624 W VOYAGES 
64 they take the gravelly Stuff they have walked, and fpread 
44 it ori a Place made plain and fmooth for that Purpofe 
44 near the Ciftern, which being fo dried by the Heat of the 
64 Sun at that Time of the Day, they very curioufly look 
54 it over, that the finalleft Bit of a Stone can hardly efcape 
66 them. They never examine the Stuff they have wafhed, 
44 but between the Hours of Ten and Three, left any Cloud, 
44 by interpofmg, intercept the brifk Beams of the Sun, 
44 which they hold very neceffary to affift them in their 
44 Search,, the Diamonds conftantly reflecting them when 
t£ they fhine on them, rendering themfelves thereby the 
44 more confpicuous. 
44 Some of the experteft Labourers are employed in 
44 fearching, he that fets them at work ufually fitting by, 
44 and over-looking •, but it is hardly poffible, efpecially 
" 4 where many are employed, to watch them fo narrowly, 
44 but that they may fteal part of what they find, as many 
44 times feme of them do, and felling it privately, convert 
44 it to their own Ufe. If they find a large Stone, they carry 
44 it not prefently to their Employer, but keep on looking, 
44 having an Eye on him, till they obferve he takes notice 
44 of it, when with the Turn of their Hand, they give him 
44 a Glimpfe of it, but deliver it not till they have done 
44 Work, and then very privately, it being the general Eft? 
44 deavour to conceal what they find, left it fhould come 
* 4 to the Knowledge of the Governor of the Place, and he 
44 requires a Share, which in the Kingdom of Colconda is 
44 ufually praftifed, without any Refpeft to the Agreement 
44 made with them. The Miners, thofe that employ 
44 them, and the Merchants that buy the Stones of them, 
44 are ufually Pagans , not a Mufleman, that ever X heard 
44 of, followed the Employment. Thefe Labourers, and 
44 their Employers, are TelUngals^ commonly Natives of, 
44 or near the Place. The Merchants are the Banians of 
44 Guzzarat, who for fome Generations have forfaken their 
44 own Country to take up this Trade in which they have 
44 had fuch Succefs, that ’tis now folely engroffed by them, 
44 who, correfponding with their Countrymen in Surat , 
44 Goa , Golconda , Vifiapore , Agra , and Dilu , and other 
44 Places in India , furnifh them all with Diamonds. 
44 The Governors of the Mines are alfo Idolaters. In 
44 the King of Golconda ’s Dominions a Tellenga Brammee 
44 rents mod: of them, whofe Agreement with the Adven- 
44 turer is, that all the Stones found under a P agodaW eight 
44 are to be their own ; all that Weight and above is to be 
44 his, for the King’s Ufe. But although this Agreement 
44 be figned and fealed, he minds not at all the Perfor- 
4,4 mance thereof, but endeavours to engrofs all the Profit 
44 to himfelf, by tyrannically fqueezing both Merchants and 
44 Miners, who he not only taxes very high, but main- 
44 taineth Spies among them of their own People. On the 
44 leaft Sufpicion that they have been any ways fortunate, 
44 he immediately makes a Demand on them, and raifes 
44 their Tax, elfe on a falfe Pretence, they have found a 
44 great Stone, drubs them till they furrender what they 
44 have, to redeem their Bodies from Torture. 
44 Befides, the Excife is fo high on all forts of Provifions, 
44 Beetle and Tobacco, which with them are efteemed 
44 Neceffaries, that the Price of all Things is doubted ; by 
44 which Courfe there is hardly a Man to be found worth 
44 five hundred Pounds amongft them, moft of them deal- 
44 ing by Monies taken up at Intereft of Ufurers, who re- 
44 fide there purpofely to furnilh them, who with the Go- 
44 ■ vernor eat up their Gains, fo that one would wonder 
44 any of them fftould flay, and not betake themfelves to 
44 Places where they might have better Ufage, as there are 
44 many in other Governments, and fome few that have 
44 the Senfe to remove ; but many their Debts, others 
44 Hopes of a , great Hit, detains. Both Merchant and 
44 . Miner go generally naked, only a poor Cloth about their 
44 Middle, and their Safh on their Heads ; they dare not 
44 wear a Coat, left the Governor fhould fay they have 
44 thriven much, and are rich, and fo- enlarge his Demands 
44 on them. The wifeft, when they find a great. Stone, con- 
44 ceal it till they have an Opportunity, and then with 
44 Wife and Children run all away into the Vifiapore Coun- 
44 try, where they are fecure. The Government in the 
46 Vifiapore Country is better: Their Agreements obferved, 
44 Taxes eafier, and no fuch Impofitions on Provifions \ 
and T RAVELS Book!. 
“ the Merchants go handfomely clad, among whom am 
44 feveral Perfons of confiderable Mates, which they are 
permitted to enjoy peaceably, by reafon whereof their 
Mines are much more populous, and better employed 
44 than thofe of G ole on da P 
It is foi the fame Reafon, that I have omitted another 
improbable Story of a Bird called a Rue,, of fuch a mom 
ftrous Size, as to be able to carry an Elephant into the Ahy 
which Abfurdities our Author' was probably induced to 
believe, by the ftrange Things he daily Jaw m theft Parts 
of the World, and of which the .People - in Mifopehzd 
not fo much as the leaft Idea. Thefe Gmiffions I thought 
requifite for keeping the Work within Bounds, as hav- 
ing no Inclination to try the Patience of my Readers, 
by inferring any more of thefe old' Travels than ieem ab- 
folutely neceffary for connecting the feveral Parts of this 
Difcourfe, and fhewing how, in what Manner, and by 
whom thofe great Difcoveries were made, which enabled 
the different Nations in Europe to carry on fo great a Trade 
as they do to all Parts of the Eaft-Indies . This, without 
doubt, was originally owing to this Work of Marco Polo , 
who, though no Geographer or Seaman himfelf, yet left 
fuch clear and evident Proofs of the Poffibiiity of reaching 
the moft diftant Parts of Afia by Sea, that his Work was 
more efteemed in Portugal , where the firft Spirit of Difto- 
very appeared, than in Italy itfelf. It remans, in this 
Place, to give a ffiort Account of the Names by which he 
has diftinguifhed the Countries, he vifited, and particularly 
to anfwer the great Objection raifed againft his Work, 
from his not making any Mention of the famous Wall in 
China for keeping out the Tartars* which fhall be done 
in as few Words as poffible. 
Our Author following exactly the Sentiments of the 
Tartars , diftinguiffies all this great Country into two Parts, 
•viz. Cathay and Mangi , about which many Doubts have 
been raifed, and many Difputes fet on Foot without any 
juft Grounds, fince it is very plain, that under the Deno- 
mination of Cathay , Marco Polo comprehends the fix 
northern Provinces of China \ and under that of Mangi 
the nine Southern Provinces, which are feparated from the 
former by the great River Xiang and when we come 
hereafter to treat of the prefent State of the Empire of 
China , we fhall take Occafion to fliew, that this Defcrip- 
tion of his agrees very well with the beft Accounts of that 
Empire. This will be the more intelligible to the Reader, 
when he is informed, that the T arlars ftill preferve thefe 
very Forms of Speech, that is to fay, give the Name of 
Cathay to the Northern Parts, and that of Mangi to the 
Southern Provinces of China. As to this latter, it is a 
Name of Contempt, for Mangi , in the Tartar Tongue, im- 
plies Barbarians , and fo they efteemed the Chinefe to be, not 
from the Brutality of their Manners, but from their ex- 
travagant Haughtinefs and Pride,, and efpecially from that 
intolerable Hatred and Contempt with which they treated 
the Tartars themfelves. The plain Reafon why our Au- 
thor did not mention the famous Wall in China , was, be- 
came he entered it by the fouthera Provinces .; and as he 
confines himfelf to the Places he faw, or to fuch as were 
in their Neighbourhood, and profecutes his Defcription 
from the Weftern Parts of China to the Sea, it was im- 
poffible he fhould take Notice of it ; fo that when we 
confider this Matter attentively, it is very plain, that this 
Circumftance, inftead of leffening the Credit of Marco 
Polo , ought, in Truth, to frrengthen it very much, fince 
it is a convincing Proof of the Truth of what he has 
afierted in relation to his ownTravels, and his Defcriptions 
of the Countries through which he paffied ; and evidently 
fhews, he did not arnufe himfelf with Accounts of Coun- 
tries and Provinces of which he could fay nothing but 
from Report, to which, if he had liftened, his Relation 
muft have been much^more obfeure and perplexed than 
we find it at prefent. But it is now Time to proceed to 
the Conclufion of this Sedition, by fhewing the Advanta- 
ges that may be obtained by the Perufal of Marco Polo\ 
Travels, in order to the thorough Underftanding of our 
Subject. And this we fhall perform as concifely as poffible, 
and in fuch a Manner as may difengage us from the Neceft 
fity of looking into any more of theft old Writers for the 
future* 
1 2 & 
