An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China deliver'd by their excellencies, Peter de Goyer and Jacob de Keyzer, at his imperial city of Peking : wherein the cities, towns, villages, ports, rivers, &c. in their passages from Canton to Peking are ingeniously describ'd / by Mr. John Nieuhoff ... ; also an epistle of Father John Adams their antagonist, concerning the whole negotiation ; with an appendix of several remarks taken out of Father Athanasius Kircher ; English'd, and set forth with their several sculptures, by John Ogilby Esq. ...

CHAP. III.

Of the Cities of China, and the Customs of the Inhabitants.

FAther Martinius, Samedus, Trigautius, and Gruberus, Eye-witnesses, relate, That the Empire of China is so full of Inhabitants, the Towns and Vil∣lages so contiguous, that did the Wall reach the South Sea, it might de∣servedly be term'd but one City; but there are Metropolitans and Chief Ci∣ties of Provinces to the number of a hundred and fifty, and of those of the in∣ferior rank, a thousand two hundred sixty two, all fortifi'd with Walls, Works, and Trenches; besides, there are Castles, Corporation-Towns, Villages and Granges without number. The Cities for the most part are built four-square: Their Houses generally are Wood, and not above one Story, poor and rude without, but within very splendid; each House is bound to affix a Shield up∣on the Door, containing the number of Inhabitants, and of what Condition each Person is, to the end the Mandorins may know how many Persons every City contains, for the avoiding of Seditions, and to gather in the Revenues; by which means it cannot be thought strange, that if Foreiners come into China they are discover'd, their Landlords being oblig'd, under the infliction of a severe Penalty, not to conceal them.

The Mechanick Arts are in great esteem amongst them, and they so ma∣nage them, that they suffer not the vilest Dross to perish, but convert it to some Gain. The Learned apply themselves unto no other Sciences, but Po∣litick and Moral: They know not the Name of the Scholastick and Specula∣tive Discipline, which is wonderful in a Nation that aboundeth with Ingeni∣ous Persons; yet their Physicians by Tradition are endow'd with an ad∣mirable knowledge of the Palsie, by which, with incredible Industry, they find out the most Latent Causes of Diseases, and then apply for Cure their proper Remedies. But in the Arts anvil'd out by modern Curiosity, as Archi∣tecture, Sculpture, and Weaving, if you except the knowledge of Proportions and the Opticks, they come not behind the Europeans. For their other Acquire∣ments, see what I have said in the preceding Discourse; and he that desireth more full Information, may have recourse to the above-cited Authors.