Chap. II. of the E A s 
. ( ' ^ ) 
Pegu that is, in all Probability, thofe Countries were fub- 
jecl and tributary to them. It is likewife very probable, 
that they were Mailers of Tibet, or Thibet , from whence 
it will follow, that whoever traded in the Countries near 
the Mouth of the River Ganges , might very well obtain 
fame fuch dark and imperfect Relations of the Seres as 
thofe are which the Ancients have left us ; and upon this 
Occafion I fhall not fcruple to advance, that their Dark- 
nefs and Imperfection, inftead of being confidered as Marks 
of Falfhood, ought in reality to pafs for Proofs of their 
being true ; for it plainly appears from a Multitude of In- 
stances, which we have already given in this Work, that 
not only the Chinefe, but the Indians alfo, were very little 
inclined to let Strangers into the Hiftories of their Coun- 
tries, or into the Secrets of their Governments ; and there- 
fore it was very natural for fuch as endeavoured to make 
Enquiries into thefe Matters, to report things flightly and 
imperfectly. We may be the better Satisfied of this, if we 
confider, that it appears from all the Accounts of the Ti- 
dies publiihed by the Ancients, that thefe Countries were 
extremely populous, full of large Cities well fortified, and 
a great Number of Sea-ports, in which a great Trade was 
driven amongft themfelves ; thefe Particulars plainly prove, 
that, however barbarous their Cufloms might appear to 
Strangers, yet within themfelves thefe Eaftern Nations were 
perfectly well governed, and in the ftriCt Senfe of the 
Word thoroughly civilized. 
What Serves chiefly to confound us is our considering 
the Indians of thofe Times in the fame View that they 
are reprefented to us by modern Travellers, which is what 
we ought not to do •, for though it be reafonable, and in 
that Light we have made ufe of it often as a probable Ar- 
gument, that the Accounts given us by ancient Writers of 
Wives burning themfelves with the dead Bodies of their 
Huibands, the Brachmans living in a kind of Collegiate 
State, and the whole People being divided into Tribes, are 
true, becaufe in a great meafure we obferve the fame things 
among the Indians at prefent, yet it does not follow that 
in every refped the modern Indians refemble their Ance- 
flors. On the contrary, we ought to refieCt, that the Ac- 
counts we have from the Ancients, refer to the firfl and 
! flourishing Ages of the Indian Principalities, when they 
were abfolutely free and independant, when their Philofo- 
| phy was pure and fublime, their political Conftitutions in 
their full Vigour, their Laws well Supported, and tho- 
roughly executed, their military Eftablifiiments fo well ad- 
I jufted to the Regulation of their civil Affairs, that in times 
of imminent Danger, they were able Suddenly to Set on 
i Foot Armies fo puiffant, that their very Countenance was 
Sufficient to teach the moft ambitious Princes Moderation ; 
as was the Cafe of Alexander , and Some of his Succeflfors. 
The Indians , therefore, in thofe Days, were another fort of 
i People than the Indians known to us •, and though the latter 
may ftill retain in Some meafure the Manners of the former 
in private Life, yet in their publick ConduCl, they can 
furnifli us with no Idea of their Progenitors. In few 
1 Words, though they have preferved Some of their Cu- 
ftoms, they have loft all their Spirit. 
It is the fame thing with refpeCt to the Chinefe , they are 
no longer what they have been ; and if we admire the Wif- 
dom of their prefent Government, and the wonderful 
ExaCtnefs with which their Affairs are administered, we 
; ought to conceive much higher and more magnificent No- 
tions of their Power and Splendor in former Times. That 
Accuracy and Regularity which ftrikes us fo much at pre- 
fent are no more than the Remains of thofe Institutions 
which took place when their Empire was much greater and 
more glorious than at this Day. It is true, that we have 
received from the Mifiionaries, great Lights with regard to 
; the Chinefe Hiftory •, but we are very far from having any 
■ thing compleat in this kind, even at this Day. We have 
}: 01 % general and Short Accounts of the Revolutions that 
have happened in that Country, and of the Conquefts made 
of its frontier Provinces ; no wonder therefore that we are 
not better acquainted with the Conquefts made by them, 
and yet, as I hinted above, we do not want Authority to 
prove, that the Chinefe actually extended their Power into 
Countries that might make their Fame known to the Alex- 
i&ndrian Traders j and perhaps in its proper Place we fhall 
■N UM 3 . .34, 
t Indies. 497 
be able to account for their relinqui filing thofe Con- 
quefts. 
Flere, however, it is fufficient to obferve, that it ap- 
pears very clearly from what we know of the Chinefe Hi- 
ftory, that there was a conftant Fluctuation in their Poli- 
ticks, and that fometimes a Spirit of Dominion, and at 
others a pacifick Difpofition took Place ; and there are 
extant, even in the modern Languages, Difcourfes ad-" 
dreffed to the Chinefe Emperors by their Minifters, ex- 
horting them to be content with their hereditary Coun- 
tries, and rather contract their Power than extend it, that 
they might govern with greater Eafe to themfelves, and 
with Effects more beneficial to their Subjects. After 
thefe Reflections, it will be eafy to underftand how the 
Ancients came to know fo much, and, at the fame Time, 
fo little of thefe People. It was their penetrating fouth- 
ward and weftward, that gave the Ancients an Opportu- 
nity of knowing any thing of them at all, fince it is very 
certain, that if they had been always reftrained within the 
Bounds of China , ftriCtly fo called, they would never have 
been heard of ; and therefore thefe Accounts, inftead of dif- 
crediting the FaCts before-mentioned, when thoroughly 
looked into, and cooly confidered, carry in them the higheft 
Probability, and the moft evident Marks of Truth. That, 
upon Enquiry, the Ancients being informed that the Coun- 
try, which is now called Thibet , was under the Power of the 
Seres, fhould, from thence conclude it the native Soil of 
thofe People, and their Geographers be induced from 
thence to give it the Name of Serica, has nothing in it 
ftrange at all, any more than that they ffiould imagine that 
the Metropolis of this Country was the Capital of the 
Seres, and the chief Seat of their Empire. Thus it is 
hoped this Difficulty is entirely taken away, the Credibi- 
lity of the Teftimonies before ailed ged, fully eftablifhed, 
and the Difference between the ancient and modern Geo- 
graphy of thefe Countries rationally accounted for, with- 
out offering any Injury either to the old Writers or the 
new, and confequently what is laid down in this SeCtion, 
perfectly reconciled to all that has been afferted in the 
former. 
8. There is a third Point in reference to this Subject, 
which requires fome Attention, and then I think v/e may 
fafely proceed. As the laft Objection refpeCted the Coun- 
try of the Seres , fo it is very poffible that fome Doubts 
may arife as to the People who are defcribed by Pliny and 
other old Writers, equally removed in their Manners 
from the reft of Mankind, as feparated from them by the 
great Diftance of their Country. It may, I fay, be fug- 
gefted, that the Cuftoms of the Seres, as they Hand re- 
corded in ancient Writers, have no fort of Refemblance to 
thofe of the Chinefe, if the Accounts I have juft now 
given of them be well founded ; for, whereas I make 
them a potent, wife, and polite People, they paint them 
as a kind of Savages, differing in their DialeCt from the 
reft of Mankind, and fhunning, as much as might be, all 
Converfation with Strangers. 
Now, to reconcile thefe Contradictions, we are to con- 
fider, firft 3 that the Ancients themfelves fpeak very diffe- 
rently of the Seres, fometimes commending them for 
their ffridl Juftice and Probity, for the Purity of their 
Manners, and for their having no Defire to injure their 
Neighbours ; and at others, as a Race of intraftable Peo- 
ple, abfolutely bent to conceal themfelves in their Woods 
and Fortreffes, and trading no other Way than by Ex- 
change, and that too by leaving and taking of Goods 
without any Intercourfe between the Merchants who fold 
them, and thofe who purchafed. Secondly, it appears 
from the Diverfity of thefe Accounts, that the Ancients 
were entirely led in this Matter by Hear-fay, and by the 
Hear-fay of a People who were not much inclined to let 
them into all they knew. Thirdly, it is necefiary to re- 
member that the Indians, from whom the Ancients had 
every Tittle of what they report concerning the Seres, 
might give them fuch Informations as were grounded on 
Truth, but were fo unintelligible to the Greeks, that they 
were not able to report them without Mifreprefentation. 
As for In fiance, the Indians might tell them, that the 
Seres made ufe of a Language very different from that 
qf other Men, and in this they would have told them no 
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