Chap. II. of the East Indies, ' 5 ,29 
pards and Wolves* but no Lions. Highway Robbers are 
punifhed with Death. 
2 g. Both the Chinefe and the Indians imagine the Idols 
they worfhip fpeak to them and give them anfwers. Nei- 
ther the one nor the other kill their Meat by cutting the 
Throat, as the Mohammedans , but by beating them on 
the Mouth till they die. They wafh not with Well-water ; 
the Chinefe wipe themfelves with Paper, whereas the In- 
dians wafh every Day before they eat. 
The Indians touch not their Wives while their Difeafe 
Is upon them, but turn them out of their Houfes, and 
avoid them § the Chinefe behave in quite a contrary Manner. 
The Indians wafh. not only the Mouth, but the whole 
Body alfo before they eat, which the Chinefe obferve not. 
The Country of the Indies is larger in Extent than that of 
China , and exceeds it by one half ; the Number of King- 
doms is greater in the Indies than in China , but China is 
the more populous of the two. 
It is not ufual to fee Palm-trees either in the Indies or 
in China , but they have alfo other Sorts of Fruits and 
Trees, which we have not. The Indians have no Grapes, 
and the Chinefe have not many, but both abound in other 
Fruits ; though the Pomegranate thrives more plentifully 
In India than in China. 
The Chinefe have no Sciences, and their Religion and 
moft of their Laws are derived from the Indians •, nay, 
they are of Opinion that the Indians taught them the 
Worfhip of Idols, and conlider them as a very religious 
Nation ; both the one and the other believe the Metempfy- 
chojis c ; but they differ in many Points touching the Pre- 
cepts of their Religion. Phyfick and Philofophy are cul- 
tivated among the Indians, and the Chinefe have fome Skill 
in Medicine ; but it almoft wholly confifts in the Art of ap- 
plying hot Irons or Cauteries. They have alfo fome Smat- 
tering of Aftronomy, but therein alfo the Indians furpafs 
the Chinefe. I know not that there is fo much as one of ei- 
ther Nation that has embraced Mohammedifm, or fpeaks 
Arabic. The Indians have but few Horfes, and there are 
more in China ; but the Chinefe have no Elephants, and 
cannot endure to have them in their Country, for they 
abhor them. The Indian Dominions furnifh a great Num- 
ber of Soldiers, who are not paid by the King, but when 
they are rendezvoufed for War, take the Field entirely at 
their own Expence, and are no Charge to the King ; 
whereas the Chinefe allow their Forces much the fame Pay 
with the Arabs. 
China is a pleafant and fruitful Country *, moft of the 
Indian Provinces havp no Cities, whereas in China there 
are many in Number, great in Extent, and well fortified : 
The Climate of China is more wholfome, and the Country 
itfelf is lefs fenny. The Air there is alfo much better, 
and there is fcarce a blind Perfon to be feen, or any one 
fubjedt to the Difeafes of the Eyes •, and the fame Ad- 
vantages are enjoyed by feveral Provinces of the Indies : 
The Rivers of the two Countries are large, and furpafs 
our greateft Rivers *, much Rain falls in both thefe Coun- 
tries. In the Indies are many defert Tracks, but China 
Is inhabited and peopled throughout its whole Extent. 
The Chinefe are handfomer than the Indians , and come 
nearer to the Arabs , not only in Countenance but in 
Drefs, in their Way of riding, in their Manners, and in 
their Ceremonies : They wear long Garments and Girdles, 
in form of Belts. The Indians wear two fliort Veils ; and 
the Men, as well as the Women, wear golden Bracelets, 
adorned with precious Stones. 
30. Beyond the Continent of China, there is a Coun- 
try called Tagazgaz, from the Name of a Nation of the 
Turks, who there inhabit, and alfo the Country of 
Kakhan , or Tibet, wich is bordering on the Country of 
the Turks . The Blands of Si la are inhabited by white 
People, who fend Prefents to the Emperor of China, and 
who are perfuaded, that if they did not fend him Pre- 
fents, the Rain of Heaven would not fall upon their 
Country. None of our People have been there to inform 
us concerning them : They have white Falcons. 
As we are now arrived to the End of this Work* it 
may not be amifs, to offer here fome Remarks that may 
tend to enlighten the foregoing Difcourfe, and prepare us 
at the fame time for that which is to come. We are in- 
formed that the Date of this Narration was of the Hegira 
2 37, A.D. 851, which Circumftance, though preferved 
to us in the enfuing Difcourfe, was very probably con- 
tained in the fir ft Leaf of this, which is wanting in the 
Manufcript. But though it was written then, yet it 
feems highly probable, that our Author’s firft Journey to 
the Indies was, at leaft, twenty Years before ; becaufe he 
obferves, that he made a fecond Journey there fixteen 
Years afterwards ; and we may very well allow four Years 
for the Time fpent in the firft Journey, and the Space 
that might intervene between his Return and his eompofi- 
ing this Treatife. According to this Calculation, his firft 
Voyage to the Indies was in the Year of the Hegira 2 it 7. 
A. D. 833 . and his fecond Heg. 235 . A. D. 849 . 
As to the Occafion of his Voyages, there is nothing oc- 
curs in this Account: that can give us the leaft Light into 
it ; however, it feems moft probable, that he underwent 
thefe Fatigues on the fcore of Commerce ; for it can hardly 
be fuppofed, that a Man would haze made fo long a Jour- 
ney a fecond Time purely out of Curiofity, and to fatisfy 
the Defire of being better acquainted with thefe People, 
which had been excited by his former Intercourfe with 
them. There is not much to be obferved with refpeft to 
the Form of this Treatife, or the Stile in which it is writ- 
ten ; and yet fomething there is worth mentioning with 
refpeft to each of them. We cannot, indeed, boaft much 
of the Regularity of his Method ; and yet it would be 
unjuft to condemn it entirely, becaufe, for want of hav- 
ing the Introduction to it, we cannot determine exactly 
what was his Plan, and confequently cannot fay how far 
he came up to, or fell jfhort of it ; one Thing I think is 
manifeft, which is, that the Scope of his Undertaking is 
a Comparifon between the Indians and the Chinefe ; at leaft 
he falls into this immediately after he has defcribed the 
ufual Navigation from Sirajf to China •, and confidered in 
this Light, his Treatife appears regular enough. As to 
his Stile, it is extremely fimple and plain, and has nothing 
of that fwelling hyperbolical Eloquence which is generally 
obferved in oriental Writers ; upon which, I beg leave to 
remark, that with regard to the Arabs, as well as other 
Nations, this was a Vice that prevailed in later Times, after 
Poetry and Rhetorick had been more cultivated than they 
were in the firft Ages of their Empire, which has been 
the Cafe in moft other Nations. 
One cannot poffibly doubt, that this Piece was extremely 
well received when it firft came abroad, and that it had 
maintained its Reputation for a confiderable Space of 
Time, appears from the fecond Treatife, which we are 
about to give the Reader. It feems, that when the Af- 
fairs of China were better known, fome Prince, or other 
Perfon of DiftinClion, defired the Author of the following 
Pages to look over that Difcourfe, and to inform him, how 
far the FaCts contained therein, had been confirmed or con- 
tradicted, by fucceeding Relations. What Time this hap- 
pened, we cannot, with any Certainty fay, from the 
Comparifon of the two Pieces, or from the Lights given 
us by the learned and accurate Critick who publifhed 
them. The Manufcript which the Abbe Renaudot made 
ufe of, was apparently older than the Year of the Hegira 
569, which anfwers to the Year of Chrift 1 173 5 but the 
Difcourfe muft certainly have been written long before 
that Time. In our Notes we have fhewn that Eben * 
Wahab travelled into China, A. H. 285. A. D. 898 5, and 
the Author of this laft Treatife informs us, that he had 
converfed with this Man after his Return, and had from 
him the FaCts which he has infertcd in his Difcourfe; fo 
that the Book itfelf muft have been two Centuries older 
OfthisDoarine we have already fpoken in our Account of the Philofophy of the Brachmans ; and in our Notes on the fubfeduent Treatife. we 
a d a t0 "lew when it was firft embraced in China , and with what Modifications it is ftill taught there. 
.. y e in all taice another Opportunity of acquainting the Reader with the Hiftory of the ancient Burks, and fhall only obferve here, that the Na- 
sons iiere mentioned are to be confidered as dwelling in their native Region, before they became famous by their Irruption into Perfta, which is the 
Lfiy w i ie i e me 2 j n£ m this and in the fubfequent Treatife by the Name of Irak, and before they became Mohammedans j which is the more 
of theh^Anceftors ' pre ^ erit SuUe of things k is very natural to conned the Ideas which we have of the modern Burks, with thefe Accounts 
Numb. 36. 6 T than 
