A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1 - Robert Kerr
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Upon a stone ten cubits high, erected in the public squares of all the
cities, the names of all sorts of medicines, with the exact prices of each,
are engraven; and when the poor stand in need of relief from physic, they
receive, at the treasury, the price that each medicine is rated at. In
China there is no tax upon land, but every male subject pays a rateable
capitation in proportion to his wealth and possessions. When a male child
is born, his name is immediately entered in a public register, and when he
has attained his eighteenth year he begins to pay the poll-tax; but when
once a man has reached his eightieth year, he not only ceases to
contribute, but even receives a pension from the treasury, as a provision
for old age, and in acknowledgment of what he paid during his youth. There
are schools, maintained at the public charge, in every town, where the
children of the poor are taught to read and write. The women wear nothing
on their heads besides their hair, but the men are covered. In China there
is a certain town called _Tayu_, having a castle, advantageously situated
on a hill, and all the fortresses in the kingdom are called by the same
name. The Chinese are generally handsome, of comely stature, and of fair
complexions, and by no means addicted to excess in wine. Their hair is
blacker than that of any other nation in the world, and the Chinese women
wear it curled.
In the Indies, when one man accuses another of a capital crime, it is usual
to ask the accused if he is willing to undergo the trial by fire, and if he
consents, the ceremony is conducted in the following manner: A piece of
iron is heated red hot, and the accused is desired to stretch out his hand,
on which they put seven leaves of a certain tree, and above these the red
hot iron is placed. In this condition he walks backwards and forwards for
some time, and then throws off the iron. Immediately after this his hand is
covered with a leathern bag, which is sealed with the prince's signet; and
if at the end of three days he appears and declares that he has suffered no
hurt, they order him to take out his hand, and if no sign of fire is
visible, he is declared innocent of the crime laid to his charge, and the
accuser is condemned to pay a fine of a _man_ of gold to the prince.
Sometimes they boil water in a caldron, till it is so hot that no one can
touch it; they then throw in an iron ring, and the accused is commanded to
thrust down his hand to bring up the ring. I saw one who did this and
received no manner of harm. In this case, likewise, if the accused remain
unhurt, the accuser pays a fine of a _man_ of gold.
When a king dies in the island of Serendib, which is the last of the
islands of the Indies, his body is laid in an open chariot, in such a
posture, that his head hangs backward, almost touching the ground, with his
hair trailing on the earth; and the chariot is followed by a woman, who
sweeps the dust on the face of the deceased, while she proclaims with a
loud voice: "O man! behold your king! He was yesterday your master, but now
the dominion which he exercised over you is at an end. He is reduced to the
state you now see, having left the world; and the arbiter of life and death
hath withdrawn his soul. Count not, therefore, O man! upon the uncertain
hopes of this life." This or a similar proclamation is continued for three
days; after which the body is embalmed with sandal wood, camphor, and
saffron, and is then burned, and the ashes are scattered to the winds. When
they burn the body of a king, it is usual for his wives to jump into the
fire and burn along with him; but this they are not constrained to do. The
same custom of burning the bodies of the dead prevails over all the Indies.
In the Indies there are men who devote themselves to live in the woods and
mountains, professing to despise what other men most value, abstaining from
every thing but such wild herbs and fruits as are to be found in the woods,
and they affix an iron buckle to their genitals in such a manner as to
interdict all commerce with woman. Some of these go quite naked, or have
only the skin of a leopard thrown over them, and keep perpetually standing
with their faces to the sun. I formerly saw one in that posture; and on my
return to the Indies, sixteen years afterwards, I found him in the very
same attitude, it being astonishing that he had not lost his sight by the
heat and glare of the sun. In all these kingdoms the sovereign power
resides in the royal family, without ever departing from it, and the heirs
of the family follow each other in regular succession. In like manner,
there are families of learned men, of physicians, and of all the artificers
concerned in the various arts; and none of these are ever mixed with the
family of a different profession. The several states of the Indies are not
subject to one king, but each province has its own; though the Balhara is
considered in the Indies as king of kings. The Chinese are fond of gaming
and all manner of diversions; but the Indians condemn them, and have no
pleasure in such employments. They drink no wine, neither do they use
vinegar, because it is made from wine; although this abstinence does not
proceed from any religious duty: but they allege that a king given to wine
is not worthy of being a king; for how should a drunkard be able to manage
the affairs of a kingdom, especially as wars are so frequent between the
neighbouring states? Their wars are not usually undertaken to possess
themselves of the dominions of others, and I never heard of any except the
people bordering on the pepper country that seized the dominions of their
neighbours after victory. When a prince masters the dominions of a
neighbour, he confers the sovereignty upon some person of the royal family
of the conquered country, and thus retains it in dependence upon himself,
under the conviction that the natives would never submit to be otherwise
governed.
When any one of the princes or governors of cities in China is guilty of a
crime, he is put to death and eaten; and in general, it may be said that
the Chinese eat all those who are put to death. When the Indians and
Chinese are about to marry and the parties are agreed, presents are
interchanged, and the marriage ceremony is solemnized amidst the noise of
drums and various sorts of instruments. The presents consist in money, and
all the relatives and friends contribute as much as they can afford. If any
man in the Indies runs away with a woman and abuses her, both are put to
death; unless it is proved that force has been used against the woman, in
which case the man only is punished. Theft is always punished capitally,
both in India and China, whether the theft be considerable or trifling; but
more particularly so in the Indies, where, if a thief have stolen even the
value of a small piece of money, he is impaled alive. The Chinese are much
addicted to the abominable vice of pederasty, which they even number among
the strange acts they perform in honour of their idols. The Chinese
buildings are of wood, with stone and plaster, or bricks and mortar. The
Chinese and Indians are not satisfied with one wife, but both nations marry
as many as they please, or can maintain. Rice is the common food of the
Indians, who eat no wheat; but the Chinese use both indifferently.
Circumcision is not practised either by the Chinese or Indians. The Chinese
worship idols, before whom, they fall down and make prayers, and they have
books which explain the articles of their religion. The Indians suffer
their beards to grow, but have no whiskers, and I have seen one with a
beard three cubits long; but the Chinese, for the most part, wear no
beards. Upon the death of a relation, the Indians shave both head and face.
When any man in the Indies is thrown into prison, he is allowed neither
victuals nor drink for seven days together; and this with them answers the
end of other tortures for extorting from the criminal a confession of his
guilt. The Chinese and Indians have judges besides the governors, who
decide in causes between the subjects. Both in India and China there are
leopards and wolves, but no lions. Highway robbers are punished with death.
Both the Indians and Chinese imagine that the idols which they worship
speak to them, and give them answers. Neither of them kill their meat by
cutting the throat, as is done by the Mahomedans, but by beating them on
the head till they die. They wash not with well water, and the Chinese wipe
themselves with paper, whereas the Indians wash every day before eating.
The Indians wash not only the mouth, but the whole body before they eat,
but this is not done by the Chinese. The Indies is larger in extent by a
half than China, and has a great many more kingdoms, but China is more
populous. It is not usual to see palm trees either in the Indies or in
China, but they have many other sorts of trees and fruits which we have
not. The Indians have no grapes, and the Chinese have not many, but both
abound in other fruits, though the pomegranate thrives better in India than
in China.
The Chinese have no sciences, and their religion and most of their laws are
derived from the Indians. They even believe that the Indians taught them
their worship of idols. Both nations believe the Metempsycosis, though they
differ in many of the precepts and ceremonies of their religion. Physic and
philosophy are cultivated among the Indians, and the Chinese have some
skill in medicine; but that almost entirely consists in the art of applying
hot irons or cauteries. They have some smattering of astronomy; but in this
likewise the Indians surpass the Chinese. I know not that even so much as
one man of either nation has embraced Mahomedism, or has learned to speak
the Arabic language. The Indians have few horses, and there are more in
China; but the Chinese have no elephants, and cannot endure to have them in
their country. The Indian dominions furnish a great number of soldiers, who
are not paid by their kings, but, when called out to war, have to take the
field and serve entirely at their own expense; but the Chinese allow their
soldiers much the same pay as is done by the Arabs.
China is a pleasant and fruitful country, having numerous extensive and
well fortified cities, with a more wholesome climate and less fenny country
than India, in which most of the provinces have no cities. The air in China
likewise is much better than in India, and there are scarcely any blind
persons, or who are subject to diseases of the eyes; and similar advantages
are enjoyed by several of the provinces of India. The rivers of both
countries are large, and surpass our greatest rivers, and much rain falls
in both countries. In the ladies there are many desert tracks, but China is
inhabited and cultivated through its whole extent. The Chinese are
handsomer than the Indians, and come nearer to the Arabs in countenance and
dress, in their manners, in the way of riding, and in their ceremonies,
wearing long garments and girdles in the manner of belts; while the Indians
wear two short vests, and both men and women wear golden bracelets, adorned
with precious stones.
Beyond the kingdom of China, there is a country called _Tagazgaz_, taking
its name from a nation of Turks by which it is inhabited, and also the
country of Kakhan which borders on the Turks. The islands of Sila are
inhabited by white people, who send presents to the Emperor of China, and
who are persuaded that if they were to neglect this the rain of heaven
would not fall upon their country. In that country there are white falcons;
but none of our people have been there to give us any particular
information concerning them.
[1] This is probably the sea about the Maldives, which, according to the
eastern geographers, divides that part of the Indian Ocean from the
sea of Delarowi, or the Magnus Sinus of the ancients. The eastern
writers often speak of the Seven Seas, which seems rather a proverbial
phrase, than a geographical definition. These are the seas of China,
India, Persia, Kolzoum, or the Red Sea, of Rum or Greece, which is the
Mediterranean, Alehozar or the Caspian, Pont or the Euxine. The sea of
India is often called the Green Sea, and the Persian Gulf the sea of
Bassora. The Ocean is called Bahr Mahit.--Harris
[2] Male-dive signifies, in the Malabar language, a thousand isles.--E.
[3] The subsequent accounts of these islands do not justify this particular
sentence, if the author meant that they were always governed by a
queen. It might be so in this time by accident, and one queen might
have succeeded another, as Queen Elizabeth did Queen Mary.--Harris.
[4] This is the Taprobana of the ancients, and has received many names. In
Cosmas Indicopleustes, it is called Sielendiba, which is merely a
Grecian corruption of Sielea-dive, or Sielen island; whence the modern
name of Ceylon.--E.
[5] This is probably the shark, which is common on all the coasts of India.
There was a portion of the MS. wanting at this place; wherein the
author treated of the trade to China as it was carried on in his time,
and of the causes which had brought it into a declining condition.
--Renaud.
[6] Perhaps some account of this Soliman might be contained in the lost
pages: But the circumstance of a Mahomedan judge or consul at Canfu is
a circumstance worthy of notice, and shews that the Mahomedans had
carried on a regular and settled trade with China for a considerable
time, and were in high estimation in that country.--Renaud.
[7] It is difficult at this distance of time to ascertain the rout laid
down by this author, on account of the changes of names. This mart of
Siraff is not to be met with in any of our maps; but it is said by the
Arabian geographers to have been in the gulf of Persia, about sixty
leagues from Shiraz; and that on its decay, the trade was transferred
to Ormuz.--Renaud.
[8] It is probable, or rather certain, that Canton is here meant.--E.
[9] Meaning the Parsees or Guebres, the fire-worshippers of Persia.--E.
[10] It is probable that this Balhara, or king of the people with bored
ears, which plainly means the Indians, was the Zamorin or Emperor of
Calicut; who, according to the reports of the most ancient Portuguese
writers concerning India, was acknowledged as a kind of emperor in the
Indies, six hundred years before they discovered the route to India by
the Cape of Good Hope.--Harris.
The original editor of this voyage in English, Harris, is certainly
mistaken in this point. The Balhara was the sovereign of Southern
Seindetic India; of which dominion Guzerat was the principal
province.--E.
[11] This is a very early notice of the construction and use of clocks, or
machinery to indicate divisions of time, by means of weights.--E.
SECTION II.
_Commentary upon the foregoing Account, by Abu Zeid al Hasan of Siraff_.
Having very carefully examined the book I was desired to peruse, that I
might confirm what the author relates so far as he agrees with what I have
learnt concerning the affairs of navigation, the kingdoms on the coast, and
the state of the countries of which he treats, and that I might add what I
have elsewhere collected concerning these matters: I find that this book
was composed in the year of the Hegira 237, and that the accounts given by
the author are conformable with what I have heard from merchants who have
sailed from _Irak_ or Persia, through these seas. I find also all that the
author has written to be agreeable to truth, except some few passages, in
which he has been misinformed. Speaking of the custom, of the Chinese in
setting meat before their dead, and believing that the dead had eaten, we
had been told the same thing, and once believed it; but have since learnt,
from a person of undoubted credit, that this notion is entirely groundless,
as well as that the idolaters believe their idols speak to them. From that
creditable person we have likewise been informed, that the affairs of China
wear quite a different aspect since those days: and since much has been
related to explain why our voyages to China have been interrupted, and how
the country has been ruined, many customs abolished, and the empire
divided, I shall here declare what I know of that revolution.
The great troubles which have embroiled the affairs of this empire, putting
a stop to the justice and righteousness there formerly practised, and
interrupting the ordinary navigation from Siraff to China, was occasioned
by the revolt of an officer named Baichu, in high employment, though not of
the royal family. He began by gathering together a number of vagabonds, and
disorderly people, whom he won to his party by his liberalities, and formed
into a considerable body of troops. With these he committed hostilities in
many parts of the country, to the great loss of the inhabitants; and having
greatly increased his army, and put himself into a condition to attempt
greater things, he began to entertain a design of subduing the whole
empire, and marched direct for Canfu, one of the most noted cities in
China, and at that time the great port for our Arabian commerce. This city
stands upon a great river, some days sail from the sea, so that the water
there is fresh. The citizens shut their gates against him, and he was
obliged to besiege it a great while; but at length he became master of the
city, and put all the inhabitants to the sword. There are persons fully
acquainted with the affairs of China, who assure us, that besides the
Chinese who were massacred upon this occasion, there perished one hundred
and twenty thousand Mahomedans, Jews, Christians, and Parsees, who were
there on account of traffic; and as the Chinese are exceedingly nice in the
registers they keep of foreigners dwelling among them, this number may be
considered as authentic. This took place in the year of the hegira 264, or
of Christ 877. He also cut down the mulberry trees, which are carefully
cultivated by the Chinese for their leaves, on which the silk worms are
fed; and owing to this, the trade of silk has tailed, and that manufacture,
which used to be much prosecuted in all the countries under the Arabian
government, is quite at a stand.
Having sacked and destroyed Canfu, he possessed himself of many other
cities, which he demolished, having first slain most of the inhabitants, in
the hope that he might involve all the members of the royal family in this
general massacre, that no one might remain to dispute with him for the
empire. He then advanced to Cumdan[1], the capital city, whence the emperor
was obliged to make a precipitate retreat to the city of Hamdu, on the
frontiers towards Thibet. Puffed up with these great successes, Baichu made
himself master of almost the whole country, there being no one able to
dispute his authority. At length the emperor wrote to the king of the
Tagazgaz in Turkestan, with whom he was in some degree allied by marriage,
imploring his assistance to subdue the rebellion. The king of the Tagazgaz
dispatched his son, at the head of a very numerous army, into China, and
after a long and arduous contest, and many battles, Baichu was utterly
defeated, and it was never known afterwards what became of him; some
believing that he fell in the last battle, while others supposed that he
ended his days in a different manner. The emperor of China now returned to
his capital, much weakened and dispirited in consequence of the
embezzlement of his treasures, and the loss of the best of his officers and
troops, and the horrible devastations, calamities, and losses which his
empire had sustained; yet he made himself master of all the provinces which
had revolted from his authority. He would not, however, lay his hands upon
the goods of his subjects, notwithstanding the exhausted state of his
finances, but satisfied himself with what was still left in his coffers,
and the small remains of the public money that was to be found, requiring
nothing from his subjects, but what they were willing to give, and only
demanding obedience to the laws and to his authority, considering that they
had been already severely oppressed in consequence of the rebellion. Thus,
China became like the empire of Alexander, after the defeat and death of
Darius, when he divided the provinces among his chiefs, who became so many
kings. For now, each of the Chinese princes, or viceroys, joined
themselves into petty alliances, making wars among themselves without the
authority of the emperor; and when the stronger had subdued the weaker, and
acquired possession of his province, the subjects of the vanquished prince
were unmercifully wasted and plundered, and even barbarously devoured: a
cruel practice allowed by the laws of their religion, which even permit
human flesh to be exposed to public sale in the markets. There arose from
all these confusions many unjust dealings with the merchants; and there was
no grievance so intolerable, or treatment so bad, but what was exercised
upon the Arab merchants, and captains of ships, extorting from them what
was altogether uncustomary, seizing upon their effects, and behaving
towards them quite contrary to all the ancient usages; so that our
merchants were forced to return in crowds to Siraff and Oman[2].
The punishment of married persons, convicted of adultery, as well as for
the crimes of homicide and theft, is as follows: The hands are bound fast
together, and forced backwards over the head, till they rest on the neck.
The right foot is then fastened to the right hand, and the left foot to the
left hand, and all drawn tight together behind the back, so that the
criminal is incapable to stir; and by this torture the neck is dislocated,
the joints of the arms start from their sockets, and the thigh bones are
disjointed;--in short, the tortured wretch would soon expire without any
farther process; yet, in that state, he is beaten by bamboos till at the
last gasp, and is then abandoned to the people, who devour the body.
There are women in China who refuse to marry, and prefer to live a
dissolute life of perpetual debauchery. A woman who has made this election,
presents herself in full audience before the commanding officer of a city,
declares her aversion to marriage, and desires to be enrolled among the
public women. Her name is then inserted in the register, with the name of
her family, the place of her abode, the number and description of her
jewels, and the particulars of her dress. She has then a string put round
her neck, to which is appended a copper ring, marked with the king's
signet, and she receives a writing, certifying that she is received into
the list of prostitutes, and by which she is entitled to a pension from the
public treasury of so many _falus_ yearly, and in which the punishment of
death is denounced against any man who should take her to wife. Every year,
regulations are published respecting these women, and such as have grown
old in the service are struck off the list. In the evening, these women
walk abroad in dresses of different colours, unveiled, and prostitute
themselves to all strangers who love debauchery; but the Chinese themselves
send for them to their houses, whence they do not depart till next morning.
The Chinese coin no money, except the small pieces of copper like those we
_falus_, nor will they allow gold and silver to be coined into specie, like
our dinars and drams; for they allege that a thief may carry off ten
thousand pieces of gold from the house of an Arab, and almost as many of
silver, without being much burthened, and so ruin the man who suffers the
loss; but in the house of a Chinese, he can only carry off ten thousand
_falus_ at the most, which do not make above ten meticals or gold dinars in
value. These pieces of copper are alloyed with some other metal, and are
about the size of a dram, or the piece of silver called _bagli_, having a
large hole in the middle to string them by. A thousand of them are worth a
metical or gold dinar; and they string them by thousands, with a knot
distinguishing the hundreds. All their payments, whether for land,
furniture, merchandize, or any thing else, are made in this money, of which
there are some pieces at Siraff, inscribed with Chinese characters. The
city of Canfu is built of wood and canes interwoven, just like our
lattice-work of split canes, the whole washed over with a kind of varnish
made of hempseed, which becomes as white as milk, having a wonderfully fine
gloss. There are no stairs in their houses, which are all of one storey,
and all their valuables are placed in chests upon wheels, which in case of
fire can easily be drawn from place to place, without any hinderance from
stairs.
The inferior officers of the cities, and those commonly who have the
direction of the customs and of the treasury, are almost all eunuchs, some
of whom have been captured on the frontiers and made so, while others are
so treated by their fathers, and sent as presents to the emperors. These
officers are at the head of the principal affairs of state, and have the
management of the emperor's private affairs, and of the treasury; and
those, particularly, who are sent to Canfu, are selected from this class.
It is customary for them, and for the viceroys or governors of the cities,
to appear abroad from time to time in solemn procession. On these
occasions, they are preceded by men who carry great pieces of wood, like
those used in the Levant instead of bells by the Christians, on which they
make a noise which is heard at a great distance, upon which every person
gets out of the way of the prince or eunuch. Even if a man is at his door,
he goes in, and keeps his door shut till the great personage has gone by.
Thus, not a soul is in the way, and this is enjoined that they may strike a
dread into the people, and be held in veneration; and the people are not
allowed to see them often, lest they should grow so familiar as to speak to
them.. All these officers wear very magnificent dresses of silk, so fine
that none such is brought into the country of the Arabs, as the Chinese
hold it at a very high price. One of our chief merchants, a man of perfect
credibility, waited upon an eunuch who had been sent to Canfu, to purchase
some goods from the country of the Arabs. The eunuch had upon his breast a
short and beautiful silk vest, which was under another silk vest, and
seemed to have two other vests over that again; and perceiving that the
Arab eyed him very steadfastly, he asked him the cause; and being told that
he admired the beauty of the little vest under his other garments, the
eunuch laughed, and holding out his sleeve to him, desired him to count how
many vests he had above that which he so much admired. He did so, and found
five, one over the other, and the little rich vest undermost. These
garments are all wove of raw silk, which has never been washed or fulled;
and those worn by the princes or governors are still richer, and more
exquisitely, wrought.