S i . 8 A Supplemental Account of the Commodities, P§c. Book L 
■©f War. The People are as fubjedt to Wens on their 
Throats as thofe of Boutan, infomuch that fome of their 
Women have them hanging down to their Breads, which 
proceed from the Badnefs of the Waters. There is no- 
thing in Tipra which is lit for Strangers.! 
There is a Mine of Gold, but the Metal is very coarfe ; 
and there is a fort of coarfe Silk, which is all the Revenue 
the King has, for he exa&s no Subfidies from his Subjects., 
Only they who are not of the prime Nobility work fix 
Days in the Year in the Mine or Silk- Works. He fends 
his Gold and Silk into China, and for them they bring him 
back Silver, which he coins into Pieces of the Value of 
eighteen Sous , and others of twenty-two Sous. In the 
Language of this Country he is called Dieu-Aragari , 
which is damped upon one Side of the Money, and on 
the other Chattermani Rey de Trpoura\ he alfo makes 
thin Pieces of Gold, like the Afpers of Turky, of which 
he has two Sorts, four of one making a Crown, and two 
of the other. 
19. The Kingdom of Afem is one of the belt Coun- 
tries in all Afia , for it produces all Things neceffary for 
human Subfidence, without any Need of foreign Supply. 
There are in it Mines of Gold, Silver, Steel, Lead, Iron, 
and great Store of Silk, but coarfe. There is a Sort of 
Silk found under the Trees, which is fjpiin by a Creature 
like our Silk- worms, but rounder, and which lives all the 
Year long under the Trees. The Stuffs that are made of 
this Silk glider very much, but they fret prefently. This 
Country alfo produces all forts of Gum -Lac, of which 
there are two forts ; one grows under the Trees of a red 
Colour, with which they paint their Linnen and Stuffs ; 
and when they have drawn out the red Juice, the remain- 
ing Subfiance ferves to varnifh Cabinets, and make Wax, 
being the bed Lac in Afia for thofe Ufes. As for the 
Gold, they never fuffer it to be tranfported out of the 
Kingdom ; nor do they make any Money of it, but pre- 
ferve it in Ingots, which pafs in Trade among the Inha- 
bitants ; but the Silver the King coins into Money of three 
Drams four Grains Weight, which make twenty-three 
Sous. Tho* their Country is very plentiful in all Things, 
yet there is no Flefh they edeem fo much as Dogs-Flefh, 
which is the greated Delicacy at their Feads, and is fold 
every Month in every City of the Kingdom upon their 
Market-Days. They have alfo great Store of Vines and 
very good Grapes, but they never make any Wine, but 
dry the Grapes to make Aqua Vita. 
They have no Salt but what is artificial, which is made 
two Ways ; fird, they raife great Heaps of that green 
Stuff that fwims on the Top of the danding Waters, 
which the Ducks and Frogs eat ; this they dry and burn, 
and the Allies thereof being boiled in a Cloth in Water, 
become very good Salt: But the mod ufual Way is to 
take the Leaves of Adam's Fig-tree, which, being burnt, 
the Afhes thereof make a Salt fo tart that it is impoffible 
to eat it till the Strength be taken away, which they do by 
putting the Afhes into the Water, and dirring them up and 
down ten or twelve Days together, and then they drain 
the Subdance through a Cloth and boil it ; for, as the Wa- 
ter boils away, the Bottom thickens, and when the Wa- 
ter is all boiled away, they find at the Bottom very good 
and white Salt. Of the Afhes of the Fig-Leaves they alfo 
make a Lye with which they wafh their Silks, which 
makes them as white as Snow • but they have not Leaves 
enough to whiten half the Silk that grows in their 
Country. 
In the City of Kemmeroof the King of Afem keeps his 
Court. This King requires no Subfidies of his People, 
for all the Mines in the Kingdom are his own ; and, for 
his Subjects Eafe, he has none but Slaves that work in 
them ; fo that all the Natives of Afem live at their Eafe ; 
and every one has his Houfe to himfelf, and in the 
Midd of his Ground a Fountain incompaffed with Trees, 
and mod commonly every one an Elephant to carry their 
Wives, for they have four Wives ; and when they marry 
them, they fay to them, I take thee to ferve me in fuch a 
Things and to another, I take thee to do fuch a Bufmefs : 
So that every one of their Wives knowing what fhe has to 
do in the Houfe, there is no Difference among them. 
1 he Men and Women are generally well complexioned, 
only thofe that live mote foutherly are fwarthy,and fubjeT 
to Wens in their Throats ;■ nor are they fo welf featured, 
and the Women are fomething flat nofed. In the South- 
ern Parts the People go dark naked, only coverino- their 
Privy-Parts, with a Bonnet upon their Heads iike°a blue 
Cap, hung about with Swines Teeth. 
They make large Holes in their Ears, that you may 
run your Thumb in, and hang in them Pieces of Gold 
and Silver ; Bracelets alfo of Tortoife-Shells and Sea-Shells, 
as long as an Egg, which they faw into Circles •, are in 
great Edeem among the meaner fort, as Bracelets of Coral 
and yellow Amber are among the richer. When they 
bury a Man, all his Friends and Relations mud come to 
the Burial, and when they lay the Body in the Ground, 
they all take off their Bracelets from their Arms and Legs* 
and bury them with the Corps. In the City of Azoa 
are the Tombs of the Kings of Afem and all the Royal 
Family; for though they are Idolaters, they never bum 
their dead Bodies, but bury them. They believe that the 
Dead go all of them into another World, and that they that 
have lived well in this have Plenty of all Things ; but they 
who have been ill Livers, fuffer the Want of all Things, 
being in a more efpecial manner afflidted with Hunger and 
Drought ; and that therefore *tis. good to bury fomething 
with them to ferve them in their Neceflity. For this Rea- 
fon their Kings build them fel vcs, in their Life-times, Cha- 
pels in the great Pagods to be buried in, wherein they 
dore up great Sums of Gold arid Silver, and other Move- 
ables of Value : Befides, when they bury any of their Kings, 
they bury with him likewife whatever he edeemed mod 
precious in his Life-time, whether it be an Idol of Gold 
or Silver, or whatever elfe, that being needful in this, is 
alfo as they think neceffary in the Life to come. 
But that which favours mod of Barbarifm is this ; that 
when any King dies, all his bed-beloved Wives, and the 
principal Officers of his Houfe, poifon themfelves to be 
buried with him, and to wait upon him in the other 
World : And they alfo bury one Elephant, twelve Camels, 
fix Horfes, and a good Number of Hounds, believino- 
that all thefe Creatures rife again to ferve the King. *Tis 
thought thefe were the People that fird invented Guns, and 
Powder, and that the Invention fpreading itfelf into Pegu, 
and then into -China, it from thence became known in the 
World, and fo the Chinefe were thought to be the Inventors 
of them. Their Powder is very fmaJI and round, like ours 
in Europe , and very drong. As for the Kingdom of 
Siam , and that of Macajfar , the Accounts already given 
of them, difpenfe us from the Neceflity of inferring what 
this Author has written about them. But with regard to 
that of the Kingdom of Tunquin , or Tonquin, i t is at oncefo 
concife and fo curious, that it would be unjud to conceal 
it from the Reader’s Notice ; and, therefore, with this 
Defcription we lhall conclude this Part of the Travels 
of Mr. 'Tavernier. 
20. The Kingdom of Tonquin is bounded on the Ead 
by Canton , a Province of China , on the Wed by the 
Kingdom of Brama , on the North by Junan and Sfuainfi, 
two other Provinces of China , and on the South by Co- 
chin-China. The Air is mild and temperate, though it 
lies in the Torrid Zone, and the Ground fo fertile that 
there is a continual Spring : Frod and Snow are never 
feen here, and the Gout, Stone, and Pedilence are Stran- 
gers in it. The North and South Winds, which con- 
tinually blow, and divide the Year between them equally, 
fo moderate the Heats that they are not troublefome ; 
yet, once in feven Years, they have hideous and terrible 
Tempeds, which make drange Defolations, pulling up 
Trees, and blowing down Houfes. Thefe Exhalations 
are thought, by their Adologers, to proceed from the 
Mines, as is alfo believed, in Japan. 
The whole Kingdom is divided into feveral Provinces, 
which together contain, as it is laid, 20000 Cities and 
Towns, though many Families, with their Cattle, Jive 
always upon the Water in Boats, after the Manner of the 
Cochin-Chinefe. The Country is for the mod part level, 
fave that in the North there are fome Hills. It is watered 
with feveral Rivers, fome of which carry Veflels of a 
good Burthen, and fo are commodious for Trade. In all 
this Country grow neither Corn nor Vines, becaufe they 
never 
