THE END OF THIS BOOKE.
COMMENTARIE,
OR
SHORT DISCOURSE,
OF ALL SUCH NOTABLE THINGES AS BE BETWIXT SPAINE TILL YOU COME VNTO
THE KINGDOME OF CHINA, AND FROM CHINA VNTO SPAINE, RETURNING BY
THE ORIENTALL OR EAST INDIAS, AFTER THAT THEY HAD ALMOST
COMPASSED THE WHOLE WORLD. WHEREIN IS CONTAYNED
ALL THE RITES, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMES OF
THE PEOPLE, THE RICHES, FERTILITIE, AND
STRENGTH OF MANY KINGDOMES: AND THE
DESCRIPTION OF THEM.
Made and set fourth by the Author of this Book, as well by that which he hath
seene; as also by true relation that he had of the religious and barefoot
Fryers of the order of Saint Francis, who trauailed
the same the yeare 1584.
CHAP. I.[45]
[45] Nearly the whole of this chapter is entirely different from the original Spanish, and is translated by Parke from the French of Luc de la Porte. The following is translated from the original Spanish of Mendoza.
"The itinerary of Father Martin Ignatius, guardian of the order of the blessed S. Francis, who went to China with others of the same order, and of the province of S. Joseph, by command of our lord, King Philip, with his return by the East Indies and other realms, making the circuit of the world; wherein are treated of the most remarkable things that he heard and saw in the journey, with the rites, ceremonies, and customs of the people, the riches, fertility, and strength of many kingdoms through which he passed, and the description drawn up according to the notice he took of them.