the circumftance o f the Jews being fettled chiefly in the filk
provinces, and o f their being at this time in confiderable.-nutn-
bers near Hang-tchoo-foo, where they, carry on, the principal
trade in this article, and have acquired the reputation o f fabricating
the heft fluffs o f this material that are made in China ;
nor do I know in what other w ay they could recommend them-
i'elves to the Chinefe, fo far as to have obtained the protection
o f this jealous government, and to be allowed to intermarry
-with the women o f the country. It is true they have praftifed
no underhand attempts to fedu.ce the natives from their paternal
religion, and to perfuade them to embrace their own ; and although
they are not very famous for the cultivation o f the
fciences, yet they might have rendered themfelyes extremely
•ufeful in fuggefting improvements in many o f the arts afid manufactures.
Many o f them, indeed, forfake the religion o f their
forefathers, and arrive at high employments in the ftate. Few
among them, I underftand, except the Rabbis, have any knowledge
of the Hebrew language, and they have long been fo intermixed
with the Chinefe, that the priefts at the prefent day
are faid to find fome difficulty in keeping up their congregations.
So different are the effeCts produced by fuffering, in-
ftead o f perfecuting, religious opinions.
One o f the miffionaries has given an account o f his vifit to a
fynagogue o f Jews in China. He found the priefts mod rigo-
roufly attached to their old law : nor had they the leaft knowledge
o f any other Jefus having appeared in the world, except
the fon o f Sirach, o f whom, he fays, their hiftory makes mention.
I f this be really the fad , their anceftors could not have
been
been any part o f the ten tribes that were carried into captivity,
but may rather be fuppofed to have been among the followers
o f Alexander’s army,, which agrees with their own account o f
the time they firft fettled in China- T hey poffeffed a copy o f
the Pentateuch and fome other fragments o f the Sacred Writings,
which they had brought along with them from the weft,
ward, but the miffionary’s information is very imperfed, as he
was ignorant o f the Hebrew language
Although a very great fimilarity is obfervable between many
o f the ancient Jewifh rites and ceremonies and thofe in ufe
among the Chinefe, yet there feems to be no reafon for fup-
pofing that the latter received any part o f their religion from the
* A ll ous enquiries, in paffing the city o f Hang-tchoo-foo, were fruitleis with regard
to tliefe Tfraelites. Wè had hitherto entertained a hope o f being able to procure,
in the courfe of our journey,- a copy o f thi»; ancient monument'of the Jewiih
hiftory,, which thè- late Dòétor Gfeddes ctìnfidered-as very defirable. to compare with
thofe already in Europe j but the haft-y manner in which we travelled* and the repugnance
(hewn by pur conducting officers, Chou and Van excepted, who had little
power or infliience-in the provinces, tb; enter into any o f our views that might appear
to occafton delay,, prevented the fulfilment o f thofe hopes. It were much to be
wiflìed,- tfcat thè reverend.miffionaries would fo far lay afide their antipathy againft
opinions, not exadlly coinciding with their own, and enter into fiich a. correfpondence
with the Jews-, as-would obtain from them-, whicK they are no doubt poflefled of,-an
account of the progfeis made by the Chinefe in.civilization.and arts,, fin.ce their firft
fettjing in that country , and of other particulars noted down by them. The circumr
ftance oftheir carrying with them their code o f laws, and the hiftory o f their tribes,
is a fufficient proof that they underftood a written language which, there can be no
doubt, they would ufe the utmoft-. caution not-to lofe. Such-ah account would be
more authentic than the Chinefe annals, the beft o f which abound in hyperbole, and
contain fadts fo difguifefd in metaphor, that it is no eafy matter to extrait from them
the fimple truth. A t all-events, the comparifon'of the-two -hiftori.es would- ferve ‘to
verify each other.
anceftors