Читать книгу The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof, Volume 1 (of 2) - González de Mendoza Juan - Страница 1

In presenting to the members of the Hakluyt Society a reprint of the cotemporary English translation by Parke of Mendoza's interesting and now rare account of China, the editor thinks it due to his readers that some explanation should be given of the circumstances under which the original work was compiled, and that at the same time it should be shown what previous accounts had reached Europe respecting that remarkable country. The interest of the narrative itself, abounding as it does with minute and curious details of the manners and customs of so peculiar a race as the Chinese, requires no vindication: it will speak for itself. It will nevertheless interest those who appreciate the objects of the Society, to know, that the present translation was made at Hakluyt's own suggestion, shortly after the appearance of Mendoza's original work in Spanish.

It is the leading purpose of the Hakluyt Society to deal with the Archæology of Geography, and more especially so in connexion with the progress made by our own English ancestors in the advancement of that important science. In pursuance of that object, therefore, Mendoza's account of China has been selected for re-publication, as being the earliest detailed account of that country ever published in the English language. We say detailed account, because we must not omit to mention that it was preceded by a short but interesting document, published by Richard Eden in his History of Travayle in the West and East Indies, entitled "Reportes of the Province of China," of the history and contents of which we shall hereafter speak in its proper place. While, however, in the selection for re-publication, respect is paid to the earliest narratives which appeared in our own tongue, the reader's appreciation of the subject is best secured by an introductory notice of all the antecedent descriptions which may at intervals have appeared in other languages. This plan is more especially desirable with respect to those earlier glimmerings of information which Europe obtained respecting a country so removed from the civilized world, by its geographical position and ethnological peculiarities, as China, yet so marvellously in advance of it at the times of which we speak, both in its intellectual and moral developments. In such notice, meanwhile, we propose to pass by all discussion as to the much disputed question of the position of the Thinæ of Eratosthenes, Strabo, and the Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, or of the application of Marinus's Serica, as preserved to us by Ptolemy, to the kingdom of China. Upon these more uncertain data we shall dwell no longer than to state, that our own impression agrees with that of Vossius, that China is the country referred to, and that the Seres of Ammianus Marcellinus, corresponding as they so closely do in character with the modern Chinese, were intended to represent that people. That the Romans possessed some knowledge of China, would seem to be shown by a discovery made by the learned De Guignes, of a statement in a Chinese historical work, that in the year of our Lord 166, an embassy, said to have come by sea, arrived from An-thon (Antoninus) to the Emperor Yan-hi; and the use of the "serica vestis", alluded to by Horace and Propertius, would appear to confirm the impression, provided only that silk, and not muslin, were the commodity really alluded to.

On these less certain points, however, we are, as we have said, unwilling to dwell. We pass on therefore to the mention of more explicit and unquestionable record. First of these is the narrative given in an Arabic manuscript, written about the year 1173, describing the observations of two Arab merchants, who, from the style of the documents, were evidently in China a couple of centuries earlier. Their respective dates, indeed, are concluded to be 851 and 867. This curious and valuable manuscript, discovered by the learned M. Eusèbe Renaudot in the Comte de Seignelay's library, was translated by him into French, and published at Paris in 1718. A translation appeared in English in 1733. Although thus concealed from the acquaintance of Europeans till this comparatively recent date, it rightly takes its place here as comprising the two earliest accounts of China, of which we have as yet received any information. Though adulterated with some few exaggerations, and statements manifestly fabulous, they contain so many curious particulars, which even now, from the permanence of institutions and manners in China, may be considered as accurate, that no doubt can be entertained of their genuineness, or of the intelligence of the narrators.

The two narratives were written consecutively, one of them forming a sort of comment or supplement to the other.

The country is described as extensive, but, though more populous, less extensive than the Indies, and divided into many principalities. It is represented as fruitful, and containing no deserts, while India is said to contain some of great extent.

Tea, under the name of tcha, is distinctly referred to, as being universally drunk infused in hot water, and supposed to be a cure for every disease.

Porcelain is spoken of as an excellent kind of earth, of which is made a ware as fine and transparent as glass.

The Chinese are described as more handsome than the Indians, and are

"dressed in silk both winter and summer; and this kind of dress is common to the prince, the soldier, and to every other person, though of the lowest degree. In winter they wear drawers, of a particular make, which fall down to their feet. Of these they put on two, three, four, five, or more, if they can, one over another; and are very careful to be covered quite down to their feet, because of the damps, which are very great and much dreaded by them. In summer they only wear a single garment of silk, or some such dress, but have no turbans.

"Their common food is rice, which they often eat with a broth, like what the Arabs make of meat or fish, which they pour upon their rice. Their kings eat wheaten bread, and all sorts of animals, not excepting swine, and some others.

"They have several sort of fruits, apples, lemons, quinces, sugar-canes, citruls, figs, grapes, cucumbers of two sorts, trees which bear meal, walnuts, filberts, pistachios, plums, apricocks, services [cherries], and coco-nuts; but they have no store of palms; they have only a few about some private houses.

"Their drink is a kind of wine made of rice; they have no other wine in the country, nor is there any brought to them; they know not what it is, nor do they drink of it. They have vinegar also, and a kind of comfit like what the Arabs call Natef, and some others.

"They are not very nice in point of cleanliness. They eat also of dead animals, and practice in many other things like the Magians; and, in truth, the religion of the one and the other is much the same. The Chinese women appear uncovered, and adorn their heads with small ivory and other combs, of which they shall wear sometimes a score together. The men are covered with caps of a particular make. They are very expert mechanics, but ignorant of the arts that depend on the mathematics."

The knowledge of reading and writing is described as being general amongst them, all important transactions being put into writing. Idolatry is mentioned as very prevalent, and a hideous and incomprehensible statement is made, of human flesh being publicly exposed for sale in the markets. At the same time the punishment of vice is represented as most severe, and the surveillance over individuals extremely rigid, "for everybody in China, whether a native, an Arab, or any other foreigner, is obliged to declare all he knows of himself, nor can he possibly be excused for so doing". And thieves are put to death as soon as caught.

Canfu (Canton) is mentioned as the seaport of China, resorted to by Arabian shipping; and Cumdan, described as a very splendid city, supposed to be Nanking, was the residence of the monarch.

Renaudot, to whom the world is indebted for rescuing this narrative from obscurity, believes that it supplied Edrisi, the celebrated Arab geographer of the twelfth century, with the materials for the observations on China which occur in his Geographia Nubiensis; but this reproach would seem to be unfounded, inasmuch as his details are too few and vague, to warrant the conclusion that they were digested from the more lucid and ample account to which we have been referring. The most observable point of information with which Edrisi supplies us, is the fact, that the northern parts of Sin had by that time been conquered by a Tartar nation, whom he calls the Baghargar Turks. Abulfeda also, who flourished nearly two centuries later, seems to have been equally ignorant of the existence of the two Arab travellers; for he gives, as an apology for the ignorance of the geographers of that day respecting China, that no one had been there from whom they could procure information.

The incidental reference to China by Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveller in the east, of the twelfth century, should not be omitted. It is but a reference, but curious enough to be quoted. It is as follows: —

"From thence (the Island of Khandy) the passage to China is effected in forty days; this country lies eastward, and some say that the star Orion predominates in the sea which bounds it, and which is called Sea of Nikpha. Sometimes so violent a storm rages in this sea, that no mariner can reach his vessel; and whenever the storm throws a ship into this sea, it is impossible to govern it; the crew and the passengers consume their provisions, and then die miserably. Many vessels have been lost in this way, but people have learned how to save themselves from this fate by the following contrivance. They take bullocks' hides along with them, and whenever this storm arises and throws them into the Sea of Nikpha, they sew themselves up in the hides, taking care to have a knife in their hand, and being secured against the sea-water, they throw themselves into the ocean; here they are soon perceived by a large eagle, called griffin, which takes them for cattle, darts down, takes them in his gripe, and carries them upon dry land, where he deposits his burthen on a hill or in a dale, there to consume his prey. The man, however, now avails himself of his knife, therewith to kill the bird, creeps forth from the hide, and tries to reach an inhabited country. Many people have been saved by this stratagem."

The first European reference to China described by a traveller from hearsay, is that given by the Minorite friar John de Plano Carpini, who, with five other brothers of the order, in 1245 was sent by Pope Innocent IV into the country of the Mongolians. The purpose of this mission was, if possible, to divert these devastating conquerors from Europe, and to instigate them rather to a war with the Turks and Saracens. At the same time they were to inculcate, as much as might be, the Christian faith, and at all events to collect every possible information respecting a people so little known.

Carpini was absent sixteen months. A copy of his narrative, formerly belonging to Lord Lumley, is in the British Museum, and is the same which was used by Hakluyt for his Principal Navigations, from which the following extract is taken. It is after describing a battle between the Mongals and the Chinese, whom he calls Kythayans, that he describes the latter as follows:

"The men of Kytay are Pagans, hauing a speciall kinde of writing by themselues, and (as it is reported) the Scriptures of the Olde and Newe Testament. They haue also recorded in hystories the liues of their forefathers: and they haue Eremites, and certaine houses made after the manner of our churches, which in those dayes they greatly resorted vnto. They say that they haue diuers saints also, and they worship one God. They adore and reuerence Christ Jesvs our Lord, and beleeue the article of eternall life, but are not baptized. They doe also honorably esteeme and reuerence our Scriptures. They loue Christians, and bestowe much almes, and are a very courteous and gentle people. They haue no beardes, and they agree partly with the Mongals in the disposition of their countenance. In all occupations which men practise, there are not better artificers in the whole worlde. Their countrey is exceeding rich in corne, wine, golde, silke, and other commodities."

The first traveller, from whom accounts collected from personal experience respecting China were received in Europe, was William Van Ruysbroeck, commonly known by the name of De Rubruquis, a friar of the Minorite order, and sometimes called William of Tripoli, from the circumstance of the narrative of his travels having been transmitted from Tripoli to St. Louis, king of France, at whose instance they were undertaken. The cause of his mission was a rumour, which had spread through Europe, that the Mongolian chief, Mangu Khan, had embraced the Christian religion; and St. Louis being then engaged in the fourth Crusade against the Saracens, was anxious to cement an alliance with the Tartars, who were at that time in hostility with the same power on the side of Persia. This political purpose was enhanced by sanguine hopes that the Tartars were even then, or likely soon to be, converted to the Christian faith. The passage of Rubruquis was by Constantinople over the Black Sea, through the Crimea, to the district of the city of the Caraci, in the Gobi Desert, where Mangu Khan was then residing.

His first reception was not of the most hospitable kind, but nine days after his arrival he succeeded in obtaining an imperial audience; and when Mangu Khan, a short time after, departed for Karakorum, a city on the east side of the river Orchon, he and his companions followed in his train. This city, of which no traces have been found in the desert for some centuries, is mentioned by Marco Polo, who visited it about eighteen years after Rubruquis, as having been the first in which these Tartars ever fixed their residence, and was at that time the capital of Mangu Khan, and the only considerable city in that part of Asia. Rubruquis, in describing it, says: "There are two grand streets in it, one of the Saracens, where the friars are kept and many merchants resort thither, and one other street of the Catayans (Chinese), who are all artificers." The explanation of this is, that the Tartars had already conquered the greater part of northern China, then known under the name of Cathay.

Rubruquis and his companions, who by this time had gained considerable favour in the eyes of the Khan, entered Karakorum with great distinction. He describes the city itself as not equal to the village of St. Denis, near Paris, the monastery of which he asserts was "tenne times more worth than the palace, and more too." The place was surrounded by a mud wall, and had four gates. The description of the palace conveys the idea of a hall, at one end of which was a raised seat for the Khan, on which he "sitteth above like a god". In this city the friar found to his surprise a French goldsmith, named Guillaume Bouchier, who is not unfrequently mentioned by early writers under the name of William of Paris, and who had constructed a piece of mechanism, the ingenuity of which deserves the highest praise, when the early period at which he worked is taken into consideration. Its description is thus given by Purchas, in a translation of the greater part of the travels of Rubruquis, inserted in the third volume of his Pilgrimes.

"Master William Parisiensis made him (the Khan) a great silver tree, at the root whereof were foure silver lions, having one pipe sending forth pure cowes milke, and the foure pipes were convayed within the tree, unto the top thereof: whose tops spread backe again downward: and upon every one of them was a golden serpent, whose tayles twine about the bodie of the tree. And one of those pipes runs with wine, another with caracosmos, that is, clarified whay; another with ball, that is, drinke made of honey; another with drinke made of rice, called teracina. And every drinke hath his vessell prepared of silver, at the foot of the tree, to receive it. Betweene those foure pipes in the top, he made an angell holding a trumpet; and under the tree, he made an hollow vault, wherein a man might be hid; and a pipe ascendeth through the heart of the tree unto the angell. He first made bellowes, but they gave not wind enough. Without the palace there is a chamber, wherein the drinkes are layd, and there are servants readie there to poure it out, when they heare the angell sounding the trumpet. And the boughes of the tree are of silver, and the leaves and peares. When therefore they want drinke, the master butler cryeth to the angell that he sound the trumpet. Then he hearing (who is hid in the vault) blowes the pipe strongly, which goeth to the angell. And the angell sets his trumpet to his mouth, and the trumpet soundeth very shrill. Then the servants hearing, which are in the chamber, every of them poure forth their drink into their proper pipe, and the pipes poure it forth from above, and they are received below in vessels prepared for that purpose. Then the butlers draw them, and carry them through the palace to men and women."1

Amongst the various points of information gathered by Rubruquis respecting the Chinese or Catayans, as they were so long called, occur the following important items. The characteristic principle of their religious and political creed, embodied the great truth of the existence of one supreme presiding deity, under whom the grand khan maintained the presidency over his extensive dominions, and resistance to that dominion consequently involved not only treason but heinous impiety. Another curious fact, first communicated by Rubruquis, and afterwards confirmed by Marco Polo, is that of paper currency, which was not adopted in Europe for some centuries after, being then in general use in China. To him also we are indebted for some notion of the peculiar characters and mode of writing practised by the Chinese, who, as he says, do not write with pens as we do, but with small brushes, such as are used by our painters, and in one character or figure give a whole word.

He also speaks at length of a strong drink called Cosmos, which he describes as follows: —

"Their drinke, called Cosmos, which is mare's milk, is prepared after this manner. They fasten a long line unto two posts, standing firmly in the ground, and unto the same line they tye the young foales of those mares which they meane to milke. Then come the dammes to stand by their foales, gently suffering themselves to be milked. And if any of them be too unruly, then one takes her foale and puts it under her, letting it sucke a while, and presently carrying it away againe, there comes another man to milke the said mare. And having gotten a good quantitie of this milke together (being as sweet as cowes milke) while it is new, they powre it into a great bladder or bag, and they beat the said bag with a piece of wood made for the purpose, having a club at the lower end like a mans head, which is hollow within: and soone as they beat upon it, it begins to boyle like new wine, and to be sowre and sharpe of taste, and they beat it in that manner till butter come thereof. Then taste they thereof, and being indifferently sharpe they drinke it; for it biteth a mans tongue like the wine of raspes when it is drunke. After a man hath taken a draught thereof, it leaveth behind it a taste like the taste of almond-milke, and goeth downe very pleasantly, intoxicating weake braynes. Likewise Karacosmos, that is to say, blacke Kosmos, for great lords to drinke, they make on this manner. First, they beat the said milke so long till the thickest part thereof descend right downe to the bottome like the lees of white wine; and that which is thinne and pure remaineth above, being like unto whay or white must. The said lees and dregs being very white, are given to servants, and will cause them to sleepe exceedingly. That which is thinne and cleere their masters drinke, and in very deede it is maruellous sweet and wholesome liquor."2

This limited stock of information, however, valuable as it is from the priority of its date, sinks into insignificance before the detailed and almost cotemporaneous narrative of that once reviled but now much honoured pioneer of geographical investigation, Marco Polo. In the present advanced age, when enlarged facilities have opened up to the knowledge of the world the characteristic peculiarities of remote countries and their inhabitants, we can do justice to the courage and fidelity of those who, six centuries ago, could dare to describe such apparent anomalies, while at the same time we can find an excuse for the disbelief of those who regarded them as extravagant and impudent fictions. Nor can we, indeed, conceive of any country and people, the description of which, unconfirmed by the repeated observation of many, was more calculated to excite suspicion and disbelief, while those very peculiarities, now that they are authenticated, become the staple proof of the trustworthiness of the early narrator. The father and uncle of Marco Polo, natives of Venice, had in 1254 made a trading journey to Tartary; the exploration of the east, and the importation of its rich and beautiful productions, offering a peculiar attraction to the commercial enterprise of that great and flourishing city. Marco was not born till some months after the departure of his father, but by the time of the return of the two brothers was become a young man, fifteen years having been devoted to their interesting and extraordinary peregrinations. They had crossed the Euxine Sea to Armenia, whence they travelled by land to the court of a great Tartarian chief named Barba. By him they were favorably received, and were enabled to effect advantageous sales of their merchandise. After a year, however, spent in his capital, a war broke out between him and a neighbouring chieftain, and the return of the travellers to Europe being thus intercepted, they took a circuitous course round the head of the Caspian, and so through the desert of Karak to Bokhara.

After an abode there of three years, during which they obtained a knowledge of the Tartar language, they attached themselves to the company of an ambassador going to the court of Kublai, grand Khan of the Tartars, where they arrived after a year's journey. This potent monarch gave them a gracious reception, and was curious in his enquiries concerning the affairs of Europe and the Christian religion. Learning from them that the Pope was the person regarded with the greatest veneration in Europe, he resolved on despatching them as his ambassadors to His Holiness, with the request that he would send persons to instruct his people in the true faith. Protected by his signet they set out, and pursuing their journey across Asia, arrived in Venice in the year 1269. At this time there was a vacancy in the popedom, and the brothers remained in Venice two years before it was filled. At length, on the accession of Gregory X, they obtained letters from him, accompanied with presents to Kublai Khan, and taking with them young Marco, now seventeen years of age, and accompanied by two friars of the order of Preachers, they again departed for the east. They landed at a port in Armenia named Giuzza (Ayas), but finding that the Sultan of Babylon was at war with the province, the two friars became intimidated and returned home. The three Venetians, however, pursued their way, and after travelling for three years and a half across Asia, and encountering numerous perils and disasters, at length reached the court of Kublai. He was greatly pleased at their return, and Marco, becoming a great favourite with him, was employed by the Khan in various important missions to distant provinces. After a residence of seventeen years at the court of Kublai, the three Venetians were extremely desirous of returning to their native land, and at length obtained permission to accompany the ambassadors of a king of India, who had come to demand a princess of the Khan's family in marriage for their sovereign. It was a voyage of a year and a half through the Indian seas before they arrived at the court of this king, named Argon. Thence they travelled to Constantinople, and finally reached Venice in 1295.

Such is the narrative of the travels and foreign residence of the three Polos, as related by Marco. They returned rich in jewels and valuable effects, after an absence of twenty-four years, which had so altered them, that nothing less than a display of their wealth was necessary to procure their recognition by their kindred. Hence, Marco gained the name of Il Millione, the house in which he had lived in Venice being still known in the time of Ramusio under the name of "La Corte del Millioni." Not long afterwards, news came to Venice that the Genoese were approaching with a powerful armament, and a number of galleys were immediately fitted out to oppose them, and Marco Polo was made sopracomito of one of them. In an engagement that ensued he fell into the hands of the Genoese Admiral Lampa Doria, and was carried prisoner to Genoa, to which circumstance we owe the advantage of possessing a permanent record of his travels. Then he spent four years in prison; but the interest excited amongst the Genoese nobles by the stirring narrative of his adventures, led them to urge him to allow an account of his travels to be drawn up from his notes and dictation. His narrative was thus taken from his mouth in his prison at Genoa, by the hand of his friend and fellow-traveller Rustichello, a native of Pisa. He afterwards regained his liberty, but of his subsequent history little or nothing is known.

The most interesting portion of his narrative is unquestionably that which refers to China, of which he speaks under the names of Kataia and Manji; the former, as we have already stated, denoting the northern, and the latter the southern part of the empire. The northern kingdom of Kataia contained the residence of Kublai Khan, while the south, although subjugated, had not been completely incorporated into the almost boundless Tartar dominion, which had been established by Kublai's victorious ancestor, the renowned Zenghis Khan.

The route by which Polo entered China was along the northern frontier, and is thus referred to by Mr. Marsden: – "Having reached the borders of Northern China, and spoken of two places (Succuir, the modern Sucheu, and Kampion, the modern Kancheu) that are within what is named the Great Wall, our author ceases to pursue a direct route, and proceeds to the account of places lying to the north and south, some of them in the vicinity and others in distant parts of Tartary, according to the information he had acquired of them on various occasions. Nor does he in the sequel furnish any distinct idea of the line he took upon entering China, in company with his father and uncle, on their journey to the emperor's court, although there is reason to believe that he went from Kan-cheu to Sining, and there fell into the great road from Thibet to Peking." Before reaching the latter city, however, they visited Karakorum, already referred to as the capital of the Khan's dominions visited by Rubruquis. This city, Mr. Marsden says, was built by Oktar Khan, the son and successor of Jenghis Khan, about the year 1235, whose nephew Mangu Khan, made it his principal residence. No traces of it have been in existence for some centuries, but its position is noted in the Jesuits' and Danville's maps. J. Reinhold Forster, however, on the authority of Fischer's History of Siberia, observes, that it must be looked for on the east side of the river Orchon, and not on the Onghin or Onguimuren, where D'Anville has placed it.

From the length of time which had elapsed since Nicolo and Maffeo Polo had left China as Kublai's ambassadors, they were forgotten, but as soon as the Khan, who was then absent, heard of their arrival at Karakorum, he issued orders that they should be received with all honour and escorted to his presence. The appearance of young Marco produced a highly favourable impression upon the Khan, who immediately took him under his especial protection. The assiduity of Marco in studying the language and manners of the Tartars, and the wisdom and prudence which he exhibited in the exercise of the various important functions in which he was employed by the Khan, caused him rapidly to rise in the estimation and favour of that liberal-minded monarch. Upon the removal of the Khan to Khambalu, a corruption of Khambalig (capital of the Khan), and understood to be the modern Pekin, Marco followed in his train. This city was found to surpass in splendour everything that he had yet met with. The dimensions of the palace comprehended a square, each side of which was six miles long, a statement not very widely different from the truth. This enclosure, however, comprised all the royal armouries, as well as fields and meadows, stored with various descriptions of game. The roofs of the spacious halls were covered with gorgeous gilding, and painting in brilliant colours, while representations of dragons and battles were carved upon the sides. To the north of the palace stood an eminence called the Green Mountain, of about a mile in circuit, covered with the finest trees which could be collected from all parts of the empire, and which had been brought by elephants to this spot.

This account strikingly agrees with those of modern travellers, and the description of the internal government of the country, its postal arrangements, and the beneficent distribution of grain from the imperial granaries in times of scarcity, agree with since recognized Chinese history.

Marco subsequently made an excursion into the country of Manji, or Southern China, his route lying by the course of the imperial canal. In his southward progress, after passing by various cities, he at length reached Tinqui (Taitcheou), distant about three days' journey from the sea, where there is an extensive manufactory of salt, an article which forms a leading article of commerce in China. He next came to Yanqui (Yangtcheoufou), at the mouth of the river Yang-tsi-kiang, the seat of a viceroy, in which Polo himself exercised for the space of three years the supreme jurisdiction. His subsequent route lay along the banks of the Yang-tsi-kiang, and he incidentally alludes to the noble city of Nanghin (Nanking), where he speaks of the manufacture of cloths of gold and silver, but does not seem to have visited the city itself. Taking thence a southward course, he reached Quinsai (Hang-cheou), or the city of heaven, the splendour of which still important place was at that time such, that he speaks of it in the following terms: "In the world there is not the like, nor a place in which there are found so many pleasures, that a man would imagine himself in paradise." This city, then the metropolis of Manji, was in the height of its glory, and may well be supposed to have surpassed in grandeur any city which Polo had seen; and if he is to be charged with exaggeration in describing it as one hundred miles in circumference, and to have contained one million six hundred thousand houses, and twelve thousand bridges, it must be remembered that its really immense extent was calculated to mislead the judgment of an observer, and to make him credulous of the accounts of the inhabitants. It is still a splendid and very extensive city, and it is not to be wondered at that Polo, who witnessed its unfaded glories, should have dwelt with enthusiasm on its spacious and beautiful palaces, and its waters covered with richly decorated barges. The character of the inhabitants he describes as effeminate, luxurious, and unwarlike.

In his southward journey Polo mentions many great cities in Manji, which it would be difficult to identify with their modern nomenclature. Among these Unguen, a city of the province of Fokien, is referred to, as remarkable for its extensive manufacture of sugar, sent from thence to Khambalu; its natives being described as skilled in the art of refining it with wood ashes, from persons belonging to Babylonia (Egypt). It is also worthy of notice, that his embarcation took place at a famous port called Zaitun, which was much frequented by ships with rich cargoes from India for the supply of Manji and Kataia, and exceedingly productive in revenue to the grand Khan, who received ten per cent. on all merchandise. In spite of this impost, and the heavy freights, amounting to nearly fifty per cent., the merchants are described as making enormous profits.

The inhabitants of the place are represented as distinguished for their skill in embroidery and tapestry. This has been supposed to mean Fou-cheou-fu, Amoy, or some neighbouring port in Fokien; but it is difficult to reconcile this with the statement that one arm of the river on which this city stood reached to Quinsay, which, as we have already stated, appears to be intended for the great city of Hang-cheou.

The next in rotation on our list of eastern travellers, is Giovanni di Monte Corvino, a Franciscan monk of Calabria, who went as ambassador from Pope Nicholas IV in 1288 to the grand Khan, and died in Khambalu, that is, Pekin, holding the distinguished position of archbishop of the missions in that city. His letters refer to little more than the progress he made in the advancement of the Roman Catholic religion in that capital.

The next traveller in China of whom we have to speak is Oderico Mattheussi, a Minorite friar, more commonly known under the name of Oderico de Pordenone, from Pordenone in Friuli, in which place he was born about the year 1285. He undertook a journey in 1317, accompanied by several other monks, through Tartary, by Trebizond, to China, and returned by Thibet to Europe. In 1330, a year before his death, he dictated in Padua, to Guglielmo di Solagno, a monk, an account of his travels as they occurred to his memory, in the Italian language. An English translation is given by Hakluyt in his second volume, from which we quote the following extracts.

"Travelling more eastward, I came vnto a city named Fuco, which conteineth 20 miles in circuit, wherein be exceeding great and faire cocks, and al their hens are as white as the very snow, having wol in stead of feathers, like vnto sheep. It is a most stately and beautiful city, and standeth vpon the sea. Then I went 18 daies iourney on further, and passed by many prouinces and cities, and in the way I went ouer a certain great mountaine, vpon y^e one side whereof I beheld al liuing creatures to be as black as a cole, and the men and women on that side differed somewhat in maner of liuing fro' others: howbeit, on the other side of the said hil euery liuing thing was snow-white, and the inhabitants in their maner of liuing were altogether vnlike vnto others. There, all maried women cary, in token that they haue husbands, a great trunke of horne vpon their heads. From thence I traueiled 18 dayes journey further, and came vnto a certaine great riuer, and entered also into a city, whereunto belongeth a mighty bridge to passe the said river. And mine hoste with whom I soiourned, being desirous to shew me some sport, said vnto me: 'Sir, if you will see any fish taken, goe with me.' Then he led me vnto the foresaid bridge, carying in his armes with him certaine diue-doppers or water-foules, bound vnto a company of poles, and about every one of their necks he tied a thread, least they should eat the fish as fast as they tooke them: and he caried 3 great baskets with him also: then loosed he the diue-doppers from the poles, which presently went into the water, and within lesse then the space of one houre, caught as many fishes as filled 3 baskets: which being full, mine hoste vntyed the threads from about their neckes, and entering a second time into the river they fed themselues with fish, and being satisfied they returned and suffered themselues to be bound vnto the saide poles as they were before. And when I did eate of those fishes, methought they were exceeding good.

"Trauailing thence many dayes iourneys, at length I arriued at another city called Canasia [Quinsay, or Hang-cheou], which signifieth in our language the city of heaven. Neuer in all my life did I see so great a citie; for it continueth in circuit an hundreth miles: neither saw I any plot thereof, which was not thoroughly inhabited: yea, I sawe many houses of tenne or twelue stories high, one above another. It hath mightie large suburbs, containing more people then the citie it selfe. Also it hath twelue principall gates: and about the distance of eight miles, in the high way vnto every one of the saide gates, standeth a city as big by estimation as Venice and Padua. The foresaid city of Canasia is situated in waters and marshes, which alwayes stand still, neither ebbing nor flowing: howbeit it hath a defence for the winde like vnto Venice. In this citie there are mo then 10,002 bridges, many whereof I remembered and passed over them: and vpon euery of those bridges stand certaine watchmen of the citie, keeping continuall watch and ward about the said city, for the great Can the emperour of Catay.

"The number of his owne followers, of his wives attendants, and of the traine of his first begotten sonne and heire apparent, would seeme incredible vnto any man, vnlesse hee had seene it with his owne eyes. The foresayd great Can hath deuided his empire into twelue partes or prouinces, and one of the sayd prouinces hath two thousand great cities within the precincts thereof. Whereupon his empire is of that length and breadth, that vnto whatsoeuer part thereof he intendeth his iourney, he hath space enough for six moneths continual progresse, except his islands, which are at the least 5,000.

"The foresayd emperor (to the end that trauailers may haue all things necessary throughout his whole empire) hath caused certaine innes to be prouided in sundry places upon the high wayes, where all things pertaining vnto victuals are in a continuall readinesse. And when any alteration or newes happens in any part of his empire, if he chance to be farre absent from that part, his ambassadors vpon horses or dromedaries ride post vnto him; and when themselues and their beasts are weary, they blow their horne; at the noise whereof, the next inne likewise prouideth a horse and a man, who takes the letter of him that is weary, and runneth vnto another inne: and so by diuers innes, and diuers postes, the report, which ordinarily could skarce come in 30 dayes, is in one naturall day brought vnto the emperor: and therefore no matter of any moment can be done in his empire, but straightway he hath intelligence thereof."

The next traveller of whom we have to make a short mention, is the celebrated Arabian author Ibn Batuta, the date of whose journey is 1324. His point of arrival in China was Zaitun, the port already mentioned of Marco Polo's embarcation. Its identity is not easy of recognition. From this port he would seem to have travelled to Hang-cheou and back again, embarking again at Zaitun. Although his route is not distinctly traceable, the account he gives of the country appears very accurate. He particularizes the facility and safety of travelling, and the convenient, but at the same time rigid surveillance of the hostelries, in which a register was kept of all strangers who lodged in them. Silkworms and silk are mentioned, but the latter as being inferior in value to cotton. The paper money and the manufacture of porcelain are also referred to.

In pursuance of our chronological arrangement of travels in China, we shall here introduce the account of an embassy, though not European, sent by Mirza Shah Rokh, one of the sons of Tamerlane, to Cathay, in the year 1419. The ambassadors set out from Herat in Persia, about the month of November in that year, and reached a spot in the desert within twelve stages of Sekju (Sucheu), near the great wall in Shensi, on the 14th of June 1420. At this place they were met, by order of the khan, by some Cathayans, who erected tents or huts for their accommodation in the desert, and plentifully supplied them with roasted geese, fowls, and various kinds of meat, fruits, etc., which were served to them on china dishes; they likewise regaled them with a variety of strong liquors, together with a pot of Chinese tea. The chief person in the embassy was the Emir Sadi Khoja; and, according to the list of the names of the ambassadors and the number of their retinue, taken down by some Cathayan secretaries, the entire embassy, including merchants, amounted to eight hundred and sixty persons. In taking this list, the Cathayan officers earnestly desired that the exact number should be stated, as a want of truthfulness would involve them in discredit. Two days after their arrival, they were invited to the encampment of the dankji or governor of the borders of Cathay, by whom they were entertained with a magnificent feast. On reaching the spot, they found a square space of ground enclosed with tents, in the centre of which was a lofty awning of cloth supported on wooden pillars, with an imperial canopy of state at one end, where the throne was placed, as if for the emperor, with other seats on each side: on the left of this throne were placed the ambassadors, and on the right the Cathayan officers. Each ambassador had placed before him two tables, the one covered with a variety of meats and fruits, the other with cakes and bread, gracefully ornamented with silk and paper. The other persons present had but one table apiece. At the lower end of the tent stood a sideboard covered with silver and china. After the banquet they were entertained with music and a comedy, in which the actors wore masks representing the faces of animals: among these a child, enclosed in the body of an artificial stork, amused them by performing a variety of curious antics. On the next day they reached a karawl, a strongly fortified outpost, built in a defile in the mountains, through which all travellers that way must unavoidably go. Here their retinue was again carefully numbered. They next arrived at Sucheu, a large and strong square city, where they had lodgings appointed to them in a public building over the city gates, and were amply provided with every convenience and comfort for themselves and their horses, even the servants having mattresses and counterpanes allowed them for their beds.

They next came to a city called Khamchu, after which we find them crossing the river Karamoran by a bridge of boats, and arriving at a magnificent city containing many splendid temples. From the beauty of the women, who, contrary to usual Chinese observances, were seen standing at the doors of the taverns, they designated this town in the Persian language, Rhosnabad, the city of Beauty. After passing several rivers they reached Sedinfur, a large city, in which they saw a cast image of gilt metal of immense proportions, having a great number of hands with an eye in each. This image rested on a pedestal of polished stone, and was surrounded by six tiers of balustrades.

In December 1420, after a journey of ninety-five days, they reached Kambalu or Pekin, the whole road thither from Sucheu being through so populous a country that they lodged every night in a large town. Workmen were at that time still occupied in building the walls of Kambalu. Immediately on their arrival they were conducted to the palace, and, though before sunrise, they found a multitude assembled in the outer court, amounting apparently to no less than one hundred thousand men. At sunrise, at beat of drum, the prince took his seat on a lofty throne, placed under a canopy at the outside of the palace, and amidst profound silence a number of criminals were led in, who had been brought to the capital from all parts of the empire. Each man had a board fastened to his neck, specifying his crime and his legal punishment, and was led by the hair to the emperor, who after inspecting the board pronounced sentence. Upon the dismissal of the criminals, the Persian ambassadors were introduced, and after prostrating themselves as demanded, were graciously received by the emperor. An amusing occurrence, however, had nearly destroyed all their prospects of success. The monarch having been slightly injured by a fall from a horse which had been presented to him by the ambassadors, was so exasperated, that he condemned them all to imprisonment for life in a distant part of the empire. He afterwards, however, thought better of his resolution, and merely upbraiding Sadi Khoja, with the taunt that such a horse ought not to be presented by one sovereign to another, overlooked the offence; and on hearing that the animal was sent to him by Tamerlane as an especial favourite, his anger was entirely appeased.

Previous to their departure, a circumstance occurred which threw a gloom over the imperial court, – the most beloved of the emperor's wives died. And here, par parenthèse, we would mention a curious custom recorded in this narrative, respecting the burial of ladies belonging to the imperial family: they are interred on a certain mountain, on which all the horses belonging to them are turned out to graze at liberty for the rest of their lives; all the maidens of their retinue also are placed in attendance on the grave, and have provisions allowed them for about five years, and when these are exhausted they are left to die of famine. In addition to this loss of his favourite wife, the new palace of the emperor was struck by lightning on the night after the funeral, the flames causing fearful devastation and loss of life. These afflictions so affected the emperor, that he fell sick, and the prince his son assuming the reins of government, gave the ambassadors their audience of leave. On their return through Cathay they were furnished as before with every necessary, and at Sucheu, some articles which had been detained were honourably restored to them. They took their departure by a circuitous route, in consequence of intestine commotions, and passing through Khoten and Cashgar proceeded homewards to Herat, which they reached in September 1422.

Hitherto we have had to treat of travellers who in the middle ages reached China by an overland journey; we have now to allude to those who have visited that country by sea, subsequent to that grand achievement of the Portuguese, the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope.

The Portuguese themselves were, as might be expected, the first to take advantage of this expeditious route, and about the same time that they had succeeded in establishing a communication with the King of Siam they aimed at forming relations with China. On gaining information of the boundless wealth of the east and its empires in the productions of nature and art, King Manoel determined on despatching a squadron farther eastward to Bengal and China. This squadron, consisting of eight sail, the commander of which was Fernando Peres d'Andrade, selected on account of the ability he had shown previously in India, especially at Malacca, departed, after various unsuccessful cruises, from Malacca on the 17th June 1517, and arrived on the 15th August at the Island of Tamang (called by the Portuguese Beniaga), lying three miles from the mainland, where all foreign ships that trade to Canton must lie at anchor and transact their business.3 In the harbour Andrade found Edward Coelho, who, in a previous expedition, had been separated from him by a storm, had wintered at Siam, and had already been there a month. Andrade caused it to be notified to the commander of the Chinese fleet, which was stationed off the coast there for the protection of merchant ships against pirates, that he was come on a peaceful embassy from the King of Portugal to the Emperor of China. The commander bade him welcome, but referred him to the Pio (great admiral) at Nanto upon the subject of his business. After various delays and difficulties, occasioned by the numerous gradations of rank amongst the Chinese authorities, their ceremoniousness, and the mistrust, imperfectly veiled by civility, of the Chinese towards strangers, Andrade reached Canton at the close of September, and ran into the harbour with all the usual nautical ceremonies. When surprise was expressed at this, he justified himself by referring to the practice of the Chinese in this particular when their ships came to Portuguese Malacca. He then begged that he might forward to the emperor the ambassador and the presents which he had brought with him, and that the Portuguese fleet might be dismissed as soon as possible. He was answered civilly, that they would receive the ambassador, and as soon as permission was obtained from the emperor, would escort him to court. Meanwhile the commander had permission to carry on trade in the town, after the ambassador had landed. Andrade now caused the ambassador, Thomas Pires, with seven Portuguese, richly dressed, to be put on shore with sound of trumpets and discharge of cannon. This Tomas Pires, erroneously called by Mendoza, Bartholomew, though a man of no rank, had been selected for this mission on account of his scientific qualifications, his tact, and experience. He was an apothecary by profession, and a practised and competent judge of the merchandize and productions of India. They not only granted him one of the best houses in the town, wherein he and his companions received visits from the most distinguished inhabitants, but also offered them maintenance, according to the custom observed with ambassadors. This, however, the commander declined, nor did he accept the invitation to come on shore, but, excusing himself, sent the factor with some assistants in his stead, and when a warehouse was granted them near the fleet, allowed the merchandize to be landed by degrees, and an interchange of traffic commenced.

Matters were in this prosperous condition, when circumstances rendered it necessary for the commander to leave Canton. Many of his people had become sick from malaria, and nine, including the factor, were dead. These and other disasters compelled Andrade to take leave of the Chinese commanders, and he went back to the island of Tamang, where he was plentifully supplied with all that he required for the repair of his ships. Before his departure Andrade caused proclamation to be made in Canton, Nanto, and the harbour of Tamang, that those who had demands on the Portuguese, should apply to him in order that they might be fully satisfied. This proceeding gave the Chinese a high opinion of the integrity of the Portuguese. At the end of September 1518, Fernando Peres d'Andrade again set saile with his whole fleet, and entered the harbour of Malacca loaded with renown and riches.4

At his departure from Canton, he left the affairs of the Portuguese so arranged that their trade with the Chinese might be carried on securely and peacefully, and with profit to both parties. His brother, Simon d'Andrade, received from the king a commission to make another voyage to China, and departed in April 1518 from Malacca. Upon his arrival in August in the harbour of Tamu, he found that the Portuguese ambassador, Thomas Pires, had not yet left Canton, as, in spite of three applications, no order had yet been received from the court to escort him thither. At length the order came, and Pires went in the beginning of January 1520 by water as far as the mountain range Malenschwang, thence to Nankin, where the emperor was, who ordered him to Pekin, where he himself usually resided on account of the nearness of the Tartars, with whom he was continually at war. In January 1521, the emperor came there, and immediately dismissed the embassy. He had received unfavourable accounts of the Portuguese from the authorities at Canton and Nankin, whom the King of Bintang had influenced by an emissary; they told the emperor that, under the pretext of trading, the Portuguese explored the country with the view of taking it by force of arms, and that in this way they had made themselves masters of India and Malacca. Pires therefore was admitted no more into the palace. Meanwhile the emperor fell ill and died, and the counsellors of his successor were of opinion that Pires and all his companions should be put to death as spies. The emperor however ordered the ambassador, real or pretended, to be sent back to Canton with the presents, and to be kept in custody there until answer should be received from the Portuguese authorities at Malacca. Until then no Portuguese or Portuguese merchandise was to be admitted into the empire. The emperor further commanded that the king of Malacca, who was an ally of the emperor, and who had been driven out by the Portuguese, should be restored.

The severe conditions imposed upon the Portuguese by the emperor are not to be wondered at, for all the accounts which he had received from his authorities respecting them were prejudicial, and Simon d'Andrade himself gave frequent occasion for complaint by inconsiderate or unjust regulations, contrary both to the laws and to the received opinions of the country, and provoked the Chinese against the Portuguese; and even his personal behaviour seems to have been calculated to provoke animosity.5 At last a hot encounter took place between the Portuguese and Chinese ships, during which, fortunately for the Portuguese, a storm arose, which scattered the Chinese fleet and favoured the flight of the Portuguese, so that they happily reached Malacca at the end of October.

Thomas Pires meanwhile was, upon his arrival in Canton, thrown into prison with all his companions, and died in chains; the presents which he had brought with him were stolen. The letters, which two or three years afterwards arrived from the prisoners, contained lamentable descriptions of the oppressions they had to endure, and of the robberies which were committed in foreign ships, upon the pretence that they had Portuguese on board. The great stores of valuable merchandize, gold and silver from India, were entirely lost. Mendoza does not complete the tale of Pires's adventures, but some interesting details are given by Remusat in his Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques, page 205, tom. ii.

The next Portuguese adventurer who comes within the range of our special notice, is Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, who from the apparent extravagance of his accounts became proverbial as an accomplished romancer. Congreve, in his Love for Love, makes Foresight thus address Sir Sampson Legend: "Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude." Like most of his predecessors, however, in early travel, he has by this time recovered much of his forfeited reputation, and, as in their case, some of his most remarkable statements have been confirmed by more recent explorations. Being compelled to leave his country from some accident, which he describes as casting "him into manifest peril of his life", he took to the sea. The chances of his life led him to Abyssinia, and subsequently along the coast of Arabia to India. With his adventures in these countries we have here nothing to do, but pass at once to the circumstances under which he was thrown upon the coast of China. At Goa, Pinto hired himself as a soldier to Pedro de Faria, who was proceeding as governor to Malacca. In this employ he was selected as Portuguese agent in the company of the ambassador of the Battas, on the return of the latter to Sumatra from his complimentary visit to Faria, at Malacca, the seat of government. Here he fell in with one Antonio de Faria, with whom he joined in a great commercial expedition to be sent up the Gulf of Siam.

We pass over various romantic adventures with pirates, described in his narrative, especially those with one Coja Acem, a native of Guzerat, and an implacable enemy of the Portuguese, whom Faria at length overcame in a desperate encounter. The adventurers then sailed to Liampoo (Ning-po), where Faria gained intelligence of an island called Calempluy, in which were the tombs of seventeen kings of China, all of gold, and containing great treasure of various descriptions. This place they sought and reached, and having plundered, loaded their ships with the treasure. About a month after they had put to sea, they were wrecked in a furious gale in the Gulf of Nanking, and fourteen of the Portuguese alone escaped with their lives. The Chinese gave the shipwrecked pirates but a harsh reception; they were first thrust into a pond where they were almost devoured by leeches, and were afterwards sent with other criminals to Nanking, where they were punished with a severe whipping. They were subsequently sent to Peking, also chained together in parties of three, and on their arrival received thirty lashes apiece by way of welcome. Pinto gives an animated account of the magnificence of these two great capitals, but splendid as the objects he observed in them were, they would scarcely bear comparison with those which presented themselves along the great rivers and canals. The multitude of cities, together with the abundance which here prevailed, was almost incredible. The immense concourse of boats at the time of the great fairs, the mode of rearing water-fowl, their plan of hatching eggs by artificial heat, the industry and regularity of populace, and their fashion of eating with chop-sticks, are detailed with great exactness. Upon the whole, his remarks leave no doubt, we think, of the truth of his having been an eye-witness of what he records. Upon the subsequent occurrences of his eventful life, and his final return to Lisbon in 1558, we shall not here dwell, but proceed to the consideration of the next in order on our list of European travellers to China.

Among a series of letters in Spanish, received in 1555 from various Jesuits in the East, and appended to the 1561 edition of Francisco Alvarez's Historia de Ethiopia, occurs an account of some matters regarding the customs and laws of the kingdom of China, which a man (who was a captive there for six years) related at Malacca, in the college of the Jesuits. This valuable account, we believe, has never before appeared in English, and is here translated.

"The Chinese build their towns in the strongest situations, near rapid rivers, and chiefly at the curves, in order that they may serve in part for enclosures; and if the towns are half a league in circuit, they build walls of a league in extent, so that in case of war they may hold a considerable number of defenders. The towns are walled with stone built in mortar, for the most part; some, especially the large towns, have very strong brick walls. They contain very large buildings, and bridges of half a league, all of stone excellently wrought, and there are blocks in them so large that it appears impossible for men to have raised and set them by any contrivance. One of the things that surprised us much, was to see eight columns, upon which the government palace is built, in a town where we were for three years. We measured these columns, and two men stretching their arms round them did not touch each other; they appeared to us to be sixty feet high, little more or less; and it is very strange that men should have been able to raise them and place them where they are. The houses which are upon them are very high, all of wood, painted and gilded. An officer resides there who collects the revenue of the province, and there are similar ones in the other provinces. Each of these houses is separately enclosed by walls, within which they are accustomed to plant trees and make very pleasant gardens, with all kinds of fruit, which the Chinese are exceedingly fond of, and also of having ponds at their houses in which they breed fish for their amusement.

"What is generally considered by the nobility and principal men as the greatest distinction, is to erect edifices in front of their gates, in way of an arch going from one side of the street to the other, so that the people pass underneath; some build them of stone, others of wood, with all kinds of painting, colours of gold and blue, with pictures of various birds and other things that may gratify the sight of the passers by. And they are so curious and vain in this particular, that he who goes to the greatest expense therein, is thought most of amongst them. On the border of the arches are the name and arms of him who caused them to be erected, in letters of gold and blue.

"The houses are covered with glazed tiles of many colours, and the woodwork is much wrought. The streets are very well made and paved with stone, and the highways are all raised. I say this because they took us from that town (where we had been prisoners for three years), and we went one hundred and twenty days' journey, without going out of the kingdom, and found all the roads raised and even; and several times when we passed rivers and inquired if most of the roads that ran forward were similar, we were told that they were, and that it was a four months' journey to reach the court of the king, and the roads were all alike. They treated us very well on the journey, giving us sumpter beasts and every thing necessary.

"In all the towns there is a street of very noble houses built by order of the king, in which the officers who perform the service of visitation lodge. These officers are commissioned with the royal authority over the governing presidents (who are called in their language Taquoan). The governors of provinces and those who hold any command, are chosen for their learning and great prudence, without regard to anything else, and if the sons are as able as their fathers they succeed them in their offices, otherwise they are not admitted by the king into his service. The special governors of the towns are obliged to sit to hear and do justice to all, every morning until midday, and after having dined till sunset.

"Officers of the court come twice every year, by command of the king, to make a stay in all the towns, principally to see if the governors do their duty well, and to remove them at once and put others in their place, if they are tyrannical, or oppress the people, or perform their functions ill. These officers examine all the walls, and if they are in bad condition, order them to be repaired. They afterwards inquire concerning the royal revenues and the expenses of the towns, moderating them if they are excessive. He who gives out money at usury loses it (if proved), and, moreover, incurs further punishment. In the towns where these officers come, they cause public notice to be given, in order that those who are aggrieved by any injustice may come before them.

"In the town I was speaking of there are six governors, one of whom takes precedence; and there are also six others whose business it is to collect the revenues, and one of them is obliged to watch the town every night with his men, that thieves may not disturb the people. Others take care to close the gates, which are very strong and fortified with iron. The governors and magistrates of every town are charged to write every moon, to the court of the king, an account of what takes place; and each has to write separately, that it may be seen if they concert what they write, and whether they speak truth; for those who lie to the king incur the punishment of death; wherefore they dread much to state anything false in their accounts. No man governs in his native place, where he has relations, that he may do justice to all without respect of persons.

"In the principal towns are many strong gaols; we being prisoners were distributed in six of them. There are prisoners for various crimes; the most serious with them is murder. The prisoners are numerous, because the towns are populous; in every gaol there are three, four, or five hundred of them. A native of the town, where we were, told us, that in it alone there might be at that time more than eight thousand prisoners; and that was because it was a principal town, where those of the neighbouring places were assembled together. In every gaol there is a book of the prisoners therein, whom the gaoler counts every night. In that where I was, sometimes there were three hundred prisoners, at others four hundred; and although I did not see the other gaols, it appears to me from this, that there might be as many prisoners as they told me.

"The serious crimes go to the court; and for those who come from thence sentenced to death, the king gives power to the governors of the towns – if, upon a re-examination of the case, from being nearer where the offence was committed, they should find them less guilty – to spare their lives, and condemn them to banishment, or to the king's service, for so many years, or for their whole life. They take all possible pains to avoid condemning any to death. It can scarcely be expressed how much the king is feared by his subjects: they call him god and king for the strict government and justice that he maintains in his kingdom, which is necessary from the people being bad and malicious.

"In their ancient books they find that at a certain time, white men with long beards are to take their kingdom of China; on this account they are so careful of the walls and of fortifying the towns; and the officers make a muster of the soldiers, they receive and examine them to see if they are good soldiers; they do the same with the cavalry; and to those who excel they give rewards according to their personal qualities, putting also in their heads a branch with gold and silver leaves, as a sign of honour; but those who do not satisfy them they dismiss, paying them their hire and giving them the money with reproachful words.

"The people of China are, in general, neither brave nor skilful, nor have they any natural inclination for warlike affairs; if they maintain themselves it is by the multitude of the people, the strength of the walls and towns, and the provision of ammunition. At the boundary of the kingdom of China, where it borders on the Tartars, there is a wall of wondrous strength, of a month's journey in extent, where the king keeps a great military force in the bulwarks. Where this walls comes upon mountains, they cut them in such a manner that they remain and serve as a wall; for the Tartars are very brave and skilful in war. At the time we were prisoners, they broke through a part of the wall and entered into the territory within for a month and a half's journey; but as the king prepared great armies of men provided with artful contrivances (in which the Chinese are very crafty), he kept back the Tartars, who fight on horse-back. As their horses had become weak and were dying of hunger, one of the Chinese officers commanded a large quantity of peas to be placed in the fields, and thus it was that the horses (being so hungry as they were) set themselves to eat against the will of their masters; and in this manner the army of the king of China put them in disorder and turned to drive them out. And now a strict watch is kept on the wall.

"They make great feasts in the provinces of the kingdom of China, every year on the king's birthday; and in the government palaces of every town, in a hall covered with an awning, and having the walls and the floor ornamented with very rich coloured cloths, they place a seat painted of the same colour. This hall has three doors, and it is the custom of the officers of the towns to enter by any one of them, on foot like any other man, without taking anything with him, and without a sunshade before him; in passing they make obeisance by seven or eight genuflexions, as if the king were sitting on the seat. Having finished, they go to their houses, and at this time enter on foot and by any door; for except on this day they only enter by the middle door and in very rich litters, in which their servants carry them. They hold it for greater dignity to go in these litters than on horseback, taking one or two persons on the right for state, and a sunshade on foot before them, like those which they use in India.

"They make another very great feast on the first day of the year, which is the day upon which we celebrate the feast of the Circumcision. These feasts last three days; on every one of which they represent scenes by day and night, for they are much addicted to the performance of farces. On these three days the gates of the town are closed, because from much eating and drinking the people are at times beside themselves. They make other very great feasts when the king nominates his son for his heir; upon which day, they declared to me, they release all the prisoners, even those sentenced to death. At the time that we were prisoners, there came news that the king intended to make his son a king, upon which the prisoners in all the gaols rejoiced much.

"These great kingdoms of China are divided by the same king into fifteen provinces, and in every one of them there is a chief town, where there is a governor, who is changed every three years; in these chief towns the treasure of the king, from the revenue of all the province, is collected. The privilege for those who shall betake themselves to the chief town is, that for crimes which they have committed elsewhere they cannot be taken; and the reason of this privilege is, that as they are continually carrying on war with the Tartars and with other kings, if they did not afford this security these persons would pass over to the enemy.

"It has been, and still is, the custom to write everything remarkable and worthy of remembrance on large stones on the highways, and in the same places where they occurred, principally in the towns at the government palaces, where the officers reside. These antiquities are written in the open courts, many of them in letters of gold; and the noblemen and men of quality are very curious to read them, and fond of talking of remarkable actions, and of the dignity and achievements of the former kings.

"I have heard much of the grandeur of these kingdoms, and seen somewhat (although little), which to those who have no knowledge of China would scarcely appear true; wherefore I only speak of those things that are most common among the people, leaving the rest to time, which will discover them. The noblest and most populous town is one where the king resides, which is called Paquin; the natives (for I did not see it) say that it takes seven days to traverse it by a direct road, and thirteen to go round it. It is surrounded by three enclosures and a very copious river, which entirely encompasses it, forming, as it were, the interior enclosure. Marvellous things are reported of the riches and structure of the royal residence; the designs are taken from many provinces of the same kingdom, none being allowed to go out of it. Before entering the palaces seven or eight very strong gates have to be passed, where there are very tall and stout men for guards. The king (according to what they say) never goes out of that town, and everything he eats is produced within the walls; he does not go to the outer enclosures; and they say he is never seen except by those who attend upon him, who are all eunuchs, sons of noblemen, and who when once they enter there into the residence, never more depart from it until death. The king has noblemen about him, very learned and of great prudence, with whom he transacts all the business of the kingdom. And these also never go without the enclosure on any account; they are called Vlaos. The manner of choosing them for that dignity is this: when there is a vacancy, the king inquires for some one distinguished in learning and for discretion, and inclined to justice; if there be one who is commonly held of this reputation, he orders him to be summoned from any province of the kingdom where he may be, and invests him with the office of Vlaos.

"The Chinese observe much exactness in their courtesies and great neatness in their apparel, both men and women; they generally go very well dressed, from the quantity of silk there is in the kingdom.

"The soil is very productive of necessaries, fruits, and very singular waters; there are very pleasant gardens, and all kinds of game and hunting. The Chinese touch no food with their hands, but all, both small and great, eat with two little sticks for cleanliness.

"Their temples are very large edifices, richly wrought, which they call Valeras, and which cost a great deal, for the statues, which are of large size, are all covered with beaten gold. The roof of the temples is gilded, and the walls ornamented with boards well wrought and painted in pictures. They are skilful workmen in carpentry. In these temples there are priests (who are obliged to remain in them always), with an appointed income. They eat neither flesh nor fish, only herbs, principally beledas, and some fruits; on certain days they fast. If they do anything that they ought not, they are driven out and allowed to be priests no longer, and others are put in their place.

"No man can go from one province to another without taking a licence of the governor, and he who is found without one is punished; and no traveller can be (by law of the kingdom) more than three or four days in a town where he has not business; there is a man whose office it is to go about looking to this, and if any such is found, he is taken up, for they presume him to be a thief and a man of bad life. And so every one is accustomed to have some occupation, and to hold some office, even the sons of the officers and nobles. All employ their sons, of whatever condition they may be, setting them to read and write, which they vnderstand generally. Others put them to trade, and they are also in the habit of placing their sons with officers and noblemen, that they may learn how to serve. The officers are waited on with much veneration; all who speak to them do so with genuflexions, and whatever they have to ask for must be done in writing.

"The sentences which the officers pronounce are conformable to the laws of the kingdom; they judge according to the truth of the matter, which they inquire into themselves, without taking account of what the parties say; and so they are very correct in affairs of justice, for fear of the visitation, which, they say, is made every six months. Their years have twelve moons, and every three years they add to the year one moon, and thus it has thirteen.

"The people of any consequence wear black silk for their dress, because coloured is held dishonourable for clothing; so much so, that no one dares to go before any officer or person of quality without a black dress; and if he has gone away from home with a coloured cloak, and he happens to have to speak to any officer, he takes a black cloak from some acquaintance whom he meets, and leaves him his own while he transacts his business. The common people always speak to the nobles cap in hand, and they may not wear black cloaks, but only very short coloured ones. The officers wear a kind of cap, different from other people, for a certain dignity is kept up amongst them as with us. In these caps they have tufts made of horsehair, stuck on every part. The king wears the same, except that they say he has two points cross-wise at the top.

"They praise and extol the richness of the king's dress, which they say is always of the colour of heaven. The officers, on the principal feasts, on the first day of January and at the beginning of the moon, dress themselves richly in coloured damask, and on the breast and back of the vesture they bear a stag and an eagle, very naturally embroidered, for they are clever designers. These garments look very well; they reach within a hand's breadth of the ground, and have very long, large, and wide sleeves. They wear boots of a blackish colour, with soles of white cloth strong as boards.

"The officers and nobles, at the death of father or mother or a very near relation, wear white dresses, very cross and rough; and they gird themselves with a girdle as thick as the leg, which reaches to the ground, as does the dress also. Attached to the cap, they wear another thinner cord. When the deceased are less nearly related, they also clothe themselves all in white, from the shoes to the cap, but not so coarse and rough.

"These are the matters that are most commonly seen and known in China, where we were prisoners six years; other very remarkable things that we heard tell of I omit, because I did not see them, and because it appears to me that every day will discover more and more."

The next account of China is by Gaspar da Cruz, a native of Evora, and one of the order of Friars Preachers; he is thus described by Barbosa Machado, in his Biblioteca Lusitana. "Inflamed with an holy ardour of announcing the gospel to distant barbarians, who were given to idolatry, he set sail in the year 1548 with twelve companions, of whom the Friar Diego Bernardo was vicar-general, to the East Indies; and after building a convent at Goa, and another at Malacca, he penetrated as far as the kingdom of Camboya; but as the fruits of his labours did not correspond with his desires, he resolved upon passing on to China in the year 1556, being the first missionary who illuminated its inhabitants with the light of the faith, and had the glory of being the precursor of all those gospel labourers, who with so much labour and expenditure of blood cultivated that wild but extensive vineyard. He spent many years in this laborous undertaking, and several times incurred the risk of his life, especially on one occasion when, in a sumptuous pagoda, he threw down a multitude of idols, but at the same time confounded and silenced by the vehement efficacy of his preaching the greatest masters of Paganism. He returned to his country in 1569, and was nominated by King Sebastian, bishop of Malacca, but this dignity he did not accept. He died in 1570, through exposing himself in charitable exertions to assist the sufferers in a plague which then raged at Lisbon."

The narrative of his travels was published in black letter at Evora in 1569-70, 4to., under the title of "Tractàdo em que se contam muito por estenso as cousas de China con suas particularidades y assi do Regno dormuz." In the preface reference is made to a narrative of China by a fellow-countryman, one Francisco Henriques, but he appears merely to refer to him as having presented this relation to Sebastian I, King of Portugal, which seems to have been an unpublished manuscript. An abbreviated translation of the narrative of his travels is given by Purchas, in which he mentions "the storie of certaine Portugals, prisoners in China," one of which he nameth Galotti Perera, from whom he received great part of his Chinese intelligence. He is also referred to by Mendoza, in the first chapter of the second book, as one from whom he "follows many things in the process of his historie." This person is mentioned by Barbosa Machado under the name of Galeoti Pereyra, brother of Ruy Pereira I, first Count of Feyra, and as being captive in Funchien in China. His account appears to have been first printed in Italian at Venice, from the original Portuguese MS., and an English translation by R. Willes was given by Richard Eden in his Historye of Travaile in the West and East Indies. As this, though comparatively short, preceded the narrative of Mendoza now reprinted, and formed the main basis of the account of Gaspar da Cruz, we think it right to supply the reader with copious extracts from it, as being for these reasons a highly important and interesting document. They are as follows:

"This land of China is parted into 13 shyres, the which sometymes were eche one a kyngdome by it selfe, but these many years they haue been all subject unto one kyng. Fuquien is made by the Portugalles the first shyre, bycause there their troubles bygan, and had occasion thereby to know the rest. In this shyre be viii cities, but one principally more famous than others, called Fuquico, the other seuen are reasonably great, the best known whereof unto the Portugalles is Cinceo, in respect of a certain hauen ioyning thereunto, whyther in tyme past they were wont for merchandyse to resort.

"Cantan is the second shyre, not so great in quantitie, as well accoumpted of, both by the kyng thereof and also by the Portugalles, for that it lyeth nearer vnto Malacca than any other part of China, and was first discryed by the Portugalles before any other shyre in that prouince: this shyre hath in it seuen cities.

"Chequeam is the third shyre, the chiefest citie therein is Donchion, therein also standeth Liampo, with other thirtiene or fourtiene boroughes: countrey townes therein to many to be spoken of.

"The fourth shyre is called Xutiamfu, the principall citie therof is great Pachin, where the kyng is alwayes resident. In it are fyftiene other very great cities: of other townes therein, and boroughes well walled and trenched about, I will say nothing.

"The fyft shyre hath name Chelim: the great citie Nanquin, chiefe of other fyftiene cities, was herein of auncient tyme the royall seate of the Chinish kynges. From this shyre, and from the aforesayde Chequeam forwarde, bare rule the other kynges, untyll the whole region became one kyngdome.

"The sixt shyre beareth name Quianci, as also the principall citie thereof, wherein the fyne claye to make vessels is wrought. The Portugalles beyng ignorant of this countrey, and fyndyng great abundaunce of that fyne claye to be solde at Liampo, and that very good cheape, thought at the first that it had been made there; howbeit, in fine, they perceiued that the standing of Quinzi, more neare unto Liampo than to Cinceo or Cantan, was the cause of so muche fine clay at Liampo: within the compasse of Quinci shyre be other 12 cities.

"The seuenth shyre is Quicini, the eight Quansi, the nienth Confu, the tenth Vrnan, the eleuenth Sichiua. In the first hereof there be 16 cities, in the next fyftiene: howe many townes the other three haue we are ignorant as yet, as also of the proper names of the 12 and 13 shyres and the townes therein.

"This, finally, may be generally sayde heereof, that the greater shyres in China prouince may be compared with mightie kyngdomes.

"In eche one of these shyres be set Ponchiassini and Anchiassini, before whom are handled the matters of other cities. There is also placed in eche one a Tutan, as you would say a gouernor, and a Chian, that is a visitor, as it were, whose office is to goe in circuit and to see iustice exactly done. By these meanes so upryghtly thinges are ordered there, that it may bee worthely accompted one of the best gouerned prouinces in all the world.

"The king maketh alwayes his abode in the great citie Pachin, as muche as to say in our language, as by the name thereof I am aduertised, the towne of the kyngdome. This kyngdome is so large, that vnder fyue monethes you are not able to traueyle from the townes by the sea syde to the court and backe agayne, no not vnder three monethes in poste at your vrgent businesse. The posthorses in this countrey are litle of bodie, but swyfte of foote. Many doe traueyle the greater parte of this iourney by water in certayne lyght barkes, for the multitude of ryuers commodious for passage from one citie to another.

"The kyng, notwithstandyng the hugenesse of his kyngdome, hath such a care thereof, that every moone (by the moones they reckon their monethes) he is aduertised fully of whatsoeuer thing happeneth therein, by these meanes folowyng.

"The whole prouince beyng diuided into shyres, and eche shyre hauyng in it one chiefe and principall citie, whereunto the matters of all the other cities, townes, and boroughes are brought, there are drawen in euery chiefe citie aforesayde, intelligences of suche thinges as doe monethely fall out, and be sent in writing to the court. If happely in one moneth euery post is not able to goe so long a way, yet doeth there notwithstandyng once euery moneth arryue one post out of the shyre. Who so commeth before the newe moone, stayeth for the deliuery of his letters vntyll the moone be chaunged. Then lykewyse are dispatched other postes backe into all the 13 shyres agayne.

"Before that we doe come to Cinceo we have to passe through many places, and some of great importance. For this countrey is so well inhabited neare the sea syde, that you cannot go one myle but you shall see some towne, borough, or hostry, the which are so abundantly provided of all thinges, that in the cities and townes they liue ciuily. Nevertheles such as dwel abrode are very poore, for the multitude of them euery where is so great, that out of a tree you shal see many tymes swarme a number of children where a man would not haue thought to haue founde any one at all.

"From these places in number infinite, you shall come vnto two cities very populose, and beyng compared with Cinceo, not possibly to be discerned which is the greater of them. These cities are as well walled as any cities in all the worlde. As you come in to eyther of them, standeth so great and mightie a brydge, that the lyke thereof I haue neuer seene in Portugall nor els where. I heard one of my felowes say, that he told in one bridge 40 arches. The occasion wherefore these bridges are made so great, is for that the countrey is toward the sea very plaine and low, and ouerwhelmed euer as y^e sea water encreaseth. The breadth of the bridges, although it bee well proportioned vnto the length therof, yet are they equally buylt, no higher in the middle than at eyther end, in such wyse that you may directly see from y^e one end to the other, the sydes are wonderfully well engraved after the maner of Rome workes. But that we did most marueyle at, was therewithall the hugenesse of y^e stones, the lyke wherof as we came into the citie, we dyd see many set up in places dishabited by the way, to no small charges of theyrs, howbeit to little purpose, whereas no body seeth them but such as doe come bye. The arches are not made after our fashion, vauted with sundry stones set togeather; but paved, as it were, whole stones reaching from one piller to an other, in suche wyse that they lye both for the arches heades and galantly serue also for the hygh waye. I haue been astunned to beholde the hugenesse of these aforesayde stones, some of them are XII pases long and upwarde, the least a XII good pases long, and a halfe.

"The wayes echewhere are galantly paued with foure square stone, except it be where for want of stone they vse to laye bricke: in this voyage wee traueyled ouer certayne hilles, where the wayes were pitched, and in many places no worse paued than in the playne grounde. This causeth us to thinke, that in all the worlde there be no better workemen for buildinges than the inhabitantes of China.

"The countrey is so well inhabited, that no one foote of ground is left untilled; small store of cattell haue we seene this way, we sawe onely certayne oxen wherewithall the countreymen doe plough theyr grounde. One oxe draweth the plough alone, not onely in this shyre, but in other places also wherein is greater store of cattell. These countrymen by arte doe that in tyllage which we are constrayned to doe by force. Here be solde the voydinges of close stooles, although there wanteth not the dunge of beastes; and the excrements of man are good marchandise throughout all China. The dungfermers seeke in euery streete by exchange to buye this durtie ware for hearbes and wood. The custome is very good for keepyng the citie cleane. There is great aboundance of hennes, geese, duckes, swyne, and goates; wethers haue they none: the hennes are solde by weight, and so are all other thinges. Two pounde of hennes fleshe, goose, or ducke, is worth two Foi of their money, that is, d. ob. sterling. Swines flesh is solde at a peny the pounde. Beefe beareth the same pryce, for the scarcitie thereof; howbeit northwarde from Fuquieo, and farther of from the sea coast, there is beefe more plentie and solde better cheape; beefe onely excepted, great aboundance of all these viandes we haue had in all the cities we passed through. And if this countrey were lyke vnto India, the inhabitants whereof eate neyther henne, beefe, nor porke, but keepe that onely for the Portugalles and Moores, they would be solde here for nothing. But it so fallyng out that the Chineans are the greatest eaters in all the world, they doe feede uppon all thinges, specially on porke, the fatter that is, vnto them the lesse lothsome. The highest price of these thinges aforesayde I haue set downe, better cheape shall you sometymes buye them, for the great plentie thereof in this countrey. Frogges are solde at the same price that is made of hennes, and are good meate amongst them, as also dogges, cattes, rattes, snakes, and all other vncleane meates.

"The cities be very gallant, specially near vnto the gates, the which are marueylously great, and couered with iron. The gatehouses buylt on hygh with towers, the lower parte thereof is made of bricke and stone, proportionally with the walles; from the walles vpward, the buyldyng is of tymber, and many stones in it one aboue the other. The strength of theyr townes is in the mightie walles and ditches, artillarie haue they none.

"The streetes in Cinceo, and in all the rest of the cities we haue seene are very fayre, so large and so streight that it is wonderfull to beholde. Theyr houses are buylt with tymber, the foundations onely excepted, the which are layd with stone; in eche syde of the streetes are paynteles or continuall porches for the marchantes to walke vnder: the breadth of the streete is neuerthelesse suche, that in them XV men may ryde commodiously syde by syde. As they ryde they must needes passe vnder many hygh arches of triumph that crosse ouer the streetes made of tymber, and carued diuersely, couered with tyle of fine claye: vnder these arches the mercers doe vtter theyr small wares, and such as lyst to stande there, are defended from rayne and the heate of the sunne. The greater gentlemen haue these arches at their doores, although some of them be not so myghtyly buylt as the rest.

"I shall haue occasion to speake of a certayne order of gentlemen that are called Loutea; I will first therefore expound what this worde signifieth. Loutea is as muche to say in our language as Syr, and when any of them calleth his name, he answereth Syr: and as we doe say, that the kyng hath made some gentleman, so say they that there is made a Loutea. And for that amongst them the degrees are diuers both in name and office, I will tell you onely of some principalles, beyng not able to aduertise you of all.

"The maner howe gentlemen are created Louteas, and doe come to that honour and title, is by the gyuynge of a broad gyrdle not like to the rest, and a cap, at the commandement of the kyng. The name Loutea is more generall and common vnto moe, than equalitie of honour thereby signified, agreeth withall. Such Louteas that doe serue their prince in weightie matters for iustice, are created after triall made of their learning; but the other, whiche serue in smaller affayres, as capitaynes, constables, sergeantes by lande and sea, receyuers, and such lyke, wherof there be in euery citie, as also in this, very many, are made for fauour: the chiefe Louteas are serued kneelyng.

"The Louteas are an idle generation, without all maner of exercises and pastymes, excepte it be eatyng and drynkyng. Somtymes they walke abrode in the fieldes to make the souldyers shoot at prickes with theyr bowes, but theyr eatyng passeth: they wyll stande eatyng euen when the other do drawe to shoote.

"The inhabitants of China be very great idolaters, all generally do worshyppe the heauens: and as we are woont to saye, God knoweth it, so say they at euery worde, Tien Tautee, that is to saye, the heauens do knowe it. Some do worshyp the sonne, and some the moone, as they thynke good, for none are bounde more to one then to an other. In their temples, the which they do cal Meani, they haue a great altar in y^e same place as we have; true it is that one may goe rounde about it. There set they up the image of a certayne Loutea of that countrey, whom they haue in great reuerence for certaine notable thinges he dyd. At the ryght hande standeth the deuyl, muche more vglie paynted then we do vse to set hym out, whereunto great homage is done by suche as come into the temple to aske counsell, or to drawe lottes: this opinion they haue of hym, that he is malitious and able to do euyl. If you aske them what they do thynke of the soules departed, they will answeare, that they be immortall, and that as soone as any one departeth out of this life, he becometh a deuyle if he haue liued well in this worlde; if otherwyse, that the same deuyl changeth him into a bufle, oxe, or dogge. Wherfore to this deuyl do they much honour, to hym do they sacrifice, praying hym that he wyll make them lyke vnto hym selfe, and not lyke other beastes. They haue moreouer an other sorte of temples, wherein both uppon the altars and also on the walles do stande many idoles well proportioned, but bare headed. These bare name Omithofon, accompted of them spirites, but suche as in heaven do neither good nor euyll; thought to be suche men and women as haue chastlye lyued in this worlde in abstinence from fyshe and fleshe, fedde only with ryse and salates. Of that deuyl they make some accompte, for these spirites they care litle or nothyng at all. Agayne, they holde opinion that if a man do well in this lyfe, the heauens wyll geue hym many temporall blessynges; but if he do euyll, then shall he haue infirmities, diseases, troubles, and penurie, and all this without any knowledge of God.

"In the principall cities of the shyres be foure cheefe Louteas, before whom are brought all matters of the inferiour townes throughout the whole realme. Diuers other Louteas haue the maneagyng of iustice and receyuyng of rentes, bounde to yeeld an accompte thereof vnto the greater officers. Other doo see that there be no euyll rule keept in the citie: eache one as it behoueth hym. Generally al these do impryson malefactours, cause them to be whypped and racked, hoysing them vp and downe by the armes with a corde, a thyng very vsuall there, and accompted no shame. These Louteas do vse great diligence in y^e apprehending of theeues, so that it is a wonder to see a theefe escape away in any towne, citie, or village. Upon the sea neere vnto the shore many are taken, and looke euen as they are taken, so be they fyrst whypped, and afterward layd in prison, where shortly after they all dye for hunger and colde. At that tyme when we were in pryson, there died of them aboue threescore and ten. Yf happely any one hauyng the meanes to geat foode do escape, he is set with the condemned persones, and prouided for as they be by the kyng, in such wyse as hereafter it shalbe sayde.

"Theyr whyps be certayne peeces of canes, cleft in the middle, in such sort that they seeme rather playne then sharpe. He that is to be whipped lieth grouelong on the ground. Upon his thighes the hangman layeth on blowes myghtely with these canes, that the standers by tremble at theyr crueltie. Ten strypes drawe a great deale of blood, twentie or thyrtie spoyle the fleshe altogeather, fyftie or threescore wyll require long tyme to be healed, and yf they come to the number of one hundred, then are they incurable."

"Wee are wont to call this countrey China, and the people Chineans; but as long as we were prisoners, not hearing amongst them at any tyme that name, I determined to learne howe they were called: and asked sometymes by them thereof, for that they vnderstoode vs not when wee called them Chineans, I answered them that all the inhabitantes of India named them Chineans, wherefore I prayed them that they would tell mee for what occasion they are so called, whether peradventure any citie of theyrs bare that name. Heerevnto they alwayes answered mee, to haue no suche name, nor euer to haue had. Than dyd I aske them what name the whole countrey beareth, and what they would answere beyng asked of other nations what countrymen they were: It was tolde me that of auncient tyme in this countrey had been many kynges, and though presently it were all vnder one, eche kyngdome neuertheless enioyed that name it fyrst had: these kyngdomes are the prouinces I spake of before. In conclusion they sayde, that the whole countrey is called Tamen, and the inhabitantes Tamegines, so that this name China or Chineans is not hearde of in that countrey. I doe thinke that the nearenesse of an other prouince thereabout called Cochin-China, and the inhabitantes thereof Cochinesses, fyrst discouered before that China was, lying not farre from Malacca, dyd gyue occasion both to the one nation and to the other of that name Chineans, as also the whole countrey to be named China. But their proper name is that aforesayde.

"I haue hearde moreouer that in the citie Nanquim remayneth a table of golde, and in it written a kyng his name, as a memory of that residence the kynges were wont to keepe there. This table standeth in a great pallace, couered alwayes except it bee in some of theyr festiuall dayes, at what tyme they are wont to let it be seene: couered neuerthelesse as it is, all the nobilitie of the citie goeth of duetie to doe it euery day reuerence. The lyke is done in the head cities of all the other shyres in the pallaces of the Ponchiassini, wherein these aforesayde tables doe stande, with the kyng his name written in them, although no reuerence be done therevnto but in solempne feastes.

"I haue lykewyse vnderstoode that the citie Pachin, where the kyng maketh his abode, is so great, that to goe from one syde to the other, besydes the subarbes, the which are greater than the citie it selfe, it requyreth one whole day a horsebacke, going hackney pase. In the subarbes be many wealthy marchantes of all sortes. They tolde me furthermore that it was moted about, and in the motes great store of fyshe, wherof the kyng maketh great gaynes.

"They haue moreouer one thing very good, and that whiche made vs all to marueyle at them, beyng Gentiles: namely, that there be hospitalles in all theyr cities, alwayes full of people, we neuer sawe any poore body begge. We therefore asked the cause of this: answered it was, that in euery citie there is a great circuit, wherein be many houses for poore people, for blinde, lame, old folke, not able to traueyle for age, nor hauyng any other meanes to lyue. These folke haue in the aforesayde houses, euer plentie of rice duryng theyr lyues, but nothyng els. Such as be receyued into these houses, come in after this maner. Whan one is sicke, blinde, or lame, he maketh a supplication to the Ponchiassi, and prouyng that to be true he wryteth, he remayneth in the aforesayde great lodgyng as long as he lyueth: besides this they keepe in these places swyne and hennes, whereby the poore be releeued without goyng a beggyng.

"The kyng hath in many ryuers good store of barges full of sea crowes, that breede, are fedde, and do dye therein, in certayne cages, allowed monethly a certayne prouision of ryce. These barges the kyng bestoweth vpon his greatest magistrates, geuyng to some two, to some three of them, as he thynketh good, to fyshe therewithall after this maner. At the houre appoynted to fyshe, all the barges are brought togeather in a circle, where the riuer is shalowe, and the crowes, tyed togeather vnder the wynges, are let leape downe into the water, some vnder, some aboue, worth the lookyng vppon: eche one as he hath filled his bagge, goeth to his owne barge and emptieth it, which done, he retourneth to fyshe agayne. Thus hauyng taken good store of fyshe, they set the crowes at libertie, and do suffer them to fyshe for theyr owne pleasure. There were in that citie where I was, twentie barges at the least of these aforesayde crowes; I wente almost euery day to see them, yet coulde I neuer be thoroughly satisfied to see so straunge a kynde of fyshyng."

The Spaniards were long behind their neighbours the Portuguese in prosecuting the important task of eastern investigation. The Papal division of the world between the discoverers of the two nations by the boundary of a certain meridian, made them follow the line of exploration to the westward.

The Father Andres de Urdaneta, who, previous to entering himself as a monk of the order of the Augustins, had been a skilful navigator, persuaded Philip II to realize the conquest of the Philippines, where the voyages and the life of the celebrated Magellan were brought to a close. This prince consequently issued orders to the viceroy of Mexico, to send out an expedition under the command of a native of Mexico, named Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, and desired that Andres de Urdaneta should accompany him, together with four other Augustines, viz., Diego de Herrera, Martin de Herrada, Pedro de Gamboa, and Andres de Aguirre. The fleet arrived in 1565 at the island of Zebu. On the 1st of June the same year, the Father Andres de Urdaneta returned to Mexico. In 1566 Legaspi built the town of Zebu, and the Augustines established a monastery as a station for their missions among the natives. The Spaniards, pursuing their conquests, arrived in 1571 at the island of Luzon, the most northerly and the largest of this archipelago: Legaspi here founded the city of Manilla.

The work of conversion and civilization was scarcely begun, when the island was engaged in a quarrel by the attacks of the Malays of Borneo and Mindanao. These pirates, too cunning to venture on an open struggle, landed suddenly on the coast, slaughtered or extorted money from the missionaries, and carried away several of the natives, whom they afterwards sold as slaves. In 1574 a more serious aggression diverted attention from the attacks of these pirates: a Chinese corsair, who was called King Limahon, appeared before Manilla. For a long time he had resisted the squadrons of his emperor, but at last, vanquished by numbers and forced to flee, he entertained the project of conquering Luzon with seventy-two vessels, which carried two thousand soldiers, bold adventurers, besides the sailors and one thousand five hundred women. They effected a landing on the 29th of November 1574, just after Lopez de Legaspi had been appointed governor-general of the Philippines. The corsairs marched against the Spanish town, which they expected to surprise; but a little corps of advanced guard, under the orders of Captain Velasquez, having given the garrison time to rally, a general battle took place, and ended in the defeat of the Chinese. Limahon in vain essayed to renew the attack: repulsed afresh, he took refuge at the mouth of the river Lingayen, in Pangasinan, the northern province of Luzon. At the time of his attack, he had been closely followed by a Chinese captain, charged to watch him, and who had a conference with the Spanish governor. The latter thought this a favourable occasion for introducing the Gospel into China. Having sent for Alfonso de Alvarado, provincial of the Augustins, a venerable and holy old man, one of those whom Charles V had sent to the discovery of New Guinea, he told him to select missionaries for the Celestial Empire. The provincial in his joy offered to go there himself, old as he was; but the governor would by no means consent to this proposal. The choice fell upon Martin de Herrada, or Rada, a native of Pampeluna, in Navarre, who had already filled the office of provincial, and who burned with such desire to convert the Chinese, that after having studied their language, he had made a proposal to some merchants of that nation who had come to the Philippines, that they should carry him as a slave to their country, where by this means he hoped to introduce the knowledge of the Gospel. They chose also Friar Geronimo Marin, a native of Mexico, a man equally distinguished for his piety and learning, and in company with these two missionaries, who they hoped would be able to remain a considerable time in China and to spread the knowledge of the Gospel there, they sent two soldiers, who were to bring back news respecting the progress of the mission. Besides other presents, the governor gave the Chinese captain all the slaves of his nation which the Spaniards had taken from Limahon, who was at that time held under blockade, to take them back free to their country. The 5th of July 1575, the friars landed at Tansuso [Gan-hai], whence, on their way to visit the governor of Chincheo [Tsiuen-cheu] they passed through the town of Tangoa [Tong-gan] in China.6 The mandarin of Chincheo, of whom the captain who conducted them held his commission, gave them a good reception; but as the ambassadors were sent by a simple lieutenant of the king of Spain, and not direct from the monarch, he insisted that they should address him on their knees. This mandarin, after having entertained them at a banquet, sent them with a good escort to the Tutan or viceroy of the province. They then made a journey of thirty leagues, carried in palanquins. At Aucheo [Focheou, so pronounced in the Fokien dialect] they met with an honourable reception. Each of the monks received a present of six pieces of silk tissue, which they crossed upon their breast in the manner of a stole, and two bouquets of silver: the other members of the embassy also had presents. As to the alliance proposed between Spain and China, and the permission requested by the missionaries for the exercise of their apostolic ministry, the viceroy referred them to the emperor. While waiting the reply from Pekin, the monks bought many books in the Chinese language, and visited the pagodas. The principal contained one hundred and eleven idols, all carved in relief and gilded. Three in particular attracted their attention. The first was a body with three heads, which looked at one another: they believed they saw in it a vague symbol of the Trinity. The second was a woman who held a little infant in her arms; they called her the Virgin Mother and the Divine Infant. The third represented to them an apostle. The monks having been to examine the gates of the city, this demand awakened the suspicions of the viceroy, who would seldom permit them to go out after. Upon his desiring to see some piece of writing by their hand, they copied for him the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, putting the Chinese translation to the Spanish text; and the viceroy took great pleasure in reading them. He only retarded their departure till the arrival of the visitor of the province, who desired to see them. The curiosity of this functionary once satisfied, he gave them rich presents for the Spanish governor of the Philippines, saying that they might return when they brought Limahon dead or alive. They then left Aucheo to return to Chincheo, where they made no lengthened stay, the mandarin of this town attending them to the port of Tansuso. After fresh entertainments, the Chinese captain who had brought them, was charged with the task of reconducting them to Manilla, and they embarked on the 14th of September 1575. En route, they learned that Limahon, who had been blocked up by the Spaniards, had contrived to escape with part of his troops, and had gained the island of Formosa.

The flight of Limahon disconcerted the Chinese captain who brought back the missionaries, and who feared that he should be disgraced on this account when he returned to China. This captain, to whom they explained the principal points of the Christian faith, would have embraced it, had he not feared the punishment inflicted in his country on those who forsake the national religion. He said even that they would easily succeed in converting the Chinese, if they could first gain over the emperor, by means of an embassy sent to him by the King of Spain.

Herrada, thus prevented from preaching, had not been idle during his stay in China; he composed a vocabulary of the Chinese language, now apparently unknown, and drew up a succinct account of his voyage, respecting which we translate some very curious remarks by the Friar Geronimo de Ramon, in his Republicas del Mundo. He says that this treatise fell into his hands, but was taken away by some one, he could not tell by whom, and never returned to him; a circumstance which caused him much annoyance, because he wished to write the Republic of China; but it turned out, he says, the better for him, for he wrote in consequence to the Licenciate Juan de Rada, Alcalde of the Upper Court of Navarre and brother of Martin, who sent him a great number of interesting papers of his brother's. He then proceeds to speak of the high respectability and credibility of De Rada, on account of his rank and distinguished piety. An original letter by De Rada, however, giving a succinct account of his embassy is inserted by the Friar Gaspar de San Augustin, in his Conquistas de las Islas Philipinas, to which we refer the reader for full accounts of all the movements of those zealous preachers of the gospel in the Philippines and in China at that early period.

De Rada's treatise formed the basis of the narrative compiled by Mendoza, which is now republished. On his return from China, his ship being stranded on the island of Bolinao, he and his companions were stript of everything and left naked; but were saved by the providential arrival of a Spanish armament, which conducted them safe to Manilla, where he died in 1577.

His narrative was transmitted to Philip II, in the year 1576, by the hands of his companion, the Friar Geronimo Marin, and the king consequently nominated three ambassadors; viz., Marin, the Father Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza (the compiler of the work now reprinted, a native of Toledo, and who had left the career of a soldier for the garb of a monk of the order of St. Augustine), and Father Francisco de Ortega: all these were Augustinians. They were dispatched to Mexico for the purpose of making suitable additions to the costly presents provided by the king; but the viceroy of Mexico, instead of favouring their immediate departure, threw so many obstacles in the way, that it was not till 1584 that the embassy was carried out, and it ultimately proved a complete failure.