IX. If we attempt going out of Europe, every thing beyond those limits
seems barbarous to us. When the imagination of the vulgar contemplates
Asia, it represents to them, the Turks, the Persians, the Indians, the
Chinese and the Japonese, as little better than so many congregations of
satyrs, or demi-brutes. But notwithstanding this, there are none of these
nations, who do not make as great advances in all the things they apply
themselves to, as we do in whatever we study.
X. Their abhorrence for, nor their ignorance of the sciences in Turkey,
is not so great as is generally imagined; for they have professors
both in Constantinople and Grand Cairo, who teach astronomy, geometry,
arithmetic, poetry, and the Arabic and Persian languages. But they have
not so great an esteem for those faculties, as they have for politics;
in their knowledge of which, there is scarce any nation who is equal to
them, nor are there any subtilties appertaining to political arts, which
they are ignorant of. The great English traveller, Mr. Chardin, in the
relation of his voyage to India by land, tells us, that when he passed
through Constantinople, he had much conversation with Senor Quirini the
Venetian ambassador at the Porte; who assured him, that he had never
treated with a man of equal penetration to the vizir of that time; and
declared, that if he had a son whom he wished to breed a negociator,
he would send him to the school of the Ottoman court preferable to any
other. The Turks excel in all things that require dexterity of hand, and
in all bodily exercises they take a fancy to. They are the best pen men
in the world, and this is the reason, why they never would permit the
art of printing to be introduced among them; and they are also the most
active and dextrous rope-dancers in Europe. Cardanus relates wonders of
two of them he saw in Italy, one of whom became a Christian, and lived
an exemplary life, but always continued his old exercise; although his
becoming a convert to Christianity, removed the suspicion that the vulgar
entertained of his dealing with the devil. The dexterity of the Turks as
archers, is so eminent, that the force and exactness with which they can
shoot arrows is almost incredible. John Barclay, in the fourth book of
his Satyricon, testifies to have seen a Turk penetrate with an arrow,
a plate of steel, that was above an inch thick; and that he had seen
another, who with the shaft of an arrow without any iron to it, split the
body of a small tree. In the art of confectioning poisons, they are also
very expert; for they will make them not only very active, but contrive
them so, as that they may be administered without creating suspicion; a
thin vapour with which a piece of fine linen is impregnated, if it is
afterwards made up in any form, and sent as a present to the person to be
dispatched, is made the instrument to take away his life. This is a most
horrid and execrable art; but although it proves the perverse and wicked
disposition of those people, is an argument of their great talents, for
acquiring a profound knowledge of all they apply themselves to understand.
XI. The Persians, are still more polished than the Turks. They have
their colleges and universities, where they study arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, natural and moral philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence,
rhetoric, and poetry; which last, they are passionately fond of, and
write elegant verses, although they are generally too redundantly
abounding in pompous metaphors; and they are so far from being guilty
of that ferocious neglect of urbanity which we are apt to impute to all
the Mahometans, that there are no people who excel them in expressions
of civility, tenderness, and affection. Whenever a Persian invites any
one to his house, or is desirous of manifesting his esteem for him, he
generally makes use of these, or some such like expressions; _I intreat
you that you will honour my habitation with your presence; and I shall
be ready to devote myself to making it agreeable to you in every shape,
and to indulging all your wishes; and should even be willing that the
favourite females of my eyes, should be converted to carpets for you to
set your feet on_.
XII. It is true that in the East Indies, we do not find the cultivation
of letters, but we find there a more than ordinary capacity for attaining
them. John Baptist Tavernier, speaking of the negroes or mulattoes of
that country called Canarines, many of whom are employed in various
occupations in Goa, the Philippine islands, and other places in the
possession of the Portugueze and Spaniards, says, that the children of
those who apply themselves to study, acquire more in six months, than
the children of Europeans learn in a year; and says further, that he
was told this by some of the religious of Goa who had the tutelage of
them. I am persuaded that the Portugueze, when they first saw this
sooty-faced race, believed their reason, was as obscure and dark as their
complexions; and that they supposed themselves nearly as superior in
natural talents to them, as men are to brutes; and in how many parts of
the globe, where we judge the inhabitants to be stupid, might we possibly
see the same thing! for the metal of their understandings, for want of
examining it by the touch-stone of study, has remained occult and unknown.