(^94) THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
not available within his borders. In particular, the ships brought back
exotic zoological specimens—giraffes, zebras, ostriches; also jewels and
potent animal, vegetable, and mineral substances to enrich the Chinese
pharmacopeia.
The relationship of these voyages to trade is not entirely clear. The
ships carried valuable commodities (silks, porcelain) that were intended
for exchange, but apparentiy not in the open market; rather, in the con
text of gift giving: tribute from the barbarians, benevolence from the
Chinese. On the other hand, the sorties were apparentiy intended to
open the way to normal trade, and merchants did come along to make
their own deals. Independent trading voyages followed, presumably
profiting from enhanced Chinese prestige. But if trade was one of the
objectives, this was a very costiy way to go about it. In effect the Chi
nese people were paying for the profits of the officials who organized
the treasure fleets and promoted private trade, so much indeed that the
burden of these voyages came to exceed the empire's means.^8
These flotillas far surpassed in grandeur the small Portuguese fleets
that came later. The ships were probably the largest vessels the world
had seen: high multideck junks (but that is a misleading term) acted as
floating camps, each carrying hundreds of sailors and soldiers, testi
mony to the advanced techniques of Chinese shipbuilding, navigation,
and naval organization.^9 The biggest were about 400 feet long, 160
wide (compare the 85 feet of Columbus's Santa Maria), had nine
staggered masts and twelve square sails of red silk. These were the so-
called treasure ships, built for luxury, fitted with grand cabins and win
dowed halls—accommodations fit for the representatives of the Son of
Heaven and the foreign dignitaries who would accompany them back
to China. Other ships met other needs: eight-masted "horse ships"
carrying mounts to South Asia, which for climatic reasons could not
easily raise these animals, along with building and repair materials;
seven-masted supply ships, carrying principally food; six-masted troop
transports; five-masted warships for naval combat; and smaller fast
boats to deal with pirates. The fleet even included water tankers, to en
sure a fresh supply for a month or more.
The first of these fleets, that of the eunuch admiral Zheng He
(Cheng-ho) in 1405, consisted of 317 vessels and carried 28,000
men.^10 From 1404 to 1407, China undertook an orgy of shipbuilding
and refitting. Whole seaboard provinces were drawn into the effort,
while inland forests were stripped for timber. Hundreds of households
of carpenters, smiths, sailmakers, ropemakers, caulkers, carters and
haulers, even timekeepers, were moved by fiat, grouped into teams,
nora
(Nora)
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