Ebn Wahab was then asked if he knew his lord and master the prophet Mohammed, and if he had seen him? How could that be, said Wahab, seeing that he is with God? Being then asked what manner of person he was; he answered that he was very handsome. Then a great box was brought, out of which another box was taken, and the interpreter was desired to shew him his lord and master. Ebn Wahab, upon looking in, saw the images of the prophets and the emperor observing him to move his lips, desired him to be asked the reason; on which he said he was praying inwardly in honour of the prophets. Being asked how he knew them, he said by the representation of their histories; as for instance, one was Noah and his ark, who were saved from the flood with those who were with them. The emperor laughed, and said he was right in regard to Noah, but denied the universal deluge; which, though it had covered part of the earth, did not reach China or the Indies. On Wahab observing that the next was Moses, with his rod, and the children of Israel; the emperor agreed that their country was of small extent, and that Moses had extirpated the ancient inhabitants. Wahab then pointed out Jesus upon the ass, accompanied by his apostles. To this the emperor said, that he had been a short time upon earth, all his transactions having very little exceeded the space of thirty months. On seeing the image of Mohammed riding on a camel, and his companions about him, with Arabian shoes and leathern girdles, Wahab wept; and being asked the reason, he answered, it was on seeing his prophet and lord, who was his cousin also. The emperor then asked concerning the age of the world; and Wahab answered, that opinions varied on the subject, as some reckoned it to be six thousand years old, while some would not allow so many, and others extended it to a greater antiquity. Being asked why he had deserted his own king, to whom he was so near in blood; he gave information of the revolutions which had happened at Basra, which had forced him to fly to Siraff; where, hearing of the glory of the emperor of China, and the abundance of every thing in his empire, he had been impelled by curiosity to visit it; but that he intended soon to return to the kingdom of his cousin, where he should make a faithful report of the magnificence of China, the vast extent of its provinces, and of the kind usage he had met with. This seemed to please the emperor, who made him rich presents, and ordered him to be conducted to Canfu on post horses156. He wrote also to the governor of that city, commanding him to be treated with honour; and to the governors of the provinces through which he had to pass, to shew him every civility. He was treated handsomely during the remainder of his stay in China, plentifully supplied with all necessaries, and honoured with many presents157.
From the information of Ebn Wahab, we learn that Cumdan, where the emperor of China keeps his court, is a very large and extremely populous city, divided into two parts by a very long and broad street. That the emperor, his chief ministers, the supreme judge, the eunuchs, the soldiery, and all belonging to the imperial household, dwelt in that part of the city which is on the right hand eastward; and that the people were not admitted into that part of the city, which is watered by canals from different rivers, the borders of which are, planted with trees, and adorned by magnificent palaces. That portion of the city on the left hand, westwards from the great street, is inhabited by the ordinary kind of people, and the merchants, where also are great squares and markets for all the necessaries of life. At day-break every morning, the officers of the royal household, with the inferior servants, purveyors, and the domestics of the grandees of the court, come into that division of the city, some on horseback, and others on foot, to the public markets, and the shops of those who deal in all sorts of goods, where they buy whatever they want, and do not return again till their occasions call them back next morning. The city is very pleasantly situate in the midst of a most fertile soil, watered by several rivers, and hardly deficient in any thing except palm trees, which grow not there.
In our time a discovery has been made, of a circumstance quite new and unknown to our ancestors. No one ever imagined that the great sea which extends from the Indies to China had any communication with the sea of Syria. Yet we have heard, that in the sea of Rum, or the Mediterranean, there was found the wreck of an Arabian ship, which had been shattered by a tempest, in which all her men had perished. Her remains were driven by the wind and weather into the sea of the Chozars, and thence by the canal of the Mediterranean sea, and were at last thrown upon the coast of Syria. Hence it is evident, that the sea surrounds all the country of China and Sila or Cila, the uttermost parts of Turkestan, and the country of the Chozars, and that it communicates by the strait with that which washes the coast of Syria. This is proved by the structure of the wreck; of which the planks were not nailed or bolted, like all those built in the Mediterranean, or on the coast of Syria, but joined together in an extraordinary manner, as if sewed, and none but the ships of Siraff are so fastened. We have also heard it reported, that ambergris has been found on the coast of Syria, which seems hard to believe, and was unknown to former times. If this be true, it is impossible that amber should have been thrown up on the sea of Syria, but by the sea of Aden and Kolsum, which has communication with the seas where amber is found. And as God has put a separation between these seas, it must have necessarily been, that this amber was driven from the Indian Seas into the others, in the same direction with the vessel of Siraff158.
The province of Zapage is opposite to China, and distant from thence a month's sail or less, if the wind be fair. The king of this country is styled Mehrage, and his dominions are said to be 900 leagues in circumference, besides which, he commands over many islands which lie around; so that, altogether, this kingdom is above 1000 leagues in extent. One of these islands is called Serbeza, which is said to be 400 leagues in compass; another is called Rhami, which is 800 leagues round, and produces red-wood, camphor, and many other commodities. In the same kingdom is the island of Cala, which is the mid passage between China and the country of the Arabs. This island is 80 leagues in circumference, and to it they bring all sorts of merchandize, as aloes wood of several kinds, camphor, sandal wood, ivory, the wood called cabahi, ebony, red-wood, all sorts of spice, and many others; and at present the trade is carried on between this island and that of Oman. The Mehrage is sovereign over all these islands; and that of Zapage, in which he resides, is extremely fertile, and so populous, that the towns almost touch each other, no part of the land being uncultivated. The palace of the king or Mehrage, stands on a river as broad as the Tigris at Bagdat or Bassora; but the sea intercepts its course, and drives its waters back with the tide; yet during the ebb the fresh water flows out a good way into the sea. The river water is let into a small pond, close to the king's palace, and every morning the master of the household brings an ingot of gold, wrought in a particular manner, and throws it into the pond, in presence of the king. When the king dies, his successor causes all these ingots, which have been accumulating during the reign of his predecessor, to be taken out; and the sums arising from this great quantity of gold are distributed among the royal household, in certain proportions, according to their respective ranks, and the surplus is given to the poor.
156
From this circumstance, it appears probable that the great canal of China was not then constructed. –E.
157
Some circumstances in this very interesting detail have been a little curtailed. If Abu Zaid had been a man of talents, he might surely have acquired and transmitted more useful information from this traveller; who indeed seems to have been a poor drivelling zelot. –E.
158
There is a vast deal of error in this long paragraph. It certainly was impossible to ascertain the route or voyage of the wreck, which was
The north-east passage around the north of Asia and Europe, which is adduced by the commentator, in Harris's Collection, is now thoroughly known to be impracticable. –E.