We were five-and-twenty days travelling to Pekin, through a country infinitely populous, but miserably cultivated; the husbandry, economy, and the way of living, all very miserable, though they boast so much of the industry of the people: I say miserable; and so it is; if we, who understand how to live, were to endure it, or to compare it with our own; but not so to these poor wretches, who know no other. The pride of these people is infinitely great, and exceeded by nothing but their poverty, which adds to that which I call their misery. I must needs think the naked savages of America live much more happy, because, as they have nothing, so they desire nothing; whereas these are proud and insolent, and, in the main, are mere beggars and drudges; their ostentation is inexpressible, and is chiefly shewed in their clothes and buildings, and in the keeping mult.i.tudes of servants or slaves, and, which is to the last degree ridiculous, 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 more awkward to me, than to see such a haughty, imperious, insolent people, in the midst of the grossest simplicity and ignorance; for all their famed ingenuity is no more. My friend Father Simon, and I, used to be very merry upon these occasions, to see the beggarly pride of those people. For example, coming by the house of a country-gentleman, as Father Simon called him, about ten leagues off from the city of Nanquin, we had, first of all, the honour to ride with the master of the house about two miles; the state he rode in was a perfect Don Quixotism, being a mixture of pomp and poverty.

The habit of this greasy Don was very proper for a scaramouch, or merry-andrew; being a dirty calico, with all the tawdry trappings of a fool's coat, such as hanging sleeves, taffety, and cuts and slashes almost on every side: it covered a rich taffety vest, as greasy as a butcher, and which testified, that his honour must needs be a most exquisite sloven.

His horse was a poor, lean, starved, hobbling creature, such as in England might sell for about thirty or forty shillings; and he had two slaves followed him on foot, to drive the poor creature along: 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; and we were told he was going from the city to his country-seat, about half a league before us. We travelled on gently, but this figure of a gentleman rode away before us; and as we stopped at a village about an hour to refresh us, when we came by the country-seat of this great man, we saw him in a little place before his door, eating his repast; it was a kind of a garden, but he was easy to be seen; and we were given to understand, that the more we looked on him, the better he would be pleased.

He sat under a tree, something like the palmetto-tree, which effectually shaded him over the head, and on the south side; but under the tree also was placed a large umbrella, which made that part look well enough: he sat lolling back in a great elbow-chair, being a heavy corpulent man, and his meat being brought him by two women-slaves: he had two more, whose office, I think, few gentlemen in Europe would accept of their service in, viz. one fed the squire with a spoon, and the other held the dish with one hand, and sc.r.a.ped off what he let fall upon his worship's beard and taffety vest, with the other; while the great fat brute thought it below him to employ his own hands in any of those familiar offices, which kings and monarchs would rather do than be troubled with the clumsy fingers of their servants.

I took this time to think what pain men's pride puts them to, and how troublesome a haughty temper, thus ill-managed, must be to a man of common sense; and, leaving the poor wretch to please himself with our looking at him, as if we admired his pomp, whereas we really pitied and contemned him, we pursued our journey: only 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 said he had the honour to taste of, and which was, I think, a dose that an English hound would scarce have eaten, if it had been offered him, viz. a mess of boiled rice, with a great piece of garlick in it, and a little bag filled with green pepper, and another plant which they have there, something like our ginger, but smelling like musk and tasting like mustard: all this was put together, and a small lump or piece of lean mutton boiled in it; and this was his worship's repast, four or five servants more attending at a distance. If he fed them meaner than he was fed himself, the spice excepted, they must fare very coa.r.s.ely indeed.

As for our mandarin with whom we travelled, he was respected like a king; surrounded always with his gentlemen, and attended in all his appearances with such pomp, that I saw little of him but at a distance; but this I observed, that there was not a horse in his retinue, but that our carriers' pack-horses in England seem to me to look much better; but they were so covered with equipage, mantles, trappings, and such-like trumpery, that you cannot see whether they are fat or lean. In a word, we could scarce see any thing but their feet and their heads.

I was now light-hearted, and all my trouble and perplexity that I had given an account of being over, I had no anxious thoughts about me; which made this journey much the pleasanter to me; nor had I any ill accident attended me, only in the pa.s.sing or 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 remember, and which not taking due care of, the leaves rotted, and the words were never after to be read, to my great loss, as to the names of some places which I touched at in this voyage.

At length we arrived at Pekin; I had n.o.body with me but the youth, whom my nephew the captain had given me to attend me as a servant, and who proved very trusty and diligent; and my partner had n.o.body with him but one servant, who was a kinsman. As for the Portuguese pilot, he being desirous to see the court, we gave him his pa.s.sage, that is to say, bore his charges for his company; and to use him as an interpreter, for he understood the language of the country, and spoke good French and a little English; and, indeed, this old man was a most useful implement to us every where; for we had not been above a week at Pekin, when he came laughing: "Ah, Seignior Inglese," said he, "I have something to tell you, will make your heart glad."--"My heart glad," said I; "what can that be? I don't know any thing in this country can either give me joy or grief, to any great degree."--"Yes, yes," said the old man, in broken English, "make you glad, me sorrow;" sorry, he would have said. This made me more inquisitive. "Why," said I, "will it make you sorry?"--"Because," said he, "you have brought me here twenty-five days journey, and will leave me to go back alone; and which way shall I get to my port afterwards, without a ship, without a horse, without pecune?"

so he called money; being his broken Latin, of which he had abundance to make us merry with.

In short, he told us there was a great caravan of Muscovy and Polish merchants in the city, and that they were preparing to set out on their journey, by land, to Muscovy, within four or five weeks, and he was sure we would take the opportunity to go with them, and leave him behind to go back alone. I confess I was surprised with this news: a secret joy spread itself over my whole soul, which I cannot describe, and never felt before or since; and I had no power, for a good while, to speak a word to the old man; but at last I turned to him: "How do you know this?" said I: "are you sure it is true?"--"Yes," he said, "I met this morning in the street an old acquaintance of mine, an Armenian, or one you call a Grecian, who is among them; he came last from Astracan, and was designing to go to Tonquin; where I formerly knew him, but has altered his mind, and is now resolved to go back with the caravan to Moscow, and so down the river of Wolga to Astracan."--"Well, Seignior,"

said I, "do not be uneasy about being left to go back alone; if this be a method for my return to England, it shall be your fault if you go back to Macao at all." We then went to consult together what was to be done, and I asked my partner what he thought 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 made a good voyage here, if he could vest it in China silks, wrought and raw, such as might be worth the carriage, he would be content to go to England, and then make his voyage back to Bengal by the Company's ships.

Having resolved upon this, we agreed, that, if our Portuguese pilot would go with us, we would bear his charges to Moscow, or to England, if he pleased; nor, indeed, were we to be esteemed over-generous in that part neither, if we had not rewarded him farther; for the service he had done us was really worth all that, and more; for he had not only been a pilot to us at sea, but he had been also like a broker for us on sh.o.r.e; and his procuring for us the j.a.pan merchant was some hundreds of pounds in our pockets. So we consulted together about it; and, being willing to gratify him, which was, indeed, but doing him justice, and very willing also to have him with us besides, for he was a most necessary man on all occasions, we agreed to give him a quant.i.ty of coined gold, which, as I compute it, came to about one hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling between us, and to bear his charges, both for himself and horse, except only a horse to carry his goods.

Having settled this among ourselves, we called him to let him know what we had resolved: I told him, he had complained of our being like to let him go back alone, and I was now to tell him we were resolved he should not go back at all: that as we had resolved to go to Europe with the caravan, we resolved also he should go with us, and that we called him to know his mind. He shook his head, and said it was a long journey, and he had no pecune to carry him thither, nor to subsist himself when he came thither. We told him, we believed it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do something for him, that would let him see how sensible we were of the service he had done us; and also how agreeable he was to us; and then I told him what we had resolved to give him here, which he might lay out as we would do our own; and that as for his charges, if he would go with us, we would set him safe ash.o.r.e (life and casualties excepted), either in Muscovy or in England, which he would, at our own charge, except only the carriage of his goods.

He received the proposal like a man transported, and told us, he would go with us over the whole world; and so, in short, we all prepared ourselves for the journey. However, as it was with us, so it was with the other merchants, they had many things to do; and instead of being ready in five weeks, it was four months and some odd days before all things were got together.

It was the beginning of February, our style, when we set out from Pekin.

My partner and the old pilot had gone express back to the port where we had first put in, to dispose of some goods which he had left there; and I, with a Chinese merchant, whom I had some knowledge of at Nanquin, and who came to Pekin on his own affairs, went to Nanquin, where I bought ninety pieces of fine damasks, with about two hundred pieces of other very fine silks, of several sorts, some mixed with gold, and had all these brought to Pekin against my partner's return: besides this, we bought a very large quant.i.ty of raw silk, and some other goods; our cargo amounting, in these goods only, to about three thousand five hundred pounds sterling, which, together with tea, and some fine calicoes, and three camel-loads of nutmegs and cloves, loaded in all eighteen camels for our share, besides those we rode upon; which, with two or three spare horses, and two horses loaded with provisions, made us, in short, twenty-six camels and horses in our retinue.

The company was very great, and, as near as I can remember, made between three and four hundred horses and camels, and upward of a 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; but they are not altogether so dangerous as the Arabs, nor so barbarous when they prevail.

The company consisted of people of several nations, such as Muscovites chiefly; for there were about sixty of them who were merchants or inhabitants of Moscow, though of them some were Livonians; and to our particular satisfaction, five of them were Scots, who appeared also to be men of great experience in business, and very good substance.

When we had travelled one day's journey, the guides, who were five in number, called all the gentlemen and merchants, that is to say, all the pa.s.sengers, except the servants, to a great council, as they termed it.

At this great council every one deposited a certain quant.i.ty of money to a common stock, for the necessary expense of buying forage on the way where it was not otherwise to be had, and for satisfying the guides, getting horses, and the like. And here they const.i.tuted the journey, as they called it, viz. they named captains and officers to draw us all up and give the command in case of an attack; and give every one their turn of command. Nor was this forming us into order any more than what we found needful upon the way, as shall be observed in its place.

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 tempered the earth for the China ware; and, as I was going along, our Portuguese pilot, who had always something or other to say to make us merry, came sneering to me, and told me, he would shew the greatest rarity in all the country; and that I should have this to say of China, after all the ill humoured things I had said of it, that I had seen one thing which was not to be seen in all the world beside. I was very importunate to know what it was; at last he told me, it was a gentleman's house, built all with China ware. "Well," said I, "are not the materials of their building the product 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 made of China ware, such as you call so in England; or, as it is called in our country, porcelain."--"Well," said I, "such a thing may be: how big is it? can we carry it in a box upon a camel? If we can, we will buy it."--"Upon a camel!" said the old pilot, holding 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 came to see it, it was nothing but this: it was a timber house, or a house built, as we call it in England, with lath and plaster, but all the 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 gally tiles in England, all made of the finest china, and the figures exceeding fine indeed, with extraordinary variety of colours, mixed with gold, many tiles making but one figure, but joined so artificially with mortar, being made 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, especially Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, &c. 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 same tile: the ceilings, and, in a word, all the plastering work in the whole house, were of the same earth; and, after all, the roof was covered with tiles of the same, but of a deep shining black.

This was a china warehouse indeed, truly and lite rally to be called so; and had I not been upon the journey, I could have staid some days to see and examine the particulars of it. They told me there were fountains and fish-ponds in the garden, all paved at the bottom and sides with the same, and fine statues set up in rows on the walks, entirely formed of the porcelain earth, and 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 me such incredible things of their performance in crockery-ware, for such it is, that I care not to relate, as knowing it could not be true.--One told me, in particular, of a workman that made a ship, with all its tackle, and masts, and sails, in earthenware, big enough to carry fifty men. If he had told me he launched it, and made a voyage to j.a.pan in it, I might have said something to it indeed; but as it was, I knew the whole story, which was, in short, asking pardon for the word, that the fellow lied; so I smiled, and said nothing to it.

This odd sight kept me two hours behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day fined me about the value of three shillings; 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: so I promised to be more orderly; for, indeed, I found afterwards the orders made for keeping all together were absolutely necessary for our common safety.

In two days more we pa.s.sed the great China wall, made for a fortification against the Tartars; and a very great work it is, going over hills and mountains in an endless track, where the rocks are impa.s.sable, and the precipices such as no enemy could possibly enter, or, indeed, climb up, or where, if they did, no wall could hinder them.

They tell us, its length is near a thousand English miles, but that the country is five hundred, in a straight measured line, which the wall bounds, without measuring the windings and turnings it takes: 'tis about four fathom high, and as many thick in some places.

I stood still an hour, or thereabouts, without trespa.s.sing on our orders, for so long the caravan was in pa.s.sing the gate; I say, I stood still an hour to look at it, on every side, near and far off; I mean, what was within my view; and the guide of our caravan, who had been extolling it for the wonder of the world, was mighty eager to hear my opinion of it. I told him it was a most excellent thing to keep off the Tartars, which he happened not to understand as I meant it, and so took it for a compliment; but the old pilot laughed: "O, Seignior Inglese,"

said 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 way: you tell him it is a good wall to keep out Tartars; you tell me, by that, it is good for nothing but to keep out Tartars; or, will keep out none but Tartars. I understand you, Seignior Inglese, I understand you," said he, joking; "but Seignior Chinese understand you his own way."

"Well," said I, "Seignior, do you think it would stand out an army of our country-people, with a good train of artillery; or our engineers, with two companies of miners? Would they not batter it down in ten days, that an army might enter in battalia, or blow it up in the air, foundation and all, that there should be no sign of it left?"--"Ay, ay,"

said he, "I know that." The Chinese wanted mightily to know what I said, and I gave him leave to tell him a few days after, for we were then almost out of their country, and he was to leave us in a little time afterwards; but when he knew what I had said, he was dumb all the rest of the way, and we heard no more of his fine story of the Chinese power and greatness while he staid.

After we had pa.s.sed this mighty nothing, called a wall, something like the Picts wall, so famous in Northumberland, and built by the Romans, we began to find the country thinly inhabited, and the people rather confined to live in fortified towns and cities, as being subject to the inroads and depredations of the Tartars, who rob in great armies, and therefore are not to be resisted by the naked inhabitants of an open country.

And here I began to find the necessity of keeping together in a caravan, as we travelled; for we saw several troops of Tartars roving about; but when I came to see them distinctly, I wondered how that the Chinese empire could be conquered by such contemptible fellows; for they are a mere herd or crowd of wild fellows, keeping no order, and understanding no discipline, or manner of fight.

Their horses are poor, lean, starved creatures, taught nothing, and are fit for nothing; and this we found the first day we saw them, which was after we entered the wilder part of the country. Our leader for the day gave leave for about sixteen of us to go a hunting, as they call it; and what was this but hunting of sheep! However, it may be called hunting too; for the creatures are the wildest, and swiftest of foot, that ever I saw of their kind; only they will not run a great way, and you are sure of sport when you begin the chase; for they appear generally by thirty or forty in a flock, and, like true sheep, always keep together when they fly.

In pursuit of this odd sort of game, it was our hap to meet with about forty Tartars: whether they were hunting mutton as we were, or whether they looked for another kind of prey, I know not; but as soon as they saw us, one of them blew a kind of horn very loud, but with a barbarous sound that I had never heard before, and, by the way, never care to hear again. We all supposed this was to call their friends about them; and so it was; for in less than half a quarter of an hour, a troop of forty or fifty more appeared at about a mile distance; but our work was over first, as it happened.

One of the Scots merchants of Moscow happened to be amongst us; and as soon as he heard the horn, he told us, in short, that we had nothing to do but to charge them immediately, without loss of time; and, drawing us up in a line, he asked, if we were resolved? We told him, we were ready to follow him: so he rode directly up to them. They stood gazing at us, like a mere crowd, drawn up in no order, nor shewing the face of any order at all; but as soon as they saw us advance, they let fly their arrows; which, however, missed us very happily: it seems they mistook not their aim, but their distance; for their arrows all fell a little short of us, but with so true an aim, that had we been about twenty yards nearer, we must have had several men wounded, if not killed.

Immediately we halted; and though it was at a great distance, we fired, and sent them leaden bullets for wooden arrows, following our shot full gallop, resolving to fall in among them sword in hand; for so our bold Scot that led us, directed. He was, indeed, but a merchant, but he behaved with that vigour and bravery on this occasion, and yet with such a cool courage too, that I never saw any man in action fitter for command. As soon as we came up to them, we fired our pistols in their faces, and then drew; but they fled in the greatest confusion imaginable; the only stand any of them made was on our right, where three of them stood, and, by signs, called the rest to come back to them, having a kind of scimitar in their hands, and their bows hanging at their backs. Our brave commander, without asking any body to follow him, galloped up close to them, and with his fusil knocked one of them off his horse, killed the second with his pistol, and the third ran away; and thus ended our fight; but we had this misfortune attending it, viz. that all our mutton that we had in chase got away. We had not a man killed or hurt; but, as for the Tartars, there were about five of them killed; how many were wounded, we knew not; but this we knew, that the other party was so frighted with the noise of our guns, that they fled, and never made any attempt upon us.

We were all this while in the Chinese dominions, and therefore the Tartars were not so bold as afterwards; but in about five days we entered a vast great wild desert, which held us three days and nights march; and we were obliged to carry our water with us in great leather bottles, and to encamp all night, just as I have heard they do in the deserts of Arabia.

I asked our guides, whose dominion this was in? and they told me this was a kind of border that might be called No Man's Land; being part of the Great Karakathy, or Grand Tartary; but that, however, it was reckoned to China; that there was no care taken here to preserve it from the inroads of thieves; and therefore it was reckoned the worst desert in the whole march, though we were to go over some much larger.

In pa.s.sing this wilderness, which, I confess, was at the first view very frightful to me, we saw two or three times little parties of the Tartars, but they seemed to be upon their own affairs, and to have no design upon us; and so, like the man who met the devil, if they had nothing to say to us, we had nothing to say to them; we let them go.

Once, however, a party of them came so near as to stand and gaze at us; whether it was to consider what they should do, viz. to attack us, or not attack us, we knew not; but when we were pa.s.sed at some distance by them, we made a rear guard of forty men, and stood ready for them, letting the caravan pa.s.s half a mile, or thereabouts, before us. After a while they marched off, only we found they a.s.saulted us with five arrows at their parting; one of which wounded a horse, so that it disabled him; and we left him the next day, poor creature, in great need of a good farrier. We suppose they might shoot more arrows, which might fall short of us; but we saw no more arrows, or Tartars, at that time.

We travelled near a month after this, the ways being not so good as at first, though still in the dominions of the emperor of China; but lay, for the most part, in villages, some of which were fortified, because of the incursions of the Tartars. When we came to one of these towns, (it was about two days and a half's journey before we were to come to the city of Naum) I wanted to buy a camel, of which there are plenty to be sold all the way upon that road, and of horses also, such as they are, because so many caravans coming that way, they are very often wanted.

The person that I spoke to to get me a camel, would have gone and fetched it for me; but I, like a fool, must be officious, and go myself along with him. The place was about two miles out of the village, where, it seems, they kept the camels and horses feeding under a guard.

I walked it on foot, with my old pilot in company, and a Chinese, being desirous, forsooth, of a little variety. When we came to this place, it was a low marshy ground, walled round with a stone wall, piled up dry, without mortar or earth among it, like a park, with a little guard of Chinese soldiers at the doors. Having bought a camel, and agreed for the price, I came away; and the Chinese man, that went with me, led the camel, when on a sudden came up five Tartars on horseback: two of them seized the fellow, and took the camel from him, while the other three stepped up to me and my old pilot; seeing us, as it were, unarmed, for I had no weapon about me but my sword, which could but ill defend me against three hors.e.m.e.n. The first that came up stopped short upon my drawing my sword; (for they are arrant cowards) but a second coming upon my left, gave me a blow on the head, which I never felt till afterwards, and wondered, when I came to myself, what was the matter with me, and where I was, for he laid me flat on the ground; but my never-failing old pilot, the Portuguese (so Providence, unlooked for, directs deliverances from dangers, which to us are unforeseen,) had a pistol in his pocket, which I knew nothing of nor the Tartars neither; if they had, I suppose they would not have attacked us; but cowards are always boldest when there is no danger.

The old man, seeing me down, with a bold heart stepped up to the fellow that had struck me, and laying hold of his arm with one hand, and pulling him down by main force a little towards him with the other, he shot him into the head, and laid him dead on the spot; he then immediately stepped up to him who had stopped us, as I said, and before he could come forward again (for it was all done as it were in a moment) made a blow at him with a scimitar, which he always wore, but, missing the man, cut his horse into the side of his head, cut one of his ears off by the root, and a great slice down the side of his face. The poor beast, enraged with the wounds, was no more to be governed by his rider, though the fellow sat well enough too; but away he flew, and carried him quite out of the pilot's reach; and, at some distance, rising upon his hind legs, threw down the Tartar, and fell upon him.

In this interval the poor Chinese came in, who had lost the camel, but he had no weapon; however, seeing the Tartar down, and his horse fallen upon him, he runs to him, and seizing upon an ugly ill-favoured weapon he had by his side, something like a pole-axe, but not a pole-axe either, he wrenched it from him, and made shift to knock his Tartarian brains out with it. But my old man had the third Tartar to deal with still; and, seeing he did not fly as he expected, nor come on to fight him, as he apprehended, but stood stock still, the old man stood still too, and falls to work with his tackle to charge his pistol again: but as soon as the Tartar saw the pistol, whether he supposed it to be the same or another, I know not; but away he scoured, and left my pilot, my champion I called him afterwards, a complete victory.

By this time I was a little awake; for I thought, when I first began to awake, that I had been in a sweet sleep; but as I said above, I wondered where I was, how I came upon the ground, and what was the matter: in a word, a few minutes after, as sense returned, I felt pain, though I did not know where; I clapped my hand to my head, and took it away b.l.o.o.d.y; then I felt my head ache, and then, in another moment, memory returned, and every thing was present to me again.

I jumped up upon my feet instantly, and got hold of my sword, but no enemies in view. I found a Tartar lie dead, and his horse standing very quietly by him; and looking farther, I saw my champion and deliverer, who had been to see what the Chinese had done, coming back with his hanger in his hand. The old man, seeing me on my feet, came running to me, and embraced me with a great deal of joy, being afraid before that I had been killed; and seeing me b.l.o.o.d.y, would see how I was hurt; but it was not much, only what we call a broken head; neither did I afterwards find any great inconvenience from the blow, other than the place which was hurt, and which was well again in two or three days.

We made no great gain, however, by this victory; for we lost a camel, and gained a horse: but that which was remarkable, when we came back to the village, the man demanded to be paid for the camel; I disputed it, and it was brought to a hearing before the Chinese judge of the place; that is to say, in English, we went before a justice of the peace. Give him his due, he acted with a great deal of prudence and impartiality; and having heard both sides, he gravely asked the Chinese man that went with me to buy the camel, whose servant he was? "I am no servant," said he, "but went with the stranger."--"At whose request?" said the justice.

"At the stranger's request," said he. "Why then," said the justice, "you were the stranger's servant for the time; and the camel being delivered to his servant, it was delivered to him, and he must pay for it."

I confess the thing was so clear, that I had not a word to say; but admiring to see such just reasoning upon the consequence, and so accurate stating the case, I paid willingly for the camel, and sent for another; but you may observe, _I sent_ for it; I did not go to fetch it myself any more; I had had enough of that.

The city of Naum is a frontier of the Chinese empire: they call it fortified, and so it is, as fortifications go there; for this I will venture to affirm, that all the Tartars in Karakathy, which, I believe, are some millions, could not batter down the walls with their bows and arrows; but to call it strong, if it were attacked with cannon, would be to make those who understand it laugh at you.

We wanted, as I have said, about two days journey of this city, when messengers were sent express to every part of the road, to tell all travellers and caravans to halt, till they had a guard sent to them; for that an unusual body of Tartars, making ten thousand in all, had appeared in the way, about thirty miles beyond the city.