windows, or any place for light, in the middle whereof was a little narrow close door, and on both sides of the door, stood a small Furnace made within the wall, wherein were certain holes or Lattices, thereby to let the smoke or savour of the fire to enter into that place, where any offering should be made. Whereof we found some there, as Rice, Corn, Fruits, Hens, and such like things, which the Indians daily offered, but there came so filthy a smoke and stink out of the place, that whosoever went near it, was almost ready to choke, the said place being all black, smelly and foul therewith. Before this door being shut, in the middle of the Church, there stood a Calf of stone, whereon one of our company leaped, and laughing, began to cry out, which the Brahmin that kept the Church, perceiving, began to call and cry for help, so that presently many of the neighbours ran thither, to see what the cause might be, but before the throng of people came, we dealt so well with the Brahmin (acknowledging our fault, & saying it was unadvisedly done) that he was well content, & the people went home again. Then we desired the Brahmin to open us the door that stood shut, which after much entreaty, he yielded unto, offering first to throw certain Ashes upon our foreheads, which we refused, so that before he would open us the door, we were forced to promise him that we would not enter further in, tha[n] to the door. The door of their Sancta Sanctorum, or rather Diaboloru[m], being opened, it showed within like a Lime kill [kiln], being close vaulted round about, over the head without either hole or window to cast in light, but only at the door, neither was there any light in all the Church, but that which came in at the door we entered by. Within the said cell or vault, there hung at the least 100 burning Lamps, in the middle whereof stood a little Altar and covered over with cloth made of cotton wool, & over that with pure gold, under the which (as the Brahmin had told us) sat the Pagod being of clean gold, of the bigness of a Puppet or a Baby sold in fairs: hard by the Church without the great door, stood within the Earth a great four cornered or square Cistern, hewed out of free stone, with stairs on each side to go down into it, full of green, filthy and stinking water, wherein they wash themselves when they mean to enter into the Church to pray. From thence we went further, and still as we went, in every place we found Pagods hewed out of hard stones, & standing in their holes, of such lively shapes and figures as we told you before. These stand in the ways under certain covertures, without the Churches, and have hard by each of them a small Cistern of water, cut out of the stone to wash their feet, with half an Indian Nut, that hath a handle and hangeth there to take up water withal. And this is ordained for the travelers, that pass by, who commonly at every one of those Pagodas do fall down and make their prayers, and wash their feet in those Cisterns. By the said Pagods, commonly do stand [two] little furnaces with a Calf or Cow of stone, before the which they set their offerings, which are of such things, as are to be eaten, every man as his devotion serveth, which they think the Pagod eateth in the night, but is taken away by the Brahmin. We found in every place such offerings standing, but we had little desire once to taste thereof, it looked so filthily, and as we had sufficiently beholden their misshapen figures and monstrous Images, we returned again into the village, wherein we saw the stone Church, because the Brahmin had advertised us, that the same day about Evening, the Pagod should be carried in procession to sport itself in the fields, and to fetch a circuit, which we desired to see. And about the time which he appointed, they rung a little Bell, which they had gotten of the Christians, wherewith all the people began to assemble, and took the Pagod out of his diabolical Cell, which with great reverence, they set in a Palamkin [Palanquin; a covered litter carried on poles] borne by the chief men of the town, all the rest with great devotion following after, with their usual noise and sounds of Trumpets and other instruments, wherewith they went a reasonable way round about a field, & then brought him very clean (although he were very filthy stinking) they carried him again into his Cell, leaving him shut herein withal his Lamps….
This is the manner of their ceremonies and daily superstitions, worshipings of false gods, wherein the Devil hath so blinded them.
IA10 Duarte de Sande (1547–99) from ‘An Excellent Treatise of the Kingdom of China’
Duarte de Sande was a Jesuit missionary based in the Portuguese colony of Macao in the late sixteenth century. Drawing on his own experience as well as that of other Jesuits, including Matteo Ricci (cf. IA11), his account of Chinese society at that time was regarded as being of exceptional importance by Portugal’s rival, the British. Originally printed in Latin in Macao, a copy of Sande’s text was captured along with other booty by English pirates who attacked a Portuguese ship engaged in the spice trade en route to Europe in 1592. It was quickly printed in English by Richard Hakluyt in the second edition of his three‐volume account, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, published in 1598–1600. We have made selections from Sande to complement those from Ricci on Chinese ‘mechanical arts’. The present extracts discuss precious metals, silk, spices and porcelain. They are taken from Peter Mancall (ed.), Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery: An Anthology, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 168–70.
This region affordeth especially many sundry kinds of metals, of which the chief, both in excellency & in abundance, is gold, whereof so many Pezoes are brought from China to India, and to our country of Japan, that I heard say, that in one and the same ship, this present year, 2000 such pieces consisting of massie gold, as the Portuguese commonly call golden loaves, were brought unto us for merchandise: and one of these loaves is worth almost 100 ducats. Hence it is that in the kingdom of China so many things are adorned with gold, as for example, beds, tables, pictures, images, litters wherein nice and dainty dames are carried upon their servants’ backs. Neither are these golden loaves only brought by the Portuguese, but also great plenty of gold‐twine and leaves of gold: for the Chinese can very cunningly heat and extenuate gold into places and leaves. There is also great store of silver, whereof (that I may omit other arguments) it is no small demonstration, that every year there are brought in to the city commonly called Cantam by the Portugal merchants to buy wares, at the least 400 Sestertium thereof, and yet nothing in a manner is conveyed out of the Chinese kingdom: because the people of China abounding with all necessaries, are not greatly inquisitive or desirous of any merchandise from other kingdoms … But now let us proceed unto the Silk or Bombycine [silken] fleece, whereof there is great plenty in China: so that even as the husbandmen labor in manuring the earth, and in sowing of Rice; so likewise the women do employ a great part of their time in preserving of silk‐worms, and in keeming [combing] and weaving of Silk. Hence it is that every year the King and Queen with great solemnity come forth in to a public place, the one of them touching a plough, and the other a Mulberry tree, with the leaves whereof Silk‐worms are nourished: and both of them by this ceremony encouraging both men and women unto their vocation and labor: whereas otherwise, all the whole year throughout, no man besides the principal magistrates, may once attain to the sight of the king. Of this Silk or Bombycine fleece there is such abundance, that three ships for the most part coming out of India to the port of Macao, & at the least one every year coming unto us, are laden especially with this freight, and it is used not only in India, but carried even unto Portugal. Neither is the Fleet it self only transported thence, but also divers & sundry stuffs woven thereof, for the Chinese do greatly excel in the Art of weaving, and do very much resemble our weavers of Europe. Moreover the kingdom of China aboundeth with most costly spices & odors, and especially with cinnamon [albeit not comparable to the cinnamon of Zeilan [Ceylon?] with camfer also & musk, which is very principal & good. Musk deriveth his name fro[m] a beast of the same name (which beast resembleth a Beaver) fro[m] the parts whereof bruised & putrefied proceedeth a most delicate & fragrant smell which the Portuguese highly esteem … Let us now entreat of that earthen or pliable matter commonly called porcelain, which is pure white, & is to be esteemed the best stuff of that kind in the whole world: whereof vessels of all kinds are very curiously framed. I say, it is the best earthen matter in all the world, for three qualities; namely, the cleanness, the beauty, & the strength thereof. There is indeed other matter to be found more glorious, and more costly, but none so free from uncleanness, and so durable: this I add, in regard of glass, which indeed is immaculate and clean, but may easily be broken in pieces. This matter is digged, not throughout the whole region of China, but only in one of the fifteen provinces called Quiansi, wherein continually very many artificers are employed about the same matter neither do
