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0243 Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2
Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2 / Page 243 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000042
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AND THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.   483

those of my companions painted on the walls, or exhibited in the bazars. On one occasion that I visited the Emperor's own city, in going to the imperial palace with my comrades I passed through the bazar of the painters ; we were all dressed after the fashion of Irak. In the evening on leaving the palace I passed again through the same bazar, and there I saw my own portrait and the portraits of my companions painted on sheets of paper and exposed on the walls. We all stopped to examine the likenesses, and everybody found that of his neighbour to be excellent !

I was told that the Emperor had ordered the painters to take our likenesses, and that they had come to the palace for the purpose whilst we were there. They studied us and painted us without our knowing anything of the matter. In fact it is an established custom among the Chinese to take the portrait of any stranger that visits their country. Indeed the thing is carried so far that, if by chance a foreigner commits any action that obliges him to fly from China, they send his portrait into the outlying provinces to assist the search for him, and wherever the original of the portrait is discovered they apprehend him.'

Whenever a Chinese junk is about to undertake a voyage, it is the custom for the admiral of the port and his secretaries to go on board, and to take note of the number of soldiers, servants, and sailors who are embarked. The ship is not allowed to sail till this form has been complied with. And

1 A travelling Jew, whom Wood met on his Oxus journey, told him that before strangers are permitted to enter Yarkand, " each individual is strictly examined; their personal appearance is noted down in writing, and if any are suspected, an artist is at hand to take their portraits" (p. 281). This is one of the many cases in which the Chinese have anticipated the devices of modern European civilisation. Just as this was written, I read in the Times of the arrest at New York of the murderer Miller by the police provided with his photograph despatched from England.

I here omit a not very relevant interpolation by Ibn Juzai, the Moorish editor.

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