Part 11 (1/2)

Their armies are badly disciplined, and want skill to attack, or temper to retreat; and therefore, I e to s of the power, glory, nificence, and trade of the Chinese; because, as far as I saw, they appeared to be a contenorant, sordid slaves, subjected to a government qualified only to rule such a people; and were not its distance inconceivably, great from Muscovy, and that eoverned as they, the Czar of Muscovy ht with ease drive then; and had the Czar (who is now a growing prince) fallen this way, instead of attacking the warlike Swedes, and equally improved himself in the art of war, as they say he has done; and if none of the powers of Europe had envied or interrupted hiht by this ti beaten by the King of Sweden at Narva, when the latter was not one to six in nurandeur, so their navigation, commerce, and husbandry are very is in Europe; also, in their knowledge, their learning, and in their skill in the sciences, they are either very aard or defective, though they have globes or spheres, and a s of the mathematics, and think they know more than all the world besides But they know little of the norant are their coreat dragon has assaulted it, and is going to run aith it; and they fall a clattering with all the druht the monster away, just as we do to hive a swarm of bees!

As this is the only excursion of the kind which I have iven of my travels, so I shall make no n; but to give an account of s, and a long variety of changes, which, perhaps, few that come after me will have heard the like of: I shall, therefore, say very little of all the hty places, desert countries, and nuh,them will make necessary

I was now, as near as I can corees north of the line, for ere returned from Nankin I had indeed a mind to see the city of Pekin, which I had heard so much of, and Father Si away being set, and the otherarrived froo or not; so I referred it to th resolved it in the affirmative, and we prepared for our journey We set out with very good advantage as to finding the way; for we got leave to travel in the retinue of one of their istrate in the province where they reside, and who take great state upon thee froreatly ied to furnish provisions for them and all their attendants in their journeys I particularly observed in our travelling with his baggage, that though we received sufficient provisions both for ourselves and our horses froed to pay for everything we had, after the market price of the country, and the mandarin's steward collected it duly fro in the retinue of the reat act of kindness, was not such a e to hi there were above thirty other people travelled in the same manner besides us, under the protection of his retinue; for the country furnished all the provisions for nothing to him, and yet he took ourto Pekin, through a country exceeding populous, but I think badly cultivated; the husbandry, the econoh they boast so much of the industry of the people: I say miserable, if compared with our own, but not so to these poor wretches, who know no other The pride of the poor people is infinitely great, and exceeded by nothing but their poverty, in some parts, which adds to that which I call their es of America live much more happy than the poorer sort of these, because as they have nothing, so they desire nothing; whereas these are proud and insolent and in the es Their ostentation is inexpressible; and, if they can, they love to keep ree ridiculous, as well as their contempt of all the world but themselves

I must confess I travelled more pleasantly afterwards in the deserts and vast wildernesses of Grand Tartary than here, and yet the roads here are well paved and well kept, and very convenient for travellers; but nothing was hty, irossest sinorance; and my friend Father Simon and I used to be very arly pride For exaentleues off the city of Nankin, we had first of all the honour to ride with the master of the house about twoa mixture of pomp and poverty His habit was very proper for asleeves, tassels, and cuts and slashes alreasy as to testify that his honour must be acreature, and two slaves followed hi; he had a whip in his hand, and he belaboured the beast as fast about the head as his slaves did about the tail; and thus he rode by us, with about ten or twelve servants, going froue before us

We travelled on gently, but this figure of a gentlee about an hour to refresh us, e careata repast It was a kind of garden, but he was easy to be seen; and ere given to understand that the more we looked at him the better he would be pleased He sat under a tree, so like the palmetto, which effectually shaded him over the head, and on the south side; but under the tree was placed a large u back in a great elbow-chair, being a heavy corpulent ht him by tomen slaves He had two more, one of whom fed the squire with a spoon, and the other held the dish with one hand, and scraped off what he let fall upon his worshi+p's beard and taffety vest

Leaving the poor wretch to please hi at him, as if we admired his idle pomp, we pursued our journey Father Simon had the curiosity to stay to inform himself what dainties the country justice had to feed on in all his state, which he had the honour to taste of, and which was, I think, a arlic in it, and a little bag filled with green pepper, and another plant which they have there, so like ether, and a small piece of lean mutton boiled in it, and this was his worshi+p's repast Four or five servants more attended at a distance, e supposed were to eat of the same after their master As for our , surrounded alith his gentlemen, and attended in all his appearances with such pomp, that I saw little of him but at a distance I observed that there was not a horse in his retinue but that our carrier's packhorses in England seehtly, for they were so covered with equipage,but their feet and their heads as they went along

I was now light-hearted, and allover, I had no anxious thoughts about me, which made this journey the pleasanter toor fording a small river, my horse fell and made me free of the country, as they call it--that is to say, threw me in The place was not deep, but it wetted me all over I mention it because it spoiled my pocket- book, wherein I had set down the names of several people and places which I had occasion to re due care of, the leaves rotted, and the words were never after to be read

At length we arrived at Pekin I had nobody with iven me to attend ent; and my partner had nobody with hiuese pilot, he being desirous to see the court, we bore his charges for his company, and for our use of hie of the country, and spoke good French and a little English Indeed, this old man was most useful to us everywhere; for we had not been above a week at Pekin, when he calese,” says he, ”I have solad,” says I; ”what can that be?

I don't know anything in this country can either give ree”--”Yes, yes,” said the old lad, me sorry”--”Why,” said I, ”will it ht me here twenty-five days'

journey, and will leave et to my port afterwards, without a shi+p, without a horse, without _pecune_?”

so he calledhis broken Latin, of which he had abundance to reat caravan of Muscovite and Polishto set out on their journey by land to Muscovy, within four or five weeks; and he was sure ould take the opportunity to go with theo back alone

I confess I was greatly surprised with this good news, and had scarce power to speak to him for some time; but at last I said to him, ”How do you know this? are you sure it is true?”--”Yes,” says he; ”Iin the street an old acquaintance oftheo to Tonquin, where I formerly knew hio with the caravan to Moscow, and so down the river Volga to Astrakhan”--”Well, Seignior,” says I, ”do not be uneasy about being left to go back alone; if this be a land, it shall be your fault if you go back to Macao at all” We then went to consult together as to be done; and I asked ht of the pilot's news, and whether it would suit with his affairs? He told me he would do just as I would; for he had settled all his affairs so well at Bengal, and left his effects in such good hands, that as we had e, if he could invest it in China silks, wrought and raw, he would be content to go to England, and then al by the Coreed that if our Portuguese pilot would go with us, ould bear his charges to Moscow, or to England, if he pleased; nor, indeed, e to be esteeenerous in that either, if we had not rewarded hi really worth more than that; for he had not only been a pilot to us at sea, but he had been like a broker for us on shore; and his procuring for us a japanwilling to gratify hi also to have him with us besides, for he was a ive hiold, which, as I computed it, orth one hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling, between us, and to bear all his charges, both for hioods Having settled this between ourselves, we called him to let him knoe had resolved I told hio back alone, and I was now about to tell hio back at all

That as we had resolved to go to Europe with the caravan, ere very willing he should go with us; and that we called hi journey, and that he had no _pecune_ to carry him thither, or to subsist himself when he came there

We told him we believed it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do so for him that should let him see how sensible ere of the service he had done us, and also how agreeable he was to us: and then I told hiht lay out as ould do our own; and that as for his charges, if he would go with us ould set him safe on shore (life and casualties excepted), either in Muscovy or England, as he would choose, at our own charge, except only the carriage of his goods He received the proposal like a o with us over all the whole world; and so we all prepared for our journey However, as it ith us, so it ith the otherready in five weeks, it was four ether

CHAPTER XIV--ATTACKED BY TARTARS

It was the beginning of February, new style, e set out froone express back to the port where we had first put in, to dispose of sooods which we had left there; and I, with a Chinese e of at Nankin, and who caht ninety pieces of fine damasks, with about two hundred pieces of other very fine silk of several sorts, soainst e quantity of raw silk, and sooods only, to about three thousand five hundred pounds sterling; which, together with tea and sos and cloves, loaded in all eighteen camels for our share, besides those we rode upon; these, with two or three spare horses, and two horses loaded with provisions, ether twenty-six careat, and, as near as I can remember, made between three and four hundred horses, and upwards of one hundred and twenty men, very well armed and provided for all events; for as the Eastern caravans are subject to be attacked by the Arabs, so are these by the Tartars The company consisted of people of several nations, but there were above sixty of theh of them some were Livonians; and to our particular satisfaction, five of thereat experience in business, and of very good substance

When we had travelled one day's journey, the guides, ere five in nureat council, as they called it At this council every one deposited a certain quantity offorage on the here it was not otherwise to be had, and for satisfying the guides, getting horses, and the like Here, too, they constituted the journey, as they call it, viz they naive the word of coive every one their turn of co us into order any more than e afterwards found needful on the way

The road all on this side of the country is very populous, and is full of potters and earth-makers--that is to say, people, that te, our Portuguese pilot, who had always so or other to say to reatest rarity in all the country, and that I should have this to say of China, after all the ill-hu which was not to be seen in all the world beside I was very ientleman's house built with China ware ”Well,” says I, ”are not the s the products of their own country, and so it is all China ware, is it not?”--”No, no,” says he, ”I mean it is a house all land, or as it is called in our country, porcelain”--”Well,” says I, ”such a thingis it? Can we carry it in a box upon a camel? If we can ill buy it”--”Upon a ca up both his hands; ”why, there is a family of thirty people lives in it”

I was then curious, indeed, to see it; and when I ca but this: it was a tiland, with lath and plaster, but all this plastering was really China ware--that is to say, it was plastered with the earth that makes China ware The outside, which the sun shone hot upon, was glazed, and looked very well, perfectly white, and painted with blue figures, as the large China ware in England is painted, and hard as if it had been burnt

As to the inside, all the walls, instead of wainscot, were lined with hardened and painted tiles, like the little square tiles we call galley- tiles in England, allfine indeed, with extraordinary variety of colours, ure, but joined so artificially, themade of the same earth, that it was very hard to see where the tiles met

The floors of the rooms were of the same composition, and as hard as the earthen floors we have in use in several parts of England; as hard as stone, and smooth, but not burnt and painted, except some smaller rooms, like closets, which were all, as it were, paved with the sa work in the whole house were of the same earth; and, after all, the roof was covered with tiles of the sa black This was a China warehouse indeed, truly and literally to be called so, and had I not been upon the journey, I could have stayed some days to see and examine the particulars of it They told arden, all paved on the bottom and sides with the same; and fine statues set up in rows on the walks, entirely formed of the porcelain earth, burnt whole

As this is one of the singularities of China, so they may be allowed to excel in it; but I am very sure they excel in their accounts of it; for they told s of their performance in crockery-ware, for such it is, that I care not to relate, as knowing it could not be true They told me, in particular, of one workman that made a shi+p with all its tackle and h to carry fifty e to japan in it, Ito it indeed; but as it was, I knew the whole of the story, which was, in short, that the fellow lied: so I sht kept me two hours behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day fined s; and told me if it had been three days' journey without the wall, as it was three days' within, he must have fined me four times as much, and made me ask pardon the next council-day I promised to be more orderly; and, indeed, I found afterwards the orders ether were absolutely necessary for our coreat China wall, reat work it is, going over hills and mountains in an endless track, where the rocks are impassable, and the precipices such as no enemy could possibly enter, or indeed climb up, or where, if they did, no wall could hinder thelish htthe windings and turnings it takes; it is about four fathoh, and as many thick in some places

I stood still an hour or thereabouts without trespassing on our orders (for so long the caravan was in passing the gate), to look at it on every side, near and far off; I uide, who had been extolling it for the wonder of the world, was er to hearto keep out the Tartars; which he happened not to understand as I meant it and so took it for a colese,” says he, ”you speak in colours”--”In colours!” said I; ”what do you mean by that?”--”Why, you speak what looks white this way and black that way--gay one way and dull another You tell hiood wall to keep out Tartars; you tellbut to keep out Tartars I understand you, Seignior Inglese, I understand you; but Seignior Chinese understood you his oay”--”Well,”