6a8 The VO Y A G E S and TR A FE L S Book 
affumed the Name of Tong Tching , i. e. Peace imdifturbed. 
This Prince, who is faid to inherit the Virtues as well as 
Dominions of his Anceftors, was in quiet Pofleffion of the 
Empire in the Year 1735* fince which we have not had 
any certain, or at leaft very important Accounts from China . 
By this Deduction of the Chine fe Hiftory we learn a Mul- 
titude of things neceffary for the underftanding fuch of 
the fubfequent Voyages as mention that Country, which was 
the Reafon that I infilled upon it fo long ; and we likewife 
difcover the Ufefulnefs of this fort of Knowledge, with 
refpedt to the Voyages that have gone before. We fee that 
the Chinefe , with whom our Arabian Travellers converfed, 
were quite another fort of People than thofe that now in- 
habit China ; for they were a pure and unmixed Nation, 
whereas the modern Chinefe are in a great meafure incor- 
porated with the Tartars •, from whence it is eafy to difcern, 
that great Alterations mull have happened in their Man- 
ners, efpecially if we confider the Charadter that Rubruquis 
gives the Tartars , which comes much nearer that of the 
modern Chinefe than any thing we meet with in the Ara- 
bian Writers. It appears likewife from the Comparifon of 
the Fadls related by the Arabians with thofe mentioned by 
Marco Polo of the People of Mangi , that both thefe Wri- 
ters mull have, reported Things with great Fidelity, fince 
they agree in a Multitude of Particulars. The Conqueft of 
the Northern Part of China by the Tartars , though not 
exprefsly mentioned, yet is plainly alluded to by the fecand 
Arab Writer *, and as to the intire Conqueft of China by the 
fame Nation, we owe the full Account of it to Marco Polo ; 
for, without the Affiftance of his Relations, it would have 
been a thing very difficult, if not impoffible, to have dif- 
covered, that Chi-Tfou was the fame with Coplai-Khan , or 
Cublai-Khan, Emperor of the T artars , who before he be- 
came Mafter of their Country, was called by the Chinefe 
Ho-pi-lie m . 
We like wife learn from this fuccindl View of the Chinefe 
Hiftory, that the Tartars , who now poflefs China , are the 
very fame Nation that formerly poftefied it, contrary to 
what fome very learned Men afferted, and which was gene- 
rally believed half an Age ago. We likewife fee, that the 
reigning Family in China are diredl Defcendants of Cublai- 
Khan , and confequently of Zingis-Khan , that famous Con- 
queror, whofe Empire, as we have elfewhere fhewn, was 
the moft extenfive that has been hitherto known in the 
World. Thefe Things are of very great Confequence, if 
we read Voyages for the fake of improving and enlarging 
our Knowledge, and not merely for the fake of A mule - 
ment, which, however, is rather encreafed than leffened, 
by attending to thefe Circumftances. We can eafily appre- 
hend, after a little Reflection, that in the Time of our 
Arabian Travellers, and even in that of Marco Polo , the 
Chinefe Empire muft have been in a much better Condition, 
and its Trade much more flouriffiing than when it was firft 
v'ffited by the Portuguese , Englijh and Dutch. Before that 
Time it had not been expofed to thofe cruel Ravages that 
efifued firft on the breaking out of their Civil Wars, and 
next from the laft Conqueft by the Tartars. Befides, we 
can at any time have Recourfe to this ffiort Hiftory, when 
we are at a Lofs as to the Fadls mentioned in fubfequent 
Voyages., and by comparing the Times in which they hap- 
pened with the Dates that are therein fet down, obtain an 
eafy Solution of Doubts that perhaps we could never other- 
wife have got over. 
It is from the Confideration of thefe Advantages, and 
that as far as in my Power lies, I might remove all Obfta- 
cles whatfoever to the perfed underftanding of this Subjed, 
that I have determined to give the Reader in the next Sec- 
tion a concife Hiftory of the other Tartar Empire in the 
Indies , I mean that of the Great Mogul, who was likewife 
a Defcendant from the fame Family with the great Con- 
queror I have fo often mentioned. By purfuing this Me- 
thod, which I have brought into the narrowed Conipafs pof- 
fible, the Reader will gain fuch a previous Knowledge of a 
great Number of Fads as never to be at a Lofs in perufing 
any of the Voyages to the Eaft- Indies , either in this, or in 
any other Colledion, which, without fuch an Introduction, 
it would have been abfolutely ineradicable for him to have 
underftood, and that for many Reafons, of which I will 
take the Liberty to mention only a few. In the firft 
place then, every Voyage brings us not only into a new 
Country, but, if I may fo fpeak, introduces us into a new 
Company, with the Character of which, if we have not 
fome previous Acquaintance, it is impoffible for us to be at 
our Eafe, whereas if we know in general who and what 
they are, we enter immediately into the true Senfe of the 
Relation, and hear all that is told us with Pieafure. In the 
next place, it often happens, that either from the Fear of 
appearing tedious, or from fome other Motive, the Writers 
of Voyages give us only ffiort Hints as to the Government 
of the Countries through which they pafs, or the Characters, 
of Princes that reign in them, which would be utterly un- 
intelligible to fuch as never heard of them before, and yet 
may be fuffieient for the Information of thofe who have a 
general Notion of the Pofture of things in that Country at 
the Time mentioned by the Author. Laftly, we are by 
this means enabled to redify the Miftakes of fuch Writers, 
to diftinguiffi between the Truth and Falffipod of what they 
relate, and to form a clear and certain judgment of the 
Merit of their Performances. 
It may poffibly be objeded, that for the fame Reafons 
which have been offered in Support of thefe two Eliftories 
of the Chinefe and of the Indian Empires, we might be 
obliged to write the Hiftory of all the other Princes that 
have reigned in the Upper Afia , which Objedion, how- 
ever, is not at all founded in Fad, fince in the firft place 
the Hiftories of all the little Princes in India are very far 
from being fo neceffary as thofe of the capital Empires ; 
and in the next, how neceffary foever we might think 
them, it is impoffible for us to write any fuch Hiftories, be- 
caufe the neceffary Materials for them are not to be found. 
When therefore this Matter is ferioufly confidered, it ap- 
pears to be a new Argument in favour of our Defign for 
fince there have been but two great Empires in this Part of 
the World, of which any juft and regular Account can be 
given, and to which all Books of Voyages and Travels 
through the Eajl-Indies muft neceffarily refer, it would 
feem very abfurd and unreafonable, after all the Pains we 
have taken in the darker Ages of this Hiftory, to decline 
that Period of it, which is at once the moft ufeful, and 
will appear by far the moft agreeable to a modern Reader, 
as there is not in the Compafs of Univerfal Hiftory any 
Branch fo full of extraordinary Events, or in which there 
occur more furprizing Turns and Revolutions than in that 
which we are about to give. 
Add to all this, that however deficient the reft of the 
Oriental Hiftories may be, we have abundant Materials for 
this, and thofe too as excellent in their kind as can be de- 
fired ; for befides the particular Relations afforded us by 
feveral Writers of Credit, who were actually on the Spot 
when thofe Events happened which they record, we have 
very great Lights given us by fuch of the Oriental Writers 
as have undertaken to explain the feveral Expeditions of the 
Tartars , and efpecially thofe of the famous Timur-bec , 
known to us by the Name of Tamerlane, whofe Conquefts, 
though lefs extenfive, have, notwithstanding, made a greater 
figure in our general Eliftories than thofe of his glorious 
Predeceffor Zingis-Khan. Befides all which, we have the 
Angular Advantage of having a great Part of this Eliftory 
taken from the very Records of that Empire which it con- 
cerns, by the Induftry of Mr. Manoucbi ", who was forty 
m The Change of Names is a very clear Proof that no fort of Blame ought to lie on Marco Polo for vvriting Places after a different Orthography than 
what is commonly ufed 1 and we have this Advantage from it, that we learn the Tartar Appellation, and have thereby an Opportunity of comparing 
them with the Chinefe. I cannot help remarking upon this Occafion, that in all probability. Ho- pi-lie is no more than the Tartar Name of Khoplai (for 
fo in that Language it is written) expreffed in Chinefe Characters ; but for the Name given him after he attained the Empire of Chi-Tfou, it may be ren- 
dered the firft of Ms Race, for Chi fignifies the beginning, and Tfou a kind of Violet coloured Plume, or Feather worn in the Imperial Diadem. 
a This Mr. Manuchi was a Venetian by Birth, but he wrote his Hiftory of Indofian in the P ortugueze Language, which was then, and is ftill com- 
mon in the Baft. We owe the Publication of it to the famous Jefuit Father Cartrou, who dedicated his French Tranflation to the Duke of Burgundy , 
the Father of the prefent Louis XV. In his Preface to that Work, he promifes fome farther Memoirs by the fame Hand ; but I cannot find that thefe 
were ever publiftied, which is the more wonderful, confidering the great Reputation that the firft Part of the Work acquired. As Father Catron is lately 
dead, it is very poffible thofe Papers may fall into other Hands, and yet fee the Light. 
% 
Years 
