Chap. il. 
of the East Indies. 
fome other to wage War againft a third, without confult- 
ing the Emperor j and when the ftrongeft had fubdued 
the weakeft, and was become Mafter of his Province, 
all was wafted and unmercifully plundered, and the Sub- 
jects of the vanquifhed Prince were unnaturally devoured, 
a Cruelty allowed by the Laws of their Religion, which 
even permit human Flelh to be expofed to Sale in the 
publick Markets. 
There arofe, as was natural from thefe Confufions, ma- 
ny unjuft Dealings with the Merchants who traded thi- 
ther, which having gathered the Force of a Precedent, 
there was no Grievance, no Treatment fo had, but they 
exercifed upon the Arabs , and the Mailers of Ships ; 
they extorted from the Merchants what was uncuftomary, 
they feized upon their Effefts, and behaved towards them 
in a manner direftly oppofite to ancient Ufages, and for 
thefe things has God puniffied them, by withdrawing his 
Bleffiog from them in every Refpeft ; and particu- 
larly by caufing the Navigation to be forfaken, and the 
Merchants to return in Crouds to Siraf and Oman ; agree- 
able to the all-ruling Will of the Almighty Mafter, 
whofe Name be bleffed ! 
34. The Author in his Book notes fome Cuftoms and 
Laws of the Chinefe , but mentions not the Puniffiments in- 
flicted on married Perfons, when convicted of Adultery ; 
this Crime as well as Homicide and Theft is punilhed 
with Death, and they execute the Criminal in this Man- 
ner ; they bind both the Hands together, and then force 
them backwards over the Head, till they reft upon the 
Neck ; they then fallen the Right- Foot to the Right- 
Hand, and the Left-Foot to the Left-Hand, fo that both 
Hands and Feet are ftrongly bound behind the Back; and 
thus bundled up, it is impoffible for the Criminal to ftir, 
nor wants he any Body to hold him. This Torture dif- 
joints the Neck, makes the Joints ftart out of their Soc- 
kets, and diflocates the Thighs ; in Ihort, the Patient is 
in fo miferable a Condition, that were he to continue there- 
in but a few Hours, there would be no need of any thing 
elfe to make an End of him : But when they have bound 
him as we have faid, they give him fo many Strokes with 
a Bamboo, which they always ufe upon the like Occafions, 
and which alone were fufficient to kill the Criminal, and 
leave off when he is at the very laft Galp of Life, aban- 
doning the Body to the People, who eat it d . 
35. There are Women in China who refufe to marry, 
and chufe rather to live a diflolute Life of perpetual De- 
bauchery. The Cuttom is for thefe Women to prefent 
themfelves in full Audience before the commanding Offi- 
cer of the Garrifon in the City, and declare their Averfion 
to Marriage, and their Defire to enter into the State of pub- 
lick Women ; they then defire to be regifter’d in the ufual 
Form amongft thefe Proftitutes, and the Form is this ; 
they write down the Name of the Woman, her Family, 
the Number of her Jewels, the feveral Particulars of her 
Attire, and the Place of her Abode ; thus ffie is admitted 
a publick Woman : After this, they put about her Neck a 
String, at which hangs a Copper Ring with the King’s 
Signet, and deliver to her a Writing which certifies that 
ffie is received into the Lift of common Proftitutes, and 
entitles her to a yearly Penfion of fo many fflalus, to be 
paid her out of the publick Treafury, and threatens with 
Death the Perfon who ffiould take her to Wife. They 
every Year give publick Notice of what is to be obferved 
with regard to thofe Women, and turn out thofe who 
have worn out their Charms. In the Evening thefe 
Women walk abroad in Dreffes of different Colours, 
Without any Veil, and proftitute themfelves to all new 
Corners drat love Debauchery ; but the Chinefe themfelves 
iend for them to their Houfes, whence they depart not till 
the next Morning e „ 
531 
36. The Chinefe coin no Money, befides the little 
Pieces of Copper, like thofe we call Falus, nor will they 
allow Gold or Silver to be coined into Specie, like the 
Dinars and Drams that are current with us ; for, lay they, 
if a Thief goes, with an evil Intent, into the Houfe of 
an Arab , where is Gold and Silver Coin, he may carry off 
ten thoufand Pieces of Gold, and almoft as many Pieces 
of Silver, and not be much burdened therewith, and fo be 
the Ruin of the Man who ffiould fuffer this Lois : Where- 
as, if a T hief has the lame Delign on the Houle of a 
Chinefe Artificer, he cannot at molt take away above ten. 
thoufand Falus, or Pieces of Copper, which do not make 
above ten Meticals or Dinars of Gold. Thefe Pieces of 
Copper are alloy’d with fomething of a different kind, 
and are of the Size of a Dram, or Piece of Silver called 
Bagli; in the Middle they have a pretty large Hole to 
firing them by : A thoufand of them are worth a Metical 
of Gold, or a Dinar, and they firing them by thoufands, 
with a Knot between every hundred. All their Payments 
in general, are made with this Money, whether they buy 
or fell Lands, Furniture, Merchandize or any thing elfe. 
There are fome of thefe Pieces at Siraf with Chinefe Cha- 
rafters upon them. 
I need fay nothing as to the frequent Fires which happen 
in China , or the Chinefe manner of Building. The City 
of Canfu is built in the manner he defcribes, that is, of 
Wood with Canes interwoven, juft like our Works of 
Split-cane, they waffi the whole over with a kind of Var- 
nifh, which they make of Hemp-feed, and this becomes 
as white as Milk ; lo that when the Walls are covered 
tnerewith they have a wonderful Glofs. They have no 
Stairs in their Houfes, nor do they build with different 
Stories, but put every thing they have into Chefts, which 
run upon Wheels, and which in Cafe of Fire, they can 
eafily draw from Place to Place without any Hindrance 
from Stairs, and fo fave their things prefently. 
As for the inferior Officers in the Cities, they com- 
monly have the Direftions of the Cuftoms and the Keys* 
of the Treafury : Some of thefe have been taken on the 
Frontiers and caftrated ; others of them have been cut by 
their own Fathers, who have fent them as a Prefent to 
the Emperor. Thefe Officers are at the Head of the 
principal Affairs of State, of the Emperor’s private Affairs, 
and of his Treafures; and thofe particularly who are fent 
to Canfu are felefted from this Body f . 
37. It is cuftomary for them, as well as the Kings or 
Governors of all the Cities, to appear abroad from time 
to time, in folemn Proceffion ; at fuch Times they are 
preceded by Men, who carry great Pieces of Wood 
like thofe the Chriftians of the Levant ufed inftead of 
Bells : The Noife they make is heard a great Way, and 
as foon as it is heard no body Hands in the Road of the 
Eunuch, or Prince : If a Man is at his Door, he goes 
into his Houfe, and keeps his Door ffiut till the Prince ov 
Eunuch of the City is gone by ; fo no Soul is to be feen 
in the Way ; and this is enjoined, that they may be held 
in the greater Veneration, and to flrike a Dread, that the 
People may not fee them often, and that they may not 
grow fo familiar as to fpeak to them. 
The Eunuch, or Lieutenant, and the principal Officers, 
wear very magnificent Dreffes of Silk, fo fine that none 
of this Sort is brought into the Country fubjeft to the 
Arabs, the Chinefe keep it up at fo high a Rate. One of 
the chief Merchants, whofe Words cannot be called in 
queftion, relates, that he waited on an Eunuch, whom the 
Emperor had fent to Canfu , in order to purchafe fome 
things he wanted out of the Goods carried thither from 
the Country of the Arabs ; an^ that upon his Bread he 
perceived a ffiort Veil, which was under another filk Veil* 
and which feemed to be under two other Veils of th® 
he°fSl U ?rL°! n!l 6 h Y Alexander the Great, adds the following remarkable Words, r Mac cab. i. 5, 6. « And after thefe 
« him from his Vouch s ? erceiv J f^ait he ihould die. Wherefore he called his Servants, fuch as were honourable, and had been brought up with, 
? A.Srhn , h? n 6 - rted his Kin § dom amon § While he was yet alive.” 8 F ' 
Authors are nof theVnlv Wv* m *r a P? ear ’ and a : s kemingly inconfiftent as it may be with the Politenefs of the Chinefe, yet it is very certain, that our 
w^ng mentl0P ’ 33 wiD a P pear * erea ^’ when we come the ^ad/r the Travels of the famous 
^Uin^the^Truth of pi J llck W°men is confirmed by a great Number of Writers ancient and modern, fo that there appears to be no Reafon for 
SnStSSffe Sl^anAN T W D 7 M ^ E “Pf-of China, there is a Print of Jlf thefe Ladies, as ihe i, 
f AH thefe Fa&s are atteNH k w ' a .; etPon ’ yho cncs her Pnce > as he would do that of any other Commodity, 
there is as good Evidence foVthem n ! k° ^ % notwithfl andxng they Teem at firft Sight very ftrange and improbable, yet it rauft be own’d,, 
® Uiem ae f01 a V other. Facts m the feveral Relations we have had of the Cuftoms and Manners of thefe People. 
% » him 
