Chapter CXXXV: Section XVIII

_Of a certain Rich Man, who was Fed by fifty Virgins_.

While in the province of Mangi, or Southern China, I passed by the palace of a rich man, who is continually attended upon by fifty young virgins, who feed him at every meal as a bird feeds her young; and all the time they are so employed, they sing to him most sweetly. The revenues of this man are thirty toman of tagars of rice, each toman being 10,000 tagars, and one tagar is the burthen of an ass. His palace is two miles in circuit, and is paved with alternate plates of gold and silver. Near the wall of his palace, there is an artificial mound of gold and silver, having turrets and steeples, and other magnificent ornaments, contrived for the solace and recreation of this great man.[l] I was further informed, that there are four such great men in the kingdom of Mangi. It is reckoned a great mark of dignity, among the great men of this country, to have their nails of great length; more especially their thumb nails, which are sometimes of sufficient length to be wrapped round the hand. The beauty, and even the rank of their women is supposed to consist in the smallness of their feet; for which reason, mothers bind up the feet of their daughters when young, to prevent them from growing large.

[1] This seems an ill-digested account of a pagoda, or idol temple, of
great extent and magnificence, richly gilt, similar to those of which
we have splendid views in the relation of the embassy to Ava, by
Colonel Symes.--E.