13 CHAPTER XI
Sheweth of the Letters, Cyphers, and Figures, of the People of CHINA, and of their Studies in general.

The people of CHINA have no number of letters in their A, B, C, for all they write is by figures, ∫ignifying the heaven, which they call Guant; • by the one only figure, which is this . And the king which they call Bontai,• which is this . And in like order the earth, and ∫ea, and the re∫t of the elements, and names, u∫ing more than five thou∫and cyphers and figures†, different from the other, which they make very readily. I ∫aw a Chineze do it, and I reque∫ted him to write certain names, 1 and he ∫hewed to me the numbers that they do account withal, and they were ea∫y to under∫tand, and to ∫um and re∫t any manner of accompt by arithmetick by them as well as by tho∫e of our cyphers, they make the lines throughout both above and beneath very equal and with great order, beginning contrary to us. After the ∫elf ∫ame order they have in their impre∫∫ion, which they u∫ed many years before it was u∫ed in Europe. Of their printed books which doth Treat of their hi∫tories, there were two of tho∫e books in the power of the mo∫t excellent queen of Portugal and lady Katherine, that now liveth. 2 And that which ∫eemeth mo∫t to be marvelled at is that they ∫peaking different languages in the mo∫t part of their provinces, and the one under∫tand not the other by their speech, more than the Ga∫coigns do understand the Valentians, yet generally they under∫tand one another by writing; for one manner of figure or cypher doth ∫erve every one of them, and to ∫ignify to them any manner of name; and although they declare to one another of them any word that is ∫trange, [∫trange effect in their writting.] Yet they under∫tand that it ∫ignifieth the ∫elf-same thing, becau∫e they ∫ee plainly, that it dot ∫ignify a city, which is this * and some call it Leombi, • and other Fu, · the one and the other do under∫tand that it is to be under∫tood a city, and the like followeth in all other names. And in this ∫ort they talk with one another in writing; tho∫e of Lapaon, and the i∫lands of the Lechios, •3 and the realm of Guanchinchina, without under∫tanding any word the one with another when they speak.

[Free Schools] In all cities the king hath general ∫chools at his own co∫t, and to them do come an infinitie number of ∫cholars to be taught. A friar named Ga∫par de la Cruz, being a religious man of Portugal, of the order of ∫aint Dominick, that was in that country in the city of Canton, ·and that wrote plentifully the things he ∫aw, and that which happened to him in the voyage, 4 faith, that they teach in the∫e [Their Laws taught in ∫chools.] their ∫chools, only the laws of their realm and no other ∫cience. 5 But there be ∫ome learned men that have knowledge of cour∫e of heavens, whereby they know [A∫tronomers.] the eclip∫es of the ∫un and the moon, and the∫e teach to particular per∫ons of their free-will. And John de Barros doth ∫ay, that be∫ides the teaching of their own laws, they al∫o teach natural philo∫ophy, and that there are great a∫trologers, which he knoweth by relation of others, and by a book they brought him from thence of the∫e imitations of the country, with a commentary upon the ∫ame after the manner of an itinerary, with a map or card geographical made by the said people of the Chineze, wherein in mention made of one wall which beginneth from the city of Ocoioy, ·6 and ∫tandeth between two [A notable wall.] very high mountains, even like into a way, pa∫∫age, or gate, that pa∫∫eth through that whole region, which doth run from forty-three to forty-five degrees from we∫t to ea∫t, and until it meets with another great hill, which runneth out into the ea∫terly ∫eas, after the manner of a head-land, or cape, and ∫eemeth to be in length more than two hundred leagues, which the king in times pa∫t did command to build, for to defend the incur∫ions of the Tartars from his country, their ancient mortal ennemies. And all tho∫e mountains, rivers, cities and towns, with their names, which card or map did an∫wer well to the book, after the manner as they u∫e there, and journey, and we u∫e the like. And the fir∫t and la∫t distance they cal Lij, · which have ∫o much ∫pace as in a plain ground, and in a calm day the voice of a man may be heard, and ten of the∫e Lij's do make one Pu, · which do an∫wer little more that a league of our's of ∫pain; and ten Pu's do make a day's journey, which they call Ichan. · And it is not to be marvelled at, that they do not ∫ituate the di∫tance of the land with degrees an∫wering to the cele∫tial orb, ∫eeing that at the time of Ptolomy it was not u∫ed by geographers, notwith∫tanding the he ∫aith they have this u∫e in their Oro ∫ copos, when they use their a∫trology. 7

The king doth ∫end to the∫e ∫cholars [vi∫itors to the ∫chools.] every year vi∫itors to examine the ∫tudents, to ∫ee and under∫tand if they profit in learning. And the∫e which are able and learn well, they honour with words of commendation, and do animate them that they go forward in their ∫tudy, offering them to increa∫e their livings; and the∫e which do not profit in learning, they command to be put in pri∫on, and they whip them; and when they are altogether uprofitable, they di∫patch them away every three years. The vi∫itors u∫e this kind of examination, when they come to take re∫idence of the judges and the king's officers; and they bring power and authority to graduate ∫uch as are able men, 8 and of ∫ufficient knowledge in the law, which is to make hem ∫ufficient for to ∫erve the king on offices and governments, as it is more at large declared in another chapter following. 9

[This is followed by APPENDIX to Chap. XI. / Concerning the Language and ∫Characters of the Chineze. -pp.51-55].

Revised reprint of:

[ESCALANTE, Bernardino de], An ACCOUNT of the EMPIRE of CHINA: Wherein is De∫cribecd / the Country of CHINA, with the Provinces and states ∫ubject to their Exten ∫ive Empire. /Also/An Account of its Climate, Product, Navigation, Cities, Temples, Buildings, Letters, Figures, Gems, Studies, Government, Religion, Rites and Ceremonies; and of the Complexion, Apparel and Conditions of the People. /to which is prefix'd, /A Di∫course of the Navigation which the Portugueze do make to the Realms and Provinces of the East Parts of the World. / Written by BARNARDINE of E∫calante, of the Realm of Galicia, Prie∫t. / Translated out of the Spani ∫ h into Engli∫h, by JOHN FRAMPTON. / with ∫everal APPENDIXES, in "A collection of Voyages and Travels, consisting of/Authentic Writers in our Tongue, which have not before been collected in Engli ∫ h, or have only been abridged in other Collections./And continued with /Others of Note, that have publi ∫ hed HISTORIES, VOYAGES, TRAVELS, JOURNALS or DISCOVERIES /Any Part of the CONTINENT OF ASIA, AFRICA, AMERICA, EUROPE, or the Islands Thereof, from the earlie ∫ t Account to the pre ∫ ent time. /DIGESTED/According to the PARTS OF THE WORLD, to which they particularly relate: / WITH/HISTORICAL INTRODUCTIONS to each ACCOUNT, where thought nece ∫∫ ary, containing either the LIVES of their A UTHORS, or what el ∫ e could be di ∫ covered and was ∫ uppo ∫ ed capable of entertaining and informing the curious READER./And with great Variety of/CUTS, PROSPECTS, RUINS, MAPS and CHARTS. / COMPILED / From the curious and valuable LIBRARY of the late / EARL of OXFORD. / Inter ∫ pe ∫ ed and illu ∫ trated with NOTES, / CONTAINING, Either a GENERAL ACCOUNT of the DISCOVERY of the∫e ∫ e COUNTRIES, or an Ab ∫ tract of their HISTORIES, GOVERNMENT, TRADE, RELIGION, &c. Collected from ORIGINAL PAPERS, LETTERS, CHARTERS, LETTERS PATTENTS, ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, &c. not to be met with, and proper to explain many ob ∫ cure pa ∫∫ ages in other Collections of this kind. / Vol. II / London: / Printed and sold by THOMAS OSBORNE of Gray's-Inn./MDCCXLV", chap. XI, pp.50-51.

For the Portuguese translation see:

ESCALANTE, Bernardino de, LOUREIRO, Rui Manuel, intro., Discurso de Navegação, in "Antologia Documental: Visões da China na Literatura Ibérica dos Séculos XVI e XVII", in "Revista de Cultura", Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, pp.95-96- For the Portuguese modernised translation by the author of the Spanish (Castilian) original text, with words or expressions in between square brackets added to clarify the meaning.

For the original source of the Portuguese translation, see:

ESCALANTE, Bernardino de, DÍAS-TRECHUELO, Lourdes, ed., Discurso de la Navegación que los Portugueses Hazen a los Reinos y Provincias del Oriente, y de la Noticia que se Tiene del Reino de China (Sevilla 1577), Salamanca, Universidad de Cantabria - Ayun-tamiento de Laredo, 1991, fls.61vo-64vo - Partial translation from Spanish.

NOTES

Numeration without punctuation marks follow that in Bernardino de Escalante's original text selected in Rui Loureiro's edited text in "Revista de Cultura" (Portuguese edition), Macau, 31 (2) Abril-Junho [April-June] 1997, pp.95-96.

The spelling of Rui Loureiro's edited text [Port.] is indicated between quotation marks and in italics 《""》 - unless the spelling of the original Spanish [Span.] text is indicated -followed by the spelling of John Frampton's English translation [JF], indicated immediately after, between quotation marks within parentheses 《("")》.

1 The author may have met this Chinese person in Lisbon, which he visited several years before publishing his literary work. There were about fifty thousand Chinese characters contemporary to Escalante's time, a much higher number than mentioned by the author. The first printed European edition with Chinese characters was a collection of letters by Jesuits, published in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1570. The characters drawn by the author where the second printed examples published in Europe.

2 Catherine of Austria (°1507-†1579), widow of the king of Portugal, Dom João III (° 1502-r. 1521-†1557), was an avid collector of exotic items.

3 "Léquias"·[Port.] ("Lechios")= Liuqiu·[Chin.]: the Ryukyu ('Liu Kiu') Archipelago.

4 The author certainly owned a copy of Gaspar da Cruz' ("Gaspar de la Cruz") Tratado das Cousas da Chin [...] (Treatise in which Things of China are related at great length [...]), having repeatedly made use of it for the composition of his literary work. (See: Text 8 - Gaspar da Cruz)

5 This reference omits to mention many other subjects equally taught in Chinese schools at the time.

6 "Ochiói"·[Port.] ("Ocoioy") =Jiayu ·or Jiayuguan· [Chin.]: a Chinese pass in the western end of the [Ming] Great Wall [- in the province of Gansu ·-] "which, during the Ming dynasty, extended to the east until the Gulf of Zhili·[Chihli, · or Po Hai]. ·

7 All this paragraph was extracted from João de Barros ("John de Barros "), Década da Asia - III (Decade of Asia - III), a work which must have been equally owned by Bernardino de Escalante. (See: Text 13 -Bernardino de Escalante)

8 "Loutia"·[Port.] ("[...] able men, [...]") = laodie·[Chin.]: literaly meaning, 'venerable father' - an honourable attribution to Chinese civil servants. This word is systematically used by Galiote Pereira and Gaspar da Cruz (See: Text 8 - Galiote Pereira Text 11 - Gaspar da Cruz), instead of the title "mandarin" [Chinese government official], more commonly used by other authors.

9 In a somewhat confusing way, the author makes reference to the periodical exams which gave candidates - irrespectively of their social origins -access to a government career.

* Editor's note: The original source of the Portuguese translation [see p.127] has: instead of; instead of ; ideographs for ; and instead of .