was well attended, and could complain of nothing but my Restraint; Thus continued I many Months, afflicted more with the Thoughts of my Gansas than any Thing else, who I knew must be irrecoverably lost, as indeed they were.
In this Time by my own Industry, and the Assistance of those who accompanied me, I learnt to speak indifferently the Language of that Province, (for almost every Province in China hath its proper Tongue) whereat I perceived they were much pleased: At length I was permitted to take the Air, and brought into the spacious Garden of that Palace, a Place of extraordinary Pleasure and Delight, adorned with Herbs and Flowers of admible Sweetness and Beauty, with almost infinite Variety of Fruits, European and others, all composed with that rare Curiosity, as even ravished my Senses in the Contemplation of such delightful Objects; I had not long recreated myself here, when the Mandarin entered the Garden on that Side I was walking, of which having Notice by his Servants, and that I ought to kneel to him (a usual Reverence I found toward great Officers) I did so, and humbly intreated his Favour toward a poor Stranger, who arrived in these Parts not designedly, but by the secret Disposal of the Heavens; he answered in a different Language which I hear all the Mandarins use, and like that of the Lunars confiding chiefly of Tunes, which was interpreted by one of his Attendants, wishing me to be of good Comfort, since he intended no Harm to me. Next Day I was ordered to come before him, and being conducted into a noble Dining-room exquisitely painted, the Mandarin commanding all to avoid, vouchsafed to confer with me in the vulgar Language, enquiring into the State of my Country, the Power of my Prince, and the Religion and Manners of the Peo-
