besides the Ear which is at least 3 foot in height This My Lord I own is surprising and could scarce be believed had we not Father Verbiest's word for it who himself has exactly measured them But as much as their Bells exceeds ours in bigness so much do ours exceed them in Sound whether our Metal or Cast be better Be pleased however to read what Father Magalbaens writes of that which is in the Palace at Pekin It s sound says he is so clear so pleasant and â—armonious that it seems to proceed from a Musical Instrument much rather than a Bell. All this must be understood comparatively and perhaps the Author had never heard any thing of that kind like it As for my part all the Bells I have heard there have seemed to me to make but a dull obscure noise as one may easily imagine for their Clappers are not made of Iron but Wood. However the thing be for it deserves not a longer Enquiry it is certain that the Chinese have in all their Cities very big ones with which they distinguish the Watches of the Night Of these they usually reckon five from seven or eight of the Clock in the Evening They begin the first with striking once which they repeat a moment after and so on till the second Watch when they strike two strokes at the third three and so on So that these Bells are as so many repeating Clocks which every other moment inform you what time of Night it is They also use for the same purpose a very great Drum which they beat in the same manner These two Imperial Cities which I have now been describing might alone render China deservedly famous but the Metropolis of most Provinces are so big that each were fit to be the Chief of an Empire Signanfou the Capital City of Chensi is three Leagues round I have had the Curiosity to measure it my self which was not difficult the Walls which inclose it making an exact Square Its Ditches which are partly dry and partly filled with water are very fine its Walls thick and tall as well as the square Towers that defend them its Bulworks very broad and its Gates at least some most stately and like those at Pekin The City is divided into two Parts by an Earthen Wall which runs almost from one End to the other The one half is inhabited by the Tartarâ— who keep the biggest Garrison tho' in the other where the Chinese dwell there be also a good Body of Troops There may still be seen an old Palace the former Residence of the ancient Kings of that Country who were powerful not only because of the vast Extent of their Dominions but also thro' the Bravery and Courage of their Subjects for among all the Chinese there are not any better proportioned or more strong stout and laborious than these As for the Houses they are as every where else in China low and not over-well built their Furniture is not so neat as in the Southern Parts their Varnish not so smooth their China so abundant or their Workmen so ingenious Hamt-câ—éou the Chief City of the Province of Chekiam is also one of the richest and greatest in the Empire The Chinese say it is four Leagues round and I believe they tell no lye The Streets are as full of People as at Paris and the Suburbs besides being very large and the Canals crowded with an infinite number of Boats I believe it to be as populous as the greatest Cities in Europe The Garrison consists in 10000 Men 3000 of which are Chinese The Water of their Canals is not clear nor their Streets broad but the Shops are neat and the Merchants there are reputed to be very rich Eastwards from the City runs a River half a League broad being near the Sea but indeed not very considerable for a little higher it is but an useless Torrent which runs thro' abundance of Rocks A Lake lyes close to it to the Westwards which at most is two Leagues round The Water is clear but very shallow Deep enough however for some large Flat-bottom'd Boats which the Chinese keep there like so many floating Islands where their young People take their Pleasure themselves In the middle stands an Island where they usually land having built there a Temple and some Houses for their Diversion Of this Lake some Relations have made an Inchanted Place I have read that it was built round with stately Houses and noble Palaces This might be but if true a great care was certainly taken that not so much as the least Track or Memory of it should remain But perhaps they gave that Name to some Wooden thatched Dwellings in which China does every where abound then indeed a short while might make great Alterations for Time needs not use it 's utmost Efforts to pull them down However if this City is not so eminent for Buildings it is commendable for being one of the best situated in the Empire for the prodigious Number of its Inhabitants the Conveniency of its Canals and the great Traffick which is made there in the finest Silks in the World What is surprising in China is That whereas being gone thro' one of these Cities you would scarce expect to meet with the like you are hardly out of sight of it before you are in view of such another As for example Going along the great Canal from Hamt-chéou you come to Sout-chéou which is not far from it and if you believe the Inhabitants containâ— four Leagues in Circuit being indeed of a vast Extent It is also the usual Residence of a Viceroy and has as great a Trade as any City in the Empire I do not find it to be proportionably as Populous as those I have mentioned but the Suburbs and multitude of Boats amaze new Comers Those who have the Paâ—ience to spend a few Minutes on the Water-side and view the Throngs of People that come to cheapen Commodities would imagine it to be a Fair to which the whole Empire were crowding and the Officers there tho' not over strict are so busied in receiving the Customs that they are obliged to put off to the next day a great many Traders who come to make their Payments This continual Hurry among the most covetous Nation in the World should occasion frequent Quarrels but their Government is so good and the Mandarines Orders so strictly observed that besides Abusive Language in which the Chinese are very fluent other Injuries are seldom offered Not far from Sout-chéâ—u you meet with other Cities at small Distances from each other some a League and a half and some two Leagues round As soon as you are come to the River Kiam you meet with Shin Kiamson a Town built on its Banks one of whose very Suburbs which lyes North-west is a large German League in Circuit This Place is so Populous that when I passed thro' it it was no small trouble to me to make my way thro' the
them in Case of Necessity Besides that they have every where in Châ—nsi and Chansi for want of Rain certain Pits from Twenty to an Hundred foot deep from which they draw Water by an incredible Toil. Now if by chance they meet with a Spring of Water it is worth observing how cunningly they husband it they Sustain it by Banks in the highest places they turn it here and there an Hundred different ways that all the Country may reap the benefit of it they divide it by drawing it by degrees according as every one hath occasion for it insomuch that a small Rivulet well managed does sometimes produce the Fertility of a whole Province The Rivers of China are no less considerable then its Canals there are two especially which the Relations have made famous The first is called Kiam or Yamçe which they commonly Translate the Son of the Sea But I am afraid they are mistaken for the Letter the Chineses use for to write Yam is different from that which signifies the Sea altho' the Sound and Pronunciation may have some Affinity Amongst several significations that this Letter may have that which they gave it in former times makes for our purpose Under the Reign of the Emperor Yon it signified a Province of China limitted by this River on the North and it is somewhat probable that they gave this same Name to the River because that Prince drain'd all the Water that overflow'd the whole Country into it This Floud takes its rise in the Province of Yunnan crosses the Provinces of Soutchouen Houquam and Nankin and after it hath watered four Kingdoms far and wide for 400 Leagues together it disimbogues into the East-Sea over against the Isle of Tçoummim cast up at its Mouth by the Sands which it carries along with it the Chineses have a Proverb amongst them that says The Sea hath no bounds and the Kiam hath no bottom And in truth in some places there is none to be found in others they pretend there is Two or Three hundred Fathom water I am nevertheless perswaded that their Pilots that carry not above Fifty or Sixty Fathom Cord at longest never had the Curiosity to Sound so deep as Three hundred Fathom and the impossibility of finding the bottom with their ordinary Plummet is sufficient in my opinion to incline them to such like Hyperboly's I have many times sailed upon this River I have moreover taken a diligent account of its Course and Breadth from Nankin to the Mouth of another River into which Men enter to pursue the way to Canton It is off of Nankin Thirty Leagues from the Sea a little half League broad the Passage along it is come dangerous and becomes more and more infamous every day for its Shipwracks In its Course which is exceeding rapid it forms a great number of Isles all of them very beneficial to the Province by reason of that multitude of Bull-rushes Ten or Twelve foot high that it produceth serving for Fuel to all the Cities thereabouts for they have scarce Wood enough for Buildings and Shâ—ips They yield a great Revenew and the Emperor draws considerable Duties from them The River which the Torrents of the Mountains do sometimes swell extraordinarily grow so rapid that many times they bear away the Isles with them or lessen them by the half and for the same reason form other new ones in some other place and one cannot but admire to see them change place in such a short time just as if by diving they had past under Water from one place to another that does not always come to pass But there is observed such considerable Change every year that the Mandarins least they should be mistaken get them to be measured every Three years to augment or diminish the Imposts and Duties according to the Condition they are found to be in The second River of China is called Hoamho as much as to say The yellow River because the Earth it sweeps away with it especially in times of great Rains give it that Colour I have seen a greâ—t many others whose Waters at certain Seasons of the year are so over-charged with slime and so gross and thick that they rather resemble Torrents of Mud than real Rivers The Hoamho takes its source at the Extremity of the Mountains that bound the Province of Soutchouen in the West From thence it throws it self into Tartary where it flows for some time all along the great Wall at which it re-enters China between the Province of Chansi and Chensi After that it waters the Province of Honan and when it hath run cross one part of the Province of Nankin and flowed above Six hundred Leagues into the Land it disimbogues at length into the East-Sea not far from the Mouth of Kiam I have crost it and coasted it in divers places it is every where very broad and rapid yet neither deep nor navigable to speak of This River hath in former times caused great Desolation in China and they are still forced to this very day to keep up the Waters in certain places by long and strong Banks which notwithstanding does not exempt the Cities thereabouts from Apprehensions of Inundation So likewise have they been careful in the Province of Honan the Ground lying very low thereabouts to surround the greatest part of the Cities about a Mile from the Walls with a Terrace cased with Turf to prevent being surprised by Accidents and Casualties in case the Bank be broken as happened about Fifty two years ago For the Emperor endeavouring to force a Rebel who for a long time laid close Siege to the City of Honan to draw off caused one part of the Banks to be broken down thereby to drown the adverse Army But the Relief he afforded the City proved more fatal than â—he Fury of the Besiegers would have been the whole Province almost was laid under Water together with many Cities and abundance of Villages above Three hundred thousand Persons drowned in the Metropolis amongst whom were some of our Missionaries who at that time had a numerous Flock of Christians there they and their Church lost their Lives The Low Country ever since is become a kind of a Marsh or Lake not but that they have some design to repair this loss but the Undertaking is difficult and very expensive The Sovereign Court that takes care of Publick Works importuned the Emperor more than once to send Father Verbiest thither and peradventure that Prince would have consented thereto at last but he discovered that the Mandarins made use of this pretence to remove the Father at a distance from Court and that their Design was to engage him in a difficult Enterprise that was enough to destroy him or out of which he could never have disintangled himself with any honour There is to be seen in China abundance of other Rivers less Famous but yet more Commodious for Commerce and Trade Since they afford nothing uncommon
inclosed within a Rhind divided into three Segments which open when it is ripe and discover three white Kernels of the bigness of a small Nuâ— All the Branches are very thick of it and this mixture of white and red makes at a distance the finest Prospect in the World the Fields where these Trees are planted which they usually are in a direct Line and Checker-wise shewing afar off like a vast Parterre of Flower-Pots But the wonder is that this Kernel has all the qualities of Tallow its Odour Colour and Consistency and they also make Candles of it mixing only a little Oyl when they melt it to make the Stuff more pliant If they knew how to purifie it as we do our Tallow here I doubt not but their Candles might be as good as ours but they make them very awkwardly so that their Smell is much stronger their Smoak thicker and their Light dimmer than ours It is true the Fault does not a little lye in the Wiek for instead of Cotton tho' they are well stocked with that Commodity they use a small stick of a dry light Wood wrapt round with the inner part of a Rush which is very porous and thereby â—itted for the Filtration of the small Particles of that greasie Matter by which the Flame is preserved This wooden Wiek besides that it does not burn so clear as Cotton increases the Smoak and causes an offensive Smell Among the Trees peculiar to the Country I am speaking of I must not omit those which bear Pepper not like that which we make use of in Europe but another sort of Seeds indued with the same qualities They grow on a Tree like those who bear our Walnuts about as big as a Pea and of a greyish Colour with little red streaks When they are ripe they open of themselves and discover a little Stone as black as Jet casting so strong a smell very offensive to the Head for which reason they gather them by inteâ—vals not being able to remain on the Tree any considerable time Having exposed these Grains to the Sun they cast away the Stone which is too hot aâ—â— strong and only use the rest which tho' not quite so agreeable as our Pepper is however of good use in Sauces I shall add My Lord that you may better judge of the Feâ—tility of that vast Empire that there is no place in the World like it for the abundance of Roots and Pulse it is almost the only Food of the Inhabitants who omit nothing to have them good It would be too tedious to give you a List of all those different Herbs for besides those we have here their Ground brings forth several others unknown to us on which they set a greater value Their Care and Dexterity herein is beyond all our Gardners performances and if our Parterre excels theirs they exceed us in their Kitchin Garden Tho' this Subject common in it self and not worth your notice yields no great Rarity I cannot forbear speaking of a kind of Onions which I have seen they do not seed like ours but towards the latter end of the Season their Leaves bear some small Filaments in the midst of which is a white Onion like that in the Ground This does in time produce its Leaves and those a like Head and so on which grow less and shorter as they are farther from the Ground the Dimensions are so just and the Proportions so exact that one would think them Artificially done and it seems as if nature were minded to shew us that even Sporting it can exceed the Skill of the nicest Artist If what has been written of what they call Petsi were true it would be a great wonder It is a kind of Lenufar that grows under Water whose Root is fastned to a white Matter covered with a red Skin that divides it self into several Heads which when fresh taste like a small Nut. I have been assured that it has this Property that it softens Brass and as it were renders it eatable if a piece of the Metal be put into the Mouth with one of this Plant. This seemed the stranger to me because the Juice which issues from it is very mild and cooling and not endued with any of those Corrosive qualities which seem necessary to work such an Effect As soon as we were arrived at Hamt chéou where this Petsi is much eaten we had the Curiosity to enquire into the truth of it and to that purpose took a piece of their Money which was made of a very brittle sort of Molten Brass and wrapt it up in a slice of this Root One of us who had stronger Teeth than the rest broke it into several pieces which the others loath to strain their Jaws had not been able to do But these broken pieces were as hard as ever which made us think that the Root had indeed no other Virtue then that by being wrapt up round the Brass it saved his Teeth which a piece of Leather might have done as well We often repeated the Experiment at Kiahin but with no better success so true it is that these mighty Wonders should be heard twice before they are once believed Tho' China were not of it self so fruitful a Country as I have represented it the Canals which are cut thro' it were alone sufficient to make it so But besides their great usefulness in that and the way of Trade they add also much Beauty to it They are generally of a clear deep and running Water that glides so softly that it can scarce be perceived There is one usually in every Province which is to it instead of a Road and runs between two Banks built up with flat course Marble Stones bound together by others which are let into them in the same manner as we use to fasten our strong wooden Boxes at the Corners So little Care was taken during the Wars to preserve Works of Publick Use that this tho' one of the Noblest in the Empire was spoiled in several places which is a great pity for they are of no little use both to keep in the Waters of these Canals and for those to walk on who drag the Boats along Besides these Cawseys they have the conveniency of a great many Bridges for the Communication of the opposite Shoars some are of three some five and some seven Arches the middlemost being always extraordinaâ—y high that the Boats may go through without putting down their Masts These Arches are built with large pieces of Stone or Marble and very well fâ—amed the Supporters well fitted and the Piles so small that one would think them at a distance to hang in the Air. These are frequently met with not being far asunder and the Canal being strait as they usually are it makes a Prospective at once stately and agreeable This great Canal runs out into smaller ones on either side which are again subdivided into small Rivâ—lets that end at some great Town or Village Sometimes
Sciatica A great many say that it dries makes lean and that it obstructs and that if there be any good qualities in it the most part of other leaves would in a manner produce the same effect These Experiments evince that its Virtue is not so Universal as People imagine So that in my opinion one should speak moderately of it both as to its good and bad qualities Perhaps warm Water alone is a good Medicine against Distempers the cure of which they attribute to Thee And there are several People that are exempt from many Inconveniencies because they are used to drink warm Liquors Nevertheless it is certain that Thee is of a corosive nature for it attenuates hard Victuals wherewith it is boiled and consequently is proper for digestion that is to say for dissolution That very thing proves that it resists Obstructions and that Liquors impregnated with its Particles or Salts carry off and more easily separate all that which adheres to the Tunicks of the Vessels This very quality is proper to consume superfluous Humours to put into motion those that stagnate and corrupt to evacuate others that cause the Gout and Sciatica So that Thee with caution is a very good Remedy altho' it be not so effectual nor universal but that the temperament of certain Persons the height of the Distemper together with certain occult Dispositions may many times retard the Effect or even frustrate its Virtue To use it with benefit it is requisite to know it for there is more than one sort of it That of the Province of Chensi is course harsh and unpleasant The Tartars drink of it There is necessary to them a stronger Menstruum than to the Chineses by reason of the crude Flesh they feed on It is exceeding cheap in the Country and a pound of it will cost Three pence In this same Province there is found a particular Species of it more resembling Moss than the Leaves of a Tree and they pretend that the oldest is of excellent use in Acute Distempers They likewise administer to sick People a third sort whose Leaves are very long and thick and its goodness increases in proportion to its being kept but that is not the Thee in use That which they commonly drink in China hath no particular Name because it is gather'd hand over head in different Territories and Soils It is good the Infusion is reddish the Taste faint and somewhat bitter The People use it indifferently at all hours of the day and it is their most usual drink But Persons of Quality use two other kinds that are in request in China The first is called Thee Soumlo it is the name of the Place where it is gathered the Leaves are somewhat long the Infusion clear and green when it is fresh the Taste pleasant it smells as they say in France a little of Violets but this Taste is not natural and the Chineses have often assured me that to be good it ought to have no Taste at all This is that they commonly present at Visits but it is exceeding corosive perhaps the Sugar they mix with it here corrects its Acrimony but in China where it is drunk pure too great a use of it would be apt to spoil the Stomach The second kind is called Thee Voiii the Leaves that are little and inclining to black tinge the Water with a yellow Colour The Taste is delicious and the weakest Stomach agrees with it at all times In winter it is to be used temperately but in Summer one cannot drink too much It is especially good in Sweating after Travelling Running or any other violent Exercise They give of it also to sick People and those who have any Care of their Health drink no other When I was at Siam I heard them often talk of the Flower of Thee of Imperial Tâ—ee and of several other sorts of Thee the price of which was yet more extraordinary than the Properties they ascribe to it but in China I heard no such thing Generally speaking that the Thee may excel it ought to be gathered early when the Leaves are yet small tender and juicy They begin commonly to gather it in the Months of March and April according as the Season is forward they afterward expose them to the steam of boiling Water to soften them again so soon as they are penetrated by it they draw them over Copper-plates kept on the fire which dries them by degrees till they grow brown and rowl up of themselves in that manner we see them If the Chineses were not such great Cheats their Thee would be better but they oftentimes mix other Herbs with it to swell the size at a small charge and so get more Money by it So that it is a rare thing to meet with any purely without mixture It commonly grows in Valleys and at the foot of Mountains tâ—e choicest grows in stony Soils that which is planted in light Grounds holds the second rank The least of all is found in yellow Earth but in what place soever it is cultivated â—are must be taken to expose it to the South it gets more strength by that and bears Three years after being sowen Iâ—s Root resembles that of a Peach Tree and its Flowers resemble white wild Roses The Trees grow of all sizes from two foot to an hundred and some are to be met with that two Men can scarce grasp in their Arms this is what the Chinese Herbal relates But this is what I have seen Entring upon the Province of Fokien they first made me observe Thee upon the declining of a little Hill it was not above five or six foot high several Stalks each of which was an inch thick joyned together and divided at the top into a many small Branches composed a kind of Cluster much what like our Myrtle The Trunk tho' seemingly dry yet bore very green Branches and Leaves These Leaves were drawn out in length at the point pretty strait an inch or an inch and an half long and indented in their whole Circumference The oldest seemed somewhat white without they were hard brittle and bitter The new ones on the contrary were soft plyable reddish smooth transparent and pretty sweet to the Taste especially after they had been a little chewed It being the Month of September I found three sorts of Fruit. In the new Branches there were little slimy Pease green without and full of yellow Grains within In others the Fruit is as big as Beans but of different Figures some round containing a Pea others drawn out in length that contained two some others of a Triangular Figure bore three very like to those that bear the Tallow-grain so famous in China The first Membrane or Skin wherewith these Grains are infolded is green very thick and somewhat even The second is white and thinner under which a third very fine Pellicle covers a kind of Gland or small Nâ—t perfectly round that sticks to the Bark by a little Fibre from whence
the whole Body of it was carried by the force of the Currant upon the Rock where it remained immoveable If instead of touching at the Stern it had hit sideways we had been infallibly lost but those are â—ot the most dangerous places In the Province of Fokien whether one comes from Canton or Hamt-cheou one is during Eight or Ten days in continual danger of perishing The Cataracts are continual always broken by a Thousand Points of Rocks that scarce leave breadth enough for the passage of the Baâ—k there are nothing but Turnings and Windings nothing but Cascades and contrary Currants that dash one against another and hurry the Boat along like an Arrow out of a Bow you are always within Two foot of Shelves which you avoid only to fall foul upon another and from that to a third if the Pilot by an address not sufficiently to be admired does not escape from Shipwrack that threatens him every moment There are none in all the World besides the Chineses capable of undertaking such like Voyages or so much concerned or interessed as not to be discouraged maugre all the Accidents that befal them for there passes not a day that is not memorable for Shipwracks nay and I wonder all Barks do not perish Sometimes a Man is so fortunate as to split in a place not far distant from the shoar as I chanced twice to do then indeed one escapes by swimming provided one has strength enough to struggle out of the Torrent which is usually very strait Other times the Barks run adriâ—t and in a moment is upon the Rocks where it remains aground with the Passengers but sometimes it happens especially in some more rapid Vortices that the Vessel is in pieces and the Crew buried before one has time to know where they are Sometimes also when one descends the Cascades formed by the River that altogether runs headlong the Boats by falling all on sudden plunge into the Water at the Prow without being able to rise again and disappear in a trice In a word these Voyages are so dangerous that in more then Twelve thousand Leagues that I have Sail'd upon the most tempestuous Seas in the World I don't believe I ever run through so many Dangers for Ten years as I have done in Ten days upon these Torrents The Barks they make use of are built of a very thin light Timber which makes it more fit to follow all the impressions one has a mind to give them They divide them into five or six Apartments separated by good Partitions so that when they touch at any place upon any point of a Rock only one part of the Boat is full whilst the other remains dry and affords time to stop the hole the Water has made For to moderate the Rapidity of the Motion in places where the Water is not too deep six Seamen three on each side hold a long Spret or Pole thrust to the bottom wherewith they resist the Currant yet slackning by little and little by the help of a small Rope made fast at one end to the Boat and twined at the other round the Pole that slips but very hardly and by a continual rubbing slackens the motion of the Bark which without this Caution would be driven with too much Rapidity insomuch that when the Torrent is even and uniform how precipitous soever its Course be you float with the same slowness as one does upon the calmest Canal but when it winds in and out this Caution is to no purpose then indeed they have recourse to a double Rudder made in fashion of an Oar of forty or fifty foot long one whereof is at the Prow and the other at the Poup In the plying of these two great Oars consists all the Skill of the Sailors and Safety of the Bark the reciprocal Jerks and cunning Shakes they give it to drive it on or to turn it right as they would have it to fall just into the Stream of the Water to shun one Rock without dashing on another to cut a Currant or pursue the fall of Water without running head-long with it whirles it about a Thousand different ways It is not a Navigation it is a Manege for there is never a managed Horse that labours with more fury under the hand of a Master of an Academy then these Boats do in the hands of these Chinese Mariners So that when they chance to be cast away it is not so much for want of Skill as Strength and whereas they carry not above eight Men if they would take fifteen all the Violence of the Torrents would not be capable to carry them away But it is a thing common enough in the World and especially in China rather to hazard a Man's Life and run the risk to lose all he has then to be at indifferent Charges one thinks not absolutely necessary Seeing I am speaking of the Address and Skill of the Chineses upon Rivers I cannot forbear My Lord letting you observe what they are Masters of in matter of Fishing besides the Line Nets and the ordinary Instruments we make use of in Europe which they employ as well as we they have moreover two ways of catching Fish that seem to me very singular and odd The first is practised in the Night when it is Moon-shine they have two very long strait Boats upon the sides of which they Nail from one end to the other a Board about two foot broad upon which they have rub'd white Varnish very smooth and shining this Plank is inclined outward and almost toucheth the Surface of the Water That it may serve their turn it is requisite to turn it towards the Moon-shine to the end that the Reflexion of the Moon may increase its brightness the Fish playing and sporting and mistaking the Colour of the Plank for that of the Water jerk out that way and tumble before they are aware either upon the Plank or into the Boat so that the Fisher-man almost without taking any pains hath in a little time his small Bark quite full The second manner of Fishing is yet more pleasant They breed in divers Provinces Cormorants and they order and mannage them as we do Dogs or even as we do Hawks for the Game one Fisherman can very easily look after an hundred he keeps them perched upon the sides of his Boat quiet and waiting patiently for orders till they are come at the place designed for fishing in then at the very first signal that is given them each takes its flight and flies toward the way that is assigned it 'T is a very pleasant thing to behold how they divide amongst them the whole breadth of the River or of the Lake they seek up and down they dive and come and go upon the Water an hundred times till they have spy'd their Prey then do they seize it with their Beâ—k and immediately bring it to their Master When the Fish is too big they help one another interchangeably one takes
the danger they had escaped resolved upon returning to Siam by Land that they might get on Board an English Vessel bound for Canton which was to Sail about the beginning of August They entered the Woods in hopes to meet with a Town and some Guides that might conduct them but they soon lost their way and encountered no less Perils at Land then they had before met with at Sea The great Rains had caused a Land-flood so that walking barefoot thro' the Fields overflowed an innumerable quantity of Leeches and Musketoes so troublesome to Strangers were their continual Torment On the other hand great number of Serpents Tigers Buffles and Elephants of which the Forests are full kept them in continual Apprehension But their greatest Misery was want of Food for the little Victuals they had brought out with them being soon spent they had been starved had not Providence directed them to a small Village Not that the Inhabitants could afford them much help being themselves unprovided of all things but they conducted them back again to their Ship where they arrived after a Fortnights Wandring half dead with Weariness and Hunger As for me I was almost in as ill a Case I had obtain'd of Monsieur Constance that he should place me into a Convent of Talapoins so are their Priests called for not one of them had yet been prevailed with to acknowledge Christ tho' their Conversion might be an effectual Means to that of the whole Nation I judged the best way to bring it about would be a free Converse with them Dressing as they did and Living with the same Austerity I had a President in the Mission at Madura and all reason to hope for the like Success at Siam But the Conspiracy of the Malais and Macossars which happened at that time gave Monsieur Constance so much trouble that he had not the leisure to think of me The King who countenanced the Christian Faith and his Minister who was its chief Support with all â—hose who professed it were in danger of being murthered in one Night had not our Redeemer saved us from that Peril but the Plot was discovered and the Criminals brought to a condign Punishment This Accident was the Cause that the Fathers came back by Sea to Siam before I was too far engaged in the New Life I designed to lead and I yielded to their Intreatâ—â— that I would embark with them when the Season should permit which I did the more willingly because it was about the time that Father Tachard was to return with a Recruit of Missionaries and Mathematicians On the 17 th of Iune in the Year 1687. we failed for Nimpo a considerable City and Haven in Chekiam a Province of China for we thought it not sit to go to Macao as was designed the Year before having been informed that we should be no welcome Guests to the Portugueze I scarce believe My Lord that you are over curious of knowing how we steered our Course Those Journals wholly made up of East West North and South and a thousand barbarous Words which seem proper for no other use then Hussing and Hectoring the Winds can scarce be relished by so nice a Palate as yours However they are very useful to Seamen and those who make Navigation their study would not find the Style unpleasant But I shall take another opportunity of giving you an Account of it in offering you some Geographical Memoirs Permit me then to wave this for the present and to speak only of what concerned our selves Spight of the King of Siam's express Orders for our good Treatment God was pleased in his Wisdom to give us an Occasion of Exercising our Patience We were on Board a small Chineze Vessel called a Somme by the Portugueze without any Shelter against the Weather and so streightned for want of Room that we could not lye at length Placed near an Idol black with the smoak of a Lamp continually burning in its Honour and which was our great Eye-foâ—e worshipped each day with a Diabolical Superstition The Sun was directly over our Heads and we had scarce any Water to quench our immoderate Thirst caused by the excessive Heat of the Climate Three Meals of Rice were our daily Allowance tho' the Captain I confess often invited us to eat some Meat with him but that being always first offered as a Sacrifice to the Idol we looked on it with more Horrour than Appetite In this manner we spent above a Month endeavouring by our Patience and our Prayers to inspire those Idolatrous People with an Esteem for our Holy Religion our little Skill in their Language not permitting us to do it by declaring its most Sacred Truths 'T is true we sometimes with the help of an Interpreter attempted to convince them of the Absurdity of that Worship their Education had unfortunately engaged them in One day especially they slocked about us the Dispute grew something sharp and at length became so hot that we were forced to give it over All Seamen are generally very untractable These took great Offence at what we had said of their Idol and a short while after came toward us arm'd with Lances and Half-Pikes with Looks that seem'd to menace us Having with some Impatience doubted what would be the Event we found at last we had no Cause to fear The Mariners had armed themselves only to prepare for a Procession in Honour of their Idol perhaps to appease the Anger she might have conceived at what in the Dispute had been said to her Disparagement I scarce believe there is a Nation more Superstitious then the Chineze who worship the very Compass they steer by continually censing it with Perfumes and often offering it Meat as a Sacrifice Twice a day regularly they threw little pieces of gilt Paper in likeness of Money into the Sea as it were to keep it at their Devotion by that Salary Sometimes they would present it with little Boats made of the same Stuff that being busied in tossing and ruining them she might neglect ours But when the unruly Element maugre their Courtesie would grow troublesome being as they thought agitated in an extraordinary manner by a Daemon that governs it They burned some Feathers whose noisom smoak and pestiferous scent were indeed more then sufficient had the Fiend been endued with Sence to send him going were he the Cause Once passing near a Hill on which one of their Temples is built their Superstition then out-did it self for besides the usual Ceremonies consisting in Meat-Offerings burning of Candles and Perfumes throwing little Baubles of gilt Paper into the Sea and infinite such other Fopperies all Hands were at work for five or fix hours together in making a little Vessel in the likeness of ours of about four Feet in length It was very artificially wrought wanting neither Masts Tackling Sails or Flags it had its Compass Rudder and Shalop its Arms Kitchin-stuff Victuals Cargo and Book of Accompts Besides they had daubed as
Crowd and is usually as great in those Streets as here at a Solemn Procession Over against it on the other side of the River stands Qua-chéou another great trading Town a little beyond lyes Yam-chéou one of the most remarkable Cities in the whole Empire which according to the Chinese contains two Millions of Inhabitants If I did not here recal my self I should unawares describe all the Cities of China but designing only to give your Highness a general account of their Largeness and Number I shall without a needless tedious descending into Particulars assure your Eminency that my self have seen seven or eight of them as big at least as Paris besides several others where I have not been which I am assured are not less There are fourscore of the first Rank equal to Lyons or Bourdeaux Among 260 of the Second above a Hundred are like Orleance and among 1200 of the Third there are five or six hundred as considerable as Rochel or Angoulesme besides an innumerable quantity of Villages greater and more populous than Marenes and St. Iohn de Luz These My Lord are no Hyperbole's neither do I speak by Hear-say but having travelled in Person over the greatest part of China I hope your Highness will favour me so far as not to question the sincerity of my Relation I shall conclude with the several Ports and Havens of China which do not a little contribute â—o the Increase of its Wealth It s Chinese Emperors had forbid the Entrance of them to Foreigners but the Tartars more sond of Money than of Ancient Customs have of late years granted a free Access to all Nations The first beginning Southwards is Macao famous for the great Traffick which the Portuguese formerly made there before the Dutch had expelled them out of the greatest part of the Indies They still have a Fortress in it but their Garrison is small as indeed they are not able to keep a very great one Besides their best way to maintain themselves in this Post is to ingratiate themselves with the Chinese by a blind obseqâ—iousness to all their Commands which they do very wisely The Town if I may so call a few Houses not inclosed with any Walls is built on a narrow uneven Soil on the Point of a small Island which commands a good Road where Ships by the means of several other little Islands which lye to the Windwards are secure from any Storm The Haven is Narrow but Safe and Commodious All the Customs belong to the Emperor and tho' the Portuguese do still preserve a Form of Government among themselves yet they obey the Mandarines in whatsoever bears the least Relation to the Chinese The second Haven of this Coast is formed by a pretty wide River up the which great Vessels can go as far as Canton This place is very convenient to Foreigners because the City supplies them with abundance of all kind of Merchandises and Refreshments but the Mandarines are not fond of letting them approach too near their Walls least they should be surprised or rather they are unwilling that their Merchants should deal with ours to whom themselves do underhand sell their Commodities by the means of their Brokers The Province of Fokieâ— adjoyning to that of Canton has another celebrated Haven which they call Emoui from the Island which forms it for it is properly speaking but a Road lockt in on the one hand by the Continent and on the other by the said Island The biggest Ships ride here secure and the Banks so high that they may come as near the Shoar as they will The late great improvement of Trade in that City invites to it a considerable number of People and this Post has been judged of such a Consequence that the Emperor has for some years past kept there a Garrison of six or seven Thousand Men under a Chinese Commander The fourth called Nimpo lyes in the most Easterly part of China There it was we landed The Entrance is very difficult and wholly impracticable to great Vessels the Bar at the highest Tides not being above 15 Foot under Water That Place is nevertheless very well traded for thence they make a speedy Voyage to Iapan being but two days in their passage to Nangazaki Thither they carry Silks Sugar Drugs and Wine which they Exchange for Gold Silver and Brass Nimpo is a City of the first Class and was in former times very remarkable but has been much damaged by the late Wars however it daily regains something of its former Splendour the Walls are in a good Condition the City and Suburbs well inhabited and the Garrison pretty numerous The Town is still full of a kind of Monuments called by the Chinese Paifam or Pailou and by us Triumphal Arches which are very frequent in China They consist in three great Arches abreast built with long Marble Stones That in the middle is much higher than the other two The four Columns which support them are sometimes round but ofâ—ner square made of one only Stone placed on an irregular Basis. In some this Basis is not to be seen whether they never had any or that thro' Age it was sunk into the Ground They have no Capitals but the Trunk is fastned into the Architrave if we will give that Name to some Figures over the Pillars The Frize is better distinguished but too high in proportion to the rest they adorn it with Inscriptions Figures and Embossed Sculptures of a wonderful beauty with Knots wrought loose one within another with Flowers curiously carved and Birds flying as it were from the Stone which in my Mind are Master-pieces Not that all these Arches are of this make Some are so ordinary that they are not worth the seeing but others there are which cannot enough be prised Instead of a Cornish they have before and behind large flat Marble Stones like Pent-houses There are so many of these Monuments at Nimpo that in some places they are more a Trouble then an Ornament tho' at a Distance they make an agreeable Prospect I have omitted the Haven of Nankin which methinks because of the breadth and depth of the River Kiam should have been first in order but not any Ships put in there at present I do not know whether the Mouth of the said River is now choaked up with Sand but sure I am that the whole Fleet of that famous Pyrat who besieged Nankin during the late Troubles passed it without any difficulty and perhaps it is to prevent any such Accident for the future that the Chinese will not make use of it that by degrees it may grow out of knowledge This My Lord is in general what may be said of the Ports Fortresses and Cities of China the number of which is so great that scarce can a Traveller distinguish them they lye so thick together Therefore the Chinese have ever thought that no Nation in the World was to be compared to them much like those People whom the Prophet
ancient Habit they renewed a Cruel War against the Tartars I and the greatest part of them had as live lose their Head as let their Hair be cut of all the Excesses in point of Mode none is more uncouth and phantastical than that and how ridiculous soever the Chineses may fear to look after they have parted with an Head of Hair yet they might be convinced that a Man whose Head is lop'd off is worse disfigured However we must grant that the Constancy of this People is admirable for when the Tartars attacked them they had kept their Habit for above Two thousand years which can be ascribed to nothing but the good order observed in the Empire the Government of which hath always been uniform where the Laws have been exactly observed in the least Punctilio's Notwithstanding I am perswaded these ways would not please all our French People nay and the Modes of which we are so fond do not appear so handsome to the Chineses as we imagine but above all the Periwig does strangely run in their Mind and they look upon us as a sort of People who for want of a Beard would get an Artificial one clapt to the Chin that should reach to the Knees This Phantastical Head-dress say they and that prodigious heap of curled Hair are proper upon the Stage for a Man that would represent the Devil But has one the shape of a Man when he is thus disguised Insomuch that the Chinese Politeness will go near upon this Article alone to araign us of Barbarity They have likewise much ado to be perswaded that long Shanks discovered with a Stocken drawn strait and narrow Breeches look handsome because they are accustomed to an Air of Gravity that gives them other Conceptions They would sooner be reconciled with the Figure of a Magistrate shaven without a Periwig who should in his Lawyers Gown go booted than with all this Attire that makes our Cavaliers have a fine Shape and easie and fine Gate a quick and disingaged Carriage which will by no means go down with them Thus Ridiculousness pleases and one is often times offended at Real Prettiness according as Prejudice or Custom have differently changed the Imagination there is notwithstanding in all these Modes some other intrinsick real Beauty which naked Simplicity which Nature in her Innocence and exempt from Passion have inspired into Men for the Necessity and Conveniency of Life Altho' Persons of Quality observe exactly all the Formalities and Decencies suitable to their State and never appear uncovered in Publick how great soever the heat be yet in Private and among their Friends they assume a freedom even to a fault they ever and anon quit their Bonnet Surtout Vest and Shirt reserving nothing but a single pair of Drawers of white Taffaty or Transparent Linnen That is the more surprising because they condemn all Nakedness in Pictures and are even offended that our Engravers represent Men with their Arms Thighs and Shoulders uncovered they seem to be in the right for being displeased at the unchristian Licence of our Workmen but yet they are ridiculous to blame that upon a piece of Linnen or Paper which they practise themselves with so much liberty and undecency in their own proper Persons As for the Vulgar they transgress in that respect all the Bounds of Modesty especially in the Southern Provinces where Water-men and certain other Handicrafs-men are impudent to the highest degree and intruth the most barbarous Indians notwithstanding the Climate seems to excuse them appear'd to me in this respect much less barbarous than the Chineses almost all the Artificers and inferiour Tradesmen go along the Streets with single Drawers without Cap Stockings or Shirt which makes them much tanned and of a swarthy hue In the Northern Provinces they are a little more reserved and the Cold in spight of their Teeth makes them modest and keep within bounds After having described to you the Modes of China perhaps you may be desirous My Lord that I should speak of their Stuffs Here is what I have observed of them in general Their Silk without question is the finest in the World they make of it in many Provinces but the best and fairest is to be found in that of Tchekiam because the Soil is very proper for Mulberry Trees and because the Air is indued with a degree of Heat and Moisture more conformable to the Worms that make it Every body deals in it and the Traffick of it is so very great that this Province alone is able to supply all China and the greatest part of Europe Yet the finest and fairest Silks are wrought in the Province of Nankin the Rendevouz of almost all the good Workmen It is there that the Emperor furnisheth himself with the Silks spent in the Palace and with those he presents to the Lords of the Court the Silks of Canton notwithstanding are valued above all amongst Strangers and the Silks of this Province are also more saleable and go off better than those of all the other Provinces of China Altho' all these Silks have some resemblance to ours yet the Workmanship hath something in it that makes a difference I have there seen Plush Velvet Tissa of Gold Sattin Taffaty Crapes and several others of which I do not so much as know the name in France that which I do not so much as know the name in France that which is the most currant amongst them is called Touanze it is a sort of Sattin stronger but not so glossy as ours sometimes smooth and sometimes distinguished by Flowers Birds Trees Houses and shady Groves These Figures are not raised upon the ground by a mixture of raw Silk as our Workmen are used to do in Europe which makes our Work not so durable all the Silk of that is twisted and the Flowers are distinguished only by the difference of Colours and shadowing when they mix Gold or Silver with it it does much resemble our Brocado or flower'd Silk but their Gold and Silver is wrought a way that is particular to them alone for whereas in Europe we draw the Gold as fine as possibly it can be twisted with the thred the Chineses to save the matter or because they did not bethink themselves of this Trick satisfie themselves to gild or silver over a long Leaf of Paper which they afterward cut into little Scrowls wherein they wrap the Silk There is a great deal of Cunning in that but this gilding will not last long Water or even Moistness it self will ternish the Splendor of it quickly yet for all that when the Pieces come out of the Workmans bands they are very fine and one would take them for valuable Pieces Sometimes they are contented only to put into the Piece these little Scrowls of gilded Paper without rolling them upon the Thred and then the Figures altho' pretty and finely turn'd do not last so long by far and the Silk thus flowered is at a lower rate
those whose arm is of any considerable length the thousandth part of a Crown will sensibly turn the Scale There are two sorts of those Scales one more agreeable to the antient Balances which are used in Courts of Justice the beam of this is so divided as exactly to agree with the weight of the French mony since it hath been encreased by a sixth part in weight so that every division of the beam weighs the weight of a Sou or Peny so that seventy two Chinese Sous or Penys weigh exactly a French Crown or an ounce English But the common Balance which is most used in China is somewhat different from this for a French Crown will weigh seventy three divisions of this beam this I thought my self obliged to take notice of that we may the better understand what the Relations hitherto have so much differed about The Chinese divide their pound weight as we do into sixteen ounces each ounce into ten parts called Tçien each of these again into ten peny weights and each of these again into ten grains There are a great many other divisions which decrease in the same proportion that 1 has to 10 which divisions our Language has no names for Altho' these smaller divisions come almost to nothing when single in the Scale yet in great Traffick they reckon them where the multiplication of them arises to a considerable sum In short if we suppose that our Crown should weigh three drachms or one and twenty peny weight and eight grains then the Chinese pound will contain 19 ounces 3 drachms 2 peny weights 13 grains 6 7 7 3. And on the contrary our pound will contain 13 ounces Chinese 1 Tçien and 4 peny weights understanding these two last weights as they are explained above As to the common measures in use in this Empire they have by diverse persons been represented in different manners because of those who have wrote upon this Subject some have had recourse to the measures of one Province others to those of another I have examined all of them carefully and do think that Father Verbiests Measures which they use in the Mathematical Court are the exactest The Chinese Foot is very little different from ours Not but that ours is somewhat longer almost 1 100 but this difference is nothing wiâ—h the Chinese who do not stand so nicely and strictly to their measure as we do which the People have to measure with and not to contend and quarrel by The Civil Government of the Chinese does not only preside over the Towns but extends also over the Highways which they make handsome and easily passable The passages for their Water are in several places fenced in with Stone Walls for the convenience of travelling over which there are a great number of Bridges which unite the Towns and the Fields together Canals are also cut for the water to pass thro' all the Towns of the Southern Provinces to make their Ditches more secure and the Towns more pleasant In low and marshy grounds they throw up prodigious long Banks which keep their Roads in those parts good to perform which they stick at no cost cutting a passage even thro' Mountains when they stand in their way The Road from Signanfou to Hamtchoum is one of the strangest pieces of work in the world They say for I my self have never yet seen it that upon the side of some Mountains which are perpendicular and have no shelving they have fixed large beams into them upon the which beams they have made a sort of Balcony without rails which reaches thro' several Mountains in that fashion those who are not used to these sort of Galeries travel over them in a great deal of pain afraid of some ill accident or other But the People of the place are very hazardous they have Mules used to these sort of Roads which travel with as little fear or concern over these steep and hideous precipices as they could do in the best or plainest Heath I have in other places exposed my self very much by following too rashly my Guides One can't imagin what care they take to make the common Roads convenient for passage They are fourscore foot broad or very near it the Soil of them is light and soon dry when it has left off raining In some Provinces there are on the right and left hand Causeways for the foot Passengers which are on both sides supported by long rows of Trees and oftimes tarrassed with a Wall of eight or ten foot high on each side to keep Passengers out of the fields Nevertheless these Walls have breaks where Roads cross one the other and they all terminate at some great Town There are several wooden Machines made like Triumphal Arches set up in the Roads about a Mile and a half distant from each other about thirty foot high which have three doors over which is wrote upon a large Frize in Characters so large as may be read at almost half a quarter of a Mile distance how far it is from the Town you left and how far to the Town you are going to So that you have no need of Guides here for you may by these directions see what place the Road leads to and from whence you came how far you have already gone and how far you have yet to go The great care which they have taken to lay out all these distances by the Line makes the account which these inscriptions give to be pretty sure yet they are not equal because the Miles in some Provinces are longer than in others It has happened likewise that some of these Arches being ruined and consumed by decay and time have not been set up exactly in the same place but generally speaking they serve for a good measure of the Highways besides that in several places they are no small Ornament On one side of these Ways about the same distance are fixt little Towers made of earth cast up on which they set up the Emperors Standard near it is a Lodge for Soldiers or Country Militia These are made use of in time of Rebellion or indeed at any other time to carry any Express if occasion be or to hand Letters from one to another but especially they take care to stop Highway men and Robbers Every Man who goes by armed is obliged to give an account whence he came whither he is going and upon what business and must shew his Pass Beside these Guards upon case of an allarm give a helping hand to Travellers and stop all those who are suspected or accused of Robbery Among the mighty number of Inhabitants which are in China a great part of which scarce know how to get a Subsistance a body would imagine that abundance must needs turn Thieves yet one may travel there with as great safety as here I have travelled there six thousand Miles up and down thro' almost all the Provinces and was never but once in Danger of being robbed Four strange Horsemen
out of the Chaos like so many Stars to shed forth the Light of the Gospel unto the most hidden parts of this vast Empire accompanying their Preaching with Signs and Wonders Among those extraordinary Men Father Father a Frenchman distinguished himself above the rest I had the happiness to tarry some time in that Province which was allotted to his care and I have after so many Years found the precious remains there which are the necessary consequences of Holiness Those who were witnesses of his Actions tell to their Children the Miracles which he wrought to confirm them in their Faith and altho' one need not believe all which they relate of him we cannot nevertheless deny that God did in many occasions give an extraordinary concurrence in several great things which he enterprised for his Glory It is worth knowing after what manner he founded the Mission of Ham-tçoum a Town of the first Rank in Chensi two days Journey distant from the Capital He was invited thither by a Mandarin and the small number of Christians which he found there made him the more laborious to encrease their Number God put into his hands a means of doing this which he never expected One of the great Boroughs which in China are as big as the Towns was then over-run by a prodigious multitude of Locusts which eat up all the Leaves of the Trees and gnawed the Grass to the very Roots The Inhabitants after having used all imaginable means thought fit to apply themselves to Father Faber whose repute was every where talked of The Father took from thence an occasion to explain the principal Mysteries of our Faith and added that if they would submit themselves thereto they should not only be delivered from the Present Plague but that also they should obtain innumerable Blessings and Eternal Happiness They embraced it willingly and the Father to keep his word with them marched in Ceremony into the Highways in his Stole and his Surplice and sprinkled up and down holy water accompanying his Action with the Prayers of the Church but especially with a lively Faith God heard the Voice of his Servant and the next day all the Insects disappeared But the People whose minds were wholly bent upon the things of this World as soon as they saw themselves delivered neglected the Counsel which the Missionary had given them They were therefore immediately punished and the Plague grew worse than it was before Then they accused one the other of their want of Faith they ran in Crouds to the Father's House and casting themselves at his Feet we will not rise up Father said they till you have pardoned us We confess our fault and protest that if you will a second time deliver us from this Affliction with which Heaven threatens us the whole Borough will immediately acknowledge your God who alone can work such great Miracles The Father to increase their Faith made them beg a great while At last inspired as before he sent up his Prayer and sprinkled his holy water and by the next day there was not an Insect to be found in the Fields Then the whole Borough being brought over to the Truth followed the guidance of God's Holy Spirit they were all instructed and formed into a Church which tho' it was abandoned for some years is still reckoned one of the devoutest Missions in China They say also of this Father that he has been carried over Rivers thro' the Air that they have seen him in an extasie that he foretold his own Death and did several other such Wonders but the greatest Miracle of all was his life which he spent in the continual exercise of all the Apostolical Virtues in a profound Humility in a severe Mortification in a settled Patience proof against all sorts of Injuries in a flaming Charity and a tender Devotion to the Mother of God all which he practised to his death to the Edification and I may say the Admiration even of the Idolaters While Christianity spread its Root deep throughout the Provinces it flourished every day more and more at Pekin the Emperor did not seem far from it He came often to our Church and did there adore the Divine Majesty in such an humble manner as would have been commendable in a Christian There are still Writings from his own hand wherein he acknowledges the beauty and the purity of our holy Law but a Heart set upon sensual plâ—asures can never follow the directions of the Spirit When Father Adam has been pressing upon him You are said he in the right but how can you expect that any one should be able to practise all these Laws Take away two or three of the difficultest and after that perhaps we may agree to the rest Thus this young Prince divided between the Voice of human Nature and Grace thought that we might favour Nature at the expence of Religion but the Father gave him to understand that we were only the Publishers not the Authors of the Gospel Nevertheless my Lord says the Father to him one day tho' we propose to the corrupt World a body of Morals which surpass their forces to comply with and Mysteries which are above their Reason to comprehend we do not from thence despair to have our Doctrine received because we do it by his order who can enlighten the most darkned Understanding and strengthen the most weak Nature These difficulties which the Emperor looks upon as insuperable did not take any thing from that kindness and respect which he bore to Father Adam He always called him his Father placed always his confidence in him he made him twenty visits in two years and gave him leave to build two Churches in Pekin and order'd those which in the Persecution had been demolished in the Provinces to be rebuilt nay granted him whatever could any ways contribute toward the solid establishment of the Faith which without doubt would have made an infinite progress had not a violent Passion changed the temper of that Prince and took him away from us at a time when we had the most need of his Protection we may justly say that his death was owing to an extraordinary grief for the loss of a Concubine This Woman whom he had taken from her Husband inclined him to the worship of false Gods to that excess that he was wholly altered from what he was before as to his Opinions of Religion And that time it was that he fâ—ll sick his mind being full of Notions from the Bonzes who swarmed in his Palace and being vehemently tormented by his Passion so that he could not get a Moments rest In the mean while as he loved the Father extremely so was he desirous to see him once more before he dyed At this last meeting the good Missionary's Bowels yearn'd upon him He was kneeling at the Prince's Beds-feet whom he had Educated as his own Son in hopes one day to make him Head of the true Religion He saw him there under the
that of a Man others respire in the Air like other terrestrial Animals We see some of them fly like Birds that croak at the bottom of Waters like Toads and bark like Dogs some have Heads pretty like ours they call them in Siam Mermaids in some certain ones the Flesh is so firm that it nourisheth as much as Meat in others it is so soft that it may not be so properly called Fish as an indigestedness of slimy gross and transparent Matter wherein no Organ is to be discerned yet is it quick it moves and even swims methodically In a word Altho' the most part of them be good to eat yet I have seen some that are poysonous which infallibly lame the Fishermen when they can strike their Fins into them I forbear all the other Wonders of the Sea that no ways come short of those in the Heavens and in the Earth that I may speak moâ—e particularly of what we have learn'd of the Birth Nature and Fishing of Pearl You may assure your self that these are of that kind of Description upon which the Publick may rely for we derive them from the Fountain head This is what Father Bouchet the Missionary of Madura sent by the King into the Indies left me his own self in Writing Men know well enough that Pearls are engendered in a sort of Oyster found in the Indies between Cape Comarin and the Chanel de la Croux which occasioned the giving the Name de la Pescherie or the Fishery to the whole Coast This fishing is exceeding chargeable whether it be that it continues three whole months without any Intermission or whether it be that they are sometimes fain to employ above an hundred and fifty Men therein all at once So that before they engage in it for good and all they begin upon tryal from whence they can tell more or less what Profit they may possibly hope for Now if the Pearls of the first Oyster be fair big and in great number then the whole body of Fishers are in a readiness against the 15th of March the time when the Paravâ—s People of that Coast do always begin that precious fishing In the last there were but eight hundred Barks yet sometimes there are to be seen to the number of three thousand At that time the Hollanders arm two Pataches to convoy the Fleet and defend them from Pirates The Crew of each Bark consists of fifty or sixty Mariners amongst whom there are twenty Divers each of which hath his two Assistants which for that Reason they call the Fisher Assistants in fine the Gain is distributed after the following manner each Diver is bound to pay six Crowns to the Hollanders which hath sometimes amounted to a Million every eight days they fish one whole day for the profit of the Skipper of the Bark the first Throw of the Nets is for him they give the third part of what remains to the Assistants the Surplus belongs to the Divers But yet the Hollanders do not always give them leave to dispose of it as they please So that these poor Wretches do often complain of their hard Fate and bewail their Loss when they think of the time they lived under the Dominion of the Portuguese When fishing time is come this is the manner of the Paravas's preparing themselves for it The whole Fleet puts out to Sea as far as seven eight ten fathom Water off of certain huge Mountains which they discover far up in the Country they have learn'd by experience that this is the most commodious Latitude of the Coast and the place where there is the most copious fishing Soon after casting Anchor every Diver fastens under his Belly a good big Stone six inches diameter a foot long cut archwise on that side that is applied to his skin they make use of it as Ballast that they may not be carried away by the motion of the Water and to go more firmly through the Waves besides that they tie a second heavy one to one of their feet that presently sinks them to the bottom of the Sea from whence they quickly draw it into the Bark by help of a small Cord but because the Oysters are often fixed to the Rocks they surround their fingers with Copper Plates for fear of hurting them in pulling the Oysters with Violence some others also use Iron Forks for the same purpose Lastly every Diver carries a great Net in fashion of a Sack hung about his Neck by a long Rope the End of which is fastned to the side of the Barks that Sack is designed to receive the Oysters they pick up during the fishing and the Rope to draw up the Fishers when they have fill'd their Sack In this Equipage they precipitate themselves and go down into the Sea above sixty foot deep Since they must lose no time so soon as they touch the bottom they run to and fro upon the Sand upon a slimy Earth and amongst the craggy Rocks snatching hastily the Oisters they meet with in their way At what depth so ever they be the light is so great that they discern what happens in the Sea as easily as tho' they were upon Land They sometimes see monstrous Fish from which the Christians defend themselves by crossing themselves which hitherto hath preserved them from all Accidents For as for who are Mahumitans or Pagans what shift soever they make by troubling the Water or flying away to avoid them many have been devoured by them and of all the dangers in Fishing this is without all doubt the most ordinary and greatest In fine the expert Divers remain commonly under Water half an hour others are no less than a good quarter of an hour They do no more but hold their breath without using for that purpose either Oil or any other Liquor Custom and Nature having indued them with that power which all the Art of Philosophers hath not been able to this day to communicate to us When they perceive they can hold no longer they pull the Rope to which their Sack is fastened and tie themselves very fast to it by their hands Then the two Assistants that are in the 〈◊〉 hoist them aloft into the Air and unload them of what they have got which is sometimes five hundred Oysters sometimes fifty or an hundred only according to their good or bad luck Amongst the Divers some rest a little to refresh themselves in the Air others do not require it and incontinently plunge again into the Water coâ—tinuing in that manner this violent Exercise without respit for they feed but twice a day once in the Morning before they put to Sea and in the Evening when Night forces them to make to Shoar It is upon this Shoar where they unload all the Barks and the Oysters are carried into a great many little pits digged in the Sand about five or six Foot Square The heaps they throw in rises sometimes to the height of a Man and look like a
of its Salts and there at last assumed the colour figure and hardness of Pearls not much unlike some certain Liquors that are transmuted into Crystals in the Earth or as some Flowers are transformed into Honey and Wax in the Bee Hives All this is Ingenious and pretty but the worst of it is 't is all false for these Oysters are strongly fastened to the rock and never did any Fisher see one to float upon the Superficies of the Water Notwithstanding Pearls are found in several Places yet those of La Pescherie are the most valued for they never lose their Lustre others turn Yellow or of a Pale decayed White As to the true Value it is very hard to determin any thing for certain the biggest of all that was found in the last Fishing was sold but at Six Hundred Crowns I have sometimes asked the Divers if they did not now and then find Coral at the bottom of the Sea they answered that they being for the most part busied in what concerns seeking for Pearl took no great notice of any thing besides that nevertheless they found from time to time Branches of Black Coral there is some of it added they which altho ' it be pretty hard at the bottom of the Water yet becomes much more so when it hath been some time exposed to the Air. But the greatest part of it hath acquired even in the Sea all its natural Hardness It sticks fast to the Rocks and when we cast Anchor in Foggy weather it often happens that our Anchor matches hold on some Branches of Black Coral and brings along with it whole Trees but it is very rare to find any Red Coral all along the Coast of La Pescherie I shall here make a Reflection that not many have made viz. that the Coral-Tree hath no Root Some of it was shown in Rome in Father Kercher's Musaeum that sprung out of several Stones some of them have been after that pull'd away and the Coral had not only no Root but was not so much as tied by any Fibre or any the least Filament whatsoever There also was seen several Branches of Coral issuing from a Nacre of Pearl and in Cardinal Barbarin's Closet there is still to be seen a Shrub of Coral whose Foot is Black the Trunk White and the very Top of all Red. Thus doth Nature â—ir disport her self in the great Abyss as well as in the other parts of the Universe by the Production of prodigious Numbers of Things equally Profitable and Precious which she bestows not to excite and irritate Mens Concupiscence or to foment their sottish Pride but to serve them for Ornaments as Reason and the Decency of every State requires or permits Nay perhaps Sir these Beauties of the Universe were created not so much to adorn the Body as to exercise the Mind Reliquit Mundum disputationi eorum For of all natural Pleasures the most innocent and substantial without all doubt is the study of Nature and the Consideration of the Marvels it contains in its Womb. When one hath once run over the Ground work of Divine Wisdom and penetrated into the Mysteries of it this general View of so many Beauties hath more powerful Charms and begets in our Spirit a more taking and affecting Image and Representation than all that the Senses and Passions are ever able to present to us You know it Sir better than any Body you I say who by your particular Study and your continual Correspondence with the Learned have required in so short Time so many Notions in all the different kinds of Erudition and certainly that constant Application that you every Day afford in reference to the perfection of Arts and Sciences sufficiently declares that nothing can more profitably and pleasantly take up the Time of a Gentleman and honest Man But what is still more singular you sanctifie all this Knowledge by the good Improvement you make of it You bring it I may so say to the Sanctuary you make use of it in the Pulpit of Truth to make our Mysteries more intelligible and not satisfied with the ordinary Phylosophy and Eloquence you do thereby become a Christian Philosopher and an Evangelic Orator I am with all respect SIR Your most humble and most obedient Servant L. J. FINIS Books Printed for Benj. Tooke at the Middle-Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet FAbles of Aesop and other eminent Mythologists with Morals and Reflections By Sir Roger L' Estrange Folio Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle of the Kings of England from the time of the Roman Government unto the Death of K. Iames I. whereunto is added the Reigns of K. Charles I. and K. Charles II. The Ninth Impression Corrected Folio A New Theory of the Earth from its Original to the Consummation of all Things wherein the Creation of the World in six Days the Universal Deluge and the General Conflagration as laid down in the Holy Scriptures are shewn to be perfectly agreeable to Reason and Philosophy With a large Introductory Disâ—ourse concerning the Genuine Stile and Extent of the Mosaick History of the Creation By W. Whiston M. A. Chaplain to the Right Reverend the Bishop of Norwich and Fellow of Clare-Hall in Cambridge Books newly Printed for Sam Buckley at the Dolphin in Fleetstreet CHristianity not Mysterious or A Treatise shewing That there is nothing in the Gospel contrary to Reason nor above it and that no Christian Doctrine can be properly called a Mystery By Mr. Foland The Second Edition enlarged in Octavo Price 2 â— The French Perfumer teaching the several ways of Extracting the Odours of Drugs and Flowers and making all the Compositions of Perfumes for Powder Wash-balls Essences Oils Wax Pomatum Paste Queen of Hungary's Water Rosa Solis and other Sweet Waters The manner of Preparing sweet Toilets Boxes c. with the Preparations and Use of Perfumes of all kinds whatsoever Also how to Colour and Scent Gloves and Fans together with the secret of Cleansing Tobacco and Perfuming it for all sorts of Snuff Spanish Roman c. Done into English from the Original printed at Paris The Second Edition corrected from all the Faults that happened in the first 12 o. Price 1 s. Latitudinarius Orthodoxus 1. In Genere de fide in Religione Naturali Mosaica Christiana 2. In particulari de Christianae Religionis Mysteriis accesserunt Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae c D. Arthuri Bury Twelves Price 2 â— * See Ramusio Viaggi Navigationi Printed at Venice in 3 Vol. fol. * See the Theatro Iesuitico printed at Conimbre in Fol. Also the Morale Pratique des Peres Iesuites in 8 Vol. 8 o. particularly the second and third Parts * Observations Physiques Mathematiques envoyées de Siam Avec les Restexions de Messieurs de l` Academic Notes du Pere Gouye Paris 1688. in â—8 Observations pour setvir a l' Histâ—ire Naturelle a la Verfection de l' Astronoinie de la Geographie Envoyâ—es des Indes de la Chine Avec les Reflexions c. Paris 1692. iÅ„ 4â— Recucil d' Observations faites en plusieurs Voyages par Ordre de sa Majesté c. Paris 1693. in Fol. * Efsunde Iram tuam in Gentas quae Te non noverunt Psal. 58. Ne tradas Bestiis animas confitentes tibi Psal. 73. * Hi in Curris in Equis Nos autem in Nomine Domini * As with us the Colledge of Heralds * In the Draught the Length does not bear a reciprocall Proportion to its Circuit * Zeph. 2.15 * Isaiah 26.5 * Hal vou pim Kiam vou ti * They call it Inchu Tiâ—ochu * Yam-pi * The first Book called Chu-kim †The second Book Chi-kim * The third Book V-kim †The Fourth Tchun-tsiou ‖ The fifth Li-ki * Tcheou-coum and Cham-tcho * It is just 4392 years * Thee is a corrupt word of the Province of Fokien it must be called Tçha it is the term of the Mandarin Language * Kiou-tchien Kiou-pé Kiou-ché Kiou * Ta-fou * cam-vam * This Emperor dyed 1753 years before the birth of Iesus Christ and the seven years of scarcity according to the Scripture happen'd 1743 years before the same birth * Cham y. * Kiâ—ou-Kiouâ—Chan * After our Saviour * Tien-tchu signifies Lord of Heaven Cham-ti Sovereign Emperor * An Idols Temple * Iehovah * Chinkio * 1631. * Ier. 1.10 * The Reverend Father de Lionissa †Moâ—s Maigrot and Monsieur Pin. * Father Spinola died by the way * Barnaby Theonvil Nivart †Rochette le Blanc Serlu Daudy * Psal. cxix * This happened about the middle of August An. 1691. * Iudith chap. 9. * Psal. 73. †The Dragon iâ— the Emperors Arms and is adored in China
the greatest nicety all the Motions of the Heavens which are during the year to happen out of Course However they still continue their Observations Five Mathematicians spend every Night on the Tower in watching what passes over head one is gazing towards the Zenith another to the East a third to the West the fourth turns his Eyes Southwards and a fith Northwards that nothing of what happens in the four Corners of the World may scape their diligent Observation They take notice of the Winds the Rain the Air of unusual Phenomena's such as are Eclipses the Conjunction or Opposition of Planets Fires Meteors and all that may be useful This they keep a strict accompt of which they bring in every Morning to the Surveyor of the Mathematicks to be registred in his Office If this had always been practised by able and careful Mathematicians we should have a great number of curicus Remarks but besides that these Astronomers are very unskilful they take little care to improve that Science and provided their Salary be paid as usual and their Income constant they are in no great trouble about the Alterations and Changes which happen in the Sky But if these Phenomena's are very apparent as when there happens an Eclipse or a Comet appears they dare not be altogether so negligent All Nations have ever been astonished at Eclipses of which they could not discover the Cause there is nothing so extravagant as the several Reasons some have given for it but one would wonder that the Chinese who as to Astronomy may justly claim Seniority over all the World besides have reasoned as absurdly on that Point as the rest They have fancied that in Heaven there is a prodigious great Dragon who is a professed Enemy to the Sun and Moon and ready at all times to eat them up For this reason as soon as they perceive an Eclipse they all make a terrible rattling with Drums and brass Kettles till the Monster frightned at the noise has let go his Prey Persons of Quality who have read our Books have for these several years been undeceived but especially if the Sun looseth its Light the old Customs are still observed at Pekin which as is usual are at once very Superstitious and very Ridiculous While the Astronomers are on the Tower to make their Observations the chief Mandarines belonging to the Lipou fall on their Knees in a Hall or Court of the Palace looking attentively that way and frequently bowing towards the Sun to express the pity they take of him or rather to the Dragon to beg him not to molest the World by depriving it of so necessary a Planet Now all that the Mathematicians have foretold concerning the Eclipse must prove true should it happen sooner or later be greater or less longer or shorter the Surveyor and his Brethren would go near to lose their Places But they never run that hazard let what will happen the Registers are ever exact and provided the Officers be well paid they are ever in Fee with the Heavens I am afraid My Lord that I have been too tedious in this Digression your Highness having for these several years been busied in Affairs of greater moment must needs have little regard for such obstruse Notions unfit to excite you to those elevated Sentiments so natural to such great Souls as yours and I might have spent my time more to your Satisfaction in writing the Wars of the Tartars and the Conquest of China But besides the inclination every Man has to speak of what belongs to his Profession I have perhaps been over-ruled by the habit we contract in China to entertain great Persons with these Matters and have hoped that a Prince curious and endued with a Genius to which nothing is impossible would with patience hear that which makes the Delight of the Greatest and most Learned Emperor in the whole World I should do Pekin a very great injustice if I passed over in silence its noble Gates and stately Walls which indeed become an Imperial City The former are not embellished with Statues or other Carving as are most Publick Buildings in China but all their Beauty consists in a prodigious height which at a Distance makes the finest shew in the World They consist in two large square Buildings built separately but bound together by two tall and very thick Walls so that they form a Square which may contain above Five hundred Men in Battel The first Building which looks like a Fortress faces the Road. There is no way thro' it but you go in at the Side wall where there is a Gate proportionable to all the rest then you turn to the Right and meet with the second Tower which commands the City and has a Gate like the former but whose Gate-way is so long that it grows dark towards the middle There they constantly keep a Corps du Guard and a small Magazine to supply it readily with Stores in case of Necessity If you respect only the neatness of the Workmanship and the Ornaments of Architecture I must indeed confess that the Gates of Paris are incomparably finer But yet when a Man approaches Pekin he must own that these immense Buildings and if I may speak it those proud Masses have in their unshapeness a State preferrable to all our Ornaments The Arches are built with Marble and the rest with very large Brick bound with excellent Mortar The Walls are answerable to their Gates so tall that they hide the whole City and so thick that Centries on Horse-back are placed upon them From place to place at a Bow-shots distance they are defended with square Towers The Ditch is dry but very broad and deep All is regular and as well kept as if they were in continual Apprehension of a Siege This My Lord is a pretty exact Description of the chief City of all China valuable by its Extent large Gates strong Walls sumptuous Palace good Garrison which consists in the best Forces of the whole Empire and the Number of its Inhabitants but commendable for nothing else What may be said of all the rest in general is this The Chinese divide them into two kinds Those which are solely designed for the Defence of the Country they call Cities of War and the rest Towns of Traffick The fortified Places which I have seen are not much stronger than the others unless it be by their Situation which makes some almost inaccessible The Frontier Towns especially those near Tartary are somewhat singular and our Missionaries have assured me that there were several narrow Passages so well fortified that it was almost impossible to force them I my self have seen some which a hundred Men might easily defend against a whole Army Their usual Fortifications are a good Bulwork some Towers Brick-walls and a large and deep Ditch filled with running Water This is all the Chinese Engineers skill consists in which indeed is no wonder since our selves knew no better before Cannons were
in use which has put us upon inventing new ways of defending our Cities as there were new ones contrived of attacking them I confess My Lord that running over all those Cities which their Inhabitants esteem the strongest in the World I have often with no little pleasure reflected on the facility with which Lewis the Great would subdue those Provinces if Nature had made us a little nearer Neighbours to China he whom the stoutest Places in Europe can at best withstand but during a few days God has by an equal and just Distribution given the Chinese but Ordinary Commanders because no Extraordinary Actions could be performed there but to vanquish such Enemies as ours so great a Hero was wholly necessary It must however be granted that in the way of Fortification the Chinese have outdone all the Ancients in the prodigious Work that defends part of their Country 'T is that which we call the Great Wall and with themselves stile Van li Cham Chim The Wall 10000 Stadium's long which reaches from the Eastern Ocean to the Province of Chansi Not that its length is so great as they speak it but if you reckon all its windings it will really appear to be no less than 500 Leagues You must not conceive it as a plain Wall for it is fortified with Towers much like the City Walls I have mentioned and in the places where the Passes might be more easily forced they have raised two or three Bulworks one behind another which may give themselves a mutual Defence whose enormous Thickness and the Forts which Command all the Avenues being all guarded by great numbers of Forces protect the Chinese from all Attempts on that side China being divided from Tartary by a Chain of Mountains the Wall has been carried on over the highest Hills and is now tall and then low as the Ground allowed for you must not think as some have imagined that the Top of it is level throughout and that from the bottom of the deepest Vales it could have been raised to be as high as the tallest Mountains So when they say that it is of a wonderful height we must understand it of the Spot of Ground it is built on for of it self it is rather lower than those of their Cities and but four or at most five feet in thickness It is almost all built with Brick bound with such strong Mortar that not only it has lasted these several Ages but is scarce the worse It is above 1800 years since Emperor Chihohamti raised it to prevent the Insurrections of the Neighbouring Tartars This was at once one of the greatest and maddest Undertakings that I ever heard of for tho' indeed it was a prudent Caution of the Chinese thus to guard the easiest Avenues how ridiculous was it of them to carry their Wall to the top of some Precipices which the Birds can scarce reach with their Flight and on which it is impossible the Tartarian Horse should ascend And if they could fancy that an Army could have clambered up thither how could they believe that so thin and low a Wall as they have made it in such places could be of any Defence As for my part I admire how the Materials have been conveyed and made use of there and indeed it was not done without a vast Charge and the loss of more Men then would have perished by the greatest Fury of their Enemies It is said that during the Reigns of the Chinese Emperors this Wall was guarded by a Million of Soldiers but now that part of Tartary belongs to China they are content with manning well the worst situated but best fortified Parts of it Among the other Fortresses of the Kingdom there are above a Thousand of the first rate the rest are less remarkable and indeed scarce deserve that Name yet all are very well garrisoned and by that one may judge what vast Armies are constantly kept on foot However that is not the Chinese's chiefest boast for if they are considered but as to the Military part they will raise our wonder but who can enough admire the Numbers Greatness Beauty and Government of their Trading Towns They are generally divided into three Classes of the first there are above 160 of the second 270 and of the third near 1200 besides near 300 walled Cities more which they leave out as not worth observing tho' they are almost all well inhabited and traded The greater and lesser Villages are numberless especially those of the Southern Provinces In the Province of Chanâ—i and Chenâ—i they are for the most part surrounded with Walls and good Ditches with Iron Gates which the Country People shut at Night and guard in the Day-time to protect themselves from Thieves as also from the Soldiers who as they pass by which they continually do would in spight of their Officers insult them The largeness of these Cities is not less amazing then their number Pekin which I have already had the honour to mention to your Highness is not to be compared to Nankin or as it is now called Kiamnin a Town formerly enclosed within three Walls the outermost of which was 16 long Leagues round Some Works of it are still to be seen which one would rather think to be the Bounds of a Province then a City When the Emperors kept their Court there its Inhabitants were no doubt numberless It s Situation Haven Plenty the Fertility of the Neighbouring Lands and the Canals made near it for the Improvement of Trade could not but make it a fine City It has since lost much of its former Splendour however if you include those who live in its Suburbs and on the Canals it is still more populous than Pekin and tho' the unarable Hills the ploughed Lands Gardens and vast empty Places which are within its Walls render it really less then it seems what is inhabited does still make a prodigious big City The Streets are moderately broad but very well paved The Houses low but cleanly and the Shops very rich being filled with Stuffs Silks and other costly Wares In a word it is as the Center of the Empire where you may find all the Curiosities which are produced in it There the most famous Doctors and the Mandarins who are out of Business usually settle themselves having the conveniency of several Libraries filled with choice of good Books their Printing is fairer their Artificers are better Workmen the Tongue more polite and the Accent smother than any where else and truly no other City were more proper for the Emperor's Seat were it not for the State 's advantage that he should reside near the Frontiers It is also famous for several other Reasons First Because of the River Kiam on which it is situated which is the Largest Deepest and most Navigable in the whole Empire being in that part of it which bathes the City near half a League broad Secondly The Royal Observatory on the Top of a Mountain where stood formerly a
with a Man than this Creature nevertheless it is angry and not to be trusted when it eats always snarling at that time and falls furiously upon those who will be troubling it It loves Hens Eggs more than any thing but because its Chaps are not wide enough to seize on them it strives to break them by throwing them aloft or by rowling them an hundred ways upon the ground but if there chance to be a Stone in its way it presently lies upon it with its face downward and striding with its hinder Legs it takes the Egg in its fore Legs and thrusts it with all its Might under its Belly till it be broken against the Stone It does not only hunt Rats and Mice but Serpents of whom it is a mortal Enemy which it takes by the Head so cunningly that it receives no hurt by it It is at no less enmity with Cameleons which at the very sight of it are seized with so mortal a fear that they become immediately as flat as a Flounder and fall down half dead whereas at the Approach of a Cat or Dog or some other more terrible Animal they swell are enraged and betake themselves either to their own Defence or to assault them India being a very hot Country and withal moist produces a great number of other Animals there is there especially abundance of Serpents of all sizes and so pretty in respect of the Variety of Colours that if it were not for the natural Antipathy that we have for this kind of Beast I scarce know any thing that the Eye could take greater Delight in The People of Siam are not so nice as we in this respect they catch a prodigious number of them in the Woods and expose them to sale in the Markets like Eles Yet there is a particular kind of them that they do not eat they are present Poison and that without Relief they call them Cobra capela some others are short and of a triangular form so that they always creep upon one of their three Faces others also are still more odd have no Tail their Extremities are terminated by two Heads exactly alike in appearance but very different in effect in as much as the one hath not as the other the common Use of its Organs for in these latter the Lips are join'd the Ears stopt the Eye-lids quite cover the Eyes whilst the other eats sees hears and guides all the rest of the Body Yet an English-man at Madras who kept one in his House for Curiosity sake assured me that every six Months the Organs of this second Head disclosed by little and little and that on the contrary those of the opposite Head by closing themselves ceased to perform their ordinary Functions that at the end of the like number of Months they were both restored to their pristine state and divided in that manner between them each in its turn the Care and Government of the Machine But God being no less wonderful in the least things than he is in the greatest there are a prodigious number of Insects that might deserve the most serious Reflections There you may see certain Flies that Nature hath painted of such a lively yellow so polish'd and shining that the most curious gilding does not come near it Some others are but points of Light that always glow and emit Rays all night long all the Air appears as if set on fire with it when they fly and when they light upon Leaves or Branches the Trees resemble afar off those Fire works they make in the Indies for solemn Illuminations Their white Pismires every where to be sound what Care soever Men take to destroy them are very famous by reason of the great Inconveniencies they produce and for their natural Properties They are exceeding small of a soft Substance white and sometimes a little russetty they are multiplied ad infinitum and whensoever they have once got into an House or Apartment nothing but the black Pismires can drive them out they have such sharp Teeth and so penetrating that they not only pierce through in one night the greatest Bails Cloth Wool Silk and all other Stuffs but even Cabinets and Cupboards the Wood of which becomes in a few days all worm-eaten they even spoil Wood Copper and Silver upon which you may sometimes discern the signs and marks of their little Teeth Notwithstanding all this there is great Probability that this Effect proceeds more from the particular Quality of their Saliva which is a kind of dissolving Menstruum and acts at that time much after the same manner as Aqua fortis does here upon our Metals Even the very Grashoppers are extraordinary there are some of them in Siam that breed upon the Boughs of Trees and are if I may venture to say so their Fruit in a manner for the Leaves preserving their natural Figure and Colour grow somewhat thicker their sides throw out on each hand a kind of green Filaments in fashion of long Legs one of the Extremities of the Leaf extends like a Tail and the other waxes round like a Head all which in process is animated and metamorphosed into a Grashopper This is what the People of the Country report who pluck them from the Branches themselves we have seen great store of them and it is true that the Leaf appears entire with its Fibres or at least nothing does more resemble a Leaf than the Body of this Animal If this be true this Tree is no less to be wondered at than that whose Leaves dropping into the Sea in a short time turns to Soland Geese as some Naturalists would make us believe It would here be a fit place to speak to you concerning the strange Trees we have met with in the East but if I am not mistaken I have had formerly the Honour to discourse with you about them at large especially of those that produce Vernish Tea Cotton Tallow Pepper and many others all of them singular in their kind and very profitable for Commerce I have had also the Honour Sir to present you with about four hundred China Plants drawn out in their natural Colours and copied after those that are kept in the Closet of the Emperor of China this is it that does chiefly compose the Herbal of China and which doubtless will enrich ours especially when we shall have the Translation of the Book where the Vertues and Use of all these Simples are incomparably well explained Neither shall I enlarge more upon our Observations that relate to the Beauty Bigness and Diversity of Indian Birds for altho' that may be the finest part of the History of Animals yet there has been so much said of it already in the foregoing Relations that it would be to no purpose to speak to you of it more at large But I cannot forbear now in the Conclusion to relate to you the greatest Curiosities which the Sea hath furnished us with There are Fish whose Blood is as hot as