256 A. D. 851. 



per cent on the goods in kind, and reftore the remainder to the mer- 

 chants. The emperor has a right of pre-emption ; but his officers fair- 

 ly, and immediately, pay for what he takes at the higheft price of the 

 articles. 



Can-fu is a place of great trade, to which all foreign merchants refort. 

 The Mohamedans are fo numerous in it, that a cadi, or judge, of their 

 own religion, is allowed to prelide over them, under the authority of 

 the emperor. 



Chinefe fhips trade to Siraf in the Perfian gulf, and there take in 

 goods brought from Baflbra, Oman, and other places, to which they do 

 not venture to proceed on account of the frequent ftorms and other 

 dangers in that fea *. From the account of their route, which is con- 

 flantly along the fhore, the Chinefe of this age appear to be rather more 

 timid navigators than the Arabs and Egyptian Greeks were many cen- 

 turies before f. 



China is more populous than India, and the cities are numerous and 

 ■well fortified. The only coined money among the Chinefe is of cop- 

 per. They confider gold and filver, which they have in great abund- 

 ance, merely as merchandize, in the fame manner as pearls, filks, or 

 other goods. The Chinefe of all ranks drefs in iilk, in fummer and in 

 winter. They have no wine, but inftead of it a fpiritous liquor made 

 from rice (which we now call arrak). Their general drink is an in- 

 fufion of the leaves of fah (tea), the duty upon which brings in a vaft 

 revenue to the fovereign. They have an excellent kind of earth, where- 

 with they make all forts of veflels for the table, of equal finenefs with 

 glafs, and equally tranfparent. For meafuring time they have dials and 

 clocks with weights. There is no land tax in China. Every male child 

 is regiftered when born ; at the age of eighteen he begins to pay a ca- 

 pitation tax, and at eighty he becomes entitled to a penfion J. 



• Father Michfl Boym, wlio rtfided fo long in not indeed fail fo far now ; but tliat might pro- 

 China as ahiioft to forget the Itahan language, in hably be at leafl as much owing to the jealous po- 

 a narrative drawii up in the year 1652, agrees re- Ucy of their government as to want of knowlege 

 markably with Soliman. He fays, that informer or ability, till their knowlege fell off from want of 

 limes the Chinefe took in cinnamon at Ceylon, and praftice. The authenticity of Soliman's relation 

 carried it to Ormus in the Perfian gulf, whence was fufpedlcd, when it was firft publilhed in a 

 other merchants conveyed it to Aleppo and Greece. French tranflation by Eufebius Renaudot in the 

 Sometimes there were four hundred Chinefe vefTela year 1718 ; but Mr. De Gnignes has fince remov- 

 together in the Perfian gulf, loaded with gold, ed eveiy (hadow of doubt.by attelling (In the yoa;-- 

 filks, pretious flones, mu(k, porcelain, copper, nal dcs Savaris, Nov. 1764, and in the Memoires 

 alum, nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon, an article Je Utteralure, V. xxxvii, p, 477) that he had found 

 of which they carried large quantities. \ILlal\nns the original Arabic manufcript in the king's libra- 

 de la Chine, in Thcvenot's Voyages curieux, V. ii, ry at Paris. Independent of that fupport, its crc- 

 /i. 25 of Lift f cries 'f pi'ges.'^ dit feems to he abundantly clear from the artlefs 



f We may thence conclude that the fuppofi- ajid genuine appearance of the narrative ; and it is 



lion of the mariner's compafs being known to highly valuable, were it only for conveying to us 



them long before this time is deftitutc of founda- the e:\rlicll notice of clocks, tea, and china-ware, 



tion. articles now fo common in every houfe. The mag- 



X It has been doubted whether the Ciiinefc nificent piece of mcclumifm prefented to Charlc- 



evcr failed as far as the Perfian gulf. They do magne by Harun al Ralhild was evidently not a 



clock. 



