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Show nounced, and thenthey intend feveral thi gs Asfor example, Y'a with his mar over it, fignifies God ; and with this mar over it, Ya, aWall; and Y3 with thi mark, fignifies Dumbnefs Yet notwithftanding all thefe helps, the e Lap guage is very diflicult to be l arned and underftood, as well in regard o bl fignification of the words, as alf becaufe that in this Languag certain number of Letters, but every bufin fs and intention of the mind muft be ex preft by a particular Chara&@e ; which gives not only an infinit le to thof that will learn it, but caufesa vafy xpence of time, taking Uup ten or wenty year before a man can obtain to th knowledge of fpeaking and wr this Myfterious Language , where n the Natives themfelves know far bette % their minds in writing, then by {]peaking But 1 regard I have now fpoke Writing of th Chinefes, 1will addein a few wor s, in what manner they place the An herein they quite differ from the cu tom of Enrope, and almoft all othe Nations Hereof writes Peter 7arcim thu i his Trealury of India Chinefes ({ayshe do not write from the left to th s the Enropeans3 nor from the nght to th left, as the Hebreans5 but the from th right fide above, and write down t the bottom, fo that they put the o e Cha -racter under the other, and not one a ter another, as we in Europe : And hen th Line isfull from top to bottom, then th y begin againat the top of another Line and by degrees go down again to th bottom ; and indeed (which is worth bfervation in this particular) the Chinefes d ffer from al] others, who abfolutely w it after another manner; foratthis day th re are in all the known world but fou {everal wa o Iti W [¥i s s of ‘Wiriting, upon the account of Pla firft from the right to the left fide, and jn this man er are written the Books of the He.breans, Chaldeans, Syriansy {8 | | ‘l t { i rabians, and A gyptians The fecondis from the lef the right fide, and after this manner the G eek and Latine Books are writ, an write at prefent all the People of Europe. The third {ort- of Writing is calle the Greek BuStrophedon, -which fignifies o Plow with Oxen; and this manne T of Writing is" done juft as the Oxen make F rrows with the Plough, namely to begin the fecond' line: where the firfy nded This manner of Wiritin (as Paufanias relates) wasiifed by the antient Grecia - writ the Lawsof Solon. . The fourth and Jaf way of Writing, is from the top t - the bottom, and this manner of Wiriting, ashas een {aid, the Chinefesufe, an {ome of the Salvage Indians But although this manner of Writing(whereby each t ing is exgrefl‘ed by a particalar Character) is very birdenfomie to the Memory, yet t isof very great uf and advantage to the People, who difter very much in L nguage from one ano £ E Things ; Th ther ; for thereby they areable to read the Book and Letrers of ach other (if the uf common Chara&ers in Writing) though the one dothin the otherin fpeaking: ~* And in this manner it is t at thofe of Fapan, Corea, Couchen-China, ule oneand the fame Books, though they di fer {o very much in th Pronunciation, that th bear the fame fence t otherwile skilled then i on th th cannot underftand aword theother {ays ; yet th underftanding of the moft indifferent Reader, n vulgar Idiome of his Mother Tongue : And hic 15 yet more of wonder, that although the fever Natives in the Empire of Cl{in differ infinitely each from other in their feve yin of Languages makes them feem a ftrangers among themfelves, their Ton ue being ulclefls members . to their intelle&; y t in their Books one general Character isuled, fo that the fame are equally ufeful and read t roughout the whol Empire 11 Nocwithftanding the greatconfufion of Lang Provinces, a 1 |
