[ [54] Mexico.
[ [55] Saxii.This has been supposed to mean the province of Canton, the names of the other provinces having been pretty well identified. The writer may have considered that the finest porcelain was made at Canton, as it was usually exported from thence to Europe; but the chief seat of the manufacture is, in fact, the province of Kiang-see.
[ [56] Chincheou. One of the chief districts of Fokien, often named for the entire province.
[ [57] This and the following details of the striking similarity which exists between the ceremonial of the Buddhist and Roman Catholic religions, are verified by later travellers and resident missionaries, but there is no evidence from history to show that the former derived these peculiarities from the latter.
[ [58] The work here referred to was printed in black letter at Evora, 1569, 4to., under the title, "Tractado em que se contam muito por estenso as cousas da China, con suas particularidades, y assi do regno dormuz."
[ [59] Laocon Izautey. The following particulars evidently relate, not to the Confucian or national religion of the Chinese, but to the sect of the Tao-sse. Grosier tells us, that "the sect of the Tao-see was founded by a philosopher named Lao-kiun or Lao-Tse, who came into the world in the year 603 before the Christian era." Grosier's China, vol. ii, p. 203. It is impossible to identify all the names given in this legend of Chinese superstition. Paosaos (see next page) is probably the same with Poosah, the name generally given to the Chinese idols. The Sichia, who are said to have come from Trautheyco, towards the west [Thibet? [see note next page]], are probably the disciples of the sect of Foe, also noticed by Grosier. "This sect, still more pernicious and much wider diffused throughout China than the preceding, came originally from India."—Vol. ii, p. 215. The description here given of the religious people who live without marrying and wear no hair, tallies exactly with the practice of the Bonzes or priests of Foe of the present day.
[ [60] This would seem to be Kwan-she, the same as Kwan-yin, the goddess of mercy of the votaries of Foe.
[ [61] This would appear to be Thibet (for there is no Chinese form that we can recognize as corresponding with the word), and Thibet is the country from which those points of belief are derived.
[ [62] This superstitious practice is described in much the same terms by Grosier. "The commonest way is to burn perfumes before an idol, and to beat the earth several times with the forehead. Upon the altar which supports this idol, there is always a kind of horn, filled with small flat sticks, upon which are traced a variety of unintelligible characters. Each of these small sticks conceals an answer. The person who consults, lets fall, at random, one of these small sticks, the inscription of which is explained by the Bonze who accompanies him. When no Bonze is present, they have recourse to a paper fixed up to the wall of the pagoda, to discover the enigmatical meaning of the word. This manner of consulting is very common in China."—Grosier, vol. ii, p. 235.
[ [63] Pwan-koo, the Adam of the Chinese.