[Professor J. J. M. de Groot remarks that “being of religious origin, cremation is mostly denoted in China by clerical terms, expressive of the metamorphosis the funeral pyre is intended to effect, viz. ‘transformation of man’; ‘transformation of the body’; ‘metamorphosis by fire.’ Without the clerical sphere it bears no such high-sounding names, being simply called ‘incineration of corpses.’ A term of illogical composition, and nevertheless very common in the books, is ‘fire burial.’” It appears that during the Sung Dynasty cremation was especially common in the provinces of Shan-si, Cheh-kiang, and Kiang-su. During the Mongol Dynasty, the instances of cremation which are mentioned in Chinese books are, relatively speaking, numerous. Professor de Groot says also that “there exists evidence that during the Mongol domination cremation also throve in Fuhkien.” (_Religious System of China_, vol. iii. pp. 1391, 1409, 1410.)—H. C.] (_Doolittle_, 190; _Deguignes_, I. 69; _Cathay_, pp. 247, 479; _Reinaud_, I. 56; _India in the XVth Century_, p. 23; _Semedo_, p. 95; _Rém. Mél. Asiat._ I. 128.) CHAPTER LXI. CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND THE REBELLION OF LITAN. Chinangli is a city of Cathay as you go south, and it belongs to the Great Kaan; the people are Idolaters, and have paper-money. There runs through the city a great and wide river, on which a large traffic in silk goods and spices and other costly merchandize passes up and down. When you travel south from Chinangli for five days, you meet everywhere with fine towns and villages, the people of which are all Idolaters, and burn their dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all the necessaries of life in great abundance. But there is nothing particular to mention on the way till you come, at the end of those five days, to TADINFU.{1} This, you must know, is a very great city, and in old times was the seat of a great kingdom; but the Great Kaan conquered it by force of arms. Nevertheless it is still the noblest city in all those provinces. There are very great merchants here, who trade on a great scale, and the abundance of silk is something marvellous. They have, moreover, most charming gardens abounding with fruit of large size. The city of Tadinfu hath also under its rule eleven imperial cities of great importance, all of which enjoy a large and profitable trade, owing to that immense produce of silk.{2}