[An Australian in China by George Ernest Morrison]@TWC D-Link bookAn Australian in China CHAPTER XV 4/19
All maps on China are founded upon the maps of the Jesuit Missionaries employed for the purpose by the Emperor Kanghi (1663-1723), "the greatest prince who ever graced the throne of China." Their accuracy has been the wonder of all geographers for a century past.
"Now that the 'Great River' (the Yangtse) has been surveyed," says Captain Blakiston, "for nearly 1600 miles from the ocean, and with instruments and appliances such as were unknown in the days of those energetic and persevering men, no small praise is due to the first Christian explorers for the extraordinary correctness of their maps and records." The reports of the early Jesuit Missionaries even Voltaire describes as the "productions of the most intelligent travellers that have extended and embellished the fields of science and philosophy." Yet we, as Protestants, are warned by a great missionary that we must not be deluded by these insidious compliments; we must not forget that the work of the Jesuits in China "overtops all other forms of superstition and error in danger, and stands forth an organised conspiracy against the liberties of mankind.
The schemes of the Jesuits must be checked." One Sunday morning Mr.Jensen and I rode round the city wall.
This is one of the most massive walls in a country of walled cities.
It is built of brick and stone over a body of earth thirty feet thick; it is of imposing height, and wide enough for a carriage drive.
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