A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 770 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01.

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 770 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01.
be made, that of any man has been wronged by the viceroy or governor, or by any of his relations or officers, or any other person, he shall receive ample justice.  A viceroy or governor is never degraded, except by letters issued from the council, or divan of kings, and this is done only for some flagrant malversation, or for the refusal or delay of justice.  The posts of judicature being conferred upon none but men of probity and justice, good order is efectually maintained.

The province of Chorassan is almost on the borders of China.  From China to Sogd is about two months journey, through impracticable deserts of sand, where there is no water; for which reason the Chorassanians can make no irruptions into China.  The most westerly province of China is Medu, which borders on Thibet, and the two nations are often at war.  A person who had been in China, informed us, that he had seen a man at Canfu, who had traveled from Samare, all the way on foot, through all the cities in China, with a vessel of musk on his back for sale; which he might easily do, as the part of Thibet, which produces musk, is contiguous to China.  The Chinese carry off as many of the animals which produce musk as they can procure; but the musk of Thibet is far better than that of China, because the animal feeds on aromatic plants in the mountains of Thibet, while in China it has to subsist upon the ordinary pastures; and because the inhabitants of Thibet preserve their cods of musk in its natural state of purity, while the Chinese adulterate all that gets into their hands; for which reason the musk of Thibet is in great request among the Arabs.  The most exquisite of all the sorts of musk, is that which the musk animals leave behind them, in rubbing themselves on the rocks of their native mountains.  The humour whence the musk is generated, falls down towards the navel of the animal, where it gathers into tumors like grumous blood; and when this tumor is ripe, it produces a painful itching, on which the animal rubs himself against rocks or stones till he bursts the tumor, and the contents run out and coagulate on the stone; after which, the wound heals, and the humour gathers again as before.  There are men in Thibet who make it their business to collect this species of musk, which they preserve in bladders, and which, having ripened, naturally surpasses all others in goodness, just as ripe fruit exceeds in flavour that which is pulled green.  There is another way of procuring musk, either by ensnaring the animals, or shooting them with arrows; but the hunters often cut out the bags before the musk is ripe or fully elaborated, in which case, the musk at first has a bad scent, till the humour thickens, after which it turns to good musk, though this sometimes takes a long while.  The musk animal is like our roebuck, his skin and colour the same, with slender legs, and smooth slightly bent horns; having on each side two small white teeth, about half a finger-length, which rise about his muzzle, not much unlike the form of the teeth of the elephant, and by which he is distinguished from other roebucks.

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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.