Obfervations, &c. of Dr. James Cunningham, -Book I. 
in the Beginning of March , and dried in the Shade, The 
Bing Tea is the fecond Growth in Aprils and Singlo the 
laft 'in' May. and June, both dried a little in Taches or Tans 
over the Fire. The Tea Shrub being an Ever-green, is in 
Flower from October to January , and the Seed is ripe in 
September and Otlober following, fo that one may gather 
both Flower and Seed at the fame time ; but for one frefli 
and full Seed, there are one hundred nought. Thefe 
make up the two forts of Fruit in Le ComptPiOktcnpticm 
of Tea ; as for his other fort, which he calls Stymie Feafe, 
they were nothing but the young Buds of the Flowers not 
yet open. _ Its Seed Veffels are really tricapfular, each Cap- 
fula containing one Nut or Seed; arid although two or one 
Capfula only comes to Perfection, yet the.Veftiges of the 
reft may be difevrned. It grows in a dry gravelly Soil on 
the Sides of Hills, in feveral Places of this Ifland, without 
any Cultivation. 
Le ' Comply is miftaken in faying that the Chlnefe are 
wholly Strangers to the Art of Grafting, for I have feen a 
great many of his paradoxical Tallow Trees ingrafted here, 
befides fome other Trees. When they ingraft, they do not 
flit the Stock, as we do, but cut a fmall Slice off the Out- 
ride mf the Stock, to which they apply the Graft (being cut 
Hoping on one Side agreeable to the Slice cut from the 
Stock) bringing the Bark of the Slice up on the Outfide 
of the Graft, they tie all together, covering with Straw and 
Mud as we do. The Commentator, on Magalhen , feems 
doubtful in the Length of the Chinefe Che or Cubits. Here 
they have two forts, one of thirteen Inches, and feven- 
tenths of an Englijh Inch, which the Merchants commonly 
ufe ; the other is of the eleven Inches ufed by Carpenters, 
and alfo in Geographical Meafures. Though F. Martini is 
cenfured by F. Magalhen for fpelling a great many Chinefe 
Words with ng, which the Portugueze and others have done 
with in, yet his Way is more agreeable to Englijh Pronun- 
ciation, only in fome Words, the g may be left out, as in 
Pekin , Nankin , &c. 
. Having made Enquiry about Martini's Account of 
Sowing their Fields at Van-cheu with Oyfter Shells, to 
make new on§>s grow, I was told, that after they have 
taken out the Oyfter, they lprinkle the Shell with Urine, 
then putting them into the Water again, there grows new 
Oyfters on the forefaid Shells. Martini fays, he could 
never find a Latin Name for the T ula Mogorin of the Por- 
tugueze ; I am fure its the fame with the Syrenga Arabica 
fore pleno Albo in Parkinfone. He fays alfo, that the Kieu- 
yeu, or Tallow- tree, bears a white Flower like a Cherry- 
tree ; but all that I have feen here, bears a Spike of fmall 
yellow Flowers, like the Julus of a Salix. The Bean, or 
Mandarin Broth, fo frequently mentioned in the Butch 
Embaffy, and other Authors, is only an Emulfion made 
of the Seed of Safamum and hot Water. 
Their chief Employments here are Fiftiing and Agricul- 
ture. In Fiihing they ufe feveral forts of Nets and Lines, 
as we do ; but becaufe they have large Banks of Mud in 
fome Places, the Fifhermen, to go more eafily thereon, 
have contrived a fmall Frame, about three or four Feet 
Grams, they grab, tip foroe fuperficial Earth, Grafs and 
Roots, and With fome Stray, they burn ail together ; this 
Earth being lifted fine, they mix with the Seed, which 
hey fow m Holes, made with a ltrait Line, and: fo grows 
up m Tufts,, as the Rice does. , flip Field being divided in- 
to Beds, and harrowed over, both before and after the Seed 
Gardens. 
A! hp they meliorate their Epids, where they fow Rice 
. only,: by letting the Water on th; in, yet for other Grains, 
where Grounds require it, they make ufe of Dun<r hu- 
mane Excrements, Afoe^ ,I„ watering theirfields 
p ey r Ufe th< ; f a ™^ Inftrlrae " mentioned by Martini, 
in the Preface .to his Allot, being ail Wqqd, and the Con- 
tiivances the lame with that of a Chain-pump. 
Theft, Method , of making EaE is this v all the Shores 
ere being Muft inftead of Sand, in the Summer Seafon, 
tiey pare off the fuperficial Earth, which has been over- 
flown with, the Salt-water, anffjgy ft up in* HeepsTdr ufe. 
When they are to ufe it, they dry it in the /Sun, rubbing 
it lmail, then digging; a Pit, they cover the Bottom of it 
with Straw, at which,, through the Side of the Pit they 
pafs a hollow . Cane that leads into a Jar, that .Hands be- 
Joiwthe Level of the Pit’s Bottom. They fill the Pit ai- 
moft fuH of the forefaid Earth, and pour Salt- water on, 
until it be covered two or three Inches with Water, which 
drains through into the forefaid Jar, and is afterwards boil’d 
into a Salt. 
6. If I had not found Notice taken in a printed News- 
Paper laft Year, of a Angular Root brought from China 
by Father Fontaney, I (hould not have told you, that I 
have feen this Root fince I came here, and which is call, 
ed bythe Chinefe Hu-chu-u, to which they aferihe won- 
derful Wrtues, fuch as prolonging Life, and turning gray 
Hair black by the Ufe of its Tea, or an Infufion made of 
it, which occafions its being fold at a very high Price, info- 
much that they fay, that it is to be had 7 from ten Tael to 
one thoufand or two thoufand a Angle Root ; for the larger 
it is, the more is its Value and Efficacy, which is too much 
Money here to try the Experiment. You have it men- 
tioned in Clcyer s Medicina Sinica, Number LXXXIV. 
under the Name of He-xcu-u, according to the Portugueze 
i?, ing *ft \ 1S 1,kewife P amted in the 27th Table of thofe 
Plants Mr. Pettiver had of me. If you will have the Story 
ot its Difcovery, which I will not warrant for Gofpel it 
runs thus : r ’■ 
long, not much larger than a Hen-trough, elevated a lit- 
tle at each End, in which he refts upon one Knee, lean- 
ing his arms on a crofs Stick, raifed fo high as his Breaft, 
and putting out the o|her Foot often upon the Mud, he 
pufhes forward his Frame thereon, and fo carries himfelf 
along in it. 
As to their Agriculture, all their Fields (where any 
thing is planted) whether high or low, are made into 
flich Plots, as may retain the Water over them when they 
pleafe, They plow up their Ground with one Buffaloe, 
or Cow. Where they are to fow Rice, they prepare the 
Fields very well, by clearing it of all manner of Weeds, 
maddening to a Pulp, and fmoothing it with a Frame 
drawn acrofs, on which they fow the Rice, very thick,, 
and cover it only with Water, for two or three Inches 
high ; and when it has grown fix or eight Inches long, 
they pull it up by the Roots and tranlplant it (by Tufts 
in a ftrait Line) to Fields over-flown with Water ; and 
where a Field is fluffed: to Weeds, when the Water grows 
up, they prevent the Growth, by over-turning the Mud 
with their Hands, in the Interftices, where the Rice is 
planted. When they low Wheat, Barley, Pulfe and other 
Upon a time a certain Perlbn going a Simpling amono- 
the Mountains, fell by Accident into fuch a fteep Vale, that 
he could by no means get out of it again, whereupon look- 
ing about lor fomething to fuftain his Life, in this melan- 
choly Condition, he efpied this Root, of which he made 
Try a!, and found that in eating thereof, it lerved him both 
for Provifion and Cloathing, by keeping his Body in fuch 
a Temperature, that the Injuries of the Weather had no 
Influence upon him during his Stay there, which was lome 
hundreds of Years; till at laft an Earthquake happened in 
that Place, whereby the Mountains were rent, and he found 
a Paffage out to his Houle, from whence he had been lb 
long abfent . But the many Alterations that came to pals 
there in luch a Space of Time would not permit them to 
give Credit to his Story, till confulting the Annals of his 
Family, which gave an Account of one of them loft at 
that Time, they were confirmed as to the Truth of this Rela- 
tion. With the Leave of our Author, this is no more 
Gofpel with the Chinefe than with him. It is a Fable, in- 
vented for the fake of giving fuch an Account of the Vir- 
tues of this Root, as may make them dwell on the Memory 
and that is all. J * 
7. It will be very natural for the Reader to enquire how 
it came to pafs, that from fo intelligent and induftrious a 
Perlbn as this Dodtor Cunningham appears to have been 
we have received nothing farther than what has been already 
fet down in relation to the Affairs of China ; and as I have 
it in my Power to anfwer that Queftion very fully, I think 
it will not be amifs to add fome very curious Circumftances 
relating to fo worthy a Man at the Clofe of this Sedlion, 
the lather, becaule if they be not added here, it is very 
poffible they may be for ever loft. We are therefore to 
obferve, that the Fadtory eftablilfied at Chufan was broke 
up in the Year 1702, and therefore the Dodtor had not 
msach 
