They Then Fill The Pit
Almost Full Of The Dried Salt Mud, And Pour On Sea-Water Till It Stands
Two Or Three Inches Above The Top Of The Mud.
This sea-water drains
through the mud, carrying the salt along with it from the mud as well as
its own, and runs out into the jar much-saturated with salt; which is
afterwards procured by boiling.
Sec.4. Of the famous Medicinal Root, called Hu-tchu-u.
Having last year seen, in a newspaper, some account of a singular root,
brought from China by Father Fontaney, I shall inform you that I have
seen this root since my arrival at Chuaan. It is called Hu-tchu-n[333]
by the Chinese, and they ascribe to it most wonderful virtues, such as
prolonging life, and changing grey hair to black, by using its infusion
by way of tea. It is held in such high estimation as to be sold at a
great price, as I have been told, from ten tael up to a thousand, or
even two thousand tael-for a single root; for the larger it is, so much
the greater is its fancied value and efficacy: But the price is too high
to allow me to try the experiment. You will find it mentioned in the
Medecina Sinica of Cleyer, No. 84; under the name of He-xeu-ti,
according to the Portuguese orthography. It is also figured in the 27th
table of the plants which Mr Pettier had from me. The following is the
story of its discovery, which I will not warrant for gospel.
[Footnote 333: This is probably the ginseng, so famed for its fancied
virtues. - E.]
Once upon a time, a certain person went to gather simples among the
mountains, and fell by some accident into a vale of which the sides were
so steep that he was unable to get out again. In this situation, he had
to look about for some means to support life, and discovered this root,
of which he made trial, and found that it served him both as food and
cloathing; for it preserved his body in such a temperature, that the
injuries of the weather had no evil influence upon him during a
residence of several hundred years. At length, by means of an
earthquake, the mountains were rent, and he found a passage from the
vale to his house, whence he had been so long absent. But so many
alterations had taken place during his long absence, that nobody would
believe his story; till, on consulting the annals of his family, they
found that one of them had been lost at the time he mentioned, which
confirmed the truth of his relation. - This is a fable, not even credited
among the Chinese, invented merely to blazon forth the virtues of this
wonderful root.
Sec.5. Removal of Dr Cunningham to Pulo Condore, with an Account of the
Rise, Progress, and Ruin of that Factory.[334]
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