Chap. II. of the East 
When every Thing was in readinefs as he had ordered* 
he went on Board his Ships, and with a powerful Army 
failed over to the Kingdom of Komar. The King and thofe 
belonging to his Court were effeminate Creatures, who 
all the Daylong did nothing but view their Faces, and rub 
their Teeth with Mirrors and Toothpicks in their Hands, 
or if they moved, had them carried after them by Slaves. 
So the King of Komar difcovered nothing of the Mehrage ' s 
jPurpofe, till he appeared in the Mouth of the River, on 
which flood the Palace of the King of Komar , and till he 
had landed his Troops, who immediately inverted the Ca- 
pital, and there took him. The King was taken in his 
Palace, and all that belonged to him fled without fighting. 
Then Cxt- Mehrage caufed Proclamation to be made, 
that he granted entire Security of Life and Effects to all 
the Inhabitants of the Country, and feating himfelf on 
the Throne of the King of Komar now a Captive, he or- 
dered him to be brought into his Prefence, together with 
his ' firft Minifter. Then addrefling himfelf to the King 
of Komar , he faid. Who was it filled your Plead with a 
Proje& unequal to your Strength, and abfolutely impoflible 
for you to compafs ? What would you have done if you 
had gained your Point ? This Prince who had nothing to 
fay for himfelf, made no Anfwer. Then, continued the 
Mehrage , if you had enjoyed the Pleafure you wifhed, of 
feeing my Plead in a Difli before you, you would have 
fpoiled my Kingdom, and retained it after you had com- 
mitted all forts of Violence. I will not fo behave with 
Regard to you, but yet I will execute upon you what you 
wifhed concerning me, and then will I return into „my 
Kingdom, without touching any Thing in your Domi- 
nions, and without carrying away ought of great Value 
<or fmall, defirous only that you may be recorded an Ex- 
ample, for the Inrtrudfion of thofe who fhall come after 
you, that none may exceed the Bounds of his Power, that 
each may be contented with his own, and that thofe you 
have difturbed may be reftored to perfect Security n . 
This faid, he ordered them to ftrike off his Plead, and 
then turning to the Minifter he faid, You have done all a 
good Minifter could do * I know you offered good Advice 
to your Mafter, and that he hearkened not unto you. Con- 
jflder who may beft fucceed this Fool for the Good of the 
Kingdom, and fethim immediately upon the Throne. This 
done, the Mehrage departed for his own Territories, 
an<j neither did he or any of his, lay Hands on the leaft 
Thing in the Kingdom of Komar. When he arrived in 
his own Kingdom, he fat down upon the Throne, and 
being in the Palace which looked upon the Pond before- 
mentioned, he caufed the Plead of the King of Komar 
to be put into a Bafon and fet before him, and calling in 
the Chiefs of his Kingdom, he acquainted them with all he 
had done, and with the Reafons which had induced him to 
the Expedition we have related, and they approved the 
Deed with Acclamations and Prayers for his Profperity. 
Then he ordered the Head of the King of Komar to be 
waffled and embalmed, and put it into a Coffer, and fent 
it back to the King of Komar , who had been eledted in 
the Room of him he had put to Death ; at the fame 
Time writing a Letter to this new Prince in the following 
Terms : What inclined us to do what we did to your Pre- 
deceffor, and your Lord, was, his known Malevolence to- 
wards us ; and that we might fet an Example to his Equals, 
- we have been fo happy as to treat him as he would have 
treated us. But we think it convenient to fend his Head 
back to you, having had no Deflgn of detaining it, or of 
arrogating any Glory to ourfelves, from the Advantage we 
obtained ever him. The News of this Addon being re- 
ported to the Kings of the Indies and of China, it added 
to the Refpedt they before had for the Mehrage * and front, 
that Time it has been a Cuftom with the Kings of Komtir * 
every Morning they rife to turn towards the Country of 
Zapage , to proftrate themfelves on the Ground, and rd 
make the moft profound Inclinations in Honour of the 
Mehrage. 
48. All the Kings of the Indies and of China belicvo 
the Metempfychofis or Tranfmigration of Souls, and 
make it an Article of their Religion. A Perfon of Credit 
relates, I hat one of thefe Princes being newly recovered 
of the Small-pox, and beholding himfelf in a Glafs, was 
deeply troubled to fee how fadly his Face was disfigured* 
and that turning himfelf towards one of the five Sons of 
his Brother, he faid to him, fare it never happened to any 
Man as to me, to remain in his Body after fuch a Change ! 
But this Body is only a Veffel puffed up with Wind, and 
when the Soul leaves it, fhe paffes inftantly into another. 
Go mount you upon the Throne, for I am about to fepa- 
rate my Body from my Soul, until I return into another 
Body: At the fame Time he called for a fflarp and keen 
Cangiar , with which he commanded his Nephew to cut 
off his Head, which the other did, and he was afterwards 
burnt, as is the Cuftom of the Country °. Our Author 
here quits his Subject fomewhat abruptly, in order to re- 
turn again to the Country of China and the Manners of 
its Inhabitants. The Reafon of this is not at firft Sight 
very evident, but if we confider that he follows the former 
Writer, we ftiall very eafily difeern that this was the true 
Caufe of his making fo fudden a Tran fition. What he 
had before faid was in Confequence of the Faffs delivered 
by the firft Author in Regard to the Indies , and having 
difeuffed thefe it was natural for him to follow that Author 
in what he fays of China and the Chinefe , and indeed it 
mult be allowed, that notwithftanding thefe fmall Inter- 
ruptions, there are fcarce any Books of Travels of fo an- 
cient a Date, written in a clearer or better Method than thefe. 
49. The Chinefe were wonderfully regular in all Things 
relating to Government, before the laft Revolution deftroy- 
ed and reduced them to the State they are in at prefent. 
There was a certain Merchant, a Native of Cborajfan , who 
coming into Irak , there dealt to a confiderable Amount, 
and having bought up a Quantity of Goods went to China. 
This Man was extremely felfifti and of incredible Avarice 1 
it happened that the Emperor of China had fent one of his 
Eunuchs to Canfu , the City of all the Arabian Traders, 
there to purchafe what he wanted, and was to be had on 
Board of the Ship that was arrived. This Eunuch was 
one of thofe who had the largeft Share in his Mafter’s 
good Opinion and Confidence, and was Keeper of his 
Treafureand of ail that he efteemed precious. 
A Difpute arofe between this Eunuch and the before- 
mentioned Merchant, about fome Pieces of Ivory and 
other Goods, and it ran fo high that the Merchant refufed 
to deal with him. But this Affair making a great Noife, 
the Eunuch pufhed it fo far, that he forced from him the 
Choice of his Goods, defpifmg whatever the other could 
fay to him. The Merchant withdrawing himfelf, went 
privately to Cumdan where the Emperor refides, and 
which is two Months Journey from Canfu , and beino- ar- 
rived he went to the String of the Bell mentioned in the 
former Book. The Cuftom was, that whoever pulled it was 
thereupon fent ten Days Journey from thence, into a kind 
of Banifhment ; it was ordered alfo that he fflould be com- 
mitted to Prifon, there to remain for two whole Months ; 
which expired, the Vice-King or Governor of the Province 
releafed him, and faid you have involved yourfelf in an 
. " This is a very pleafant Story, and well related ; but with refpeft to the Country in which it happened, I think it very difficult to fav any Thins 
with Certainty, and yet this does not at all leffen the Credibility of the Fa&. It is not impoflible however, that this Hiftory might relate to fome of the 
Elands which are now called Philippines ; or perhaps fome of the Hands in the Straits of Son da. I pretend to determine nothino- in fuch doubtful 
Points, but leave the Reader to decide for himfelf, according to the Lights given him by the Author, who appears to have written with great C-ution 
and Fidelity. ° 
e This DoArir.e of the Metempfychofis is generally held amongft the Chinefe . Their Hiftories fay, that one Xekia, or Shelia, an Indian Philofo- 
pher, who lived about a thoufand Years before Chrift, was the foil that taught this Dodrine of Tranfmigration ; and our Authors add that the Chi* 
nefc had it from the Indians. _ It overan China in the Year of Chrift 6>, and the Chiefs of this Sed have to this Day their Abode on or near the 
Mountain ‘htentai lmthe Province of Chekiang. This Xekia, according to the Chinefe Tradition in Navarrette , has been born eight thoufand Times 
over, the laft Time m the Form of a white Elephant. It is he that was called Fohee after his Apotheofis. The Sect of Xekia, as we are told by Father 
Martini, hold the Metempfychofis; but this Se£t is divided into two Branches, the one believing the exterior Metempfychofis,. or that the Souls of 
Men pafs after Death into other Bodies, and thefe worftiip Idols, and abftain from every Thing that has Life, while the other SeA has Faith in an 
interior Metempfychofis, which is the principal Foundation of their Morality, which confifts in fuppreffing the Paffions, which are as fo many diffe- 
rent Animals proceeding from Man; but neither the one nor the other expedi Rewards or dread Puniffiments in the World to come, ** 
Affair 
