526 
The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
Quantities of Mufk, efteemed the moft exquifite in the phire. They mourn for three whole Years ; and who- 
World. They have War with all the neighbouring King- foever fhould not do fo, would be chadded with the Bam- 
^ omSc boo, a Punifhment both Men and Women are liable to ; 
The Kingdom of Mabed • is beyond that of Mujet , at the fame time they are reproached, What then , thou 
therein are many Cities, and the Inhabitants have a great art not concerned at the Death of thy Parent ? . 
Refemblance to the Chinefe , even more than thofe of They bury their Dead in deep Pits, much like thofe in 
Mujet *, for they have Officers or Eunuchs, like thofe who ufe among the Arabs : Till this is done, they conftantly fet 
govern the Cities amongft the Chinefe j the Country of M.a~ Victuals before the Corpse anci, as it is in the Evening that 
bed ’is bordering upon China , and is at Peace with the Em- they thus exhibit Meat and Drink to their Dead, if the 
peror, but not fubjeft to him* The Mabed fends 'every next Morning they find nothing left, they imagine that 
Year Embaffadors and Prefents to the Emperor of China , they have conllmied all, and fay *, The Deceafed hath eaten . 
who on his part fends Embaffadors and Prefents to them. They ceafe not from bewailing their Dead, nor from fet- 
Their Country is of great Extent ; and when the Embaf- ing Meat and Drink before them as long as they aie kept 
fadors of Mabed enter China , they are carefully watched, in the Houfe, infomuch that their Expences upon thofe 
and never once allowed to furvey the Country, for fear they Occafions, and in thus paying their laft Duties to their de- 
Ihould form Defigns of conquering it, which would be no parted Relations, are fo exorbitant as often to rum them, 
difficult Talk for them, becaufe of their great Numbers, and confume their Wealth and Effaces. Formerly they, 
and becaufe they are divided from China only by Moun- with the dead Bodies of their Kings, or otheis on^ tne 
tains and Rocks. Royal Blood, buried very rich Apparel, and thofe Sorts 
15. They fay, that in the Kingdom of China there are of Girdles which we have obferved coft fo much ; but this 
above two hundred Cities, with Jurifdi< 5 tion over others, Cuftom is now out of Date, becaufe it has^ happened that 
and have each a Governor, and an Eunuch, or Lieutenant, the Bodies of fome have been dug up by Thieves, for the 
Canfu is one of thefe Cities, being the Port for all Shipping, Sake of what was buried with them. 
and prefiding over twenty Towns. A Town is dignified 
with the Title of City, when it is allowed fome of thofe 
great Chinefe Trumpets, which are faffiioned after this 
Manner : They are three or four Cubits in Length, and as 
mufch about as can be grafped with both Hands ; but they 
grow narrower towards the End, which is fitted to the 
The Chinefe , poor and rich, great and Email, learn to read 
and write ; the Titles of their Kings or Governors, are va- 
ried according to the Dignity and Rank of the Cities under 
them. Thofe of the fmaller Cities are called Tufing 5 and 
this Word fignifies the Governor of a Town *, thofe of 
the greater Cities, as Canfu , for Example, are filled Difu ; 
Mouth j on the Outfide they are coloured with Chinefe and the Eunuch, or Lieutenant, is ftiled Tukam. Theia 
Ink, and may be heard a Mile off. Each City has four Eunuchs are felefted from the Inhabitants of the Cities, 
Gates, at each of which are five of thefe Trumpets, which There is alfo a fupreme Judge, and him they call Lakfhi- 
the Chinefe found at certain Hours of the Day, and of the ma-makvan ; other Names they have for other Officers* 
Night. There are alfo in each City ten Drums, which they which we know not how properly to exprefs. 
beat at the fame time ; and this they do as a publick Token 17. A Man is not raifed to the Dignity of a Prince, 
<of their Obedience to the Emperor ; as alfo to fignify the or Governor of a City, till he has attained his fortieth 
Hour of the Day, and of the Night, to which End they Year •, for then, fay they, fie hath Experince. When one or 
Lave alfo Dials and Clocks with Weights. thefe Princes, or Vice-kings keeps his Court m _a City, 
They coin a great deal of Copper Money, like what the he is feated upon a Tribunal, and. receives the Petitions 
Arabs call Fains : They have Treafures like other Kings •, or Complaints of the People. Behind this Tribunal there 
but they only have this fort of fmall Money, which is cur- is an Officer called Lieu, who keeps {landing, and ac- 
cent all over the Country ; for though they have Gold, cording to the Order he receives from the Prince, indorfes 
Silver, Pearls, Silk, and rich Stuffs in great abundance, his Anfwer on the Petition, for they neve** anfwer other- 
thev confider them only as Moveables and Merchandife , wife than in Writing, or admit of any Applications, buc 
and the Copper- pieces are the only current Coin •, from what are committed to Paper. Before the 1 arties prefent 
foreign Parts they have Ivory, Frankincenfe, Copper in their Petitions to the Prince, they get them examined by 
PigsT* Tortoife-ffiells, and Unicorns Horns, which we an Officer, who, if he difcovers any Fault, fends theiri 
have mentioned, and with which they adorn their Girdles, back again •, for no Man may draw, up thefe Writings, 
Of their own Stock, they have abundance ofBeafts of Bur- which are to be prefented to the Prince, except a Clerk 
then, Horfes, Affes, and Dromedaries ; but they have no verfed in Bufinefs ; and at the Bottom of each Writing 
Arabian Horfes. they put, Written by fuch a One , the Son of fuch a One : 
They have an excellent kind of Earth, wherewith they And if, in this Cafe, there happen any Blunder or Mil- 
make a Ware of equal Finenefs with Glafs, and equally take, the Clerk is bambooa , 
tranfparent. When Merchants arrive here «, the Chinefe The Prince never feats himfelf on his Tribunal, till he 
feize on their Cargoes, and convey them to Ware-houfes, has eaten and dramc, for fear he ffiould be miftaken in fome 
where they remain fix Months, and till the laft Merchant- Thing ; and each of thefe Pnnces or Governors has is 
man be arrived, then they take three in Ten, or thirty Subfiftance from the publick Treafury of the City ‘he c m- 
per Cent . of each Commodity, and return the reft to the mands. The Emperor of China , who is above a l th 
Merchant. If the Emperor hath a Mind for any particu- Princes or petty Kings, never appears m publiok -but 
iar Thing his Officers have a Right to take it, preferrably in ten Months, fancying, that if he ftiewea f 0 f 
to any other Perfons whatfoeveiy paying for it to the ut- to the People, they would lofe t e. ene y 
moft Value. They difpatch this Bufinefs immediately, for him 5 for he holds it as a Maxim, that Prmcipalit et 
and without the lead Injuftice j they commonly take Cam- cannot fubnft but by Force, and t at t e e0 P ^. . 
phire, which they pay for after the rate of fifty Fakuges not what Juftice is ; and that thus Conftramt c and \ lolence 
per Man, and t ItFakuge is worth a thoufand Falus, or muft.be ufed to maintain amongft them the Majeft/ of 
Pieces of Copper. When it happens that the Emperor Empire. . , . T , 
does not take Camphire, it fells for half as much again. 18. They have no Duty impo e . upon » 
16. The Chinefe do not bury their dead till the Day but are fubjed to a Poll-tax, which is levied upon Mer 
Twelve-month of their Deceafe* Till the Expiration of only, and that, according to their Condition and Cat ac .y. 
this Term, they keep them in Coffins; for having previ- When any Arabs, or other Strangers, are ml .his Corn y. 
o ully dried them with Quick-lime, that they may keep, the Chinefe tax them according to • tteu'Stobft. ™ ™ 
they place them in fome Part of their Houfes. The Bo- any Dearth makes Neceffanes dear then the Kin op^ 
dies of their Kings are embalmed with Aloes and Cam- his Store- houfes, and iells a 
• It would be an endlefs thing to fatigue the Reader with Conjeftures about thefe Countries, the Names of which are totally unknown to us ; fo 
that all we can fay of them with Certainty is, that they lie between Cape Comorin and China modern Relations, that it 
* This Account of the Conduit of the Chinefe towards the Merchants, correfponds fo j we - wi , ; confirm in the Opinion of the 
leaves no room for us to doubt, either of the Truth of them, or of it, and cannot but illufaate, and at the fame time conhim tne p 
Reader, many Things delivered in our Obfervations on the foregoing Seftions. . K , fln( i eYa a . f inC e it is im- 
This kind of Pradtice is hill in ufe at China , fo that there can be nothing clearer than that tnis ccoun 1 I, , p r ' of which were 
poffible to conceive how an Arabia, Author of the Age in which this Manufcript was wrote, ihould be Maher of thefe Faas, none 
known in Europe till fome Ages after. ■ , cheaper 
