It is said that, in the country of China, there are above two hundred cities having jurisdiction over others, each of which has a governor and an eunuch or lieutenant. Canfu is one of these cities, being the port for all shipping, and has jurisdiction over twenty towns. A town is raised, to the dignity of a city, by the grant of certain large trumpets. These are three or four cubits in length, and as large about as can be grasped by both hands, growing smaller towards the end which is fitted to the mouth. On the outside, they are adorned with Chinese ink, and may be heard at the distance of a mile. Each city has four gates, at each of which five of these trumpets are stationed, which are sounded at certain hours of the day and night. There are also ten drums in each city, which are beaten at the same times; and this is done as a public token of obedience to the emperor, and to point out the hours of the day and night to the inhabitants; and for ascertaining the time; they have sun dials, and clocks with weights[11].
[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.
In China they use a great quantity of copper money, like that named falus by the Arabians, which is the only sort of small money, and is current all over the country, and is indeed the only current coin. Yet their emperor has treasures like other kings, containing abundance of gold and silver, with jewels, pearls, silk, and vast quantities of rich stuffs of all kinds, which are only considered as moveables or merchandize; and from foreign commerce they derive ivory, frankincense, copper in bars, tortoise shell, and unicorns horns, with which they adorn their girdles. Of animals they have abundance, particularly of beasts of burden; such as oxen, horses, asses, and camels; but they have no Arabian horses. They have an excellent kind of earth, of which they make a species of ware equal in fineness to glass, and almost equally transparent. When merchants arrive at Canfu, the Chinese seize their cargoes, which they convey to warehouses, where the goods are detained six months, until the last merchant ship of the season has arrived; they then detain three parts in ten of every species of commodity, or thirty per cent as duty, and return the rest to the merchants. Besides which, if the emperor has a mind for any particular article, his officers have a right of taking it in preference to any other person, paying for it, however, to the utmost value; and they dispatch this business with great expedition, and without the least injustice. They commonly take the whole importation of camphor, on the account of the emperor, and pay for it at the rate of fifty fakuges per man, each fakuge being worth a thousand falus, or pieces of copper coin. When it happens that the emperor does not take the camphor, it sells for half as much again.
The Chinese do not bury their dead till the day twelve months after their decease; but keep them all this time in coffins in some part of their houses, having previously dried them by means of quicklime. The bodies of their kings are embalmed with aloes and camphor. They mourn during three whole years, and whoever transgresses this law is punished with the bamboo, a chastisement to which both men and women are subjected, and are at the same time reproached for not shewing concern for the death of their parents. They bury their dead in deep pits, much like those in use among the Arabs. During all the time that the dead body is preserved in the house, meat and drink are regularly set before it every evening; and if they find these gone in the morning, they imagine that the dead have consumed all; and all this time they cease not from bewailing their loss, insomuch, that their expences upon these occasions, in paying the last duties to their deceased relations, are exorbitant, and often consume their wealth and estates, to the utter ruin of the living. In former times, they buried very rich apparel, and those expensive girdles already mentioned, with the bodies of their kings, and others of the blood royal; but this custom is now discontinued, because it has happened that the bodies have been dug up from their graves by thieves, for the sake of what was buried with them. The whole nation, great and small, rich and poor, are taught to read and write. The titles of their viceroys or governors, are varied according to the dignity and rank of the cities under their government. Those of the smaller cities are called Tusing, which signifies the governor of a town. Those of the greater cities, such as Canfu, are stiled Difu, and the eunuch or lieutenant is stiled Tukam. These lieutenants are selected from among the inhabitants of the cities. There is also a supreme judge called Lakshima-makvan, and they have other names for other officers, which we do not know how properly to express.
A person is never raised to the dignity of a prince, or governor of a city, until he has attained to his fortieth year; for then they say he has acquired experience. When one of these princes or viceroys holds his court, in the city of his residence, he is seated on a tribunal, in great state, and receives the petitions or complaints of the people; having an officer called Lieu, who stands behind the tribunal, and indorses an answer upon the petition, according to the order of the viceroy; for they null no applications but what are in writing, and give all their decisions in the same manner. Before parties can present their petitions to the viceroy, they must be submitted to the proper officer for examination, who sends them back if he discovers any error; and no person may draw up any of those writings which are to be presented to the viceroy, except a clerk versant in business, who must mark at the bottom that it is written by such a man, the son of such a man: And if the clerk is guilty of any error or mistake, he is punished with the bamboo. The viceroy never seats himself on his tribunal until he has eaten and drank, lest he should be mistaken in some things; and he receives his subsistence from the public treasury of the city over which he presides. The emperor, who is above all these princes or petty kings, never appears in public but once in ten months, under the idea that the people would lose their veneration for him if he shewed himself oftener; for they hold it as a maxim, that government can only subsist by means of force, as the people are ignorant of the principles of justice, and that constraint and violence are necessary to maintain among them the majesty of empire.
There are no taxes imposed upon the lands, but all the men of the country are subject to a poll-tax in proportion to their substance. When any failure of crops makes necessaries dear, the king opens his store-houses to the people, and soils all sorts of necessaries at much cheaper rates than they can be had in the markets; by which means famine is prevented, and no dearth is of any long continuance. The sums that are gathered by this capitation tax are laid up in the public treasury, and I believe, that from this tax, fifty thousand dinars are paid every day into the null of Canfu alone, although that city is not one of the largest. The emperor reserves to himself the revenues which arise from the salt mines, and those which are derived from impositions upon a certain herb called Tcha, which they drink with hot water, and of which vast quantities are sold in all the cities in China. This is produced from a shrub more bushy than the pomegranate tree, and of a more pleasant smell, but having a kind of a bitterish taste. The way of using this herb is to pour boiling water upon the leaves, and the infusion cures all diseases. Whatever sums come into the public treasury arise from the capitation tax, the duties upon salt, and the tax upon this leaf.
In every city there is a small bell hung to the wall, immediately over the head of the viceroy or governor, which may be rung by a string which reaches about three miles, and crosses the high way, on purpose that all the people may have access to it; und whenever the string is pulled, and the bell strikes, the person who thus demands justice is immediately commanded to be brought into the presence, where he sets forth his case in person. If any person inclines to travel from one part of the country to another, he must have two passes along with him, one from the governor, and the other from the lieutenant. The governor's pass permits him to set out on his journey, and specifies the name of the traveller, and of all that are in his company, with their names and ages; for every person in China, whether native, Arab, or other foreigner, is obliged to make a full declaration of every