[38] As a corroborating proof of the Chinese being of Scythic origin, it may be observed, that the adjunct character Shee (to the family name Foo) is composed of a sheep, rice, an arrow, and the conjunctive character also, from whence may be inferred that he united the occupations of shepherd, agriculturist, and warrior.
[39] The Shoo-king.
[40] Ptolemy, the Geographer, places Serica adjoining to Scythia, extra Imaum, corresponding with Cashgar, Tangut, and Kitai, countries famous for the cultivation of the cotton plant. It would seem, indeed, from all the passages which occur in ancient authors concerning the Seres, that cotton was the substance alluded to, rather than silk, and that these people were not the present Chinese, but the Tartars of Kitai.
Quid nemora Æthiopum molli canentia lana?
Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres?
Virg. Georg. ii. v. 120.
——Primique nova Phaethonte retecti
Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis.
Sil. Ital. 1. 6. v. 3.
——Quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
Frondea lanigeræ carpentes vellera Silvæ.
Claudian.
Seres lanificio Sylvarum nobiles perfusam aquá depectentes frondium canitiem.
Plin. 1. 6. 17.
Horace makes the Seres expert in drawing the bow, a weapon in the use of which the Scythians were always famous.
Doctus Sagittas tendere Sericas
Arcu paterno?
Hor. lib. i. Od. 29. v. 9.
It certainly cannot be inferred that by the Seres, in any of the above quotations, was meant the same people as the present Chinese; on the contrary, the probability is that it did not allude to this nation, and that the ancients had not the least knowledge of its existence. It appears from another passage in Pliny, that the best iron in the world was in Sericum, and that the Seres exported it with their cloths and skins. The iron of the Chinese, as I have had occasion to observe, is remarkably bad, and all their articles of peltry are imported.
[41] All our enquiries, in passing the city of Hang-tchoo-foo, were fruitless with regard to these Israelites. We had hitherto entertained a hope of being able to procure, in the course of our journey, a copy of this ancient monument of the Jewish history, which the late Doctor Geddes considered as very desirable to compare with those already in Europe; but the hasty manner in which we travelled, and the repugnance shewn by our conducting officers, Chou and Van excepted, who had little power or influence in the provinces, to enter into any of our views that might appear to occasion delay, prevented the fulfilment of those hopes. It were much to be wished, that the reverend missionaries would so far lay aside their antipathy against opinions, not exactly coinciding with their own, and enter into such a correspondence with the Jews, as would obtain from them, which they are no doubt possessed of, an account of the progress made by the Chinese in civilization and arts, since their first settling in that country, and of other particulars noted down by them. The circumstance of their carrying with them their code of laws, and the history of their tribes, is a sufficient proof that they understood a written language which there can be no doubt, they would use the utmost caution not to lose. Such an account would be more authentic than the Chinese annals, the best of which abound in hyperbole, and contain facts so disguised in metaphor, that it is no easy matter to extract from them the simple truth. At all events, the comparison of the two histories would serve to verify each other.
[42] In the year 1785, Kien Long liberated, by a public edict, twelve missionaries out of prison, who, being detected in privately seducing the Chinese from the religion and customs of the country, had been condemned to perpetual imprisonment. This edict, of which I procured a copy in Pekin, does great honour to the humane and benevolent mind of the Emperor. After stating their crime, apprehension, and trial, he observes, "Had they made known their arrival to the officers of government, they might have proceeded to the capital and found protection. But as transgressors of the law, which forbids the entrance of strangers, they have stolen into the country, and secretly endeavoured to multiply converts to their way of thinking, it became my duty to oppose a conduct so deceitful, and to put a stop to the progress of seduction. Justly as they were found to deserve the punishment to which they have been condemned, touched, nevertheless, with compassion for their imprudence, it was not without injury to my feelings that I ratified the sentence. But recollecting afterwards that they were strangers—strangers perhaps ignorant of the laws of my empire, my compassion increased for them, and humanity suffers on account of their long confinement. I will, therefore, and command that these twelve strangers be set at liberty."
[43] The government even grants licences to certain persons, under the abused name of astronomers, who pretend to predict events, and cast out evil spirits by a charm, consisting of some character written by them, according to the supposed prevailing planet. The national almanack, not less minute in its predictions than those of Francis Moore or Vincent Wing, or even Partridge, points out the changes of the weather in every month, with the lucky and unlucky days for undertaking most of the important concerns of life. And that the fallacy of these is not detected, may afford less matter for surprize, on recollection that, in the wise and enlightened countries of Europe, and among very intelligent people, the state of the weather is pretended to be predicted by the phases of the moon, that is to say, they will prognosticate a change of weather to happen at the new moon, or the first quarter, or the full, or the last quarter, or, at all events, three days before, or three days after one or other of these periods; so that the predictor has, at the least, eight and twenty days out of a lunar revolution, in favour of his prediction being right, and the whole lunation is only twenty-nine and a half. He has also another great advantage: the accidental coincidence of one single prophecy with the event, establishes his fame for ever, whilst his blunders are either overlooked, or considered only as those of the person, and not the defect of the science.