To This The Emperor Said,
That He Had Been A Short Time Upon Earth, All His Transactions Having Very
Little Exceeded The Space Of Thirty Months.
On seeing the image of Mohammed
riding on a camel, and his companions about him, with Arabian shoes and
leathern girdles, Wahab wept; and being asked the reason, he answered, it
was on seeing his prophet and lord, who was his cousin also.
The emperor
then asked concerning the age of the world; and Wahab answered, that
opinions varied on the subject, as some reckoned it to be six thousand
years old, while some would not allow so many, and others extended it to a
greater antiquity. Being asked why he had deserted his own king, to whom he
was so near in blood; he gave information of the revolutions which had
happened at Basra, which had forced him to fly to Siraff; where, hearing of
the glory of the emperor of China, and the abundance of every thing in his
empire, he had been impelled by curiosity to visit it; but that he intended
soon to return to the kingdom of his cousin, where he should make a
faithful report of the magnificence of China, the vast extent of its
provinces, and of the kind usage he had met with. This seemed to please the
emperor, who made him rich presents, and ordered him to be conducted to
Canfu on post horses[4]. He wrote also to the governor of that city,
commanding him to be treated with honour; and to the governors of the
provinces through which he had to pass, to shew him every civility. He was
treated handsomely during the remainder of his stay in China, plentifully
supplied with all necessaries, and honoured with many presents[5].
From the information of Ebn Wahab, we learn that Cumdan, where the emperor
of China keeps his court, is a very large and extremely populous city,
divided into two parts by a very long and broad street. That the emperor,
his chief ministers, the supreme judge, the eunuchs, the soldiery, and all
belonging to the imperial household, dwelt in that part of the city which
is on the right hand eastward; and that the people were not admitted into
that part of the city, which is watered by canals from different rivers,
the borders of which are, planted with trees, and adorned by magnificent
palaces. That portion of the city on the left hand, westwards from the
great street, is inhabited by the ordinary kind of people, and the
merchants, where also are great squares and markets for all the necessaries
of life. At day-break every morning, the officers of the royal household,
with the inferior servants, purveyors, and the domestics of the grandees of
the court, come into that division of the city, some on horseback, and
others on foot, to the public markets, and the shops of those who deal in
all sorts of goods, where they buy whatever they want, and do not return
again till their occasions call them back next morning.
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