A Person Who Had
Been In China, Informed Us, That He Had Seen A Man At Canfu, Who Had
Traveled
From Samare, all the way on foot, through all the cities in
China, with a vessel of musk on his
Back for sale; which he might easily
do, as the part of Thibet, which produces musk, is contiguous to China. The
Chinese carry off as many of the animals which produce musk as they can
procure; but the musk of Thibet is far better than that of China, because
the animal feeds on aromatic plants in the mountains of Thibet, while in
China it has to subsist upon the ordinary pastures; and because the
inhabitants of Thibet preserve their cods of musk in its natural state of
purity, while the Chinese adulterate all that gets into their hands; for
which reason the musk of Thibet is in great request among the Arabs. The
most exquisite of all the sorts of musk, is that which the musk animals
leave behind them, in rubbing themselves on the rocks of their native
mountains. The humour whence the musk is generated, falls down towards
the navel of the animal, where it gathers into tumors like grumous blood;
and when this tumor is ripe, it produces a painful itching, on which the
animal rubs himself against rocks or stones till he bursts the tumor, and
the contents run out and coagulate on the stone; after which, the wound
heals, and the humour gathers again as before. There are men in Thibet who
make it their business to collect this species of musk, which they preserve
in bladders, and which, having ripened, naturally surpasses all others in
goodness, just as ripe fruit exceeds in flavour that which is pulled green.
There is another way of procuring musk, either by ensnaring the animals, or
shooting them with arrows; but the hunters often cut out the bags before
the musk is ripe or fully elaborated, in which case, the musk at first has
a bad scent, till the humour thickens, after which it turns to good musk,
though this sometimes takes a long while. The musk animal is like our
roebuck, his skin and colour the same, with slender legs, and smooth
slightly bent horns; having on each side two small white teeth, about half
a finger-length, which rise about his muzzle, not much unlike the form of
the teeth of the elephant, and by which he is distinguished from other
roebucks.
The letters from the emperor of China, to the viceroys, governors, eunuchs,
and lieutenants, are conveyed on post-horses, which are distinguished by
cut tails, and these are disposed at regular stations, all over the empire,
almost like the posts among the Arabs. In China, every man, from the
emperor to the meanest of the people, makes water standing [8]; and for
this purpose, persons of dignity have gilded hollow canes, a cubit long, to
convey their water to a distance. They are of opinion, that pains in the
kidneys, strangury, and even the stone, are occasioned by urining in a
sitting posture, as the reins cannot free themselves absolutely from evil
humours, except by evacuating in an erect position.
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