very well. I then made the Englishman gunner in the ship, the
gunner being now made second mate and purser; the Dutchman I made
boatswain; so they were both very well pleased, and proved very
serviceable, being both able seamen, and very stout fellows.
We were now on shore in China; if I thought myself banished, and
remote from my own country at Bengal, where I had many ways to get
home for my money, what could I think of myself now, when I was
about a thousand leagues farther off from home, and destitute of
all manner of prospect of return? All we had for it was this:
that in about four months’ time there was to be another fair at the
place where we were, and then we might be able to purchase various
manufactures of the country, and withal might possibly find some
Chinese junks from Tonquin for sail, that would carry us and our
goods whither we pleased. This I liked very well, and resolved to
wait; besides, as our particular persons were not obnoxious, so if
any English or Dutch ships came thither, perhaps we might have an
opportunity to load our goods, and get passage to some other place
in India nearer home. Upon these hopes we resolved to continue
here; but, to divert ourselves, we took two or three journeys into
the country.
First, we went ten days’ journey to Nankin, a city well worth
seeing; they say it has a million of people in it: it is regularly
built, and the streets are all straight, and cross one another in
direct lines. But when I come to compare the miserable people of
these countries with ours, their fabrics, their manner of living,
their government, their religion, their wealth, and their glory, as
some call it, I must confess that I scarcely think it worth my
while to mention them here. We wonder at the grandeur, the riches,
the pomp, the ceremonies, the government, the manufactures, the
commerce, and conduct of these people; not that there is really any
matter for wonder, but because, having a true notion of the
barbarity of those countries, the rudeness and the ignorance that
prevail there, we do not expect to find any such thing so far off.
Otherwise, what are their buildings to the palaces and royal
buildings of Europe? What their trade to the universal commerce of
England, Holland, France, and Spain? What are their cities to
ours, for wealth, strength, gaiety of apparel, rich furniture, and
infinite variety? What are their ports, supplied with a few junks
and barks, to our navigation, our merchant fleets, our large and
powerful navies? Our city of London has more trade than half their
mighty empire: one English, Dutch, or French man-of-war of eighty
guns would be able to fight almost all the shipping belonging to
China: but the greatness of their wealth, their trade, the power
of their government, and the strength of their armies, may be a
little surprising to us, because, as I have said, considering them
as a barbarous nation of pagans, little better than savages, we did
not expect such things among them. But all the forces of their
empire, though they were to bring two millions of men into the
field together, would be able to do nothing but ruin the country
and starve themselves; a million of their foot could not stand
before one embattled body of our infantry, posted so as not to be
surrounded, though they were not to be one to twenty in number;
nay, I do not boast if I say that thirty thousand German or English
foot, and ten thousand horse, well managed, could defeat all the
forces of China. Nor is there a fortified town in China that could
hold out one month against the batteries and attacks of an European
army. They have firearms, it is true, but they are awkward and
uncertain in their going off; and their powder has but little
strength. Their armies are badly disciplined, and want skill to
attack, or temper to retreat; and therefore, I must confess, it
seemed strange to me, when I came home, and heard our people say