436 ROBINSON CRUSOR,

of the same earth, that it was very hard to see where the tiles
met. The floors of the rooms were of the same composition,
and as hard as the earthen floors we have in use in several
parts of England; as hard as stone, and smooth, but not
burned and painted, except some smaller rooms, like closets,
which were all, as it were, paved with the same tile 3 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-
ware-house indeed, truly and literally to be called so; and had
I not been upon the journey, I could have staid some days to
see and examine the particulars of it, They told me there
were fountains and fish-ponds 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, and
burned whole.

As this is one of the singularities of China, so they may
be atlowed 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, One told me,
in particular, of a workman that made a ship, with all its.
tackle, and masts, and sails, in earthen-ware, big enough to
carry fifty men. If he had told me he launched_-it, and ™.aue
a voyage to Japan in it, I might have said somethiiig to it, in-
deed ; but as it was, I knew the whole of the story, which was,
in short, asking pardon for the word, 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 a needless 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
4 straight measuted line, which the wall bounds, witheut