THE
CHINESE REPOSITORY.
VOL. X.-JUNE, 1841.- No. 6.
ART. I. Travels in divers parts of Europe and Asia; underta
ken by the French king's order to discover a new way by land to China. By father Avril, of the order of the Jesuits. London, Tim-Goodwin, 1693.
PARK's narratives or rather those translated by him—were mainly concerned with travelers who came hither by sea; but those compiled by Avril refer to adventurers who reached China by land. Avril, however, was himself a traveler, having been pitched upon by his su- periors to discover an overland route for the Jesuits to China. Fa- ther Couplet,' says he, had made it his business to form an exact computation of the number of Jesuits who had set forward out of the several parts of Europe, in order to undertake the mission which he had quitted (after a residence of thirty years in China); and he found that of six hundred who had taken shipping for China, since our Company were permitted entrance into that kingdom, not above a hundred safely arrived there, all the rest being sacrificed by the way, either by sickness or shipwreck.' The travels contain many curious remarks in natural philosophy, geography, and history, with a descrip- tion of 'Great Tartary,' and of the different people who inhabit there, to which is added a supplement extracted from the works of Hak- luyt and Purchas, giving accounts of several journeys overland from Russia, Persia, and the country of the Moguls to China, with the roads and distances of the places, &c., &c. The author's preface is worth reading. He says:
"It will not be improper in giving the publick an account of my travels, to
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VOL. X. NO. VI.
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