The Mehrage Is Sovereign Over All
These Islands; And That Of Zapage, In Which He Resides, Is Extremely
Fertile, And So Populous, That The Towns Almost Touch Each Other, No Part
Of The Land Being Uncultivated.
The palace of the king or Mehrage, stands
on a river as broad as the Tigris at Bagdat or Bassora; but the sea
intercepts its course, and drives its waters back with the tide; yet during
the ebb the fresh water flows out a good way into the sea.
The river water
is let into a small pond, close to the king's palace, and every morning the
master of the household brings an ingot of gold, wrought in a particular
manner, and throws it into the pond, in presence of the king. When the king
dies, his successor causes all these ingots, which have been accumulating
during the reign of his predecessor, to be taken out; and the sums arising
from this great quantity of gold are distributed among the royal household,
in certain proportions, according to their respective ranks, and the
surplus is given to the poor.
Komar is the country whence the aloes wood, which we call Hud al Komari, is
brought; and it is a very populous kingdom, of which the inhabitants are
very courageous. In this country, the boundless commerce with women is
forbidden, and indeed it has no wine. The kingdoms of Zapage and Komar are
about ten or twenty days easy sail from each other, and the kingdoms were
in peace with other when the following event is said, in their ancient
histories, to have occurred. The young and high-spirited king of Komar was
one day in his palace, which looks upon a river much like the Euphrates, at
the entrance, and is only a day's journey from the sea. One day, in a
discourse with his prime minister, the conversation turned upon the glory
and population of the kingdom of the Mehrage, and the multitude of its
dependent islands, when the king of Komar expressed a wish to see the head
of the Mehrage of Zapage on a dish before him. The minister endeavoured to
dissuade him from so unjust and rash an attempt; but the king afterwards
proposed the same exploit to the other officers of his court. Intelligence
of this project was conveyed to the Mehrage, who was a wise and active
prince, of consummate experience, and in the flower of his age; and who
immediately ordered a thousand small ships to be fitted out, with all
necessary arms and provisions, and manned with as many of his best troops
as they were able to transport; carefully concealing the purpose of this
armament, but giving out that he meant to visit the different islands under
his authority, and even caused letters to be written to the tributary kings
of these islands to prepare for his reception. When every thing was in
readiness, he sailed over to the kingdom of Komar, the king of which, and
all his courtiers, were a set of effeminate creatures, who did nothing all
day long but view their faces in mirrors, and pick their teeth. The Mehrage
landed his troops without delay, and immediately invested the palace, in
which the king was made prisoner, all his attendants having fled without
fighting. Then the Mehrage caused proclamation to be made, granting entire
security of life and property to all the inhabitants of the country; and
seating himself on the throne, caused the captive king and the prime
minister to be brought into his presence. Addressing himself to the fallen
monarch, he demanded his reasons for entertaining a project so unjust, and
beyond his power to execute, and what were his ultimate intentions if he
had succeeded. To this the king of Komar made no answer; and the Mehrage
ordered his head to be struck off. To the minister, the Mehrage made many
compliments, for the good advice he had given his master, and ordered him
to place the person who best deserved to succeed upon the vacant throne;
and then departed to his own dominions, without doing the smallest violence
or injury to the kingdom of Komar. The news of this action being reported
to the kings of China and the Indies, added greatly to their respect for
the Mehrage; and from that time, it has been the custom for the kings of
Komar to prostrate themselves every morning towards the country of Zapage,
in honour of the Mehrage[7].
All the kings of China and the Indies believe in the metempsychosis, or
transmigration of souls, as an article of their religion, of which the
following story, related by a person of credibility, is a singular
instance. One of these princes having viewed himself in a mirror, after
recovering from the small-pox, and noticing how dreadfully his face was
disfigured, observed, that no person had ever remained in his body after
such a change, and as the soul passes instantly into another body, he was
determined to separate Ha soul from its present frightful body, that he
might pass into another. Wherefore he commanded his nephew to mount the
throne, and calling for a sharp and keen scymitar, ordered his own head to
be cut off, that his soul might be set free, to inhabit a new body. His
orders were complied with, and his body was burnt, according to the custom
of the country.
Until the late revolution had reduced them to their present state of
anarchy, the Chinese were wonderfully regular and exact in every thing
relative to government; of which the following incident affords a striking
example. A merchant of Chorassan, who had dealt largely in Irak, and who
embarked from thence for China, with a quantity of goods, had a dispute
at Canfu with an eunuch, who was sent to purchase some ivory, and other
goods for the emperor, and at length the dispute ran so high, that the
merchant refused to sell him his goods.
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