9 
Book II 
“ I can fpeak more particularly, as to the CTimate ; 
it extends from 1 8 Degrees of Latitude to 55, and con- 
“ fequently takes in all the Climates from the third to 
“ the tenth, fo that the longeft Day in the moft South- 
“ ern Parts is thirteen Hours and a half long, and in 
the moft Northern about feventeen Hours, The 
Heat is great in the Southern Provinces, and the Cold 
“ very fevere in the North. As to the former, i have 
been upon the Coafts of Bengal^ and I think it not 
at all warmer than in China^ I have been alfo in 
Poland^ and did not find it fo cold there as in the 
“ Northern Parts of China^ or rather of P artary about 
“ the River /fmr. By this Means they have at Peking 
all Sorts of Fruits, by which I do not mean every 
Kind of Fruit, but of thole different Sorts that are 
peculiar to the warmeft and coldeft Climates i as for 
Inftance, the moft high flavoured Orange's and well- 
tafted Apples j but there is this Difference between 
them, that Nature brings the Southern Fruits to the 
higheft Perfeblion with little or no Culture, whereas 
“ thofe of the North require a great deal, which however 
“ t\\tChinefe never beftow upon them ; hence therefore 
“ three or four Sorts of Apples, and five or fix of Pears, 
“ is all they can boaft ; and as for Cherries, they have 
“ them both red and black, but they are neither of 
“ them good, though they might have them, if they 
“ were at Pains, in the utmoft Perfedlion. 
“ It is eafy to difcern from hence, that there are no 
Kind of Commodities or Manufadures wanting in 
“ this Country, and a very few Specimens will convince 
“ you of the Truth of this *, they have the very beft 
“ Silks of all Kinds in the World, and in a vaft Abun- 
“ dance ; they have very rich Furs, which I take to be the 
“ oppofiteof Silk ; they have alfo prodigious Quantities 
“ of Cotton, and are not deficient in Wooll. They 
“ have Metals of all Sorts in great Plenty, except Lead 5 
“ they have likewife all Kinds of Wood, Sugar in the ut- 
“ moft Abundance, and Spices fufficient for their 
their own Ufe, and yet they ufe a vaft deal. It was 
“ from a true Senfe of their own Abundance, that the 
“ ancient Chinefe 'wtre, averfe to Foreign Trade j and if 
“ the Tartars permit it, it is upon this Principle, that 
“ their Subjefts are vaft Gainers by it j for except Toys 
“ and Lead, there is Nothing comes to a good Market 
“ in China. 
“ At prefent the Empire of China., exclufive of its 
“ Dependencies, is divided into fifteen Provinces. 
“ Thofe Chenft^ Chanji, and Petcheli^ in which laft 
“ is the Imperial City of Peking^ are bounded by the 
“ famous VVall which divides China from Tartary ; 
“ thofe of Chan tong., liiang nan, in which is Nanking 
“ the old Capital, Tche kiang and Fokicn lie on the 
Eaftern Ocean j thofe of ^ang tong, ^mngfi. Tun nan 
fe tchuen, lie on the South, and on the Weft 5 Honan. 
“ Hou quang, Koei tcheou, Kiang ft, are Midland Pro- 
“ vinCes. They divide their Towns into four Ranks, 
“ which it is impoffible to defcribe ; the three firft have 
“ Names, the laft are fuch as are under the Jurifdi6lion 
“ of the reft, and confequently have no particular De- 
“ nomination. The great Cities they ftile Fou, and 
“ of thefe they reckon one hunded feventy three. The 
“ larger Towns they call Tcheou, and of thefe they 
“ reckon two hunared thirty five. They give their 
biggeft Boroughs the Name of Hien, and of thefe 
they reckon eleven hundred and feventy three ; 
“ as for the fubordinate Places, I dare not call them 
f Villages, for many of them are walled, and fome of 
“ them contain fifty thoufand Souls ; thefe, I fay, are 
“ without Names, and without Number. 
They pretend to be very exa£t in their Computati- 
“ ons of the Number of their People, and from the 
‘‘ beft Enquiry I have been able to make, though the 
“ Thing muft appear romantick and ridiculous in Eu- 
“ rope, I am convinced that they are not much beyond 
“ the Truth, in affirming that their Emperor has fixty 
“ Millions of Souls in his Dominions. 
“ One would imagine, that vaft Difficulties muft 
“ arife to the Government, from fuch a Multitude of 
“ Subjeds, but it is quite ocherwife, for Government is 
with them a fyftimatical Thing, reduced Under cer- 
“ tain Rules, with which, fo far as he is concerned, every 
“ Man in the Empire is acquainted, and moft of them 
“ no farther. The Emperor himfelf has his Circle of 
“ Bufmefs, which he is obliged to go through, and 
“ which cannot be done for him, and therein confifts 
“ the great Secret of their Policy. He has always the 
“ State of fome Province or other under his Infpefflion, 
“ and when one is finifhed, Nobody kno-ys which will 
“ be the next 1 but all thefe Infpeciions are made with 
“ great Stridnefs and Severity. . It is true, that in fome 
“ Province or other, Corruption prevails perhaps for 
“ twenty or thirty Years, bur it is as true, that fome 
“ Time or other all this is redreffed, and Things are 
“ brought back again to their original Infticution ; the 
“ firft Maxim in the Chinefe Syftem is, that the Em- 
“ peror ads as the Father of his People, he may indeed 
“ be a bad Father, but he would be foon told of that 
“ by his abfolute Power he might difpatch this Moni- 
“ tor, but that would qaickly produce more; there are 
“ always many Patriots in China, who for the Sake of 
that Glory, which refuks from doing good to the So- 
“ ciety, are ready to lay clown their Lives ; yet after 
“ all. Things are feldorn pufhed to this Extremity, and 
“ it is more common to fee the Emperor confdfing his 
“ Faults and WeaknefTcs in his publick Edids, which 
“ are generally calculated to repair them, and are ufually 
“ concluded with many fair Promifes for the Future. 
“ It is certain, that the People are very corrupt, and 
“ that this Corruption runs through all Ranks ; but 
“ their Scheme of Government is fo wife, that fooner 
“ or later thefe Corruptions are met with; fo that Vice 
“ ebbs and flows, and is driven out of one Province, 
“ when it gains Ground in another ; but ftill there is 
“ fuch a. Stock of Virtue, as ferves to preferve the 
“ whole, and to keep the Machine moving. Capital 
“ Punifhments are very rarely inflided, for there are 
“ more Executions in a Year in P<laples, than in all 
“ China ; one Year with another, there are not three 
“ in Peking, but there is a kind of Punifhment more 
“ exemplary, and more ufeful than Death, that is very 
“ common, their Mandarines, even of the higheft Order, 
“ may be degraded, and he who had Yefterday a Train 
“ of twelve hundred Men, fhall be To-day upon a Le- 
“ vel with the meaneft of them, but never without 
“ Caufe; for though there is Injuftice enough in all their 
“ Tribunals, yet the laft Rcforc is pure, and the Tartar 
“ Emperors have been hitherto the Fathers of their Peo- 
“ pie, in almoft all ; but in chat Refped more efpecially, 
“ Their Armies are very numerous, and according 
“ to their Mode very well difeiplin’d, yet their Fire- 
“ Arms are but indifferent ; it is their Numbers that fe- 
“ cure them from any Danger from their Neighbours ; 
“ in one Thing they are Angular, their Motions create 
“ no Diforder, a Body of fifty thoufand Men will 
“ traverfe the whole Empire without taking an Egg or 
“ an Apple by Force. Their Traders are all Cheats, and 
“ their being fo is no great Inconvenience or Detriment 
to Commerce, for it makes them all very expert and 
“ attentive ; fince their Maxim is, that iris not the Per- 
“ fon who does the Wrong, who impofes upon ano- 
“ thef, but he that is outwitted that does wrong himfelf, 
“ As great as their Country is, the Number of People 
“ that are in it would foon be reduced to Starving, if 
“ every Spot was not cultivated that will admit of it, 
“ and every Hand employed that can work. 
“ This is a ffiort but a true Reprefentation of this 
“ Empire, and of thofe that compofe it. It is not 
“ like to extend itfeif, but it will certainly laft for 
“ many Ages. Tht Chinefe will never make Conquefts 
“ or pufh their Foreign Commerce beyond its prefent 
“ Bounds. Ningpo will be the Center of the Japonefe 
“ Trade, Amoy of the Indian, and Canton of the Eu- 
“ ropean, as long as they continue a Nation. They 
“ have been long free from inteftine Commotions, but 
“ in fucceeding Times they may be expofed to them ; 
“ and yet thofe Revolutions, though deftrueftive to In- 
“ dividuals, can hardly be dangerous to the Empire. 
“ The Profperity of their own Government is the foie 
“ Objeift of their Confideration ; their Sratefmen, and 
“ more efpecially their Emperors, arc far from being 
“ lo 
