2i8 COMMERCEBETWE. EN 



ments and artificial flowers : the Chinefe readily allow 

 ftrangers to draw alide the curtains, and look at the 



idols. 



The Bucharian * merchants inhabit the South Weft 

 quarter of Maimatfchin. Their houfes are not lb large 

 nor commodious as thofe of the Chinefe, although the 

 greateft part of them carry on a very confiderable 

 commerce. 



The Governor Thc Siu^gutfchci, or govcmor of Maimatfchin, has the 



of Maimaif- 



thin. care of the police, as well as the direction of all affairs 



relating to commerce : he is generally a perfon of 

 rank, oftentimes a Mandarin, who has mifbehaved 

 himfelf in another ftation, and is fent here as a kind 

 of punifliment. He is diftinguifhed from the reft by 

 the cryftal button of his cap, and by a peacock's t fea- 



* " The chief merchandizes which the Bucharians bring to Ruffia, 

 " are cotton, fluffs, and half-filks, fpun and raw cotton, lamb-fklns, 

 " precious ftones, gold-duft, unprepared nitre, fal-ammoniac, &c." 

 See Ruffia, or a complete Hiftorical Account of all the nations that 

 compofc that empire. V. II. p, 141, a very curious and interefting work 

 lately publifhed. 



•i" In China the princes of the blood wear three peacock's feathers, 

 nobles of the higheft diftindtion two, and the lower clafs of the nobility 

 one. It is alfo a mark of high rank to drive a carriage with four 

 wheels. The governor of Maimatfchin rode in one with only two 

 wheels. AH the Chinefe wear buttons of different colours in their caps, 

 which alfo denote the rank. Pallas Reife, P. III. p. 126. 



ther 



