ved with the same tile; the
ceiling and all the plastering work in the whole house were of the same
earth; and, after all, the roof was covered with tiles of the same, but
of a deep shining black. This was a China warehouse indeed, truly and
literally to be called so, and had I not been upon the journey, I could
have stayed some days to see and examine the particulars of it. They
told me there were fountains and fishponds in the garden, all paved on
the bottom and sides with the same; and fine statues set up in rows on
the walks, entirely formed of the porcelain earth, burnt whole.

As this is one of the singularities of China, so they may be allowed to
excel in it; but I am very sure they excel in their accounts of it; for
they told me such incredible things of their performance in
crockery-ware, for such it is, that I care not to relate, as knowing it
could not be true. They told me, in particular, of one workman that made
a ship with all its tackle and masts and sails in earthenware, big enough
to carry fifty men. If they had told me he launched it, and made a
voyage to Japan in it, I might have said something to it indeed; but as
it was, I knew the whole of the story, which was, in short, that the
fellow lied: so I smiled, and said nothing to it. This odd sight kept me
two hours behind the caravan, for which the leader of it for the day
fined me about the value of three shillings; and told me if it had been
three days' journey without the wall, as it was three days' within, he
must have fined me four times as much, and made me ask pardon the next
council-day. I promised to be more orderly; and, indeed, I found
afterwards the orders made for keeping all together were absolutely
necessary for our common safety.

In two days more we passed the great China wall, made for a fortification
against the Tartars: and a very great work it is, going over hills and
mountains in an endless track, where the rocks are impassable, and the
precipices such as no enemy could possibly enter, or indeed climb up, or
where, if they did, no wall could hinder them. They tell us its length
is near a thousand English miles, but that the country is five hundred in
a straight measured line, which the wall bounds without measuring the
windings and turnings it takes; it is about four fathoms high, and as
many thick in some places.

I stood still an hour or thereabouts without trespassing on our orders
(for so long the caravan was in passi