“The _Peruvians_ call’d their King, _A Lord of the Realm_, and not _The Son of the Sun_, as in _China_: Though the _Mexicans_ otherwise worship the Sun, and in their manner of adulation, styl’d _Hernando Cortez_, their Conqueror, _Son of the Sun_: As to what concerns the manner of writing, it is very well known, that the _Chineses_ words are all Monosyllables, so that they have as many Letters as Words, which they joyn so together, that they reckon eighty thousand, but with ten thousand they are able to express themselves in most matters. These Characters are contain’d in their _Halpien_ or Dictionary. The antient _Chineses_ us’d seventeen several sorts of Characters in their writing, some consisting of Serpents, that by several Wreathes and contortious Windings, signify’d several things; others, of all sorts of agrestick Tools belonging to Husbandry; some Characters of the Feathers of the Bird _Fum-hoar_; others of Oysters and Worms, or of Roots, of Herbs, or Birds Claws, or of Turtles, or of Herbs and Birds Feathers mingled, or of Planets, and such like; but what manner of Writing or Hieroglyphick of theirs resembles those, who by their own testimony know neither Pen, Paper, Ink, nor any manner of Writing, but reckon the antiquity of time by strung Beads, which was observ’d many ages since among several Nations.” [Sidenote: Original of the _Americans_ very obscure.] [Sidenote: What we may believe concerning them.] [Sidenote: The _Americans_ are derived from several people.]