’The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Book I. 
54 2 
for their Subfiftence \ and their Meal once over, they 
throw the Table, the Diflies and Plates into the Water, 
together with the Fragments they have left. Thus at 
every Meal they have a new Service. To the Indies they 
formerly carried the Dinars, called Sindiat , or Gold 
Pieces of the Sind and the Dinar , which there paffed for 
three of ours and even more. Thither alfo are carried 
Emeralds from Egypt, which are fet for Rings. 
70. Thefe two authentick Pieces are of very great Ufe 
in filling up this Period of Indian Hiftory, of which, till 
they appeared, we had no Memoirs at all. It is plain 
enough from the Account given us by the firft Author, 
that Voyages from Siraff to China were not very frequent, 
till about his Time, for otherwife he would not have de- 
fended that Navigation fo particularly. But it appears no 
lefs clearly from the lecond Treatife, that thefe long Voy- 
ages were grown into much greater Ufe betv/een the Time 
the firft Voyage was made, and this Commentary upon it 
was drawn up, for otherwife the fecond Writer would have 
been but indifferently furnifhed with Materials, whereas 
we find that he flood in no fort of Want of them, but was 
able to mention the Voyages and Travels of four or five 
different Perfons into China and the Indies , exclufive of 
the Author, whofe Voyage gave Occafion to this Difcourfe. 
The moft remarkable of thefe was Eben Wahab , whofe 
Adventures are equally fingular and inftrubtive, fince from 
them it is very evident that the Chinefe Emperor, to whofe 
Prefence he was admitted, had, as we obferved, very per- 
fect Intelligence as to the Jewifh , Chrijiian , and Moham- 
medan Religions, and as to the Hiftory of their Founders 
and Propagators. We might indeed fufpeft the Truth of 
•this, if there were not fome other Circum fiances in this 
Difcourfe which render them not only probable but certain. 
I mean the Deftruftion of the Capital of China at that 
Time, which our Author calls the City of Cumdan, and 
which without Doubt was no other than Nankin, and Can- 
fu or Canton , in which fo many Thoufand Jews , ChriJU- 
ans, and Mohammedans were flairf; a clear Demonftration 
that Multitudes of all thefe Religions had been long before 
fettled in that Empire, and confequently the Chinefe Mo- 
narch had it fully in his Power to be well acquainted with 
all the Particulars beforementioned. 
Neither does this Fa£t ftand entirely upon the Credit of 
this Treatife, fince an ancient Monument has been difeo- 
vered in China, which plainly proves that Chriftians from 
Syria were fettled there in ancient Times a , though none 
were to be found when the firft Travellers from Europe 
went thither, which is as ftrong a Confirmation of the 
Truth of what our Author relates, as in the Nature of 
Things can pofiibly be expected. The Miffionaries alfo 
that were firft fent to China found there vifible Marks of 
Chriftianity, though they found no Chriftians. The Jews 
have been fettled in that Empire for Time immemorial, 
and many of them for the Sake of Riches and Preferment 
have abjured their own Religion, and embraced the Opi- 
nions of the Chinefe, which is alfo an unqueftionahle Ar- 
gument of the Truth of thefe Relations. 
We may add to this the Conformity between the Ac- 
counts given by our Travellers and the beft Chinefe Hifto- 
ries, which never could have happened, if the former had 
not been in every Refpedt agreeable to Truth. All this is 
not only fupported by our Knowledge of many of the 
Cuftoms of thefe People, which remain to this Day the 
fame with thofe reported in thefe Relations, but they are 
ftill more plainly verified by fuch as are now no longer in 
Ufe, becaufe many Chinefe Writers and Chriftian Mifii- 
onaries from them, take Notice of fuch obfolete Cuftoms, 
and inform us when they were laid afide or began to grow 
into Difufe. On the whole therefore we may fafely affirm 
that thefe Treatifes are free from all juft Grounds of Suf- 
picion, and ought to be regarded as the earlieft and beft 
Accounts we have of this Empire and its Inhabitants. 
They are confidered in this Light, of very great Ufe 
in many Refpe&s, but more efpecially in correcting thofe 
Errors that have been introduced by Authors who de- 
pended more upon their own Conjectures than on any 
Light they received from Experience, endeavouring to ini 
pofe upon their Readers, their Notions of Things as Facfts 
of undoubted Credit, of which it may not be amifs to 
give a few Inftances. Our Author is the oldeft, and in- 
deed almoft the only Arabian Writer that mentions the 
Chinefe Drink, fo univerfally ufed in our Days all over 
Europe, and known by the Name of T ?a. He fays, that 
it is an Herb or Shrub, more bufhy than the Pomegra- 
nate-tree, and of a more pleafant Scent, but fomewhat 
bitter to the Tafte. That the Chinefe boil Water and 
pour it in Raiding hot upon this Leaf, and that this In fu- 
fion preferves them from all Diftempers. This, to be 
fure, is an imperfedt Defcription ; but it is plain enoupfx 
to evince, that nothing can be meant but the Plant we 
know by the Name of Tea ; the fame with the Echa Ca- 
tayi , or Sini of the Orientals. 
The Tree which bears this Leaf is but fmall, and 
ought to be reckoned among Shrubs. It has a pleafant 
kind of violet Scent, is bitter to the Tafte, and it is Com- 
mon for them who are fond of it, to imagine it doth them 
good, and preferveth their Health. It is certain then, 
that Father Erigaut* is miftaken, when he imagines it is 
but of late Date amongft the Chinefe, becaufe there is not, 
as he fays, any Character in their Tongue to fignify this 
Drink; for by the Teftimony of the oldeft of our Au- 
thors, who does not fpeak of it as any new Thing, but 
as an Herb very much in Vogue with them ; nay, to that 
Degree, that the Emperor thought fit to Jay a Duty upon 
it ; it appears, that the Chinefe have been addidted to it 
above eight hundred Years. Nor is it pofiible to believe 
with Pifo c , that it grew a long Time wild, and unculti- 
tivated, or that the Chinefe , or Japonefe , have been but 
lately acquainted with its Virtues and the Manner of pre- 
paring it, which, he fays, he was told by fome Dutch 
Commander, who had been a long Time in the Country. 
Father Martini , who has written more accurately of 
China than almoft any other Perfon, fays no fuch Thing. 
He affures us, that it grows particularly in the Province of 
Kiangnan, or Nankin, where the beft of it is. It is, adds 
he, a fmall Leaf, perfectly like that of the Rhus Cori- 
arius , or Sumac of the Curriers. It grows not wild, but 
is domeftic, and cultivated, nor is it a Tree, but a Shrub, 
which fpreads out in little Branches, with a Bloffom very 
much like that of the Sumac, except that the former in- 
clines more to a Yellow than the latter. It blows firft 
in Summer, when it emits no great Scent; then it puts 
out a Berry, which is firft green, and afterwards blackfill. 
In the Spring it is when they gather the Leaf to make 
their Echa, for then it is moft fucculent and tender. The 
Preparation of thefe Leaves confifts in gathering them, 
drying them by a fmall Fire, rolling them upon a cotton 
Mattrefs, and packing them up in Tin-Chefts or Boxes, 
for the fake of preferving them, and the Conveniency of 
tranfporting them. Such is the Account given us by this 
learned and accurate Writer, whofe Work is ftill deferv- 
edly efteemed after fo many later Accounts of China d . 
But as it is natural to fuppofe that every Man is the beft 
Judge of what regards his own Profeffion, I perfuade 
myfelf, that my Readers will not be difpleafed at my in- 
ferring here a very curious Paffage from the Writings of 
a This ancient Monument was firft mentioned by the famous jefuit Kircher, who made many Miftakes about it, and from thence there grew fome 
Queftions as to the Matter of Fact, which however upon Enquiry has been fince clearly made out, and from thence it is evident, that the Ghriftian Re- 
ligion was fettled in China in A. D. 636. that is upwards of two hundred Years before theMaffacre at Canton, mentioned by the laft of our Authors. 
We have no certain Accounts of the Chriftians in China beyond the Tenth Century, and when the Portuguese came firft to Canton under Don Fernand 
Perez d' Andrada, which was A. D, 1517, there was no fort of Remembrance of Chriftianity preferved in that Empire ; fq that it is impoffible to 
difeover how this Religion was exterminated there, otherwife than for Want of Paftors. 
b Lib. 1. p. 16. It is inconceivable how differently Writers have reprefented the Shrub that bears this Herb ; for fome fay it is like a Rofe, others 
like a Currant-bufh. 
c Addit. ad Hiji. Medicin. Pont. 1. 6. Of like Credit, perhaps, is another Report current among the Dutch, as if they fold the Sage of Europe to 
the Japonefe at as high a Price as they gave for their Tea, and which has been received as an undoubted Truth by the Vulgar here. 
d He refided long in China , was a Man of great Fidelity and Candour, one who did not love to contradift others, or to impofe his own Sehfe of 
Things upon his Readers in a dogmatick Stile. His Chinefe Atlas is an admirable Performance, in which he has explained Marco Polo, corrected 
Father Kircher , and informs us of a Multitude of Things relating to the Hiftory of China, which, till the Publication of his Book, were utterly un- 
known. 
x the 
