544 
The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce 
1 have dwelt the longer upon thefe Inftances, and have 
taken the more Pains to fupport and confirm the Truth of 
them, becaufe I am perfuaded that an intire Credit is due 
to the Matters of Fadfc afferted by both of our Authors, and 
that confequently we may absolutely depend upon what 
they have delivered as to the State of China, and the Indies , 
within this Period of Time •, that is to fay, from A.D. 833, 
to 950, or thereabouts. This being clearly eftablifhed, let 
us fee what will follow from it. In the firft place, it is 
molt evident, that thefe Eaftern Countries were in a very 
happy and flourifhing Condition, were governed by their 
own Princes, and knew not, generally fpeaking, what it 
was to fuffer by fuch fudden and violent Revolutions as have 
fince happened in thofe Parts. It muft, however, be at 
the fame time obferved, that though their State was far 
better than it is now, yet both our Authors agree that it 
was beginning to decline, that the Dignity of their Princes 
began to fink, the Severity of their Difcipline to relax, 
and the Manners of their People to become much more 
corrupt than they had been. 
In the next place, it is very evident, that in China , a 
Country ftill more remote than the Indies , the People were 
in this Period very well acquainted with the Condition of 
their Neighbours, to whom they muft alfo have been tole- 
rably well known *, and yet within the Space of two hun- 
dred Years, the Face of Things were fo intirely changed, 
that the Chinefe loft almoft all Knowledge of us in Europe , 
and we of them, as from the fubfequent Part of this Chapter 
will clearly appear. 
Laftly, we ought to conclude from the Confideration of 
thefe Fabfs from the State of things in China and the 
Indies , and efpecially from the Superiority of their Manu- 
factures, that this Empire was in every reipeCt in a much 
better Situation than in fucceeding times j that is to fay, 
was better governed, more populous, the Induftry of the 
People better conducted, and their Foreign Commerce 
far more extenfive than in the Ages immediately preceding 
the Difcovery of the Paffage thither from Europe by the 
Cape of Good Hope. The fixing all this firmly in the Read- 
er’s Mind, will contribute to his apprehending rightly all 
that follows, and will prevent his running into the oppofite 
Vice of Incredulity, to avoid being thought credulous. 
He will not be amazed when he hears of potent Princes 
that governed in the Indies , or in China , many hundred 
Years before we knew any thing with Certainty of thofe 
Countries ; he will not be aftonifhed at the Extent of their 
Territories, or what is reported of their prodigious Reve- 
nues *, he will not be at a Lofs to account for the different 
Condition of Places, when firft vifited by the Europeans , 
from that reported either by their own Hiftories, or Tradi- 
tions. On the contrary, he will plainly perceive, by com- 
paring the FaCts laid down in the feveral Sections of this 
Work, that all this is not only probable, but certain ; and 
that the Notions which fome great Criticks have advanced 
to the contrary, were not fo much founded in greater 
Learning, or fuperior Abilities, as in ftrong Prejudices in 
favour of their own Countries, and in high Conceits of their 
own Abilities. 
In Things of this Nature, all abftra&ed Reafoning ought 
to be laid afide, and we ought to draw our Conclufions 
from Fads only. If the Indians flopped the Progrefs of 
the Ajfyrian , Perfian , Greek and Parthian Empires, this 
is a ftrong, or to fpeak fairly, an invincible Argument to 
prove, that their Government was then in its full Vigour. 
If we fee the Indians now for the moft part a broken, dif- 
perfed, dejeded, and defpifed People, preferving, how- 
ever, ftill in their Manners and Cuftoms, vifible Marks of 
Book L 
that Policy aferibed to them by the Greek and Roman, as 
well as thefe Arabian Writers, we ought to conclude, that 
this Difference has been owing to mighty Revolutions m 
thefe Parts ^ after the Biftory of which we muft enquire, 
and not pretend to take up with the Affurances given us by 
fanciful Men, that thefe People were never in a better Con- 
dition. 
I do not however pretend by this to eftablifh by any 
means the Opinions entertained by fome very great Men 
as to the Learning of the Chinefe ; with regard to which 
our Travellers fpeak very freely, and I think there is Rea- 
fon to believe very truly, affirming, that in regard to the 
Sciences the Chinefe had very little Knowledge, that is, in 
Comparifon of the Arabs , who at the time the laft of 
our Authors wrote were very fkilful in moft Sciences ; and 
though their famous Commander Mufa, who conquered 
Spain , was the firft that delivered it in the Form of a 
Maxim, yet it is very probable, that the Arabians had long 
before his Time thofe Sentiments of the Progrefs of Science 
which he fo happily expreffed. Wifdom, faid he, de~ 
fc ending from above , fettled in the Heads of the Greeks, in 
the Hands of the Chinefe, and on the Tongues of the Arabs. 
It plainly appears from hence, that what they moft admi- 
red in China was the Induftry of its Inhabitants, which was 
chiefly the Effedt of their wife Government, derived to 
them, as is indeed every thing of Confequence they knew, 
feems to have been from the Indies *. All therefore that 
from the Authority of our Authors I infer is, that the poli- 
tical State of China was at leaft as perfedt anciently as it is 
at prefent in all its Branches ; and not that they were better 
acquainted with Sciences than they are now. 
71. The Reader, I perfuade myfelf, is by this time of 
the fame Opinion with myfelf as to the Value of thefe an- 
cient Writers, and would be very well pleafed to proceed 
with as good Guides during the reft of his Journey, which 
is, however, more than I can promife ; but thus far I dare 
undertake, that he Ihall have as good Guides as are to be 
procured, and that the next Stage is the worft in the whole 
Road. There is, however, a Neceflity of going through 
it *, for it is with Learning as it is in Travelling, there is 
no knowing of Things with Certainty by Reports. If we 
would be thoroughly fatisfied, we muft ufe our own Eyes ; 
and to obtain a compleat View of the Indies , we muft be 
content to read Voyages and Travels in their natural Order. 
It is plain from what thefe Authors tell us, that the Indies 
in their Time were not much altered from what they were 
in the Days qf the Greeks and Romans ; whereas when the 
Portuguese came thither, they were in quite another Con- 
dition •, we muft therefore learn how this came to pafs. The 
thing is difficult indeed, but it muft be done, for otherwife 
we have hitherto been doing nothing ; and to leave a large 
Gap jn our Hiftory in order to hurry on to modem Voyages, 
is to prefer Amufement to Inftrudtion, which is certainly 
what neither I nor the Reader aims at and therefore I 
flatter myfelf that he will be very well pleafed with the Re- 
vival of the Voyages and Travels that follow, and which 
have never hitherto appeared in an Englifh Drefs at all fuit- 
able to their Merit k . 
Hackluyt , our moft ancient Collector, whofe Pains can 
never be too much commended, gave fiich as came to his 
Hands in the belt manner he could, and was therefore very 
commendable in that refpedt. Purchas , who followed him, 
complains, however, with Reafon, that thefe ancient Writers* 
were ftrangely disfigured, and therefore he thought it 
neceffary to revife and republifh them, for which alfo he 
defer ves Praife ; and there is no doubt he might have fuc- 
ceeded much better than he has done, if he had not fol- 
s The Progrefs of Science from the Indies to China, and from thence to Japan, is very natural and agreeable to ancient Hillory j but it does not at 
all follow from thence, that the Indians received their Learning from the Egyptians. _ It is far more probable, that they had it from the Chaldeans ? 
for Mankind fpread originally from that Country, as Mofes informs us, and as all ancient Hiftory plainly proves. From Chaldea to the Indies thefe 
firft Colonies might have eafily proceeded by Land, whereas their own Writers allow, that the firft Attempts by the Egyptians towards the Ccnqueft 
of India were by Fleets fitted out by the Red-Sea. 
k We have very full Proof of the Truth of this Obfervation from what Purchas fays in his Pilgrims, Vol. Ill . p. 6 5 . of M. Polo, where he has thefe Words : 
“ I found this Book tranflated by Mafter Hackluyt out of the Latin. But where the Blind lead the Blind, both fall : As here the corrupt Latin could' 
« not but yield a Corruption of Truth in Englijh. Ramufio, Secretary to the Decemviri (he means the Council of Ten) in Venice, found a better 
Copy, and publilhed the fame ; whence you have the Work in a manner new, fo renewed, that I have found the Proverb true, that it is better to 
« pull down an old Houfe, and to build it anew, than to repair it, as I alfo ftiould have done had 1 known chat which in the Event I found. The 
€1 Latine is Latten (that is, a fort of Tin) compared to Ramu/to's Gold, and he which hath the Latin hath but Marco Polo's Carcafs, or not fo 
« much? but a few Bones, yea, fometimes Stones rather than Bones, things divers, averfe, adverfe, perverted in manner, disjointed in manner beyond 
«« Belief. I have feen fome Authors maimed, but never any fo mangled, and fo mingled, fo prefent, and fo abient, as this vulgar Latme^oi Marco 
<** Pols 1 not fo like himfglf as the three Polos were at their Return to Venice, where none knew them, as in the Difcourfe ye ftialJ find, 
0 lowed 
