Royal Society

“ From whence it comes to pass, that the Emperor that Reigns at present in China, and in the one and the other Tartary, may justly be called the greatest and most powerful Monarch of Asia, having so many vast Estates under him, without being any where interrupted by the Territory of any Foreign Prince, and he alone being as the Soul which gives motion to all the Members of so vast a Body. ”

“ It is very observable here, that their Priests, or Bramines, and Holy Men, whom they call Jagees, when they have occasion to Write any thing they always put a figure of one in the first place, to shew, as they say, that they acknowledge but one God, whom they say is Burme, that is, Immaterial. When they preach to the People, and Instruct them, which is commonly every Feast-day, full Moon, or the time of an Eclipse of either Luminary, they tell the common People much of God, Heaven and Hell, but very Imperfectly, Obscurely and Mystically. ”

“ Wolves there are great store; you may hear a Company Hunting in an Evening, and yelping like a pack of Beagles; but they are very cowardly, and dare scarce venture on any thing that faces them; yet if Hungry, will pull down a good large Sheep that flies from them. I never heard that any of them adventured to set on Man or Child.
Foxes, they are very much like ours, only their Fur is much more grisled, or gray ”

“ But when I consider the constant and distinct shooting of several Salts, Nature's Curiosity, in every thing, so far exceeding that of Art, that the most Ingenious, when referr'd thereto, seem only endued with an Apish fondness, I cannot think any thing too difficult or wonderful for Nature ”

“ They believe that every thing that hath Life hath a Soul, but especially Man; and they accordingly affirm, that as these Souls behaved themselves in their pre-existent State, so are their Actions in this World either good or bad, by a sort of fatal Necessity, which is very hard to conquer, or to overcome. Hence it is, say they, that there are so many different Humours and Dispositions of Men, for their Souls, before their entrance into their Bodies, being tainted with different Affections, causes the like differences in the Parties, whose Bodies are their Vehicles. ”

“ And here we had pleasant Travelling, having the River on the right Hand, and Hills of Marble or other fine Stone, on the left; and delightful Groves of Tamarisk, Mulberry, and other Trees to pass through. Here every thing about us lookt fresh and verdant, and we met frequently Men and Women passing on their Occasions, a thing to which (in our former Stages) we had not been accustomed. We had also a pleasing Prospect of the opposite Shore, and could see a great way into Mesopotamia, but could meet with no Convenience to cross the River, which we were very desirous to have done. ”

“ In Byram time, which is the great Festival of the Year, at which time every one looks cheerfully and merrily, among other signs of mutual Respect, they besprinkle one another with sweet Water. They indulge to several Sports: and some are mightily pleased with swinging in the open Air, the ordinary sort of People especially, paying only a few Aspers for the diversion. ”

“ The Shore lies almost East and West, expos'd to the Sea wholly upon the South, the Country is Hilly, the Hills not very high, but thick, clustering together, the Valleys between extream narrow, the whole in a manner cover'd with certain Shrubs, low, but very thick; what the People Till, comes not to above a Tenth part of their Ground; and where they do Till, it hinders not that within half a Year the Ground is over-grown as before, for they do not root up the Shrubs, but only cut, or sometimes burn them somewhat close to the Earth, so they spring again in a very little time ”

“ They perform the Exercises, which they use in the way of Diversion, as Shooting and Hunting, with a great deal of gravity, as if they designed them more for Health than for Pleasure; and this too but seldom. The better and richer sort, who have nothing to do, sitting all Day at Home, lolling upon a Sofa or rais'd Place in their Rooms, and taking Tobacco, which their Slaves fill and light for them: And if they retire in the Summer or Autumn, for a Week or Fort-night to some convenient Fountain in a Wood with their Women, it is chiefly to enjoy the Refreshments of the cool Air. ”

“ Whereby, as Golconda is famous for the largeness of those it affords, Visiapore is noted for the smallest; whose Mines, though they seldom or never render an Adventurer a Fortune or Estate at once, as sometimes those of Golconda do, by a great Stone or several found together; yet they are more Populous and better employed, the small Stones lying thicker in the Earth, so that the generality are gainers, and few but they get their Expence; whereas those of Golconda dig away a considerable Estate and find nothing, others not their Charges, and where one is a gainer, divers lose. ”

“ I take them to be a perfect Species of Hares, because I have seen Leverets there with the white spot in the Head which the Old ones have not, so it is in England; and the Down is perfectly of the colour of our Hares, they sit as our Hares do, and make no Holes and Burrows in the Earth; true, they are but about the bigness of an English Rabbet, and run no faster; they generally take into some hollow Tree within a little space, which then the People catch by gathering the withered Leaves, and setting them on fire within the hollow of the Tree, and smoaking of them so till they fall down. ”

“ The Island in general abounds with all sorts of Provisions, such as Cows, Buffalo's, Goats, Deer, Hogs wild and tame, Geese, Ducks and Hens; Rice, Wheat, Calavances, Cole-worts, Turnips, Potatoes, Carrots, Beetes and Spinach; But for Merchandize there's none but what comes from Ning-po, Hang-cheu, Nankin and the Inland Towns, some of which I hope to see, when I have acquir'd a little of the Chinese Language. Here also the Tea grows in great plenty on the tops of the Hills, but it is not in that esteem with what grows on more Mountainous Islands. ”

“ There is another thing, Men guard themselves less from the Air than in any other Places trusting to the Heat of the Climate, and receive the cool of the Evening with only a Shirt. Now I think that the Air, tho' not so cold, is much more subtle and piercing here, than in our Country, it corrodes Iron much more, not by the Moisture, for it is not so moist, and besides it does it in the dry Weather too. ”

“ Providence has supplied the common use of Stones, by making the Roads very good: so that they ride their Horses without shooing them; which yet are more rarely beaten on their Feet, than ours are in England, the Country and Clime being dry, their Hoofs are much harder; For I observed, that take a Horse out of the wet Marshes, and Swamps, as they there call them, and ride him immediatly, and he'll quickly be tender-footed. In some places, for several Miles together, the Earth is so intermix'd with Oyster-shells, that there may seem as many Shells as Earth ”

“ But that there have been, are, and may be, artificial Languages 'tis not difficult to prove. The Chinese Court Language is said to be of this kind, invented and spoken by the Literati and Mandarines throughout the whole Empire of China, differing from all the other Languages spoken in it, and I conjecture it to be nothing else but the Names of the Character by which they write and express their meaning, arbitrarily imposed by them, as we in Europe set names to Arithmetical Figures, not as we pronounce Words written with a litteral Character. ”

“ Their Religion consists of nothing that I could ever see or learn, but the leading of a Pure Life, the Washing away of their Sins in the River Ganges, their muttering over of divers Prayers, and their doing of strange and incredible Penances.
They say, that God is such a one, that whosoever seeks him, let it be after what manner he pleases, whether by thinking that the Sun is he, or the Moon, or the like, if they do it but sincerely and honestly, with a right affected heart, they shall be received of him. ”

“ A large Dish of Pilaw in the middle, and twelve or fifteen Dishes of several sorts of Meat about it, all dress'd after their manner, but exceeding good, and such as one might have fed heartily upon, had he not spoil'd his Appetite before. After we had Eat and Drank what we pleas'd, we rose up, and our Servants sat down in our Places; it being the Custom of the Arabs, and Turks too, from the Highest to the Meanest, all to eat at the same Table: The best sort sit down first, and so in order till all are satisfy'd, and then what remains is carry'd away. ”

“ As often as they fall under my consideration, I cannot forbear thinking they were made for this end by the Ancient Romans, and made in consequence of these two Ancient opinions, that the shadows hate the light, and love to hover about the place where the Bodies are laid, they appear so easie and decent a resting-place for the one, without the least fear of being ever disturb'd, and at the same time there is provided a noble and a vast convenience full of variety for the others, to space themselves freely and with pleasure in. ”

“ Hot Sulphureous Baths are things very frequent in this Country; and thence it was that it obtained the Name of Syria Salutifera. The scent of the Waters here is much like those of Bath in England, but not so strong, neither is the Taste so offensive. On the contrary, when they have run so far from the Fountain, as to become cold, they are very potable, and are the only Waters the Inhabitants use. But we, during our stay there, sent to a Fountain of very excellent Water, about an hour distant from the City. ”

“ For, say they, every Country in the whole World is sufficiently endow'd by Nature with every thing that is necessary for the Life of Man, and that therefore it is madness to seek for, or desire, that which is needless and unnecessary. ”

“ All the Cities and Burrow-towns which I have seen in the Province of Leao-tum, and which are in very great Numbers are intirely ruined: One can see nothing thro' the whole Country, but old ruined Walls with Rubble, Bricks and Stones. In the out-skirts of these Cities there have been of late some few Houses built, but without any order. Some of them made of Earth, others of the Rubbish of the old Buildings, the most part of them covered with Straw or Thatch, and but few with Tiles. ”

“ The Women are generally the most pitiful like things that ever Man saw; their Habit differs from the Men, for they ordinarily wear a Ring in their Nose; they have Petticoats and a Veil over their Face. They are under no formal Government, but every Captain commands his own River, Bay or Island, where he lives; the greatest of them all is one Captain Ambrosio, he commands particularly the Country about the Samballoes Point, but when he pleases he can Levy all the Men betwixt that and the Gulf about 20 Leagues. ”

“ The Persians are not behind-hand with them in their hatred and disrespect, deriding them as gross and stupid, and looking upon them as little less than barbarous; Interest and Zeal for their several Tenets heightning their differences so much, that in time of War they destroy one anothers Moschs. I remember, that there was a great Discourse in Constantinople among the Turks concerning an impudent hot-headed Persian, who publickly in the new Mosch built by the Mother of the present Emperor, asserted that Ali was equal to Mahomet. ”

“ Now I said, that the Sweet-scented Tobacco most in vogue, which was most fam'd for its Scent, was that that grew on sandy Land; which is true, if you would Smoak it whilst new, or whilst only two or three Years Old; but if you keep the stiff Land Tobacco, which is generally a Tobacco of great Substance five or six Years, it will much excel: For tho' the sandy Land Tobacco abound with a Volatile Nitre at first, yet the stiff Land Tobacco abounds with a greater quantity of Nitre, only that it is lock'd up in its Oyl at first, and requires more time to extricate it self, and become Volatile ”

“ Upon the whole, the Catacombs I humbly conceive were the Burying-places of the Ancient Romans; at length the manner of Burning, which they received from the Græcians, coming by degrees to prevail universally, they fell under a total neglect. This is the State in which the Primitive Christians must be suppos'd to have found them; 'tis not to be imagin'd they could have made any use of them, at a time when 'twas the daily practice to lay up even the depositions of the Slaves in them; so that either the Christians made no use of them at all, or they never were the burying Place of the Slaves. ”

“ And as they neither sow nor cultivate the Earth, so they make no Harvest. They Live upon Milk, Cheese, and Flesh, and have a sort of Wine, not much unlike our Aqua-vitæ; with which they make their Feasts, and are often Drunk. In short they care for nought from Morning to Night, but to Drink and Eat; like the Beasts, and Droves which they Feed.
They are not without their Priests, which they call Lamas, for whom they have a singular Veneration, in which they differ from the Oriental Tartars; the most part of whom have no Religion, nor do they believe any God. ”

“ Having proceeded thus far to speak of Tobacco, I shall add one or two things more. The Planters differ in their Judgments about the Time of Planting, or Pitching their Crops: Some are for Pitching their Crops very early, others late, without any distinction of the Nature of the Soils; and 'tis from the different Effects that they find, in that, sometimes early, sometimes the late Planting succeeds: But they have not the Reason to judge of the Cause, to consider the Accidents [Pg 308] of the Year, and the Difference of the Soils. ”