TRAVELS IN C H I N J, CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS, OBSERVATIONS, AND COMPARISONS, MADE AND COLLECTED IN THE COURSE OF A SHORT RESIDENCE AT THE IMPERIAL PALACE OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN, AND ON A SUBSEQUENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE COUNTRY FROM PEKIN TO CANTON. IN IVHICH ir IS ATTEMPTED TO APPRECIATE THE RANK THAT THIS EXTRAORDINARY EMPIRE MAT BE CONSIDERED TO HOLD IN THE SCALE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. " NON CUIVIS HOMINI CONTINGIT ADIRE CORIHTHVM." It is the lot of few to go to PEKIN. By JOHN BARROW, Efq. LATE PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE EARL OF MACARTNEY, AND ONE OF HIS SUITE A5 AMBASSADOR FROM THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN TO THE EMPEROR OF CHINA. ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVERAL ENGRAVIKCS. L ND ON: Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street, FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND. 1804. 107 TO THE EARL OF MACARTNEY, K. B. ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'8 MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL. (Jfc. Ijfc. i^c. THIS VOLUME OF TRAVELS IN CHINA, ^c. IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY HIS MOST FAlTHFUt AND OBLIGED RUMBLE SERVANT, JOHN BARROW, A 2 '^Hr/r2>GG CONTENTS. CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY MATTER. Ititroduclkn. — General View of what Travellers are likely to meet luith in China. Mijiahn Notions entertained luith regard to the Britifli Embajfy — correEied by the Reception and Treatment of the fubfequent Dutch Embaffy. — Siippofed Points of Failure in the former, as fated by a French Miffionary from Pekin, refuted— Kien Long's Letter to the King of Holland. — Difference of Treatment experienced b\ the two EmbaJJies explained. — Intrigues of Miffionaries in foreign Countries,'— Pride and Self-hnportance of the Chinefe Court.^LiJl of European Embaffies, and the Time of their Jbode in Pekin. — Conclufwn of Preliminary SubJeB. Page I CHAP. II. Occurrences and Obfervations in the Navigation of the Yellow Sea, and the Paflage up the Pei-ho, or White River. Different Tejimonies that have been given of the Chinefe CharaEler. — Comparifon of China with Europe in the ftxteenth Century. — Motives of the Miffionaries in their Writings.-— Briti/h Embaffy paffes the Streights of Formofa. — Appearance of a Ta-fung Chufan I/lands. — hflance of Chinefe Amplification. — Various Chinefe Veffels. — Zyfem of their Navigation— their Compafs, probably of Scythian Origin .—foreign Voyages of. — Traces of Chinefe in America — in an Ifland of the Tartarian Sea — in the Perfian Gulph — traded probably as far as Madagafcar.— Commerce of the Tyrians. — Reafons for conjeEluring that the Hottentots may have derived their Origin from China. — Portrait of a Chinefe compared with that of vi CONTENTS. cfa Hotliiitot. — Malays of the fame defcent as the Chhufe.— Curious coincidences in the Ciifonis of thcfe and the Sumatrans. — Cingalefe of Chinefe Origin. — One of the Brigs di/pntched to Cliu-fan for Pikis.— Rapid Currents among the Iflands. — Vifit to the Governor. — Dijicullies in procuring Pilots. — Arbitrary Pro- ceeding of the Gj-^'cr/ior. — Pilots puzzled luith our Compafs— Ignorance of— Arrive in the Gulph of Pe-tehe-lee. — Vifit of two Officers from Court, and their Prefent —enter the Pei-ho, and embark in convenient Tachts. — Accommodating ConduB of the tivt Officers. — Pnfufton of Provifions. — Appearance of the Country — of the People. — Tirefs of the Women. — Remarks on their fmall Feet. — Chinefe an un- cleanly and frotuzy People. — Immenfe Croiuds of People and River Craft at 'T\cn- \3\ng.— 'Decent and prepojfefftng Conduci of the Multitude. — Mifical Air fung by the Rowers of the Tachts. — Favourable Traits in the Chinefe CharaFler. — Face and ProduEis of the Country .^Multitudes of People Inhabitants of the Water.— ^ Another Inflmce of arbitrary Power. — Difembark at Tong Tchoo, and are lodged in a Temple. - - - Page 25 CHAP. III. Journey through the Capital to a Country Villa of the Emperor. Return to Pekin. The Imperial Palace and Gardens of Yuen- min-yuen, and the Parks of Gehol. Order of Proceffion from Tong-clioo to the Capital. — Crowd off mbled on the Occa- fvi. — Appearance of Pelin ivithout and within the Walls, — Some Account of this City. — Proceed to a Country Villa of the Emperor.— Inconveniencies of. — Return to Pekin.— Embojfador proceeds to Tartary. — Author fent to the Palace «/"Yueii-miii- ^MfW.— Ad iferable Lodgings of. — Vifit of the Prefident and Members of the Mathe- matical Tribunal. — Of the Bifjcp of Pekin, and others. — Gill's Sword-blades. Hatchet t's Carriages. — Scorpion found in a Cajk packed at Birmingham. —Port raits of Engl'flj Nobility. — Effects of Accounts from Tartary on the Officers of St.-:te in Pehin. — Emperor's return to th: Capital. — InfpeHs the Prefents. — Application of the Embafiidor for Leave to depart. — Short Account of the Palace and Gardens of Yuen-min-yuen. — Lord Macartney's Dcfcription ofiheEafern and Weflern Parks of Gehol.— And his general Remarks on Chinefe Land/cape Gardening. gj CHAP. CONTENTS. vii CHAP. IV. Sketch of the State of Society in China. — Manners, Cuftoms, Sentiments, and Moral Charader of the People. Condition of Women, a Criterion of the State of Society. — Degraded State of in ■China. — Domejlic Manners unfavourable to Filial AffeElion. — Parental Au- thority, — /// EffeEis of feparating the Sexes. — Social Intercourse unkno7un, ex- cept for gaming. Their Wor/hip fo/itary. — Fenfls of Netu Year.—Propenfity to gaming, hfluence of the Laws feems to have defrayed the natural Cha- mber of the People. — Made them indifferent, or cruel. — Various Inflances of this Remark in public and in private Life, — Remarhs on Infanticide. — Perhaps lefs general than ufually thought. — CharaEler of Chinefe in Foreign Countries. — Temper and Dfpofition of the Chinefe. Merchants. Cuckoo-Clocks. — CondufI of a Prince of the Blood. Of tJ^e Prime Minijler. Comparifon of the Phyfical and Moral CharaBers of the Chinefe and Man-tchoo Tartars. General CharaBer of the Nation illujirated. ... Page j^g CHAP. V. Manners and Araufements of the Court — Reception of Em- bafladors. — Charader and private Life of the Emperor — His Eunuchs and Women. General Characler of the Court — Of the Buildings about the Palace — Lord Macart- nry'j- Aciount of his Introduction — Of the Celebration of the Emperor's Anniverfary Ffival — Of a Puppet-Shew — Comedy and Pantomime — Wreflling — Conjuring and Fire-Works — Reception find Entertainment of the Dutch Embaffadors from a Manufcript Journal — Obfervations on the State of the Chinefe Stage — Extraor- dinary Scene in one of their Dramas — Grofs and indelicate Exhibitions — Sketch of Kien-LongV Life and Charader — Kills his Son' by an unlucky Blow — conceives him/elf immortal — Influence of the Eunuchs at the Tartar Conquefl — their prefent State and Offces — Emperor's Wife, ^leens, and Concubines — How difpofed of at hi Death. - - - . jpi CHAP. viii CONTENTS. CHAP. vr. Language. — Literature, and the fine Arts. — Sciences. — Mecha- nics, and Medicine. Opinion of the Chincfe Language being hieroglyphical erroneous.— Hoclor Hager's viif- tnka. — Etymological Comparifons fallacious. — Examples of. — Nature of the Chinefe written CharaEler. — Difficulty and Ambiguity of. — Curious Mi/liiie of an eminent Antiquarian. — Mode of acquiring the Characler. — Oral Language. — Mantchot, Tartar Alphabet. — Chincfe Literature. — Afronomy. — Chronology. — Cycle offtxty Tears. — Geography —'Arithmetic.— Chemical Arts. ~ Cannon and Gunpowder. — Diflillation. — Potteries. — Silk ManufaHures. — Lvory.— Bamboo. — Paper. — Lnk.— Printing,— Mechanics. — Mufic. — Painting. — Sculpture— Architeiluie. — Hotel of the Engli/l} Embajfador in Pchin.— The Great Wall. -The Grand Canal.— Bridges. — Cemeteries. — Natural Philofophy,— Medicine. — Chinefe Pharmacopoeia. — Quacks. — Contagious Fevers. — Small-pox. — Opthalmia. — Venereal Difeafe. — Midvjifry. — Surgery, — Doctor Gregory's Opinion of their Jlledical Knoivledge. — Sir William Jones's Opinion of their general Characler. - Page 236 CHAP. vir. Government — Laws — Tenures of Land and Taxes — Revenues — Civil and Military Ranks, and Eftablifhments. Opinions en which the Executive Authority is grounded. — Principle on which an Em- peror of China feldom appears in public. — The Cenforate. — Public Departments. — Laws. — Scale of Crimes and Puni/ljinents. — Laws regarding Homicide. — Curious Law Cafe. — No Appeal from Civil Suits. — Defe£ls in the Executive Government. —Duty of Obedience and Power of perfonal CorreBion. — Ruffta and China com- pared.— Fate of the Prime MiniJJer Ho-chang-tong. — Tearly Calendar and Pekin Gazette, engines of Government. — Freedom of the Prefs. — Duration of the Govern- ment attempted to be explained. — Precautions of Government to prevent liifurreBions. — Taxes and Revenues.— Civil and Military Eflablipments. — Chinefe Army, its Numbers and Appointments. — ConduB of the Tartar Government at the Conquefl. — Impolitic Change of late Tears, and the probable Confequences of it. 357 CHAP. CONTENTS. ix CHAP. VIII. Conje£lures on the Origin of the Chinefe. — Their Religious Sedts, — Tenets, — and Ceremonies. EtnbnJJy departs from Pek'tn, and is lodged in a Temple. — Colony from F.gypt not ne- cejfary to befuppofedf in order to account for Egyptian Mythology in China.— Opi- nions concerning Chinefe Origin. — Obfervations on the Heights ofTartary. — Proba- bly the Refling place of the Ark of Noah.— Ancients ignorant of the Chinefe.— Seres. — Firjl knoivn Intercourje of Foreigners with China. — Jews. — Biidhijls. — Ne/lo- rians. — Mahomedans — Roman Catholics. — ^larrels of the Jcfuits and Ihmini- cans. — Religion of Coffucius. — Attached to the Predi^ion of future Events. — No- lions entertained by him of a future State. — Of the Deity. — Doclrine not unlike that of the Stoics. — Ceremonies in Honour of his Memory led to Idolatry. — Mifreprefen- tations of the Mijftonaries with regardtothe Religion of the Chinefe. — The Tao-tze or Sons of Immortals. — Their Beverage of Life. — TheDifciplesofYo or Budhijls. — Comparifon of fame of the Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, and Chinefe Deities.— 'The Lotos or Nelumbium. — Story of Ofiris and Ifis, and the Ifia compared with the Imperial Ceremony of Ploughing. — Women vifit the Temples. — Praclical Part of Chinefe Religion.— Funeral Obfequies. — Feajl of Lanterns.— Obeifance to the Emperor performed in Temples leads to Idolatry. — Primitive Religion lojl or corrupted. — Summary of Chinefe Religion. ... P.ige 4 1 S CHAP. IX. journey from Tong-choo-foo to the Province of Canton. — Face of the Country, and its Productions. — Buildings and other Public Works. — Condition of the People. — State of Agriculture. — Population. Attentions paid to the Embaffy.— Obfervations on the Climate and Plains s/Te-tchC' lee. — Plants of . — Diet and Condition of the People. — Burying-plncc. — Obferva- tien on Chinefe Cities.— 'Trackers of the Tachts.— Entrance of the Grand Canal.— z Th CONTENTS. Thf FiJhingCorvcrant —Approach /o //•/• Yellow-River. — Ceremony of croffing this Riv^r.—Obfervalkiis on Canals and Roads. — Improvement of the Country in ad- vancing to the Southward.— Beauty of, near Sau-choo-foo. — Bridge of ninety-one Arches. — Country near Hang-choo foo. — City of. — Appearance of the Country near thi'Po-yingLake. — Obfervationi in Proceeding through\sJ\ang-ke. — Ti^f Camellia Scfaiiqua. — Retrofpeflive View of the Climate and Produce, Diet and Condition of the People, 9/ Vc-tche-\ee. — Some Obfcrvations on the Capital of China.— Province of Shaii-tung.— 0/" Kiang-nm.- Obfervntions on the State of Agriculture in China.— Rice Mills. — Province o/"Tche kiang. — ©/"Kiang-fee. — Population of China compared with that of England. — Erroneous Opinions entertained on this Sub- feci.— Comparative Population of a City in China and in England — Famines ac- counted for. — Means of Prevention,— Caufes of the Populoujmfs of China. P. 488 CHAP. X. Journey through the Province of Canton. — Situation of Fo- reigners trading to this Port. — Conclufion. Vfble Chnnge in the CharaBer of the People. — Rugged Mountains.— Collieries — Temple in a Cavern. — Stone ^/arries. — Various Plants for \jfe and Ornament. — Arrive at Canton —Expence of the Rmbaffy to the Chinefe Government. — To the Britifl} Nation. — Nature and Inconveniences of the Trade to Canton.— The Armenian and his Pearl. — Impofitions of the Officers of Gciernment inffanced. — Principal Caufe of them is the Ignorance of the Language Cafe ofChinefe trading to London. — A Chinefe killed by a Seaman of His Majefly's Ship Madras. — Delinquent faved from an ignominious Death, by a proper Alode of Communication with the Govern- ment. — Conclusion. - - ~ 59' LIST OF PLATES. Portrait of Van-ta-g'in the Frontifpiece. Trad'mg Vejfel and Rice Mill to face page 37. Portraits of a Chinefe and a Hottentot to face page 50. View in the Imperial Park at Gehol to face page 128. Artillery^ between pages 302 and 303 with Sl guard. Miijical Injlruments between pages 314 and 315 with a guard. Arch of a Bridge to face page 338. Chinefe Village^ and Mandarin's Dwelling, to face page 345. ERRATA. Page 10. line 12. tf(/^ a between of and crime 2,3. — 2. for iwice rtad thrice 39. line lart, f^ir Mjno r. Marco 44. — a6. y^r Toitanigue r. Tootanague 46. — '3- y^' G"3ffe r Giraffe gl. — I. fli/^ to between mafler an! which J03, — 17. /c monuments r. Monument I2.Z. — 7. d(// the between of and palaces )2y. . — 3. for iher r. their 141. — I. '/o' whit r. with 1S3. — 13. /o'' the r. a 1S6. — 4*/"'' 'oul'e r, lofe 224.' in the ro'.e, yir A. Calpum'us r, T. Calpurnius 23^. — 13. tf^rer crols place X 205. — 2T. /pr rumcrcial r. nunncrlca't 3^4, — 15. y&r on r. in — 16 forxn r, on 416. — I-/*'' bl'jok r. (lock 568. — 12. for fiom r. form _ .^ — JTyr form r. frrm 583. — . lall/er liiegr and r. the grard ADVERTISEMENT. The fentiments advanced in the prefent Work, and the point of view in which fome of the fads are confidered, being fo very different from the almoft univerfally received opinion, and iome of them from the opinion of thofe to whofe friendfhip the Author is particularly indebted for various literary communi- cations, he thinks it right to declare, that they are the unbiafled conclufions of his own mind, founded altogether on his own obfervations ; and he trufts that the Public, in confidering him alone refponfible, will receive them with its ufual candour. TRAVLES TRAVELS I N CHINA. CHAP. I. PRELIMINARY MATTER. IntraduHion.-— General View of -what Travellers are likely to meet •with in China.— Mijlaken Notions entertained with regard to the Britijh EmhaJJy — correBed by the Reception and Treatment of the fubfequent Dutch Emhaffy. — Suppofed Points of Fniliifn ill i!je former, as Jiated by a French Mijfonary frnm Peiin, refuted,— Kien Long's Letter to the King of Holland.— Difference of Treatment experienced by the two Embaffies explained,— Intrigues of Miffionaries in foreign Countries.— Pride and Self-importance of the Chinefe Court. — Lifl of European Embaffies, and the Time of their Mode in Pekin.'—Csncliifion of Preliminary Subjecl. XT is hardly neceflary to obferve that, after the able and Inte- refting account of the proceedings and refult of the Britifh Embafly to the court of China, by the late Sir George Staun- ton (who was no lefs amiable for liberality of fentimcnt, than remarkable for vigour of intelled) it would be an idle, and, indeed, a fuperfluous undertaking, in any other perfon who ac- B companied c TRAVELS IN CHINA. companicd the embafTy, to dwell on thofe fubjeds which have been treated by him in fo mafterly a manner ; or to recapi- tulate thofe incidents and tranfadions, which he has detailed with equal elegance and accuracy. But, as it will readily occur to every one, there are ftlll many interefting fubjeds, on which Sir George, from the nature of his work, could only barely touch, and others that did not come within his plan, one great objedt of which was to un- fold the views of the embafTy, and to (hew that every thing, which could be done, was done, for promoting the interefts of the Brilifli nation, and fupporting the dignity of the Britifh charader ; the Author of the prefent work has ventured, though with extreme diffidence, and with the confcioufnefs of the difadvantage under which he mull appear after that " Ac- " count of the EmbafTy," to lay before the public the point of view in which he faw the Chinefe empire, and the Chinefe charader. In doing this, the fame fa£\;s will fomettmes necef- farily occur, that have already been publifhed, for reafons that it would be needlefs to mention ; but whenever that happens to be the cafe, they will briefly be repeated, for the purpofe of illuftrating fome pofition, or for deducing fome general infe- rence. Thus, for inftance, the document given to the Embaf- fador of the population of China will be noticed, not however under the colour of its being an unqueftionably accurate ftate- ment, but, on the contrary, to fhew that it neither is, nor can be, corred ; yet at the fame time to endeavour to prove, by fads and analogy, that, contrary to the received opinion, the country is capable of fupporting not only three hundred and I thirty- TRAVELS IN CHINA. 3 thirty-three millions of people, but that it might adually afford the means of fubfiftence to twice that number. The confirma- tion, indeed, of new and important fatSts, though very dif- ferent conclufions be drawn from them, cannot be entirely unacceptable to the reader ; for as different perfons will gene- rally fee the fame things in different points of view, fo, perhaps, by combining and comparing the different defcriptlons and colouring that may be given of the fame objedls, the public is enabled to obtain the mofl: correct notions of fuch matters as can be learned only from the report of travellers. With regard to China, if we except the work of Sir George Staunton, and the limited account of Mr. Bell of Antermony, which was not written by himfelf, it may be confidered as unbeaten ground by Britons. We have heard a great deal of Chinefe knavery pradifed at Canton, but, except in the two works abovementioned, we have not yet heard the fentiments of an Eugliftiman at all actjualnted with the manners, cufloms, and charadter of the Chiaefe nation. The voluminous commu- nications of the miffionaries are by no means fatisfadory ; and fome of their defeats will be noticed and accounted for in the courfe of this work ; the chief aim of which will be to fliew this extraordinary people in their proper colours, not as their own moral maxims would reprefent them, but as they really are — to diveft the court of the tinfel and the tawdry varnifh with which, like the palaces of the Emperor, the mifllonaries have found it expedient to cover it in their writings ; and to endeavour to draw fuch a fketch of the manners, the ftatc of fociety, the language, literature and fine arts, the fciences B 2 and 4 TRAVELS IN CHINA. and civil inftltutlons, the religious worfhip and opinions, the population and progrefs of agriculture, the civil and moral cha- rader of the people, as may enable the reader to fettle, in his own mind, the point of rank which China may be coiiftdered to hold in the fi ale of civilized nations. The ftablllty of the Chinefe government ; the few changes that have been made in its civil inftitutions for fuch a number of ages ; the vaft extent of empire and immenfe population, forming one fociety, guided by the fame laws, and governed by the will of a fmgle individual, offer, as Sir George Staunton has obferved, " the grandeft collective objed that can be prefented " for human contemplation or refearch." The cuftoms, habits and manners, the wants and refources, the language, fentiments and religious notions, of " the moft ancient fociety and the moft *' populous empire exifting amongft men," are, without doubt moft interefling fubjeds for the inveftigation of the philofo- pher, and not unworthy the attention of the ftatefman. But the expedations of the man ot Icience, the artift, or the natur- alift, might perhaps be rather difappointed, than their curiofity be gratified, in travelling through this extenfive country. It can boaft of few works of art, few remains of ancient gran- deur. The great wall, that for a time defended its peaceable inhabitants againft the attacks of the roving Tartars, the walls of its numerous cities, with their fquare towers and lofty gates, and here and there an old pagoda, are its only architec- tural antiquities; and, when thefe are excepted, there is not perhaps a fmgle building in the whole extent of China that has vvithftood the adion of three centuries. There are no ancient palaces nor other public edifices, no paintings nor pieces of fculp- TRAVELS IN CHINA. 5 fculpture, to arreft the attention of the traveller, unlefs It might be from the novelty of their appearance. In travelling over the continent of Europe, and more efpecially on the claflic ground of Italy and Greece, every city, mountain, river, and ruin, are rendered interefting by fomething on record which concerns them ; the theme of fome poet, the feat of fome philofopher or lawgiver, the fcene of fome memorable aclion, they all infpire us with the livelieft fenfations, by reviving in the mind thofe pleafures which the ftudy of their hiftory afforded in early life. To Europeans the hiftory of China has hitherto furnifhed no materials for fuch recurrence, and the country itfelf is therefore incapable of communicating fuch impreffions. In vain fhould we here look for the maffy and ftupendous fabrics that appear In the pyramids and the pillars of the ancient Egyptians ; the beautiful and fymmetrical works of art difplayed in the temples of the Greeks ; the grand and magnificent remains of Roman architedlure ; or that combination of convenience and elegance of defign which charaflerlze the modern buildings of Europe. In China every city is nearly the fame : a quadrangular fpace of groimd Is enclofed with walls of ftone, of brick, or of earth, all built upon the fame plan j tKfe houfes within them of the fame conftrudlion ; and the ftreets, except the principal ones that run from gate to gate, invariably narrow. The temples are, nearly, all alike, of the fame awkward defign as the dwelling-houfes, but on a larger fcale ; and the objeds that are known in Europe by the name of pagodas, are of the fame inelegant kind of archi- tedure, from one extremity of the empire to the other, differing only in the number of rounds or ftories, and in the materials of which they are conftrudled. The manners, the drefs, the amufe- ments of the people, are nearly the fame. Even the furface of the country, 6 TRAVELS IN CHINA. country, as far as regards the fifteen ancient provinces, Is fubjed to little variation, and efpecially thofe parts over which the grand inland navigation is carried ; the only parts, in fad, that foreigners travelling in China have any chance of vifiting. In this route no very great variety nor number of fubjeds occur in the department of natural hiftory. Few native plants, and ftill fewer wild animals, arc to be expeded in thofe parts of a country that are populous and well cultivated. Indeed the rapid manner in which the prefeut journey was made, was ill fuited for colleding and examining fpecimens even of thofe few that did occur. On thefe confiderations it is hoped that the indulgence of the reader will not be withheld, where information on fuch points may appear to be defedive. A French critic * (perhaps without doing him injuftice he may be called a hypercritic) who happened to vifit Canton for a few months, fome fifty years ago, has, with that happy confidence peculiar to his nation, not only pointed out the errors and defeds of the information com- municated to the world by the Englifli and the Dutch embaflies, but has laid down a fyllabus of the fubjeds they ought to have made themfelves completely acquainted with, which, inftead of feven months, would feem to require arefidence of feven years in the country. But the author of the prefent work refts his confi- dence in the Englifh critics being lefs unreafonable in their de- mands ; and that their indulgences will be proportioned to the difficulties that occurred in colleding accurate information. * Monfieur (I beg his pardon) Ciicyen Charpentier Cofligny. With TRAVELS IN CHINA. 7 With this reliance, the defcriptions, obfervations, and compari- fons, fuch as they are, he prefents to the public, candidly ac- knowledging that he is actuated rather by the hope of meeting its forbearance, than by the confidence of deferving its approbation. Perhaps it may not be thought amifs, before he enters on the more immediate fubjedt of the work, to corred, in this place, a very miftaken notion that prevailed on the return of the embafly, which was, that an unconditional compliance of Lord Macartney with all the humiliating ceremonies which the Chinefe might have thought proper to exa£l from him, would have been pro- du£live of refults more favourable to the views of the embafly, AfTertions of fuch a general nature are more eafily made than refuted, and indeed unworthy of attention ; but a letter of a French miffionary at Pekin to the chief of the Dutch factory at Canton is deferving of fome notice, becaufe it fpeclfies the reafons to which, according to the writer's opinion, was owing the fuppofed failure of the Britifti embafTy. In fpeaking of this fubje(n: he obferves, " Never was an embafly deferving of *' better fuccefs ! whether it be confidered on account of the " experience, the wifdom, and the amiable qualities of Lord *' Macartney and Sir George Staunton ; or of the talents, the " knowledge, and the circumfped behaviour of the gentlemen " who compofed their Suite ; or of the valuable and curious " prefents intended for the Emperor — and yet, ftrange to tell, " never was there an embafly that fuccceded fo ill ! " You may be curious, perhaps, to know the reafon of an " event fo unfavourable and fo extraordinary. I will tell you "in 8 TRAVELS IN CHINA. " in a few words. Thefe gentlemen, like all ftrangers, who •' know China only from books, were ignorant of the manner *' of proceeding, of the cuftoms and the etiquette of this court ; " and, to add to their misfortune, they brought with them a " Chinefe interpreter ftill lefs informed than themfelves. The •' confcquencc of all which was that, in the firft place, they " came without any prefents for the Minifter of State, or for " the fons of the Emperor. Secondly, they refufed to go " through the ufual ceremony of fainting the Emperor, with- " out offering any fatisfadory reafon for fuch refufal. Thirdly, " They prefcnted themfelves in clothes that were too plain, •' and too common. Fourthly, They did not ufe the precaution " to fee (graiffer la patte) the feveral perfons appointed to the " fuperintendance of their affairs. Fifthly, Their demands " were not made in the tone and ftyle of the country. Ano- " ther reafon of their bad fuccefs, and, in my mind, the prin- " cipal one, was owing to the intrigues of a certain miflionary, " who, Imagining that this embaffy might be injurious to the " interefts of his own country, did not fail to excite unfavour- " able impreffions againft the Englifh nation." The points of failure enumerated In this letter of Monfieur Grammont, were fo many fpurs to the Dutch fadlory to try their fuccefs at the court of Pekin the following year. No fooner did Mr. Van Braam receive this difpatch, by the return of the Englifh embaffy to Canton, than he prepared a letter for the Commiffaries General at Batavia, In which he Informed them, that as It was the Intention of the different nations who had fa(Sories eftablilhed in Canton, to fend embaffaders to the capital, TRAVELS IN CHINA. 9 Capital, for the purpofe of congratulating the Emperor on his attaining the age of eighty-four years, which would be in the fixtieth year of his reign, he had refolved to proceed on fuch a miffion on the part of the Baravian Republic, and requefted that he might be furniflied, without delay, with fuitable cre- dentials. To this application the Commiflaries General, who had been fent out the fame year to retrench the expences of the Company in their Indian fettlements, and to reform abufes, returned for anfwer. That, " however low and inadequate their " finances might be to admit of extraordinary expences, yet " they deemed it expedient not to (hew any backwardncfs in *' adopting fimilar meafures to thofe purfued by other Euro- " peans trading to China ; and that they had, accordingly, " nominated Mr. Titfingh as chief, and himfelf (Mr. Van " Braam) as fecond Embalfador to the Court of China." Mr. Titfingh loft no time in repairing to Canton, and thefe two EmbalTadors, determining to avail themfelves of the hints thrown out in Monfieur Grammont's letter, and thereby to avoid fplitting on the fame rock which, they took for granted, the Britifh Embaffador had done, cheerfully fubmitted to every humiliating ceremony required from them by the Chinefc, who, in return, treated them in the moft contemptuous and indignant manner. At Canton they were ordered to afTift in a folemn proceflion of Mandarines to a temple in the neigbourhood, and there, before the Emperor's name, painted on cloth, and fuf- pended above the altar, to bow their heads nine times to the ground, in token of gratitude for his great condefcenfion in permitting them to proceed to his prefence, in order to offer c him 10 TRAVELS IN CHINA. liim tribute. Tlicy fubmitted even to the demands of the ftate- officers of Canton, that the letter, written by the Commif- faries General at Batavia to the Emperor of China, and tranf- lated there into the Chinefe language, fliould be broke open, and the contents read by them ; and that they fhould further be allowed to make therein fuch alterations and additions as they might think proper. The EmbafTador, refolving not to be wanting in any point of civility, requefted to know when he might have the honour of paying his refpeds to the Viceroy ; and received for anfwer, that the cuftoms of the country did not allow a perfon in his fituation to come within the walls of the Viceroy's palace, but that one of his officers fhould re- ceive his vifit at the gate ; which vifit to the gats was literally made. Mr. Van Braam, in relating this circumftance in his journal, obferves, that the Viceroy " aflured his Excellency, he " ought not to take his refufal aniifs, as the fame terms had ** been prefcribed to Lord Macartney the preceding year." Mr. Van Braam knew very well that Lord Macartney never fubjeifled himfelf to any fuch refufal ; and he knew too, that the fame Viceroy accompanied his Lordfliip in a great part of his journey from the Capital : that he partook of a repair, on the invitation of Lord Macartney, at the Britilh factory ;. when, for the firft time, both Mr. Van Braam and the fuper- cargoes of all the European nations had been permitted to (it down in the prefence of one of his rank. At Pekin they were required to humiliate themfelves at leaft thirty different times, at each of which they were obliged, on their knees, to knock their heads nine times againft the ground, which TRAVELS IN CHINA. tt which Mr. Van Braam, in his journal, very coolly calls, per- forming the falute of honour, " f^'fe le falut (fhonneurr And they were finally difmifled, with a few paltry pieces of filk, without having once been allowed to open their lips on any kind of bufinefs ; and without being permitted to fee either their friend Grammont, or any other European miflionary, except one, who had fpecial leave to make them a vifit of half an hour, the day before their departure, in prefence of ten or twelve officers of government. On their arrival in this Capital they were lodged, literally, in a ftable ; under the fame cover, and in the fame apartment, with a parcel of cart-horfes. Mr. Van Braam's own words are, " Nous vvila done a notre arrivee " dans la celebre refidence hnper'iale^ loges dans une efpece d'ecnrte, *' Nous fer ion t nous attendus a une pareille avanture C After fuch a vile reception and degrading treatment of the Dutch Embafly, what advantages can reafonably be expeded t-o accrue from a fervile and unconditional compliance with the fubmiffions required by this haughty government ? It would rather feem that their exa£lions are proportioned to the com- plying temper of the perfons with whom they have to treaf. For it appears, not only from Mr. Van Braam's own account of the EmbafTy, but alio from two manufcript journals in the Author's pofleffion, one kept by a Dutch gentleman in the fuite, and the other by a native Chinefe, that the Embafladors from the Batavian Republic were fully prepared to obviate^ every difficulty that might arife from the fuppofed points of failure in the Britifh Embafly, as directed to their notice? by M. Grammont. In the firft place, they not only carried c 2 prefeijts IS TRAVELS IN CHINA. prefents for the Minifters of State, but they calmly fuffered thele gentlemen to trick them out of the only curious and valu- able articles among the prefents intended for the Emperor, and to fubftitute others, of a mean and common nature, in their place. Secondly, they not only complied with going through the ufual ceremony of fainting the Emperor, but alfo of falut- ing the Emperor's name, painted on a piece of filk, at lead fifty times, on their journey to and from the Capital i which de- grading ceremony they even condefcended to perform before the perfon of the Prime Minifter. With regard to the third point, it certainly appears that no expence had been fpared in providing themfelves with fplendid robes for the occafion ; but, unfortunately, they had but few opportunities of making ufe of them, their baggage not arriving at the Capital till many days after they had been there. Nor does it feem that the drefs of a foreign Embaflador is confidered of much confe- quence in the eyes of the Chinefe ; for, when thefe gentlemen wifhed to excufe themfelves from going to court, on account of their dufty and tattered clothes, in which they had per- formed a moft painful journey, the Matter of the Ceremonies obferved, that it was not their dre/s, but their per/bm, which the Emperor, his mafter, was defirous to fee. And, it can hardly be fuppofed, they would omit obferving the fourth) article, which, Mr. Grammont is of opinion, was negledled by Lord Macartney. And, in the laft place, they ftand fully acquitted of any want of humility in the tone and flyle of their communications, after having allowed their credentials to be new modelled by the officers of Government at Canton ; from which city they had alfo an interpreter, a very proper one, no doubt, appointed to attend them.. 3 Their TRAVELS IN CHINA. 15 Their mlffion, it is true, was not well calculated for making terms or rejeding propofals. The Chinefe were not unac- quainted with the declining finances of the Dutch ; they knew very well that the embalTy had originated in Canton, and that it was accredited only from their fuperiors in Batavia. In their journey they were haraflcd beyond tneafure ; fometimes they were lodged in wretched hovels, without furniture and without cover ; fometimes they were obliged to pafs the night in the open air, when the temperature was below the freezing point; frequently for four and twenty hours they had nothing to eat. Van Braam obferves that, owing to the fatigues of the journey, the badnefs of the victuals, their early rifing and expofure to the cold, he loft about five inches in the circumference of his body. Being rather corpulent, and not very expert in perform- ing the Chinefe ceremony at their public introdu£lion, his hat happened to fall on the ground, upon which the old Emperor began to laugh. " Thus," fays he, " I received a mark of dif- " tin£lion and predilection, fuch as never Embaffador was ho- " noured with before. I confefs," continues he, " that the recol- " ledion of my fufFerings from the cold in waiting fo long in the " morning, was very much foftened by this incident." No man will certainly envy this gentleman's happy turn of minj, in receiving fo much fatisfadion in being laughed at. The tone of the Emperor's letter, with which they were dif- mifled, while it fpeaks the vain and arrogant fentiments of this haughty government, fhews at the fame time how well ac- quainted they were with the circumftances that gave rife to the miflion, and the degree of eftimation in which they held it. It was ,4 TRAVELS IN CHINA. was written In the Tartar, Chinefe, and Latin languages, from the laft of which, as rendered by the miflionaries, the following is a literal tranflation. The contents were addrefled to the Council of India, but on the outfide wrapper, " To the King of " HQllatiH." It may fcrve at the fame time as a fpecimen of Chinefe compofition. " I haTe received from heaven the fceptre of this vaft empire. " I have reigned for fixty years with glory and happinefs ; and *' have eftabliflied the moft profound peace upon the four *' feas * of the faid empire, to the benefit of the nations bor- " dering upon them. The fame of my majefty and proofs of " my magnificence have found their way into every part of the " world, and they conRitute the pride and the pleafure of my *' vaft domains. *' I confider my own happy empire, and other kingdoms, " as one and the fame family ; the princes and the people are, " in my eye, the fame men. I condefcend to fhed my bleffings ** over all, ftrangers as well as natives ; and there is no country, " however diftant, that has not received inftances of my bene- " vaJence. Thus, all nations fend to do me homage, and to " congratulate me inceflantly. New and fucceffive Embafllidors ■*' arrive, fome drawn in chariots over land, and others traverfe, •' in their fliips, the immenfity of the feas. In fad, I attend * This cxpreiTion alludes to the ancient opinion that China was furrounded by the fea, and that the reft of the world was made up of idands. Yet though they now poflefa a tolerable notion of geography, fuch is their inveterate adherence to ancient opinion, that they prefer retaining the mod. abfurd errors, rather than change one fingle fentiment or rxprdTion that Confucius has written. ^ Chufan Iflands. — hijlance of Chinefe Amplification.— Various Chinefe Vejfels. — Syfiem of their Navigation — tJ?eir Compafs, probably of Scythian Origin — foreign Voyages of. — Ttacis of Chinefe in America — in an IJlattd of the Tartarian Sea— in the Peifun Gulph— traded probably as, far as Madagafcar.—' Commerce of the Tyrians. — Reafons for conjeEluring that the Hottentots may have derived their Origin from China. — Portrait of a Chinefe compared with that cf a Hottentot. — Malays of the fame defcent as the Chinefe.—-Curious coincidences in the Ciifioms of thefe and the Siimatrans. — Cingalefe of Chinefe Origin. — One tf the Brigs difpatched to Chu-fan for Pikls. — Rapid Currents among the Iflands. — Vifit to the Governor. — Difficulties in procuring Pilots. — Arbitrary Pro- ceeding of the Governor. — Pilots puzzled with our Con-pafs— Ignorance of — Arrive in the Gulph of Pe-tehe-lee. — Vifit of two Officers from Court, and their Prefent •—enter the Pei-ho, and embark in convenient Tachts. — Accommodating Condufl of the two Officers. — Profufion of Proviftons. — Appearance of the Country — of the People. — Drefs of the Women. — Remarks on their fmall Feet. — Chinefe an un- cleanly and frowzy People. — Immenfe Crowds of People and River Craft at Tien- Sing. — Decent and prepoffeffing Conduct of the Multitude. — Mufical Air fung by the Rowers of the Tachts. — Favourable Traits in the Chinefe Character Face and ProduHsof the Country. — Multitudes of Ptople Inhabitants of the Water. -^ Another Injlance of arbitrary Power. — Difembark at Tong Tchoo, and are lodged in a Temple. "If any man Ihould make a coUedion of all the inventions, *' and all the produdtions, that every nation, which now Is, E "Of j6 travels in china. " or ever has been, upon the face of the globe, the whole *' would fall far fliort, either as to number or quality, of what- « is to be met with in China." Thefe, or fomething funilar,, are the words of the learned Ifaac Voffius. The teftimony given by the celebrated authors of the Ency^ clopedie des Conno'tffances huma'ines is almoft equally ftrong: " The Chinefe who, by common confent, are fuperior to all ♦* the Afiatic nations, in antiquity, in genius, in the progrefs " of the fciences, in wifdom, in government, and in true phi- " loiophy ; may, moreover, in the opinion of fome authors, " enter the lifts, on all thefe points, with the moft enlightened " nations of Europe." How flattering, then, and gratifying muft it have been to the feelings of thofe few favoured perfons, who had the good fortune to be admitted into the fuite of the Britifh Embaflador, then preparing to proceed to the court of that Sovereign who held the governmeat of fuch an extraordinary nation ; how greatly muft; they have enjoyed the profpeiS of experiencing, in their own perfons, all that was virtuous, and powerful, and grand, and magnificent, concentrated in one point — in the city of Pekin ! And if any doubts might have arifen, onconfideration that nei- ther the learned Canon of Windfor, nor the celebrated Authors of the Encyclopedie, were ever in China ; that the firft was won- derfully given to the marvellous, and the latter had no other authorities, than thefe of the Jefuits, and other rniflionaries for propagating TRAVELS IN CHINA. 27 propagating the Chriftian faith, yet fuch doubts were more inclined to yield to the favourable fide, as being fupported by the almoft unanimous concurrence of a multitude of teftimonies, contained in the relations that have, at various times, been pub- lifhed not only by the miffionaries, but alfo by fome other tra- vellers. The late Sir William Jones, indeed, who defervedly took the lead iu oriental literature, had obferved, in fpeaklng of the Chinefe, that " By fome they have been extolled as the oldeft " and wifeft, as the moft learned, and mofl: ingenious, of na- " tions ; whiift others have derided their pretenfions to anti- " qulty, condemned their government as abominable, and " arraigned their manners as inhuman ; without allowing ** them an element of fcience, or a fmgle art, for which " they have not been indebted to fome more ancient and more " civilized race of men." It is true, alfo, the refearches of Mr. Pauw, the fagacious philofopher of Berlin, and the narrative of the elegant and impreflive writer of Lord Anfon's Voyage, convey to the reader's mind no very favourable ideas of the Chinefe charac- ter ; yet, as the enquiries of the one were entered upon in a fpirit of controverfy, and directed to one fmgle point, and the author, as juftly has been obferved of him, delights fometimes to take a fwim againft the flream, many dedudlions were clearly to be made from the conclufions of Mr. Pauw. And with regard to the Narrative of Mr. Robins, it may be remarked that, to decide upon the general charaifler of the Chinefe, from the dealings Lord Anfon had with them in the port of Canton, E 2 would 28 TRAVELS IN CHINA. would be as unfair, as it would be thought prefumptuous in a foreigner to draw the charafter of our own nation from- a cafual vilit to Falmouth, Killybeggs, or Aberdeen. The fame remark will apply to the accounts given of this nation by Torecn, Ofbeck, Sonnerat, and fome others, who have vifited Canton in trading (hips, none of whom were five hundred yards beyond the limits of the European factories. It would alfo have been highly illiberal to fuppofe, that a body of men, remarkable, as the early Jefuit miffionaries were thought to be, for probity, talent, and difintereftednefs, fliould ftudioufly fit down to compofe fabrications for the mere pur- pofe of deceiving the world. Even Voltaire, who had little partiality for the facerdotal charatfler, is willing to admit, that their relations ought to be confidered as the produdions of the moft intelligent travellers that have extended and embelliflied the fields of Science and Philofophy. This remark, with pro- per allowances being made for the age in which they were written, may perhaps be applied to the narratives of the early miflions to China, though not exactly to fome others of a more modern date. All the praifes beftowed by the former on this nation, the latter, it would feem, have, injudicioufly, confidered themfelves bound to juftify ; without taking into account the progreflive improvements of Europe within the laft century and a half. That China was civilized to a certain degree before moft of the nations of Europe, not even Greece excepted, is a fadl that will not admit of a doubt ; but that it has continued to im- 3 prove, TRAVELS IN CHINA. 39 prove, fo as ftill to vie with many of the prefent European ftates, as the miflionaries would have it fuppofed, is not by any means fo clear. From the middle to the end of the fixteenth century, compared with Europe in general, it had greatly the fuperiorlty, if not in fcience, at leaft in arts and manufa£tures, in the conveniencies and the luxuries of life. The Chinefe were, at that period, pretty much in the fame ilate in wliich they ftill are ; and in which they are likely to continue. When the firft Europeans vifited China, they were aftonifhed to find an univerfal toleration of religious opinions ; to obferve Lamas and Tao-tzeSy Jeivs^ Perfees, and Mahomcdans^ living quietly together, and each following his own creed without moleftation ; ■whilft moft of the countries in Europe were, at that time, torn in pieces by religious fchlfms ; and man was labouring with enthufiaftic fury to deftroy his fellow-creatures, in honour of his Creator, for a flight difference of opinion in matters of no real importance, or even for a different acceptation of a word. In China, every one was allowed to think as he pleafed, and to chufe his own religion. The horrid maflacre of the proteftants in Paris had terrified all Europe. China knew nothing of in- ternal commotions, but fuch as were fometimes occafioned by a partial fcarcity of grain. The art of improving vegetables by particular modes of culture, was juft beginning to be known in Europe. All China, at that time, was comparatively a gar- den. When the Ring of France Introduced the luxury of filk {lockings, which, about eighteen years afterwards, was adopted by Elizabeth of England, the peafantry of the middle provinces of China were clothed in filks from head to foot. At this period, few or none of the little elegancies or conveniencies of life 'yt> TRAVELS IN CHINA. life were known in Europe ; the ladies' toilet had few eflences to gratify the fenfe of fmell, or to beautify, for a time, the complexion ; the fciflars, needles, pen-knives, and other little appendages, were then unknown ; and rude and ill-polilhed fkewers ufurped the place of pins. In China, the ladies had their needlework, their paint-boxes, their trinkets of ivory, of filver in fillagree, of mother-pearl, and of tortoife-fhell. Even the calendar, at this time fo defedive in Europe, that Pope Gregory was urged to the bold undertaking of leaping over, or annihilating, ten days, was found to be, in China, a national concern, and the particular care of government. Decimal arithmetic, a new and ufeful difcovery of the feventcenth cen- tury in Europe, was the only fyftem of arithmetic in ufe in China. In a word, when the nobility of England v^ere fleep- ing on ftraw, a peafant of China had his mat and his pillow ; and the man in office enjoyed his filken mattrefs. One cannot, therefore, be furprized if the impreffions made upon thefe holy men were powerfully felt, or if their defcriptions fhould feem to incline a little towards the marvellous. Nor may per- haps their relations be found to be much embellifhed, on a fair comparifon of the ftate of China with that of Europe in gene- ral, from the year 1560 to the clofe of the fame century. Thefe religious men, however, might have had their motives for fetting this wonderful people in the faireft point of view. The more powerful and magnificent, the more learned and refined they reprefented this nation to be, the greater would be their triumph in the event of their efFeding a change of the national faith. It may a!fo have occurred to them, that com- mon TRAVELS IN CHINA. 31 mon prudence required they fhould fpeak favourably, at leafl:, of a nation under whofe power and prote£tion they had volun- tarily placed themfelves for life. There is every reafon to fup- pofe, that in general they mean to tell the truth, but by fuppref- fing feme part of it, or by telling it in fuch a manner as if they expeded it would one day get back to China in the language of that country, their accounts often appear to be contradidory in themfelves. In the fame breath that they extol the wonderful ftrength of filial piety, they fpeak of the common pradices of expofing infants ; the ftri£t morality and ceremonious condudl of the people are followed by a lift of the moft grofs debauch- eries ; the virtues and the phllofophy of the learned are ex- plained by their ignorance and their vices ; if in one page they fpeak of the exceffive fertility of the country, and the amazing extenfion of agriculture, in the next, thoufands are feen perifh- ing by want ; and whilft they extol with admiration the pro- grefs they have made in the arts and fciences, they plainly in- form us that without the aid of foreigners they can neither caft a cannon, nor calculate an eclipfe. Upon the whole, hoivever, the Britifh embaffy left England under a favourable impreflion of the people it Vv-as about to vifit. Whether the expeftations of all thofe who compofed it, inde- pendent of any political confideratlon, were realized, or ended in difappointment, may partly be colleded from the following pages. The opinions they contain are drawn from fuch inci- dents and anecdotes as occurred in the courfe of an eight months' vifit and from fuch as feemed beft calculated to illuftrate the condition of the people, the national charaftcr, and the nature of 32 TRAVELS IN CHINA. of the government. A ihort rcfidence in the imperial palace of Yuen-min-yuen, a greater ihare of liberty than is ufually per- mitted to ftrangers in this country, with the afTiftance of fome little knowledge of the language, afforded me the means of col- Icding the fa£ts and obfervations which I Jiow lay before the public ; and in the relation of which I have endeavoured to ad- here to that excellent rule of our immortal poet, " Notliing extenuate, * " Nor fet down aught in malice." And as the qualities of good and evil, excellence and mediocrity, in any nation, can only be fairly eftimated by a comparifon with thofe of the fame kind in others, wherever a fimilitude or a cou- traft in the Chinefe charadter or cuftoms with thofe of any other people ancient or modern occurred to my recolledion, I have confidercd it as not wholly uninterefting to note the relation or difagrecment. The difpatches from China, received by the Britifli Embaffa- dor on his arrival at Batavia, communicated the agreeable intel- ligence that his Imperial Majefty had been pleafed, by a public edid, not only to declare his entire fatisfadion with the intended embafly,but that he had likewife iffued ftrid orders to the com- manding officers of the fevcral ports along the coaft of the Yel- low Sea, to be particularly careful that Pilots fhould be ready, at a moment's notice, to condud the Englifh fquadron to Tieri- fuig^ the neareft port to the capital, or to any other which might be confidered as more convenient and fuitable for the Britifli fliips. By TRAVELS IN CHINA. 33 By this communication a point of fome difficulty was now con- fsdered to be removed. It was deemed a defireable circumftance to be furnifhed with the means of proceeding diredly to Pekin through the Yellow Sea, and thus to avoid any intercourfewith the port of Canton ; as it was well known the principal officers of the government there were prepared to throw every obftacle in the way of the embaffy, and if not effedually to prevent, at lead to countera^l, any reprefentations that might be made at the impe- rial court, with regard to the abufes that exift in the adminiftra- tion of the public affiiirs at that place, and more efpecially to the exadlions and impofitions to which the commercial eftablifh- ments are liable of the different nations whofe fubjeds have efta- blifhed factories in this fouthern emporium of China. It could not be fiippofed, indeed, that their endeavours would be lefs ex- erted, in this particular inftance, than on all former occafions of a fimilar nature. The navigation of the Yellow Sea, as yet entirely unknown to any European nation, was confidered as a fubje£l of fome importance, from the information it would afford the means of- fupplying, and which, on any future occafion, might not only leffen the dangers of an unknown paflage, but prevent alfo much delay by fuperfeding the ncceffity of running into different ports in fearch of Chinefe Pilots, whom, by experience, we afterwards found to be more dangerous than ufeful. We pafled through the ftreight of Formofa without feeing any part of the main land of China, or of the ifland from whence the ftreight derives its name, except a high point F towards 34 TRAVELS IN CHINA. towards the northern extremity. The weather, indeed, during- three fucceflive days, the 25th, 26th, and 27th July was fo dark and gloomy, that the eye could fcarcely difcern the largeft objeds at the diftance of a mile, yet the thermometer was from. 80° to 83° the greater part of thefe days. A heavy and almoft in- ceffant fall of rain was accompanied with violent fqualls of wind, and frequent burfts of thunder and flafhes of lightning ; which,, with the crofs and confufed fwell in the lea, made the paflage not only uncomfortably irkfome, but alfo extremely dangerous, on account of the many iflands interfperfed in almoft every part of the ftrait. On the evening of the 25th the fun fet in a bank ^f fog, which made the whole weftern fide of the horizon look like a blaze of fire, and the barometer was obferved to have fallen near one third of an inch, which, in thefe latitudes- and at fea, is confidered as a certain indication of a change of weather. There were on board fome Chinefe fifherraen who had been driven out to fea in one of the Eaft India company's Ihips, which we met with in the ftralts of Sunda. Thefe men aflured us that the appearance of the heavens prognofticated one of thofe tremendous gales of wind which are well known to Europeans by the name of Tty-phoon and which fome ingenious and learned men have fuppofed to be the fame as the Typhon of the Egyptians or Turpwv of the Greeks. The Chinefe, how- ever have made ufe of no mythological allufion in naming this- hurricanc. They call it Ta-fung v?hich literally fignifies a a great wind. The wind was certainly high the whole of the night and the following day, the thunder and lightning dread- ful, TRAVELS IN CHINA. 35 ful, and the variable fqualls and rain frequent and heavy j the ■depth of the fea from 25 to 30 fathoms. The charts, however, of this pafTage into the Yellow Sea, conftrudled by Europeans when the Chinefe permitted foreign, nations to trade to Cbu-fan^ are confidered as fufficlently exa(3: for fkilful navigators to avoid the dangerous rocks and iflands. By the help of thefe charts our fquadron ventured to ftand through the ftlll more intricate and narrow paflages of the Chu- fan Archipelago, where, in the contracted fpace of about eight hundred fquare leagues, the furface of the fea is ftudded with a •clufter, confiding, nearly, of four hundred diftindt iflands. Thefe iflands appeared to us, in failing among them, to be mofl:ly uninhabited, extremely barren of trees or flirubs, and many of them deftitute even of herbage, or verdure of any kind. In fome of the creeks we perceived a number of boats and other fmall craft, at the upper ends of which were villages compofed of mean looking huts, the dwellings mofl: probably of fifhermen, as there was no appearance of cultivated ground near them to furnifti their inhabitants with the means of fubfiftence. The fquadron having dropped anchor, we landed on one of the largeft of thefe iflands ; and walked a very confiderable dif- tance before we faw a human being. At length, in defcending a valley, in the bottom of which was a fmall village, we fell in with a young peafant, whom with fome dlfliculty, by means of an interpreter, we engaged in converfation. Embarrafl!ed in thus fuddenly meeting with ftrangers, fo different from his own F 2 coun- 26 TRAVELS IN CHINA. countrymen, in drefs, in features, and complexion, his timidity miglit ahnoH. be faid to afi'ume the appearance of terror. He foon, however, gained confidence, and became communicative. He aflured us that the ifland on which we were, and of which he was a native, was the beft in the whole groupe, and the moft populous, except that of Chu-fim ; the number of its inhabitants being ten thoufand fouls. It was difcovered,, however, before we had been long in the country, that when a Chinefe made ufe of the monofyllable van^ which in his language fignifies ten thoufand, he was not to be underftood as fpeaking of a determinate or precife number, but only as making ufe of a term that implied amplification. A ftate criminal, for example, is generally con- demned to undergo the punilhment of being cut into ten thou- fand pieces ; the great wall of China is called the van-lee-tchin^ or wall of ten thoufand lee^ or three, thoufand Englifli miles, a length juft double to that which the moft authentic accounts have given of it. But when he means to inform any one that the emperor has ten thoufand large vefTels, for the purpofe of colleding taxes paid in kind, on the grand canal, inftead of the monofyllable van he invariably makes ufe of the exprefllon nine thoufand nine hundred and ninety-nine, as conveying a fixed and definite number, and, in this cafe, he will be underftood to fignify literally ten thoufand. In this manner, I fuppofe, we were to underftand the population of the ifland Lo-ang. At the fight of our large (hips, fo different in their appear- ance from any of thofe belonging to the Chinefe, a vaft number of boats, iffuing from every creek and cove, prefently crowded together, in fuch a manner, and with fo little manage- ment. TRAVELS IN CHINA. 37 ment, as to render it difficult to pafs through without danger of overfetting or finking fome of them; a danger, however, to which they feemed quite infenfible. Veflels of a larger defcription, and various in the fliape of their hulls and rigging, from twenty tons burden and upwards, to about two hundred tons, were obferved in confiderable numbers, failing along the coaft of the continent, laden generally with fmall timber, which was piled to fuch a height upon their decks, that no extraordinary force of wind would feem to be required to overturn them. Beams of wood, and other pieces that were too long to be received upon the deck of a fingle fhip, were laid acrofs the decks of two veflels laflied together. We faw at leaft a hundred couple thus laden in one fleet, keeping clofc in with the coaft, in order to be ready, in cafe of bad weather, to put into the neareft port, being ill calculated to refift a ftorm at fea. The fhips indeed that are deftined for longer voyages appear, from their fingular conftrudtion, to be very unfit to contend with the tempeftuous feas of China. The general form of the hull, or body of the fhip, above water, is that of the moon when about four days old. The bow, or forepart, is not rounded as in fhips of Europe, but is a fquare flat furface, the fame as the ftern ; without any projecting piece of wood, ufually known by the name of cutwater, and without arty keel. On each fide of the bow a large circular eye is painted, in imi- tation, I fuppofe, of that of a fi{h. The two ends of the fhip rife to a prodigious height above the deck. Some carry two, fome three, and others four mafts. Each of thefe confifts of a fingle piece of wood, and confequently not capable of being occafionally reduced in length, as thofe of European fhips. The 2H:j2GG 38 TRAVELS IN CHINA. The diameter of the malnmaft of one of the larger kind of Chinefe veOels, fuch as trade to Batavia, is not lefs than that of an Englifh man of war of fixty-four guns. And it is fixed in a bed of maffive timber laid acrofs the deck. On each maft is a fmgle fail of matting, made from the fibres of the bamboo, and ftrctched by means of poles of that reed, running acrofs, at the diftance of about two feet from each other. Thefe fails are frequently made to furl and unfurl like a fan. When well hoifted up and braced aim oft fore and aft, or parallel with the fides of the fliip, a Chinefe veffel will fail within three and a half, or four points of the wind ; but they lofe all this advantage over fhips of Europe by their drifting to leeward, in confequence of the round and clumfy fhape of the bottom, and their want of keel. The rudder is fo placed, in a large opening of the ftern, that it can occafionally be taken up, which is generally done on approaching fands and ihallows. The Chinefe, in fact, are equally unfkilled in naval archi- tefture, as in the art of navigation. They keep no reckoning at fea, nor pofTefs the leaft idea of drawing imaginary lines upon the furface of the globe, by the help of which the pofi- tion of any particular fpot may be affigned ; in other words, they have no means whatfoever of afcertaining the latitude or the longitude of any place, either by eftimation from the diftance failed, or by obfervation of the heavenly bodies, with inftru- ments for that purpofe. Yet they pretend to fay, that maay £)f their early navigators made long voyages, in which they were TRAVELS IN CHINA. 39 were guided by charts of the route, fometiraes drawn on paper, and fometimes on the convex furface of large gourds or pumpkins. From this circumftance, fome of the Jcfuits have inferred, that fuch charts muft have been more correct than thofe on flat furfaces. If, indeed, the portion of the convex furface, employed for the purpofe, vs-as the fcgment of a fphere, and occupied a fpace having a comparative relation to that part of the furface of the earth failed over, the inference might be allowable ; hut this would be to fuppofe a degree of know- ledge to which, it does not appear, the Chinefe had at any time attained, it being among them, in every period of their hiftory, an univerfally received opinion, that the earth is a fquare, and that the kingdom of China is placed in the very center of its- flat furface. The prefent fyftem of Chinefe navigation is to keep as near the fhore as poflible ; and never to lofe fight of land, unlefs in voyages that abfolutely require it ; fuch as to Japan, Batavia, and Cochin-China. Knowing the bearing, or direction of the port intended to be made, let the wind be fair or foul, they endeavour, as nearly as poflible, to keep the head of the fhip always pointing towards the port by means of the compafs. This inftrument, as ufed in China, has every appearance of originality. The natives know nothing, from hiftory or tra- dition, of its firft introdu£tion or difcovery ; and the ufe of the magnet, for indicating the poles of the earth, can be traced, from their records, to a period of time when the greateft part of Europe was in a ftate of barbarifm. It has been conjedured, indeed, that the ufe of the magnetic needle, in Europe, was firft brought from China by the famous traveller Mario Polo the 40 TRAVELS IN CHINA. the Venetian. Its appearance immediately after his death, or, according to fome, while he was yet Hving, but at all events, in his own country, renders fuch a conje£ture extremely probable. The embaffies in which he was employed by Kublai-Khan, and the long voyages he performed by fea, could fcarcely have been pradlicable without the aid of the compafs. Be this as it may, the Chincfe were, without doubt, well acquainted with this inftru- ment long before the thirteenth century. It is recorded in their beft authenticated annals merely as a fa£t, and not as any ex- traordinary circumftance, that the Emperor Chung-ko prefented an embaifador of Cochin-China, who had loft his way in coming by fea, with a Ting-Jtan-tchin " a needle pointing out the fouth," the name which it ftill retains. Even this idea of the feat of magnetic influence, together with the conflrudtion of the com- pafs-box, the divifion of the card into eight principal points, and each of thefe again fubdivided into three, the manner of fuf- pending the needle, and its diminutive fize, feldom exceeding in length three quarters of an inch, are all of them ftrong prefumptions of its being an original, and not a borrowed invention. By fome, indeed, it has been conjedlured, that the Scythians, in the northern regions of Afia, were acquainted with the polarity of the magnet, in ages antecedent to all hiftory, and that the virtue of this fofTil was intended to be meant by the flying arrow, prefented to Abaris by Apollo, about the time of the Trojan war, with the help of which he could tranfport him- felf wherever he pleafed.. The abundance of iron ores, and perhaps of native iron, in every part of Tartary, and the very 3 early TRAVELS IN CHINA. 4» early period of time in which the natives were acquainted with the procefs of fmelting thefe ores, render the idea not impro- bable, of the northern nations of Europe, and Afia, (or the Scy- thians,) being firfl: acquainted with the polarity of the magnet. Yet even with the affiftance of the compafs, it is furprizing how the clumfy and ill-conftru£ted velfcls of the Chinefe can perform fo long and dangerous a voyage as that to Batavia. For, befides being thrown out of their courfe by every contrary wind, their whole confl;ru£tion, and particularly the vaft height of their upper works above the water, feems little adapted to oppofe thofe violent tempefts that prevail on the China feas, known, as we have already obferved, by the name of Ta-fung. Thefe hurricanes foraetimes blow with fuch ftrength that, according to the affertion of an experienced and Intelligent commander of one of the Eaft India Company's fhips, " Were it poffible to blow ten thoufand trumpets, and " beat as many drums, on the forecaftle of an Indlaman, in the " height of a Ta-fung, neither the found of the one nor the " other would be heard by a perfon on the quarter-deck of the *' fame fhip." In fadt, vaft numbers of Chinefe veflels are loft in thefe heavy gales of wind ; and ten or twelve thoufand fubje£ts from the port of Canton alone are reckoned to perifh annually by fhipwreck. When a fhip leaves this port on a foreign voyage, it is con- fidered as an equal chance that (he will never return ; and when the event proves favourable, a general rejoicing takes place among the friends of all thofe who had embarked in the G hazardous 41 TRAVELS IN CHINA. hazardous enterprize. Some of thefe fhips are not lefs than a thouland tons burden, and contain half that number of fouls, bcfules the paffcngers that leave their country, in the hope of making their fortunes in Batavia and Manilla. A fhip is fel- dom the concern of one man. Sometimes forty or fifty, or even a hundred different merchants purchafe a veffel, and divide her into as many compartments as there are partners, fo that each knows his own particular place in the fhip, which he is at liberty to fit up and to fecure as he pleafes. He fhips. his goods, and accompanies them in perfon, or fends his fon^ or a near relation, for it rarely happens that they will truft each other with property, where no family connexion exifls* Each fleeping-place is juft the length and breadth of a man, and contains only a fmall mat, fpread on the floor, and a pil- low. Behind the compafs is generally placed a fmall temple,, with an altar, on which is continually kept burning a fpiral taper cornpofed of wax, tallow and fandal-wood duft. This holy flame anfwers a double purpofe ; for while the burning of it fulfils an a(St of piety, its twelve equal divifions ferve to mcafure the twelve portions of time, which make up a complete day. It fhould feem that the fuperftitious notions inculcated in the people have led them to fuppofe, that fome particular influence refides in the compafs ; for, on every ap- pearance of a change in the weather, they burn incenfe before the magnetic needle. The lofTes occafioned among the fhips that were employed to tranfport the taxes paid in kind from the ports of the foutbern and middle provinces to the northern capital, were fo 1 great* TRAVELS IN CHINA. 43 great, at the time of the Tartar Conqueft, In the thirteenth century, that the fucceflbrs of Gengis-Khan were induced to open a diredl communication between the two extremes of the empire, by means of the rivers and canals ; an undertaking that refledls the hlgheft credit on the Mongul Tartars, and which cannot fail to be regarded with admiration, as long as it fhall continue to exlft. The Chinefe, however, fay, that the Tartars only repaired the old works that were fallen into decay. Six centuries previous to this period, or about the feventh century of the Chriftian sra, the Chinefe merchants, according to the opinion of the learned and ingenious Mr. de Guignes carried on a trade to the weft coaft of North America. That, at this time, the promontory of Kamfkatka was known to them under the name of Ta-Shan^ many of their books of travels fufficlently teftify ; but their journles thither were gene- rally made by land. One of the miffionaries aflured me that, in a colle£lion of travels to Kamfkatka, by various Chinefe, the names of the feveral Tartar tribes, their manners, cuftoras, and charaders, the geographical defcrlptlons of lakes, rivers, and mountains, were too clearly and diftindly noted to be mlf- taken. It is, however, extremely probable that,- as fur^ and peltry were always in great demand, they might alfo have fome communication with the faid promontory from the ifles of JefTo, to which they were known to trade with their fhipping ; and which are only a very fliort diftance from it. Mr. de Guignes, in fupport of bis opinion, quotes the journal of a Bonze, as the priefts of Fo have ufually been called, who G 2 failed 44 TRAVELS IN CHINA. failed eaftward from Kamfkatka to fuch a diftance as, in his mind, puts it beyond a doubt that the country he arrived at was no other than the coaft of California. The Spanifh writers, indeed, of the early voyages to this country, make mention of various wrecks of Chinefe veflels being found in different parts of the weftern coaft of the New Continent ; and they obferve that the natives here were, invariably, more civilized than in the interior and eaftern parts of America. Even thofe on the eaftern coaft of South America have a very ftrong refemblance to the Chinefe in their perfons, though not in their temperament and manners. The Viceroy of the Brazils retains a dozen of thefe people in his fervice, as rowers of his barge, with the ufe of which he one day honoured us, to make the tour of the grand harbour of Rio de Janeiro. We obferved the Tartar or Chinefe features, particularly the eye, ftrongly marked in the countenances of thefe Indians ; the copper tinge was rather deeper than the darkeft of the Chinefe ; but their beards being moftly confined to the upper lip and the point of the chin, together with their ftrong black hair, bore a very near refemblance. The ifland of Tcho-ka, or Saghahen, in the Tartarian fea, oppofite the mouth of the Amour, has evidently been peopled by the Chinefe. When Monfieur la Peroufe vifited this ifland, he found the inhabitants clothed in blue nankin, and " the *' form of their drefs differed but little from that of the " Chinefe ; their pipes were Chinefe, and of Toftanague ; they " had long nails ; and they faluted by kneeling and proftration, " like TRAVELS IN CHINA. 45 *' like the Chlnefe. If," continues the navigator, " they have a " common origin with the Tartars and Chinefe their fepa- " ration from thefe nations muft be of very ancient date, for " they have no refemblance to them in perfon, and little in man- " ners." Yet from his own account it appears that both their manners and cuftoms have a very clofe refemblance.' The Chinefe at one period carried on a very confiderable commerce with Buflbra and other fea-ports in the Perfian gulph, particularly Siraff, near vyhich fome fmall iflands, as well as feveral remarkable points and headlands of the coaft, ftill bear Chinefe names. In fome of the voyages it is obferved that a Colony of Chinefe had apparently fettled in the kingdom of Soffala, the defcendants of whom were, in the time of the writers, eafily diftinguifhed from the other natives, by the dif- ference of their colour and their features. The early Portu- guefe navigators alfo obferve that on the ifland St. Laurence or Madagafcar they met with people that refembled the Chi- nefe. That the celebrated traveller Marco Polo vifited Mada- gafcar in a Chinefe veflel there can be little doubt, unlefs indeed, like his own countrymen, we chufe rather to rejedl the proba- ble parts of his narrative as fabulous, and to believe the miracles performed by the Neftorian Chriftians in Armenia as the only truths in his book. It is impoffible not to confider the notices given by this early traveller as curious, interefting and valuable ; and, as far as they regard the empire of China, they bear internal evidence of being generally corred. He failed from China in a fleet con- fifting 46 TRAVELS IN CHINA. fiftlng of fourteen fhips, each carrying four mafts, and having their holds partitioned into feparate chambers, fome containing thirteen diftind compartments. This is the exadl number of divifions into which all the holds of thofe fea-faring veflels were partitioned that tranfported the prefents and baggage from our own fhips in the gulph of Pe-tche-lee into the river Pei-ho ; and we obferved many hundreds of a ftill larger defcription, that arc employed in foreign voyages, all carrying/o//r mafts; fuch vef- fels, our Tailors who are remarkable for metamorphofing foreign names, ufually caW jfujiks, from Tchuan which fignifies a fliip ; the Tfo?ig-too or viceroy of a province is called by them yohn Tuck, Not only the form of the fhips, but the circumftances of the voyage taken notice of by this ancient navigator ftamp his rela- tion with authenticity. The fi:rong current between Madagaf- car and Zanzebar rendering it next to impofTible for fhips to get back to the northward ; the black natives on that coaft, the prodiiQs of the country which he enumerates ; the true defcrip- tion of the GerafFe or Camelopardalis, at that time confidered in Europe as a fabulous animal, are fo many and fuch ftrong evidences in favour of his narrative, as to leave little doubt that he either was himfelf upon the eaft coaft of Africa, or that he had received very correct information from his Chinefe fhipmates concerning it. Yet Dodor Vincent has afferted, in his Periplus of the Ery~ threan Sea *, that in the time of this Venetian traveller none but Arab or Malay vefTels navigated the Indian Ocean. With all due deference to fuch high authority I cannot forbear obferving that the *• In tlie very next page (202) lie however cnrrefis himfelf, by obferving that eithsr the Chinefe or Malays navigated as far as Madagafcar. fimple TRAVELS IN CHINA. 47 fimple relation of Marco Polo bears internal and Irrefiftible evi- dence that the fleet of fhips in which he failed were Chinefe, of the fame kind to all intents and purpofes as they now are. Nor have we any reafon for doubting the authority of the two Mahoinedans who vifited China in the ninth century, when they tell us that Chinefe fhips traded to the Perfian gulph at that time. In a chart made under the direiflion of the Vene- tian traveller and ftill preferved in the church of St. Michael de Murano at Venice, the fouthei'n part of the continent of Africa is faid to be diftindly marked down, though this indeed might have been infcrted after the Cape of Good Hope had beea doubled by the Portugueze. Whether the Prince of Portugal had feen or heard of this chart, or confuked the Arabian Geographers, or had read of the circumnavigation of Africa in the firft tranflation of Herodotus that made its appearance but a few years before the difcovery of the fouthern promontory of this continent by Bartholomew Diaz ; or whether the voyages were undertaken at that time on a general plan of difcovery, authors feem not to have agreed, but the opinion, I underftand, among the Portugueze is that Henry had good grounds for fuppofing that the circumna- vigation of Africa was pradlicable. And whether the Phoenicians did or did not, in the earlieft periods of hiftory, double the Cape of Good of Hope there is abundant reafon for fuppoling they were well acquainted with the eaft coaft of Africa as far as the Cape of Currents. Nor is it probable that the extent and flourifhing condition of the trade and 48 TRAVELS IN CHINA. and commerce of Tyrus fliould Iiave been limited to tliat part of the Indian ocean to the fouthward of the Red Sea, which is a more difficult navigation than to the northward. That this commerce was extenfive we have the authority of the prophet Ezekiel, who, in glo'vving terms, has painted its final deftruttion, and who, it may be remarked, is ftippofed to have lived at the very time the Phoenicians failed round Africa by order of Necho. " Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandlfe, thy mariners and " thy pilots, thy caulkers, and the occupiers of thy merchan- " dize, and all thy men of war that are in thee, and in all thy " company which is in the midfl: of thee, fhall fall into the ♦' midft of the feas in the day of thy ruin." It is probable there- fore that the navigation of the Eaftern Seas was known in the earlleft periods of hlftory, and there feems to be no reafon for fuppofing that the Chinefe fhould not have had their (hare in it. Without, however, making any enquiry Into the proba- bility that an ancient intercourfe might have fubfifted between China and the Eaft coaft of Africa, either by convention for commercial purpofes, or that Chinefe failors might have been thrown on that coaft either in Phcsniclan, or Arabian, or their own vefTels, I happened to obferve in a former publication of" Travels " hi Southern Jfr'ica^'' as a matter of fa£t, " that the upper lid of " the eye of a real Hottentot, as in that of a Chinefe, was " rounded into the lower on the fide next the nofe, and that it " formed not an angle as in the eye of an European — that " from this clrcumftance they were known in the colony of " the Cape by the name of Chinefe Hottentots.^'' Further ob- fervatlons have confirmed me in the very ftrlking degree of re- femblance between them. Their phyfical characters agree in almoft TRAVELS IN CHINA. 49 almoft every point. The form of their perfons In the remark- able fmallnefs of the joints and the extremities, their voices and manner of fpeaking, their temper, their colour and features, and particularly that fingular fhaped eye rounded in the corner next the nofe like the end of an ellipfis, probably of Tartar or Scy- thian origin, are nearly alike. They allb agree in the broad root of the nofe ; or great diftance between the eyes : and in the oblique pofition of thefe, which, inftead of being horizontal, as Is generally the cafe In European fubje£ts, are deprefled towards the nofe. A Hottentot who attended me in travelling over Southern Africa was fo very like a Chlnefe fervant I had in Canton, both In perfon, features, manners, and tone of voice, that almoft always inadvertently I called him by the name of the latter. Their hair, it Is true, and that only differs. This, in a Hottentot, Is rather harfh and wiry, than woolly, neither Ipng, nor fliort, but twifted in hard curling ringlets refembling fringe. I poffefs not a fufficient degree of {kill In phyliology to fay what kind of hair the offspring would have of a Chi- nefe man and Mofamblque woman ; much lefs can I pretend to account for the origin of the Hottentot tribes, infulat^d oa the narrow extremity of a large continent, and differing fo remarkably from all their neighbours, or where to look for their priautive flock unlefs among the Chinefe. I am aware It will appear rather fingular to thofe, who may have attended to the accounts that generally have been given of thefe two people, to meet with a comparifon between the moft polifhed and the moft barbarous, the wifeft and the moft ignorant of mankind ; and I am therefore the lefs furprized at H an ^o TRAVELS IN CHINA. at an obfcrvatlon made by the writers of the Critical Review " that the foetus of the Hottentots may refemble the Chinefe, as " the entrails of a pig refemble ihofe of a man ; but on this *' topic our ingenious author feems to wander beyond the circle •* of his knowledge." I hope thefe gentlemen will not be of- fended at my taking this occafion to affure them that the com- parifon was not even then made on loofe grounds, although no inference was drawn from it, and that on a clofer examina- tion, I am the more convinced of their near refemblance in mental as well as phyfical qualities. The aptitude of a Hotten- tot in acquiring and combining ideas is not lefs than of a Chi- nefe, and their powers of imitation are equally great, allowance being made for the difference of education ; the one being con- tinually from his infancy brought up in a fociety where all the arts and conveniencies of life are in common ufe; the other among a miferable race of beings in conflant want even of the common neceffaries of life. But as affertions and opinions prove nothing, I have annexed the portrait of a real Hottentot, drawn from the life by Mr. S.. Daniell, in order to compare it with one of a Chinefe, taken alfo from the life by Mr. Alexander ; and I have no doubt that a clofe comparifon of thefe portraits will convince the reader, as well as the reviewer, that the refemblance I remarked to have found was not altogether fanciful. Indeed the people that have derived their origin from the fame ftock with the Chinefe, are more widely fcattered over tlie Aiiatic continent and the oriental iflands than is generally imagined. TRAVELS IN'cHINA. 51 imagined. All thofe numerous focietles, known under the common name of Malays, are unqueftionably defcended from the ancient inhabitants of Scythia or Tartary ; and it may perhaps be added, that their connexion with the Arabs and their converfion to Iflamifm firft infpired, and have now ren- dered habitual, that cruel and fanguinary difpofition for which they are remarkable ; for it has been obferved that the natives of thofe iflands, to which the baleful Influence of this religion has not extended, have generally been found a mild and inoffenfivc people; as was the cafe with regard to the natives of the Pelew iflands when difcovered by Captain Wilfon. The pei-ufal of Mr. Marfden's excellent hiftory of Sumatra leaves little doubt on my mind that a Chinefe colony at fomc early period has fettled on that ifland. This author obferves that the eyes of the Sumatrans are little, and of the fame kind as thofe of the Chinefe ; that they fufFer their nails to grow long ; that they excel in working fillagree, making gun- powder, &c. that they regifter events by making knots on cords ; that they count decimally ; write with a ftyle on bamboo ; that they have little hair on their bodies and heads, which little, like the Chinefe, they extract. In their language, many words, I perceive, are fimilar ; and the correfponding words exprefs the fame idea in both languages ; but on etymological comparifons I would be underftood to lay little ftrefs, for reafons which will be afligned in the fixth chapter. The fimllitude of a religious ceremony is much Wronger ground to build upon ; and the coincidence Is fuffi- ciently remarkable, that the manner pradlfed by the Sumatrans in taking a folemn oath (hould exadly agree with the fame ce- H 2 remony 58 TRAVELS IN CHINA. remony which is ufed in giving a folemn pledge among the common people of China, namely, by wringing off the head of a cock. Captain Macklntofli told me that having once occafion to place great confidence in the mafter of a Chinefe vefTel, and doubting left he might betray it, the man felt himielf confi- derably hurt, and faid he would give him fufficient proof that he was to be trufted. He immediately procured a cock, and, falling down on both knees, wrung off his head ; then hold- ing up his hands towards heaven, he made ufe of thefe words : *' If I a£l otherwife than as I have faid, do thou, o tien^ (Hea- •' ven) deal with me as I have dealt with this cock I" I have fmce been informed, from the beft authority, that whenever, in the courfe of the concerns of the Britifh EafE India Company with the merchants of China, it may be necef- fary to adminlfter an oath to a Chinefe, the fame ceremony is gone through of wringing off the head of a cock, which is by them confidered in a very ferious light, a fort of incantation, whofe effe£ts upon their minds are not unlike thofe produced by fuppofed magic fpells, once common in our own country, by which the vulgar were perfuaded that the Devil was to be made to appear before them. In a Chinefe court of juftice aa oath is never adminiftered. In a late affair, where a Chinefe ^as killed by a feaman of a Britifh man of war, and the Cap- tain was about to adminifter an oath to two of his people "Whom he produced as evidences in a Chinefe court of juftice, the chief judge was fo ihocked, that he ordered the court ta be inftantly cleared. The TRAVELS IN CHINA. 53 The C'lngahfe are unqueftionably of Chinefe origin. Thofe who are acquainted with the Chinefe manners and charadler, will immediately perceive the very clofe refcmblance, on reading Mr, Boyd's relation of his embalfy to the King of Candy. S'lti-quo^ kingdom of 5;«, (from whence Sina, or China,) are Chinefe words ; the termination is European. So alfo is the name of the ifland Chinefe, See-Ian^ See-long, or Sec-lung^ the Weftern Dragon, in conformity to an invariable cuflora of afligning the name of fome animal, to every .mountain. Having no intention, however, to inveftigate minutely the extent of Chinefe navigation and commerce in ancient times, but rather to confine my obfervations to their prefent ftate, I return from this digreffion, in order to proceed on our voyage. One of the fmall brigs, attending the expedition, was dif- patched without lofs of time to the port of Chu-San, to take on board the pilots that, agreeable to the order contained ia the Imperial edift, were expedled to be found in readinefs to embark. In fome of the paflages, formed by the numerous iflands, the currents ran with amazing rapidity, appear- ing more like the impetuous torrents of rivers, fwelled by rains, than branches of the great ocean. The depth too of thefe narrow paflages was fo great as to make it difficult, dangerous, and frequently impoflible, for fhips to anchor ia the event of a calm ; in which cafe they muft neceflarily drive at the mercy of the fliream. As we approached, in the Cla- rence brig, the high rocky point of the continent called Kee-toc^ 3 whicbt 54 TRAVELS IN CHINA. which juts into the midft of the clufter of iflands, the wind fuddenly failed us ; and the current hurried us with fuch velo- city diredly towards the point, that we expeded momentarily to be daflied in pieces ; but on coming within twice the length of the fliip of the perpendicular precipice, which was fome hundred feet high, the eddy fwept her round three feveral times with great rapidity. The Captain would have dropped the anchor, but an old Chinefe fifherman, whom we had taken on board to pilot us, made figns that it was too deep, and, at the fame time, that there was no danger, except that of the bowfprit ftriking againft the mountain. The Chinefe veflels have no bowfprit. At this moment the lead was thrown, but we got no foundings at the depth of one hundred and twenty fathoms ; yet the yellow mud was brought up from the bottom in fuch quantities, that the Nile, at the height of its inunda- tions, or the great Yellow River of China, could not be more loaded with mud than the fea was In the whirlpool of Kec-too point. The current, in the Strait of Faro, fetting diredly upon the rocks of Scylla, and the whirlpool of Charybdis, thofe celebrated objeds of dread to ancient navigators, could not poffibly have been more awfully terrific, though perhaps more dangerous, than the currents and the eddies that boiled tumul- tuoufly round this promontory of the Chinefe continent, where, *' When the tide rulhes from her rumbling caves '* The rough rock roars ; tumultuous boil the waves ; " They tofs, they foam, a wild confufion raife, " Like waters bubbUng o'er the fiery blaze." The fecond whirl removed us to a confiderable diftance from the point, and, after the third, we were fwept rapidly along in TRAVELS IN CHINA. 55 in a fmooth uniform current. Our interpreter, a Chinefe prieft, who had been educated in the college de propaganda Jide at Naples, was not quite fo compofed as his countryman the pilot. The poor fellow, indeed, had nearly been thrown overboard by the boom of the mainfail, in the firfl, which was the moft rapid, whirl of the ihip ; the fame blow ftriking a failor tofled his hat overboard ; and it afforded fome amufe- ment, in our fuppofed perilous fituation, to hear the different ejaculations of thefe two perfons on the fame occafion. SatiEliJfima Mar'ia^ ejl miraculum, eft mlraculum I exclaimed the prieft, with great eagernefs ; whilft the failor, rubbing his head, and walking away, with much compofure obferved, that the d — 71 d boom had carried away his fore-top-gallant cap ! The Chinefe, it feemed, had already been apprized of our arrival, for we had not proceeded far before a large veffel bore down towards us, and, hailing the brig in their own language, defired we would bring her to anchor, and that they would con- du£l: us early the following morning into the harbour of Chu-fac, Some of the officers came on board, were extremely civil, and prefented us with a bafket of fruit; but they affeded to know nothing of the occafion that had brought us thither. Our old fifherman took out of the fea, (among thoufands that had floated round our veffel) one of thofe animal fubftances which, I believe, we vulgarly call fea blubbers (Mollusca mednfa porpitd). It was at leaft a foot in diameter. Having dreffed it for his fupper, and feeing it wear the inviting appearance of a tranfparent colourlefs jelly, I was tempted to tafte it ; but the 36 TRAVELS IN CHINA. effed produced by this, or the fruit, or both, was a feverc ficknefs, which continued for feveral days. We weighed anchor at day-break, and, with a pleafant breeze, failed in company with the clumfy-lookingyVwyf, which, however, to the furprize of our feamen, failed quite as well as the fmart-looking Clarence. Having anchored before the town, in a fpaclous bafon formed by feveral iflands, and paid the ufual compliment of a falute, a few Mandarines (officers of government fo named by the early Portugueze from mandar^ to command) came on board. To every queftion that led to the main point of our vifit, thefe people gave us evafive anfwers, affeding the moft complete ignorance of every thing relating to the affairs of the embafl'y. They faid the TJung-ping-, or military governor of the ifland, was then abfent, but that he would return in the courfe of the day, and would be happy to fee us on fhore the following morning. Chinefe etiquette, I fuppofe, required that a day fhould elapfe before our reception in form. Accordingly, at an early hour in the morning the gentlemen of the embcilTy, who had been fent on this bufmefs, went on fhore, and were received by the Governor with great polite- nefs, and abundant ceremony, in his hall of public audience, which, as a building, had little to attract our notice. The ufual minute enquiries being gone through, which, it feems, Chinefe good-breeding cannot difpenfe with, fuch as the health of his vifitors, of their parents aad relations, and particularly the TRAVELS IN CHINA. 5^ the name and age of each perfon, the object of our vlfit was explahied to him ; and at the fame time a hope exprefled that there would be no delay in getting the pilots on board. The old gentleman appeared to be much furprizcd at fuch violent hafte, and talked of plays, feafts, and entertainments, that he meant to give us. Pilots, however, he faid, were ready to take charge of the (hips, and to carry them along the coaft to the next province, where others would be found to conduct them ftill farther. On being told that fuch a mode of naviga- tion was utterly impracticable for the large Engllfh (hips, and that fuch pilots would be of no ufe to us, he begged to be allowed the remainder of the day to enquire for others. We little expected to have met with any difficulties with regard to pilots, in one of the beft and moft frequented ports in China, where, at that time feveral hundred veffels were lying at anchor. The remainder of the day was fpent in a vifit to the city of Ting-hai ; but the crowd became fo numerous, and the day was fo exceflively hot, that before we had paffed the length of a ftreet, we were glad to take refuge in a temple, where the priefts very civilly entertained us with tea, fruit, and cakes. The officer who attended us advifed us to return in fedan chairs, an offer which we accepted ; but the bearers were flopped every moment by the crowd, in order that every one might fatisfy his curiofity by thrufting his head in at the win- dow, and exclaiming, with a grin, Hung-mau ! EtigliJJmiati^ or, literally, Redpate ! Rather difappointed than gratified, we were glad, after a fatiguing day, to throw ourfelves into our cots on board the Clarence. I When 38 TRAVELS IN CHINA. When we went on fliore the following morning, we found the military governor, attended by a civil magiftrate, by whom, after the ufual compliments, we were addrefled, in a long ora- tion, delivered apparently with a great deal of folcmnity, the intention of which was to convince us that, as it had been the practice of the Chinefe, for time immemorial, to navigate from port to port, experience had taught them it was the beft. Finding, however, that his eloquence could not prevail on his hearers to relinquifh their own opinions on the fubjed, the governor and he confulted together for fome time, and at length refolved that a general mufter fliould be made of all the perfons in that place, vs'ho had at any time vifited by fea the port of Tien-fing. A number of foldiers were accordingly difpatched, and foon returned, with a fet of the moft miferable-looking wretches I ever beheld ; who were thrufl into the hall, and dropping on their knees, were examined in that attitude, as to their qualifi- cations. Some, it appeared, had been at the port of l^ien-fing^ but were no feamen ; others followed the profeffion, but had never been at that port ; and feveral were hauled in, who had never fet a foot on board a veflel of any defcription whatfoever. In fhort, the greater part of the day was confumed to no pur- pofe ; and we were about to conclude that we had a great chance of leaving the central and much-frequented harbour of Cbu-fan, without being able to procure a fingle pilot, when two men were brought in, who feemed to anfwer the purpofe belter than any which had yet been examined. It appeared, however, that they had quitted the fea for many years, and being TRAVELS IN CHINA, 59 being comfortably fettled in trade, had no defire to engage in the prefent fervice ; on the contrary, they begged on their knees that they might be excufed from fuch an undertaking. Their fupplications were of no avail. The Emperor's orders muft be obeyed. In vain did they plead the ruin of their bufinefs by their abfence, and the diftrefs it w^ould occafion to their wives, their children, and their families. The Governor was inexorable; and they were ordered to be ready to embark in the courfe of an hour. This arbitrary proceeding of the Governor conveyed no very exalted ideas of the juftice or moderation of the government, or of the protection it afforded to the fubjeft. To drag away from his family an honeft and induftrious citizen, fettled in trade, and to force him into a fervice that muft be ruinous to his concerns, was an ad; of injuftice and violence that could not be tolerated in any other than a defpotic government, where the fubje£t knows no laws but the will of the tyrant. But we are yet on a diftani ifland of the Great Empire, remote from the fountain of authority; and delegated power, in all countries, is but too liable to be abufed. Befides, a Chinefe might be impreffed with fentiments equally unfavourable of our government, were he informed of the manner in which im- perious neceffity fometimes requires our navy to be manned. One confideration, however, might with fafety be drawn from the occurrences of this day, which was this, that long voyages are never undertaken where they can be avoided; but that the commerce of the Yellow Sea is carried on from I 2 port 6o TRAVELS IN CHINA. port to port ; and that the articles of merchandize fo tranf- ported muft ncceflarily have many profits upon them, before they come to the diftant confumer ; which may, in fome degree, account for the high prices many of the products of the country, as we afterwards found, bore in the capital. In like manner was the inland commerce of Afia conduced by cara- vans, proceeding from ftation to ftation, at each of which were merchants to buy or exchange commodities with each other, thofe at the limits of the journey having no conne£tion nor communication whatfoever with one another ; which will partly explain the ignorance of the Greeks with regard to the Eaftern countries, from whence they derived their precious ftones, per- fumes, and other valuable articles. The old Governor was evidently relieved from a load of anxiety at his fuccefs j and the tears and entreaties of the poor men ferved only to brighten up his countenance. From civility, or curiofity, or perhaps both, he returned our viiit on board the brig, which had been crowded with the natives from morning till night, fmce her firft arrival in the harbour. The want of curiofity, which has been fuppofed to form a part of the Chinefe charader, was not perceived in this inftance ; but it was that fort of curiofity, which appeared rather to be incited by the defire of looking narrowly at the perfons of thofe who were to have the honour of being prefented to their Great Emperor, than for the fake of gratifying the eye or the mind, by the acquirement of information or new Ideas. The veflel, although fo very different from their own, was an objeiS of little notice ; and although eager to get a tranfient glance at the TRAVELS IN CHINA. 6i the pafTengers, their curlofity was fatlsfied in a moment, and was generally accompanied with fome vague exclamation, in which the words Ta-whatig-tee occurred ; and the main drift of which feemed to imply, " is this perfon to appear *' before our Great Emperor ?" This was ftill more remarkable in the crowd of Ting-hai ; nothing fcarcely was there heard but the words Ta-whang-tee and Hung-maUy the Emperor and the Englifhman. The fquadron had fcarcely got under way, and cleared the narrow paflages between the iflands into the Yellow Sea, when it was perceived how very little advantage it was likely to derive from the Chinefe pilots. One of them, in fad:, had come on board without his compafs, and it was in vain to attempt to make him comprehend ours. The moveable card was to him a paradox, as being contrary to the univerfal prac- tice with them, of making the needle traverfe the fixed points, and not the points defcribed on the card to move (by the needle being attached to the card), as in thofe of Europe. The other was furnifhed with a compafs, about the fize of a common fnuff-box, being an entire piece of wood, with a circular exca- vation in the centre, juft large enough to admit the vibration of a very fine fleel needle, not quite an inch in length, which, however, might be found fufficiently ufeful, in their fliort voyages, by means of a peculiar contrivance for preferving the center of gravity, in all pofitions of the (hip, in coincidence nearly with the center of fufpenfion. Nor is it neceflary, in fo fhort and fine a needle, to load one end more than the other, in order to counterad the dip, or tendency that the magnetic I needle 62 TRAVELS IN CHINA. needle Is known to have, more or lefs, towards the horizon in different parts of the world. The Chinefe, however,