I Was
Informed By An Officer Of The Customs, That It Appeared, By A Very Accurate
Computation, The Daily Expenditure Of Pepper In Quinsai, Was Forty-Three
Soma, Each Soma Being 223 Pounds[5].
From this some idea may be formed of
the immense quantities of victuals, flesh, wine, and spices, which are
expended in that place.
There are twelve principal companies or
corporations, each of which has a thousand shops; and in each shop or
factory, there are ten, fifteen, or twenty men at work, and in some forty
under one master[6].
The rich tradesmen do not work themselves, although the ancient laws
ordained that the sons of all should follow the trades of their fathers,
but the rich are permitted not to work with their own hands, but to keep
shops and factories, superintending the labour of others in their
particular trades. These rich people, and especially their wives, stand in
their shops, well dressed, or rather sumptuously arrayed in rich silks, and
adorned with valuable jewels. Their houses are well built, and richly
furnished, and adorned with pictures and other ornaments of immense price;
and they exercise their trades with great integrity. The whole inhabitants
are idolaters, of a very fair complexion, and mostly dressed in silken
garments, as silk is produced in great abundance in their neighbourhood, or
brought from other places. They dwell together in great amity, insomuch,
that the inhabitants of a street seem only to compose one family, and are
particularly circumspect in their behaviour to females, as it would be
reputed exceedingly disgraceful to use any indecorous language to a married
woman. The natives are of a most peaceable disposition, and no way addicted
to strife or quarrelling, and altogether unused to arms, which they do not
even keep in their houses. They are extremely hospitable to foreign
merchants, whom they entertain kindly in their houses, giving them the best
advice in regard to the conduct of their affairs: But they are by no means
fond of the soldiers and guards of the great khan, as by their means they
have been deprived of their natural kings and rulers. About the lake there
are many fair buildings and palaces of the principal men, and numerous idol
temples, with monasteries of idolatrous priests. There are two islands in
the lake, on each of which is a palace, containing an incredible number of
rooms, to which they resort on occasion of marriages and other festivals.
In these palaces, abundance of plate, linens, and all other things
necessary for such purposes, are kept up at the common expence, and
sometimes 100 separate companies are accommodated at one time in the
several apartments. In the lake also there are vast numbers of pleasure
boats and barges, adorned with fair seats and tables under cover, being
flat on the tops, where men stand to push the boats along with poles, as
the lake is very shallow. These are all painted within, and have windows to
open or shut at pleasure. Nothing in the world can be more pleasant or
delightful than this lake, from its immense variety of rich objects on all
sides; particularly the city ornamented with so many temples, monasteries,
palaces, gardens, trees, barges, and innumerable people taking their
recreations; for they ordinarily work only a part of each day, spending the
remainder in parties of pleasure with their friends, or with women, either
on the lake, or in driving through the city in chariots. All the streets
are paved with stone, as are all the highways in the kingdom of Mangi, only
a space on one side being left unpaved for the use of the foot posts. The
principal street of Quinsai has a pavement of ten paces broad on each side,
the middle being laid with gravel, and having channels in every place for
conveying water, it is kept always perfectly clean. In this street there
are innumerable long close chariots, each of which is accommodated with
seats and silk cushions for six persons, who divert themselves by driving
about the streets, or go to the public gardens, where they pass their time
in fine walks, shady bowers, and the like, and return at night in the same
chariots to the city[7].
When a child is born, the father notes down the exact point of time, and
with this memorandum goes immediately to some astrologer, of whom there are
many in every market place, to consult the destiny in regard to his future
fortunes; and they use the same forms before celebrating their marriages,
to ascertain the lucky times. When a person of note dies, the kindred
clothe themselves in canvas or sackcloth, and accompany the body to the
funeral, both men and women, people being employed to play on musical
instruments, and singing all the way prayers to their idols; and being come
to the place, they cast into the fire in which the body is burnt, many
pieces of cotton paper, on which figures of slaves, horses, camels, stuffs
of silk and gold, money, and all other things are painted, which, by this
means, they believe the dead person will really possess in the next world;
and they make a grand concert of music, under the idea of the joy with
which the soul of their departed friend will be received by their idols in
the other life which he is now to begin. As their timber houses are very
liable to accidents by fire, there are stone towers in every street, to
which they carry their goods for security on such occasions. On most of the
bridges there are guard-houses, in which soldiers continuallv watch, five
in each by day, and five by night, in case of any alarm or disturbance. In
every guard-house there hangs a great bason[8], on which the warders strike
the successive hours, beginning one at sunrise, and beginning a new series
at sunset. These guards patrole during the night, and if they see any light
or fire in a house after the appointed time, or meet any person in the
streets after legal hours, they cause them to answer before the judges or
magistrates of the district.
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