The Consolidator | Page 2

how so prodigious an Attempt is made easy; so that now they have an
exact Correspondence, and drive a prodigious Trade between Muscow

and Tonquin; but having a longer Voyage in Hand, I shall not detain
the Reader, nor keep him till he grows too big with Expectation.
Now, as all Men know the Chineses are an Ancient, Wise, Polite, and
most Ingenious People; so the Muscovites begun to reap the Benefit of
this open Trade; and not only to grow exceeding Rich by the bartering
for all the Wealth of those Eastern Countries; but to polish and refine
their Customs and Manners, as much on that side as they have from
their European Improvements on this.
And as the Chineses have many sorts of Learning which these Parts of
the World never heard of, so all those useful Inventions which we
admire ourselves so much for, are vulgar and common with them, and
were in use long before our Parts of the World were Inhabited. Thus
Gun-powder, Printing, and the use of the Magnet and Compass, which
we call Modern Inventions, are not only far from being Inventions, but
fall so far short of the Perfection of Art they have attained to, that it is
hardly Credible, what wonderful things we are told of from thence, and
all the Voyages the Author has made thither being imploy'd another
way, have not yet furnish'd him with the Particulars fully enough to
transmit them to view; not but that he is preparing a Scheme of all
those excellent Arts those Nations are Masters of, for publick View, by
way of Detection of the monstrous Ignorance and Deficiencies of
European Science; which may serve as a Lexicon Technicum for this
present Age, with useful Diagrams for that purpose; wherein I shall not
fail to acqaint the World, 1. With the Art of Gunnery, as Practis'd in
China long before the War of the Giants, and by which those
Presumptuous Animals fired Red-hot Bullets right up into Heaven, and
made a Breach sufficient to encourage them to a General Storm; but
being Repulsed with great Slaughter, they gave over the Siege for that
time. This memorable part of History shall be a faithful Abridgement of
Ibra chizra-le-peglizar, Historiagrapher-Royal to the Emperor of China,
who wrote Anno Mundi 114. his Volumes extant, in the Publick
Library at Tonquin, Printed in Leaves of Vitrify'd Diamond, by an
admirable Dexterity, struck all at an oblique Motion, the Engine
remaining intire, and still fit for use, in the Chamber of the Emperor's
Rarities.

And here I shall give you a Draft of the Engine it self, and a Plan of its
Operation, and the wonderful Dexterity of its Performance.
If these Labours of mine shall prove successful, I may in my next
Journey that way, take an Abstract of their most admirable Tracts in
Navigation, and the Mysteries of Chinese Mathematicks; which out-do
all Modern Invention at that Rate, that 'tis Inconceivable: In this
Elaborate Work I must run thro' the 365 Volumes of
Augro-machi-lanquaro-zi, the most ancient Mathematician in all China:
From thence I shall give a Description of a Fleet of Ships of 100000
Sail, built at the Expence of the Emperor Tangro the 15th; who having
Notice of the General Deluge, prepar'd these Vessels, to every City and
Town in his Dominions One, and in Bulk proportion'd to the number of
its Inhabitants; into which Vessel all the People, with such Moveables
as they thought fit to save, and with 120 Days Provisions, were receiv'd
at the time of the Floud; and the rest of their Goods being put into great
Vessels made of China Ware, and fast luted down on the top, were
preserv'd unhurt by the Water: These Ships they furnish'd with 600
Fathom of Chain instead of Cables; which being fastned by wonderful
Arts to the Earth, every Vessel rid out the Deluge just at the Town's end;
so that when the Waters abated, the People had nothing to do, but to
open the Doors made in the Ship-sides, and come out, repair their
Houses, open the great China Pots their Goods were in, and so put
themselves in Statu Quo.
The Draft of one of these Ships I may perhaps obtain by my Interest in
the present Emperor's Court, as it has been preserv'd ever since, and
constantly repair'd, riding at Anchor in a great Lake, about 100 Miles
from Tonquin; in which all the People of that City were preferv'd,
amounting by their Computation to about a Million and half.
And as these things must be very useful in these Parts, to abate the
Pride and Arrogance of our Modern Undertakers of great Enterprizes,
Authors of strange Foreign Accounts, Philosophical Transactions, and
the like; if Time and Opportunity permit, I may