four hundred Horfe, and upwards of a hundred and twenty Men, very well arm'd and provided for all Events; for as the eastern Caravans are fubject to be attack'd by the Arabs, fo are these by the Tartars, but they are not altogether fo dangerous as the Arabs, nor fo barbarous when they prevail.

The Company confifted of People of several Nations, fuch as Mufcovites chiefly, for there were above Sixty of them who were Merchants or Inhabitants of Mufcow, tho' of them, fome were Livonians, and to our particular Satisfaction, Five of them were Scots, who appear'd alfo to be Men of great Experience in Business, and Men of very good Substance.

When we had travell'd one Days Journey, the Guides, who were Five in Number, call'd all the Gentlemen and Merchants, that is to fay, all the Paffengers, except the Servants, to a great Council, as they call'd it; at this great Council every one depofited a certain Quantity of Money to a common Stock, for the neceffary Expence of buying Forrage on the Way, where it was not otherwife to be had, and for fatisfying the Guides, getting Horfes, and the like; and here they conftituted the Journey, as they call it, (viz.) They nam'd Captains and Officers, to draw us all up, and give the Command in cafe of an Attack, and gave every one their turn of Command; nor was this forming us into Order any more than what we found needful upon the Way, as fhall be obferv'd in its Place.

The Road all on this Side of the Country is very populous, and is full of Potters and Earthmakers,

X 3

makers, that is to fay, People that tamper'd the Earth for the China Ware; and as I was coming along, our Portugal Pilot, who had always fomething or other to fay to make us merry, came fneering to me, and told me he would show me the greatest Rarity in all the Country, and that I fhould have this to fay of China, after all the ill-humour'd things I had faid of it, That I had feen one Thing which was not to be feen in all the World befide.. I was very importunate to know what it was: At laft he told me it was a Gentleman's Houfe built all with China Ware. Well, fays I, are not the Materials of their Building, the Product of their own Country, and so it is all China Ware, is not it? No no, fays he, I mean it is a House all made of China Ware, fuch as you call it in England; or as it is call'd in our Country, Porcellain. Well, fays I, fuch a Thing may be, how big is it? Can we carry it in a Box upon a Camel? If we can we will buy it. Upon a Camel! fays the old Pilot, holding up both his Hands, why there is a Family of Thirty People lives in it.

I was then curious indeed to fee it, and when I came to it, it was nothing but this; It was a Timber Houfe, or a Houfe built, as we call it in England, with Lath and Plaifter, but all the Plaistering was really China Ware, that is to fay, it was plaifter'd with the Earth that makes China Ware.

The Outfide, which the Sun fhone hot upon, was glaz'd, and look'd very well, perfect white, and painted with blue Figures, as the large China Ware in England is painted, and hard as if it had been burnt: As to the Infide, all the Walls, instead

of

of Wainscot, were lin'd up with harden'd and painted Tiles, like the little fquare Tiles, we call Galley Tiles in England, all made of the finest China, and the Figures exceeding fine indeed, with extraordinary Variety of Colours mix'd with Gold, many Tiles making but on Figure, but joyn'd fo artificially, the Mortar being made of the fame Earth, that it was very hard to fee where the Tiles met: The Floors of the Rooms were of the fame Compofition, and as hard as the earthen Floors we have in ufe in feveral Parts of England, especially Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, &c. as hard as Stone, and smooth, but not burnt and painted, except fome smaller Rooms like Clofets, which were all as it were pav'd with the fame Tile; the Ceilings, and in a word, all the plaiftering Work in the whole Houfe were of the fame Earth; and after all, the Roof was cover'd with Tiles of the fame, but of a deep hining black.

This was a China-Ware houfe indeed, truly and litterally to be call'd fo, and had I not been upon the Journey, I could have ftaid fome Days to fee and examine the Particulars of it; they told me there were Fountains and Fish-Ponds in the Gar den, all pav'd at the Bottom and Sides with the fame, and fine Statues fet up in Rows on the Walks, entirely form'd of the Porcellain Earth, and burnt whole.

As this is one of the fingularities of China, fo they may be allow'd to excel in it, but I am very fure they excel in their Accounts of it; for they told me fuch incredible Things of their Performance in Crockery Ware, for fuch it is, that I care not to relate, as knowing it could not be true; they told

me in particular, of one Workman that made a Ship with all its Tackle, and Mafts, and Sails, in earthen Ware, big enough to carry fifty Men; if he had told me, he launch'd it, and made a Voyage to Japan in it; I might have faid fomething to it indeed, but as it was, I knew the whole of the Story; which was in fhort, asking Pardon for the Word, that the Fellow ly'd; fo I fmil'd, and faid nothing to it.

This odd Sight kept me two Hours behind the Caravan; for which, the Leader of it for the Day, fin'd me about the Value of three Shillings, and told me, if it had been three Days Journey without the Wall, as it was three Days within, he must have fin'd me four Times as much, and made me ask Pardon the next Council Day; fo I promised to be more orderly, for indeed I found afterward the Orders made for keeping altogether, were abfolutely neceffary for our common Safety.

In two Days more, we pass'd the Great China Wall, made for a Fortification against the Tartars; and a very great Work it is; going over Hills and Mountains in a needlefs Track, where the Rocks are impaffible, and the Precipicees fuch, as no Enemy could poffibly enter, or indeed climb up, or where if they did, no Wall could hinder them; they tell us, its Length, is near a thoufand English Miles, but that the Country is five hundred in a ftrait meafur'd Line, which the Wall bounds, without meafuring the Windings and Turnings it takes; 'tis about four Fathom high, and as many thick in fome Places.

I ftood

I ftood ftill an Hour or thereabout, without trefpaffing our Orders, for fo long the Caravan was in paffing the Gate, I fay, I ftood still an Hour to look at it on every Side, near, and far off, I mean, that was within my View; and the Guide of our Caravan who had been extolling it for the Wonder of the World, was mighty eager to hear my Opinion of it; I told him it was a moft excellent Thing to keep off the Tartars, which he happen'd not to understand as I meant it, and fo took it for a Compliment; but the old Pilot laugh'd: O Seignior Inglefe, fays he, you speak in Colours; in Colours, faid I, what do you mean by that? Why, you speak what looks white this Way, and black that Way, gay one Way, and dull another Way; you tell him it is a good Wall to keep out Tartars; you tell me by that, it is good for nothing but to keep out Tartars, or it will keep out none but Tartars; I understand you, Seignior Inglefe; I understand you fays he, but Seignie or Chinefe, understood you his own Way.

Well, fays I, Seignior, do you think it would ftand out an Army of our Country People, with a good Train of Artillery; or our Engineers, with two Companies of Miners; would not they batter it down in ten Days, that an Army might enter in Batallia, or blow it up in the Air, Foun dation and all, that there fhould be no Sign of it left? Ay, ay, fays he, I know that: The Chinese wanted mightily to know what I faid, and I gave him leave to tell him a few Days after, for we was then almost out of their Country, and he was to leave us in a little Time afterward; but when he knew what I had faid, he was dumb all the rest of the Way, and we heard no more of his fine

Story