The country of China is divided into fifteen provinces. Those that adjoin the sea are Quantão, · Foquiem, · Chequeam, · Namquy, · Xantão, · and Pequy: · these, although they border on the sea, also extend inland all around. Quancy, · Honão, · Cuychen, · He [f. ll2v] cheuḽ, · Cheamçy, · and Sançy · confine, with Pequim•, upon these provinces that are in the midst: -- Queançy, · Vinão, · Honão. ·1{1}
Of these fifteen Nãoquim· and Pequim are the chief of the whole country. Over al Pequim is the capital where the king by law resides Nanquim· lies 28 or 29 degrees, Pequim in 38 to 39. From Cantão· to Foquẽ · the coast runs along north-east and south-west a little more or less. From Foquem to Piquim· the coast runs straight north and south. The coast winds about, which they say is a very safe one, and having many cities and towns near the seas on rivers. All these fifteen provinces are under one king. The advantage of this country{2} lies in its rivers2 all of which descend to the sea. No one sails the sea from north to south; it is prohibited by the king, in order that the country may not become known. {3} Where we went was all rivers. They have boats and ships broad below without number, there are so many. I am sure I must have seen thirteen thousand including great and small. {4} They require little water. Certainly there are rivers for galleys suitable for every kind of rowing foist for war. Close to the sea the country has no wood, nor at thirty leagues from the sea: I mean that on the coast from north to south the land is all low, all provisions are carried, and on rivers the wood comes down in reafts from inland, and it is towed from more than one hundred leagues round Pequym because the province in which the king resides has no wood, nor stone nor bricks: {5} all is carried from Nanquim in large boats. If Nãoquim did not supply it with its provisions, or other provinces, Pequym would not be able to sustain itself, because there are people without number and the land does not produce rice, because it is cold, and has few food-products. The king resides in this province, which is situated at the extremely of the country, because he is at war with some peoples called Tazas; 3{6} and if the king did not remain there they would invade the country, because this same Pequim belonged to these Tazas, with other provinces.
In this country some fifteen leagues from the gulf of Cauchim,·4{7} from fifteen to twenty leagues inland from Haynão, here commences a mountain range: this range is called [f.113] Miulem· or Moulem, ·5{8} and runs eastward and ends in Foquem, and divides Foquem from Chiquião. · These mountain ranges are very high, without trees; they are lofty and very rugged, so that these ranges divide three provinces. On the sea Cançy· borders on the country of Cauchi· and Cantão and then Foquem. These three provinces stand by themselves. Of the others Cantão and Foquem border on the sea and reach as far as the mountain range. Cançim· lies between Cantão and the range as far as Cachim: ·{9} it does not border on the sea of Canchim. ·{9}[sic] The whole of this line of mountains which divides these three provinces from the other twelve has only two roads very steep and difficult. One is from this city to the north: by this one is served the province of Cançi and Cantão and part of Foquiem. The other is there above Foquem, with roads cut through the rock in many parts{10} like that which goes to Santa Maria da Penna, {11} and on the other side there will be a like descent. 6 In these lofty and steep ranges rise rivulets which afterwards here below form rivers that go flowing down to the sea; and anyone that comes from Cantão thither is in the middle portion of the road always towed with hooks, sometimes through only a span of water. There is another similar one from the range to other provinces.
This mountain range has on the Cantão side a city, and on the other side another: {12} the range lies in the middle; from one to the other there will be some six or seven leagues. {13} As regards the range, it is a steep and very difficult country. It is a great throughfare, because the whole country of the twelve provinces passes through here; those who wish to come to Qiençy· and to Cantão in one day pass along the road on mules or asses. The water of the rivulets that runs from these ranges on both sides unites and begins to form rivers having in places two spans of water, and the boats go grating on the pebbles; this in many places for some eight to [f. 113v] ten leagues cowards from the range, and in some places it is deep. {14} From this range to Cantão all the merchandise that comes and goes is by this river; all the mandarins who come and go do so by this river. By land there is a road paved with stones (?), {15} and there are some rivers on the way that they cross; however by it they go but little, because there are robbers all along the road and the rivers. As I have said, the roads of the country are not safe. All the traffic and journeys in the country of China are by rivers, because the whole of China is intersected by rivers, so that one cannot go two leagues by land without crossing twenty rivers: this is throughout the whole country, and there is only one province that has no rivers. {16}
All the craft of Cantão{17} in which the people and merchandise go to the mountain range and to other parts of these two provinces, viz., Cantão and Queançy, all is made in Cantão close to the sea in places surrounded by rivers of fresh water and by mountains; because from Cantão right up to the mountain range there is not a single tree from which a single boat can be made. In Cançi, which is far from here, they build some large boats for merchandise, but not many: all the manufacture is in these outskirts of Cantão and around Tanção. ·7{18} If these boats of Cantão were destroyed, help could not come from other provinces, because they have no roads by land. So that, whoever should be master of the district of Cantão, all the advantage is on the border of the sea and twelve, fifteen, twenty miles in and: all this is divided up by rivers where every kind of boat can go. This is the most suitable race and country of any in the whole world to be subjugated, and the whole aim lies in this district of Cantão. Certainly it is a great honor than the government of India: further on it will be seen that it is more than can be described. If our lord the king had the real truth and information as to what it is so much time would not pass. 8
[f. 114] The province of Cantão is one of the best in China, from which the king receives much revenue, because there are rice and foodstuffs incalculable, and all the wares of the whole country come to be shipped here by reason of the sea-port and of the articles of merchandise that come from other kingdoms to Cantão; and all passes into the interior of the country of China, from which the king receives many dues and the mandarins large bribes. The merchants live more honestly than in the other provinces which have no trade. No province in China has trade with strangers except this of Cantão: that which others may have on the borders is a small affair, because foreign folk do not enter the country of China, nor do any go out of China. This sea trade has made this province of great importance, and without trade it would remain dependent on the agriculturists like the others. However the port of the whole country of China is Cantão; Foquem has but little trade, and the strangers do not go there. Trade cannot be carried on in any other province except in Cantão, because it is thereby more suited than others for trade with strangers.
This province has thirteen cities and seven chenos, 9{19} which are large cities that do not bear the name of cities; it has one hundred walled towns besides other walled places. All the best lies along the sea as far as Aynão· on rivers which may be entered by vessels that are rowed; and those that are distant from the sea lie between rivers into which also all kinds of row-boats can go. Of the cities and towns that lie on rivers which cannot be navigated except by towing no account need be taken at the first; because when the greater obeys the lesser does not rebel. As I have said, there is under the sun nothing so prepared as this, and with people without number, and thickly populated on those borders where there are rivers (and where there are none it is not so populous, not by a fifth), of every sort of craftsman of every mechanical office, I mean carpenters, caulkers, smiths, stone masons, tilers, sawyers, carvers: in fine that there is a superabundance [f.114v] of the things which are necessary for the service of the king and of his fortresses, {20} and from hence may be taken every four or five thousand men without causing any lack in the country.
Revised reprint of:
[VIEIRA, Cristóvão], in FERGUSON, Donald, Letters from Portuguese / Captives in Canton, / Written in 1534 and 1536. / With an Introduction in Portuguese Intercourse with China / in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century., Bombay, Education Society's Steam Press, Byculla, 1902, pp. 118- 123 [Reprinted from the Indian Antiquary].
For the Portuguese text, see:
VIEIRA, Cristóvão, Carta de cantão in LOUREIRO, Rui Manuel, intro., "Antologia Documental: Visões da China na Literatura Iberica dos Séculos XVI e XVII", in "Revista de Cultura", Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, pp. 34-35 -- For the Portuguese modernised version by the author of the partial transcription of the original text, with words or expressions between square brackets added to clarify the meaning.
For the original source of the Portuguese text, see:
VIEIRA, Cristóvão -- CALVO, LOUREIRO, Rui Manuel, ed., Vasco, Cartas dos cativos de Cantão: (1524?), Macau, Instituto Cultural de Macau, 1992, pp.40-43 -- Partial transcription.
NOTES
The numeration of these notes specifically refer to the section of Cristóvão Vieira's original text selected in Rui Loureiro's edited text in "Revista de Cultura" (Portuguese edition), Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, p.35.
The prevailing numeration of these notes is indicated between curly brackets《{ }》and is cross-referenced to David Ferguson's English translation [DF] of Cristóvão Vieira's original text, indicated immediately after, in between flat brackets《[ ]》.
The contents of these notes have been transferred in their entirety exactly as they appear in David Ferguson's English translation [DF] of Cristóvão Vieira's text, and do not follow the standardized formatting of the "Review of Culture".
Whenever followed by a superciliary asterix《*》, these notes' bibliographic references are alphabetically repertoried according to their author's name in this issue's SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY following the standardized formatting of the "Review of Culture".
{1} [DF, p. 119, n.88] The fifteen provinces enumerated are the following: -- Kwangtung, · Fûkien, ·Chekiang, ·Nanking, · Shantung, · Peking, · Kwangshî, · Yünnan, · Kweichau, · Szechwan, · Shenhsî, · Shanshî, · Kiangshî, · Hûnan, · and Honan. ·(In the Kangshî · reign, 1662-1722, the country was divided into eighteen provinces, some of the old one being divided, and names being altered in a few cases). Compare with this list those given by Gonzalez de Mendoza in his Hist. de la China, bk. I. chaps vii. and viii., some of the names in which are scarcely identifiable. (The editor of the Hak. Soc. ed. does not • seem to have noticed the name "Saxij"·, which occurs at the end of the first list in the English translation, is an interpolation, to supply the accidental omission of "Cãton"· in the original). Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, in the fifth chapter of his Tractado da China (1569-70), enumerates only thirteen provinces, but gives the names fairly accurately. The list given by Barros (Dec. III., II. vii.), though the earliest published, is the most correct.
{2} [DF, p. 119, n.89] The orig. has serra, mountain range, a copyist's blunder for terra evidently.
{3} [DF, p. 119, n.90] Cf. Gaspar da Cruz in Purchas, Pilg., III. p.90; Mendoza (Hak. Soc. ed.), I. p.94.
{4} [DF, p. 119, n.91] Cf. Mendoza (Hak. Soc. ed.), I. p.149.
{5} [DF, p. 119, n.92] This statement is incorrect. (See William's Middle Kingdom, I. p.89.).
{6} [DF, p. 120, n.93] Barros, in quoting this statement from Christovão Vieyra's letter, says (Dec. III., VI. I.) that the emperor resided in Peking "because of its being on the frontier of the Tartars, whom they call Tâtas or Tancas (as we have already said [Dec. III., II. vii.]), with whom he is continually at war." (See also Galeotto Pereira in Purchas, Pilg., pp.205, 207; Gaspar da Cruz in ib. p.170; Mendoza (Hak. Soc. ed., pp.9, 28, 77, 85,90.).
{7} [DF, p. 120, n. 94] That is, Conchinchina. See Yule's Hobson-Jobson, s. v. 'Cochin-China'; Gaspar da Cruz in Purchas, Pilg., Ill, p. 167; and Galeotto Pereira in same, p.205.
{8} [DF, p.120, n.95] Meiling, · the "Plum Pass", by which nearly all intercourse between the northern and southern provinces was carried on. The name is applied locally to the Yunling range. (See Mid. King., I. pp.12, 37, 39, 113, 159, 174).
{9} [DF, p.120, n.96] Sic, for Cauchim. ·
{10}[DF, p.120, n.97] Cf. Mid. King., I. p.174.
{11}[DF, pp.120-121 n.98] This is the famous monastery at Cintra in Portugal, immortalized by Byron in Childe Harold, canto I. verses xix.-xx., under the title of "Our Lady's House of Woe", the poet being under the mistaken impression that it derived its name from pena, punishment, whereas it is from penha, rock, cliff. (In his note on the name, and the one correcting the error, Byron has jumbled up Spanish and Portuguese in a ridiculous way). The spelling penna in the text is an antiquated form of Spanish peña. -- I owe the reference to Childe Harold to Sr. David Lopes of Lisbon, to whom I am indebted for much kind help. It is a remarkable coincidence that, according to John Barrow (Travels in China, p.597) Lord Macartney should, when crossing the Meiling Pass, have been reminded, like Christovão Vieyra, of the Cintra rocks.
{12}[DF, p.121, n.99] The city on the Kwangtung · side of the pass is Nanhiung;• that of the Kiangshî side is Nanngan. · (See Mid. King., I. pp.113, 159, 174).
{13}[DF, p. 121, n. 100] According to Williams (Mid. King., I. p. 159) the road between Nanhiung and Nanngan is twenty-four miles in length.
{14}[DF, p.121, n.1] Cf. Barrow, op. cit., p.542.
{15}[DF, p.121, n.2] The orig. has "em recados de psa."'which is unintelligible. Sr. Lopes suggests enrocado de pedras, which I have adopted, though I am not quite satisfied with it.
{16}[DF, p.122, n.3] An error: there is no riverless province.
{17}[DF, p.122, n.4] It must be observed that the Portuguese Cantão· represents both the province of Kwangtung and the city of Kwangchau-fû. ·
{18}[DF, p.122, n.5] I think this should be Tancão, and the place referred to is Tungkwan· on the Tungkiang· or East River. (See infra, ff. ll9v, 121v).
{19}[DF, p.123, n.6] Chin. chên, · now = a market town.
{20}[DF, p.124, n.7] Cf. the letter of Diogo Calvo in the Introduction.
NOTES
Numeration without punctuation marks follow that in Cristóvão Vieira's original text selected in Rui Loureiro's edited text in "Revista de Cultura" (Portuguese edition), Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, p.35.
The spelling of Rui Loureiro's edited text [Port.] is indicated between quotation marks and in italics《" "》-- unless the spelling of the original Portuguese text is indicated -- followed by the spelling of David Ferguson's English translation [DF], indicated immediately after, between quotation marks within parentheses《(" ")》.
1 Although not absolutely correct, this first listing of the provinces of China during the Ming · dynasty (1368-1644) identifies most of them. In those times the Middle Kingdom was subdivided into thirteen provinces and two metropolitain areas. The metropolitain areas were Beijing ·and Nanjing; ·the provinces being Guangdong, · Fujian, ·Zhejiang · and Shandong · -- with a coastal border --; and Yunnan, · Guizhou, · Guangxi, · Jiangxi, ·Huguang, · Henan, · Sichuan, · Shaanxi· and Shanxi ·-- inland. The author uses different variants of these toponyms in the context of his letter.
2 The author is referring to his trip of 1520-1521, between Guangzhou and Beijing, as a member of Tomé Pires [ambassadorial] retinue.
3 "taza[s]" [original Port.] ("Taza[s]"): the Tartars who, in those days, frequently made predatory incursions across the northern borders of the Middle Kingdom.
4 "Cauchim" [Port.] ("Cauchim") = Tonkin ·[Chin.]: the Gulf of that name.
5 "Miulem" ·or "Moulem"·[original Port.] ("Miuylem" or "Moulem") = Meiling ·[Chin.]: The pass of that name.
6 A curious reference of the author to the Sintra mountain range, near Lisbon.
7 "Tanção" [original Port.] ("Tanção") = Dongguan · [Chin.]: probably meaning, the city of this name in the estuary of the Dong · (East River).
8 This passage implies an incitement to the conquest of Guangdong province by the Portuguese, a project more overtly promoted in other sections of the letter. This project is understandably justified bearing in mind the tragic situation which overtook the author forcing the limitations to his clear understanding of the Chinese reality.
9 "cheno[s]" [original Port.] ("cheno[s]")= cheng ·[Chin.]: meaning in this context, a market town.
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