William Smellie

“ But we appeal to the Greeks, who related as astonishing effects from this agreeable invention, whilst the modern Greeks, like most part of the Orientals, have no mu but a wretched and contemptible monotony.
The 17th king of the 9th period is named Hao-yng. In his time they cut down the branches of trees to kill bea with. Men were few. Nothing but vast forests were every where to be seen, and these frightful woods were filled with wild bea. How contradictory is this, and how incompatible with the times in which this prince is said to have reigned! ”

“ Is it not a palpable absurdity that after so many ages, and under kings of whom they relate so many wonders, they had not yet found out the art of building huts to shelter them from the winds and rains! ”

“ Others strike out Niu-oua, and put Tcho-yong in the place of Hoang-ti. Niu-oua was the sister of Fou-hi, and Fou-hi, they say, reigned 115 years. At what age must this prince have mounted the throne, for they make her succeed her brother?
The famous Se ma-tsiene, to whom the Chinese, from their high esteem of him, have given the name of Tai sse-cong, or father of hi, will have Hoang-ti, Tchouene-hio, Cao-sine, Yao, and Chune to be the five Ti; and he gave these princes for their predecessors Soui-gine chi, Fou-hi, and Chine nong, who, according to him, were the three Hoang. ”

“ We are now come down to Fou-hi, who is considered by the Chinese hi as the founder of their monarchy. What they say of this prince and his successors, has some more solidity in it than what we have hitherto seen.
FOU-HI.
The , quoted in the Chinese annals, thus describes the manners of mankind in these days, "In the beginning, men differed nothing from other animals in their way of life. As they wandered up and down in the woods, and women were in common, it happened that children never knew their fathers, but only their mothers. ”

“ He taught men to cultivate the earth. They ascribe to him the invention of . He sowed the five kinds of grains on the south of Mount Ki, and taught the people to make them their food.
Chin-nong commanded that they should be diligent in gathering the fruits which the earth produced. He taught every thing relative to hemp, to the mulberry tree, and the art of making cloth and s of s. They owe also to Chin nong the potters and the founders art; others, however, ascribe pottery to Hoang-ti, and the art of melting metals to Tchi-yeou. ”

“ It is not difficult at present to conceive, that the Tao-sse had invented that prodigious number of reigns before Fou-hi, for no other reason, but to fill up that interval, which, according to them, had elapsed from the production of man, to the beginning of the Chinese monarchy, that is to say, to the reign of Fou-hi. The same calculator determined the half of Yuene, or of his great period of 129,000 years, at the reign of Yao. ”

“ The 18th king of the 9th period is called Yeou-tsao-chi. We have seen in the preceeding period, a prince of the same name. The places this king at the beginning of the last ki, and gives him for successor Soui-gine. At this rate, nine entire periods, or ki, must have elapsed before men knew how to build huts, or had the use of fire. Lopi follows another method: he has ranged Yeou-tsao-chi and Soui-gine in the preceeding period; and although the king we are now speaking of bears the same name, he speaks of him quite differently. ”

“ The fourth prince, who also succeeded Hai-kouei-chi, was named Hoene-tune; he founded the fourth dyna, (for each of these princes which we have just now mentioned, was the founder of a family or dyna.) In the hi of this king, Lopi quotes Lao-chene-tsee, who speaks thus:
"The ancient kings wore their hair dishevelled, without any ornament upon their heads. They had neither s nor crown, and they governed their people in peace. Being of a beneficial disposition, they cherished all things, and put no person to death. ”

“ He was the first who built hou of wood, in the form of birds ne; he persuaded men to retire into them to avoid the wild bea. They did not know as yet how to cultivate the earth, they lived on herbs and fruits. They drank the blood of animals, they devoured their fle quite raw, they swallowed the hair and the feathers. This is what they say of Yeou-tsao chi: after him comes Soui gine, founder of the 12th dyna. ”

“ Always giving, and never receiving any thing, their s, without dreading their power as masters, revered their virtue in their hearts. Then heaven and earth observed a most beautiful order, and every thing flourished in a surprising manner. The birds built their ne so low, that they might be reached with the hand; all the animal creation tamely submitted to the will of man. ”

“ Of these seven kings, or founders of dyna, which remain to be considered to complete the number of dyna included in this eighth period, nothing is said of those marked * that has any relation to our subject.
As to Yeou-tsao-chi, founder of the eleventh dyna, whose reign, say they, lasted more than 300 years, and whose family, they add, continued more than 100 generations during the space of 12 or 18,000 years: here is what we find recorded.
Hane-tsee says, that, in the first ages of the world, animals multiplied very fast; and that men being but few, they could not subdue the bea and s. ”

“ We must further acknowledge, that, in some instances, we have deviated from the general plan; but, we hope, not without reason. For example, under the words Botany and Natural History, it would have been an endless, and perhaps an useless talk, to have given the generic distinctions of every plant, and of every animal. ”

“ Tchine-fang taught men to prepare , to take off the hair with rollers of wood, and use them against the winds and fro which incommoded them very much. He taught them also to make a kind of web of their hair, to serve them as a covering to their heads against the rain. ”

“ Nin-fong and Tche-tsiang invented mortars for pounding rice; kettles or caldrons: they invented the art of building bridges, and of making s; they made coffins for the dead; and men reaped great advantages from all these inventions. Hoei invented the bow, Y-meou arrows; Khy-pe invented the drum, which made a noi like thunder, trumpets and horns, which imitated the voice of the dragon.
Kong kou and Hoa-hu, by order of the Emperor Hoang ti, hollowed a tree of which they made a s ”

“ Doctors are distinguished by peculiar caps, given them in assuming the doctorate. Pasquier says, that the giving the cap to students in the univer was to denote that they had acquired full liberty, and were no longer subject to the rod of their superiors, in imitation of the ancient Romans, who gave a pileus or cap to their s, in the ceremony of making them free. The cap is also used as a mark of infamy in Italy. The Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap at Lucca, and by an orange one in France. ”

“ Lopi and say almost in the same words, that, in the most remote antiquity, men sheltered themselves in the hollows of rocks, that they dwelt in de, and lived in society with all the other creatures. They had no thought of doing any injury to the bea, and the bea did not think of hurting them. But in the succeeding ages they became too wise, which made the animals rebel; armed with claws, teeth, horns, and venom, they assaulted man, and man was not able to resist them. ”

“ At the middle of the third conjunction, man and all other beings began to spring up, in the manner that plants and trees are produced in the i, which afterwards preserve their several kinds by their s. At the middle of the eleventh conjunction, all things shall be destroyed, and the world shall fall back again into its primitive chaos, from whence it shall not arise till after the twelfth conjunction is expired. ”

“ With regard to errors in general, whether falling under the denomination of mental, typographical, or accidental, we arc conscious of being to point out a greater number than any critic whatever. Men who are acquainted with the innumerable difficulties attending the execution of a work of such an extensive nature will make proper allowances. ”

“ Account of sales, is account given by one merchant to another, or by a factor to his principal, of the disposal, charges, commission, and nett proceeds of certain merchandises sent for the proper or company account of him that consigned them to such factor or vender. ”

“ Anciently (says an author) men married at fifty, and women at thirty years of age: Soui-gine shortened this period, and appointed that young men should marry at thirty, and girls at twenty.
Lastly, the Liki says, that it was Soui-gine who first taught men urbanity and politeness.
It now remains to speak of Yong-tching-chi, the founder of the thirteenth and last dyna of this period. ”

“ In fact, some have endeavoured to make these numbers agree with the period of Tchao-cang-tsie, a famous philo in the days of Song, who had undertaken to determine the period of the duration of the world; for the system of the destruction and reproduction of worlds was very current, not only in the s of Ju or of the learned, but also among the , Ho-chang or the religious of Fo, and among the Tao-sse or followers of Lao Kiune, that it to say, among the three great s, who have the most influence in the empire. ”

“ Canvas is also a very coarse cloth made of hemp, unbleached, serving to make towels, and answering other domestic purposes. It is also used to make s for s, &c.
Canvas is used among the French, for the model and first words, where an air or piece of music is compo, and given to a poet to regulate and finish. ”

“ In these provinces there are computed to be one hundred and fifty-five capital cities, one thousand three hundred and twelve of the second rank, two thousand three hundred and fifty seven fortified towns, and upwards of ten millions of families, which may amount to about fifty millions of people.
The principal commodities of this country are s, tea, China ware, Japan-ware, and gold dust ”

“ They acknowledged a power superior to that of the Creator; the former they called Wi, the latter, Inferior Virtue: They had a particular veneration for Korah, Abiram, E, Lot, the Sodomites, and especially Judas, because his treachery occasioned the death of Je: They even made use of a go, which bore that false apo's name. ”

“ If this term be added to a piece of in mu, it signifies much the same as cantata: If placed in any part of a s, it implies the same meaning as allegro, and only denotes that the part to which it is prefixed, is to be played or s in a brisk and lively manner. ”

“ Before they can be admitted into the order, they are under the obliged to sell all they have, and give it to the poor: they are to perform a year's noviciate, and when admitted never to quit the order upon any account. ”

“ After passing this gate, are found fragments of magnificent columns in white marble, the smallest of which are fifteen cubits high, the largest eighteen, having forty flutings three full inches wide each; from whence we may judge of their thickness and other proportions. ”

“ It was under this prince (says Lopi) , that there first began to be a distinction between the s and the s; they drank, they eat, and the two s united.
After these three emperors which we have just now named, they place the period named Ou-long (the five Long or dragons) composed of five different families. But they do not tell us their names, nor the duration of their reigns. In these times (says an author) men dwelt in the bottom of caves, or perched upon trees as it were in ne. ”

“ Chief, in heraldry, is that which takes up all the upper part of the e from side to side, and represents a man’s head. See Plate LXV. fig. 4.
It is to take up just the third part of the e, as all other honourable ordinaries do, especially if they are alone on the s ”

“ It is a folly to dwell upon the epocha of these six Ki; nothing is more absurd. Lopi cites an author who generously gives them 1,100,750 years duration; Lopi says himself, that the five first Ki after Gine hoang make in all 90,000 years. ”

“ It is a fortified place, within the walls of which no Chri are permitted to enter, notwithstanding their great trade thither; it being from thence that they import all manner of Chinese goods, as china-ware, tea, cabinets, raw and wrought s, gold-du, &c. ”

“ They tell us, it is the greatest of all co, and that it gives a whiteness and smoothness to the s, and prevents wrinkles, beyond any of the other substances that have been celebrated for the same purposes. ”

“ The Editors, though fully sensible of the propriety of adopting the present plan, were not aware of the length of time necessary for the execution, but engaged to begin the publication too early. However, by the remonstrances of the Compilers, the publication was delayed for twelve months. Still time was wanted. But the subscribers pushed the Editors, and they at last persuaded the Compilers to consent to the publication. If time had been allowed, the Compilers designed to have compleated the sciences before proceeding to the technical terms ”

“ The eighth Ki, named Yne-ti, contains thirteen families or dyna. Tchine-fang-chi, the first of this period, reigned after Tsee-che-chi, and founded the first family. They say, that at the beginning men covered their bodies with leaves and herbs ”

“ This kingdom, was formerly divided into twelve provinces; but at present it is divided into twenty-five general governments, over every one of which is an officer, called an intendant, appointed by the king, who has a power of controlling the governor, and all other officers of ju ”