Chapter IV: Part 4

In the morning the chief inspected the ransom, which consisted of the following articles: two bales of superfine scarlet cloth; two chests of opium; two casks of gunpowder; and a telescope; the rest in dollars. He objected to the telescope not being new; and said he should detain one of us 'till another was sent, or a hundred dollars in lieu of it. The Compradore however agreed with him for the hundred dollars.

Every thing being at length settled, the chief ordered two gun-boats to convey us near the Antelope; we saw her just before dusk, when the Ladrone boats left us. We had the inexpressible pleasure of arriving on board the Antelope at 7 P.M., where we were most cordially received, and heartily congratulated on our safe and happy deliverance from a miserable captivity, which we had endured for eleven weeks and three days.

(Signed) RICHARD GLASSPOOLE.

CHINA, December 8th, 1809.

_A few Remarks on the Origin, Progress, Manners, and Customs of the
Ladrones._

The Ladrones are a disaffected race of Chinese, that revolted against the oppressions of the mandarines.--They first commenced their depredations on the Western coast (Cochin-China), by attacking small trading vessels in row-boats, carrying from thirty to forty men each. They continued this system of piracy several years; at length their successes, and the oppressive state of the Chinese, had the effect of rapidly increasing their numbers. Hundreds of fishermen and others flocked to their standard; and as their number increased they consequently became more desperate. They blockaded all the principal rivers, and attacked several large junks, mounting from ten to fifteen guns each.

With these junks they formed a very formidable fleet, and no small vessels could trade on the coast with safety. They plundered several small villages, and exercised such wanton barbarity as struck horror into the breasts of the Chinese. To check these enormities the government equipped a fleet of forty imperial war-junks, mounting from eighteen to twenty guns each. On the very first rencontre, twenty-eight of the imperial junks struck to the pirates; the rest saved themselves by a precipitate retreat.

These junks, fully equipped for war, were a great acquisition to them. Their numbers augmented so rapidly, that at the period of my captivity they were supposed to amount to near seventy thousand men, eight hundred large vessels, and nearly a thousand small ones, including row-boats. They were divided into five squadrons, distinguished by different coloured flags: each squadron commanded by an admiral, or chief; but all under the orders of A-juo-chay (Ching y[)i]h saou), their premier chief, a most daring and enterprising man, who went so far as to declare his intention of displacing the present Tartar family from the throne of China, and to restore the ancient Chinese dynasty.

This extraordinary character would have certainly shaken the foundation of the government, had he not been thwarted by the jealousy of the second in command, who declared his independence, and soon after surrendered to the mandarines with five hundred vessels, on promise of a pardon. Most of the inferior chiefs followed his example. A-juo-Chay (Ching y[)i]h saou) held out a few months longer, and at length surrendered with sixteen thousand men, on condition of a general pardon, and himself to be made a mandarine of distinction.

The Ladrones have no settled residence on shore, but live constantly in their vessels. The after-part is appropriated to the captain and his wives; he generally has five or six. With respect to conjugal rights they are religiously strict; no person is allowed to have a woman on board, unless married to her according to their laws. Every man is allowed a small berth, about four feet square, where he stows with his wife and family.

From the number of souls crowded in so small a space, it must naturally be supposed they are horridly dirty, which is evidently the case, and their vessels swarm with all kinds of vermin. Rats in particular, which they encourage to breed, and eat them as great delicacies;[119] in fact, there are very few creatures they will not eat. During our captivity we lived three weeks on caterpillars boiled with rice. They are much addicted to gambling, and spend all their leisure hours at cards and smoking opium.

THE END.

LONDON:

Printed by J. L. Cox, Great Queen Street,

Lincoln's Inn Fields.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Chinese have particular histories of the robbers and pirates who existed in the _middle empire_ from the most ancient times; these histories form a portion of every provincial history. The three last books (the 58th, 59th, and 60th) of the _Memoirs_ _concerning the South of the Meihling Mountains_ (see the Catechism of the Shahmans, p. 44) are inscribed _Tsing fun_ (10,987, 2,651), and contain the Robber history from the beginning of Woo wang, of the dynasty Chow. The Memoirs only give extracts of former works; the extracts to the three last books are taken from _the Great History of Yu[)e]_, or Province of Kwang tang (_Yu[)e] ta ke_), from _the Old Transactions of the Five Realms_ (_Woo kw[)o] koo sse_), _the Old Records of Yang ching_, a name of the ancient city of Kwang tung (_Yang ching koo chaou_), _the Official Robber History_ (_Kw[)o] she y[)i]h shin chuen_), &c.

[2] We are chiefly indebted to the Jesuits that the Russians had not conquered part of China about the middle of the seventeenth century. See the passage of Muller in Burney's Voyages of Discovery to the North-East Passage, p. 55. The Manchow destroyed the Chinese patriots by the cannon cast by the Rev. Father Verbiest.--Le Comte, Nouvelles Observations sur la Chine.

[3] We have a learned dissertation, pleading for the authenticity of the famous inscription of _Se ngan foo_, by a well-known Sinologue. May we not be favoured with another _Oratio pro domo_ concerning the many crosses which had been found in Fuh këen, and on the "Escrevices de Mer, qui estans encore en vie, lors mesme qu'elles estoient cuites?" See Relation de la Chine par Michel Boym, de la Compagnie de Jesus, in Thévenot, et Relations de divers Voyage, vol. ii, pp. 6 and 14.

[4] _Toland_, History of the Druids, p. 51.--

"This justice, therefore, I would do to Ireland, even if it had
not been my country, _viz._ to maintain that this tolerating
principle, this _impartial liberty_ (of religion), ever since
unexampled there as well as elsewhere, _China excepted_, is far
greater honour to it," &c.

Never was a man more calumniated than Confucius by the Jesuit Couplet. _Confucius Sinarum Philosophus_ was printed in the year 1687, shortly after Louis XIV. abolished the Edict of Nantes, and persecuted the most industrious part of his subjects. The Jesuit is bold enough to affirm, in his _Epistola Dedicatoria ad Ludovicum magnum_, that the Chinese philosopher would be exceedingly rejoiced in seeing the piety of the great king.

"_Quibus te laudibus efferret, cum haeresin, hostem illam
avitae fidei ac regni florentissimi teterrimam, proculcatam et
attritam, edicta quibus vitam ducere videbatur, abrogata;
disjecta templa, nomen ipsum sepultum, tot animarum millia
pristinis ab erroribus ad veritatem, ab exitio ad salutem tam
suaviter (!) tam fortiter (!), tam feliciter (!) traducta._"

[5] Toreen's Voyage behind Osbeck, II. 239, English translation.

[6] The Canton Register, 1829, No. 20.

[7] _Jang sëen_ is his Tsze, or title. The numbers which are to be found on the margin of the translation, refer to the pages of the Chinese printed text.

[8] The cubit at Canton is 14 inches 625 dec. Morrison, under the word _Weights_, in his Dictionary, English and Chinese.

[9] We see by this statement that Couplet is wrong in saying (_Confucius_ Sinarum philosophus. Proemialis declaratio, p. 60): "Mahometani, qui una cum suis erroribus ante annos fere _septingentos_ (Couplet wrote 1683) magno numero et licentia ingressi in Chinam."

[10] This statement is so extraordinary, that the Translator thought it necessary to compare many passages where the character _sh[)u]h_ (8384 M.) occurs. Sh[)u]h originally means, according to the _Shw[)o] w[)a]n_, _near, joining_; and _Sh[)u]h kw[)o]_, are, according to Dr. Morrison, "small states attached to and dependent on a larger one: tributary states." The character _sh[)u]h_ is often used in the same signification in the 57th book of our work. The description of the Peninsula of Malacca begins (Mem. b. 57, p. 15 r.) with the following words: "_Mwan l[)a] kea_ (Malacca) is in the southern sea, and was originally a tributary state (sh[)u]h kw[)o]) of _Sëen lo_, or Siam; but the officer who there had the command revolted and founded a distinct kingdom." In the war which the Siamese some years back carried on against the Sultan of Guedah, they always affirmed that the King of Siam is, by his own right, the legitimate sovereign of the whole peninsula of Malacca, and that the Sultan must only be considered as a rebel against his liege. The statement of the Chinese author, therefore, corroborates the assertions of the Siamese.

[11] On the _General Map of the Western Sea_ (_Se hae tsung too_) _Lin yin_ takes the place of Sweden. I cannot conceive what can be the cause of that denomination. _Lin yin_, perhaps, may mean the island _Rugen_?

[12] The common word for cloth, _to lo ne_, seems to be of Indian origin; it is certainly not Chinese. The proper Chinese name is _jung_.

[13] _Peih ke_ is written with various characters. See Morrison's Dictionary, under the word Peih, 8509.

[14] The syllable _lo_ is not in the Chinese text, as it is supposed, by a mistake of the printer.

[15] It may be remarked, that Cosmas, about the middle of the sixth century, had a better idea concerning the Chinese empire, or the country of _Tsin_, than the Chinese have even now of Europe. Such an advantage was it to be born a Greek and not a Chinese. Cosmas seems very well informed concerning the articles of trade which the Chinese generally bring to Serendib, or Serendwîpa (Ceylon). He remarks, that farther than China there exists no other country; that on the east it is surrounded by the ocean; and that Ceylon is nearly as far from the Persian gulf as from Tziniza or China. See the description of Taprobane, taken from the Christian Topography, and printed in Thévenot, "Relations de divers Voyages," vol. i. pp. 2, 3, and 5. The Chinese about Canton have a custom of ending every phrase with a long _a_ (_a_ is pronounced like _a_ in Italian) which is merely euphonic, like _yay_ (11980) in the Mandarine dialect. If a Chinese should be asked about his country, he would answer according to the different dynasties, Tsin-a, Han-a, Tang-a, Ming-a, &c. _Tsin-a_ is probably the origin of _Tziniza_. It is a little strange that Rennel takes no notice of the statements of Cosmas. (See the Geographical System of Herodotus I. 223, Second Edition, London, 1830.) Is it not very remarkable, that this merchant and monk seems to have also had very correct information concerning the north-west frontier of China, and of the conquest which the Huns (in Sanscrit H[=u]na) have made in the north-west part of Hindostan? He reckons from China, through Tartary and Bactria to Persia, 150 stations, or days' journies. About the time of Cosmas, an intercourse commenced between China and Persia.

[16] In prefaces and rhetorical exercises, the Chinese commonly call the years by the names employed in the well-known cycle of sixty years. The first cycle is supposed to have begun with the year 2697 before Christ. In the year 1804, the ninth year of Këa kïng, was the beginning of the thirty-sixth cycle.--Histoire générale de la Chine, XII. p. 3 and 4.

[17] The _Mei ling_ mountains, which divide the province Kwang tung from the province Këang se. See Note in the beginning of the History of the Pirates.

[18] The place where European ships lie at anchor in the river of Canton, and one of the few spots which foreigners are allowed to visit.

[19] I translate the Chinese words _Wae she_, by _non-official historian_, in opposition to the _Kw[)o] she_, or _She kwan_, the official historiographers of the empire. Both _Yuen tsze_, author of the following History of the Pirates, and _Lan e_, author of the work which is referred to in the preface, are such _Public historians_, who write--like most of the historians of Europe--the history of their own times, without being appointed to or paid for by government.

_Lan e_ gives the history of the civil commotions under Këa king, which continued from the year 1814 to 1817, in six books; the work is printed in two small volumes, in the first year of Tao kwang (1820), and the following contains the greater part of the preface:

"In the spring of the year _Kea su_ (1814), I went with other
people to Peking; reaching the left side of the (Mei ling)
mountains we met with fellow travellers, who joined the army,
and with many military preparations. In the capital I learned
that the robber _Lin_ caused many disturbances; I took great
care to ascertain what was said by the people of the court, and
by the officers of government, and I wrote down what I heard.
But being apprehensive that I might publish truth and falsehood
mixed together, I went in the year _Ting chow_ (1817) again to
the metropolis, and read attentively the imperial account of
the _Pacification of the Robber-bands_, planned the occurrences
according to the time in which they happened, joined to it what
I heard from other sources, and composed out of these various
matters a work in six books, on the truth of which you may
rely."

_Lan e_ begins his work with the history of those rebels called _T[.e]en le keaou_ (_the Doctrine of Nature_). They were divided into eight divisions, according to the eight Kwas, and placed under three captains, or chiefs, of whom the first was called _Lin tsing_--the same _Lin_ who is mentioned in the preface of _Soo_. These followers of the doctrine of Nature believed implicitly in an absurd book written by a robber, in which it was stated, that the Buddha who should come after Shakia (in Chinese called _Me l[)i]h_, in Sanscrit _Maëtreya_) is in possession of three seas, the _blue_, the _red_, and the _white_. These seas are the three Kalpas; we now live in the _white_ Kalpa. These robbers, therefore, carried _white_ banners. _Tsing y[)i]h ke_, B. i., p. i.

[20] The Translator thinks it his duty to observe, that this preface, being printed in characters written in the current hand, he tried in vain to make out some abbreviations; he is, therefore, not quite certain if the last phrase beginning with the words: "_Yuen tsze has overlooked nothing_," &c. be correctly translated.

[21] The names of authors of Prefaces, as well as of works themselves, which are not authorized by government, are often fictitious. Who would dare to publish or recommend any thing under his own name, which could displease any of the officers of the Chinese government? The author of the following Preface has a high-sounding title: "He, whose heart is directed towards the people."

[22] _Keun_, or _Tsze_, are only titles, like those of _Master_ and _Doctor_ in the European languages. _Keun_ is, in the Canton dialect, pronounced _Kwa_, which, placed behind the family names of the _Hong_, or _Hing_ (3969) merchants, gives _How qwa_, or _How kwa_, _Mow kwa_, &c., which literally means "Mr. How, Mr. Mow."

[23] I presume that the author of the Preface alludes to the _twenty-three_ large historical collections, containing the official publications regarding history and general literature. I have brought with me from Canton this vast collection of works, which are now concluded by the _History of the Ming_. It must be acknowledged that no other nation has, or had, such immense libraries devoted to history and geography. The histories of ancient Greece and Rome are pamphlets in comparison with the _Url shih san she_ of the Chinese.

[24] See the first Note to this preface.

[25] In the original Chinese now follows a sort of Introduction, or Contents (_Fan le_), which I thought not worth translating. It is written by the author of the _History of the Pacification of the Pirates_, who signs by his title _Jang sëen_.

[26] This prince was declared Emperor on the 8th February 1796, by his father the Emperor Këen lung, who then retired from the management of public affairs.--Voyage of the Dutch Embassy to China, in 1794-5; London edition, I. 223. Këa king died on the 2d of September 1820, being sixty-one years of age. His second son ascended the Imperial throne six days after the death of his father; the years of his reign were first called _Yuen hwuy_, but soon changed to _Taou kwang_--_Illustrious Reason_. Indo-Chinese Gleaner, vol. iii. 41.

[27] Annam (Chinese, Annan) comprehends the country of Cochin-China and Tung king. There have been many disturbances in these countries within the last fifty years. The English reader may compare the interesting historical sketch of modern Cochin-China in Barrow's _Voyage to Cochin-China_, p. 250.

[28] The origin of this family may be seen in a notice of Cochin-China and Tung king by father Gaubil, in the "Lettres Edifiantes," and in the last volume of the French translation of the Kang m[)u]h. Annam had been conquered by Chinese colonies, and its civilization is therefore Chinese. This was already stated in Tavernier's masterly description of Tunking, "Recueil de plusieurs Relations," Paris, 1679, p. 168. Leyden, not knowing Chinese, has made some strange mistakes in his famous dissertation regarding the languages and literature of Indo-Chinese nations. Asiatic Researches, vol. x. 271, London edition, 1811.

[29] In Chinese _Lung lae_ (7402, 6866 Mor.); this name is taken from the metropolis of this kingdom, called by the European travellers in the beginning of the seventeenth century, _Laniam_, _Laniangh_, or _Lanshang_. Robt. Kerr, General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Edinburgh, 1813, vol. viii. 446, 449.--The Burmas call this country Layn-sayn; "Buchanan on the Religion and Literature of the Burmas." Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. 226, London edition, 1810, 4to. The kingdom of Laos was conquered about the end of the year 1828, by the Siamese; the king, his two principal wives, his sons, and grandsons, amounting in all to fourteen persons, were cruelly killed at Bangkok. The Protestant missionaries, Thomlin and Guzlaff, saw nine of the relations of the king in a cage at Bangkok, the 30th of January, 1829. The First Report of the Singapore Christian Union, Singapore, 1830, Appendix xv. Is _Lang lae_ a mistake for _L[)u]h lae_, which is mentioned in the _Hae kw[)o] hëen këen_, p. 214? There occurs no _Lung lae_ in this work; where the Indo-Chinese nations are described under the title _Nan yan she_; i.e. History of the Southern ocean.

[30] People living in the same state of society, have usually the same customs and manners. It is said of the celebrated _Buccaneers_, that they laid aside their surnames, and assumed nicknames, or martial names. Many, however, on their marrying, took care to have their real surnames inserted in the marriage contract; and this practice gave occasion to a proverb still current in the French Antilles, _a man is not to be known till he takes a wife_. See the Voyages and Adventures of William Dampier, and History of the Buccaneers, p. 87. Women cut the characters for common Chinese books; and, therefore, the Chinese say, so many mistakes are found in ordinary publications. The character _pa_ (8123) in _Tung hae pa_ is by such a mistake always written _p[)i]h_ (8527).

[31] He called himself Hëo hëen (3728, 3676,) after having received a recompense from government for his robberies. See p. 75.

[32] Our author anticipates here a little; this will be clear by a subsequent paragraph, p. 13.

[33] _Shan_ is a mountain in Chinese; _Ling_ is a chain of mountains or _sierra_. The Chinese geographers say, the Mei ling mountain branches out like a tree; and they describe in particular two, the south-east and the south-west branches from Canton. They speak likewise of Woo Ling, or five sierras, in reference to five different passes by which these mountains are divided; but there are now more passes. See a compilation, already quoted, regarding Canton, made by order of the former governor _Yuen_, and printed at Canton last year, 1830, in eighty books, under the title _Ling nan y ung shuh_: i. e. _Memoirs regarding the South of the Sierra_, book 5. vol. ii, p. 1.

[34] The Chinese possess itineraries and directories for the whole empire, for every province, and for every large town or place; I shall therefore always extract the notices which are to be found in the _Itinerary of the Province Kwang tung_ (_Kwang tung tsuen too_,) referring to the places mentioned in our text.

_Hwy_ is _Hwy chow foo_, from Pekin 6365 le, and easterly from Canton 400 le; one town of the second, and ten towns of the third rank are appended to this district-metropolis. The whole district pays 14,321 leang, or tael. Here is the celebrated _Lo fow_ mountain. Lo fow consists really of two united mountains, of which one is called _Lo_ and the other _Fow_, said to be three thousand six hundred _chang_ in height, or 36,000 feet (?). The circumference is about 500 le. Here are the sixteen caverns where the dragon dwells, spoken of in the books of the Tao sect. You meet on these mountains with bamboo from seventy to eighty feet in circumference. Kwang tung tsuen too, p. 5v.

_Chaou_ is _Chaou chow foo_, from Pekin 8,540 and easterly from Canton 1,740 le; eleven towns of the third rank belong to it. The whole district pays 65,593 leang, or tael. A tael is equal to 5.798 decimal, troy weight; and in the East-India Company's accounts the tael of silver is reckoned at six shillings and eightpence sterling. _Foo_ is the Chinese name for the first class of towns; _Chow_ for the second, _Hëen_ for the third. I sometimes have translated _Chow_ by district-town, and _Hëen_ by borough, or market-town.

[35] _Kaou_ is _Kaou chow foo_, from Pekin 7,767, north-west from Canton 930 le; the district, and five towns of the third class, paying together 62,566 leang, are dependent on the district-metropolis.

_Lëen_ is _Lëen chow foo_, from Pekin 9,065, from Canton 1,515 le; the district and two towns, paying together 1,681 leang, are dependent on the district-metropolis.

_Luy_ is _Luy chow foo_, from Pekin 8,210, westerly from Canton 1,380 le; the district and its towns, paying together 13,706 leang, are dependent on the district-metropolis.

_Këung_ is _Këung chow foo_, the capital of the island _Hae nan_ or Hainan, from Pekin 9,690, south-west from Canton 1,680 le; three district towns, and ten towns of the third class, paying together 89,447 leang, are dependent on this capital. There is a town also called _Këung shan hëen_, and both town and capital take their name from the mountain _Këung_.

_Kin_ is _Kin chow_, dependent on _Lëen chow foo_, and far from it 140 le.

_Tan_ is _Tan chow_, a town of Hainan, south-west from the capital 370 le; the area of the town is 31 le.

_Yae_ is _Yae chow_, a town of Hainan, southerly from the capital of the island 1,114 le. About this town many pirates have their lurking-place. This circumstance may have caused the mistake of Captain Krusenstern, stating that in A.D. 1805, the pirates who infest the coast of China had obtained possession of the whole island of Hainan.

_Wan_ is _Wan chow_, a town of Hainan, in a south-easterly direction from the capital of the island 470 le.

[36] _Kwang_ is _Kwang tung s[)a]ng_, or the metropolis of the province Kwang tung (Canton). Ten departments (foo), nine districts (chow), and seventy-eight towns of the third class (hëen), are dependent on the provincial city, and pay together in land-tax 1,272,696 leang, excise 47,510 leang, and in other miscellaneous taxes 5,990 leang. The import duties from the sea-side with measurement of foreign vessels is said in the _Kwang tung tsuen too_, p. 3v, to amount to 43,750 leang. All duties together of the province of Canton amount to 1,369,946 taels, about £450,000. The lists of population gave last October (1830) 23,000,000 (?) for the whole province, and we now see that the Chinese pay less duties (every inhabitant about fourpence halfpenny) than the population of any country of Europe. I received the population lists from _Ahong_, an intelligent Chinese, well known to the English residents at Canton. Distance from Pekin about 6,835 le.

The subject concerning the population of China, and the amount of the _land-rent_, the _poll-tax_, and other miscellaneous taxes, is surrounded by so many difficulties, that the writer of this dares not to affirm any thing about these matters until he has perused the new edition of _Tay tsing hwy tëen_. For the present he will merely remark, that in book 141, p. 38, of the said work, the population of China Proper for the year 1793 is reckoned at 307,467,200. If we add to this number the population of Chinese Tartary, it will certainly amount to the round number of 333,000,000, as reported by Lord Macartney.

_Chow_ is _chow king foo_, from Pekin about 4,720, north-west from Canton 360 le. There is certainly some mistake in the Chinese Itinerary; how could Canton be only 6,835, and Chow king foo 7420 le? The imperial edition of the Tay tsing hwy tëen (book 122, p. 6 v.) only gives 5,494 le as the distance from Canton to Pekin; there seems to be a different sort of le. The district and eleven towns of the third class, paying together 162,392 leang depend on the district metropolis.

With the aid of the Chinese Itineraries and the new edition of the _Tay tsing hwy tëen_ (printed 1797, in 360 large volumes) it would be an easy task to compile a "Chinese Gazetteer."

[37] I found no particulars concerning these two small _islands_ (Chow signifies island) in the Canton Itinerary; and I looked in vain on the great map of the Chinese sea-coast in the Hae kw[)o] hëen këen for their position.

[38] The town _Sin hwy_ is south-west from Canton 230 le; its area is 138 le (?) and the taxes amount to 28,607 leang. This place suffered much from the pirates. I find no proper name for the river on which Sin hwy lies in the Chinese maps, it is merely called _Këang_, river. Near this place is the island where the last emperor of the Sung cast himself into the sea (1280).

[39] The word _pe_ (8335) cannot be translated in any European language. It means a vice common in Asia.

[40] The pirates probably made use of the term _saou_ (8833) and not of _tse_ (10575), because _saou_ written with a different character (8834), is the general term for boats and ships. _Paou_ must be considered as the lieutenant or first minister of Mistress _Ching_, she being herself of the family _Sh[)i]h_.

[41] It will be very interesting to compare the regulations of Paou with those of the Buccaneers. When these pirates had got a considerable booty, each person, holding up his hand, solemnly protested that he had secreted nothing of what he had taken.--Voyage, l. c. p. 95.

[42] The _San po_ (8788, 8608) are national spirits, and, as it seems, not connected with Buddhism; there is a great variety in the number of these good old mothers, who by the different emperors have been declared saints, or spirits, for the Emperor of China is likewise the pope in his empire. Dr. Morrison has an interesting article on these old women in his Canton Vocabulary. _Kang he_ mentions only two _Po_ (s. v.), who may be considered as spirits. This is a character of which the Buddhists are very fond; perhaps the translator may be wrong, and that _San po_ is merely the Sanscrit word _Swayam-bhú_.

[43] Our author shews every where his partiality for Chang paou.

[44] The author said just before that the dominion of the pirates in the Chinese sea lasted about ten years; but he only describes the transactions of the last three years, when their power and strength was at the highest point. He begins to give particulars from the 7th moon of the 13th year of Këa king, which corresponds nearly to the beginning of September 1808.

[45] There are three wretched forts at the Hoo mun, the mouth of the Canton river, which could scarcely hinder any European vessel from passing through.

[46] One of the islands marked upon European maps is called _The Ladrones_: these Ladrones, so called from the pirates, have all particular names on Chinese maps.

[47] In the first preface of the Hae kw[)o] hëen këen it is particularly stated, that the map of the sea-coast of China became first known to its editor by the expeditions against the pirates.

[48] There are, as is stated in my preface, some vulgar or provincial characters in this history; here (p. 1.) occurs a character not to be found in Kanghe, composed out of the fifty-sixth radical and the group Leaou or Lew (7061, 7203). My whole library being locked up in the Custom-house, I am not able to consult a dictionary of the Canton dialect, therefore the meaning of these characters can only be guessed at by etymology. The etymology of the characters gives sometimes a better meaning than any dictionary, and sometimes it may entirely mislead us; there is no reliance on etymology. Usage is the only master of the Chinese, as of all other languages.

[49] Hëang shan is a considerable place between Macao and Canton. I passed this town in the beginning of October 1830. Distance from Canton 150 le in an eastern direction.

[50] It was, as we have before stated, the policy of Chang paou to befriend himself, when possible, with the lower sort of people.

[51] Here the author himself says _Te ming_ (9955, 7714) "name of a place." To find out the names of places and persons, and distinguish the titles of the different officers employed by government, is often a very difficult task. The last character in the name of this place, _pae_, is very seldom found; it is the fourth character of the division of eight strokes, rad. 177.--See Kanghe. O is, in the Canton dialect, commonly pronounced like A, in Italian.

[52] These are large vessels with windows, from 200 to 500 tons; they are called by Europeans by the Chinese name, in the Canton dialect, junks; _chuen_ is the Mandarin pronunciation. The foreign trade of Cochin-China and Tung king is almost exclusively with China, that to Siam, Singapur, and Malacca, being inconsiderable. The Cochin-Chinese government tried some years ago to open a regular trade with Calcutta; but this undertaking partly failed on account of the heavy duties on foreign sugar in the possessions of the East-India Company. Sugar is a great article of export in Cochin-China and Siam.

[53] On the large map of the coast of China from Corea to Cochin-China, called _Yuen_ (12542) _hae tsuen too_, this place is called _Lao wan shan_, "the old ten thousand mountains," and is exactly opposite to the Bocca Tigris in a direct southerly direction.

[54] The sails of Chinese vessels are often called Mats, for they are really nothing else than matting.

[55] _Le_: this itinerary measure, as we have remarked, is different in different parts of the empire; it is generally considered that 250 le make a degree of latitude.

[56] This they did probably to look more ferocious. Plutarch observes of Sylla, that "the ferocity of his aspect was heightened by his complexion, which was a strong _red_, interspersed with spots of white."

[57] _Mun_ means an _entrance_ or _mouth_; few of these places are to be found, even in the particular maps of the province Kwang tung in the _Tay tsing hwy teen_.

[58] _Paou_, the first character of 8233, is in our own history always used in the signification of _cannon_. The word meant in former times an engine for throwing stones, and so it is used in the history of the Han dynasty. This gave rise to the opinion that the Chinese had guns and gunpowder long before its discovery in Europe. How could these extraordinary engines have escaped the discriminating genius of Marco Polo, had they existed in China?

[59] The three provinces which have Këang (5500) in their name the same as the two Kwang, Kwang to the east (tung) and Kwang to the west (se), are usually united under one governor and one deputy governor.

[60] Previously they robbed only in the open sea, outside the Canton river.

[61] The river discharges itself by many channels into the sea.

[62] _Tung kwan hëen_ is easterly from Canton 150 le, its area amounts to 180 le, and pays 44,607 leang land-rent, or taxes. There are many small islands belonging to the district of Tung kwan.

[63] _Fan yu hëen_, near Canton. The place where European ships anchor belongs to this Hëen; its area amounts to 140 le, and pays 48,356 leang. I looked in vain for some notices regarding the many small villages which are to be found in the sequel of the page. Some of them are merely mentioned in the Itinerary of the province Canton. The reader may compare the account of Richard Glasspoole in the Appendix.

[64] These are names of different sorts of Chinese vessels or junks.

[65] In the original Kin (6369). Kin cannot be the common cash (Tung pao) for then the sum would be too trifling--8 to 900 are to be got in Canton for a Spanish dollar. If Kin were used for dollar, or tael, which is very probable, the sum is enormous. Richard Glasspoole states that the pirates demanded indeed ten thousand dollars!--See the Appendix.

[66] _Hoo mun_. The following notice on the Chinese tiger is taken from the geography of Mookden, and translated by Father Amiot. Eloge de la ville de Moukden par Kien long, p. 249. "Au-delà de nos frontières (Mookden), il y a une espèce de tigre, dont la peau est un fort beau blanc, sur lequel il y a, par intervalles, des taches noires. Ces espèces de tigres sont plus méchants et plus féroces que les autres." Father Amoit adds, that these tigers are called _Hoo_ by the Chinese, and _Tasha_ by the Manchow.

[67] The Chinese geographers and historians are very well acquainted with Siam; there is an interesting description of this empire in the Hae kwo hëen këen, p. 21, and in the 57th book, p. 13, of the memoirs concerning the south of the Mei ling mountains. That Siam acknowledges the supremacy of China, was known to the most early European travellers. Cluver says (in his Introductio in omnem Geographiam Wolfenbuttelæ, 1694, 4to., p. 473), that "Rex Siamensis irruptione crebriori Tartarica pressus, Chano denique Chinensi sese beneficiarium aut vasallum submisit." Mendez Pinto, who was in that country in the year 1540, states that the king of Siam acknowledged the supremacy of China; Bernhardi Vareni Descriptio regni Japoniæ et Siam; Cantabrigiæ 1673-8, p. 128.

[68] It is impossible to translate the names of vessels of different descriptions. The large are the Chang lung, or great dragon vessels which by the Chinese law are forbidden to be used by any private person; these are the Mandarin, or government vessels. The pirates nevertheless had such vessels, as likewise the daring smugglers, who bring the opium from Lintin, or Linting, to Canton. The amount of the opium trade in the port of Canton was, in the year 1829-30, equal to 12,057,157 Sp. dollars.

[69] One of the English sailors, who had been taken prisoner. "The pirates frequently obliged my men to go on shore and fight with the muskets, which did great execution; the Chinese principally using bows and arrows. They have match-locks, but use them very unskilfully."--See Appendix.

[70] A shih, or stone, contains four keun: a keun thirty kin or catty, the well known Chinese weight: a catty is equal to one pound and a third English.

[71] _Nan hae hëen._ Its area amounts to 278 le, and it pays 63,731 leang. The European factories in Canton lie in this district, and the monastery opposite to the factories is usually from the name of the district called the _Hae nan sze_, the temple of Hae nan. The district of every place is called by the name of the place, and we must therefore speak of the town and district Nan hae.

[72] This simple note of the Chinese author better illustrates the religion of China than many learned dissertations. All the deities, those of Greece and Rome, of China and India, are derived from two sources; both the powers of nature and highly gifted human beings were deified. These powers of nature, and the virtues and vices of men being in every community nearly similar, the same gods and goddesses are found everywhere; only their external form and shape is different. Every province, every town, and every village of China has its particular tutulary saint, or god, and on the day of his festival his effigy is carried in public. There is no essential difference in this respect between China and those countries where Roman Catholicism is yet in its highest vigour. The effigies of the Chinese gods and goddesses are all of the human shape; they have no monsters like India and Egypt, under which it was once the fashion to seek for extraordinary wisdom and astonishing science. Lucian has already taken the liberty of laughing at these deities, and at the writers, the prophets, and sophists, who try to find some sense in all this vulgar display of nonsense, by which the people are deluded. Lucian de Sacreficiis s. f. where he laughs at the Jupiter with a ram's head, at the good fellow Mercurius with the countenance of a dog, etc. [Greek: Krioprosôpon men ton Dia, chynoprosôpon de ton beltison Ermên chai ton Pana holon tragon], etc. See the pleasant story of Jupiter with the ram's head in Herodotus, II. 42.

[73] The strong winds (Tay fung) in the Chinese sea begin about the middle of September, or just before the equinox.

[74] It is not stated in the Chinese text, whose father rushed forward, whether it was the father of the lady, or of Wei tang chow.

[75] I must again remark that there is a false character in our text: it should be Në[)e], 7974 in the Tonical Dictionary of Dr. M.

[76] I am compelled to give a free translation of this verse, and confess myself not quite certain of the signification of the poetical figures used by our author. _F[=u]ng_ signifies a hollow pyramid filled with combustibles; _y[=e]n_ signifies the smoke caused by combustion; _tse[=a]ng_ signifies the spar or yard in a boat or ship, to which the sail is attached, and _ying_ is shadow. It seems that the author alludes to the spar or yard-arm, at which _Mei ying_ was fastened by the pirate; but what he means by _shadow_ I do not really know, perhaps _ying_ is in the place of _Mei ying_.

[77] The Chinese characters are printed like the other portion of the work. I have divided them according to the verses. Only the first eight lines have a regular metre of five feet, or words, and as the author himself says, his song is then at an end; but the language still remains poetical, and for that reason it was thought proper to divide also the remaining lines like verses. Every word must be considered as consisting of one syllable or sound, even if we write it with three or four vowels. Poetry is perhaps more esteemed in China, than in any other country in the world. The late governor-general of Kwang tung and Kwang se, his Excellency Yuen, published the poems of his daughter, who died when only nineteen years of age. Most of the emperors of China wrote verses, and I have, if I remember rightly, an imperial collection printed at the command of Këa king of many volumes, containing the poetry of the crowned heads of China. The reader may easily imagine that the Chinese have many works on poetry; I am also in possession of a Chinese _Gradus ad Parnassum_ in ten large volumes, in which are to be found, divided under different heads, all the fine expression and poetical images of the classical poets. Mr. Davis has given some excellent specimens of Chinese poetry in his elegant dissertation on that subject.

[78] Verbally "monkeys and birds," a sort of birds which according to Dr. Morrison are something similar to our crows.

[79] In the memoirs concerning the south of the Mei ling mountains, three books (from 9-11 incl.) are filled up with a description of the seas, rivers, and lakes, of the province of Canton. Book ninth begins with a general description of the Chinese seas, and of the different entrances from the sea-side; then follows a particular description of the sea near Canton and Hainan, and of the different Tides at various places. The mariner would certainly be gratified by a translation of this part of the work. The translator has often remarked the extraordinary phenomenon of the fiery appearance of the sea, during his residence in China. In the before-mentioned work, b. ix. p. 5 v, we read the following notice concerning this phenomenon:

"_The fire in the sea_: It happens sometimes that sea waves
have such a luminous appearance, as if the whole sea were full
of fire. If you cast any thing into the sea, it becomes
luminous like a star; but you do not see this during moonlight.
Wood having in itself no fire, receives a fiery appearance,
after having been passed through the water."

In b. x. p. 10 r. Whampo is said to be seventy le from the sea custom-house of Canton. In this extract foreigners are in general very unfavourably spoken of. Amongst other things we are told, "that foreigners or barbarians drink so much strong liquor that they are not able to stand on their feet; they fall down intoxicated, and before having had a sound sleep, they cannot rise again." It is also remarked in the same article that many people assemble together at Whampo, to attend the trade with the foreigners; the reason probably why our author calls it "the Great." The reader will remember what has been said on Hëang shan in a former note; I will only here add the remark of Martini, "that in his time the principal and most wealthy merchants lived in that place." (Thévenot, Rélations de divers voyages, iii. 167.)

[80] It is well known that a great part of the population of China live on the water, and they are generally called _Tan_ (9832) people;--a word which in the Canton dialect is pronounced _Tanka_. They are quite a separate race, and harshly dealt with by the Chinese government. There exist particular works concerning the history, the customs and laws of these boat-people. They more than once opposed the despotic regulation of their masters, and government was always afraid they might join the pirates. The history of the southern barbarians in the often quoted _Memoirs_, &c. begins with a description of the _Tan jin_, or _Tanka_ people, and it is there said that they are divided into three different classes. The description of their customs and manners is very interesting, and I hope soon to lay it before the English reader. It has been supposed that the name _Tanka people_ is derived from the form of their boats, which is similar to an _egg_; but _Shw[)o] w[)a]n_, as quoted in Kang he, explains the word only by _Nan fang e yay_, Barbarians of the southern region. There exist different forms of this character, but I think we should not presume to make an etymology of a Chinese character without being authorized by the Shw[)o] w[)a]n, the oldest and most genuine source of Chinese lexicography.

[81] In the Chinese text is _King king_ (the character is composed out of radical _fire_ and _ear_), on which is to be found an interesting critical observation in Kang he, s. v. b. viii. p. 119r. In no other oriental language has there been so much done by the natives for the foreign student as by the Chinese.

[82] The most common denomination for Portugal is now Se yang kw[)o], or more correctly _Siao se yang kw[)o]_. "The small realm in the western ocean; Europe is called _Ta se yang_." (See Preface.) I thought it here more proper to translate _E_ by _foreigner_, than by _barbarian_. In a Chinese history of Macao, we find various particulars regarding the Portuguese. The description of the Portuguese clergy and the Roman Catholic religion is the most interesting part of this curious publication. It consists of two parts, or volumes.

[83] It would be interesting to read the Portuguese version of these skirmishes. A history of these skirmishes was printed at Lisbon, but I could not procure this publication. The reader may compare the statements of Richard Glasspoole in the Appendix.

[84] The Chinese are very much accustomed to consult the P[)u]h, or sort. There exists various ways, according to the ideas of the Chinese, of asking the divinity whether any undertaking shall prove either fortunate or not. The translator has seen different modes of casting lots in the temples of the suburbs of Canton. The reader may find an interesting description of casting lots in the "Histoire du grand Royaume de la Chine;" à Rouen 1614-8, p. 30. There is much useful information to be found in this work; but it would be curious to learn in what Armenian works ("escritures des Armeniens") it is stated, that "St. Thomas came through China in his voyage to the East-Indies" (l. c. p. 25)!

[85] _Woo_ (11753) _how_; _Woo_ is the time between eleven and one o'clock of the day. The Chinese divide the day into twelve _she shin_, or great hours; the European twenty-four hours of the day are called _seaou she shin_, little hours. We learn by a passage of Herodotus (Euterpe 109), that the Greeks in his time also divided the day into twelve parts; Herodotus also adds that the Greeks received this division of time from the Babylonians.--See Visdelou in the Supplement to the "Bibliothèque Orientale," by Herbelot, under the word _Fenek_.

[86] _Me teng_ is a particular sort of junk.

[87] These speeches seem to be rhetorical exercises of the Chinese historian; the antithesis is a figure very much used in Chinese rhetoric and poetry, and a great part of their poetry consists merely of such antitheses.

[88] That is--they are of no effect at all. I, however, thought it proper to retain the strong figure of the original.

[89] The author forgets in his rhetorical flourishes, that it is a pirate himself who speaks to pirates. The Chinese characters for "sea monster" are to be found in M 2057; "_King e_ is used figuratively for a devouring conqueror of men," says Dr. Morrison.

[90] The author has here the expression _tung-leang_ (11399) _pillar_, in its proper and figurative sense. He probably chose this expression to make, according to Chinese sentiments, a fine rhetorical phrase. _Leang_ in the beginning of the phrase corresponds to the sound and the form of the character to _Leang_ at the end: Leang shan san kë[)e] ching y[)i]h, mung g[)a]n shay url king ts[)o] tung-leang. There is also something like a quibble in the second phrase; Wa kang, _Bricks and mountain ridge_ is transformed into Choo sh[)i]h (1223) or a _corner-stone_, just as Leang-shan, _mountain bridge_ is into tung-leang, or _pillar_.

[91] O po tae alludes to well known events in Chinese history. On Tsaou tsaou see Dr. Morrison, 10549 in the tonical part of the Dictionary.

[92] I confess that it was not an easy matter to translate these rhetorical exercises and poetical phrases, by which the author is evidently anxious to draw a veil over the weakness of the empire. The Chinese scholar will certainly pardon any mistake which might occur in this poetical or furious prose--to use the expression of Blair in his _Lectures on Rhetoric_.

[93] _Kwei shen_ is a Hëen or town of the third rank, and dependent on the district metropolis Hwy chow foo; it is near to Hwy. Its area amounts to thirty-seven le, and pays in taxes 26,058 leang. It is stated in the _Itinerary of Canton_ (Kwang tung tsuen too, p. 5. v.) that the situation of this great town makes it a place of danger; being close to the sea, Kwei shen is exposed to sudden attacks from pirates.

[94] _Yang keang_ is a town of the third rank, and dependent on its district metropolis Chow king foo; distant from Chow king foo in a southerly direction 340 le. Its area amounts to twenty-nine le, and it pays 12,499 leang in taxes.

_Sin gan_ is a town of the third rank, and dependent upon Kwang chow foo; distance from Canton in a north-east direction 200 le. Its area amounts to fifty le, and pays in taxes 11,623 leang. There are three towns in the district of Canton, whose names begin with _Sin_, new; _Sin hwy_, _The New Association_; _Sin ning_, _The New Repose_; and _Sin gan_, _The New Rest_. Kwang tung tsuen too p. 3 v. 4 v et r. 8 r, _Ning_ (8026) is now always written without sin or heart, being the _ming_ or proper name of the reigning emperor. By a mistake it is stated in the Indo-Chinese Gleaner (iii. 108.), that _Ning_ was the proper name of Këa king. The proper name of the reigning emperor is considered sacred, and must be spelled differently during his life-time.

[95] A Pa tsung, a kind of inferior military officer, says Dr. Morrison, under the word pa, (8103.)

[96] _Laou ya_, _Laou ya kang_, the mountain ridge of Laou ya, is fifteen le from the town of the third rank called _Sh[)i]h ching_. Shih ching hëen belongs to the district Kaou chow foo. Kwang tung tsuen too, 16v. 9r.

[97] Crackers made of gunpowder, and the gong, are used at every Chinese festival.

[98] The name of a temple which Europeans commonly call a Pagoda.

[99] Keun in Chinese, Kwa according to the Canton pronunciation. It is true it is somewhat awkward to speak of Madam Ching and Mr. Paou, but it may be remarked that the Chinese use their familiar expressions _foo_ or _keun_ in the same manner as we use Mr. and Mrs.

[100] In the text is only Chow (1355); but I think it must here be taken for the city or town of Canton.

[101] About the towns which are mentioned in our text, the reader may compare the notes to the first book. It is quite impossible to ascertain by the text alone if there was only one military officer appointed for all these places or not. In the latter case it would be necessary to read Chuh url and Kang g[)i]h; but we see by p. 95 that Chuh url kang g[)i]h is the name of _one_ commander.

[102] Tung king and Cochin-China now form one empire, under the name of Annam or Annan. The king of this country acknowledges the supremacy of the Chinese emperor, and sends every year a tribute to Pekin. The time of the reign of every king is known by an honorary title, like that of the emperors of China. The honorary title of the period of the reigning king, to whom the message was sent, was _Kea lung_ (good fortune), the younger brother of _King ching_, called by his proper name _F[)u]h ying_ (according to the Chinese Mandarin pronunciation): he is often mentioned in the beginning of the first book of our _History of the Pirates_. The king, commonly called Kea lung, died Feb. 1820, in the 19th year of his reign. His son, who still reigns, mounted the throne on the third day after his father's death, assuming the words _Ming ming_ (Illustrious fortune), as the designation of his reign. See the "Indo-Chinese Gleaner," vol. i. p. 360. It was falsely reported that Ming ming was murdered some days after his succession to the throne (Indo-Chinese Gleaner, l. c. p. 416), and this report is stated as a fact in the generally very accurate work, Hamilton's East-India Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 430. The reader may find some interesting particulars concerning the present state of Cochin-China, in the Canton Register 1829, No. 13. Chinese influence seems to be now predominating in that country.

[103] _Teaou_ (10044) in our text is written with a vulgar character.

[104] Chih (Kang he under radical 112. B. vii. p. 19 r.) seems to indicate that they have been put to death by cutting one member after another.

[105] Hae k[)a]ng is a town of the third rank and dependent on the district metropolis Luy chow foo. Luy chow foo is westerly from Canton 1380 le. Hae kang is near to its district metropolis _Kwang tung tsuen too_, p. v. 9 v. See the Notes, p. 9, of this work.

[106] _Hae fung_ is a town of the third rank, and dependent on the district metropolis Hwy chow foo. It is in a north-east direction from its district metropolis 300 le. Its area contains forty le, and pays 17,266 leang in taxes.

_Suy ke_ is a town of the third rank, and dependent upon the district metropolis Luy chow foo; distance from Luy chow foo in a northerly direction 180 le.