protection of his retinue; for the country furnished all the

provisions for nothing to him, and yet he took our money for them.

We were twenty-five days travelling to Pekin, through a country

exceeding populous, but I think badly cultivated; the husbandry,

the economy, and the way of living miserable, though they boast so

much of the industry of the people: I say miserable, if compared

with our own, but not so to these poor wretches, who know no other.

The pride of the poor people is infinitely great, and exceeded by