The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I, 
Affair which may turn to your utter Ruin, and to the Lofs 
of your Life if you fpeak not the real Truth j forafmuch 
as the Emperor hath appointed Minifters and Governors 
to diftribute Juftice to you and to all Strangers, nor is 
there any one of them that would not right you, if when 
you appear before the Emperor your Wrongs are not fuch 
as may entitle you to have recourfe to him, it will moft 
certainly coft you your Life, to the End that every Man 
who would prefume to do as you have done, may be de- 
terred from the fame. . Withdraw therefore immediately, 
and be gone about yoUr Bufinefs. Now if the Party en- 
deavoured to fly, he was chaftifed with fifty Strokes of the 
Bamboo, and was then fent back to the Country whence 
he came ; but if he perfifted in his Demand of Redfefs, 
he was admitted to an Audience of the Emperor. 
The Choraffanian ftrenuoufly perfifted in his Demand of 
Juftice, and of Leave to be admitted to the Emperor, 
which was at Length granted him. The Interpreter a fil- 
ing him his Bufinefs, he related what had befallen him 
with the Emperor’s Officer, and how he had forced from 
him a Part of his Effects. This Thing was foon divulged 
and noifed about at Canfu : In the mean Time the Empe- 
ror commanded the Merchant to be caft into Prifon, and 
that Care fliould be there taken that he wanted not for ei- 
ther Victuals or Drink. 
At the fame Time he ordered his Prime Minifter to 
write to the Governor of Canfu , charging him to inform 
himfelf concerning the Complaints of this Merchant, and 
to examine into the Grounds thereof ; at the fame Time 
alfo three principal Officers received the fame Order. 
Thefe Officers are called of the Right, of the Left, and 
of theMidft, according to their Rank, have the Com- 
mand of the Emperor’s Forces under the Prime Minifter. 
He trufts them with the Guard of his Perfon, and when 
he takes the Field for fome military Enterprize, or on any 
other Account, each of them, according to his Rank, 
marches near him : Thefe three Officers wrote each apart 
what they had upon the ftridteft Enquiry difcovered of 
the Matter, and aflfured the Emperor that the Merchant’s 
Complaint was juft and well founded. 
Thefe firft Informations were followed and confirmed 
by many more fent to the Emperor from divers Parts, and 
the Eunuch was cited to appear. He no fooner ar- 
rived, than the Emperor feized on all his Effedls, and de- 
prived him of his Office as Treafurer, and then faid to 
him, Death ought to be thy Doom for giving this Man 
who is come from ChoraJJan , on the Frontiers of my 
Kingdom, Caufe of Complaint againft me. He hath been 
in the Country of the Arabs , whence he came into the 
•Kingdoms of the Indies , and at laft to my City, feeking 
his Advantage by Trade, and thou wouldft have had 
him return crofs thefe Kingdoms, and have faid to all the 
People in his Way, I have been abufed in China , where 
they have ftripped me of my Subftance. I grant thee thy 
Life in Confideration of thy former Services in the Rank 
thou heldeft in my Houfe, but I will confer on thee a 
Command among the Dead, forafmuch as thou haft not 
been able to acquit thyfelf of thy Duty in that thou holdeft 
over the Living, and he ordered him to be fent to the 
Tombs of the Kings to have the Cuftody of them, and 
there to remain for p Life. 
50. One Thing moft worthy Admiration in China be- 
fore the late Commotions, was the good Order they ob- 
ferved in the Adminiftration of Juftice, and the Majefty 
of their Tribunals ^ to fill them, they made Choice of fuch 
Men as were perfectly verled in their Laws, and fuch con- 
fequently as were never at a Lofs, when they were to pafs 
judgment. Men of Sincerity, zealous in the Caufe of 
Juftice upon every Occafion, not to be biafted by what 
the Great could offer to embroil a Difpute, fo that Juftice 
was always adminiftred to him who had Right on his Side. 
In a Word, they made Choice of upright Men, of 
Men who neither oppreffed the Poor, or accepted Prefents 
from the Rich. When they defigned to promote any 
Man to the Office of Principal Judge, they previoufly 
fent him to all the chief Cities of the Empire, in each of 
which he ftaid a Month or two. During this Space it was 
his Bufinefs moft minutely to enquire into the Affairs of 
the People, into all that palled in the City, and into the 
various' Cuftoms. He informed himfelf of all fuch as de- 
ferred to be believed upon their Teftlmony* and this 
Knowledge was of Ufe to him in the Sequel as Occafion 
required. After he had gone through all the Cities in the 
Manner aforefaid, and made a Stay of fome Time in the 
moft confiderable of them, he repaired to the Imperial 
Court, where he was invefted with, the Dignity of Su- 
preme Judge. 
To him therefore the Emperor referred the Nomination 
of all the other Judges, and by him were they appointed, 
after he had acquainted the Emperor with thofe, who in 
his whole Dominions were moft worthy of exercifing Jurif- 
diftion, each in his own City, or in others ; for he knew 
who were commendable for their Underftanding, and fo 
no one was raifed who poffeffed not adequate Endowments, 
or who bore not Teftirnony according to the Truth, when 
he was interrogated. The Emperor allows none of his 
Judges to write to him upon any Affair, when he is in- 
formed that he has done Injuftice, and even deprives them 
of their Office. The fupreme Judge caufes Proclamation 
every Day to be made before his Gate by his Officers, and 
in his Name they cry out, If any Man hath been wronged 
by the Vice King, or Governor, who is not to be feen of the 
People, or by any one of his Relations, or Officers, or by 
any one of the Body of the People, I will do him ampk 
Juftice, fo foon as the Offender is put into my Hands, and 
that I have Charge of him. This Proclamation is thricq 
repeated. 
It is an ancient Cuftom v/ith them never to degrade a 
Vice King, or Governor of a City, but by virtue of Letter^ 
iflfued out of the Council or Divan of Kings ; and this i-s 
commonly executed for fome flagrant Malverfation, of 
when Judgment is fufpended or delayed : But when the 
Governor avoids thefe two things, it is feldom he is dif- 
turbed with Letters of Revocation, which are never drawn 
up but on a legal Account. The Pofts of Judicature are 
conferred on none but Perfons of Probity, and Lovers of' 
Juftice, and fo good Order is maintained in the Kingdom. 
51. The Province of ChoraJJan is almoft on the Borders 
of China. From China to Sogd, it is of about two Months 
Journey through imprablicable Defarts, and through a 
Country all covered with Sand, where no Water is to be 
found. It is not refreftied by any Rivers, nor is there any 
Habitation in this Province ; and for this Reafon it is that 
the Choraffanians can make no Irruptions into China. That 
Part of this Empire which .lies fartheft Weftward, is the 
Province of Medu, which borders upon Tibet, fo that on 
this Side the two Nations are at War with each other. 
Among thofe of our Time who have travelled into China , 
we were acquainted with one, who told us, he had feen a 
Man that had a Veffel with Mulk in it on his Back, and 
had travelled on Foot from Samare , and to Canfu , the 
Port for all Merchants from Siraf. He had by Land travel- 
led thro’ ali the Cities of China one after another, which he 
might eafily do, becaufe the Provinces of China and Tibet*, 
where the Creature that affords Mufk is met with, are conti- 
guous. The Chine fe carry off as many of thefe Creatures as 
they can \ and thofe of Tibet , on their Part, do the fame % 
p This was a very extraordinary Aft of Juftice in the Chine/e Emperor, and very agreeable to the Maxims of that Empire, m wmen they are very 
fond, upon particular Occafions, of doing Things of this Nature, especially where Strangers are concerned for two Reafons. The firft is, that thele 
Stories may be blazed Abroad and create an high Idea of the Equity of their Judgments, a Thing very agreeable to the natural Vanity or thele 1 eop e . 
The other, that it may have a good Effeft at Home, and ferve to make even the greateft and moft powerful Perfons in China , arraid or committing 
Exceffes in their refpeftive Offices. _ . , , . _ ri _,. w , T . 
$ As to this Country of Tibet, it may not be amifs to fay fomething of it here, becaufe it will occur in the fubfequent Part of this ork. ^ , 
at this Day a Part only of the great Kingdom of Tan gut, which, according to the beft Accounts that I have met with, is thus iituated. t us , g 
Empire of China on the Iiaft. The Kingdom of Ava, or of Brama, on the South. The Dominions of the Great Mogul on the Weft, and thole ot 
the Contaifch, or Great Khan of the Calrnuc Tartars, on the North. This Kingdom is divided into two Parts ; that which lies to the North is the 
Kingdom of Tangut properly io called ; and the South Part is the Country of Tibet. Both taken together, make the Patrimony of that famous L.ccie- 
fiaftkal Prince the Grand Lama, who is the. Pope or Sovereign Pontiff of the Tartars that are not Mohammedans ; but whether they or he ougnt to 
fee dleemed Paeans or ChriJUans is a Point that admits of much Difpute, and fhall therefore be difewffed io another Place. 
' " ‘ " v ’ ; l 
But 
