No More Learning

While the other pagans of Asia worship the most ugly monstrous idols,
the Tartars of Thibet adore a real living god. He sits cross-legged on
his throne, in the great temple, adorned with gold and diamonds. He
never speaks, but sometimes elevates his hand in token that he approves
of the prayers of his worshippers. He is a ruddy well-looking young man,
about 25 or 27, and is the most miserable wretch on earth, being the
mere puppet of his priests, who dispatch him whenever age or sickness
make any alteration in his features; and another, instructed to act his
part, is put in his place. Princes of very distant provinces send
tribute to this deity and implore his blessing, and, as Voltaire has
merrily told us, think themselves secure of benediction if favoured with
something from his godship, esteemed more sacred than the hallowed
cow-dung of the Brahmins.

[663] _How bright a silver mine. _--By this beautiful metaphor (omitted
by Castera) Camoens alludes to the great success, which in his time
attended the Jesuit missionaries in Japan. James I. sent an embassy to
the sovereign, and opened a trade with this country, but it was soon
suffered to decline. The Dutch are the only Europeans who now traffic
with the Japanese, which it is said they obtain by trampling on the
cross and by abjuring the Christian name. In religion the Japanese are
much the same as their neighbours of China. And in the frequency of
self-murder, says Voltaire, they vie with their brother islanders of
England.

[664] _The ground they touch not. _--These are commonly called the birds
of Paradise. It was the old erroneous opinion that they always soared in
the air, and that the female hatched her young on the back of the male.
Their feathers bear a mixture of the most beautiful azure, purple, and
golden colours, which have a fine effect in the rays of the sun.

[665] _From hence the pilgrim brings the wondrous tale. _--Streams of
this kind are common in many countries. Castera attributes this quality
to the excessive coldness of the waters, but this is a mistake. The
waters of some springs are impregnated with sparry particles, which
adhering to the herbage, or the clay, on the banks of their channel,
harden into stone, and incrust the original retainers.

[666] _Here from the trees the gum. _--Benzoin, a species of
frankincense. The oil mentioned in the next line, is that called the
rock oil, petroleum, a black fetid mineral oil, good for bruises and
sprains.

[667] _Wide forests there beneath Maldivia's tide. _--A sea plant,
resembling the palm, grows in great abundance in the bays about the
Maldivian islands. The boughs rise to the top of the water, and bear a
kind of apple, called the coco of Maldivia, which is esteemed an
antidote against poison.

[668] _The tread of sainted footstep. _--The imprint of a human foot is
found on the high mountain, called the Pic of Adam. Legendary tradition
says, that Adam, after he was expelled from Paradise, did penance 300
years on this hill, on which he left the print of his footstep. This
tale seems to be Jewish, or Mohammedan; for the natives, according to
Captain Knox (who was twenty years a captive in Ceylon), pretend the
impression was made by the god Budha, when he ascended to heaven, after
having, for the salvation of mankind, appeared on the earth. His priests
beg charity for the sake of Budha, whose worship they perform among
groves of the Bogahah-tree, under which, when on earth, they say he
usually sat and taught.