the People Among the King's Barks those which are call'd So chuen are employ'd to carry the Mandarins to their several Governments and to bring them back upon their Returns These are made like our Caravels but high and so well Painted especially the Cabin where the Mandarin lodges that they resemble Buildings erected for some publick Solemnity rather than ordinary Hoy's Those that are call'd Leam chuen that is to say such as are appointed to carry Provisions from the Provinces to the Court are about nine Thousand nine Hundred fourscore and nineteen I have often been Inquisitive to know why they did not add one more to make up the number of ten Thousand but all the Inquisition I could make was still to no purpose till at length after several years and when I better understood the humour and customs of the Nation I made a shrewd Conjecture at the Reason The number of Ten Thousand is express'd by two Chinese Letters only Y and Van which have nothing in them either of Great or Magnificent either in Writing or Pronunciation and by Consequence deserve not to be made use of to express the number of the Emperor's Barks So that they have tak'n one out of ten Thousand to render the number more Pompous and Majestick and which was more proper to flatter their Vanity and Pride by saying nine Hundred fourscore and nineteen as running most upon their ador'd number Nine These Vessels are somewhat less then the former Nevertheless they have their Fore-Castles and Quarter-Decks and a Cabin or Hall in the middle like those of the Mandarins The third sort of the Emperor's Barks are call'd Lum y chuen that is to say the Vessels that bring the Emperor's Habits his Peices of Silk and Tissue to the Court. Of these there are as many as there are days in the Year or
the King a great Revenue and if the general Visitors greatly enrich themselves by their spoils and robberies of the Mandarins and people these latter commit much greater robberies upon the Farmers who distribute the Salt into the Provinces and who are the Richest men in China as being commonly worth four or five hundred thousand Crowns a man. The third Visitation is call'd Siao Chai or the Petty Visit this Visitation is made every three months by sending Visitors frequently unknown and in disguise sometimes to one Province or City sometimes to another that he may be able to give true information against some Mandarin famous for his Tyranny and Extortion Besides these Visitations this Tribunal sends into every Province every three years a certain Visitor call'd Hio Yuen and to every City another call'd Ti Trio to examine the Batchelours of Art and suppress the violences which confiding in their privileges they act upon the people These have power to apprehend to condemn all such Offenders to the Whip and when they prove incorrigible they degrade and punish them with an extraordinary severity Lastly this Tribunal sends forth whensoever it is thought requisite a Visitor call'd Siun Ho to survey the famous Canal of which we have already spoken and to take care of the Barks which are employ'd therein By means of which Visitation he reaps more honour and profit than all the other Visitors which this Visitation sends forth The Judges of this Tribunal are lodg'd in a vast Palace where they have under them five and twenty inferiour Tribunals divided into five classes of which every one has five Tribunals with five Presidents and many Assessors and inferiour Officers The five of the first Classis are call'd Uchin Chayuen or Visitors of the five Qurters of Pe Kim The first is the Visitor of the South Walls and that Quarter of the City next adjoyning The second visits the Walls on the North side the third the Walls on the East the fourth the Walls on the West side and the fifth the Walls in the middle The Authority of these Mandarins is very great for they have power to try and punish the misdemanours of the people and the Domestick Servants of the Mandarins and great Lords But if the Offender deserve Death Confiscation of Estate or Banishment then they send him to the Criminal Tribunal Those of the Second Classis are call'd U Chin Pim Ma Su or Grand Provosts of the Five Quarters Those of the third Classis are call'd Tam quen or inferior Provosts of the five Quarters The two latter Classes make it their business to apprehend Theives and Robbers Malefactors Gamesters Vagabonds and the like and to detain them in Prison till they resign them to the Superiour Robbers It is likewise their business to keep watch and ward in the day time to go the Rounds in the Night and to set Sentinels to give notice when any fire happens in any house The Captains of the Watch are also subordinate to these two Classes For to every ten houses there belongs a Captain call'd Pai and every Pai teu have another Captain call'd Stum Kia who is oblig'd to inform the Tribunal of what is done in his District contrary to the Laws and good Customs of the City when any Strangers come to Town or of any other Novelty He is also oblig'd to exhort the several private Families by singing with a loud voice at the beginning of every night a Song consisting of five verses containing the most necessary Precepts of Morality in these words Hiao xum fu mu Tsum Kim cham xam Ho mo Hian Li Kiao tzu Sun. Mon tzo vi That is to say Obey your Parents reverence old Men and your Superiours live together in Unity instruct your Children and do no acts of Injustice In petty Towns where there are no Mandarins the care of this duty is committed to four or five of the honestest old Men call'd Lao gen who have a Captain call'd Hiam yo or Ti fam This person also sings the same Song every Night and the first and fifth of every month assembles the Inhabitants and explains the meaning of those Instructions by Similes and Examples Of which I thought it not amiss to relate some few to let the Reader see the vertuous disposition wit and good government of this Nation Obey your Parents as Lambs obey their Ews as they teach us by their extraordinary humility in kneeling when they suck and submitting to them exactly in acknowledgment of the nourishment which they receive from them Reverence the Aged and your Superiours in imitation of wild Geese who by the Order which they observe in their flight shew plainly the respect which is to be given to Seniority Live together in peace in imitation of that Love and Unity which is observ'd among Deer for when any one of them has met with a good piece of Pasturage he will not feed by himself till he has call'd together the rest of the Herd to take their share Instruct your Children like that ancient Matron call'd Tuen Ki who being a Widow every day whipp'd the onely Son that she had till she dispossest him of all his evil inclinations so that at length being renown'd for his knowledge and his vertues he came to be Chuam Yuen or chief of the Doctours of the Empire and afterwards for his Vertue and Heroick Actions was advanc'd to be Co Lao or Chief Minister of State to the Emperour Commit no acts of Injustice like that same wicked and disobedient Heu ci who out of his extraordinary Ingratitude designing to kill his Father in Law that reprov'd him for his Misdemeanours kill'd his own Mother unexpectedly whose Indulgence had been the Perdition of her Son by supplying him with Money which he spent in all manner of debauchery and by concealing the early lewdness of his Life But Heaven to make him an Example to all as wicked as himself and to deter others crush'd him to the Earth and cleft him in sunder with a Thunderbolt The Tribunal call'd Iu Hio is a mixt Tribunal which takes care of Batchelours of Arts and Military Probationers Two Presidents belong to it of which the one has the oversight of the first the other of the latter These exercise themselves in making Discourses upon the means of preserving the Estate and governing the People The other discourse of Warlike Discipline when to give Battel how to attack and defend Fortified places and other matters of the same nature The Mandarins of this Tribunal who are dispers'd over all the Provinces and Cities give them frequent occasions to exercise their wits upon these Subjects and those Mandarins are respected by those Batchelours and Probationers rather as Professors than Magistrates The two Presidents which reside at Court are Doctours both the one of Civil Learning the other in Military Discipline The other Officers are such out of whose number the King makes Mandarins out of his meer Grace and Favour or by
reason of the Merits of their Ancestours The Tribunal call'd Co Tao or Co Li is that of the Inspecters or Overseers of which we have already spoken which are divided into six Classes like the six superiour Tribunals from whence they take their name and distinction For example the first is call'd Li Co or Inspecters of the superiour Tribunal of the Mandarins The second Hu Co or Inspecters of the superiour Tribunal of the Exchequer and so of the rest Every Classis is compos'd of several Mandarins all of the seventh Order and all equal so that there is not one no not so much as he that keeps the Seal of the Tribunal who has any superiority over the rest of his Brethren Their business is to reprehend the King himself for any miscarriages of his Government and there are some so resolute and undaunted that they will rather expose themselves to Death and Banishment than forbear when they have Truth on their side which they will tell him sometimes to his face and sometimes in writing without any mincing of the matter And of this freedom as we meet at present with several examples so is there a far greater number to be seen in the Chinese Histories Many times also it happens that the Kings will amend their defects and magnificently reward those that have been so liberal of their Reproofs They are also entrusted to inspect the Disorders of the six superiour Tribunals and to inform the King by private Memorials The King likewise makes choice of the Mandarins of this Tribunal for the execution of several Orders of Importance that require Secrecy And every year he culls out three to be Visitors The first of which is call'd Siun Cim who visits all the Merchants of the Court or in the City of Pe Kim and takes notice of all Merchandize that is either sophisticated or prohibited The second is call'd Sium Cam who visits the Burners of the King's Lime The third who is call'd Sium xi nim ym is present at all the General Musters The Mandarins of this Tribunal are only of the seventh Order however their Authority and Power is very large The Tribunal call'd Him gin su consists of several Mandarins all Doctours all equal and all of the seventh Order like those of the preceding Tribunal Their Employment is to be sent abroad either as Envoys or Embassadours either to distant parts of the Empire or to Foreign States As when the King sends them to carry Titles of Honour to the Mother or Wise of a Mandarin slain in the Wars or after he has done the King and Kingdom eminent Service in the discharge of his Employment Or when the Emperour is pleas'd to confer or confirm the Title of King to the Prince of Corea or any other neighbouring Sovereign These Embassies are very honourable and sometimes no less gainfull The Tribunal of Tai li su i. e. of Supream Reason and Justice is so call'd because they are entrusted to examine all doubtfull and intricate Causes and to confirm or annihilate the Sentences of other Tribunals especially in reference to Crimes that concern the Estates the Honour and Life of the King's Subjects The President of this Tribunal is of the third Order his two Lateral Judges or Assessors of the fourth and the other inferiour Mandarins of which there are a great number of the fifth and sixth When the Tribunal of Crimes condemns to death any person of Quality or other person of mean condition and that the King finds the reason of the Sentence dubious he refers it always to San fa su which is as it were his Council of Conscience Then three Tribunals assemble together the Tai li su the Tu li yuen or the superiour Tribunal of Visitors and the Tribunal of Crimes All these together re examine the Process in the presence of the Accusers and the Party accused and many times revoke the Sentence For that the Prosecutor not having gain'd the Tribunal of Crimes nor having Money nor cunning enough to corrupt the other two they judge according to Reason and Justice and generally the King confirms the Decision of those three Tribunals The Tribunal Tum chim su takes care to have the King's Orders and Commands proclaim'd at Court and diligently to inform themselves of the calamities oppressions and necessities of the People and exactly and privately to inform the Emperour They are likewise entrusted to send to the King or else to bury in silence as they shall deem most proper all the Memorials of the Miâ—…itary Mandarins and the Letters of the fourteen Provinces of the Veteran Mandarins who are dispens'd with from all manner of Employments of the People Souldiers and Strangers that come from Foreign Countries The Mandarins of the Province of Pekim present their Memorials immediately to the King himself never taking notice of this Tribunal the President of which is of the third Order of Mandarins his first Assessor of the fourth his second Assessor of the fifth and the rest of the inferiour Mandarins of the sixth and seventh Order The Tribunal Tai cham su is as it were an Associate and Assistant to the supream Tribunal of Ceremonies The President is of the third Order his Assessors of the fourth and the rest of the Mandarins of which there are a great number of the fifth and sixth Orders They take particular care of the King's Musick and Sacrifices and in regard these Sacrifices are perform'd in the Temples dedicated to the Heavens the Earth the Sun and Moon to Rivers and Mountains this Tribunal takes care of all those Piles which are very vast and magnificent They also take care of the married Bonzes who are generally Alchymists and Fortune-tellers Two of these Mandarins are appointed to give orders for the Reception and Lodging of Strangers that come to Court. Lastly they have the oversight of the publick Courtesans of the places of their Habitation and of those that govern and direct them in their infamous Trade The Chineses to shew their aversion to those miserable Creatures call them â—…am â—…a that is to say Men that have utterly bury'd in oblivion eight Vertues viz. Obedience to theâ—… Fathers and Mothers Affection for their Brethren and other Kindred Fidelity toward their Prince Sincerity Honesty Justice Modesty Chastity and all manner of laudable Sciences and Customâ—… This is the signification of those two words which the Chineses mark with only two letters by which it is easie to see the Force of their Language and the esteem which they have for Vertue though for the most part they follow their own deprav'd Inclinations that carry them headlong into vice The Tribunal Quan lo su or of the Royal Inns takes care for the provision of Wine Cattel and all other things necessary for the King's Sacrifices Banquets and for the entertainment of such as are treated at the King's charges whether Chineses or Foreigners This Tribunal is an Associate to that of the Ceremonies The President is of the
in the City The first which is the more considerable takes care to set Guards at all the Gates of the City to prevent the bringing in of any Goods unless they be first register'd and pay the duties demanded The second receives the duties of all things that are bought and sold in the City as Slaves Horses Camels Cattel c. The Presidents of these Tribunals are of the seventh Order and the inferiour Mandarins of the eighth and ninth These two Tribunals belong to the grand Tribunal of the Exchequer Tu pu is as it were the Tribunal of the ordinary Judge of the King's Houshold their Employment is twosold the first is to arrest Robbers and Malefactors and to make out their Processes and then if they happen to be quitted they release them if they are thought worthy of death they deliver them over to the Tribunal of Crimes As for Cut purses for the first Offence they brand them upon the left Arm with a red hot Iron for the second Offence upon the right Arm and for the third they deliver the Offenders over to the Tribunal of Crimes Their next Employment is to arrest Fugitive Slaves which they first cause to be punish'd with a hundred lashes of a Whip and then to be restor'd to their Masters But of late years they are mark'd upon the left Cheek with two Tartar and two Chinese Characters But a Chinese Mandarin by a Memorial besought the King to consider that the punishment was too rigorous for a crime that was rather the effect of desire of Liberty so natural to all Mankind than any act of a wicked inclination and that it was a thing no way becoming the City of his Majestie 's Residence to behold the Streets so full of those deformed objects of cruelty Which counsel being approv'd by the King he order'd for the future that the Letters should be branded upon the left Arm. The President of this Tribunal is of the second Order his Assistants are of the third and the rest of the Mandarins are of the seventh and eighth To this Tribunal there belongs a great number of Catch-poles and Thief takers who with an industry and cunning more than ordinary discover and apprehend all manner of Thieves Robbers and Runaway Slaves The Tribunal call'd Fu yn is that of the two Governours of the City of Xun tien Fu or Pekim but the first name is not in use because Pekim signifies properly the Court of the North. These Governours are above all the other Governours of all the Cities of the Empire and of the third Order of Mandarins and their Assessors of the fourth The first has the oversight of all the Students and all the Men of Learning who are not yet Mandarins The second takes care to instruct the people and to exhort them to live in peace and union and to inform themselves of their manner of living to punish those that introduce Novelties and Disorders to cherish labour and industry to administer Justice equally to all men to spare the people in the publick Works to know the number of the Families and persons in the City to watch day and night in redressing the miseries of the people to defend them against the wealthy and potent to comfort and ease the poor and afflicted to recompence the vertuous relieve the innocent and punish the guilty and lastly to prepare the place and all things necessary for the publick Sacrifices Such Functions as these are easie demonstrations that it is not without reason that the Chineses call the Governours of Cities Fu mu that is to say the Father and Mother of the People There are yet two Tribunals more call'd Tai Him Hien and Von Pin Hien whose employment is the same with that of the Tribunal of the Governours of the City upon which they depend and are as it were the Officers belonging to it They are two because that Pe Kim is divided into two Cities according to the Custome of the Empire where the Cities are said to be double or single according to the largeness and extent of their Territory The Presidents of these Tribunals in Cities where the Court is kept are of the sixth order and in the Cities of the Provinces of the seventh order and the four inferiour Mandarins are of the seventh eighth and ninth order Tâ—…um Gin Fu is the Tribunal of the Grandees that descend from Father to Son of the Royal Family The President is one of those that enjoy the Title of King and is always a person venerable for his Age and his Vertues He is of none of the nine orders because his dignity advances him above all the orders of the Mandarins His Assessors also are always 2 dignifi'd Lords of the Royal Bloud who are of no Order for the same reason All these officers take care to distribute the Pensions which are paid to the Kings kindred of the Male Line who whether they be great Lords or poor and at least fifteen or sixteen Generations distant in Bloud have nevertheless some Pension all of them more or less according to their dignities and proximity of Alliance They have all the privilege to paint their houses and their furniture with red But in regard the preceding family had reign'd for two hundred seventy seven years the descendents from it were multiply'd to that degree and spread to such a distance from the source of the Pedigree and their divided revenues consequently so small that several of them were reduc'd to follow trades for their subsistance So that when I enter'd first into the Empire I met with one in the Capital of the Province of Kiam Sì that was a common Porter and to distinguish himself from the rest of his Companions carried the instruments of his profession at his back very bright and varnish'd over with red There were an infinite number of them in the reign of the preceding Family dispers'd all over the Empire who abusing the privileges of their Birth committed a thousand insolences and extortions upon the poor people but they have been all since utterly extirpated together with the Family from whence they descended At present the Kindred of the King of Tartary that now reigns are all great Lords and live at Court but if their Dominion long endures they will multiply and their numbers become no less burthensome than the former This Tribunal is also entrusted to determine all Differences and processes as well civil as criminal between the Princes of the Bloud to give sentence according to the penalties which they deserve and to order execution after they have first inform'd the King of their proceedings Hoam cin is the Tribunal of the King 's Female Kindred which are of two sorts The first are they who descend from the King's Daughters married to young Gentlemen call'd and chosen for those matches and are call'd Tu ma. These according to the custom of China are not lookt upon as Princes of the Bloud nor as the King's Kindred nor
his Robe and his Cap fell upon the Prothonotary threw him upon the ground and with his Foot and Fist belabouring the poor Officer cry'd out Kâ—…ave and Impostor as thou art where is the mony that I gave thee where is the City of which thou gav'st me a promise with many other reproaches of the same Nature Thereupon the Tribunal broke up and the Mandarin and the Prothonotary were both committed to the Prison of the Criminal Tribunal where they were both in great hazard of being condemn'd to death For such sort of merchandizing is death by the Laws besides that the scandalous Circumstances of the Action render'd the Crime much more enormous In all the Towns and Cities of the Empire there is a Tribunal compos'd of a President and at least two or three Assessours which is call'd Kiao quon or Judges of the men of Letters For that their business is to take care of Learning and Learned Men and more especially to overlook the Batchelours of Art which are very numerous and frequently very poor yet trusting to their Privileges become bold and insolent and practice many Acts of Violence and Knavery to get Money from Poor and Rich and many times throw off that respect which is due to the Presidents and Governours Therefore the Ancient Kings with much prudence erected this Court to apprehend and punish them either by whipping or other penalties according to their demerits and to degrade them if incorrigible Which is the reason that the Batchelours both fear and respect those Mandarins after an extraordinary manner This Court also has power to assemble from time to time all the Learned Men of the City that is to say the Batchelours Licentiates Doctours and old Mandarins excus'd from Service by reason of their Age to treat of Sciences and Vertue To which purpose they give them Themes taken out of their Books upon which they make several Comments which this Tribunal examines publickly either applaud or discommends so that these Officers are rather Professours than Mandarins Besides these Mandarins which are common to all the Empire there are other Tribunals appropriated to particular Places and Provinces as the Mandarins of the Salt who take care to distribute it over all China by publick undertakers and to prevent private Merchants from uttering any to the prejudice of the King's Revenue Other Mandarins there are who are as it were Stewards of the Rents belonging to the King and the great Lords more especially in the Provinces that lye upon the Sea. There is also another Tribunal call'd Ti Kin Su and by the Portugueses Tai qui si For indeed the Portugueses corrupt all the Chinese words For the City of Hiam Xan or the Mount of Odours they call Ham Sam. Ma Cao is call'd Ama gao That is to say the Bay or Gulph of the Idol Ama. For Gao signifies a Bay and Ama is the Name of an Idol which is worship'd in that Part. These are the Tribunals of the Letter'd Mandarins Those of the Military Mandarins are yet more numerous For besides that they are in all Places where the Tribunal of the Learned Mandarins are erected they are also in several important Places that separate the Provinces in all Ports and Bays and many more upon the Frontiers next to Tartary There is likewise sent from the Court a Catalogue of all the Learned Mandarins which is printed and reprinted every Season of the Year wherein are set down the Names the Titles the Countrey and the Time when every one receiv'd their Degrees And such another Catalogue is printed of the Military Mandarins The Number of the Learned Mandarins over all the Empire is thirteen Thousand six Hundred forty Seven and that of the Military Mandarins amounts to eighteen Thousand five hundred and twenty in all thirty two Thousand one hundred sixty seven Mandarins which though it be most certain may seem a thing incredible Though their Distribution their Distinction and their Subordination as much surpasses belief It seems as if the Legislators had omitted nothing and that they had foreseen all Inconveniences that were to be fear'd So that I am perswaded no Kingdom in the World could be better govern'd or more happy if the Conduct and Probity of the Officers were but answerable to the Institution of the Government But in regard they have no knowledge of the True God nor of the Eternal Rewards and Punishments of the other World they are subject to no remorses of Conscience they place all their happiness in Pleasure in Dignity and Riches and therefore to obtain these fading Advantages they violate all the Laws of God and Man trampling under foot Religion Reason Justice Honesty and all the Rights of Consanguinity and Friendship The Inferiour Officers mind nothing but how to defraud the Superiour Mandarins they the Supream Tribunals and all together how to cheat the King Which they know how to do with so much cunning and address making use in their memorials of words and expressions so soft so honest so respâ—… 〈◊〉 so humble and full of Adulation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so plausible and seemingly disinteren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ded Prince frequently takes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for solemn Truths So that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 themselves continually oppress'd and 〈◊〉 â—…tud without any reason murmur and 〈◊〉 â—…ditions and Revolts which have caus'd â—…o much â—…ne and so many Changes in the Empire Nevertheless there is no reason that the Excellency and Perfection of the Laws of China should suffer for the depravity and wickedness of the Magistrates CHAP. XVI Of the Grandeur of the Emperour of China and of his Revenues I Have observ'd in the third Chapter the three Opinions which the Chineses have concerning the beginning of their Empire Nor do they esteem their Kings to be of less Antiquity in regard their Government has been always Monarchical and absolute without any mixture of Aristocracy I have also observ'd that Cum fu cius and all the Learned Men reject the first Opinion as merely fabulous I shall therefore only add that according to the second Opinion that the Chineses were under the Government of Kings two thousand nine hundred fifty two years before the Birth of Christ. King Fohi was the first of their Kings and the Founder of their Empite which began in the Province of Xen si the most western part of China toward the North. The Chineses paint this King cloath'd with the leaves of Trees and all agree that his Kingdom was of no great extent at first nor his People very numerous Their Histories relate how that when this King began to reign the Chineses liv'd upon Herbs and wild Fruits drank the Blood of Beasts and clad themselves in Skins But that he taught them to make Nets as well for Hunting as Fishing and was the first inventer of the Chinese Letters All the Learned believ'd this Opinion probable and some there are that hold it for certain and unquestionable In a word it seems very probable that Fohi
tasted Fruits About the middle of the Repast he sent us another Plate of Gold wherein were twenty Apples of the largest and best in the Kingdom call'd by the Name of Pin quo At the end of the Feast he sent us another Plate full of Pears and those Apples of Gold of which we have spoken in another Place The favour which the Emperour did us at that time seem'd to us surprizingly extraordinary as it did to all those that heard the Relation of it but it was no more than what was usual to all the rest that were invited in regard they are feasted by the King in the same manner every day Not but that at other times upon certain occasions of publick rejoycing he treats much more magnificently all the Great Lords and Mandarins of the Court which are about five thousand By which the Reader may readily conjecture at the Grandeur and Puissance of this Emperour and that the abundance of Provisions which is brought continually to the Court is far beyond the Relation which I have made Notes upon the sixteenth Chapter Father Magaillans had already spoken of the three Opinions of the Chineses concerning the Antiquity of China And I make no question but that if he had liv'd to finish this Work he would have put all that he says of it in the same Chapter However I did not think it proper for me to pare off any thing from this Chapter as well for that I would not make an Alteration so considerable as for that the Authour has inserted several new and 〈◊〉 Circumstances and for that the matter is also of great moment Besides that this Chapter being compos'd in the year 1669. serves for a Confirmation of the third which F. Magaillans had written in the year before as may be seen by the difference of the dates which he sets down in this Work. CHAP. XVII A Desoription of the City of Pe Kim Of the Walls that enclose the Emperour's Palace And the form of the principal Houses of China THE City or Court of Pe Kim is seated in a Plain It forms a vast Square each of the Sides of which is twelve Chinese Furlongs in length which make about three Italian Miles or near a Portugal League It has nine Gates three upon the South Side and two upon each of the other Sides Not twelve Gates according to the Relation of F. Martini in his Atlas p. 29. wherein he seems to have follow'd M. Polo l. 2. c. 7. This City is now inhabited by the Tartars and their Troops divided into eight Quarters or Banners as they call ' em But in regard that under the preceding Kings the Inhabitants were so multiply'd that the Capital was not sufficient to contain them nor the nine Suburbs answering to the nine Gates which if they are not every one a great City are at least as big as many great Boroughs there was a new City built of a square form like the Old one of which each of the Sides is six Chinese Furlongs or an Italian Mile and a half in length having the North Side joyning to the South Side of the Old City It has seven Gates and every one a Suburb well peopled more especially that which looks toward the West for that is the Side where all that come from all Parts of the Empire enter into the Capital City Both the one and the other City is divided into five Quarters or Jurisdictions as we have said in the fourteenth Chapter The principal Streets some run from the North to the South others from the East to the West But they are all so streight so long so broad and so well proportion'd that it is easie to see they were mark'd out with a line and not built by hap hazard as in our Cities of Europe The little Streets run all from the East to the West and divide all the Space between the great Streets into equal and proportionable Islands Both the one and the other are known by their particular Names as the Street of the King's Kindred the White Tower-street the Iron Lyons-street the Fish-street the Aquavity-street and so of the rest There is a Book to be sold that speaks of the Names and Situation of the Streets which serves for the use of the Lacquies that attend upon the Mandarins in their Visits and to their Tribunals and carry their Presents their Letters and their Orders to several Parts of the City and Empire For they are continually sending a great Number all over the Kingdom Whence comes that Proverb so often in the Mouths of the Chineses that the Provinces send Mandarins to Pe Kim and Pe Kim in exchange sends them none but Lacquies and Messengers And indeed it is a rare thing to meet with a Mandarin who is a Native of that City The fairest of all the Streets is that which is call'd Cham gan kiai or the Street of perpetual Repose It runs from East to West bounded on the North side by the Walls of the King's Palace and upon the South side by several Tribunals and Palaces of great Lords It is so spacious that it is about thirty Fathoms broad and so famously known that the Learned in their writings make use of it to signifie the whole City taking a part for the whole For it is the same thing to say such a one lives in the Street of perpetual repose as to say he lives at Pe Kim If the Houses were but high and built to the Street like ours the City would shew much more stately But they are all low Buildings to shew the respect which they have to the King's Palace Yet there are some Palaces that belong to the great Lords which are lofty and magnificent But they are built backward so that you see nothing to the Street but a great Gate which has houses on each Side inhabited by their Domesticks or by Merchants and handycraft Tradesmen However this is very convenient for publick convenience For in our Cities a great part of the Streets is taken up by Houses of Noble Men so that the Inhabitants are forc'd to go a great way to Market Whereas at Pe Kim and in all the other Cities of China there is every thing to be sold at your Door for entertainment subsistance or pleasure For these little Houses are as so many Magazines or Markets Shops and Taverns But for the Multitude of People so numerous it is that I dare not presume to utter it nor do I know how to make it understood All the Streets both of the old and new City are crowded with People as well the small Streets as the great as well those at the farther ends as those in the hart of the Place The Throng is every where so great that there is nothing to compare with it but the Fairs and Processions of Europe The Emperour's Palace is seated in the midst of this great City and fronts toward the South according to the Custom of that Empire where you
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pe kim of twelve Furlongs to the League of twenty Leagues to the Degree â—… and not twelve and a 〈◊〉 as we have already agreed it would amount 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leagues or forty eight Furlongs and the Ground 〈◊〉 would 〈◊〉 up a hunder'd forty four Furlongs And the new City according to F. Magaillans would â—…ke up a fourth Part of the old one or thirty six square Furlongs and both together a hunder'd and fourscore square Furlongs According to Father Adam the new City would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Furlongs in Circuit the Ground-plâ—…t fourscore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Furlongs and both together a hunder'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Furlongs square 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Holland Embassie makes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of both the Cities of Pe kim to be five Leagues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to a Degree which agrees with the Computaâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magaillans who allows the Circuit of both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but according to the Measures of 〈◊〉 Adam 〈◊〉 are sixty eight Furlongs in Circumfeâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leagues and two thirds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we â—…pare Pe kim with some other Cities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both Cities taken together are much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Kiâ—…m nan though according to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Trigaut they are much better 〈◊〉 Semedo and Trigaut make Nan kim to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which amount to seâ—…ty two Furlongs and make an Area of three hunder'd and fourscore Furlongs square so that the two Cities of Pe kim according to the Opinion of Father Adam not containing above two hunder'd and forty Furlongs by consequence take up not above three fourths of the Ground enclos'd within the first Circuit of Nan kim For I do not speak of the second which by the report of Authours does not form an entire Enclosure but consists onely of some Entrenchments to secure the City where the avenues are most easie of access The Second difficulty is about the Situation of the seven Gates which our Authour gives the new City The Authour of the Holland Embassie says that when you enter in at the South Gate you are half an hour before you come to the second Enclosure of the City that is to the South Walls of the Ancient City Which space of half an hour in crossing the new City agrees with the breadth which F Adam and F. Magaillans allow it He goes on and says that the second Enclosure is fortify'd with a broad Mâ—…e full of River Water Which circumstance shâ—…ws us that the new City has no other Wall on the North side thâ—… that of the old City from which it is onely separated by a Mote So that all the Relations make 〈◊〉 but of 〈◊〉 Enclosures which you are to cross before you câ—…me to the Palace Whence that it seems the 〈◊〉 Gates of the old City ought to joyâ—… to the new City which 〈◊〉 is difficult to apprehend considering the length 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magaillans seems to gâ—…ve it but very easie to understand according to F. Adam's Meaâ—…ure And therefore to avoid confusion I have not joyn'd the new City immediately to the old one as I am 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to have dâ—…ne Which being granâ—…d my Opinion is that it ought to have three Gates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 side to answer the three Gates of the old City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East side and anâ—…ther upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authour in that Paragraph says that every Gate leads to a particular Suburb well peopl'd more especially that which looks toward the West Now he had not explain'd himself right if there be more than one Gate and one Suburb on the West side And thus there remain but two Gates which I have plac'd on the South side and I do not expect to meet with any thing more exact till we have further News from China The third thing that puzzles me is the great Number of Suburbs belonging to the two Cities Our Authour says that every Gate leads to its Suburb So then as there are sixteen Gates nine in the old and seven belonging to the new City there must also be sixteen Suburbs But this seems to be impossible by reason that according to our Authour and other Relations the North side of the new City joyns to the South side of the old and you enter out of the first into the second at three Gates as Father Adam says expresly in these words Tribus portis ab anteriorem Urbem est pervia Consequently the southern Gates of the old City can have no Suburbs no more than the northern Gates of the new especially if they are onely separated by a Mote So then according to this supposition the old City can have but four Suburbs the new City but two and both together but six Or if you will have the seven Gates of the new City to be separated and distant from the Gates of the old City then there will be thirteen Suburbs in all and not sixteen Which makes me think our Authour meant that every separate Gate that lead into the Countrey had a Suburb Now in regard that neither our Authour nor any Relation speaks exactly of the Fortifications of this great City it will not be amiss to set down here what I have collected from Trigault Semedo Martini Adam and out of the Holland Embassie The old Town is environ'd with strong Walls defended by several Towers plac'd a Stones throw one from another F. Adam numbers the Towers to be three hunder'd and sixty which make a hunder'd fourscore and two Foot of Paris He says moreover that among these Towers at the distance of every two Furlongs there is one of a larger Bulk which might be easily made a Bastion by adding the Point or two Faces of the Bastion which are wanting The whole Circuit of the City is forty eight Furlongs whence it follows that there are twenty four great Towers which would make twenty four Bastions which would be distant one from the other about four hunder'd and fifty Fathoms or five hunder'd and forty Geometrical paces The Wall is properly a Rampart consisting of two Brick walls the Bottom of which is of large free Stone according to Trigaut and Martini and the Spaces between are fill'd up with Earth after the manner of our strong Forts in Europe F. Adam says that the Rampart is fifty Cubits or Chinese foot high that is to say seven Fathom and seven and 7 24 or forty three Foot and three Quarters and that the thickness of it is twenty four Cubits or Chinese Feet that is to say three Fathoms and a half or twenty one Foot. All the old Wall is surrounded with a deep and large Mote full of Water and the Rampart and Towers are furnish'd with all sorts of Armes necessary for their defence according to the Custom of the Countrey Moreover the Relation of the Dutch Embassie observes that there was a large Portcullis belonging to the Gate through which the Embassadours enter'd It is so spacious that it is above thirty Fathom broad It is in the Original above twenty Lances
hang down on both sides The rest of the Wall is cover'd with square Tiles green yellow and blew which are so rang'd as to represent Beasts Flowers and Horns in abundance This being suppos'd the Palace takes up the space or part in the middle and the other parts are for the collateral Palaces which we are going to describe and by consequence stand within the innermost Enclosure The first is call'd Ven hoa tien or the Palace of flourishing Learning It serves the King for two Uses first for his Retirement when he has a mind to discourse of Sciences or any important Affairs of the Empire Secondly for his more strict observance of the Fasts that are most usual among the Chineses which they observe four times a year and are generally answerable to our four Seasons For when they design to perform their solemn Sacrifices they fast the three preceding days And lastly when they would implore the Favour and Mercy of Heaven in any publick Calamity as in the time of Famine Pestilence Earthquakes or extraordinary Inundations During these days the Mandarins live apart from their Wives and remain Day and Night in their Tribunals never eat any Flesh nor drink Wine nor discourse of any Business especially in criminal Matters The Emperour also keeps himself solitary in his Palace upon the East side of the Supream Imperial Hall. The second Palace is just over against the former on the West side of the same Imperial Hall and is call'd vu im tien or the Palace of the Council of War. Thither the King retires to Consultation when the Kingdom is alarm'd by any Revolt or by Pyrates or the Inrodes of the Tartars upon the Frontiers These two Palaces have every one four Apartments with their Courts and a Royal Hall in the middle with Stairs and an open Walk or Gallery round about of white Marble wrought after the same manner as are those of the principal Palace but much less The Courts are garnish'd on each side with Halls and Chambers the Architecture of which is very exquisite and painted within side with Vermillion Varnish intermix'd with Gold and Azure And what we say of these two Palaces is to be understood likewise of those that follow The third or second on the East side is call'd Tum sien tien or the Palace where honour is pay'd to the deceased Kings of the Royal Family that actually Reigns Those Kings are seated upon their Royal Thrones in a magnificent Hall adorn'd with Stairs and Galleries and all other conveniences like the rest before mention'd Their Images are made of Eagle-wood Saunders or some other odoriferous and precious Wood and adorn'd with sumptuous Habits Before the Images are plac'd sumptuous Tables with Candlesticks Chafers and other costly Ornaments And upon the day of the Ceremony there is an Offering made them of several Tables cover'd with a great Quantity of Exquisit Viands The fourth Palace or second on the West side is call'd Gin chi tien or the Palace of Mercy and Prudence So soon as the King is dead they set him in a rich Chair which is ready prepar'd and which sixteen Eunuchs carry into the Middle of the Royal Hall of this Palace where there is an Estrade and a rich Bed upon which they lay the Body Soon after with a world of Ceremonies and funeral Musick they put him into a Coffin which costs no less than two or three thousand Crowns It is made of a certain Wood that grows in the Province of Su chuen call'd cum cio mo or Peacock-wood in regard the Lines and Veins of it form certain Figures that represent the Eyes in a Peacock's Tail. The Chineses affirm that this Wood which is certainly very curious and precious preserves dead Bodies from corrupting for many years afterwards The funeral Pomp is perform'd in this Palace with so many Ceremonies and with so much cost that it would be the Subject of a long and curious Relation The Chineses after they have stopt up all the seams and joyntures of the Coffin with Bitumen to prevent the Exhalation of any offensive Smell usually leave the Body for several Months and sometimes for several Years in the same place especially if it be the Corps of a Father or Mother for whom they wear Mourning for three Years because say they they cannot endure to part with them As for the King after the funeral Obsequies are perform'd with a Magnificence incredible and befitting so great a Monarch they carry him to be interr'd in the Imperial Wood. For so they call the place where the Royal Sepulchers are of which I shall say no more but that the Grandeur of it the Palaces the Wealth and Ornaments that belong to it the Walls that environ it the Mandarins and other Servants that are employ'd in continual Attendance and the Souldiers that guard it would well deserve a particular Relation The fifth Palace or third on the East side is call'd Tsu him cum or the Palace of Compassion and Joy. Here the Prince who is Heir to the Empire keeps his Court till the Death of his Father The sixth and third on the West side is call'd Kim ho cum or the Palace of Union and Flourishing This is the Residence of the second and third Son of the Emperour before they are marry'd for when they are marry'd they are usually sent to the Capital or some other principal Cities of the Provinces where they have Palaces built to receive them of an astonishing Magnificence I have seen three several times my self The first in the City of Vu cham Capital of the Province of Hu cham The second in the City of Chim tu Capital of the Province of Sucheuen and the third in the City of Ham Chum a famous City in the Province of Xen si There are others in the City of Si gan Capital of the said Province of Xen si In the City of Pien Leam Capital of the Province of Honan In Kim cheu a considerable City in the Province of Hu quam In Kien cham a remarkable City in the Province of Kiam si In Nam cham Capital of the same Province and in several others All these Palaces though much less than Pe kim were very vast beautifull rich and magnificent They contain'd some ten some twelve some more Apartments with separate Palaces on each side and a double Enclosure of Walls When the Emperour sent his second or third Son to one of these Palaces he gave him the Title of King. For example he gave the Title of Cho vam or King of Cho to him whom he sent to the City of Chim tu Metropolis of the Province of Su chuen because this Province was antiently call'd Cho. Every one of these Kings had a thousand Eunuchs to serve and attend them to take care of their Affairs and receive their Revenues But these Kings had nothing to do in the publick Affairs of the Province Nevertheless the Mandarins were oblig'd to come four times a year
or the Palace of â—…en thousand Sports and Pleasures It stands by the Lake on the North side for so we have plac'd it according to our Authour's description There the King reposes when he goes a Fishing or to take his pleasure by water Q. The seventh Palace call'd Hu chim tien or the Palace of the Tiger Walls There the King breeds up wild Beasts of several sorts and goes to see them himself The situation of this place is not particularly set down by our Authour I have plac'd it in that part which I thought to be the most spacious and most proper between the two Walls R. The eighth Palace call'd the Mansion of Fortress of the Middle appointed for exercising the Eunuchs The situation is not mention'd by the Authour onely he places it between the two Enclosures as well as the other six S. The first Temple of the four most considerable in the Palace it is call'd Tai quam mim or the Palace of great Light and dedicated to the Bear-stars It stands within the inner Enclosure and I have plac'd it on the left side as the most honourable place as being upon the left hand of the Emperour T. The second Temple call'd Tai cao tien or the Temple of the most Illustrious and Sovereign Emperour This Temple is dedicated to that famous deify'd Captain mention'd in the sixteenth Chapter whose Name I could never find nor the precise time of his death I have plac'd the Temple at a venture upon the West side of the Lake because our Authour says no more but onely that it stands between the two Enclosures V. The third Temple call'd Macala tien or the Palace of the Oxe's Head But our Authour does not precisely mark down the situation of it X. The fourth Temple Lama tien the Palace or Temple belonging to the Lama It stands in the Plane as our Authour places it in the Middle of a Rocky Mountain made with hands like a Sugar-loaf with a Tower at the Top. Y. Twenty four Palaces for the Mandarins High Stewards of the Emperour's Houshold I have plac'd them on the East side between the two Enclosures where our Authour places them who makes no particular description of them no more than he does of the other Edifices as Houses of Pleasure Libraries Magazines Offices Stables c. Which makes the curious more desirous of compleater descriptions and more perfect draughts CHAP. XXI Of the Emperour's Temples seated in Pe kim and of the manner how the King goes abroad to perform publick Duties BEsides the Temples which stand in the Palace the Emperour has seven more in each of which he sacrifices once a year Five in the new City and two in the old one The first of these is call'd Tien tam or the Temple of Heaven seated two Chinese Furlongs from the principal Gate of the City a little to the East and encompass'd with a round Wall three furlongs in compass One part of this Area is taken up with very beautifull Buildings The rest with a green and very thick Grove whose Trees are of an extraordinary heighth and render the place no less melancholy and gloomy to us than it seems devout and venerable to the Insidels It has five doors on the South side three in the middle like the Palace which are never open'd but when the King comes to sacrifice and two of each side always open for admittance of all that go to the Temple On the South and North side there are seven separate Apartments Six of which are Halls and Portals as large and magnificent as those of the King's Palace The seventh is a vast and high round Hall which represents Heaven supported by fourscore and two Columns the whole painted within side with Azure and Gold and cover'd with Tiles varnshi'd with blew In this Temple it is that the King sacrifices to Heaven upon the day and at the very moment that the Sun comes to the Winter Solstice attended by all the great Lords and Mandarins of the Court and as for the Victims he offers they are Oxen Hogs Goats and Sheep Great preparations are made for the performance of this Ceremony which is very solemn and the Solemnity carry'd on with no less respect and humility For then the Emperour lays aside his Gold his precious Stones and yellow Robes appearing onely decently habited in a plain of Vestment of black or sky Colour Damask The second Temple is call'g Ti tam or the Temple of the Earth It stands toward the West at a distance answerable to that of the first from which it differs nothing but onely that it is cover'd with Tiles varnish'd with green When the King is Crown'd before he takes possession of the Empire he goes to this Temple where he sacrifices to the God of the Earth Afterwards he puts on the Habit of a Ploughman and with two Oxen with guilded Horns and a Plough varnish'd with Vermillion and Streaks of Gold he sets himself to plough a little piece of Ground that lies within the Enclosure of the Temple While he is busie at his Labour the Queen with her Ladies in another part dress him a poor and homely Dinner which she brings him and which they eat together The ancient Chineses instituted this Ceremony to the End their Kings might remember that their Revenues came from the Labour and Heat of the Peoples Brows and therefore ought to be employ'd in necessary Expences and for the good of the Kingdom not in useless Buildings exorbitant Sports and Pleasures or superfluous Riot To the North of these two Temples stand three more distant two Chinese Furlongs from the Gates and from the Walls on the North East and West sides and which are altogether like the two former That on the North side is call'd Pe tien tan or the North Temple of Heaven Here the King sacrifices at the time of the Summer Solstice and at the time of the Vernal Equinox he sacrifices in the Eastern Temple call'd Ge tam or the Temple of the Sun and to the Autumnal Equinox in the Western Temple which is call'd Yue tam or the Temple of the Moon But before the performance of these Sacrifices the King commands a Fast for three Days to be observ'd in Pe kim during which time they are forbid to eat either Flesh or Fish Nor are the Tribunals especially the Criminal to doe any business Which somewhat resembles our Fast of Ember-weeks I ask'd a learned Man one day what benefit they hop'd to obtain by these Fasts and Sacrifices and how they durst affirm that their King nor Queen ever sacrific'd publickly to Idols since the Heaven the Earth the Sun and Moon were all inanimate Bodies that no way merited Divine Honours and Sacrifices which belong'd onely to God by whom they were created To which he reply'd that the word Heaven had two significations By the first was meant the material Heaven call'd Yeu him chi tien which is that which we see and of which we feel the
effects as we do also of the Sun Moon and Stars but the second signification intended the immaterial Heaven call'd Yeu vu him chi tien which has no shape or figure and which is nothing but the Creatour and Principle of all things This is the Heaven added he to which the Ancient Chineses address'd their Sacrifices and their Fasts to appease his wrath and return him thanks for the Benefits which continually they receive from him all the four Seasons of the year But afterwards as men are naturally blockish and carnal minded they forgot the true Lord of all things and minded onely the material visible Heaven Nevertheless said he when the King sacrific'd in the Temples of Heav'n or Earth the Sun or Moon whose Names were onely us'd to distinguish the Sacrifices and the Seasons he did not sacrifice to those Creatures as the People imagin'd but to the spiritual Heaven The sixth Temple standing in the old City is call'd Ti vam miao or the Temple of all the past Kings This is a large and magnificent Palace with many Apartments Portals Courts and Halls of which the last is as fair as spacious and as well adorn'd as those of the King's Palace There you behold on rich Thrones the Statues of all the Kings of China good and bad for four thousand five hunder'd twenty five years together from the first King nam'd To hi to the last call'd Xum chi the Father of the present Prince This Temple stands in the middle of one of the fairest Streets of the City Which Street is fill'd up in two places by two Triumphal Arches with three Gates high rais'd majestick and worthy to be admir'd All People that pass thorough this Street of what quality so ever alight and walk a foot when they come to these Arches till they are past the Front of the Temple Here the King performs his Annual Ceremonies to his Predecessours once a year But the Ceremonies which are observ'd both in this and all other Solemnities are so numerous and of such various and different Sorts that we should never make an end should we go about to give a full accompt of them all But the Reader may make an easie judgment of their Splendour by what we have related The seventh is call'd Chim hoam miao or the Temple of the Spirit that guards the Walls It stands within the City near the Walls on the West side The King never sacrifices in this Temple but the Mandarins onely Nevertheless this Ceremony is accompted among the Royal Sacrifices as well for that the King is at the Charge as because that he is the Man who names the Persons that are to sacrifice in this place Moreover all the Cities of the Empire have such a Temple as this and seated as this is consecrated to the Spirit that guards the Walls as if we should say dedicated to the Tutelary Angel of every City Thus much for the Emperour's Temples We are now to give an accompt of the Pomp and Magnificence of his Retinue when he stirs out of his Palace There are two occasions that carry the Emperour abroad out of his Palace The first when he goes a hunting or to take the Air which is lookt upon onely as a private Action and then he is attended onely by his Guard the Princes of the Blood and other great Lords who ride before behind or on each side according to their Degrees and Pre-eminency This train does not consist of above two thousand Men all on Horse-back sumptuous in their Habits their Armes and the trappings of their Horses at what time you behold nothing but Silks and Embroideries of Gold and Silver glittering with precious Stones Certainly if a Man do but consider it well I question whether any Prince upon the Earth ever appear'd in his common Cavalcades with a Pomp parallel to what we see at this Court when the Emperour comes forth out of his Palace onely to divertise himself in his Parks and Gardens or onely to hunt for his pleasure in the Countrey The scond occasion is when the Emperour comes forth to perform any Sacrifice or any publick Duty and then his Procession is after this Manner First appear twenty four Men with large Drums in two rows or files of twelve a piece as do all the rest that follow Secondly twenty four Trumpets twelve in a row These Instruments are made of a certain Wood call'd V tum xu highly valu'd by the Chineses who say that when the Bird of the Sun is desirous of repose she pearches upon the Boughs of this Tree These Trumpets are about three foot in length and almost a hands breadth diameter at the Mouth They are shap'd like a Bell adorn'd with Circles of Gold and pleasingly accord with the noise and beat of the Drums Thirdly twenty four men with long staves twelve in a row which staves are seven or eight foot in length varnish'd with red and from one end to the other adorn'd with guilt Foliage Fourthly a hunder'd Halbardeers fifty in a row with the heads of their Halbards in the form of a Crescent Fifthly a hunder'd Men carrying Maces of guilt Wood fifty in a row with staves as long as a lance Sixthly two Royal Poles call'd Cassi varnish'd with red intermix'd with Flowers and gilt at both Ends. Seventhly four hunder'd large Lanthorns richly adorn'd and all curious pieces of Workmanship Eighthly four hunder'd Flambeaux delicately trimm'd and carv'd and made of a certain sort of Wood that gives a great light that lasts long Ninthly two hunder'd Lances adorn'd below the steel heads some with silk Fringes others with the tails of Panthers Wolves Foxes or other Beasts Tenthly twenty four Banners upon which are painted the twenty four Signs of the Zodiack which the Chineses divide into twenty four parts whereas we divide it into no more than twelve ' Leventhly fifty six Banners wherein are painted fifty six Constellations under which the Chineses comprehend the whole Number of the Stars Twelfthly two large Flabels supported by long Poles gilded and painted with various Figures of the Sun Dragons Birds and other Creatures Thirteenthly twenty four Umbrello's richly adorn'd and they that carry them two and two together as I said before Fourteenthly eight Sorts of Utensils for the King 's ordinary Use and Occasions as a Table Cloath a Bason of Gold and an Eure of the same Metal with several other things of the same Nature Fifteenthly ten Horses as white as Snow with their Saddles and Bridles adorn'd with Gold Pearls and precious Stones Sixteenthly a hunder'd Lanciers and on both sides within side of them the Pages of the Emperour's Chamber and in the middle between them the Emperour himself with an Air majestick and grave mounted upon a lovely Steed and cover'd with a Parasol or Umbrello beautifull and costly beyond the belief of those that never beheld it and so large that it shades both the Emperour and his Horse Seventeenthly the Princes of the Blood the petty
Kings and a great Number of the most Eminent Lords magnificently clad and rang'd on both sides in ranks and files according to their Dignities Eighteenthly five hunder'd young Gentlemen belonging to the Emperour richly habited Nineteenthly a thousand Men five hunder'd in a Body call'd Hiao guei that is to say Footmen clad in red Robes embroider'd with Flowers and Stars of Gold and Silver with long streight plumes of feathers in their Bonnets Twentiethly an open Chair or Litter carry'd by thirty six Men attended by another close Litter as big as a Chamber and carry'd by a hunder'd and twenty Men. One and twentiethly two vast Chariots each of them drawn by two Elephants Two and twentiethly a large Chariot drawn by eight Horses and another lesser by four All these Chariots are sumptuously lin'd the Elephants and Horses richly caparison'd and the Governours and Coachmen in costly Liveries and every Litter and every Chariot is attended by a Captain with fifty Souldiers Three and twentiethly two thousand learned Mandarins a thousand in a Body Four and twentiethly two thousand Military Mandarins both the one and the other gorgeously apparell'd in their Ceremony-Robes and these last bring up the Emperour's Train and conclude the Pomp. Notes upon the twenty first Chapter And upon the Emperour 's seven Temples standing in the two Cities Z. Five Temples seated in the new City The first call'd Tien tam or the Temple of Heaven standing as our Authour says two Chinese furlongs from the Principal Gate of the City that is to say from the South Gate a little toward the East It is encompass'd with a round Wall three furlongs in Circumference The rest is to be seen in the Plane There the King sacrifices to the Winter Solstice The four other Temples are built altogether like the first The second call'd Ti tam or Temple of the Earth is seated toward the West at a distance from the Principal Gate proportionable to that of the first Here the Emperour sacrifices to the God of the Earth upon the day of his Coronation The third is about two Furlongs distant from the North Gate and is call'd Pe tien tam or the North Temple of Heaven Here the King sacrifices to the Summer Solstice The fourth is about two Furlongs distant from the East Gate and is call'd Ge tam or the Temple of the Sun where the King sacrifices to the Vernal Equinox The fifth is two Furlongs distant from the Western Gate and is call'd Yue tam or the Temple of the Moon where the King sacrifices to the Autumnal Equinox If we must allow sixteen Furlongs in length to the new City according to the Opinion of F. Adam these two Temples ought to be plac'd farther to keep the same distance of two Furlongs from the East and West Gates 1. Two Temples standing on the old City The first call'd Ti vam miao or the Temple of all the deceas'd Kings This is a spacious and magnificent Palace in the chief great Room of State of which are to be seen the Statues of all the Kings of China good and bad from King Fo hi seated all upon Thrones Our Authour mentioning the Situation of it says no more than onely this that it stands in one of the fairest Streets of the City between two Triumphal Arches which are mark'd down in the Plane So that this Temple must not be plac'd to the South of the Palace in regard that space is taken up with the outermost Courts and first Apartments of the Palace Nor did I think it proper to place it toward the West in regard the following Temple is plac'd there nor toward the North which among the Chineses is the meanest place in the City and therefore I have plac'd it toward the East in the Street which is next the East Gate of the Palace 2. The second Temple is call'd Chim hoam miao or the Temple of the Spirit that guards the Walls I have plac'd it according to our Authour within side and near to the Walls Here the King never sacrifices himself but onely the Mandarins A A. The six supream Tribunals of the Learned Mandarins describ'd by our Authour in Chap. 13. He says they are plac'd according to their Order near the King's Palace upon the East side so many spacious square Edifices which have every one three Divisions of Apartments c. I have very near represented them in the same manner placing the first near the inner Apartments of the Palace where the Emperour himself resides The first Li pu has the Oversight of all the Mandarins of the Empire Four inferiour Tribunals belong to this which assemble together in the same Palace in two Rows of Apartments that are to be seen upon the right and left hand the middlemost being appointed for the supream Tribunal And it is the same thing with the other five where the middlemost is still the supream and the inferiour on each side A A 2. The second Hu pu has the Oversight of the Exchequer with fourteen inferiour Tribunals one for every one of the Provinces of China that of Pe kim having no particular Tribunal by reason of the Dignity of that Province where the Court resides A A 3. The third Tribunal Li pu that has the ordering of Ceremonies Sciences Arts c. with four inferiour Tribunals A A 4. The fourth Tribunal Pim pu that has the Care of Warlike Arms and Provisions with four Tribunals under it A A 5. The fifth Tribunal Him pu that judges without appeal of all Crimes committed in the Empire with fourteen Tribunals inferiour to it A A 6. The sixth Tribunal which has the Oversight of the publick Works with four Tribunals inferiour to it B B. The five Tribunals of the Military Mandarins seated to the West of the Royal Palace Our Authour speaks nothing particularly either of their situation or fabrick But 't is very probable they are all built like the former The first which we may suppose to stand most to the North Heu fu or the Reregard The second Tso fu or the left Wing the third Yeu fu or the right Wing The fourth Chum fu or the main Battle The fifth Cien fu or the Vanguard Neither does F. Magaillans speak any thing of the situation of many other Tribunals in Pe kim of which he gives the Description But most certainly they stand in those places where he says in general that there are Palaces and Tribunals in such Streets as in the Street of Perpetual Repose and in other parts mark'd down in the Plane We have nothing to observe upon the Emperour's Pomp when he stirs abroad out of his Palace but onely this that the Description of Father Adam is much after the same Manner THE END An Aridgment of the Life and Death of F. Gabriel Magaillans of the Society of Jesus Missionary into China written by F. Lewis Buglio his inseparable Companion for six and thirty Years and sent from Pe Kim in the Year 1677.
third Order his Assistants one of the fourth the other of the fifth and all the rest of the Mandarins which are very numerous of the seventh Order The Mandarins of the Tribunal Tai po su are of the same Orders with those before mention'd Their business it is to take care of the Horses as well for the King's service as for the Wars To which purpose they send their Agents and their Messengers to buy up such numbers as are necessary which they send afterwards to the Tribunal of War to which this Tribunal is an Assistant who distributes them to the Commanders and into the Fortresses of the Frontiers During the Government of the Chineses those Horses were all bought up in the several Provinces but now the Western Tarters bring them to the Court and the Emperour buys every year seventy thousand besides what the great Lords the Commanders the Souldiers the learned Mandarins and the people buy which amount to double or treble the number By which a man may judge of the vast number of Horses at the Court which I dare not presume to mention for fear it should be thought incredible Kin Tien Kien is the Tribunal of the Mathematicks The President of which is of the fifth Order his two Assessors of the sixth and the rest of the Mandarins of the seventh and eighth They apply themselves to Astronomy and it is their business to give the King notice of the time and Day of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon and whether total or in part of which the Emperour sends word to all the Tribunals of the Province by the grand Tribunal of Ceremonies to the end they may prepare themselves for the performance of the usual Ceremonies which consist in their beating of Drums during the Eclipse the Mandarins kneeling all the while and fixing their eyes upon the Skie with a most awfull reverence This Tribunal also composes the Kalendar which is printed every year and distributed over all the Empire neither is it lawfull to make any other which is a thing forbidden under the for feiture of life The Tribunal call'd Tai Y Yuen or the Tribunal of Physick is compos'd of the Kings Queens and Prince's Physicians They also take care of all others whom the King out of his especial grace and favour orders them to visit and prepare the Medicins themselves The Mandarins of this are of the same order as are those of the preceding Tribunal and both belong to the Grand Tribunal of Ceremonies The Tribunal Hum Lu Su supplies the Office of Groom Porter and Master of the Ceremonies which are observ'd when the King gives audience or when he comes into the Royal Hall to receive the Homages of the Grandees and Mandarins This Tribunal is an assistant to that of the Ceremonies the President being of the fourth Order the Assessors of the fifth and sixth and the rest of the Mandarins of the seventh and eighth The Tribunal call'd Xam len Yuen takeâ—… care of the Gardens Orchards and Parks as also of the breeding of the Cattel Sheep Pigs Wild Ducks Fowl and all sorts of Creatures which are made use of in the Royal Sacrifices Feasts and Royal Inns. It is under the Jurisdiction of the Tribunal of Ceremonies and the Mandarins are of the same Order with those of the Tribunals of the Mathematicks and Physick The Tribunal Xam pao su lodges in the Palace Royal. It takes care of the Emperour's Seal which is made of a most excellent and precious Stone as the signification of the two Syllables Xam pao denotes It is square and almost a hands breadth in Diameter When any Tribunal has an occasion to make use of it this Tribunal is oblig'd to give notice to the King and after it has been made use of and is lock'd up again they are bound to give the King notice of that too They are entrusted to have ready at all times the Seals of all the Tribunals of the Court and Empire and to order what Letters and Marks are to be grav'd upon them when the King conâ—…ers any new Title or any Employment upon any person or when upon some reason of State he is pleas'd to change the Seals When the Grand Tribunal of Mandarins has any occasion to confer Commands and give Dispatches to the Mandarins of the Court or Provinces they send for them to this Tribunal after they have obtain'd leave of the Emperour The President of this Court has but one Assessor but they are both Doctours and of the fifth Order The rest are of the number of those that have been made Mandarins out of Favour and are onely of the seventh or eighth Order The Tribunal call'd Kin y guei or of the Royal Guard is compos'd of several hundreds of Military Mandarins divided into four Classe's They of the first Classis are of the second Order of Mandarins those of the second of the third they of the third are of the fourth and those of the fourth Classis are of the fifth Order Their Employment is to guard the Person of the King when he goes out of his Palace or gives Audience to the Grandees and Mandarins and upon this Tribunal it is that he relies for the apprehending and arresting of Persons considerable for their Birth or Dignity They are generally the Sons of great Mandarins Brothers or otherwise of kin to the Queen or Sons or Nephews of the King's Sons or Sons or Nephews of the Mandarins who have perform'd great Services in consideration of which the King bestows that Favour vpon them They are never advanc'd to other Tribunals like the rest of the Mandarins who change continually from one Tribunal to another However they are preferr'd in their own Tribunal and frequently to the dignity of Xam xu which is the Title of the Presidents of the six superiour Tribunals and many times to the dignity of Colao or Counsellors of State. They are greatly feared and respected by reason of their Employments and their Nobility and for that they are always near the Person of the King. And though they are Military Mandarins they are exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Pim pu or supream Tribunal of Arms as being onely subject to the King To this Tribunal belong two inferiour Tribunals that abide in particular places The first is call'd Nan Chin or the Watch Tower of the South The second Pe chin or Watch Tower of the North. The Presidents of these two Tribunals are of the fifth Order and the inferiour Mandarins which are very numerous are all of the seventh Order The Employment of the Mandarins of the first Tribunal is to attend those who are sent to apprehend any great Lords and of the second to receive and guard the Prisoners while in custody till they are releas'd by the King's Order or deliver'd over to the Tribunal of Crimes The two Tribunals call'd Xui que su are properly Directors of the Audits of the Tolls which all things pay that are brought to Pekim and sold
have they any Right of succession to the Crown though they should have several heirs males which custom is also observ'd among the people For in China to marry a Daughter is to exclude her for ever from her Fathers Family and graft her into the Family of her Husband whose Sir Name she assumes at the same time instead of her own Thence it comes to pass that the Chineses when they would say that a Maid is ally'd to the Family of her Husband never make use of the word Kin to goe but of the word Quei to return asmuch as to say she is not gon but is return'd to her Family Thus they explain themselves also when they speak of the dead for they do not say such a one is dead but such a one is returned to the earth By the same reason when a Grandfather speaks of the Children of his Son he calls them barely Sun Su my Grand Children but when he speaks of his Daughters Children he calls them Vai Sun Su my Grand Children without for they look upon them to be of the Son in Laws Family The second sort of the King's Kindred by the Female side are the Fathers Brothers Uncles and other Kindred of the Queen the King's Sons in Law their Fathers Brothers Uncles and other Kindred Out of these two sorts the King makes choice of some of the most considerable to compose this Tribunal and to act the same things as the Officers of the Tribunal of the Royal Bloud They differ onely in this that the latter are of none of the nine Orders the former are Mandarins of the first and second Order Though they esteem much more honourable the Titles of Hoam Cin and Fu Ma or the King's Kindred than that of Mandarin though of the first order But this second sort of Kindred was also extirpated by the Tartars with the preceding Family Thus far concerning the Tribunals of the Mandarins and of the Government of the Court. We are now to give a short accompt of the Tribunals of the Provinces Notes upon the fourteenth Chapter He causeth a choice to be made at Pe Kim of several young Gentlemen c. Here we are to observe that in this place the Author onely speaks of what was practis'd in the time of the Chinese Emperours for the Tartar Emperours have alter'd this Custome and never marry their Daughters but to Kings Princes or Great Lords as our Author himself acknowledges a little lower CHAP. XV. TO every one of the fifteen Provinces there belongs a supream Tribunal which has the oversight of all the rest The President bears the Titles of Tu Tam Kiun Muen Tu Yuen Siun Fu with several other names which all signifie no more than Governour of a Province or Viceroy with us These Presidents are of the first second or third order according as the King is pleas'd to regulate them when he sends them into the Provinces They are intrusted with the whole Government as well in times of Peace as in War and with the command of the People and Souldiers as well in civil as criminal matters They give notice to the King and the six superiour Tribunals of all matters of importance On the other side all the Kings orders and dispatches with those of the Superiour Tribunals are directed to this Tribunal and all the Mandarins of the Province are bound to repair to this Tribunal in all affairs of moment There are other Viceroys that govern two three or four Provinces and are call'd Tsum To as Leam Quam Tsum To or Viceroy of the Provinces of Quam Tum and Quam Si. Quam Tum signifies the Province extended toward the East and Quam si the Province extended toward the West There are other such like Viceroys in China as in the Provinces bordering upon Tartary and other places of importance And besides the Viceroy there is in every Province a Visiter call'd Ngan Tai or Ngan Yuen of which we have spoken formerly Lastly there is a third considerable Officer call'd Tsum pim who commands all the Forces of the Province and is of the first Order of Mandarins These three supream Presidents of the Tribunals of the Provinces have under them several inferiour Mandarins who assist them in the dispatch of business and though these three Tribunals general have their Palaces in the Capital City nevertheless they are not always resident there but keep their Circuits from place to place as business requires But for the particular Tribunals of the Capital Cities they are these that follow Every Capital City has two Tribunals in which properly consists the whole Government of the Province the one for Civil the other for criminal affairs The first is call'd Pu chim su the President of which is a Mandarin of the first degree of the second Order The Palace belonging to this Tribunal like those at the Court contains on both sides two other Tribunals which are not inferiour but Assistants to the first Tribunal That on the left hand is the most considerable and is call'd Tsan chim having two Presidents both of the second degree of the third Order The other on the right hand is call'd Tsan y the Presidents of which are both equal and of the second degree of the fourth Order To all these three Tribunals belong a great number of inferiour Mandarins call'd Xeu lien quen whose business it is to decide all Civil matters and to pay and receive all the Revenues of the Province The Criminal Tribunal is call'd Nghan cha su and the President who is of the third Order has no Assessors but two Classes of Mandarins under him Those of the first Classis who are call'd To su are of the fourth Order They of the second Classis who are call'd Cien su are of the fifth Order and the Mandarins of these two Classes are call'd Tao li or Tao tusâ—… These Tao li are the Visiters of all the Quarters of the Province in which they have their Tribunals Some of them take care of the Post Horses the Royal Inns and the King's Barks so far as their Jurisdiction reaches and are call'd Ye chuen tao Others that are call'd Pim pi tao are intrusted to inspect the several Troops and Companies of the Province others to drain the Lands and level the Highways who are call'd Tun tien tao This Tribunal has power to punish Criminals by banishment as also by confiscation of Goods and loâ—…s of Life And if there be no Visiter in the Province it has an eye over all the other Mandarins and gives notice to the King of what passes in the Province when business requires their information In a word these two Tribunals do the Office of the six supream Tribunals of the Court and are as it were their Substitutes Every Province is divided into Districts and to every District belongs a Mandarin call'd Tao â—…i who is as it were a Visiter or Inspeâ—…er into the manners and behaviour of the Officers within his