The letters from the emperor of China, to the viceroys, governors, eunuchs, and lieutenants, are conveyed on post-horses, which are distinguished by cut tails, and these are disposed at regular stations, all over the empire, almost like the posts among the Arabs.  In China, every man, from the emperor to the meanest of the people, makes water standing [8]; and for this purpose, persons of dignity have gilded hollow canes, a cubit long, to convey their water to a distance.  They are of opinion, that pains in the kidneys, strangury, and even the stone, are occasioned by urining in a sitting posture, as the reins cannot free themselves absolutely from evil humours, except by evacuating in an erect position.  They do not mould the heads of new born infants into a round form as we do, as they allege that this practice injures the brain, and impairs the senses.  They suffer their hair to grow, which is carefully combed.  The nation is divided into tribes, like those of the Arabs and some others, and no man ever marries in his own tribe:  just as the children of Thummim among the Arabs never take a wife from that tribe.  Or, for example, a man of the tribe of Robayat marries a daughter of the tribe Modzar, and a Modzar marries a Robayat; and they are of opinion, that such alliances add to the dignity and power of their children.

In the kingdom of the Balhara, and all the other kingdoms of the Indies, there are men who burn themselves in consequence of their belief in the doctrine of transmigration.  When a man has come to this resolution, he asks leave of the king, which being obtained, he goes in procession round all the public squares of the city, and proceeds to the place appointed, where a pile of dry wood is ready for the purpose, having many persons all round to feed the fire, which blazes prodigiously.  At last the person comes forward, preceded by a number of instruments, and moves round the pile in the midst of his friends and relations.  During this ceremony, some person places on his head a garland of straw, or dry herbs, filled with burning coals, on which they pour sandrach, which takes fire as strongly as naphtha; notwithstanding of which, he continues his progress without betraying any sense of pain, or change of countenance, though the crown of his head be all on fire, and the stench of his burning flesh is felt all round.  At length, he comes up to the pile, and throws himself in, where he is soon reduced to ashes.  A credible person says, he once saw an Indian burn himself; and when he came near the pile, he drew out a cangiar, or sharp knife, with which he ripped himself open, and pulling out the lap of his liver with his left hand, cut off a piece of it with his cangiar, and gave it to one of his brothers, talking all the time with the most invincible contempt of death and torture, and at length leaped into the fire, in his passage to hell.