OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE.
VOL. III.
THE VIEW OF INDIA EXTRA GANGEM, CHINA, AND JAPAN.
BY THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ
VOL. III.
LONDON:
Printed by Luke Hansard, Great Turnstile, Lincoln's-Inn Fields;
AND SOLD BY JOHN WHITE, HORACE'S HEAD, FLEET-STREET.
M.DCCC.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE sad duty of publishing the posthumous works of a revered Parent having devolved on me, I now present the Public with two volumes of the continuation of the "OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE," which comprehend a view of the interesting countries of China, Japan, New Holland, and the Archipelago of the Indian Ocean.
As an editor, my chief care has been to transcribe with accuracy from the original manuscript. The finishing touch of the master may be wanting; but the hand, alas! which gave the glowing tint is now cold, and who shall dare to usurp the pencil! Some trifling additions, distinguished by an initial, have been made by myself; and to
John Latham,
Esquire, I am indebted for an augmentation to the catalogue of Birds of China, and of New Holland. An objection may be made by some, that no plates adorn these volumes—engravings, except of novel objects, or really illustrative, and such, notwithstanding much exertion, it was not my good fortune to procure, tend little to the value of a work of science. Two maps, presumed more requisite, have been constructed from the best materials.
The biography of the valued Author of the following sheets, having been given by himself in his "Literary Life," to the commencement of the year 1793, little remains for me to add. To that period his health and felicity had experienced little interruption; the illness of an amiable daughter then began to embitter his days, and, after the most unremitting attention that parental fondness could dictate, he felt the cruel pang of separation, on the first of May 1794; this shock his spirits never completely recovered. In the April of the ensuing year, the patella of the knee snapped, while descending a flight of steps, an accident which confined him long to his room, yet, notwithstanding his advanced age, and the bones never again reuniting, he recovered sufficiently not only to walk without difficulty, but to pursue his usual exercise on horseback.
The year 1796 gave to the world his "Account of the parishes of Whitford and Holywell." The infirmities of nature now began to shew themselves more evidently. The loss of a friend and neighbor, the worthy Sir
Roger Mostyn,
the subsequent distractions of the county of Flint by jarring politics, the melancholy situation of public affairs, the progress of Gallic barbarism, which threatened to overturn all institutions social and sacred, operated too forcibly on a mind of the acutest feeling and most exquisite sensibility. Mental agitation affected the corporeal system; a difficulty of breathing, a cough, and other pulmonary affections induced him to apply for medical aid, and he received from his friend Dr.
Haygarth,
then resident at Chester, all the assistance that art could give. Considerable discharges of blood from the nose increased the alarming symptoms; still the energy of his mind sustained itself; he continued his literary pursuits, and employed his leisure hours, during the greatest part of 1797, in preparing for the press, and rendering as perfect as possible, his interesting "VIEW OF HINDOOSTAN," which was published early in the following year. OEdematous swellings in the legs announced the fatal cause of his disease; but to expatiate more minutely on the sad catalogue of human evils might be irksome; suffice it then to say, that he bore their trial with fortitude and resignation; a natural strength of constitution, aided by a life of uniform temperance, enabled him long to struggle against infirmity. The progress of the disorder becoming more rapid, towards the close of October he collected his nearest relatives, and received with them the mysterious seal of our Redemption; conscious of his approaching end, his eye beamed with hope, tempered by the most serene and dignified resignation; combining charity with devotion, he observed, that the ceremony would be incomplete indeed, were it not accompanied by an act of beneficence to the poor. This was the last duty of religion he performed; his life had been a preparation for the aweful conclusion. Though soon after reduced to the inability of moving, and suffering much, he continued to share the conversation of his friends and relations, except during the extreme pressure of pain, or when opiates, employed to procure a disturbed sleep, or relieve the body from a few pangs, produced their powerful effect, and sacrificed the reasoning powers and the nobler faculties of the soul. On the 16th of December 1798, the powers of nature were exhausted, and the venerated author of my being expired without a groan!
The pen of a son may not be calculated to record the character of an affectionate and beloved parent; the bias of natural affection may operate too forcibly, yet the silence of the person most intimately acquainted with the various virtues of
Thomas Pennant,
would justly draw down the reproach of ingratitude.
His religious principles were pure and fervent, yet exempt from bigotry; though firmly attached to the established church, he, by his writings and conduct, conciliated the esteem of those of a different persuasion. A steady friend to our excellent constitution, he ever labored to preserve it entire; this induced him to petition for the reform of some abuses during the administration of Lord
North,
at a period when the influence of the crown was supposed to have exceeded its due bounds; this brought him forward in later times, with additional energy, to resist the democratic spirit, which menaced tenfold evils. The duties of a magistrate he exercised with candor, with a temperate yet zealous warmth to protect the oppressed. His benevolence to the poor was unbounded, his repeated exertions to relieve the wants of a populous neighbourhood, by the importation of corn, in times of scarcity, were truly munificent. Temperate in diet, he enjoyed the fruits of abstinence, and, until a few years previous to his decease, possessed an unusual share of health and vigor. His conversation was lively, replete with instruction, and brilliant with sallies of true humour; yet too great sensiblity at times lowered his natural flow of spirits, and occasioned severe dejection.
Of his literary character the public is the impartial judge, and that public not only in this, but in foreign countries has fixed on it the stamp of approbation. Blessed with a memory the most retentive, his powers of composition were rapid; his works were generally printed, as they flowed from the pen, with little or no correction, hence, some inaccuracies may be expected, but their numbers are trifling.
Such, candid Reader! is the true but imperfect sketch of the character of a man who to superior talents united the utmost goodness of heart.
Accept, sainted spirit! this unavailing tribute of filial duty! May the example of thy virtues stimulate my exertions! May my latter end resemble thine!
DAVID PENNANT.
DOWNING,
April 12, 1800
.
ITINERARY.
KINGDOM of Aracan Page 1
River ibid.
Kingdom of Ava Page 5
River Ava Page 6
Lake of Chiamay ibid.
Ava City Page 7
Lundsey Page 8
Chedubah Isle ibid.
Cape Negrais Page 9
Pegu ibid.
Persaim River Page 10
Isle of Negrais or Siriam ibid.
River of Pegu Page 12
City ibid.
Sitang River Page 15
Martaban ibid.
Isle of Junkseilon ibid.
Lower Siam Page 16
Town of Mergui ibid.
Archipelago of Mergui Page 17
Hasting's Bay ibid.
Islands of Andaman Page 18
Lesser Andaman Page 20
Carn Nicobar ibid.
Nicobar Islands ibid.
Isle of Junkseilon Page 22
Kingdom of Quedah Page 23
Streights of Malacca ibid.
Pulo Pera Page 24
Pulo Aru ibid.
Malacca City ibid.
Kingdom of Johore Page 28
Streights of Sincapour ibid.
Cape Romano Page 29
Pulo Timon ibid.
Pahang Page 30
Trangano Page 31
Ridang Isles ibid.
Patani Page 32
Gulph of Siam ibid.
Piperi ibid.
Upper Siam Page 41
Sangora ibid.
Ligore ibid.
River Meinam Page 42
City of Juthia Page 43
River of Liant Page 48
Ponteamas Page 49
Cambodia Page 52
Cattigara ibid.
Notium Promontorium Page 53
City of Cambodia Page 54
Rachmi Page 55
Pulo Condor ibid.
Ciampa Page 59
COCHIN CHINA.
Port of Foy-foe Page 64
Whay Page 68
The Paracels Page 71
Bay of Tonquin Page 72
River of Tonquin Page 75
City of Cachao Page 77
CHINA.
Island of Hainan Page 124
Island of Sanciam Page 125
Macao City ibid.
Typa Harbour Page 126
Bocca Tigris ibid.
Canton City Page 127
River of Canton Page 129
Water passage to Peking Page 133
Imperial Canal ibid.
City of Xaochew Page 136
Five Horses Heads Page 137
City of Nanhang ibid.
Province of Kyang-si ibid.
Vannunga Page 138
Pekkinsa ibid.
Nanchang Page 139
The Kyang River ibid.
Nantchang-foo ibid.
Lake Poyang ibid.
Hoo-tchoo ibid.
King-te-ching Page 140
Tong-lyu and Ufun ibid.
Nanquin ibid.
Yang-choo Page 142
Kajutsui Page 143
Whay-ngan ibid.
River Whangho ibid.
Xantsui Page 144
Jax Hinno ibid.
Lintsin choo Page 145
Te-choo ibid.
Single, and Tiencienwey ibid.
Joerwoe Page 146
Tongtchoo-foo ibid.
Peking ibid.
Ladrone Isles Page 147
Province of Foo-tchien ibid.
Amwy Page 148
Isle of Formosa Page 149
Port of Ta-wan Page 150
Isles of Pong-ho Page 153
Province of Tche-Tchiang Page 153
Isle of Chewsan Page 154
Ning-po or Limpo ibid.
Hang-tchoo Page 156
Si-hu Lake ibid.
Isle of Tsong-ming Page 158
River Whang-ho Page 159
Yellow Sea ibid.
Province of Shang-tong ibid.
Ten-choo-foo ibid.
Province of Pe-che-li Page 160
Tian-sin, Port of Peking Page 160
Liau-tong Page 162
Korea Page 165
Deserts of Shamo Page 175
Hierkin Page 176
Cashgur ibid.
Hoton ibid.
Peym ibid.
Lop Page 177
Camul ibid.
Karakarin ibid.
Haltar-Gobi Page 179
Tanguth ibid.
River Amur Page 183
Fort Albusin Page 184
Aigun Page 185
Isle of Sagalin Page 186
JAPAN.
Tatpin Isles Page 209
Isles of Liquejo ibid.
Tanaassima Island Page 211
Gold and Silver Isles Page 244
Nipon Page 247
Sikokf ibid.
Awad ibid.
Kuisui ibid.
Isle of Blacks Page 261
Miaco Page 267
Jedo Page 268
Korea Page 269
Isle of Matmay Page 270
Land of Jeso ibid.
Acquies Page 274
Kuril Isles Page 277
Staten Land ibid.
Company Land ibid.
De Vries's Streight Page 278
ERRATA.
Page 15. line 19. for
course
read
coast.
Page 59. — 26. for
conntry
read
country.
Page 62. — 12. for
ab ae
read
abate.
Page 64. — 3. for
course
read
coarse.
Page 116. — 16. for
three
read
these.
Page 168. — 4. for
it
read
them.
Page 168. — 24. for
of
read
in.
Page 189. — 2. for
are
read
were.
Page 272. — 17. for
gives
read
give.
MAP for MR . PENNANT'S OUTLINES of the GLOBE. Vol. III. 1800.
INDIA EXTRA GANGEM.
I NOW enter on that portion of
India
which is distinguished by the name of
India
beyond the
Ganges.
The distinction is comparatively modern, being known to the antients in an imperfect manner. Here and there are scattered a few names, which they could only have collected from the
Indian
navigators; but I shall mention in course any other lights which I discover they might have received.
ADJOINING to
Chittigong
is the kingdom of
Aracan,
KINGDOM OF ARACAN.
which extends along the bay of
Bengal
about two hundred miles in a south-eastern direction. According to Mr.
Rennel
's map, a chain of mountains, beginning in the southern part of
Chittigong
skirts the sea the whole length of this kingdom, as well as that of
Ava,
to within a few leagues of
Cape Negrais.
The whole tract is infested to a very great degree with elephants and beasts of prey. The topography of this country is very obscure. The mouth of the river
Aracan,
the
Tocosannae
of
Ptolemy,
RIVER.
is placed in Lat. 20° 12′. M.
D'Anville
gives its whole course. Mr.
Rennel,
more cautious, and, perhaps, conscious of the uncertainty, only delineates a small part,
ARACAN.
or from the capital,
Aracan,
to the sea. From
Aracan,
as high as Lat. 26°, with the exception of a small portion between
Malaac
and
Munnypour,
where it is traversed by the great communication from
Ava
to the northern parts of
Bengal,
it is marked with a dotted line; from that point the river is distinguished by a certain course, which is continued northward, in the kingdom of
Thibet,
as high as Lat. 30° 10′. All the great tract it passes through is level, which makes it liable to annual inundations, from the same causes as affect the
Bengal
and other of the
Indian
plains. The tides which run up this river are very high; they come in with a great bore, and rise from fifteen to twenty feet, according to the influence of the moon.
THERE is six fathom water, according to Mr.
Ovington
's account, at the entrance of the river, and twenty farther up, so that it forms a noble harbour. From the mouth to the capital is about fifty miles; most of the way deliciously bounded by woods or plantations, animated by the gambols of the monkey tribe, or the gay flights of numbers of peacocks. The city of
Aracan
is seated most singularly, in a valley surrounded with vast and craggy mountains. These are assisted by art, so as to prove the most substantial fortifications. The entrances are cut through the solid rock, as are the gates of the city. The precipitous face of the mountains serves for walls; besides these, it has a citadel, and other artificial defences. The city is said to be fifteen miles in circumference, and to contain a hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants. The regal palace is very magnificent, and highly adorned and enriched with works of massive gold.
IN my
Outlines of the Globe, vol. ii. p. 372.
account of
Chittigong,
in the preceding volume, I have related the share this kingdom took in the affairs of
Hindoostan,
by reason of the support it gave the
Portuguese
pirates. I shall now take notice of a very remarkable event which befel
Aracan,
the result of the misfortunes of
Sultan Sujah,
OF SULTAN SULJAH.
the second son of the emperor
Shah Jehan,
and the unfortunate brother of that successful hypocrite
Aurengzebe.
After
Sujah
had long made head against the usurper, he was at length obliged to retire from his fastness near
Monghier
to
Dacca,
and from thence to the kingdom of
Aracan.
He had previously sent his son to the king of the country, to implore his protection. This was immediately promised, and the unhappy prince embarked with his whole family on board the vessels of the
Portuguese
pirates, settled in the mouths of the
Ganges,
intending to profit of the favor of the infidel monarch, till he could procure a ship to convey him to the holy city of
Mecca.
From thence he intended to go to the courts of
Turky
or
Persia,
in hopes of an asylum in one or other of the dominions of those mighty potentates.
Sujah
is said soon to have discovered the perfidy of his royal host, who had entered into a treaty with the General of
Aurengzebe,
to deliver into his hands, for a sum of money, the fugitive sultan. This came to the ears of that prince, who rashly determined on revenge. He entered into a conspiracy against the
Aracan
monarch, gained over a certain number of
Mahometans
resident in the country, and with those, and the few who were left of his train, resolved to force his way into the palace, to kill the king, and cause himself to be proclamed sovereign. All this might have been executed,
ARACAN.
had not the design been discovered. The unhappy
Sujah
attempted to escape towards
Pegu;
he was soon overtaken. His son, sultan
Banque,
defended himself with a courage worthy of his birth, till overpowered with numbers, and fainting under his wounds, he was seized, and with his two little brothers, his sisters, and his mother, carried away. As to
Sujah,
he, with one woman, an eunuch, and two other persons, in ascending a mountain, was knocked down with a stone by his pursuers. The eunuch bound up his wounded head with a turban, and they both escaped into the woods. Many relations were spread respecting this event. In general he was supposed to have died either famished with hunger, or fallen a prey to wild beasts. Mr.
Dalrymple
had picked up a story, that
Sujah
escaped to
Soolo,
an isle between that of
Borneo
and
Magindanao,
where he long led an eremitical life; that he died there, and that a tomb was erected over his grave, to this day an object of veneration with the
Mahometans.
THE tragical relation does not end here. Sultan
Banque,
and other fugitives who were brought back, were at first treated with a tolerable degree of lenity; the king even took to wife one of
Sujah
's daughters. This did not prevent
Banque
and his companions from entering into another conspiracy, which was detected. The king of
Aracan
determined to root out this illfated family; he caused the heads of the men to be cut off with blunt axes, the women to be immured, and starved to death; the lady alone whom he had honored with his bed was saved.
THE great quantity of gold and diamonds which had been brought into the country by
Sujah,
proved the cause of dreadful wars between the two sons of the king of
Aracan,
who succeeded him in 1690; they quarrelled about the division of the treasure, and never ceased from contesting the prize till both the competitors were destroyed. Many of the diamonds (as is supposed) were afterwards sold to the
Dutch,
who happened to touch at
Aracan,
at very low prices, by reason of the ignorance of the possessors.
THE next kingdom is that of
Ava.
KINGDOM OF AVA.
I shall comprehend in it three; that of
Ava
proper,
Buraghmah,
or, as it is vulgarly called,
Burmah,
and
Pegu.
They once formed so many independent states, governed by their respective monarchs; but are now by conquest consolidated into one, being subdued by the king of
Burmagh.
His dominions extend from the province of
Yunan,
in
China,
as far south as the mouths of the
Ava,
a tract of eight hundred miles. The standard of
Mahomet
was never erected in these kingdoms; all the inhabitants are rank idolaters; their mode of worship and their rites agree in many points with those of the
Hindoos,
and they allow the doctrine of transmigration. Their pagodas, and those of
Pegu,
very much resemble in form that of a bell tent. The more northern part is the kingdom of
Burmagh;
that of
Meckly,
tributary to it, forms on our maps a large vacant space to the west, divided by a vast chain of mountains from
Silhet
and
Tipera. Roshuan,
another void, is to the south of
Meckly.
The kingdom of
Aracan
separates
Burmagh,
for a considerable extent, from the eastern part of the bay of
Bengal.
The coast of
Ava
succeeds, and runs, washed by the sea, as far as
Cape Negrais,
an extent of above two hundred miles.
THE great river
Ava
takes its rise far beyond the province of
Yunan,
RIVER AVA.
in
China,
and, as is supposed, in
Thibet.
The
Chinese
call it
Hou-kian.
I am uncertain where it becomes navigable, possibly at the last custom-house in the
Chinese
dominions; at least we find, that four people of that nation, with some others, embarked there on a voyage made in the last century down that river. We have an account of it in vol. vii. 123, of the
Universal History.
It is described, even at the custom-house, as a large and rapid river. They were twenty days in sailing to the city of
Ava,
and a month more from thence to
Pegu.
Below the capital of the kingdom, the vessels which navigate this mighty river are said to be as large as our biggest ships, without sail, but the planks have neither peg or nail to fasten them; they seem to be sewed, like the Arabian vessels, which will be described in vol. of this work.
MR. DALRYMPLE, in p. 112 of his useful Repertory, says, he is assured, that the river passes through a great lake, not far above the city of
Ava.
This lake, in the old maps, such as
Speed
's,
LAKE OF CHIAMAY.
is called
Chiamay,
and it is supposed that the rivers of
Siam,
and possibly of
Aracan, Chittigong,
and some others, flow out of it. The river is described as difficult of navigation, by reason of ripplings and overfalls; and its water, during the inundations, very cold, occasioned by the snowy mountains from whence it flows.
THE borders of the
Ava,
after it enters
Burmagh,
are in some parts flat, in others hilly, but in none so low as to be overflowed. The neighbouring grounds are replete with saltpetre, and quantities of common salt are procured by lixiviation from a black earth which abounds in this district. It is now called the
Irabathy. Munchaboo,
the royal residence of the king of
Burmagh,
stands about twelve miles from the western bank, in Lat. 23° 38′, a walled town, of a square form, containing four thousand families.
Ava,
the capital of the kingdom of the same name,
AVA CITY.
is seated in Lat. 21° 48′, on the eastern bank of the river, about 38 miles below
Munchaboo.
It is a very large city, built of wood, the streets strait, and planted on each side with trees. The king's palace alone is of stone, but mean in its architecture. It was in the sixteenth century prodigiously populous, but was laid waste by the king of
Pegu
in the most savage manner.
Purchas
Vol. ii. 1728.
gives the horrible relation. The jewellers of
Europe
visited it in the same century, for the sake of its rich gems. At present
Ava
is in a most ruinous state, and does not contain above a thousand families. The kingdom produces sapphires and rubies of the highest quality. Mention is made of its rich mines of copper, lead, and silver. Other provinces are rich in gold.
FROM the city the river assumes the same name of
Ava,
takes a small curvature from thence towards the west, and the channel becomes full of isles. Near
Pegongmew,
a town seated in a sterile sandy country, and which, from the remains of numerous pagodas, seems formerly to have been a place of importance, the
Ava
takes a more southerly course. Between Lat. 20° and 19° north,
TEEK WOODS.
the western side is filled with an immense forest of teek trees, which is said to produce the best timber of any in
India;
it is floated down the river, and is a considerable article of commerce.
Prone,
once enclosed with fortifications, lies on the left bank, and is one of the principal trading towns on its course; the environs are extremely fertile.
AT
Lundsey,
LUNDSEY.
a town seated on the eastern bank, in Latitude 18° 30′, begins a rich, fat soil, formed by the mud brought down by the great annual inundations which this river is subject to, like the
Ganges. Lundsey
is distant a hundred and eighty miles from the sea. The
Delta
of the
Ava
begins in about Lat. 18°, and extends nearly a hundred and forty miles before it reaches the southern extremity; the base, or the lower part, facing the sea, is about two hundred miles; all the upper part of the
Delta
is clear land; the lower seems filled with wood, and divided by a number of channels into islands, like the
Sunderbund
of the
Ganges.
Ptolemy
calls the river
Ava, Sabaracus.
That able geographer
D'Anville
mistakes it for the
Burrampooter,
and accordingly we find it under that name in his maps. The error is venial, for he did not live to the time of our
Rennel.
I SHALL now resume the coasts from the borders of
Chittigong.
COASTS.
The country abounds with timber, and the woods with all sorts of animals for food, such as buffaloes, deer, and wild hogs. Here and there a few isles are dispersed along the shore; some in groups,
ISLES.
others single, or few together. The isles are
St. Martin
's, not far above the mouth of
Aracan
river; the
Oyster
islands nearly opposite; and the
Bolongo,
a very little to it's south.
CHEDUBAH ISLE.
Chedubah,
a large island in about Lat. 18° 30′, is supposed to be the
Bazacuta
of
Ptolemy,
remarkable, says he, for the quantity of shells; he adds, that the inhabitants were called
Agmatae,
and that they went naked. The
Sada Civitas
is placed on the coast of
Ava
by M.
D'Anville,
in Lat. 18°. We are little acquainted with the country, but that able geographer discovers it to have been a place still known by the name of
Sadoa.
Near it was the
Sadus Fluvius. Berabonna
was another town of
Ptolemy
's, seated on the same coast, in Lat. 16° 30′, now called
Barabon;
and at the extremity of the southern side of
Ava
is
Cape Negrais,
in about Lat. 16°,
CAPE NEGRAIS.
the antient
Promontorium Temula.
From Mr.
Baker
's survey, in Mr.
Dalrymple
's collection, it appears to be lofty, and in part very precipitous. The isle of
Negrais
and another, both off the mouth of the river, form within them a noble harbor, secure from all winds. The
English,
of late years, wished to six here a settlement. The country is incredibly fertile in rice, and might have proved a fine resource to the
Coromandel
coast, and even to
Bengal,
in times of scarcity, exclusive of the advantages to be derived from the harbor in time of war. As to rice, it is sold here at twelve pagodas a garce; whereas in
Coromandel
it is generally above thirty, and sometimes even eighty a garce.
THE kingdom of
Pegu
begins at this cape;
PEGU.
the coast turns then suddenly to the east, and extends above two hundred miles, inclining, after some way, slightly to the north, as far as the river of
Martaban,
the boundary between
Pegu
and the province of
Martaban,
which adjoins to the kingdom of
Siam. Pegu
is extremely narrow at the part next to
Cape Negrais;
but it widens quickly, so as to take in the whole
Delta
of the
Ava,
and stretches north as high as Lat. 19°. In the maps the coast of
Ava
is comprehended in the kingdom of
Pegu.
We know so little of these countries, of their revolutions and contra-revolutions, that we dare not deny our assent to, or controvert the relations of writers.
THE great branch of the
Delta
is immediately to the east of
Cape Negrais.
It is called the
Persaim
river, from a town seated about seventy miles from the sea, on its eastern banks. In 1758 we had a factory on the opposite side. The channel is very wide and deep, having most of the way six and seven fathoms of water. On each side are navigable canals, that probably insulate part of the flat country to the east and to the west. On the eastern part there is an inland communication from this river quite to that of
Pegu,
or the
Siriam
river, as there is through the
Sunderbunds
of
Bengal.
ISLE OF NEGRAIS.
Negrais
isle, marshy and wooded, lies just within the entrance; and on the outside is
Diamond
isle, small, and surrounded with rocks. Immediately before the front of the whole
Delta
are banks of mud or sand, of great extent, formed by the waters of the
Ava
depositing their foul load before the mouths of the several discharges. The
Marcura Metropolis
of
Ptolemy
stood in about the middle of the
Delta,
and must have had its navigable approach. I do not know that any of the discharges are at present useful in navigation, like the channels between the islands of the
Sunderbunds,
till we reach the entrance of that which leads to the town of
Siriam.
This, known by the name of the
Siriam,
SIRIAM.
is a branch of the river of
Pegu,
and contributes to form another
Delta.
The town is about thirty miles from the entrance; near it are factories, belonging to the
French, English,
and
Dutch. Raynal
Hist. of Europ. Set. vol. ii. p. 145.
says, that the
Armenians
carry on a great trade in topazes, sapphires, amethysts, and rubies. The river was known to
Ptolemy
by the title of
Besynga,
and gave its name to the modern river of
Pegu.
THE other exports of
Pegu
are teek timber, elephants, ivory,
EXPORTS.
bees-wax, lac, iron, tin, indigo, oil from different woods, oil of earth, or
Naptha,
and of fish. Here are mines of gold and silver, but neither of these are worked. The iron is native, and found in masses of fifteen or twenty pounds weight, and ready for the manufacturer; also plenty of sulphur and saltpetre, but the exportation of the last is most strictly prohibited. Rice is cultivated in great abundance in the low lands of the country, but no attention is paid to any sort of manufactures, except that of cotton, for home consumption.
I MAY observe,
BEES.
that the bees of the torrid zone are the same with the
European,
there being only one species producing honey, which is the
Apis Mellifica.
No attempts are made, either in
India
or the hotter parts of
Africa,
to hive these admirable and useful insects; they inhabit the hollows of trees, from which their treasures are taken.
LAC is the production of another insect, a species of
Chermes,
LAC.
undescribed by
Linnaeus.
Doctor
Roxburgh,
a naturalist now rising in
Hindoostan,
gives us an account of its operations, in the Philosophical Transactions
Vol. lxxxi. p. 228. tab. vi.
, under the name of
Chermes Lacca.
This, like the bee, forms cells, pentagons, hexagons, and irregular squares, which, at
Samulcotta,
in
Orixa,
the Doctor's residence, are affixed to the branches of the
Mimosa Cinerea,
the
Mimosa Glauca
of
Koenig,
and a new species called by the
Gentoos, Conda Corinda.
The insects are very small; they first appear issuing out of the cells six-legged and wingless, and are amazingly active and lively; each cell contains about a hundred; the eggs they proceed from are lodged in the cells in a deep-red liquor. These are the females. The males are winged, and are not in proportion to the females more than one to five thousand, but they are four or five times their size. The eggs, and the liquor they are lodged in, give a most beautiful red. Doctor
Roxburgh
acknowleges, that the subject from which the materials of the cells is collected is as yet unknown.
LAC is brought over to
Europe
in three forms; adhering to the sticks, with the cells and insects; prepared in form of cakes; or in small grains, or seed
lac,
which is the insect advanced into a
pupa
state. This drug was once used in medicine, in disorders of the gums, proceeding from colds or scorbutic habits; but the uses are now confined to the making of sealing wax, or for dying.
Gerard
P. 1534.
gives a figure of a stick of the tree, and the
lac
adhering, and supposes it to be the
Luchs
of
Avicen,
the
Cancamum
of
Dioscorides.
Pegu
imports from
Bengal
great quantities of
Indian
goods,
IMPORTS.
and some
European,
especially hats. The coco palm does not grow in
Pegu,
the nut is therefore a considerable import.
Dampier
shipped eleven thousand, and five or six hundred pounds weight of sugar, as presents for the king.
THE river of
Pegu
arises in the province of
Yunan,
RIVER OF PEGU.
in
China,
passes through the upper part of the kingdom of
Siam,
and forces its way through a great chain of mountains in about Lat. 20° 32′, which run from north to east, dividing
Siam
from
Pegu;
here it assumes the name of that kingdom.
CITY.
The capital city stands on the eastern bank, in about Lat. 18° 8′. In its prosperity it consisted of two parts, the old and the new; the last was the royal residence, and completed about the year 1567, by
Mandaragri,
the second
Burmagh
king. A tyrant monarch arose, who oppressed his subjects to such a degree, as to encourage the neighboring princes to invade his dominions, and in 1596, he was besieged by them in his capital. The
Portuguese,
in conjunction with certain Turks, caused the siege to be raised, but out of a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, only thirty thousand were left, all the others perished, either by the sword or famine; it had at that time three thousand cannon for its defence, of which one thousand were brass. The kings of
Aracan
and
Tangu
took advantage of his distress, the city was again besieged, surrendered to the latter, and the unfortunate monarch, and his whole family, put to death by order of his own sister, queen to the victorious king; the place was foon deserted, and the seat of empire transferred to
Ava.
The city of
Pegu
was of vast size, a regular square, with four grand streets leading to four gates, and being seated on a plain, a person at the center could see them all at once, though the city was a mile each way. The houses were built with bamboo; it was surrounded with walls, and a deep wet ditch, stocked with crocodiles,
CROCODILES.
to prevent people attempting to get in or out of the city by swimming or wading.
THE bore, or head wave of the tide,
BORE, OR HEAD WAVE.
which runs up this river is of amazing violence and rapidity; people who have the misfortune of being shipwrecked on the banks near the shore, at low water or ebb of tide, are obliged to seek the land with all possible speed, for fear lest they should be swept away. On its entering the channels and the mouths of rivers, the noise is most tremendous. The bore is said to be sixteen feet high; the barks which run up the
Pegu
river, are carried with the rapidity of an arrow out of a bow. If they cannot finish their voyage in a tide, they anchor on some of the numerous sand banks with which the river is filled. The expansion of the tide on those elevated parts lessens the danger; as soon as the barks begin to be lifted up, they prepare for their voyage. At a certain time the mariners loosen their anchors, and are carried on as I describe. If they, or even the largest ships, lay in the channel, they would certainly be overset, and the crew and the cargo at once overwhelmed in the wave; for this reason, large ships seldom venture to navigate this river, but discharge their lading at
Siriam,
from whence it was wont to be conveyed to
Pegu
in barks.
THE
Portuguese
very soon got considerable interest in this country, but by their profligate conduct were expelled by the reigning monarch.
SYLVEIRA, HIS SAD FATE.
One
Thomas Sylveira
had by his valor done considerable service to the king in the
Siamese
wars; he became a prime favorite, had his state elephant and body-guard allowed; till one day passing through the streets, and hearing the mirth of nuptial merriment in a burgher's house, stopped at the door, and understanding that the bride was a virgin of uncommon beauty, requested a sight of her; the bridegroom, thinking it an extraordinary honor, brought her to the side of
Sylveira
's elephant; the russian caused her to be seized, and carried to his house. The unhappy bridegroom, unable to sustain his loss, cut his throat; the relations rent their cloaths, and ran through the streets, appealing to their gods and monarch for revenge. The king heard the complaint, caused
Sylveira
to be seized, and to be dragged at the foot of an elephant through the streets till neither skin or flesh were left on his bones, and all the
Portuguese
in
Pegu,
except the few who could escape by flight, were instantly massacred.
THE last great mouth of the
Pegu
river is the
Sitang;
SITANG RIVER.
it divides the kingdom of
Pegu
from the province of
Martaban.
MARTABAN.
The city of that name was for some time a royal residence, and had once been the capital of an independent monarchy, but was attacked and taken by the king of
Ava,
who murdered the sovereign, massacred the inhabitants, and reduced the place to ashes. After this,
Hamilton
Account of the East Indies, vol. ii. p. 63.
says, that the conqueror sunk large vessels loaden with stones at the mouth of the port, which was once a fine harbor, so that at present only small ships can enter. It had formerly been the most flourishing commercial town of the East, and still retains its potteries and manufactures, jars glazed with lead ore, large enough to contain two hogsheads.
Hamilton
also mentions its fisheries, and adds, that its dried mullets exceed in delicacy all fish of the kind.
FROM the mouth of the
Martaban
harbor, the course runs due south, as far as the isle of
Junkseilon,
ISLE OF JUNKSEILON.
an extent of above five hundred miles. The coast of
Martaban
takes in about a hundred and forty of the computation; the currents along the shore are most swift and violent; the country bordering on the sea little known, and very barbarous. It is skirted with small isles, and is full of danger.
THE natives of the kingdom of
Pegu,
NATIVES OF PEGU.
resemble the
Malays
in appearance and disposition, but are more industrious. Their masters, the
Buraghmahs,
are liker to the
Arabs
in their features, and of a darker complexion than the
Peguers;
they are much addicted to commerce, and so numerous, even in
Pegu,
as to exceed the natives as 100 to 1. They tattow themselves, and by rubbing in gunpowder, the marks become permanent: the men are stout made; they paint their thighs in graceful flourishes.
THE lower
Siam,
LOWER SIAM.
part of the great kingdom of
Siam,
begins in Lat. 14° 50′.
TOWN OF MERGUI.
The town of
Mergui
stands on an island in the mouth of the river
Tenasserim,
in Lat. 12° 12′; it was once a most flourishing emporium, till it was, by the tyranny of the government, almost totally deserted, and the whole neighborhood became the habitation of wild beasts.
Mergui
was, at the close of the last century, much frequented by the
English
free merchants; but they were recalled by the
East India
company. They likewise had a fort here, now in ruins. During the inundations, there is a passage from
Mergui
to
Juthia,
or the capital of
Siam,
which may at that season be performed the greatest part of the way on rafts in three weeks, but in the dry season the passage takes twice the time. The river runs several leagues due east, and after it has passed the city of
Tenasserim,
turns to the north, and keeps for a vast length of way towards its origin, which is said to be in
China.
The river, and the town of
Mergui,
were the
Daona
of
Ptolemy,
and the city of
Tenasserim
the
Berobe.
A GREAT chain of mountains divides the kingdom of
Siam
in two; it begins to the east of
Tenasserim,
and pointing north passes through the kingdom of
Ava,
continues its course through
China,
and probably unites with those of
Thibet
and even
Tartary.
Mergui
stands opposite to the center of the Archipelago of the same name, a most numerous group of isles,
ARCHIPELAGO OF MERGUI.
beginning in about Lat. 13° 13′, and reaching as low as Lat. 10° 15′, and in length stretching along the coast a hundred and thirty miles from north to south, and from thirty to fifteen miles distant from the continent: the channel has all the way good soundings, good anchorage, and regular tides, which on the springs rise to twelve feet. Captain
Thomas Forrest,
in 1783, took a most accurate survey of these islands, and proved the advantage of a knowlege of the channel between them and the main land. At p. p. i. ii. of his preface, he shews how our
Indiamen
may, in their way to
Europe,
save the hazard of being embayed and losing their passage, by taking this route, and by getting round
Atcheen
head in
Sumatra,
proceed to
Europe.
ALL the isles are mountanous, and may be seen in clear weather at the distance of fourteen or fifteen leagues, and most of them finely wooded: many of the trees are very lofty; among them is the
Poon tree,
or
Uvaria Altissima,
so useful for masts, and the
Coco
palm, of such universal use in all parts of
India.
In
Pegu,
the nut is esteemed a necessary of life, nearly as much as rice.
THE islands are of various sizes and forms, but generally very small; many exactly of the shape of a bee-hive, and clothed with woods; a few are very rocky, and so rudely broken, as to seem flung up by a mighty convulsion; such are the rocks called the
Cupelo.
The largest isles are
St. Mathews, St. Susannas,
and
Sullivans,
or the
Domel.
Among them are some very good harbors, particularly
Hastings
Bay, in the isle of
St. Mathew.
HASTINGS BAY.
Mr.
Forrest
proposed a settlement to be formed of the natives of
Hindoostan,
on some of the islands, in order to profit by the rich commerce of
Pegu.
He says, slate and marble are found here, and that there is plenty of coral to burn into lime. He adds,
Swallow,
i. e. a sort of
Actinia,
in great request in
China
as a delicacy, and also the edible birds nests.
ABOUT a hundred and fifty leagues to the west of the most eastern part of the
Archipelago
of
Mergui,
are the greater and lesser islands of
Andaman.
ISLANDS OF ANDAMAN.
Ptolemy
calls the first,
Insulae Bonae Fortunae,
perhaps, says M.
D'Anville,
because navigators might exult at escaping from shores, infamous for being inhabited by a barbarous
Anthropophagi.
The antient name of the lesser
Andaman
was
Maniole.
All the islands, even as far as the group off the west end of
Sumatra,
labored under the same scandal.
THE great
Andaman
is about a hundred and eight miles long, and extends from north to south between Lat. 13° 53′, and 12° 16′; it is nearly of the same breadth, or between thirty and forty miles. The mountains rise rude and lofty; that called the
Saddle-back,
is seen twenty-two leagues distance at sea. By Captain
Wragg
's view, there appears a considerable bay on the western side, with a fine river running into the southern part: this is the island which
Marco Polo
calls
Angania,
and says, that the inhabitants live like wild beasts on fruits, and also human flesh; and that they have heads and teeth like dogs, but that their island abounds with fruits and all sorts of perfumes. The
Bramins
say that these isles are inhabited by devils incarnate, animated by the souls of impious men. In respect to the teeth of the inhabitants, it may be in some measure true, for in many parts of the Eastern world, the natives are used to file their teeth into the form of those of the canine species.
Frederic Caesar,
a traveller of authority
Purchas, ii. 1710.
, sailed by these islands about the year 1564; he made the same report of their barbarity, and adds, that they refuse all commerce with strangers, and have small barks with which they attack and take any vessels they can master, and kill and eat the prisoners.
Caesar
met with two of their barks, having on board nuts and fruit; they refused money, and were prevaled on to exchange some of their fruits for old rags, but could not be induced by any means to come on board.
Hamilton
Vol. ii. 66.
speaks of them as a fearless people; that they will swim off to any boat which approaches their island, and attack it with their wooden weapons in defiance of numbers, of our musquetry, and of the missive and defensive weapons of iron and steel. They annually make an excursion in their
preos
or little barks to their neighbors of the
Nicobar
isles, and kill and take prisoners all they can. The
Nicobarians
are a quiet people, but once they took courage, and collecting their force, gave battle, and totally defeated their barbarous enemies. The same writer, from the report of a native who had been taken prisoner when young by some
Nicobarians,
and was converted to Mahometanism, made frequent voyages to his native islands, and often returned with four or five hundred weight of quicksilver, with which he said they abounded.
THE whole of the greater
Andaman
is skirted with small islands. Mr.
Dalrymple
makes mention of a cluster inhabited by men most savage in their appearance, quite black, and with woolly hair like the
African Caffres;
their noses not so flat, for in feature they resemble the
Malays;
they go naked, have canoes, and use one end of their paddle as a bow to shoot with.
AT a great distance from the eastern side are the
Barren
Isle, and the isle of
Narcondra,
a vast mountain rising out of the sea, a land-mark from which ships take their departure.
ABOUT twelve leagues due south from the greater,
LESSER ANDAMAN.
is the lesser
Andaman,
in length twenty-six miles, a place known only by name.
Carn Nicobar,
CARN NICOBAR. BARUSSAE, INS. ANTHROPOPH.
is a flat island a hundred miles to the south of the lesser
Andaman,
nearly five miles broad, and very fertile in all the tropical fruits, rich in grass, and has plenty of cattle and hogs. This island furnishes
Pegu
with abundance of coco nuts, which are carried there by the
English, French,
and
Portuguese.
The
Nicobar
isles extend,
NICOBAR ISLANDS.
at no great distances from each other, to the south,
SINDAE, INS. ANTHROPOPH.
with an inclination to the east. The middle group consists of fine champaign land; and is called the
Sombrera,
from the resemblance of a hill on one of them to a sombrera or umbrella.
Carn Nicobar,
lies in Lat. 9° 10′, the southern point of the greatest
Nicobar,
the more southern of the series, is in Lat. 6° 51′; this and the adjacent isles are mountanous. This group was called by
Ptolemy, Insulae Sindae,
and the
Sombrera Barussae;
we are made tolerably well acquainted with these islands by means of
Dampier,
who on discovering the piratical designs of his captain, one
Read,
prevaled to be set on shore, and with two or three
Achenese,
who were landed after him, resided there some time. He represents the natives as honest, civil, and harmless, husband of one wife, and, according to the
English
rule, till death doth them part. They are neither addicted to quarrel, theft, or murder; in their persons they are tall and well-limbed, their visages long, noses well proportioned, and their whole features agreeable, their hair lank and black, their skins a deep copper; the men go naked, excepting the wrapper which passes round their waist, and from thence under the thighs, and brought so as to tuck before. The women wear a short petticoat not reaching lower than the knee.
THESE people have neither an apparent government or religion; each man is patriarchal, the ruler of his own family. Their property consists in the plantations of coco palms,
COCO TREES.
which are along the shores; the country inland seemed not cleared, and impervious by any paths.
THEY have another tree of use, which they call the
Melory;
MELORY.
it grows wild:
Dampier,
who was very observant, says he never saw any in other parts of his travels; he adds, it grows to the size of our larger apple trees; that the fruit is as big as a penny loaf, of the shape of a pear, with a smooth greenish rind; the inside is like that of an apple, but full of small strings: it is their chief food; they either eat it boiled, or scrape the pulp clear from the strings, and make it into a cake as large as a
Dutch
cheese, which will keep six or seven days, and has a good taste; they have a few small hogs, and some poultry.
THE principal employ of the natives is fishing: their canoes are sharp at each end; flat on one side, and convex on the other, and have some slight outriggers. These vessels go either with a sail or paddle, and hold from nine to thirty men.
THE
Nicobar
islands produce the beautiful and singular pigeon,
PIGEON.
to which they give name; the feathers on the head are purple, those of the neck, long, narrow, and sharp-pointed like the haccle of a cock, and reflecting various glosses of purple, red, gold, blue, and copper; the back a changeable green; the primaries a fine blue; the tail and its coverts white.
I NOW cross from the greater or more southern
Nicobar
to the island of
Junkseilon,
ISLAND OF JUNKSEILON.
about two hundred and sixty miles distant. It lies north-east of the former, between Lat. 7° 30′ and 8° 24′, is of a long form, the coast extremely indented with bays, and very salient promontories; the chief port is
Popra,
the
Tacola emporium
of
Ptolemy. Hamilton
Vol. ii. 68.
says it produces good masts, and that it has plenty of tin; about five hundred tons are annually exported, according to the account given by Captain
Forrest,
who was there in 1784. The island, subject to
Siam,
is governed by a viceroy and three assistants, and contains about twelve thousand inhabitants. The northern end is divided from the continent by a channel not exceeding a mile in breadth. Between the eastern side and the main land, is a great bay filled with numbers of small isles, and in the middle
Pulo Panjang,
which from north to south is in length twenty-three miles
Forrest, p. 30.
.
THE kingdom of lower
Siam,
bounds the northern and eastern sides of the bay; within the last is comprehended the narrow isthmus of the peninsula of
Malacca,
which does not exceed in breadth fifty miles.
AT the termination of the kingdom of
Siam,
KINGDOM OF QUEDAH.
begins the little monarchy of
Quedah,
a flat and fertile country, which extends several leagues along the coast. It was once tributary to
Siam,
but during a war the
Siamese
were engaged in with
Pegu,
it revolted, and is governed by a
Malay Mahometan
prince, as tyrannical as he is poor; he resides in a town about fifty miles from the sea, on a small navigable river; the mouth of which is in Lat. 6° 10′. This river, according to
Mannevillette,
branches, peninsulates a great tract, and reverts to the sea, forming two distant entrances into the country; the interior land rises to a great heighth. The monarch never fails visiting the
European
ships which enter the port, to extort from them some present; the religion of the country is a mongrel
Mahometanism,
mixed with the native idolatry.
THE little
Quedah
turtle
Sonnerat, vol. ii. 177.
is of the size of a sparrow,
TURTLE DOVE.
and most delicious food; it has been transported to the Isle of
France,
where it has multiplied greatly.
THE northern end of the island of
Sumatra
lies in Lat. 5° 5′, and immediately opposite to old
Quedah.
That part of
Sumatra
trends fast to the south-east till it reaches Cape
Diamond,
in Lat. 4° 50′, which is the parallel of
Pulo Dolom,
an isle close to the shore of the peninsula of
Malacca.
STREIGHTS OF MALACCA.
Here commences the
Perimulicus sinus,
or great streights of
Malacca,
bounded by
Sumatra
on the west, and the peninsula on the east. I shall scarcely mention that noble island, till I begin with it as chief of those of the
Indian Ocean.
THE next place of note on the coast, is a great tract of flat land, insulated by several channels, which form various isles, and open by different mouths into the sea.
THE greater isle,
PULO PERA.
or
Pulo Pera,
the antient
Perumela emporium,
has a most useful and magnificent harbor which runs far inland, with various branches on the right and on the left; it has from eight to five fathoms of water; a mountain rises out of the middle of the isle; the river that runs up the country is called by Mr.
Forrest, Pera.
Before its mouth is
Pulo Ding-Ding,
and other isles. That navigator
P. 28.
went up the river to visit the monarch of the country, who was attended by guards, dressed in
Chinese
habits, with the dragon on their breasts.
FARTHER to the south, in Lat. 2° 50′, the streights contract in breadth very considerably.
PULO ARU.
The small isles
Pulo Aru
are in the middle of the channel, which here begins to be greatly narrowed by rocks and banks on each shore. On the
Malacca
side, to the south-east of
Pulo Aru,
is a large bay, filled with flat morassy isles, divided by very narrow channels. On one of the most southern of them stands
Mount Parcelar,
a noted seamark to ships navigating this dangerous streight.
STILL more to the south,
MALACCA CITY.
in Lat. 2° 20′, is
Malacca,
the capital city of the peninsula; it probably succeeded
Perimula
as the emporium of this part of
India.
When the great
Albuquerque
had made his country sovereign of
Ceylon,
he turned his thoughts towards this territory, and determined to give to
Portugal
the whole commerce of the East. At that time
Malacca
possessed the entire trade of
India;
ships from every port of
Hindoostan,
from
China,
the
Phillipine
and the
Molucca
islands, from
Persia, Arabia,
and even
Africa,
filled its harbor. The
Arabians
brought with them their religion, and established
Mahometanism
in the court of this kingdom, as they had done in that of
Hindoostan.
THIS port was first visited in 1508 by the
Portuguese
admiral
Lopez Sequiera.
TAKEN BY THE PORTUGUESE.
On his arrival he met with the most friendly reception from the reigning monarch; but such a jealousy arose among the commercial people of the different nations, especially the
Arabs,
which they so effectually instilled into the prince, as soon to destroy the good understanding between him and the strangers he had so suddenly taken an affection for. His conduct had lulled the
Portuguese
into so deep a security, that numbers of them took up their residence in the city, and
Sequiera
even appointed
Araujo,
a favorite of
Albuquerque
's, as consul. The prince did not dare to attack the admiral by open force, but used every species of treachery to destroy him. Finding his plots detected, he ordered his subjects to massacre the
Europeans
who were in their power. Numbers were slain; but
Araujo
and a few others were kept as hostages to prevent the revenge of the admiral, who, after various endeavors to recover them, was obliged to leave them behind, and to set sail for the
Malabar
coast.
Albuquerque
took advantage of the quarrel; he sailed from
Goa
in 1511, and soon appearing before the port of
Malacca,
clamed the release of his countrymen. These demands were at first refused; but after some hostilities, the king was so terrified as to send to
Albuquerque, Araujo
and all the surviving
Portuguese.
Notwithstanding this, it was discovered that he intended nothing less than the destruction of the
Europeans.
It is evident he had great reason to suspect his new guests, for
Albuquerque,
among other requests, desired leave to erect a fort to secure his countrymen from any future attacks. This the king knew was only a prelude to the subjection of him and his subjects to a foreign yoke. The refusal was followed by the landing of the
Portuguese;
several severe skirmishes ensued, which, as usual, ended with the defeat of the
Indians.
The city was forced, and the palace taken by storm, but though the king found means to escape with all his valuable effects,
Albuquerque
got two hundred thousand ducats to his share of the plunder. Among other means of resistance, the
Malayes
placed in the way of the assailants a sort of
chevaux de frize
with poisoned points. No people are so expert as the
Malayes
in that dreadful art. The city was also defended by three thousand cannon, a number of artillery surprising in those days. The monarch fled to the woods, where he soon died of grief. This success of
Albuquerque
's struck all the neighboring nations with admiration. The king of
Siam,
and the princes of
Sumatra
and
Java,
and the other neighboring isles, sent to him embassadors, and various rich presents. Those from
Java
very politically presented him with spears and darts, all kinds of hostile weapons, and pieces of embroidery representing the warlike exploits of their master, to impress on the stranger an idea of the valor of the
Javanese
monarch.
THE
Portuguese
from time to time fortified
Malacca
in a manner suitable to its importance, and it became the greatest emporium in
India.
By this wise stroke of policy,
Albuquerque
gave to his country the possession of the gold, the gems, the spices, and other rich productions of
India ultra Gangem,
and its islands, as he did before those of
Hindoostan,
by the capture of the famous city of
Goa.
THE
Portuguese
continued in possession of
Malacca
till the year 1641,
EXPELLED BY THE DUTCH.
when it was wrested out of their hands by the
Dutch,
after a six months siege. The governor is accused by historians of treachery, and to have been bribed into a surrender; but it is certain that he did not give the place up till after the most gallant defence. The
Dutch,
sensible of its value, paid the utmost attention to its fortifications, and to every thing that could revive the antient commerce, which had almost sunk to nothing, by the tyranny and usual ill conduct of the
Portuguese.
THE city had in their time several fine churches, and numbers of monasteries; and the Jesuits a noble college, in which they exercised great hospitality. All these of course fell to decay under the reign of the sons of
Calvin.
Sharp as they are, they were outwitted by the sons of
Rome:
the religious of the several convents made a request to the conqueror, that they might be permitted to quit their houses in solemn procession; each carried a large waxen taper in his hand, within which were concealed their diamonds, and all the lesser treasures. The victors were defrauded of the fruits of their valor, and, as
Sonnerat
says, their commander lost his head, on his return to
Holland,
for not having sagacity enough to discover the trick.
Malacca
is exceedingly large; much of it is built of strong bamboo, but the several stone buildings, among them the governor's house, make a conspicuous figure. A narrow but deep and rapid river divides the town from the fort, one side of which is washed by the sea; in that part only four leagues distant from the low land of
Sumatra. Malacca
is a true emporium, or mart, the great magazine of the various rich articles of commerce brought from the several countries I have mentioned. As to the peninsula itself, it yields little more than the sine tin and elephants' teeth. Let me conclude, that this place was celebrated among the antients for its gold,
AUREA CHERSONESUS.
for which reason it was called by them
Aurea Chersonesus;
still, at no great distance from the city of
Malacca,
is a hill called the
Golden Mount.
Some imagine this to have been the
Ophir
of
Solomon.
I shall mention, in vol. of the Outlines of the Globe, the supposition that
Ophir
was a place in
Aethiopia.
I will not enter into the dispute, and only say, that if the birds which we know at present by the name of peacocks, were those intended
1 Kings, ch. x. verse 22.
, this, or some other part of
India,
might have been the place from which
Solomon
drew his wealth, peacocks being found in plenty here, and unknown, at least in those days, in any part of
Africa.
To the south of
Malacca
is the small kingdom of
Johore;
KINGDOM OF JOHORE.
we have scarce any acquaintance with it, and know little more of its history, than that it was governed by a brutal set of princes, and that in 1712 a rebellion arose, which ended in the expulsion of the royal family.
THE southern entrance into the streights of
Malacca
is filled with a most numerous archipelago of small isles, even to the shores of
Sumatra.
The land from
Tanjong Buro,
in
Johore,
bends into a crescent, likewise filled with isles. One is called
Sincapour,
STREIGHTS OF SINCAPOUR.
which gives name to the well-known passage for ships bound to or from the East. There are several other channels between the islands, but that of
Sincapour
is the best; yet all are subject to danger, by reason of the rapidity and irregularity of the tides, and the reefs or sand banks which are found in some or other of these narrow passages. The western horn of the crescent is
Cape Romano;
this stands in Lat. 2° 12′,
CAPE ROMANO.
and is the most southern point of the continent of
Asia.
A little to the west of that point, on a large river, stands the city of
Johore,
or
Batusabar,
erroneously supposed by M.
D'Anville
to have been the same with the
Zaba
or
Sabana emporium
of
Ptolemy.
The
Cape Romano
is certainly the
Magnum Promontorium,
or
Malaeucolon,
a name borrowed from the antient
Malayes. Romano
seems to be a traditional name, used in memory of the nations which frequented the adjacent port, where the ships must often have been obliged to wait for the proper wind, to enable them to double the great promontory, and pursue their voyage to the several marts on each side of the gulph of
Siam.
FOR the tracing the remainder of the coasts on the continent, I shall no more consult the opinion of my able guide, M.
D'Anville,
but follow that of a countryman, Mr.
John Caverhill,
who, in the lviith volume of the Philosophical Transactions, has given a very able criticism on those parts of
Ptolemy
which relate to these particular shores.
AFTER doubling the
Cape Romano,
the peninsula takes a north north-western direction. Between Lat. 2° 22′, and
Pulo Varela,
in Lat. 3° 20′ is an extensive group of small isles, which fill the sea for a considerable breadth, almost to the very shore; the largest is
Pulo Timon.
PULO TIMON.
In passing down the streights of
Malacca,
as far as
Cape Romano,
navigators are obliged to take an eastern course
Dampier's Voyage, ii. 5.
. This proves how well
Ptolemy
was informed when he said, that the
Roman
ships bound for
Cattigara
took that direction, but afterwards, when they had doubled the Cape, they (being hurried easterly by the tide, which rushes through the streights of
Sincapour
) were under the necessity of making a tack, and proceeding westerly, to reach the several ports they might be bound for, in the
Magnus Sinus.
Pahang
port,
PAHANG
and town, are in Lat. 3° 50′, and in a most fruitful country. The mouth of the river has an island before it. The north channel has, at high water, the depth of four fathoms, and just within the bar, good anchorage in six. The estuary is a mile broad, but so full of sand banks, that it is with great trouble a vessel of thirty tons can work up to the town, distant twelve miles from the sea. The river rises far up the country, washes the foot of the hill of
Malacca,
GOLD.
and contains a vast deal of gold.
Hamilton
visited this country in 1719, and reports, that lumps of five or six ounces weight have been found. The divers usually descend to the depth of three fathoms, but the greatest lumps of the pretious metal are found in ten. Some years eight hundred weight have been exported. Well may this country have been supposed to have been another
Ophir. Josephus
Lib. viii. c. ii.
seems to have been right in fixing it here, if his authority was good for saying, that the antient name of this part of
India
was
Sophora,
now the land of gold, which comes so very near to that of
Ophir.
Possibly the word is the
Malayan
name for the pretious metal. M.
Le Poivre
says, that the inhabitants of
Malacca
and
Sumatra
call their gold mines
ophirs,
and Mr.
Marsden
Voyage to Sumatra, p. 8.
, that in the latter island is a hill named
Mount Ophir,
possibly from its having been once rich in gold.
MUCH pepper is cultivated on the sides of the river;
PEPPER.
about three hundred tons have been sent to market, but had there been a demand, three thousand might be raised in the space of five years. The best canes in the world are said to grow in these parts.
Trangano
or
Tringoran,
TRANGANO.
a small town a little to the north of
Pahang,
is seated on a river near the sea, in which small ships may moor securely among the rocks. The town did consist of above a thousand houses, half of which are inhabited by
Chinese,
who traffic in their
jonks
to
Siam, Cambodia,
and
Tonquin. Trangano
is most deliciously seated amidst low hills, covered with the eternal verdure of undeciduous trees; lemons, oranges,
FRUITS.
mangostans, and all the fruits of the
Indies
grow here in perfection; and the vallies laugh with grain, pulse, and sugar, but all owing to the industry of the
Chinese.
The feudal
Malayes
are too lazy to make the earth yield its increase. Pepper is raised in great abundance, but the port is shut up from
October to March,
by a most violent sea, driven in by the north-east monsoons. In the still months, the sea is said to afford the finest of fish.
Ptolemy
places, either in the neighborhood of this town or
Pahang,
a place called
Thagora.
LATITUDE 6° passes over part of the group of the
Ridang
isles,
RIDANO ISLES.
which lie not remote from the coast. They are inhabited by
Malayan
pirates, who seize on any vessels they can master, especially the
Chinese,
and sell the crews and passengers for slaves. It is not infrequent that they murder the whole crew. Their vessels are crowded with men, armed either with lances and cresses, or short daggers. They suddenly board the ships they think they can master; and having their native ferocity heightened by opium, instantly stab all whom they find in their way. These miscreants swarm in the streights of
Malacca,
and in all the islands which go under the name of
Malaye.
Patani,
PATANI.
, in Lat. 6° 50′, the next town of note, lies close on the shore, and was once greatly frequented by ships from
Surat,
the
Malabar
coast, and that of
Coromandel,
beside what come from
China
and other neighboring countries; but the merchants finding no protection from the murderous pirates, quite deserted the place. This may have been the
Balonga
of
Ptolemy.
ADVANCING still north,
GULPH OF SIAM.
we enter the gulph of
Siam,
the
Magnus Sinus
of the same geographer; the land after passing
Patani,
makes a considerable curvature towards the west, which continues as far as
Patanor,
in about Lat. 10°, where it bends towards the north-east, till it ends in the bottom of the gulph at the river of
Siam.
Thus finishes the outline of this celebrated peninsula.
IN this curvature,
PIPERI.
near the bottom of the bay, stood the antient
Sipiberis,
the modern
Piperi;
and to the south of it
Sindu,
the present
Sini.
WE shall take a review of its whole extent, from the northern end of its isthmus, in Lat. 9° 12′, to its southern extremity at cape
Romano,
which is about six hundred and sixty miles. The breadth in the widest part, is about two hundred miles; from that part it gradually narrows till it ends nearly in a point at cape
Romano.
All the interior parts of the country are hilly; the lower grounds towards the sea marshy and wooded.
IN respect to the general view of the peninsula, its productions, and the singular manners and government of the inhabitants, it is impossible to give a more clear statement than in the words of M.
Le Poivre,
the author of the celebrated
Voyages d'un Philosophe.
We use the translation of 1769, which is done in a style equally elegant with that of the original; I will not injure it by abridgment, but give the whole, from p. 67 to p. 78, and afterwards some explanatory remarks on certain parts, and a brief account of the natural history, collected from different materials. In the articles of botany, mineralogy, and zoology, there is so great agreement between the productions of the opposite
Sumatra
and the peninsula, that I shall, except in a very few instances, defer entering on those subjects till I arrive in that great island.
I SHALL now return to M.
Le Poivre.
"BEYOND the kingdom of
Siam,
"
OF THE MALAYES.
says that most observant and judicious traveller,
is the peninsula of
Malacca,
a country formerly well peopled, and consequently well cultivated. This nation was once one of the greatest powers, and made a very considerable figure on the theatre of
Asia.
The sea was covered with their ships, and they carried on a most extensive commerce. Their laws, however, were apparently very different from those which subsist among them at present. From time to time they sent out numbers of colonies, which, one after another, peopled the islands of
Sumatra, Java, Borneo,
the
Celebes,
or
Macassar,
the
Moluccas,
the
Phillippines,
and those innumerable islands of the
Archipelago,
which bound
Asia
on the east, and which occupy an extent of seven hundred leagues in longitude from east to west, by about six hundred of latitude from north to south. The inhabitants of all these islands, those at least upon the coasts, are the same people, they speak almost the same language, have the same laws, the same manners.—Is it not somewhat singular, that this nation, whose possessions are so extensive, should scarce be known in Europe? I shall endeavor to give you an idea of those laws, and those manners; you will, from thence, easily judge of their agriculture.
TRAVELLERS who make observations on the
Malais,
are astonished to find, in the center of
Asia,
under the scorching climate of the line, the laws, the manners, the customs, and the prejudices of the antient inhabitants of the north of
Europe.
The
Malais
are governed by feudal laws, that capricious system, conceived for the defence of the liberty of a few against the tyranny of one, whilst the multitude is subjected to slavery and oppression.
A CHIEF, who has the title of king or sultan, issues his commands to his great vassals, who obey when they think proper; these have inferior vassals, who often act in the same manner with regard to them. A small part of the nation live independent, under the title of
Oramcai
or noble, and sell their services to those who pay them best; whilst the body of the nation is composed of slaves, and live in perpetual servitude.
WITH these laws the
Malais
are restless, fond of navigation, war, plunder, emigrations, colonies, desperate enterprises, adventures, and gallantry. They talk incessantly of their honor, and their bravery, whilst they are universally considered, by those with whom they have intercourse, as the most treacherous, ferocious people on the face of the globe; and yet, which appeared to me extremely singular, they speak the softest language of
Asia.
That which the Count
de Forbin
has said in his memoirs, of the ferocity of the
Macassars,
is exactly true, and is the reigning characteristic of the whole
Malay
nations; more attached to the absurd laws of their pretended honor, than to those of justice or humanity, you always observe, that amongst them, the strong oppress and destroy the weak; their treaties of peace and friendship never subsisting beyond that self-interest which induced them to make them, they are almost always armed, and either at war amongst themselves, or employed in pillaging their neighbors.
THIS ferocity, which the
Malais
qualify under the name of courage, is so well known to the
European
companies, who have settlements in the
Indies,
that they have universally agreed in prohibiting the captains of their ships, who may put into the
Malay
islands, from taking on board any seamen of that nation, except in the greatest distress, and then, on no account to exceed two or three.
IT is nothing uncommon for a handful of these horrid savages suddenly to embark, attack a vessel by surprise, poignard in hand, massacre the people, and make themselves masters of her.
Malay
batteaus, with twenty-five or thirty men, have been known to board
European
ships of thirty or forty guns, in order to take possession of them, and murder, with their poignards, great part of the crew. The
Malay
history is full of such enterprises, which mark the desperate ferocity of these barbarians.
THE
Malais
who are not slaves go always armed, they would think themselves disgraced if they went abroad without their poignards, which they call
Crit;
the industry of this nation even surpasses itself, in the fabric of this destructive weapon.
As their lives are a perpetual round of agitation and tumult, they could never endure the long flowing habits which prevail amongst the other
Asiatics.
The habits of the
Malais
are exactly adapted to their shapes, and loaded with a multitude of buttons, which fasten them close to their bodies in every part. I relate these seemingly trifling observations, in order to prove, that in climates the most opposite, the same laws produce similar manners, customs, and prejudices; their effect is the same too with respect to agriculture.
THE lands possessed by the
Malais
are, in general, of a superior quality; nature seems to have taken pleasure in there assembling her most favorite productions. They have not only those to be found in the territories of
Siam,
but a variety of others peculiar to these islands. The country is covered with odoriferous woods, such as the eagle or aloes wood, the sandal, and the
Cassia Odorata,
a species of cinnamon: you there breathe an air impregnated with the odors of innumerable flowers of the greatest fragrance, of which there is a perpetual succession the year round, the sweet flavor of which captivates the soul, and inspires the most voluptuous sensations. No traveller, wandering over the plains of
Malacca,
but feels himself strongly impelled to wish his residence fixed in a place so luxuriant in allurements, where nature triumphs without the assistance of art.
THE
Malay
islands produce various kinds of dying woods, particularly the
Sapan,
which is the same with the
Brazil
wood. There are also a number of gold mines, which the inhabitants of
Sumatra
and
Malacca
call
Ophirs;
some of which, those especially on the eastern coast, are richer than those of
Brazil
or
Peru.
There are likewise mines of fine copper, mixed with gold, which the inhabitants name
Tombage.
In the islands of
Sumatra
and
Banca,
are mines of
calin,
or sine tin; and at
Succadana,
in the island of
Borneo,
is a mine of diamonds. Those islands enjoy also exclusively, the
rotin,
the
sagow,
(or bread palm tree) the camphre, and other precious aromatics, which we know under the names of various spiceries.
THE sea too teems with abundance of excellent fish, together with ambergris, pearls, and those delicate birds nests (so much in request in
China)
formed in the rocks with the spawn of fishes and the foam of the sea, by a species of small sized swallow peculiar to those seas; this is of such an exquisite substance and flavor, that the
Chinese
long purchased them for their weight in gold, and still buy them at an excessive price.
IN the midst of all this luxuriance of nature, the
Malay
is miserable; the culture of the lands, abandoned to slaves, is fallen into contempt. These wretched laborers, dragged incessantly from their rustic employments, by then restless masters, who delight in war and maritime enterprises, have rarely time, and never resolution, to give the necessary attention to the laboring of their grounds; their lands, in general, remain uncultivated, and produce no kind of grain for the subsistence of the inhabitants.
Malacca
abounds with quadrupeds, especially with tigers, and others of the most savage kind. It is customary here and in
Pegu,
for the tyrants of the country to make banishment into the woods, for a certain time, a punishment; the unhappy objects are sure of never returning; they quickly become a prey to the tiger, or if they chance to escape the fangs of that cruel animal, fall victims to hunger or corroding fear.
THE only peculiar quadruped seems to be the
Civet
described by M.
Sonnerat
Vol. ii. 144. tab. xci.
,
CIVET ANIMAL.
an elegant species, of the size of a common cat; the ground color is a perlaceous grey, darkest on the upper part of the body; above the eyes is a line of four small spots; on the hind part of the head commence three black bands ending on the shoulders; another divides the belly lengthways; on the reins are three, which end at the tail; on the sides and thighs are seven rows of round black spots, sixty-one in number; the tail is long, and annulated with black and grey. This animal inhabits the woods, leaps from tree to tree, and is extremely fierce. It distils from the opening placed near the genitals, a musky liquor, which the
Malayes
collect, and pretend that it fortifies the stomach, and excites the amorous passions; for which last purpose it is bought and highly esteemed by the
Chinese.
M.
Sonnerat
Vol. ii. 102.
gives a very apocryphal account of the wild men of
Malacca,
WILD MEN.
who inhabit the woods and live in the trees. If they see any one pass, they instantly descend and devour him. There is, says he, another kind, less ferocious, and which shun the society of their anthropophagous brethren; these live on fruits, are monogamous, and never cohabit with their wives, but when nature invites; some even will enter into a sort of traffic with the
Malayes,
and deposit at the foot of their tree-habitations, the tin they collect on the mountains, for which the natives leave fruits, and any trifles they think acceptable to their secluded brethren; their language is unknown. M.
Sonnerat
says he saw one (taken young) in the service of a counsellor of
Malacca.
I wish he had fallen to the lot of a
Scotch Judge;
what a treasure would he have been to Lord
Monboddo!
Seriously, M.
Sonnerat
must have collected some tales of the
Ourang Outang,
possibly a native of this country, as it is of the
Malayan
archipelago.
THE
Malayes
are a well made people, but rather below (says Mr.
Marsden
) the middle stature; their limbs small, well shaped, and particularly slender at the wrists and ancles; their complexions tawney; their eyes large; their noses flat, probably by art; their hair black, shining, and very long.
THERE are a few birds that I mention,
BIRDS.
because M.
Sonnerat
ascribes them to the peninsula; yet all that are found here must also inhabit
Sumatra.
He gives us the description of the blue-rumped perroquet of Mr.
Latham,
Supp. lxvi. The fore head and rump are blue; the predominant color of the rest of the plumage pale-green; the inner coverts of the wings crimson.
THE short-tailed
Pie, Latham,
Supp. 81.
Sonnerat,
ii. tab. cx. differs very little from that described in vol. of the Outlines of the Globe.
THE
Routoul
of
Malacca,
is a most curious species of crowned pigeon, described by M.
Sonnerat,
ii. 174. tab. c.; as is a variety by Mr.
Latham,
ii. 623, tab. lxiii.
FOR the woodpecker of
Malacca, Sonnerat,
ii. p. 211,
Latham,
Supp. p. 111. I refer to the authors cited.
LET me return to the vegetable kingdom to make one exception to my design.
MANGOSTAN.
I must here mention the
Garcinia Mangostana,
the most boasted fruit of the
Indies,
and which is found in the highest perfection in this peninsula; the name
Mangostan
is
Malayan.
It is a species confined to
Malacca
and the
Malaye
isles; grows neither in
Hindoostan,
nor naturally in the
Molucca
isles, but is cultivated in
Amboina;
the tree does not attain any great height; the fruit is of the size of a small apple, of a round form, and deep red wine color; on the summit is a star of five or six rays, squared at their ends; at the bottom are four hollow leaves, the remains of the calyx; the inside is purple, and like a furrowed globe divided into segments, each containing a kernel. These segments are full of juice, the most delicious that can be imagined, a fine mixture of tart and sweet, and so wholesome as to be allowed in any quantities to feverous patients. This valuable tree is described by
Bontius,
p. 115, of his
Historia Naturalis Ind. Orient.
who ushers in his description with these lines,
J. B. Bontius, l. 6. c. 27.
Cedant Hesperii longe hinc, mala aurea fructus,
Ambrosiâ pascit
Mangostam,
et nectare, divos.
Laurence Garcin,
a physician, first gave a scientifical account of it, and was honored by
Linnaeus,
in having his name given to the genus. A full translation of
Garcin
's description (with the plate) is published in vol. viii. p. 755, of
Martyn
's abridgment of our Transactions. In the
Herbarium Amboinense
Vol. i. p. 132.
, is a very good description, and in plate xliii an excellent figure of the same tree. Every voyager who has visited the places of the growth of this delicious fruit, is full of its p
aises.
I NOW return to the coast.
UPPER SIAM.
The kingdom of
Siam
recommences on this side near
Sangora,
exactly opposite to its limits on the bay of
Bengal.
The town stands on a large river, and has some commerce in tin, ivory, aloe-wood, and coarse gold.
Ligore,
about twelve leagues to the north,
LIGORE.
is a very commercial town, and its neighborhood produces abundance of tin and of elephants teeth. It is seated a few miles up the river, and built of bamboo, thatched with reeds; the pagodas have lofty steeples in form of pyramids. The
Dutch
have or had here a factory; their houses stand a league within the mouth of the river, and are built with brick. The road for shipping is two leagues at sea.
THE whole eastern side of
Siam
is low, steep, and rocky, but inland rises into lofty mountains. Towards the bottom of the gulph the land approximates, and the contracted part is called the bay of
Siam;
its entrance is by the mounts of
Pensels
or
Pentens,
impending over the water on the western shore, and the high cape
Siam
on the opposite. The last may be seen from the bar of
Siam,
or the
Meinam
river, twenty-two leagues distant.
ABOUT four hundred and eight miles from
Ligore
(following the curvature of the gulph) at the very bottom of the bay of
Siam,
RIVER MEINAM.
is the mouth of the great river
Meinam,
the
Serus
of
Ptolemy,
and the most consequential in the kingdom. The road for shipping extends for the space of three leagues, in which all sorts of vessels may safely ride; such was the case when that learned traveller
Koempfer
visited the place in 1690. The country on both sides the river is marshy, composed of the mud brought down in the annual floods; this river, like the
Ganges,
being subject to periodical inundations.
Koempfer
informs us that the name
Manam
or
Meinam,
in the
Siamese
language, signifies the mother of humidities, from its abundance of water, which so greatly fertilizes the country. It is deep, rapid, and broader than the
Elbe;
the upper part is rocky, violent, and interrupted by cataracts; the lower, divided into several channels, passes through a very level country to the sea. The banks of the river are covered with trees, animated by monkies; numbers of villages may be seen on both sides; the houses generally stand, I may say, upon stilts or lofty posts, so that the water during the inundations may pass without incommoding the occupiers. Near the city of
Judia,
many of the villages consist of inhabited ships, or floating habitations; these occasionally move from place to place when the waters are high; the inmates keep a sort of fair, and dispose of their various commodities.
THE
Meinam
rises at a considerable distance to the north, in the very extremity of the kingdom, possibly far beyond, for its fountains seem never to have been traced, and the best accounts are very uncertain; its course, as far as we know, runs due north and south.
Juthia
or
Judia,
the capital of
Siam,
is seated in about Lat.
CITY OF JUTHIA.
14° 30′, on a low island in the form of a man's foot. It is surrounded with a lofty brick wall. The streets are strait, and accommodated with canals, which pass quite through from east to west. As Mr.
Caverhill
very reasonably fixes the
Zaba
of
Ptolemy
to have been in the bottom of the bay of
Siam,
I see no reason against supposing that it might have been either at
Juthia,
or at some place not remote from that port. Ships may enter into many of the canals, and discharge their cargo near the principal houses. The greater part of the streets are very mean, built with bamboo, covered with the leaves of palms. Those of the
Chinese, Hindoos,
and
Moors,
are of stone, but very low; the finest houses in
Koempfer
's time, were such which had been inhabited by the
English, Dutch,
and
French.
HISTORY OF PHAULKON.
The palace of the unfortunate
Phaulkon,
minister of state in the last century, makes the most conspicuous figure;
Phaulkon
was a
Grecian
by birth, and seaman by profession; he had served various nations, but chiefly the
English.
In their service, in capacity of a cockswain, he came to
Siam,
and obtained an employment at court. He was a man of very fine natural abilities; and by his good conduct and his success in the management of affairs, rose to the highest dignities, and became prime minister to the reigning prince.
HIS ambition proved his ruin, and brought him to a violent death by the hands of the executioner. He became so intoxicated with power, as to entertain a design upon the throne, to depose his royal master, and to place over the
Siamese, Monpi Totfo,
son-in-law to the monarch, a phantom of a king, who was to be dependent on his will, and to be deposed as soon as affairs came to a crisis. The king was at that time extremely ill of a dropsy; on his decease, the whole royal lineage was to be put to death, and
Phaulkon
usurp the power.
IN order to accomplish his designs, it was necessary to call in foreign aid; he persuaded his weak master to send an embassy to
Louis
XIV. to request his most Christian Majesty to send persons qualified to instruct in the arts his unpolished subjects, so that he might shine pre-eminent among the Eastern nations. The first, who set out in 1680, were shipwrecked; the second arrived safe in 1686. The vanity of
Louis
made him receive with every mark of respect these grotesque legates; the memory of their reception is preserved in a medal
Histoire de Medailles, tab. ccxvi.
. The king is represented seated on his throne; the embassadors making their obeisance; above his majesty is inscribed
Fama virtutis,
intimating that the fame of his high qualities had induced them to come from this distant country.
Louis,
in compliance with the wish of the embassy, sent Jesuits, artists, and military officers;
General de Fargues
landed with several hundred soldiers, and was put into possession of
Bankok,
the key of the kingdom, seated on the river, between the capital and the sea. Just as every thing was ready for execution, in May 1689, the plot was discovered;
Monpi
was seized by the king's son, and his head cast at
Phaulkon
's feet. The minister, thus hurled from his greatness, was tortured and almost starved to death, then carried out of town, and beheaded; his body cut in two, and covered with a little earth, was soon devoured by the dogs; a sad proof how
Ambitio male suada ruit.
THE kingdom of
Siam
is divided from north to south by a long range of lofty mountains. On the west side,
ACCOUNT OF SIAM.
or next to the bay of
Bengal,
the country is visited by continual rains during the time the
Monsoons
blow from that quarter. On the eastern side no such deluges are known, nor any floods but what are the effects of the moderate inundations of the
Meinam,
which fertilize the country beyond description.
FERTILITY.
The useful grain rice is produced in amazing crops, and every delicate fruit of the
Indies
without cultivation.
Raynal
mentions among the productions of
Siam,
log-wood like that cut in
Campeachy.
It is a terrestrial paradise, but loses all its advantages by groaning under the most despotic government on earth. The monarch rules within his seraglio, and his grandees are let loose to oppress the wretched commonalty, according to their caprice and unrestrained will. Dominions thus governed, stretch near a thousand miles from north to south, or from Lat. 20° 35′ to Lat. 7° 0′, and in the broadest part extend three hundred and sixty.
THE religion of the country is the same with that inculcated by the
Bramins;
RELIGION.
but the
Bramins
of
Siam
are not a peculiar race, like those of
Hindoostan;
here every one who chuses assumes the priesthood; they usually lead a monastic life, and have their convents; those of each province are governed by a sort of bishop. Nuns or female monastics are frequent. The pagodas are of various forms, some have a great resemblance to the
Chinese
architecture. The idols are monstrous in their appearance.
THE first knowledge of the Christian religion was received by the mission of Jesuits,
MISSIONARIES.
led here under the conduct of
Alexander
of
Rhodes,
some time before the year 1658, when pope
Alexander
VII. sent over a reinforcement of religious men, but these being of other orders, were treated by the Jesuits with the utmost indignity, nor would they condescend to permit them to share in their labors, which had been attended with prodigious success. As to the message
Louis
XIV. sent by his embassador Mr.
Chaumont,
in 1684, modestly requesting his
Siamese
Majesty to become a good Catholic; he received this very proper reply,
that he left it to his most Christian Majesty to judge, whether a change of a religion that had been followed in his dominions, without interruption, during two thousand two hundred and twenty-nine years, could be a matter of small importance to him, or a demand with which it was easy to comply, and a matter which related entirely to
God
and not to him.
This well might check the zeal of the missionaries; but in the next reign, on the discovery of the treachery of the
French
general, and the murder of
Phaulkon,
the whole troop of the religious were sent away, and all hopes of return entirely overthrown.
IN many respects the
Siamese
have an agreement with the
Chinese;
we must except their bodies, which are small. In their head-dress they agree in the pointed bonnet, in the frequent inhabiting of ships and boats, and now and then in their ornamented architecture. The faces of the inhabitants are large,
FORM OF THE SIAMESE.
their cheek bones prominent, their foreheads and chins contract equally to a point; their cheeks hollow, their eyes small and oblique, nose short and rounded; their ears long, by artificial distension; their complexions swarthy; their hair black and coarse, and would be extremely long, but that it is cut so very close that their heads seem beset with bristles; their teeth black from art.
IT is to be lamented, that so well informed a traveller as
Koempfer
should not have left us any thing on the subject of the natural history of so fertile a kingdom; we have nothing to say of its vegetable productions, and as to its animals, we can only inform our readers that it swarms with elephants,
ELEPHANTS.
and that their teeth are a considerable article of commerce. In this tyrannous government they are quite a pest; these, and other herbivorous beasts, destroy the labors of the husbandmen, and none dare repel the attacks of those ravagers. Elephants are here only reserved for state; the king keeps great numbers, and often makes them the instrument of his cruelty. They are the executioners of his wrath on his offending subjects, and are instructed how to put them to various kinds of death, either by trampling them under their broad feet, or deliberately tearing their limbs off with their lithe proboscis, or flinging them up into the air, and catching them empaled on their great tusks.
BUFFALOES and deer are found here in vast numbers;
DEER.
their skins constitute a great article of commerce; fifty thousand of them have annually been sent to
Japan
through the medium of the
Dutch. Mandelslo,
a most intelligent traveller, gives the following account of the trade of
Siam,
as it was in the year 1639; speaking of the city of
Juthia,
he says,
the principal commerce consists in stuffs brought from
Suratta
and the coast of
Coromandel,
all sorts of
Chinese
commodities, precious stones, gold, benjamin, wax, copper, lead, indico, calamba-wood, brazil-wood, sapphires, rubies, &c. but above all deer skins, whereof they furnish the
Japanese
with about fifty thousand every year. It likewise yields a great trade of rice, which they transport to all the neighboring isles.
TO this we may add the more modern account of the rich productions of this kingdom,
OTHER PRODUCTIONS.
taken from Mr.
Dalrymple
's Repertory
P. 118.
.
The productions of this country are prodigious quantities of grain, cotton, benjamin, sandal, agualo, and sapan woods; antimony, tin, lead, iron, load-stones, gold and silver, sapphires, emeralds, agates, crystal, marble, and tambanck.
HOGS and wild swine swarm in the dominions of
Siam;
most of the savage beasts of
India
are equally numerous in this kingdom.
Koempfer
speaks of two species of monkies, one very large, and black, the other smaller, and of a grey color. The first seems a kind not well ascertained, for the only black monkey of the old world we are acquainted with, is that described by Mr.
Edwards,
tab. 311, which is no larger than a cat.
AFTER doubling cape
Liant,
RIVER OF LIANT.
a bay opens to the north, and at the bottom receives the river of
Liant.
A vast chain of mountains which run from north to south, and unite with those of
China
in Lat. 22° 0′, divide the kingdom of
Siam
from the kingdoms of
Laos
and
Cambodia,
and almost reach the sea near the river of
Liant.
The upper part of this tract is in
Laos,
the more southern forms the kingdom of
Cambodia,
which is compared to a vast valley, bounded by the
Siamese
chain to the west, and that of
Cochin-China
to the east. The coast takes a south-eastern direction from the bay of
Liant
as far as cape
Cambodia,
a space of three hundred miles, skirted by numbers of small isles washed by the bay of
Siam.
From the point of
Liant
is a sandy barren desert, reaching, according to
Hamilton,
as far as
Ponteamas,
above two-thirds of the coast.
THIS extensive tract has great scarcity of ports;
PONTEAMAS.
the most distinguished is that of
Ponteamas,
in Lat. 10° 45′. M.
Le Poivre
gives so enchanting a picture of this colony, that I will no more risque injuring it by the abridgment, than I did his history of the
Malayes.
His descriptions are so exquisite, that I must hope that they will not fall under a too frequent imputation on the writers of his lively nation, of being
plus beau que la verité.
Departing, says M.
Le Poivre,
from the peninsula of
Malacca,
and the islands of the
Malais,
towards the north, I fell in with a small territory called
Cancar,
but known on the maritime charts under the name of
Ponthiamas.
Surrounded by the kingdom of
Siam,
where despotism and depopulation go hand in hand; the dominions of
Camboya,
where no idea of established government subsists; and the territories of the
Malais,
whose genius, perpetually agitated by their feudal laws, can endure peace neither at home nor abroad; this charming country, about fifty years ago, was uncultivated and almost destitute of inhabitants.
A
Chinese
merchant, commander of a vessel which he employed in commerce, frequented these coasts; being a man of that intelligent reflective genius, which so characteristically marks his nation, he could not, without pain, behold immense tracts of ground condemned to sterility, though naturally more fertile than those which formed the riches of his own country; he formed, therefore, a plan for their improvement: with this view, having first of all hired a number of laborers, some
Chinese,
others from the neighboring nations, he, with great address, insinuated himself into the favor of the most powerful princes, who, for a certain subsidy, assigned him a guard for his protection.
IN the course of his voyage to
Batavia,
and the
Philippine
islands, he borrowed from the
Europeans
their most useful discoveries and improvements, particularly the art of fortification and defence; with regard to internal police, he gave the preference to the
Chinese.
The profits of his commerce soon enabled him to raise ramparts, sink ditches, and provide artillery; these preliminary precautions secured him from a
coup de main,
and protected him from the enterprizes of the surrounding nations of barbarians.
HE distributed the lands to his laborers, without the least reservation of any of those duties or taxes known by the names of service, or fines of alienation; duties which, by allowing no real property, become the most fatal scourge to agriculture, and is an idea which revolts against the common sense of every wise nation. He provided his colonists at the same time with all sorts of instruments proper for the labor and improvement of their grounds.
IN forming a laboring, and commercial people, he thought that no laws ought to be framed, but those which nature has established for the human race in every climate; he made these laws respected by obeying them first himself, and exhibiting an example of simplicity, industry, frugality, humanity, and good faith: he formed, then, no system of laws—he did more—he established morals.
HIS territories soon became the country of every industrious man who wished to settle there; his port was open to all nations. The woods were cleared, the grounds judiciously labored, and sown with rice; canals cut from the rivers watered their fields; and plentiful harvests, after supplying them with subsistence, furnished an object of extensive commerce. His integrity, his moderation, and his humanity, made him respected. He never wished to reign, but only to establish the empire of reason; his son, who now fills his place, inherits his virtues as well as his possessions; by agriculture, and the commerce he carries on with the produce of his lands, he has become so powerful, that the barbarians, his neighbors, stile him king, a title which he despises: he pretends to no right of sovereignty, but the noblest of all, that of doing good; happy in being the first laborer and the first merchant of his country, he merits, as well as his father, a title more glorious than that of king—the friend of mankind.
THE barbarians of the neighborhood, amazed to see abundance so suddenly succeed to sterility, flocked for subsistence to the magazines of
Ponthiamas;
whose dominions, at this day, are considered as the most plentiful granary of that eastern part of
Asia;
the
Malais,
the
Cochin Chinese,
the
Siamese,
whose countries are naturally so fertile, considering this little territory as the most certain resource against famine.
LET me here add, that our plain
Hamilton,
who visited
Ponteamas
in 1720, found the town in ruins. It had been taken and plundered in the year 1717 by the
Siamese
fleet, at which time it was a place of considerable trade. It may have recovered by the time M.
Le Poivre
was there, so as to vindicate his enthusiastic account. The town is seated on a deep but narrow river, which in the season of inundations communicates with that of
Meinam Kom,
CAMBODIA.
or
Cambodia,
and the city of the same name on its banks; by which means the commodities of the kingdom are sent to this port, in preference to that at the mouth of the
Cambodia,
which is said to be of very troublesome navigation, by reason of the numbers of low islands and sand banks which obstruct the channel.
IT is highly probable that such was the state of this river from the very early times; we find no antient port at this place, but learn from
Ptolemy,
CATTIGARA.
that one, called
Cattigara Sinarum Statio,
stood on or near the scite of
Ponteamas,
on a marshy coast, productive of reeds
(bamboos)
so large, that when they were joined and tied together, passengers were enabled to cross from one side to the other.
Marcianus Heracleota,
who wrote not long before the building of
Constantinople,
adds besides, that it stood on the river
Cotiaris,
and was the termination of the known and habitable earth to the south. The
Periplus
of this geographer, may be found in the first volume of the
Geographiae veteris Scriptores,
published at
Oxford
in 1698.
THE
Notium Promontorium,
NOTIUM PROMONT.
was to the north-west of
Ponteamas.
The bay mentioned by
Marcianus Heracleota
to be so infested by wild beasts, and the part inhabited by the
Ethiopian Icthyophagi,
extended from that port to the south; cape
Cambodia
seems the
Satyrorum Promontorium,
probably because it was the haunt of some large species of monkey.
THE productions of the kingdom of
Cambodia
are gold and ivory in great abundance.
PRODUCTIONS OF CAMBODIA.
The
Siamese,
in their expedition of 1717, destroyed not less than two hundred tons that happened to be in the port, ready for exportation.
Sandal
wood,
sapan
wood,
aloes
wood,
stick lac,
and a great variety of drugs.
Dampier
Voy. Vol. ii. p. 105.
adds rice, dragons blood, lac, i. e. varnish in large jars, which looked blackish and thick, and a yellow purging gum in great cakes called
Cambodia,
by which he certainly means gamboge. The whole country is prodigiously fertile, and yields almost every thing that the vegetable or animal kingdom produces in common with other parts of Eastern
India.
THE
Portuguese,
says
Mandelslo,
were in possession of the commerce of
Cambodia
as late as the year 1639, notwithstanding every effort of the
Dutch
to come in for a share; but it must have been long enjoyed by the latter nation, after the fall of the
Portuguese
empire in
India.
The reigning prince in 1720, seemed very solicitous that the
English
should settle in his dominions, and offered to permit us to form factories and build forts to protect our trade. Mr.
Bowyear
(hereafter to be mentioned) says that the
Cambodians
resemble the
Malays,
whose language is generally understood in all these parts.
ABOUT two hundred
Topasses
or
Indian Portuguese,
were settled and married in the capital of
Cambodia
when
Hamilton
was there, and seemed the only remains of that people. They all have small pensions from the king of the country; but in order to support themselves, are obliged to take to the chace of elephants, which they shoot, for the sake of their teeth, with iron slugs, poisoned by immersion in the thick bark of a certain tree; the beast is sure to fall in a short time after receiving its wound. The same method is used in killing the buffaloes on account of their tongues.
FROM cape
Cambodia,
the country bends due east; the river of the same name discharges itself into the sea, at the distance of about one hundred miles,
CITY.
through several mouths. The city stands ninety miles up the river, and consists of only one street, which is built on an eminence to preserve it from the annual inundations; the rains begin to fall in
June,
and continue during the months of
July
and
August.
THIS was near the scite of
Thina Metropolis Sinarum
of
Ptolemy
and
Marcianus.
Mr.
Caverhill
quotes
Argensol
for the proof, and says, on his authority, that marble ruins of an extensive city have been discovered to the north-west of
Cambodia;
yet
Ptolemy
relates that it was not surrounded with brazen walls, nor had any thing worth mentioning.
Arrian,
in his
Periplus Maris Erythraei,
calls it the greatest of the inland cities, and that it sent to
Barygaza,
the modern
Barochia,
on the western side of
Hindoostan,
wool, thread, and
othonium sericum
Outlines of the Globe, vol. i. p. 132.
. These were carried the whole of the journey by men on foot; prodigious must it have been, if it is true that they went through
Bactra,
a detour of amazing extent.
THE kingdom of
Cambodia
was known to the
Arabs
by the name of
Rachmi.
RACHMI.
It was visited in the ninth century by two
Arabian
travellers, who report that the finest muslins in the world were made there, and that the natives wore garments so fine that they might be drawn through a middle sized ring. The same writers speak wonderful things of the
Karkandan
or unicorn, but from the whole description, it is evident that they mean no other animal than our one-horned rinoceros.
LET me conclude the account of the kingdom with saying,
THE ANTIENT THINAE AND SINAE.
that the antients comprehended under the name of
Thinae
and
Sinae,
not only
Cambodia,
but also
Pegu, Siam, Laos, Cochin-China,
and the more southern parts of
China,
of which
Thina
was the common capital.
THE noted island of
Pulo Condore
lies about fifteen leagues to the south of the western channel of the
Cambodia.
It is situated in Lat. 8° 40′, its form is that of a crescent; the length not above eight miles, the greatest breadth about two; the whole is lofty and mountanous, and surrounded by lesser isles; the name is derived from
Pulo,
an isle, and
Condore
a calabash, from its production of that fruit. It is mentioned by a captain
Saris,
an
Englishman,
who sailed by it in 1605 in his way from
Japan.
The harbor is between the greater island and a lesser called the little
Condore,
lying off the north end, in which is sufficient depth of water and safe anchorage.
Dampier
Voy. 288.
in 1686 careened and refitted his ship here, and has given us a good account of many particulars. He says that the soil is rich and black, the hills craggy, the eastern part of the island sandy, but cloathed with trees of various kinds; some of the shores are rocky, others low and sandy. All the islands are finely watered with small rivulets during ten months of the year, which begin to fail towards the latter end of
March,
in the dry season; but on digging, water may be found in many places.
THE vegetabled observed by
Dampier
Dampier
Vol. i. p. 314.
were mangoes in a state of nature; the
Areca Oleracea,
or cabbage palm; the coco palm, wild nutmegs, grape trees, and a large tree four feet in diameter, which, on incision, yields a clammy juice, that, being boiled, proves an excellent tar, and on farther boiling becomes hard as pitch;
DAMMER PITCH.
this probably is the
Dammer
Ibid. Vol. i. p. 514.
Captain
Gore,
in
Cook
's last voyage
Voy. iii. 458.
, adds to the list of plants, water melons, potatoes, gourds, plantains, oranges, shaddocks, pomegranates, rice, and black beans. These, possibly, were acquisitions since the days of
Dampier,
and introduced by the
French,
who humanely and politically wished to render these islands useful to navigators in their way to or from
Japan, China, Manilla, Tonquin, Cochin-China,
and many parts of
India
with which the
Europeans
have intercourse. At the time Captain
Gore
visited this island, a Mandarine from
Saigore,
came here with a certificate in
French,
from the bishop of
Adran,
a
Frenchman,
certifying that he was sent in order to give his assistance to any
European
ship which might touch at this port.
Dampier
recommended the erection of a fort, and mentions, among other advantages, that ships might in this island be supplied with masts and yards, possibly from the same tree which furnishes the tar and pitch.
THE animals, when
Dampier
resided on the island,
ANIMALS.
were only hogs, lizards, and
guanoes.
Before Captain
Gore
reached
Pulo Condore,
it was plentifully stocked with buffaloes, transported from the continent, which increase here very successfully. Numbers of monkies inhabit the woods, and two species of squirrels, one of a beautiful shining black, the other of the kind called
flying,
striped brown and white, and probably a new species.
Gaubil
also observed rats with pendulous ears. To the reptiles we add, that father
Gaubil
saw here, in 1722, the flying dragon, or
Draco-volans;
a scaly species of lizard called
Koka,
from its piercing note resembling in sound that word; it resides in hollow trees; its bite is mortal. From these circumstances I suspect it to be the
Gekko.
HERE are a variety of parrots, paroquets, and pigeons, and in the woods numbers of poultry, in a state of nature. I refer the reader, for a further account, to page 262. vol. ii. of the Outlines of the Globe. The thrush, called by Mr.
Latham
Vol. ii. p. 72.
the
Longtailed,
may be added to the list of birds.
Dampier
found on the shores great plenty of the green turtle;
TORTOISES.
these he supposes to have been in a state of migration, being of opinion, that for want of food it is impossible for them to stay the whole year in the neighboring seas. Our great navigator found them here from the 13th of
March
to the 21st of
April.
The natives of this island took them in large nets, and boiled the fat for the sake of the oil.
THE inhabitants of
Pulo Condore,
supposed to be originally of
Cochin-China,
are small in stature, of dark complexion, long visaged, with black and lank hair, white teeth, thin lips, small eyes, high noses. Their religion is idolatrous; they worship chiefly the elephant and the horse, similar to the objects of adoration in
Tonquin.
IN 1702
Allan Ketchpole,
ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.
director of the
English East India
Company at
Chusan,
on the desertion of that settlement, made an attempt to form one here. He engaged in his service a number of
Macassars,
who were to act as soldiers, to assist in building, and to serve during three years. At the end of the term he basely refused to fulfil his contract. Those islanders, remarkable for the fidelity with which they execute all their agreements, are as determined to revenge any injuries offered to them: in the night they put to death
Ketchpole,
and most of the
English;
a few, on the first alarm, escaped in a boat. The
Macassars
regained their liberty, and inflicted a most justifiable punishment on their persidious master.
HERE
Dampier
's crew was welcomed by the people coming on board, and offering the free use of their women during their stay. This is a practice in
Pegu, Siam,
and other places in the parts of
India cis Gangem. Prior,
in his
Alma,
is very humorous on this subject, in the second canto:
In China,
Dampier
's travels tell ye,
(Look in his index for
Pagelli)
Soon as the British ships unmoor,
And jolly long boats row to shore;
Down come the nobles of the land,
Each brings his daughter in his hand;
Beseeching the imperious tar,
To make her but one hour his care.
The tender mother stands affrighted,
Lest her dear daughter should be slighted;
And poor Miss Yaya dreads the shame
Of going back the maid she came.
ON returning to the estuaries of the river of
Cambodia,
CIAMPA.
after a short journey eastward, we reach the small territory of
Ciampa,
or
Bink Thoan,
which extends about a hundred and fifty miles along the shore, the breadth does not exceed ninety. The aboriginal people, called
Loyes,
are large, muscular, and well made;
LOVES, A PEOPLE.
their complexions tinged with red, their noses somewhat flatted; their hair long and black; they have small whiskers, but scarcely any beards; their dress, a shirt and breeches of cotton, the last covered with a sort of petticoat of white cloth, fringed with silk, according to the circumstance of the wearer. They are governed by a monarch who resides at
Feneri,
the capital of the country, in a mean palace, and with little state; he is in fact a tributary to the king of
Cochin-China,
who sends a mandarine to reside at the court as president of the council, and without his advice nothing of moment is done. The productions of the country are very few; some cotton, indigo, and bad silk, for which they traffick with the
Chinese.
They are inferior to the
Cochin-Chinese
in their military, but excel them in naval affairs. Their ships or jonks are tolerably well built; they are chiefly employed in fisheries, which are very considerable, and form their chief article of commerce. The
Chinese
send ships very frequently to the northern ports of the country laden with tea, an inferior sort of silk, porcellane, and some other commodities of that empire. They take in return gold and
columba
wood, to be burnt on the tombs of their ancestors and relations, or before the altars of their divinities.
AMIDST the mountains inhabit a race of people named
Moyes,
MOYES.
who go naked, excepting a cloth which is wrapped round their middle; they are employed in hard labor, and are little better than slaves. Both the
Loyes
and
Moyes
are regulated by the same laws; the government is very oppressive; they are punished for the least fault, and among the common people, that of shewing any appearance of wealth, is one of the first moment; the only good in the system of government is the toleration of religion. Here is found a degenerated
Mahometanism;
the doctrine of
Confucius;
and idolatry, in all the variety and extravagancy of image worship. We know little of this country; I am obliged to M.
Mannevillette
P. 148.
for my information, which he got from the captain of
La Galathea,
a
French
frigate which put into one of the ports of
Ciamba
in 1720, and was detained there for some time.
IN 1695 Mr.
Higginson,
president of
Fort St. George,
formed the idea of opening a trade with
Ciampa,
and sent Mr.
Bowyear
on a sort of embassy to the king of
Cochin-China.
At his court he met with the prince of this country, who gave him every encouragement, and told him he might, by the river
Cambodia,
dispose of great quantities of woollen-cloth among the
Loyes.
I MAY add here to my account of the river, that at the mouth is never less than four fathoms of water, and that it is navigable for ships of some burden up to the very capital, above which small vessels only are used, and the navigation is (by report) said to be interrupted by a cataract.
ACCORDING to
D'Anville,
COCHIN-CHINA.
the kingdom of
Cochin-China
unites with its tributary
Ciampa
at the bay of
Comorin;
the original name is
Anam.
The
Portuguese
bestowed on it the appellation it bears at present, which, by the help of the
Japanese
word
Cochi,
signifies the country west of
China.
In describing the form of this extensive stripe of empire, I shall include in it, its
les Pais conquis.
The whole, beginning from the borders of
Cambodia,
is in form of a bow, bending into the ocean as far as
Cape Varelle,
in Lat. 13° 0′, when it inclines to its northern extremity in Lat. 17° 30′. The whole length of this great curvature is about six hundred and sixty miles, the breadth not exceeding that we have given to
Ciampa.
The northern borders are defended by a wall, which runs from the sea to the great chain of mountains, and forbids all approach from that quarter, as the inaccessible chain itself does every attempt of invasion from their western neighbors. The
Moyes,
who inhabit these mountains, are said to be a most savage and ferocious race.
THE court of
Cochin-China
is usually held at
Sinoa;
a little to the south of the wall there, says Mr.
Bowyear,
the king, in his
Tongtan
or eighth moon, takes his recreation with his Mandarines, and forbids all interruption by petitions or any sort of business.
ALL the lower part of the kingdom has its annual inundations,
INUNDATED.
like the other tropical countries, which give it prodigious fertility.
Borri
's account of the peculiarity of the floods in this kingdom is very curious. The rains on the mountains during the wet season are intermittent; they happen once a fortnight, and last three days at a time, bringing fertility and plenty to the subjacent country. This rain is called
Lut;
its arrival is celebrated by every one, from the king to the peasant, with the utmost festivity. The overflowing of the
Nile
is not received in
Egypt
with greater rapture. The seasons in
Cochin-China
may be called four. The violent heats last during
May, June,
and
July;
the rains fall in
September, October,
and
November,
and ab ae the violence of the sun. In
December, January,
and
February,
the cold northern winds prevale, accompanied by cooling showers. In
March, April,
and
May,
all the beauties of spring appear, and the fruits of every kind of vegetation bless the country.
THE great harvest is that of rice;
RICE.
two species are cultivated on the mountanous and dry soils; one as white as snow, and when dressed, of a slimy viscous nature, made into pastes, such as vermicelli and the like. Both these kinds are exported to
China
in great quantities; the different sorts of rice are the staples of this country.
THE sugar-cane is another plant to which the
Cochin-Chinese
pay the utmost attention,
SUGAR.
and cultivate in vast abundance. They are acquainted with most of the processes, and annually manufacture great quantities of both white and brown sugars, so that their country supplies
China
with the principal part of this article, that vast empire not producing sufficient for its own consumption. The city of
Faifo
or
Foy Foe,
is the
emporium
from which the
Chinese
annually export about forty thousand barrels, each weighing above two thousand pounds. To the credit of these orientalists, all the cultivation, and all the posterior processes in the production of the sugar, is the voluntary labor of freemen.
To these articles of commerce may be added woods of different kinds, such as aloes wood, or
Agollocha,
AGOLLOCHA.
erroneously called
Eaglewood, Columba,
and others of value, either in mechanics, or for their sweet scent.
COLUMBA WOODS.
The price of
Columba
wood on the very spot is five ducats a pound, at the ports sixteen, and in
Japan,
to which much is exported, two hundred. A pillow of this wood is the highest luxury with the orientalists, particularly the
Japanese,
who will give three or four hundred ducats per pound for a piece big enough for that purpose. The
Agollocha
bears a good price; great quantities being shipped for
Hindoostan,
for the use of the
Hindoos
to burn their dead, who seem to emulate the antient
Romans
in the aromatic profusion of their funeral piles.
PEPPER grows here in abundance.
PEPPER.
Le Poivre
and
Raynal
mention that cinnamon, superior to that of
Ceylon,
is found on a certain mountain, for which the
Chinese
pay a higher price than for that brought from the famous staple of that spice.
Cassia
is another spice; let me question whether the two are not confounded.
COTTON is much cultivated, as is the mulberry tree,
COTTON.
for the use of the silk-worms; great quantities of coarse silks are made here, some so strong as to serve for sails and cordage, but the finest sorts also are manufactured. The imposing
Chinese
export from hence the fibres of a tree called
Pitre,
which they fraudulently mix with their own manufactures; they even import into their land of tea a course and black sort; possibly for the sake of enabling them to export their own, at greater profit, into our island. The mountains yield some gold, and much iron; the natives fuse the last, and employ the metal in various manufactories: raw and wrought silk may be added to the articles of commerce.
THE
Portuguese
had once considerable influence in the court of
Cochin-China;
the
Dutch
made a strong effort to come in for a share of the commercial emoluments, but were expelled the kingdom by the superior interest of their rivals. At present, it is said, that the trade is chiefly in the hands of the
Japanese
and
Chinese,
who are settled at
Foy Foe,
and preserve their own laws, religion, and customs. The harbors are still casually frequented by
European
ships, but, I think, their imports inconsiderable.
THE chief port is that of
Foy Foe,
PORT OF FOY FOE.
some miles up a navigable river. The entrance has before it, at a little distance, the isles of
Champellos;
the channel between the mouths and the town is filled with islands, and obstructed by a bar, but not unsurmountable. Ships of some burden formerly have been brought over, and then were obliged to anchor before the custom-house, which was the case with Mr.
Bowyear.
The town consists but of two rows of houses, inhabited by
Chinese
and a few
Japanese;
the first of whom manage the trade, and import various articles from
Canton, Siam, Camboja, Batavia,
and
Manilla; Bowyear
met with encouragement to settle a factory near the city, but I believe it never was carried into effect.
THIS country is certainly very favorable to trade and navigation, having not fewer than sixty safe harbors, and a great depth of water in every part.
THE gallies or shipping of the
Cochin-Chinese
are very numerous;
SHIPPING.
part, allotted to the defence of the coast, are finely painted and highly varnished, rowed with fifty oars, and carry a cannon at the head, and two small ones on each side. Notwithstanding the
Cochin-Chinese
can neither cast cannon or make fusils, their dexterity, says Mr.
Borri
Churchill's Col. vl. ii. 806.
, in the art of gunnery is amazing; not one of our
Europeans
dare enter the list with them. The navy of this country is quickly manned, every family being bound to furnish a sailor, who serves with great alacrity, for they are well treated, and their wives and children supported during their absence; all are dressed in an uniform, and when they are about to engage, put on a gilt helmet and a cloak, which leaves their right arm quite bare. Numbers of their vessels are employed in the fisheries; the fish are found in vast abundance, and form a great article of commerce; fish and rice constitute the principal food of the
Cochin-Chinese.
THE woods and mountains afford all the variety of birds and quadrupeds of the adjacent kingdoms;
ELEPHANTS.
tigers swarm; elephants are in great abundance and of vast size; these are taken and reclamed; numbers are kept in the royal stables merely for ostentation, being no longer used in war; they are rendered of infinite service to the inhabitants of the country as beasts of burden, the carriers both by land and water, I may say the stage coaches and ferries of
Cochin-China.
On their backs is placed a machine like the body of a coach; reckoning the outside as well as inside they convey thirteen or fourteen passengers; when they arrive at a river, they take the water very readily, and will even carry their fare in perfect safety over an arm of the sea a mile wide.
A GREAT monkey called here the
Douc,
MONKEY.
by me the
Cochin-China,
Hist. Quad. ii. No 125, is found of the length of four feet exclusive of the tail. The tail and lower parts of the arms are pure white; the crown, upper parts of the arms and thighs black, buttocks clothed with hair, round the neck a collar of purplish brown; the face bordered up to the eyes with a great yellowish beard. It is also found in
Madagascar,
where it is called
Sifac;
it walks often erect; its food beans.
I BEG not to be understood to favor the doctrine of some system-makers, by connecting the description of the monkey of
Cochin-China
with that of the man. I readily allow changelings, or artificial monkies among our species, but none that are natural; we have also our bears. As to the men of this country, they greatly resemble the
Chinese,
from whom they are distantly sprung; they are featured exactly like them, but are less in body, more active and more valiant; the complexion of those on the coast is olive, that of the inland or alpine inhabitants is fairer, and not inferior to that of
Europeans.
IT is this country that produces in such quantities the
edible birds
nests, held by the epicure of the East to be the first of delicacies. It is chiefly made use of in soups and ragouts of chickens; the nests are first softened in water, pulled to pieces, and mixed with ginseng, put into the body of the fowl. The above is then to be stewed in a pot with a sufficient quantity of water, and left on the coals the whole night. The best kinds which are white, and quite pure from dirt, are dissolved in broths in order to thicken them, and to give them that flavor the Orientalists so much admire. Of the black and foul nests is made glue.
MR.
Latham
Vol. ii. 579.
gives the following account:
It weighs about half an ounce, and is in shape like half a lemon, or, as some compare it, to that of a saucer, with one side flatted where it adheres to the rock. The texture of it is somewhat like
Isinglass,
or rather more like fine
Gum-dragon,
and the several layers of the matter it is composed of very apparent; being fabricated from repeated parcels of a soft slimy substance, in the same manner as the martins form theirs of mud. Authors differ much as to the materials of which it is composed; some suppose it to consist of
sea-worms
of the
Mollusca
class; others of the
sea-qualm
(a kind of cuttle fish) or a glutinous sea-plant called
Agal Agal.
It has also been supposed that they rob other birds of their eggs, and, after breaking the shells, apply the white of them for that purpose.
THESE nests are found in vast numbers in certain caverns in various isles in the
Soolo Archipelago,
situated between Longitude 117° and 120′, Lat. 5 and 7; particularly in three small isles or rather rocks, in the caverns of which the nests are found fixed to the sides in astonishing numbers. They are also found in amazing quantities on a small island called
Toc,
in the streights of
Sunda,
the caverns of which are lined with the nests, but no where in greater abundance than about
Croee,
near the south end of
Sumatra,
four miles up a river of that name; but they are not peculiar to the above places; for they are likewise common from
Java
to
Cochin-China
on the north, and from the point of
Sumatra
west, where it is called
Layung,
to
New Guinea
on the east, where the sea is said to be covered with a viscous substance like half melted glue, which the bird is supposed either to take up from the surface with its bill during flight, or to pick it from the rocks when left there by the waves.
THE best nests, or those of a pure white, and free from mixture, sell in
China
from 1,000 to 1,500 dollars the
picle,
the black and dirty ones for only twenty dollars. The last are supposed to arise from age, mixed with dirt, or feathers; and the gatherers beat down all the black ones they can get at, in hopes that, from the necessity of the birds making fresh nests, they may meet with the more valuable ones at the next gathering. It is said, that the
Dutch
alone export from
Batavia
1,000 picles of these nests every year, which are brought from the isles of
Cochin-China,
and those lying to the east of them. Among our
East India
imports, it is much to be wondered, that, among other luxuries imported by us from the East, the use of these nests should not have found a way to our tables; as yet being so scarce in
England,
as to be kept as rarities in the cabinets of collectors.
THE king resides generally at
Whay,
WHAY, THE KING'S COURT.
in Lat. 16° 48′ north, about twenty-five miles from the sea, on a river navigable for vessels of fifty or sixty tons up to the city; but the bar has on it at low water only four feet. The city is extensive; the palace a large square, the streets near it wide, long, and regular; the rest of the city consists of straggling houses; several branches of the river meet here; every family keeps its covered boat; and there are numbers besides kept for hire, for most of the conveyance is by water. It is a place of great trade, both from
Kankao,
and all parts of their own coasts.
THE celebrated M.
Le Poivre
was here in 1749, and appeared at court with great splendor
Oriental Repertory, 251.
, bearing a letter from the king of
France,
and some very paltry gifts for the
Cochin-Chinese
monarch.
Le Poivre
was too open, and boasted so much of his
Grand Monarque,
that his veracity was called in question, and in the end he and his countrymen forced to make a hasty retreat.
THE government of
Cochin-China
is monarchical.
GOVERNMENT OF COCHIN-CHINA.
It had once been a province to
Tonquin,
but was separated from it in the beginning of the last century. The story is differently related. I refer the reader to
Hamilton
's account
Vol. ii. 211.
of the cause and manner:
Le Poivre
relates it differently; yet both may be right in the chief circumstances of the event. The ruling religion is that of the
Chinese,
not the pure and primaeval worship of the
Shangti,
the patriarchal religion; but that of
China
in its corrupted state. Christianity (introduced by the
Portuguese
during the time of their favor at the court of
Cochin-China
) got ground for some little time: missionaries were sent, churches erected, and multitudes of converts made. At length a king arose unfriendly to our doctrine, who expelled the missionaries, and compelled his subjects to return within the pale of the national church. Having premised this, I shall treat the reader with
Le Poivre
's elegant account of the revolution, and the happy state of this kingdom; but I must mix my fears with it, that as he hints at corruptions creeping fast into the original system of government, it may be found at present as absolute, as tyrannical, and as absurd as other eastern dominions, under the rule of the infirm individual. To begin,
A
Tonquinese
prince, unsuccessful in a war he carried on against the king of
Tonquin
(under whom he enjoyed an office somewhat resembling the
Maires de palais
under the
Merovingian
race of the kings of
France
) retired with his soldiers and adherents across the river which divides that kingdom from
Cochin-China.
The savages, who then possessed this country, fled before these strangers, and took refuge among the mountains of
Tsiampa.
After a long war with their old enemies, who pursued them, the
Tonquinese
fugitives remained at length peaceable possessors of the country known under the name of
Cochin-China;
it extends about two hundred leagues from north to south, but narrow and unequal from east to west. They then applied themselves entirely to the cultivation of rice, which, being the ordinary food of the inhabitants of
Asia,
is to them an object of the greatest importance. They separated into little cantonments, and established themselves on the plains, which extend along the banks of the rivers.
THE six first kings, founders of this monarchy, governed the nation as a father governs his family; they established the laws of nature alone; they themselves paid the first obedience to them. Chiefs of an immense family of laborers, they gave the first example of labor; they honored and encouraged agriculture, as the most useful and honorable employment of mankind. They required from their subjects only a small annual free-gift to defray the expence of their defensive war against their
Tonquinese
enemies.
OFF the coast of
Cochin-China
are the
Paracels,
THE PARACELS.
a vast tract of rocks, reefs, sand-banks, and small isles, extending from north to south from Lat. 12° 10′ N. to 16° 45′ N. two hundred and seventy-six miles in length, and sixty in breadth. To the north-east of the northern end is a group of small reefs and rocks, called the
Triangles,
and again a little to the south-east of that is a great irregularly shaped shoal, called the
Macclesfield
shoal. Between these and the isle of
Hainan,
belonging to
China,
is clear and deep water. That island lies to the north, about one hundred and thirty miles from the nearest extremity of the
Paracels;
the interval is the common passage of our ships bound for
China;
they sail between the coast of
Cochin-China
and the
Paracels,
till they get sight of the
Campellos
isles in Lat. 16° 10′. From thence they cross over towards
Hainan,
which is strongly marked by several very high and craggy mountains, foresights of the general nature of the great empire.
Tinhosa
is the next point navigators make for, a small but lofty isle not remote from
Hainan,
and from thence is a direct and clear course to the islands of
Sanciam;
a little beyond which is that of
Macao,
and the numerous isles that bound the channels to the great port of
Canton.
THE bay of
Tonquin
begins near the wall of
Cochin-China,
BAY OF TONQUIN.
and at the northern extremity of that kingdom. The entrance is bounded on the eastern side by the island of
Hainan.
The middle of the bay has very deep water, and is free from isles, excepting a small one called the
Nachtigael;
but the shores are skirted with sands, or groups of little isles; the coasts themselves, according to
Dampier,
very low; and the whole interior a flat of the richest soil, productive of all the fruits, and possibly vegetables, of the tropics. Pastures or rice ground border the banks of the most considerable rivers.
THE great orange
Cam-chain
has a thick rind and rough;
FRUITS.
the inside of an amber color; the smell is most fragrant; the taste most delicious
THE
Cam-quit
is very small, round, and of a deep red. The taste is equal to the former, but is esteemed a more unwholesome fruit, as it both creates and heightens the disorder of the flux. The limes are equal in size to lemons. The
betel
is said to surpass any of the
Indian.
THE mulberry is much cultivated here for the nourishment of the silkworms.
MULBERRY.
There is a succession of them, for the leaves of the old trees are held to be less nutritive to the worm, and productive of worse silk. The species of
Morus
is generally supposed to be the white.
THE
Rhus Vernix
is found here and in several other parts of
India citra Gangem.
RHUS VERNIX.
It is the valuable tree which yields the varnish so useful in the lacquering of variety of things, and giving them a sort of immortality; the best is in
Japan.
The reader may satisfy his curiosity further by consulting
Thunberg, Flora Japon.
p. 121.
Koempfer
's travels, i. 114. and his
Amaen. Acad.
791. fig. 792.
Kalm
Vol. i. 77.
found it in
North America,
and mentions it under the name of the
poison
tree. It certainly merits the title, but its effects are not general; some persons can receive its juice on the body or hands without the least ill consequence, while others are afflicted with violent swelling, acute pains, and blisters so numerous that the patient will resemble a leper, and his very skin peel off; some people are even struck with blindness for two days together; much depends on the constitutions of those affected. There are men that will handle the tree, or touch the juice with impunity; while others will be visited with all the deleterious symptoms by being in the way of the smoke, or even of the wind which carries the effluvia or exhalations of this singular tree.
IT has been observed that the workers in
Laquer
or
Japan,
feel the bad effects, being subject to violent eruptions, in form of boils or blotches. The laborers can only work in the dry season, when the north winds blow. They are obliged to lay several coats on, each of which must have time to dry, before the other is applied. The varnish is brought to market in great tubs all the working season, the natural color is white, and thick like cream, but changes in the air, and becomes blackish;
Dampier
says that the
Tonquinese
have the art of making of it a glue the best in the world.
IN this kingdom are abundance of sir and poon trees, both which are very serviceable for masts. The country also produces
Sappan
-wood,
SAPPAN WOOD.
which
Dampier
compares to the
Logwood
of
Campeachy.
It proves to be the
Caju Sappan,
or
Lignum Sapan
of
Rumphius,
iv. 56. tab. xxi.
Ligno Brasiliano Simile, Bauhin. Pin.
393.
Caesalpina Sappan,
Syst. Pl. ii. 259.
Loureiro,
Fl. loch. 320. This tree grows principally in
Siam
and
Ciamba;
is of the first use in
India
for the dying of red.
Rumphius
gives a very full account of the means by which it produces a tinge of different shades. It is also brought to the
European
market. It grows to a moderate size; the branches are thick set with short spines. The wood is very hard, and much used by the
Indians
for pegs to fasten the boards of their ships. This plant has been introduced into the
Kew garden,
and is described by Mr.
Aiton
Hort. Kew. ii. 55.
under the name of
Caesalpina vesicaria,
narrow-leaved prickly Brasiletto.
THE zoology of
Tonquin
would give a most plentiful harvest; here seems to be a continuation of most of the animals of the countries of
India
we have passed over.
ELEPHANTS.
The elephants are generally in a state of nature; they are very wild and shy; but when taken their flesh is eagerly sought after; the trunk is a peculiar dainty: The king keeps a few for state; when one happens to die, the flesh is given to the poor, and the trunk cut to pieces and sent to the mandarines; horse-flesh is also frequently brought to market. This favors of Tartarian origin.
THE variety of birds,
BIRDS;
terrestrial and aquatic, is incredible. The water fowl pair before
May,
and fly in pairs during the months of
June
and
July.
From
October
to
March
they collect in vast flocks. The
Tonquinese
take them in nets set on poles, which the birds strike on in the twilight.
FISH is in equal abundance.
SOYA SAUCE.
That delicate sauce we call
Soya
is made here of one species; and of a sort of shrimp, is produced another relishing luxury called
Balichaun.
THE chief river of the country is called the river of
Tonquin,
which empties itself into the bay by two channels, one called
Rok-ho,
the other twenty leagues to the north-east, which
Dampier
named that of
Domea.
The first, frequented by the smaller vessels, has not above twelve feet water at the entrance, and is the most convenient for the
Siamese
and
Chinese.
The other is used by the
European
ships on account of the depth. Before the mouth is a line of hard sand two miles long; the entrance is distinguished by a high ridgy mountain far up the country called the
Elephant.
About six leagues from the mouth of the river is the village of
Domea,
usually consisting of a hundred houses, yet on the arrival of the
European
ships it soon increases to a large town; the natives resort for sake of trade from all parts; houses suddenly spring up; for being only constructed of frames of bamboo, and the roof of palm or other leaves, a temporary town is quickly formed, in which a fair is kept as long as the ships remain in the harbor.
THE river is subject to the same periodical floods as others in the tropical regions; and the same fertility is the consequence. The wet season commences the latter end of
April
or beginning of
May,
and lasts till towards the close of
August.
The rains are intermittent; some are of two or three days continuance, others of only a few hours, with intervals of fine weather, especially towards the beginning and conclusion of the season. During the wet months the heat is intolerable, especially when the sun can force its rays through the thick clouds.
THE
Typhons,
TYPHONS.
or as
Dampier
calls them
Tuffoons,
are most tremendous in this bay and on the coast of
China.
They prevale in the months of
July, August,
and
September,
and commonly near the change of the moon. They are preceded by very fine weather; a presaging cloud appears in the north-east, black near the horizon, edged with copper color, on the upper part fading into a glaring white. It often exhibits a ghastly appearance twelve hours before the
Typhon
bursts; its rage lasts many hours from the north-east, attended with dreadful claps of thunder, large and frequent flashes of lightning, and excessive hard rains; then it sinks into a dead clam; after which it begins again with redoubled rage from the south-west, and continues an equal length of time.
THE great
Halley
gives an account of the surprising tides in this bay;
TIDES.
each flux is of twelve hours duration, and its re-flux the same, so that there occurs but one high water in twenty-four hours. The great Philosopher shall speak in his own words:
ON the first and second days, at the water's increase, the influxes are very small and uncertain, but afterwards the tides for thirteen days are constant in their course, one flood and one ebbing being completed in twenty-four hours time, equally sharing the space of a lunar circuition of the earth between them, and every flood beginning nearest three quarters of an hour later than the precedent flood, and also considerably increasing in the height of the tide every day, from the third unto the sixth and seventh days of the water's age, on which two days the flood runs very high; but on the eighth day (which may be accounted the last of the spring tides) the waters begin gradually to decrease again, retaining the same orderly difference of time in each tide, until the next following first day of the water's increase; when, during two days unsettledness, there is a shifting of the tides in respect of the beginning of the flood and ebb, after which said shifting, a constancy in their inverted course is again retained in the above mentioned order for thirteen days following.
Cachao,
the principal city of
Tonquin,
CITY OF CACHAO.
lies about eighty miles higher up the river, and is the place where the chief trade is carried on. The imports are conveyed from the ships in large
Tonquinese
boats, navigated by the natives. The tide runs with great rapidity thirty or forty miles above
Domea,
through a rich and beautiful plain; near
Hean,
a town of two thousand houses, is the place where the two channels meet, and form the
Delta
of
Tonquin,
about eighty miles from the sea. The
Chinese
merchants have a street to themselves at
Hean.
For a time they resided at
Cachao,
but became so numerous that they seemed to swallow up the very natives; the king therefore ordered them to remove here. The
French
also had a factory in this town in
Dampier
's time. Is is from that honest voyager I take my account, having no later authority of any authenticity. The
Chinese
and
Siamese
jonks come up as high as the town, and ride in the middle of the river.
Cachao
is a city of twenty thousand houses; the walls usually made of mud and thatch, but some are of brick, covered with tiles. Here are three regal places; two very mean, the third more magnificent, but built of timber, and open at the sides. This, with the courts, fish-ponds, and docks for the pleasure boats, take up a vast space of ground, surrounded by a wall faced with brick. There are several gates, and stairs to ascend to the top of the walls, round which is a pleasant walk. This place is the residence or rather prison of the
Boua,
or emperor of
Tonquin.
In this country is a most singular government; by a revolution which happened long ago, the general of the reigning monarch made himself master of the empire; he assumed all the regal power, and seized the whole revenue, but did not venture to extirpate the royal family, for fear of the affection the people entertained for their antient rulers. The executive power is lodged in the general or his heirs, who is called
Choua;
he is quite absolute, has his guards, and all the insignia of majesty. The
Boua
is kept as a state prisoner, with his wives and children, and diverts himself within the palace walls, for he is never allowed to stir out. The
Choua
pays him all external respects, visits him three times a year, gives him the precedence, makes him a tender of his life and services, and declares that all he does is in kindness, to save him the fatigues of government. The
Choua
places his own creatures about him, and no others are permitted to have access.
THE
English
and
Dutch
have or had factories in this city.
FACTORIES.
I am not well acquainted with the exports of the country; they are said to be gold, woods for dying, raw and wrought silk, some callicoes, varnish, turpentine, salt, earthen ware, anniseed, and drugs of several kinds; pearls are also found on the coasts.
THE royal navy is an affair of state, useless and contemptible in wars; and as to ships of commerce, there are scarcely any; so that every thing is brought in and out of the kingdom in foreign bottoms.
I MAY be pardoned for digressing to the healing art of the
Tonquinese.
TONQUIN MEDICINE.
I must produce their receipt for the cure of the bite of the mad dog, the gaol distemper, and other maladies incident to human nature; let the good intent apologize for the following extract, thought worthy of a place in the eleventh volume
P. 1051.
of the Philosophical Transactions.
THEY
(the Tonquinese)
take of the best musk about gr. xvi. of the purest native cinnabar, and finest vermillion, each about gr. xxiv. and, having reduced them separately to impalpable powders, mix and administer them in about a gill of arrack; which, in two or three hours, generally throws the patient into a sound sleep and perspiration; if not, they repeat the dose, and think the cure certain.
THE religion of this country is the same with that of
Cochin-China,
RELIGION.
but idolatry appears here with much less magnificence; the
Pagodas
are mean, and their images numerous. It should seem that the
Mandarines
and better sort of people are more enlightened, and confine themselves to the worship of one GOD. They do not frequent the pagodas, they have no idols, but adore the supreme in their courts, with uplifted eyes. A person of the family reads the petition to heaven.
Dampier
's
Vol. ii. 58.
account of the ceremony is curious; "When they make this petition," says he,
they order a great deal of good meat to be dressed, and calling all their servants into the court where the ceremony is to be performed, they place the food on a table, where also two incense-pots are placed, and then the mandarine presents a paper to the clerk, who reads it with an audible voice. In the first place, there is drawn up an ample account of all that GOD has blest him withal, as health, riches, honor, favor of his prince, &c. and long life, if he be old; and towards the conclusion, there is a petition to GOD for a continuance of all these blessings, and a further augmentation of them; especially with long life, and favor of his prince, which last they esteem as the greatest of all blessings. While this paper is reading, the master kneels down, and bows his face to the earth, and when the clerk has done reading it, he puts it to the burning rushes, that are in the incense-pot, where it is consumed; then he flings in three or four little bundles of sacred paper, which is very fine and gilded; and when that also is burnt, he bids his servants eat the meat.
IT is singular that in matters relative to their oaths of allegiance,
OATH.
a species of sacrament is annually performed, at the season in which the
Mandarines
receive from the great officers under them the oath of fidelity to the king; this is attended with the following ceremony: they cut the throat of a hen, and let the blood fall into a bason of arrack; of which every man has a small portion given him to drink, after he has publicly declared his loyalty and zeal to serve his prince; and this is esteemed the most solemn tie by which any person can engage himself.
THE Christian religion made considerable progress in this kingdom about the year 1680,
MISSIONARIES.
and some time after. Here were two bishops, one styled of
Ascalon,
the other of
Adran;
but neither they nor the priests were suffered to come to
Cachao,
their residence being fixed at
Hean;
the proselytes they made were among the meanest of the people, and it is suggested were gained over, more by the charitable donations of rice in times of scarcity, than by any arguments of the pious missionaries. The priests were all masters of some mechanic arts which were useful in this country, and which seem to have been the grounds of their toleration. By reason of some imprudence on their part, or some spirit of persecution in the reigning powers, they were at length expelled; and four of the principal missionaries put to death by decapitation.
I WILL conclude with the extent of the kingdom of
Tonquin,
EXTENT.
and with a brief account of the inhabitants. It commences towards the south at the
Cochin-China
wall, and is there very narrow; to the west it is bounded by the
Cochin-Chinese
chain, which soon retires, and gradually leaves a larger and larger expanse to the great plain of this kingdom. These mountains keeping to the northwest unite with those of
China,
and by their branches turning eastward, constitute the boundaries between
Tonquin,
and the mighty empire of which the
Tonquinese
seem originally to have been a colony. The western limit is at the river
Gannan Kyan,
in Lat. 21° 35′.
THE province bordering on
China
on the side of the bay is that of
Tenan,
small, but extremely fertile in rice; off the coast are multitudes of isles, very properly called, by the
Dutch,
the
Islands of Pirates.
They are inhabited by fishermen, who make no scruple of robbing every ship they can master. Those can only be of the most defenceless kind, for these pirates have no other vessels than the boats in which they carry on the fishing business, and those unprovided with any sort of fire-arms. From the extreme corruption of the government, there is no redress to be obtained against their excesses. An
English
captain has been fined for killing one of the crew of these petty thieves which had shewed a design of attacking his vessel.
IN one of the isles the
Tonquinese
have a custom-house, which is said to bring in a million of rix-dollars.
THE kingdom is very populous,
NATIVES.
being thick set with villages. The natives generally are of a middle stature, of the tawny
India
color, but the fairest and clearest of the kind; a blush or change of tint may be seen in some of them on any surprise of passion, imperceptible in any other
Indians;
their faces are flattish and oval, their noses and lips of due proportions, and altogether agreeable; their hair black, long, and lank, very thick, and hanging down to their shoulders.
THEIR teeth are (like those of the
Siamese
) as black as art can make them;
BLACK TEETH.
the dying occupies three or four days, and is done to both boys and girls when they are about twelve or fourteen years old; during the whole operation they never take any nourishment, except of the liquid kind, for fear of being poisoned by the pigment, if they swallowed what required mastication. Every person, high and low, rich and poor, is obliged to undergo this severe operation, alledging it would be a disgrace to human nature to have teeth white as those of dogs or elephants, to which they compare those who labor under that misfortune.
Prior,
with his usual humour, mentions this custom, but transfers it to the
Chinese.
In
China
none hold women sweet,
Unless their snags are black as jet:
King
Chihu
put nine queens to death,
Convict on statute iv'ry teeth.
THUS ends my account of
India extra Gangem.
The
Tonquinese
have so much similitude with the
Chinese,
that it is with some reluctance I place them as a separate people. The uniformity of manners, the religion, and even the personal appearance begin to shew themselves far more to the south. The
Chinese
had spread themselves to many of the kingdoms we have passed over, and the likeness is retained in proportion as they kept distinct, or mixed with the natives, so as to occasion a deviation from their native features and national customs. We fall in with the general arrangement of geographers, and leave the artificial distinctions which separate them from that great empire whence they originated. The antients thought otherwise, and formed of those kingdoms a mighty government, distinguished from their neighbors to the south and to the north by the general name of
Thinae
or
Sinae.
CHINA.
CHINA.
THE miracle of governments!
GOVERNMENT.
Its dominion extends from the streights of
Hainan,
in north Lat. 20° 13′, to the extremity of the province of
Pe-che-li,
in Lat. 41° 15′, comprehending a space of near fifteen hundred miles in length, and in breadth above a thousand. The numbers of its inhabitants (given by the lively
Voltaire
) are a hundred and fifty millions
The more accurate information obtained by Lord Macartney's embassy, makes the population of
China
Proper amount to 333,000,000, inhabiting a space of 1,297,999 square miles. E.
, yet all are ruled by a single man! The government is founded on the law of the
fifth commandment,
and the honor paid to the emperor in the character of father, amounts to a veneration due to the Divinity himself. The greatest of his subjects never speak to him without kneeling; his words are law, and every thing he says is received as oracular. The same respect, proportionably diminished, is rendered to all his servants, as emanations of his sacred person, from the first mandarine down to the lowest officer who is invested with delegated power. He is called
Tyen-tse,
the son of Heaven;
Thau-ting,
palace royal;
Van-swi,
ten thousand years; and by other epithets emblematic of the sanctity of his person. All this results primarily from the sense of filial duties, early imprinted on the hearts of his subjects as the first and greatest point of religion, and objects of the cognizance of the magistrate. If a son is incorrigible by a parent, the parent takes him before the judge, who seldom fails to bring him to a sense of his duty. Filial respect, says
Confucius,
in his
Auking,
a book on that very subject, is the foundation of all virtue, and of the wise government of the empire.
CHILDREN are treated by the parents with the utmost rigor; the doctrine of obedience is inculcated with the greatest severity, so that it becomes ever after habitual: but as this respect towards their superiors is attended with fear and meanness, so deceit and fraud become the characteristics of the
Chinese
nation.
THE same respect to those in a higher station pervades all ranks of people; hence the
Chinese
are the most ceremonious of mankind, and the very lowest orders full of the most profound artificial civility.
THE emperor has the disposal of all offices, nay, even of the lives and fortunes of every subject. Nothing is done, of any moment, from one extremity to the other of this vast empire, without his knowledge; in criminal cases the calendar of prisoners convict are laid before him, with a statement of their crimes; these lists are returned to the respective judges, with the sentence affixed to each name, be it of death or free pardon. The lesser punishments are left to the pleasure of the magistrate.
THE despotism of the emperor is founded upon law and custom;
DESPOTIC.
not expressed, yet fully implied, it seems admitted that he can do no wrong! but it is on the principle that the state is a vast family, that
Tyen, i. e.
the Supreme Being, hath placed him on the throne, in order that he may be a father and a mother to his people. In consequence of this, a strong sense of his duty is continually before his eyes. The mandarines and princes of the blood are at liberty to remind him of any faults he may fall into; and even the people, if they find him negligent, are as ready to become tumultuous as in any other country. The grand secret of government in the emperor is the unremitting attention paid to the conduct of the mandarines and other magistrates, who are carefully watched, and most severely punished on every failure of duty. He himself is perpetually anxious to consult the good of his subjects, and to avoid incurring their hatred or contempt.
THERE is no country in which the filial duties are carried to such a length.
FILIAL DUTIES.
"A veneration for fathers," says
Montesquieu
Spirit of Laws, vol. i. p. 433.
,
was necessarily connected with a suitable respect for all who represented fathers, such as old men, masters, magistrates, and the emperor. This respect for fathers, supposed a return of love towards children, and consequently the same return from old men to the young, from magistrates to those who were under their jurisdiction, and from the emperor to his subjects. This formed the rites, and these rites the general spirit of the nation.
A PARRICIDE is extremely rare in this empire: whenever it happens, the whole province is in alarm; the relations are punished, and the mandarines deposed, as it is presumed it must have been through their neglect of admonition on the first appearance of filial misconduct, that such a monster could be found. The emperor himself is judge, and the crime is expiated by the sentence of the criminal being cut into ten thousand pieces.
THE reigning vice of the
Chinese
is self-interest,
SELF-INTEREST.
which gives rise to the infinite variety of frauds of which they are justly accused. Lord
Anson
's account of them is by no means exaggerated. Attempts have been made to clear them from the aspersion, but all has proved a vain labor. They consider the art of over-reaching as a mark of superior genius, and laugh at their dupe for suffering himself to be imposed on.
Du Halde
tells a pleasant story of an
English
captain who had bargained with a
Chinese
merchant for several bales of silk. On opening the first, he found it excellent; but all the rest were quite rotten. The captain reproached the merchant in the most severe terms. The
Chinese,
with great coolness, answered,
Blame, Sir, your rogue of an interpreter, for he assured me, that you never would examine the bales.
PRIDE and self-conceit are the other characteristic faults of this people.
PRIDE.
They assume an imaginary pre-eminence over all the world, and conceive nothing can be right but what they do. Their arts and their inventions have been brought to a certain point, at which they must ever stop, till they can prevale on themselves to lower their high opinion of superiority, and improve upon the models brought from
Europe.
They can copy, but they do it with reluctance, as they look upon themselves to be the first of men. A good effect arises out of this foible, it represses luxury; they think themselves wiser than the rest of mankind, and that they are supplied with whatever their situation can require. Their rule of government, their customs, their arts, their habits, have remained for centuries the same, and probably will continue so to the end of time.
THIS leading feature is, besides,
ANTIQUITY.
the result of the high and just opinion they entertain of the antiquity of the
Chinese
nation, in comparison of that of the rest of the world; and they with truth observe, that they were a polished people ages before the nations of modern
Europe
had emerged from savage manners and profound ignorance.
THE founder of their empire is said to be
Fo-hi,
FO-HI, FOUNDER OF THE EMPIRE.
cotemporary with
Phaleg
and
Heber.
His subjects at that time were nearly in the state of nature; they fed on what they caught, ate it raw, drank the blood, and clothed themselves with the skins. He taught them to make fishing-nets and snares for birds, to rear domestic animals, and instructed them in various arts of life; and to soften the fierceness of his people, invented music, and the instrument
Kin. China
was inhabited above two thousand years before the Christian aera, demonstrable from an eclipse observed at that period. The boast of the
Chinese
is, that their monarchy has continued four thousand years under the government of emperors; that it experienced twenty-two dynasties or revolutions, but the commotions each occasioned were so short that the country suffered very little inconveniency, and returned immediately into its former regular system.
THE original religion of the
Chinese
was truly pure,
RELIGION.
and probably delivered to them by the first founder of the empire,
Fo-hi,
as derived from the patriarchs, amongst whom that illustrious character may nearly be ranked. The first who reached
China
brought with them the religion of
Noah.
They acknowledged one great and supreme Being, and professed to live according to his laws engraven on their hearts. They justly made that Being the model of perfection, possessed of omnipotence, omniscience, providence, goodness, justice, and mercy. They admit the doctrine of grace, for they say that the most wicked man, if he makes use of the assistance offered to him by
Tyen,
or the Supreme Being, may attain the highest virtues. They hold also an expiation of sins by their own sacrifices; but confess that no external adoration will be accepted unless it is attended with inward sentiments, and comes directly from the heart. I cannot, in my contracted plan, give all the detail of their religion, or the proofs of its origin from the patriarchs. I will only say, that, like them, they had their
Pentateuch.
Their
five volumes
correspondent with the
Mosaical
history are esteemed by them the source of all science and morality.
The great reformer of the religion of
China
was
Consucius,
CONFUCIUS.
cotemporary with
Pythagoras,
and born 551 years before Christ; he purged it from all corruptions, and brought it to the perfection we have described; it still continues the religion of the emperor and of the good and learned throughout his vast dominions.
ABOUT six hundred years before the Christian aera,
SECT OF TAUT-SE.
arose the sect of
Taut-se,
founded by
Lau-kyun,
who confined the felicity of this life to voluptuousness; and taught that the soul died with the body; yet at the same time admitted the existence of a Divine Being, which makes some people believe, that his doctrine had been corrupted by certain of his profligate disciples, who might think it better to perish than burn; yet as they must necessarily be perpetually disturbed with the thoughts of death, they pretended to have invented a liquor of immortality, which, with the credulity of some of the emperors, gave a prodigious increase to their followers; they were greatly addicted to magic, introduced worship of spirits, sacrificed to devils, and deluded the vulgar by a thousand juggling tricks.
THE last was the sect of
Fo
or
Fwe
(not to be confounded with the great
Fo-hi.
)
SECT OF FO.
Their doctrine was transported out of
India
about 65 years after the birth of Christ. An emperor dreamed of a saying of
Confucius,
that the
Holy-one
was to be found in the West. He sent ambassadors to
India,
who brought back the monstrous image
Fo,
and all the extravagances of the
Hindoo
mythology. Temples or pagodas were erected in all places, and those filled with the most monstrous idols. They were attended by
Bonzees
innumerable. This is the religion of the vulgar, but not always confined to them; the emperors have at times been infected with it, deceived by the seeming austerities practised by the
Bonzees,
and their senseless penances, similar to those of some of the
Indian Faquirs.
THE Christian religion was introduced here as early as the year 636, when, to the astonishment of the
Chinese,
CHRISTIANITY.
there appeared among them a set of men with fair hair and blue eyes, and of an air, form, and habit quite unknown. These proved to be certain bishops, priests, and deacons sent out of
Judea
to propagate the gospel in these distant parts. They were
Syrians
and
Nestorians.
At that time
Jesuiabas,
says
Mosheim
Vol. ii. p. 1.
, was at the head of that sect. The memory of this transaction was quite lost for ages, till in the year 1625 a monument was found in digging under ground near
Si-ngan-su,
in the province
Shensi.
It was a table of marble, ten feet long and five broad, containing the names of the missionaries, and a history of the cause of their coming, written in the
Syriac
language, which was translated by the Jesuits who happened to be in
China
at the time of its discovery, and is given in
Kircher
's
China Illustrata.
There is no doubt of the authenticity. The Jesuits are charged with a most useless and unavaling forgery, especially by
Voltaire.
The curious may see more of the affair in
Renaudot
's account of
India
and
China
Trans. Pt. ii. p. 76 et seq.
. The effect of this mission did not continue long; at first they made abundance of proselytes; they were favored by the reigning emperor, permitted to build churches, and inculcate their doctrine among his subjects. This monument brings down their history to 783, the time of its being made. In the year 845, an emperor inimical to the monastic life arose, and by an ordinance entirely suppressed every religious house. This was in fact levelled at the
Bonzees,
and the professors of the idolatry of
Fo
or
Fwe,
who had not only expended vast sums in the ornaments of their pagodas and monasteries,
CONVENTS.
but made them sanctuaries for all kinds of profligates. This event corresponds exactly with our celebrated dissolution: here four thousand six hundred of the great monasteries of male and female recluses, and forty thousand of the lesser, were directed to be demolished, the lands and revenues to revert to the royal domain, and a hundred and fifty thousand slaves belonging to the houses to be set at liberty, enrolled and ranked among the people. As to these Christians, who in the ordinance are called outlandish
Bonzees
from
Ta-tsing
or
Mu-hu-pa,
about three thousand in number, they were also included, and directed to return to a secular life, "to the end that the customs of our empire," says the decree, "may be uniform and unmixed." From this time the history of these people was consigned to oblivion, nor ever would have been known, but for the discovery of the
Signan-su
monument.
THE ambition of the great Jesuit St.
ST. FRANCIS DE XAVIER.
Francis de Xavier
to extend the power and importance of his new order, is mentioned largely at vol. i. p. 113. of this work.
IN 1549 he sailed from
Goa
to
Japan,
and after discharging his mission in that island, determined on a visit to
China.
Death frustrated his pious design, but preserved him from the mortification of being refused an entrance into the empire, according to the most rigid ordinances then in force. He departed this life off the isle of
Sancian.
The
Chinese
had no objection to receive a dead christian; they permitted his interment; his coffin was filled with unslacked lime, which miraculously lost its nature, and the body, preserved uninjured, was found entire, sweet, and with all moisture, fifty years after,
(Du Halde
says only as many months) and brought with due veneration to the city of
Goa.
FROM this period to the end of the same century,
JESUITS.
no attempt was made to follow the great example of St.
Xavier.
A few
Dominicans
and
Franciscans
would have landed in
China
with the same pious intention, could they have obtained leave. The honor of preaching the gospel with any success in this great empire, was reserved for the rising order of the Jesuits.
Valignon,
superior general of the order of the mission of
India,
resident at
Macao,
burning with zeal for the great design, selected three of his society for the purpose,
Roger
of
Naples, Pasio
of
Bologna,
FATHER RICCI.
and
Ricci
of
Macerata.
The last was a man of superior abilities, who with his two brethren had rendered themselves masters of the
Chinese
language at
Goa,
before they began their mission. They entered on it in the year 1583. After several unfavorable essays,
Ricci
found his way to the court; he had all the art and insinuation of his order; a noble air, great sweetness of temper, and an extensive knowlege of the sciences, particularly of the mathematics. He came also provided with presents; he gave the emperor a clock, a picture of our Saviour, and another of the Virgin, each of which, say the Jesuits, had a most honorable place.
Pasio
and
Roger
had been recalled, and the whole power was vested in
Ricci;
under whom crowds of subordinate Jesuits preached the gospel with the utmost success. They seemed to have a toleration, or at least a connivance. They reconciled the doctrine of their great master, and the rites of the Christian religion, with the ceremonies of that of
China. Ricci
permitted his proselytes to assist at the annual commemoration of the followers of
Consucius,
and to intermingle the rites of both churches, so as to gain converts innumerable. He baptized several Mandarines and persous of rank; among others two rich widows, one by the name of
Candida,
the other that of
Agatha.
The wealthy founded churches; and the poor filled them with their numbers. Persecutions were raised against them; but the abilities of
Ricci
overcame them all. He died highly respected, in 1610, at
Peking,
in the reign of
Van Lye;
and by the order of the emperor was most honorably interred in a garden allotted for that purpose.
Ricci
incontestibly merited the title he received, of founder and father of the
Chinese
church.
SEVERAL other Jesuits of great abilities successively supported his labors; a persecution had been raised against them, but luckily at the same time an invasion was threatened by the
Tartars.
A Mandarine, a Christian convert, advised the calling in the assistance of the
Portuguese
engineers to direct the artillery; the advice was taken, and their success again brought the Christians into favor.
FATHER
Schaal
was employed in casting of cannon,
FATHER VERBIEST.
and father
Verbiest,
another Jesuit of first rate abilities, was engaged in the same service. It certainly was not the spiritual merits of the fathers that gained them the patronage of the
Chinese
emperors, but their knowlege of the arts. They had brethren of all prosessions, painters, mechanics, turners, watch-makers, founders, accomptants, astronomers, and masters of ordnance.
Verbiest,
and some of the ablest of the fathers, were consulted about matters of state; and by those various means became a most powerful ministry. They were created Mandarines, and appeared at court in a rich dress of that order, with the dragon flaming on their breasts.
Cam-hi
even issued an edict in favor of the Christian religion. Among the miracles of the times, an eunuch converted fifty ladies; and
Helena Taming,
empress of
China,
held epistolary correspondence with pope
Alexander
VIIth.
UNFORTUNATELY for the Jesuits, in 1631, an inundation of other missionaries poured into the empire.
DOMINICANS.
The
Dominicans
and the
Franciscans
were zealous to partake of the honor, and share in the good work; but again, unluckily for both, the Jesuits were more of this world, their rivals of the other. The last soon discovered the arts by which the Jesuits had established their power in
China.
They would not condescend to preach any but the pure doctrine of Christianity; an inveterate quarrel ensued among these holy men. The
Dominicans
and
Franciscans
carried their complaints to
Rome;
the grounds of which were discussed in the highest ecclesiastical courts, and with various success. The monks had the most subtile orders to counteract them. The controversy lasted a hundred years; bulls had been sent to
Peking,
to disannul all the temporizing compliances of the Jesuits with the religious rites of the
Chinese;
some they evaded, and at other times, by their power at court, excited persecutions against their christian brethren. They even procured the imprisonment of
Tournon,
a legate from the Pope himself. His holiness honored the sufferer with the cardinal's hat; he received it in consinement, and soon after died, the ridicule of the political Jesuits. The reader will find a very candid and entertaining account of the Christian church by
Moshcim,
in the
Chinese
Miscellanies, published in 1762, in two small volumes. My plan forbids me from entering further into the history; let it suffice to say, that the Jesuits, from the death of
Kam-hi,
experienced vicissitudes of fortune; were either depressed or exalted according to the genius of his successors, or according to the uses to which they were found subservient. The dissolution of the order probably put an end to the Christian church in this political empire
For a statement of the present situation of the Missionaries, &c. of the Christian religion in this empire, the reader is referred to vol. ii. p. 159, et seq. of Sir G. Staunton's account of the embassy. E.
.
ANOTHER nation, eminent for extending their religion far and wide, could never effect, by the power of the sword, what this artful order did by insinuation, and by temporizing with the customs and manners of the people of whom they intended to make their advantages. The
Arabs,
ARABS.
who in other places inculcated the doctrine of their famed impostor by conquest and violence, here never made the attempt; long masters of the sea, they came from the coasts of
Africa,
or of
Arabia
and
India,
in the form of traders, in the tenth century. The
Chinese
admitted them into their ports in that character, but denied them permission to propagate their faith, as they had done in
India.
They were strictly forbidden to make any converts, but were allowed the free exercise of their own religion, as long as they did not interfere with that of the empire. The
Portuguese,
when they first arrived in
China,
found the cities full of
Arabs
or
Moors,
and Father
Navarette,
a
Dominican
missionary in
China
in 1665, informs us, that in his time there were about five hundred thousand, which had greatly increased by intermarriages with the natives; that many of them took their degrees among the
Chinese
literati; which evinces how the
Arabs
carried with them a thirst after knowledge; but they were looked on by their brethren as apostates, for mingling with a nation whose rites were so contrary to their own.
NOTWITHSTANDING the
Mahometans
have been settled so many centuries in
China,
they are in many places considered as intruders, are treated most contemptuously by the vulgar, and sometimes their mosques have been demolished by the mob.
LET me now return to the temporal concerns of the
Chinese
empire.
LAST REVOLUTION.
The last revolution was effected in 1644. The emperor
Tsong-Ching,
reduced to despair by a successful rebellion, put himself to death; his brave general made head against the usurper, but unfortunately, like our
Vortigern,
called in the assistance of a foreign power; he invoked the
Manchew Tartars,
who, headed by their monarch
Tsong-te,
united with him, and expelled the usurper.
Tsong-te
died as soon as that was effected; but before his death, declared his infant son emperor of
China.
The general found his error too late, yet submitted to the necessity, and supported the new succession. From that time the
Tartar
line continued on the throne; but the prince, and all the
Tartarian
subjects he brought with him, adopted, in the most minute articles, the antient rules of the empire, its laws and customs, and assumed the habits of the conquered people.
Tartars
and
Chinese
are admitted indifferently to places of trust civil and military. The
Tartars
compose most of the garrisons, but are now grown as effeminate as the
Chinese
themselves, and very little superior to the native soldiery. The army of
China
consists of seven hundred thousand men, dispersed in garrisons, or along the great wall; are well cloathed and armed, and make a fine figure on a review or on a march.
THE characteristic features of the
Chinese
in the males,
FORM OF THE CHINESE.
are a large forehead, short nose, well cut small eyes, a large and square face, great broad ears, a middle sized mouth, black hair, and a large and fat body. These constitute beauty in our sex. The complexions in general are as fair as
Europeans,
unless in the southern provinces, or among the rank of people who are obliged to be exposed to the open air.
THE noses of the females are short, their eyes little, their ears long, their complexions ruddy, their features regular, and countenances gay; their feet artificially small.
LITTLE FEET.
It has ever been the custom of the nurses to bind those parts so close, as to prevent them from growing; they esteem this a beauty, notwithstanding it gives them a lameness in their gait; yet they think the smallness of their feet a charm, and shew them as much as possible.
I SHALL now speak of the genius of this singular people,
ARTS.
and the progress they have made in the arts.
I WILL begin with the medical.
MEDICAL.
All their
Materia Medica
answers to our
Galenical
medicines, being drawn from simples; they have a good knowledge of the uses of the vegetable kingdom. They never meddle with the violent remedies; gentle cathartics, emollients, strengtheners, are the kinds they principally prescribe. Green and bohea tea, the
Ginseng,
and other salutary roots, are much in use. They are totally ignorant of anatomy, but pretend to great sagacity in the knowledge of the pulse; they not only judge of the species and nature of the disease, but apply their remedy according to the symptoms it exhibits. I refer to
Du Halde
Vol. ii. p. 183.
, for the long but curious account of the practice. They were well acquainted with the circulation of the blood, long before the
Europeans
attained that knowlege. As they know nothing of anatomy, it must be by reasoning on the force and action of the pulse. They bleed, even with a bit of broken china.
THEY had the knowlege of inoculation a great many years ago;
INOCULATION.
it is a disputed point whether the
Turks
(from whom we learned the salutary art) received it from the
Chinese,
by means of the
Armenian
caravans, or whether the same people might not have communicated it to the
Chinese;
certain it is that they have long been in possession of the method; and the emperor
Kam-hi
made a noble use of it, sending skilful persons into
Tartary,
and other parts of his dominions, to inoculate the children of his
Tartarian
subjects, and others; the distemper in every part of the empire being dreaded to the highest degree, making the same havoc among these eastern people, as the plague in the western world.
THE art of printing was invented under the emperor
Ming-Tsong,
PRINTING.
about the year of our Lord 904, being above five hundred years before it was discovered in
Europe.
They trace the types through the written copy on blocks of wood; so never have occasion to break the press, as we do in our quarter of the globe.
THE manufacture of paper was originally discovered by
Tsay-Jun,
PAPER.
a great Mandarine of the palace, A. D. 95, who made it nearly in the manner we do, from old fragments of cloth or silk, and the bark of trees, boiled and reduced to a thin paste. The consumption of paper in this empire is prodigious; the
Cacoethes Scribendi
occasions an amazing demand, and the quantity used for the papering of their rooms is inconceivable. Their painted papers are more famed for the richness of the colors, than the justness and elegance of the design. They have no notion of perspective, nor the least skill in delineating the human figure, all which appear like so many caricatures. The subjects are chiefly domestic scenes, agriculture, such as the cultivation of rice, &c. &c. of tea, and the various processes, from the planting to the package for foreign markets.
THE consumption of ink must necessarily be equal to that of paper; the manufacture employs, in the province of
Nanquin,
INK.
whole villages; lamp-black is the basis, whether of the liquid ink used for printing, or of that which is brought over to us under the name of
Indian
ink, in sticks, with
Chinese
characters, and ornamented with colored figures of flowers, &c. The invention of ink in
China,
is said to have been in the reign of
Ven-ti,
about a hundred and sixty years before Christ.
THE emperor
Kam-hi
caused the wars against the
Elaths,
and those on the frontiers of little
Bucharia,
to be painted, and sent long after into
Europe,
in order to be engraven by the best artists; these were the performances of the Jesuits, and done in a very good manner. They were placed in the hands of
Le Bas
at
Paris,
and engraven in 1770; the plates were sent to
China;
but because the figures in the back grounds were not drawn as large as those in the fore, the plates were returned to be altered (which was done) quite to the taste of the
Chinese.
The mountain scenery is magnificent; the actions or surprises cruel and sanguinary; the fortified places, and little wooden forts, exactly represented, with various specimens of the art military of these distant
Asiatics.
I observed the
Bactrian
or two bunched camel much in use, carrying swivel guns on their backs, which were discharged at the fugitives climbing up the steeps of the mountains. This work consists of sixteen very large prints, finely engraven. The copies in
Europe
are rare; ten thousand pounds were allowed for the execution.
THE use of artillery was not known among the
Chinese
till the arrival of the
Europeans.
ARTILLERY.
The first cannon they ever saw, were three, sent as a present to the emperor, by the
Portuguese
of
Macao,
in 1621. These were afterwards used against the
Tartars,
who came in swarms to the great wall, but terrified by the slaughter made among them by these novel machines of war, they never approached it more.
GUNPOWDER was invented in
Europe
by a monk;
GUNPOWDER.
the first cannon ever cast in
China,
were the work of a Jesuit, Father
Adam Schaal,
by order of the emperor; the next of the father
Verbiest,
the great ornament of the order; he first cast a hundred and thirty, and after that three hundred and twenty. They were tried in the presence of the emperor, who so greatly approved the services of
Verhiest,
that he loaded him with honors. The Jesuits, in return, fixed on a day for blessing his labors; dressed in his religious habit, he nine times prostrated himself, and beat his forehead against the ground. He had previously fixed a crucifix on an altar before the train of artillery, which he baptized piece by piece, and gave to each the name of a male or female saint, taken from the calendar of his own church.
GUNPOWDER was of very early invention in
China
and in
India,
but till the time that I have just mentioned, it was never applied to any other uses than fire-works on festive occasions, in which the
Chinese
still excel all the rest of the world. I refer the reader to p. 362 of the preceding volume, for what I have said on the subject of the powder and artillery of the Orientalists.
Voltaire
asserts that the
Chinese
had a manufactory of glass above two thousand years ago.
GLASS.
Du Halde
says that looking glasses are not among their articles of furniture. They have indeed at
Yen-ching,
in the province of
Shang-tung,
a manufactory, but so brittle is their
Lew-li,
or glass, as to break when exposed to too cold an air. I am farther confirmed by my worthy friend
Thomas Fitzhugh,
Esquire, (long resident in
China)
that the art of making glass in
China
was in a very imperfect state, as he informs me that about sixty or seventy years they were supplied with that article from
England,
which would not have been the case had they excelled at home. The glass was carried over in pieces in the shape of bricks, from which trade it may be supposed the
Chinese
either did not then make it, or that they found it more expensive in the process than purchasing the articles from foreigners
The manufacture of glass, if a mere repetition of the fusion of broken pieces, or of cakes brought from
Europe,
deserves the name, is confined to
Canton,
and unknown in the rest of the empire. E. Embassy to
China,
Vol. ii. p. 288.
.
THE works in japan or varnish,
JAPANNING.
are very considerable in this empire, but do not equal those made in
Japan
itself. The best is that of
Tonking
and
Nanking;
the varnish is produced from the
Rhus-vernix,
which the
Chinese
call
Tsi.
It is the same with that I have described at p. 72 of this volume. The process in collecting it is the same, and the workmen are affected with the same diseases in the operation; I therefore will not repeat what I have before mentioned.
THE very important article of silk shall next be spoken of.
SILK.
In my account of
Spain
will be given the history of the origin of this manufacture, and the various countries it passed through in its way from
China,
its native seat. The care of the silk-worm was of the most early date; it was begun by
Si-ling,
one of the queens of
Whang-ti,
third emperor from
Fo-hi,
at the period in which his subjects still clothed themselves in the undressed skins of wild beasts; how surprising was the change for the luxurious habit of silk. Succeeding empresses followed her example; they went attended by their fair suite to the orchard of mulberry trees, gathered the leaves of three trees, either with their own hands, or by the hands of the ladies under their inspection. A piece of the finest silk was woven and devoted to the ceremony of the sacrifice to the
Shang-Ti,
or the Supreme Being. More policy than religion is intermixed with this sacrifice; the wise
Chinese
knew that they could not inforce too strongly the cultivation of a tree which feeds the great staple of the empire.
The
Chinese
have two trees which contribute to this purpose;
MULBERRY TREES.
the one is the
Sang
or
Te-sang,
the
Morus Alba
or white mulberry tree, so well known in the south of
Europe;
this is cultivated in plantations. The other kind is the
Che,
or
Ye-sang,
the wild mulberry, which grows on the hills in forests, has small roundish rough leaves scalloped on the edges, and terminating in a point; the branches thorny; the fruit like pepper; in a few words a tree of a distinct species, if not genus, from the former. On these trees, the young of the silkworms which are hatched, are laid. The silk, produced from them, is said to be stronger and earlier than from those bred on the common mulberry. Paths are cut among the forests of the
Che,
the ground is cleared of weeds which may give shelter to serpents that devour the worms; and persons watch with guns to destroy the birds that make them their food; these trees are also cultivated in some places like the white mulberry.
I SHALL make mention of a species of silk totally different in its origin from the preceding; this is described by
Du Halde
Vol. i. 354.
,
SILK OF PLINY.
who says it is made by certain worms in the province of
Shangtong.
It is not fabricated by them into
Cocons,
but left adhering to small trees or shrubs in form of very long threads, which are gathered and woven into a coarse silk, called
Kien chew,
a very thick, lasting sort, which washes well, and is in much esteem with the
Chinese.
THIS account certainly vindicates the opinion held by the ancients that silk was an article combed from the leaves of certain trees.
"Primi sunt hominum"
says
Pliny
(speaking of the
Scytharum Gen.
lib. vi. c. xvii.)
qui noscantur Seres, lanicio sylvarum nobiles, perfusam aqua depectentes frondium canitiem:
Virgil
delivers the same notion,
Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia
Seres.
The Romans believed it to be the same kind which was produced at
Rome
from the silk-thread which had found its way there in the time of
Pliny,
which makes him complain of the great trouble the
Roman
women had in winding and weaving their silk, whilst the
Seres
had no more to do than to gather it from the leaves of trees.
Unde geminus foeminis nostris labor redordiendi fila rursusque texendi.
It was long before the manufacture of silks was established at
Rome.
The use was discouraged by a law forbidding men to debase themselves by the wearing of silk, as fit only for women. The effeminate
Heliogabalus
is the first on record who wore a dress entirely of silk. The manufactory even in the ribband or haberdashery way did not reach our kingdom till about the year 1482.
Spain
had very long the start of us. Our monarchs were forced to be content with cloth stockings.
Henry
VIII. accidentally got a pair now and then from
Spain.
Sir
Thomas Gresham
presented a pair to
Edward
VI. which was much talked of. Mrs.
Montague,
silkwoman to queen
Elizabeth,
presented her with a pair of black silk, after which, her highness would never wear any of cloth. Broad silks were not woven in
England
till the year 1620. The southern and western parts of
Europe
for centuries possessed that species of manufacture.
THE manufacture of cotton must have been of great antiquity.
COTTON.
Du Halde
Vol. i. p. 319.
mentions the shrub, and the time of the sowing, which immediately follows the harvest, and in the same field. The produce is woven into calicoes, and into a cloth well known in
England
by the name of
Nanquins,
so called from the place of manufacture. I imagine that the
Chinese
have not at present sufficient quantity of raw materials, as great quantities are said of late to have been imported from
India.
OF the woollen manufactures I can say very little.
WOOLLENS.
In the province of
Shensi
the sheep and goats are sheered thrice a year; and of the wool of the one and the hair of the other, mixed, is made a stuff much in request. The sheep are the great tailed kind.
THE Porcelain is of unknown antiquity.
PORCELAIN.
The Jesuit
D'Entrecolles
who had a church in a town in the province of
King-teching,
a first rate city which contained upwards of a million of people, could not trace the origin. That reverend father has been indefatigable in his enquiry; and has produced a most elaborate account of the materials and process.
THE first knowledge which the
Europeans
had of
China
was by the means of the
Seres,
SERES.
inhabitants of the northern parts of the empire. These very distant people were among the nations whom the fame of
Augustus
had reached, and who complimented him with an embassy, which took four years journey to perform. They presented the emperor with pearls, pretious stones, and elephants. Silk is not mentioned; yet probably
Virgil
learned from them that it was the production of their country, as I remark from the line of his at p. 107.
Horace
informs us how expert the
Seres
were in the use of the bow.
Puer quis ex aula capillis
Ad cyathum statuetur unctis
Doctus sagittas tendere, Sericas
Arcu paterno.
THE capital of these people is called by
Ptolemy, Sera Metropolis,
and placed by him in Lat. 38° 36′, which so nearly agrees with the latitude of
King-chew
in the province of
Pe-che-li,
as to leave no doubt of that having been the site. I have, at p. 8. of the first volume of this work, mentioned the
Comedae,
and the station of those who were bound for the commerce with the
Seres.
A branch of the
Imaus
runs from thence to the northeast, and after some space to the east. Part of the country to the south-east of this chain is the
Scythia intra Imaum;
and the part to the north-east is the
Serica Regio,
or land of the
Seres.
Various towns or cities of little use to note are mentioned by
Ptolemy.
In his time the resting places of the merchants in their road to the
Sera Metropolis.
We know no more than that there was a commerce carried on with this country by caravans from the more western world; that it was interrupted by the
Parthians,
who had possessed themselves of most of the country from the
Caspian
sea to this branch of the
Imaus;
and by that means the intercourse was entirely cut off.
VERY long is the interval between that period and that in which we can find any travellers who had visited this distant country by land. In the year 1660
Nicolo Polo
and his brother
Maffio,
illustrious
Venetians,
set out on their commercial journey. They took their departure from
Constantinople
for the splendid courts of the
Tartarian
princes, who lived in great magnificence, and gave the utmost encouragement to the
European
merchants and artists to come among them, and improve them in the arts.
William Ruysbroek,
RUBRUQUIS.
better known by the name of Friar
Rubruquis,
made two journeys into great
Tartary,
and mentions
Guillaume L'Orfevre
and other artists who were employed in the service of
Mongu-khan.
To this day many rich proofs of the skill of
European
artists are discovered in tombs and other places. The
Polos
remained nine years abroad; and returning,
Nicolo
found his wife dead; he had left her pregnant; the child survived, and became the famous traveller so well known by the name of
Marco Polo.
MARCO POLO.
His father in 1271 accompanied his brother on another journey, and took
Marco,
then only eleven years of age, with him. They arrived at the court of
Kublay-Khan,
commonly called by the
Chinese, Shi-Tsu,
fifth emperor of
Cathay
or northern
China,
of the
Mogol
race, a monarch of abilities, and a great encourager of the arts. He took a particular liking to young
Marco,
who soon learned to read and write the four languages in use in the country; he was in the service of the emperor seventeen years. The royal residence during summer at that time was
Kambalu
or rather
Hampalu, i. e.
the seat of the
Emperor,
the same with the modern
Pe-king;
but the capital of the empire was the present
Nanquin. Kublay-Khan
made use of
Marco
on several important embassies and weighty affairs. The father and brother continued with the court; and in their commercial capacities contributed to its splendor by procuring jewels, and all the materials of luxury.
Marco,
his father, and uncle remained with the
Khan
a great number of years, and returned safe to
Venice
in 1295, enriched by their profession, and in the highest esteem with their countrymen.
Marco
wrote his travels, which have been published in most languages; he was a diligent and faithful observer. I must refer to
Bergeron,
to
Purchas,
but particularly to
John Reinhold Forster,
for the detail of his travels. He gives a most splendid account of the court of his master, and shews the state of the polite arts in
China
in those early days; mentions the use of the silk-worm, the knowlege of the making of paper from the
Morus Papyrisera;
the distillation of brandy from the milk of mares, and numbers of other curious circumstances beyond the limits of my plan.
Marco
was also attentive to the natural history of the country; mentions coals, which he calls black combustible stones; describes some sorts of falcons and cranes; the
Argus
pheasant, or pheasants with tails thirty inches long, and in particular speaks about the number of partridges and quails. He takes notice of the
Musk
animal,
Hist. Quad.
i. No 65. The
Thibet
cows with long silky tails, No 8. The
Argali,
No 13, or wild sheep with enormous horns; and several other matters, both natural and oeconomical, which have since been confirmed by more modern travellers.
I SHALL now speak of the celebrated Sir
John Mandeville.
SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.
Sir John was born at St.
Albans,
and became the greatest traveller of his or any other age, having been out thirty-four years, and in the character of pilgrim, knight-errant, and man of observation, visited the greatest part of
Africa
and
Asia
then known. It is probable that he penetrated as far as
China.
He left an account of his travels, which were shamefully falsified by the monks, who destroyed much of their credit, by mingling with them legendary tales, and stories out of
Pliny;
but still truth appears so frequently, that the authenticity of the ground work is by no means impaired. He was called
Johannes de Mandevile
aliter dictus ad
Barbam,
from his forked beard; he found a grave at
Liege,
in the convent of the Gulielmites in 1371. He is engraven on his tomb, armed, and treading on a lion. At his head, the hand of one blessing him; and these words in the
French
of the time,
Vos ki paseis sor mi pour l'amour Deix proies por mi.
His knives, horse furniture, and spurs, were, in the time of
Ortelius,
preserved at
Liege
by the monks, and shewn to strangers.
THE intercourse which the
Muscovites
had by their caravans with this part of the eastern world, will be given in a future volume.
RUSSIANS.
I shall not therefore introduce it here, but proceed to the first discovery of
China
by sea, by the
Europeans,
in the busy sixteenth century. In the year 1515
Alvarenga,
PORTUGUESE.
the
Portuguese
viceroy of the
Indies,
turned his thoughts towards a settlement in
China;
and bestowed on
Ferdinand Pedro Andrada,
an able officer, the conduct of the expedition. In
June
1517 he set sail from
Malacca,
with three ships, and arrived at the island of
Tamanlabua,
four leagues from the main land of
China.
At that time the coast was infested with pirates; and fortunately
Andrada
fell in, says
Osorio
Vol. ii. p. 244.
, with the imperial fleet, who on sight of him (thinking him a pirate) prepared for battle; but how great was their surprize when they found that he gave no sign of hostile intention, but sailed peaceably with them till they anchored off the isle of
Tama.
I believe this to be the same which Mr.
Nieuhoff
Voy. p. 36.
calls
Heytamon,
and possibly that on which
Macao
was built. The
Chinese
admiral there sent to enquire who these strange people were, and received such an answer as quite gained his confidence.
Andrada
then sailed with them for the port of
Nanto,
a fine city and harbor about sixty miles from
Canton;
there he met with the most hospitable reception, and by his prudent conduct quite conciliated the affection of the
Chinese.
He landed there the embassador
(Thomas Perez)
who was immediately conducted to the imperial court.
Andrada
returned to the isle of
Tama,
informed himself of every thing that was necessary, and greatly enriched himself and companions by his commerce with the merchants, who flocked to him from different countries. He left
China
after impressing on the nation the highest opinion of the integrity of his countrymen.
ALL this was ruined by the ill conduct of
Simon
his brother, who soon after arrived there to form the settlement. After building a fort he thought himself secure, and began to offer insults and violence of every kind to the natives, who fell on the
Portuguese,
killed numbers, and obliged
Simon
to secure himself by flight.
THE emperor dismissed the embassador, who on his arrival at
Canton,
was flung into prison by the citizens, where he perished miserably.
THE
Portuguese
for a long time were the detestation of the
Chinese;
towards the close of the century they regained their affection by a piece of service they had an opportunity of doing to the empire by relieving it from the insult of the pirate
Changsi-Lau,
who had seized on the island of
Macao,
and was besieging
Canton.
The emperor presented the
Portuguese
with
Macao,
as a reward, who fortified it with two hundred pieces of cannon, at which the subtle
Chinese
took no sort of umbrage; for they had stationed their forces in such a manner, as to cut them off (at will) from even their daily provision. The
Portuguese
still retain possession of the city, and have a governor of their own; but a Mandarine resides here who is supreme over the whole island, so that they are in a very dependant state; and they besides pay an annual tribute, on the original agreement of being permitted to erect fortifications. They enjoy their own laws and religion, and have a bishop of
Macao,
suffragan to the archbishop of
Goa.
THE
English
came in late for their share of the
Chinese
trade.
ENGLISH,
In 1584 we made an unsuccessful attempt to get there, but arrived no farther than the
Brazils;
our thoughts at that period were full of the rich
Cathaian
coast; and all
Europe
was engaged in many an attempt for the discovery of the passage to it, but,
Mountains of Ice did stop the imagin'd way
Beyond
Petsora
eastward to the rich
Cathaian
coast.
OUR first factory in that empire was about the year 1701,
FIRST AT CHUSAN.
when the
Chinese
granted to us
Chusan,
a small island not far from the coast of
Tche-Tchiang,
in Lat. 30° 40′. It had been totally depopulated by the
Tartars,
but began to be re-peopled when we settled there. The best account given of the place is by Mr.
J. Cunningham,
a very ingenious surgeon who attended our colony; he says
Ph. Trans. Abr. vol. v. p. 171.
it abounded with provisions of all kind, and with cows, buffaloes, deer, goats, and wild hogs, and many kinds of esculent plants; and with the tea shrub on the tops of the hills. The
Kiew-yeu, Croton Sebiferum
Emb. to China, vol. ii. p. 430. E.
, or tallow tree, is common here, and many other parts of
China;
and grows as high as a tall cherry tree; the fruit opens like a chesnut, and contains kernels enveloped with a pulp, which has all the properties of tallow; excellent candles, void of any smell, are made of it when melted; it also supplies the lamps with oil;
Du Halde
Vol. i. p. 319.
gives us the process. He also describes a tree, called
Pe-la-shu,
which produces wax; a kind of little worm fastens on its leaves, wherewith being covered, in a short time they form combs of wax, much smaller than the honey combs; this wax is very hard and shining, and considerably dearer than bees-wax. When these worms are accustomed to the trees of any district, they never quit them, but on particular occasions; if once they remove from a place they never return, so that others must be procured in their stead, there being merchants who deal in them.
I cannot ascertain the
Genus
or species of this tree. There is a
Myrica cerifera
in
North America
that affords a very good wax,
Catesby
i. tab. 69; and another at the
Cape of Good Hope, Journal Historique,
&c. p. 88. tab. opposite to the page;
Sparman
i. p. 346.
Myrica Aethiopica Lin.
Mr.
Sparman
says, that the berries are covered at a certain time of the year with a greenish, wax-like and tallowy substance, which he supposes to be the effect of insects: of this the natives make candles. I should think it the same with the species just described; but, that
Du Halde
says, the insects in the
Chinese
plants deposit their wax on the leaves. In the
Aethiopica
it is found on what
Linnaeus
calls cones.
MR.
Cunningham
also mentions the
Syringa Arabica
of
Gerard,
p. 1400; or the
Nyctanthes sambac
of
Linnaeus.
NYCTANTHES SAMBAC.
The
Flos Mamorae
of
Rumph.
v. tab. xxx. of general esteem among the Orientalists on account of the fine scent of the flowers.
OUR factory at
Chusan
was not of long duration; but was removed to
Canton,
which, by a decree of the emperor, was directed to be the only port allotted for the
European
commerce. We once had intercourse with the city of
Ninpo,
but that is also prohibited.
THE nature and extent of our present trade with
China,
PRESENT TRADE OF CHINA.
both as to Imports and Exports is as follow. It is delivered in the form it was communicated to me by Mr.
Fitzhugh.
Price Current Goods at
Canton,
Imports and Exports, 1792.
IMPORTS.
 
tales.
mace.
candatines.
 
Amber, fine, white large pieces
50
—
—
# catty.
Ditto false, if very fine
30
—
—
# pecul.
Arrack, Batavia
35
—
—
# leagur.
Assafoetida fine
8
—
—
# pecul.
Benjamin, first sort
15 a. 17
—
—
ditto.
Betel nut,
Batavia
and
Malacca
3
6
—
ditto.
Ditto
Cochin-China
4
—
—
ditto.
Birds nest, very fine and transparent
2,300
—
—
ditto.
Ditto second sort, commonly called the first
1,500
—
—
ditto.
Ditto 3d sort
800
—
—
ditto.
Bees wax, very best
20 a. 25
—
—
ditto.
Black wood
2
5
—
# pecul.
Camphor Barroes, all real head; thin white flakes of this are brought a few catties
12 a. 14
—
—
# catty.
Do second sort, head as usually sent
800 a. 900
—
—
# pecul.
Ditto belly and foot
140 a. 160
 
 
 
Cow bezoar, round light yellow pieces
14
—
—
# catty.
Cloves first sort, and free from worms
150
—
—
# pecul.
Cochineal, very fine
3
2
—
# catty.
Beache de Bau or Swallow, first sort, black long pieces
18 a. 20
—
—
# pecul.
Beache de Bau or Swallow, second sort
8 a. 10.
—
—
ditto.
Cuttings, scarlet
93
—
—
ditto.
Ditto, Colours
38
 
 
 
Cotton Surat, 12 a. 12. 5 a.
 
 
 
 
Cornelian beads from Bombay, bright red
according to quality.
 
Cotch Pegut, black large pieces
3
5
—
# pecul.
Ditto, white square pieces
4
6
 
 
Copper, Japan
16, 17, 18
 
 
 
Coral beads and Branch coral
according to quality.
 
Elephants teeth, 3 to a pecul
70
 
 
 
Ditto 4 Ditto
68
 
 
 
Ditto 5 Ditto
66
 
 
 
Ditto 6 Ditto
58
 
 
 
Flints
—
3
6
 
Fish maws, very best
25,27,30
 
 
 
Ginseng, Canada fine
27 a. 28
8
 
 
Lead
4
8
 
 
Ditto red
4
5
 
 
Myrrh, best sort
18 a. 20
 
 
 
Ditto ordinary
10 a. 12
 
 
 
Nutmegs, free from worms
350 a. 370
 
 
 
Olibanum, garbled and in chests
8
 
 
 
Ditto ungarbled
8
 
 
 
Ditto ungarbled
5
 
 
 
Pepper, Batavia and Bencoolen
16
 
 
 
Ditto Malabar
16
5
 
 
Putchuck, 15 per Cent to be deducted on the weight; free from dust, and no black pieces
20
—
—
# pecul.
Pearls, according to their quality.
 
 
 
 
Quicksilver
 
 
 
 
Rattans
4
 
 
 
Rose, Maloes fine
20 a. 22
 
 
 
Red wood
2
8
8
 
Rabbit skins
—
2
8
each.
Shark fins, best and largest
28
—
—
# pecul.
Ditto second sort
16
8
 
 
Smatts first ditto
18
5
 
 
Ditto second ditto
15
5
 
 
Sandal wood, first sort, 13 pieces to pecul
36
 
 
 
Ditto second ditto, commonly called first
20
 
 
 
Ditto third ditto
13
 
 
 
Ditto Timore, large pieces
25
 
 
 
Seed pearl, Surat
according to quality.
 
Sagoe
1
8
—
# pecul.
Tin
16
 
 
 
Tortoise shell, thick and good
144
 
 
 
Ditto ordinary
57
 
 
 
Bengal Gold, that weigh
2m 9d & 96 Tauch. — 560 Hd dollars # 100
3m 3d & 94 Tauch. — 630 Hd dollars # 100
3m 1d & 95 Tauch. — 600 Hd dollars # 100
Cenetium & 98 Tauch. — 190 Hd dollars # 100
Star Pagodas, 145 a. Tauch. — 150 Hd dollars # 100
EXPORTS.
 
tales.
maunds.
candies.
 
Allum, Amoy
1
6
—
# pecul.
Borax
20
 
 
 
China Root
2
 
 
 
Cinnabar
150
 
 
 
Camphor
35
 
 
 
Cassia
11
 
 
 
Ditto (flowers)
12
 
 
 
Dragons blood
23
 
 
 
Dammer
2
5
 
 
Gallingal
 
 
 
 
Gamboge
50
 
 
 
Hastal or yellow arsenick
 
 
 
 
Musk
40
—
—
# catty.
Rhubarb, first sort, not procurable
 
 
 
 
Sugar
4
3
—
# pecul.
Sugar-candy, Cochin-China
10
 
 
 
Ditto Chinchew
14
 
 
 
Tutenague
6
 
 
 
Turmerick
2
4
 
 
Quicksilver
40
 
 
 
Nankeen 18 cubits long broad
75
—
—
# 100 pieces
Nankeen 14 ditto long ditto
35
—
—
ditto.
Nankeen raw silk
360
—
—
# pecul.
Canton ditto, first sort
220
 
 
 
Canton second ditto
200
 
 
 
Canton third ditto
140
 
 
 
Hyson tea
58 a. 62
 
 
 
Hyson skins
25 a. 28
 
 
 
Singlo
24 a. 28
 
 
 
Twankay
26 a. 30
 
 
 
Souchon
38 a. 45
 
 
 
Congo
26 a. 28
 
 
 
Bohea
12
 
 
 
Peho
55 a. 60
 
 
 
CHINESE WEIGHTS.
1 Pecul=100 Catties=133 1/1 lb. averdupois.
1 Catty=16 Tales (3 Catties=4 lb.)
1 Tale=10 Mace.
1 Mace=10 Candareens. E.
THE
Dutch
made their first settlement for the benefit of the
Chinese
on the isle of
Formosa;
DUTCH.
and deceitfully, under pretence of building a house, erected a strong fort, so as to command the entrance into the port they had sixed on; it was said that they made use of the stale
Phoenician
stratagem of the ox's hide, in the building of
Byrsa,
or the famous
Carthage.
The
Japanese
had not long before made a conquest of the island, but were too weak to resent this perfidy. The
Dutch
now were in possession of a flourishing trade, with the two great empires of
China
and
Japan.
It was lost to them in the year 1661 by the fault of the factions which reigned at
Batavia,
the seat of the
Dutch
government in
India. Iquon,
a taylor, who lived in the
Dutch
town on the island of
Formosa,
a man of undaunted courage, had revolted from the
Chinese
empire, and became so powerful as to induce the Emperor to get him seized by persidy and poisoned;
COXENGA.
his son
Coxenga,
inherited all his abilities. At first he applied to the
Dutch
for succor; but being refused, turned his resentment against them. He prepared a vast fleet, and army; landed near the
Dutch
settlement, and notwithstanding every effort of the governor,
Frederick Cojet
(whose defence was gallant and obstinate) at length compelled him to surrender by capitulation.
Cojet
had been at first neglected by his countrymen, who when it was too late, sent a strong fleet from
Batavia;
it met with a severe repulse, and was compelled to leave their colony to its fate. We shall hereafter meet the
European
nations at their common permissive settlement at
Canton.
I shall quit the subject I have been on, and change it to that of a particular topography of the coasts of the vast empire.
To speak generally;
BOUNDARIES OF CHINA.
the country may be said to be divided to the south from
Thibet
and
Boutan,
by chains of most exalted mountains, branches of the
Imaus
and
Hemodus;
they penetrate even into various parts of
China:
other mountains equally high, separate the empire from western
Tartary.
These vast Alpine chains are the defences of this mighty empire from invasions by land. The great wall (hereafter to be mentioned) secures the parts unprotected by nature. The coast is usually rude and rocky, and the interior often rises into craggy picturesque mountains, or is intersected by numerous rivers and canals. The seas are shallow, so that even from a naval attack the country has its protection.
NOTWITHSTANDING part of
China
is within the tropics, and the great remainder does not exceed Lat. 43 north, yet the cold is, during winter, intense. There is no country in which exists such a necessity for furs; their own empire,
Tartary,
and
Siberia
is almost exhausted for the supply; the
English
even furnish them with quantities from
North America.
Ice has been seen at
Canton
an inch in thickness. Between
Nimpo
and
Peking
the cold has been so severe in
January
and
February
that travellers have been forced to lie by, till the ice could be broken on the river
Hoambo,
the largest in
China,
before they could pass over. Mr.
Kirwan
says, that the greatest cold at
Peking
(in Lat. 39° 55′) is 5°, the greatest heat 98; yet on
July
25th, 1773, the thermometer rose to 108 and 110. The extremest cold is produced by a north-east or north-west wind; the last blows over the vast tract of
Tartary
and
Siberia.
In
Peking,
during winter, the animals and fowls of all kinds are exposed to sale in the markets, frozen, and so preserved from putrefaction for weeks together.
THE interior of
China
maintains a most singular character; it is varied with chains of mountains winding along its surface, yet so as to leave vallies that enabled one of the emperors to open a communication by water, partly by means of rivers and partly by navigable canals, from
Peking
to
Canton,
a distance of 1500 miles: little interruption occurs in this vast space, except the lofty mountains which separate the provinces of
Kiang-see
and
Quan-Tung.
We shall speak farther of this, and the other canals, in their proper places.
I SHALL now enter on the topographical account,
ISLAND OF HAINAN.
commencing at its southern extremity. The island of
Hainan, i. e.
the south of the sea, expresses its situation. It belongs to the province of
Quang-tung
(which, opposite to
Hai-nan,
juts far south in a peninsulated form) and is distant above twelve miles from the shore; is a hundred and sixty leagues in circumference, and produces every thing that can conduce to the wants and conveniences of life; the climate alone is bad, by reason of the quality of the water.
GOLD.
The island abounds with gold; but as it has been but half conquered, that valuable metal is in the power of the natives, a brave, independent people, who live in the middle parts, amidst arduous mountains; the rest of the country being a plain. The inhabitants had long a traffic with the
Chinese;
one was deputed to examine the goods offered; and on the other part a
Chinese
merchant went to see those of the mountaineers: the utmost honor was observed on both sides. The
Chinese,
especially the governor, made immense profit of the gold. This the great
Kang-hi
discovered, and put a final stop to a commerce which till then had been allowed by law. The
Lapis Armenus,
which produces blue so much in request for coloring the porcelane, is also found here, and much of it sent to
Canton
for that purpose. The fisheries are very lucrative, twenty or thirty thousand jonks, of no inconsiderable size, come annually from
Canton
to take in cargoes of the dried or salted fish. Our company's ships now and then put in here, and may be secure during the monsoons.
THE continent, after attaining the bottom of the peninsula, trends towards the north-east, and is all the way skirted with isles. Those best known to mariners are the two
Sanciams,
the
False,
and that called
Saint John
's, beneath which is good anchorage. The great
Ladrone
and the
Asses Ears
are noted land marks. The entrance of the vast bay of
Canton
opens to the east of
Sanciam;
the breadth there is about two and twenty leagues, and the depth nearly the same; but filled with islands divided by most narrow and intricate channels; possibly these might be the
gates
of
China
mentioned by the two
Mahometan
travellers of the ninth century, as
Canton
was their
Canfu,
even at that time a most flourishing city. It was also the
Canectum
of the
Nubian
geographer
Page 35.
.
Sanciam
is famed for having been the place of interment of
Saint Francis de Xavier,
ISLE OF SANCIAM.
and for his tomb, which still is to be seen. Another isle is that of
Hoan-pou,
where the
Dutch
had built a fort in order to command the navigation of the
Tigris,
or river of
Canton.
Their design was discovered, and they were all massacred.
THE most important city is that of
Macao,
MACAO.
seated on a little peninsula, and which was, during a certain period, celebrated for its wealth and commerce; it is now quite declined from its former splendor, but is well known to the
Europeans,
as the place where their ships commonly anchor in their way inward, and from being the residence of all the
European
factories, who are obliged by the
Chinese
to quit
Canton
as soon as the ships have left the river.
TYPA.
About six miles lower is the
Typa,
a harbor for careening of ships. Here Commodore
Anson
heaved down the
Centurion
in
January
1743, previous to the capture of the
Manilla
ship on
June
20th, old stile, which established the great fortunes of that lucky house.
THE
Hu-men,
BOCCA TIGRIS.
or
Tigers-gate,
or the
Bocca-tigris
of the
Portuguese,
is the narrow pass into that river, which is not a musketshot over, and defended by two miserable batteries. Mr.
Anson
passed them in his way to the
Canton
river. The poor pilot, who reluctantly carried him through, and the mandarine who commanded the forts, were most severely punished for what they could not possibly help; the commodore having threatened to hang the pilot in case of non-compliance. The poor mandarine knew his own weakness. The real mouth of the river is some miles below the
Bocca,
and has on one side the
Lion
's tower, or pagoda. The river takes from thence a grand curvature towards the west. The anchoring place for the
European
ships is under the isle of
Wampoo,
a few miles to the east of
Canton.
The approach into the bay, and the amazing view along the river, is so graphically described by my favorite M.
Le Poivre,
that I cannot resist using the words of that enchanting author.
On the appearance of land (says he) I perceived along the horizon a forest of masts, and soon after an innumerable multitude of boats, which covered the surface of the water: these were thousands of fishermen, whose industry drew from the deeps subsistence for numbers. The land now began to rise to my view. I advanced to the mouth of the river, still amidst crowds of fishers, throwing out their lines on every side. I entered the river of
Kanton;
it is people like the land; its banks lined with ships at anchor; a prodigious number of small craft are continually gliding along in every direction, some with sails, others with oars, vanishing often suddenly from the sight, as they enter the numberless canals, dug with amazing labour across extensive plains, which they water and fertilize. Immense fields, covered with all the glory of the harvest, with stately villages rising to the eye on every side, adorn the remoter view, whilst mountains, covered with verdure, cut into terraces, and shaped into amphitheatres, form the back ground of this noble landscape.
THE
Chinese
divide their cities into first rate, second, and third.
CANTON.
The first may be known by the addition of
foo,
the second by that of
tchoo,
the third by that of
hyen. Quang-tchoo-foo,
or
Canton,
is chief among the first, as it is supposed to contain a million of inhabitants.
Fachan,
a village a few miles higher, has the same number. This in some measure inclines us to think that
Voltaire
's calculation is not very far out of the way.
VERY POPULOUS.
The land, and the very water is inhabited. Millions live in the
Sampanes,
or vessels, placed on each side of the great rivers. Those of
Canton
alone may contain two hundred and twentyfive thousand inmates. Thousands and thousands dwell on the exalted rocks; some are excavated into mansions, and every ledge has on its its elegant cottage; swarms of people inhabit the edges of precipices, as the myriads of birds do the great promontories of
Britain.
Paths are cut through the rocks to render them accessible, and over some are conducted even public roads. I have seen several of these populated rocks most accurately represented in rice, with all the oeconomy of their inhabitants expressed.
THE city is divided into three; the
Tartarian,
the
Chinese,
and a third beyond the first, which is represented on the plan as a void space. The streets are narrow, but well paved; and cross each other at right angles. The whole is surrounded with a wall; and each city separated from the other by another wall. The gates of
Canton
are shut in the evening, as are the barriers at the end of every street, so that the greatest cities are as quiet as a private family.
TRIUMPHAL arches are very frequent in most of the cities;
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES.
the ancient are the most elegant, adorned with beautiful figures of men, birds, and flowers in alt-relief, quite standing from the stone, and connected only by cordons left for the purpose. These monuments are probably honorary memorials of the great actions of individuals.
IN front, on each side of the city, and on the opposite shore of the river,
EUROPEAN FACTORIES
are large suburbs. The factories of the
European
merchants consist of a long row of houses, ranged on the river side, and a space of land behind, about two hundred yards broad; each has a warehouse for its goods. The mercantile nations are the
English, French, Imperialists, Dutch, Swedes
and
Danes.
Each factory has the flag of its country erected before it on a tall pole. This is the only port in the whole empire allowed to the
Europeans.
Their ships may take in wood and water where they please, but are every where else strictly forbid to trade; even here they are a sort of prisoners, they are not to go beyond their bounds; they may indeed enter the suburbs, but are sure to meet with every species of abuse from the mob. They are allowed to reside only during the time the ships remain at
Wampu;
for as soon as they sail for
Europe
every factory is obliged to retire to
Macao
till the season of their return.
THE proper name of the river of
Canton
is
Ta-Ho,
RIVER OF CANTON.
or the great river. The stream is rapid, but affected by the tide which rises four or five feet opposite to the city; it is navigable for numbers of miles into the interior parts of the country for large vessels, from the sea even to the city of
Quang-si;
and again its advantages are spread far and wide by the infinity of canals. Not only this, and other cities, but the canals themselves, for miles together, have their quays made of cut stone of stupendous size, forming the most magnificent sight which art, applied to commercial purposes, can exhibit.
THE river of
Canton
is guarded by various fortifications. The square castle on the island, engraven by Mr.
Nieuhoff,
is a specimen of that kind of defence.
THE multitudes of ducks which animate the river about
Canton
is amazing;
TAME DUCKS.
"they are hatched," says Mr.
Latham
Ornith. Vol. iii. 492.
by artificial heat; the eggs being laid in boxes of sand, are placed on a brick hearth, to which is given a proper heat during the required time for hatching. The ducklings are fed with little craw-fishes and crabs, boiled and cut small, and afterwards mixed with boiled rice, and in about a fortnight shift for themselves, when the
Chinese
provide them an old step-mother, who leads them where they are to find provender for themselves, being first put on board a
Sampane,
or boat, which is destined for their habitation, and from which the whole flock, often to the amount of three or four hundred, go out to feed, and return at command. This method is used nine months out of the twelve (for in the colder months it does not succeed) and is so far from a novelty, that it may be every where seen; but more especially about the time of cutting the rice and gleaning the crop, when the masters of the duck
Sampanes
row up and down the river, according to the opportunity of procuring food, which is found in plenty at the tide of ebb on the rice plantations, as they are overflowed at high water. It is curious to see how the ducks obey their master; for some thousands, belonging to different boats, will feed at large on the same spot, and on a signal given will follow their leader to their respective
Sampanes,
without a stranger being found among them. This is still more extraordinary if we consider the number of inhabited
Sampanes
on the
Tigris,
supposed to be no less than forty thousand, which are moored in rows close to each other, with a narrow passage at intervals for boats to pass up and down the river. The
Tigris
at
Canton
is somewhat wider than the
Thames
at
London,
and the whole river is there covered in this manner for the extent of at least a mile.
THE manner of taking the wild ducks in this country is singular.
WILD DUCKS, HOW TAKEN.
The performers put their heads into the shells of large gourds, with holes made in them to see and breathe through; then going naked into the water, they walk or swim so low, that nothing appears but the gourds. The ducks, being accustomed to see gourds floating on the surface, and to play about them, approach without fear; when the duck-hunter, taking them by the feet, pulls them under water to prevent their making a noise, wrings their necks, and fastens them to his girdle, pursuing his exercise till he has procured a great number.
I MAY mention here that most elegant of ducks,
CHINESE TEAL.
the
Chinese Teal
Latham, Ornith. Vol. iii. 548.
; but words are almost wanting to express the beauty of the coloring, and the specific oddity of the fine feathers of the wings, erecting themselves in a curved manner when the wings are closed. Mr.
Edwards
's representation
Tab. 102.
may serve to give the idea. These are a scarce species, and kept for sale at
Canton,
and sold at the rate of six or even ten dollars the pair.
No country abounds with fishes equal to
China,
FISHES.
yet we have been very unfortunate by the inattention paid to that branch of its natural history.
Osbeck
and
Sparman,
both boasted disciples of
Linnaeus,
have given us but a very meagre catalogue. From these, and a few other sources, I shall give all that I can collect; let me observe that the most numerous
genera
of fresh water are the carp and the perch.
Du Halde
mentions some curious species of fishes, but his descriptions want the perspicuity of a naturalist, so are unintelligible.
Du Halde
ii. p. 316. gives us two very curious methods of fishing,
COVORANTS TRAINED FOR FISHING.
one is by means of a species of Corvorant trained for the purpose. By the figure given by Mr.
Nieuhoff,
p. 118. it seems the very same to our common kind
This Corvorant proves to be a distinct species, distinguished by the name of
Pelicanus Sinensis,
and is figured in the 37th plate of Sir G. Staunton's Account of the Embassy to
China;
the mode of conveying these birds from place to place is delineated in Vol. ii. p. 389. of that entertaining and interesting work. E.
. The
Chinese
call it
Louwa.
In Mr.
Willughby
's ornithology p. 329, we find that this species of fisheries was in old times frequently practised in
England.
Mr.
Latham,
vi. 346. informs us that a kind of diver is used also for the same purpose. "In the morning" (says
Du Halde,
i. 316.)
when the sun rises one may see on the rivers a considerable number of boats, and several of these birds sitting at the head of them. Then the fishermen turning their boats about, at the signal given by striking the water with an oar, the cormorants fly into the river, one here, another there, and diving to the bottom, seize the fish they light on by the middle; then rising up again, they carry it to the bark, where the fisherman receiving it, takes the bird, and holding its head downwards, passes his hand along the neck to make it disgorge the small fish that it had swallowed, but is hindred from going into the gullet by a ring put on the lower part of the neck; which after the fishing is quite over, they take off and give them something to eat. When the fish happens to be too large for one bird, they mutually assist each other; one takes the tail, another the head, and bring it to the boat to their master.
THE other way of taking fish is very simple, and gives but little trouble; for this purpose they make use of long narrow boats, nailing on each side from one end to the other, a plank two feet broad. This plank is japanned with white shining varnish, and slants gently till it almost touches the top of the water; in the night time, when it is used, they turn it towards the moon, that the reflection may increase its splendor, so that the fish which are sporting, easily mistaking the color of the japanned plank for that of the water, leap often on that side, and fall either on the plank or into the boat.
IN respect to quadrupeds,
QUADRUPEDS.
this empire retains many of those of
India,
but loses also several towards the northern and western parts: others appear suited to the climate; these are pointed out in the
Faunula,
which I reserve as a sort of appendix, unwilling to interrupt the narrative part of this work.
AT
Canton
begins the celebrated passage by water from hence to
Peking,
WATER PASSAGE TO PEKING.
and the extremity of the great empire of
China;
an extent, says
Du Halde
Vol. ii. 326.
, of six hundred leagues, or about eighteen hundred
English
miles. The emperor
Shi-tsu
finding the defect of tribute he annually sustained, or the vast loss of his subjects in the articles of commerce which perished at sea in the conveyance from the maritime parts of his dominions, determined on creating an internal navigation.
IMPERIAL CANAL.
He began the work in 1289; it is probable that he did not complete so stupendous an undertaking; and it is imagined it was not finished till the time of
Yong-Jo,
who began his reign about thirty-five years after. We may well admit this, as the length of the imperial canal is nine hundred miles, the depth a fathom and a half, and it conveys annually near ten thousand large barks belonging to the Emperor, besides others innumerable, the property of merchants, or of private people, who hire them to travellers. They are all richly ornamented, especially the imperial, which carry on them the dragon of five claws, the arms of the empire. The traveller, if he takes the route of
Quang-si
and
Hu-quang,
is under no necessity of ever quitting his bark from
Canton
to
Peking;
he meets with rivers and lakes till he falls in again with the
Yu-Ho,
or
Royal Canal,
as it is named by way of pre-eminence. On that canal the voyager is only obliged to quit his vessel once in nine hundred miles; the mountain
Meylin
intervenes, and makes it necessary for him to take a day's journey before he can again benefit of the royal work. The shipping on the canal and rivers are often so numerous as to fill the channel for a mile or two, and quite obstruct for a time their progress.
GREAT fairs are also kept on the rivers.
GREAT FAIR ON THE WATER.
"One season," says
Hamilton,
at one place, and in other seasons at other places; and though there may be 10,000 vessels assembled at a fair, yet there is as good order and decorum kept as in a wellgoverned city. All ships and boats who have the same species of goods are moored together, along a certain place on the river side allotted for them by proper magistrates, and at night watches are sent to prevent thieving and disorder, and offenders are severely punished without respect of persons.
John Nieuhoff,
J. NIEUHOFF.
the celebrated traveller of the last century, is the only one
Sir George Staunton's Account of the spirited and well-conducted Embassy to
China
was not published at the time this work was composed. E.
who gives an account of the entire inland voyage from the south to almost the very north of the mighty empire. That able writer was born on
July
22d, 1618, at
Uffen,
in the earldom of
Bentham,
of a respectable family; his person was elegant, his understanding good, his temper and conversation amiable; he was fond of the fine arts, poetry, music, and drawing; and master of several languages. In the year 1646 he entered into the
Dutch West India
service, and made his first voyage to the
Brazils,
where he resided nine years. He has left us an admirable description of the country, and of the many great events of that period which happened between his countrymen and the
Portuguese.
HIS next voyage was to the
East Indies,
in the year 1653. He visited the coast of
Malabar,
the peninsula of
Malacca,
and many of the islands, even to the
Moluccas.
His accounts are the most satisfactory of any extant; his attention to several branches of natural history was very considerable; and he has given various plates of the fishes of the
Indies,
done with much accuracy, considering the infant state of the science. On this voyage he was eight years absent from home. His last voyage (designed also for the
East Indies)
was begun on
January
1st, 1672. He landed at
Madagascar,
in order to trade with the natives, and, as is supposed, was, with his people, massacred by the inhabitants in the month of
September
of the same year, for he never more was heard of. Diligent enquiry was made after him by the surviving part of the crew left on board his ship, and afterwards a yatch was dispatched from the
Cape of Good Hope
to repeat the search, which proved equally fruitless.
HIS brother,
Henry Nieuhoff,
H. NIEUHOFF.
collected together all the papers he left behind, and published them, to the great honor of his memory. They were written and printed originally in
Dutch. Churchill
has given us his voyage to the
Brazils
and to the
East Indies
in the second volume of his collection. The learned
Hornius
has translated into
Latin
the famous journey from
Canton
to
Peking.
This is so curious and novel, that I shall attend the able traveller in his route, and briefly notice the most remarkable things.
HIS TRAVELS TO PEKING.
An embassy was determined on by the
Dutch
to the coast of
Peking,
to the great emperor
Kang-hi. Nieuhoff
was fortunately appointed secretary. His account is a first-rate performance; and the more pleasing, as it is attended with views of the country, cities, and buildings, engraven from drawings done by his skilful pencil.
THE embassadors had every possible respect paid to them; they embarked at
Canton,
on board a magnificent jonk, on
March
17th, 1656, amidst the acclamations of the people, and a general discharge of the artillery. The
Chinese
sent
avant-couriers
from place to place to make provisions for their reception, even till their arrival at
Peking.
THEY began with ascending the river
Pei-kyang-ho,
all their route was marked with beautiful scenery, and various towns and cities, most of them surrounded with embattled walls, and strengthened by square towers. Many of the landscapes are most picturesque. We are struck with the river flowing by the vast mountain
Sang-won-hab,
over-hanging on both sides; and on one a great frequented road,
STRANGE ROAD.
cut out of the solid rock, impending over the water. At the foot is a pagoda, the nightly haunt (say the natives) of daemons.
FARTHER on,
CITY XAOCHEW.
not remote from the city
Xaochew
or
Tchau-tchoofoo,
a vast mountain seems to open its sides to make room for the famed pagoda
Konjan-Sjam,
filled with horrid idols, to whom almost constant sacrifices are offered by the fanatical visitants.
A LITTLE farther is the great castle
Mongley,
of a quadrangular form, with a square tower at each corner; equal in size within to a town; seated on a losty eminence, and accessible by a numerous flight of steps cut out of the live rock.
THE city
Xaochew
next appears, near the conflux of two rapid rivers, infamous for frequent wrecks. A pagoda is erected on the banks, famed for its idol, to which mariners send up their prayers for a safe passage, as the
Romans
did of old, and as the Christians of many parts of
Europe
do to their Saint
Elmo
to this very day.
THE rocks called the
Five horses heads,
FIVE HORSES HEADS.
and the still more curious rocks named
Suytjeen,
or the
five horrible devils,
near to the ferry
Suytjeen,
as much dreaded as
Scylla
and
Charybdis
for the frequent shipwrecks near them. They are of a columnar form, and appear as if placed in order by human art.
Nanhang
or
Nan-sheun-foo,
in Lat. 25° 11′ 58″,
CITY NANHANG.
is the last in the province of
Quang-tung,
and a considerable trading city; to the north of it is a famous road over the mountain
Meylin,
cut through the rock, three miles in length, with precipices on both sides, but of a secure wideness. This singular road being a great communication from north to south, is perpetually crowded as much as the streets of the most populous cities; on the summit is built a temple in honor of the mandarine who made this useful way at his own expence.
AFTER travelling some days on horseback,
NANGAN.
Mr.
Nieuhoff
reached the great city
Nangan,
in the province of
Kyang-see,
seated on the river
Kanhyang,
in Lat. 28° 37′ 12″. This river runs through the middle of the province, and divides it into two equal parts. The
Chinese
call it
Kan-kiang,
THE KYANG RIVER.
or son of the sea, and added that "the sea is without shore, and the
Kyang
without bottom;" this fiction arises from the fishermen never using any sounding lines above sixty fathoms long, but even that depth is a vast one for a river. By means of the numerous canals that branch from it, the city has vast commerce, and was once celebrated for its porcelain of a snowy whiteness. The province is rich in mines of gold, silver, iron, lead, and tin. The silks are very beautiful; and the rice, and wine made from it, is in high esteem in all parts of the empire.
THE lakes of this province are in the season covered with the beautiful blossoms of the
Nymphaea Lotus
and
Nelumbo;
NYMPHAEA NELUMBO.
no flowers are in such request with the
Chinese
as these. The great men have them transplanted into their little ponds, filled for the purpose with mud and water, in their courts. The physicians esteem the fruit as highly restorative after long sickness; and the root of the
Nelumbo
is a common food, either eaten raw or made into meal; so that these plants are of the first use in this empire.
Vannunga,
VANNUNGA.
on the river
Kan,
was a city of great size and splendor, now a heap of ruins from an inroad of the
Tartars;
a melancholy sight to the numerous passengers who sail under its walls.
PEKKINSA.
Pekkinsa
is the next city, a most flourishing place, which supplies the mariners with all kind of necessaries for their vessels.
NOT far from thence are various specimens of several lofty rocky hills,
PIERCED HILLS.
cut or pierced through by human art, into grotesque forms merely to please the eye. Those engraven by Mr.
Nieuhoff
P. 73.
are pierced through in various places, others have great flights of steps, cut out of the live rock, either to the summit or half way up, round which a walk is conducted, guarded by rails, and forming a gallery beneath the impending remainder of the mountain.
Nang-tchang-foo
is a city seated in Lat. 29° 30′,
NAN-TCHANGFOO.
near the lake
Po-yang,
which is about four leagues broad and thirty in length,
LAKE PO-YANG.
abounding with excellent fish, among which are many
European,
such as sturgeon, salmon, carp, chubs, trout, shads, and lampries.
ABOUT thirty miles farther to the north of
Nan-tchang,
the waters of the lake unite with those of the great river
Kyang,
which is continued from thence to the sea.
HOO-TCHOO.
The city
Hoo-tchoo
stands on the eastern bank of the junction. A few miles up the river to the west, is the city
Kyew Kiang,
the rendezvous of the barks of many parts of the empire. The river runs gently from hence to the sea with a course almost imperceptible; but is at full and new moon affected by the tide.
IN the
Kyang
near that city, where the river is a league broad,
THE FISH WHANG-YU.
is found the
Whang-yu
or yellow fish, that often weighs eight hundred pounds; it is remarkably firm, and most excellent eating; these fish are taken in certain seasons when they come out of the lake
Poyang
into the river. We cannot ascertain the species.
Du Halde
Vol. i. p. 315.
speaks of another he calls the
Cho-kyaryw
or armour fish,
ARMOUR FISH.
being covered with strong scales, placed like tiles in the roof of a house. I suspect it to be the
esox osseus
of
Linnoeus,
or the
acus maxima squammosa
of
Willughby, Hist. pisc.
app. 22. tab. p. viii. This grows to forty pounds weight, and is in high esteem.
ABOUT fifty miles from the eastern side of the
Poyang
lake,
KING-TECHING.
in Lat. 29° 15′, stands
King-te-ching,
on a plain surrounded with mountains, and having a navigable communication with the lake, by means of a river that passes by the city
Yau-chew,
and is crowded with vessels which are continually passing or re-passing, either with the materials for the famous porcelain ware, or with the porcelain itself, which is manufactured in no other place in the empire than at
King-te-ching.
IN the Itinerary of Mr.
Nieuhoff,
TONG-LYU. UFUN.
Tong-lyu, Ufun, Anhing,
and
Teytong,
appear most delightfully seated on the river.
Tong-lyu
bears numerous marks of the ravages of the
Tartars;
at
Ufun
is a manufacture of arms famous throughout all the empire.
THE great city of
Nanking
or
Nanquin,
NANQUIN.
in Lat. 32° 4′ 30″, is seated on an extensive plain, near a league from the river, but united to it by several canals, capable of bringing up the imperial barks, which are as large as middle sized ships. This city was once the capital of
China,
till it was removed to
Peking.
It was the
Chambdan
of the
Nubian
geographer, on a river of the same name, which he says
P. 69.
was the largest in
China.
The
Tartars
made themselves masters of this city in 1127, and before they deserted it, burnt the magnificent imperial palace, demolished the famous observatory, and violated and destroyed the sepulchres of the emperors and other distinguished personages. The city is reported to be ninety miles in circumference; later surveys have made it only eighteen, but it certainly had been of far greater extent; much is now a waste, and retains all the marks of the
Tartarian
fury, but enough is inhabited to make it a most populous and flourishing city. Of the parts which escaped the rage of the
Tartarian
ravages, is the
Porcelain tower,
PORCELAIN TOWER.
a pagoda of nine stages, of most exquisite workmanship, and lined with beautiful tiles of
Porcelain,
from which it derives its name. It is far the most beautiful in
China.
Mr.
Nieuhoff
gives a fine view of this curious structure, as he does of one of the modern streets, the signs, and manner of building; the walls of the city, some of the gates, and idol temples, evince its former grandeur; it is besides the seat of the literati, and consequently abounds with fine libraries, and is eminent for its booksellers shops, paper, ink, and all that can feed the
Cacoethes scribendi.
It is not without other manufactures; its fattins are in high request, as are the woollen cloths fabricated here.
Nanquin
is garrisoned partly by
Chinese,
partly by
Tartars;
the last commanded by one of their country; they possess one part of the city, and are separated from the other inhabitants by a single wall.
ABOUT the year 1660, the famous
Corsair Coxinga
came up the river with three thousand sail of ships, and laid siege to the place. It happened that on his birth day, his army past the day with carousals, and all sorts of festivity. The garrison, guessing that they should find the enemy buried in sleep, sallied out, surprised the camp, slew multitudes, and forced the rest to find security in their ships.
Coxinga
afterwards fought and defeated the
Tartarian
fleet, and by his cruelty in cutting off the noses of four thousand prisoners, sullied his victory.
THE passage over the
Kyang
from
Nanquin,
was in the time of
Nieuhoff
on a bridge composed of fourteen pontoons. The pretty town of
Jejenjeen
is on the opposite side.
YANG-CHOO.
He entered soon after on the imperial canal, and passed by
Yang-choo,
a great and populous city, in Lat. 32° 25′, flourishing by its being the staple of the salt trade; that useful article, made on the sea-shores, is brought here by the lesser canals, and by the same means transported to most parts of the empire; for they extend in many directions westward, even to the borders of
Tartary.
The canal is continued northward on the side of the great lake
Kaoyeou-hoo,
SINGULAR VESSELS.
the same which Mr.
Nieuhoff
calls
Piexe.
Here the forms of the vessels are very singular; they are called
Longschon
or serpentine, and are used to carry fish, quite to
Peking.
These are represented in form of a serpent; from the prow issues the head, on which is placed an idol, with some live ducks pendent; from the stern is suspended a boy, who is playing all sorts of monkey tricks. The masts are decorated with numbers of flags, and serpents appear cut or painted in every part. It is manned with rowers, who with their broad oars, not unlike paddles, go with most astonishing celerity. It is incredible with what expedition fish are conveyed fresh to
Peking,
even from distances of six hundred miles.
THE city of
Yang-choo
is infamous for its traffic in women.
TRADE IN WOMEN.
It produces the most beautiful in all
China,
particularly for the admirable smallness of their feet, and the symmetry of their bodies. They are trained from their childhood in every accomplishment, singing, dancing, painting, and composing of verses, but above all, in the practice of every lascivious attraction. These unfortunate women form a vast article of commerce, and the merchant panders dispose of them to every part of the empire.
THE next city of note is
Kajutsiu;
KAJUTSIU.
then follows
Hoin-gan-foo,
seated on the river
Hoai,
near which are vast embankments to keep off the fury of the sea; all this neighborhood is marshy, yet extremely productive of rice. The whole country may have been gained from the watery element, yet it must have been many ages past, for a field near
Hoin-gan
is distinguished by the numbers of ancient
tumuli.
Many of the towns appear like
Venice,
built in the water, and some even below.
Whay-ngan-foo,
in Lat. 33° 32′, is one;
WHAY-NGAN.
it is built below the level of the great canal, which is near that city, supported by strong dykes. Here, very properly, one of those mandarines resides who has the charge of the canal, and is called grand master of the waters. Not far from the west of it is the vast lake
Hongtse-hoo,
which just below the city is discharged into the great river
Whang-ho
or the
Yellow River,
which rises in Lat.
RIVER WHANG-HO.
35° north, amidst the mountains of the
Tartars
of
Kokonor,
near the edge of the great desert
Shamo
or
Gobi.
Its course is about six hundred leagues, and the current so violent, that it is impossible for a ship to sail up the stream; it is liable to great inundations; insomuch that the inhabitants of the low province of
Honan
are obliged to surround their cities, at a small distance from their walls, with a strong mound. Mr.
Nieuhoff
exemplified this in his plate
At p. 117.
The waters are of a yellow color, tinged with the strata they pass through, which is the origin of the name. This river, in the neighborhood of
Whay-ngan,
notwithstanding its low latitude, 33° 32′, its great breadth, in that part of more than an
English
half mile, and its violent rapidity, is at times entirely frozen.
THE route to
Peking
is continued through two other provinces,
Shan-tung
and
Pe-tche-lee.
The rich, populous, and commercial city
Tong-chang
is in Lat. 36° 32′. This city has also its porcelain tower, being even externally made with that material, and with little bells pendant at each angle of its eight towers, which moved by the wind yield a pretty modulation.
Kyo-Few Hyen
is a city renowned for having been the birth place of the great
Confucius,
CONFUCIUS, WHERE BORN.
so justly celebrated throughout the empire of
China.
MR.
XANTSUI.
Nieuhoff
mentions several other places in this province, such as
Xantsui,
with the
Teywanmiao,
its remarkable pagoda, not distinguished for its grandeur,
FINE PAGODA.
but for the great beauty of the workmanship. It is rather low, and square, of a vast size, and inclosed within a most extensive wall made of stone, and the upper part of red and green tiles. The temple itself is of stones, mixed with yellow tiles (the imperial color) so resplendent as to appear like gold when shone upon by the sun; it is besides richly decorated with dragons and various
Chinese Chimerae;
the inside filled with monstrous idols. On the back part is a garden, delightful as that of paradise, enriched with variety of fruits and flowers.
Jax Hinno
is a town distinguished by the multitude of square towers which rise in all parts,
JAX HINNO.
like our tower steeples; whether they are for defence or belonging to pagodas does not appear.
Lintsin-choo
is a city in Lat. 36° 57′,
LINTSIN-CHOO.
distinguished by the multitude of vessels continually there in their passage to the capital, or different parts of the empire, as the great river
Eu-teo
unites here with the imperial canal. There is also a custom-house which brings in a vast revenue. Without the walls is a very splendid pagoda of nine stories; the outside is of the very fine earth with which porcelain is made, and richly painted.
Te-tchoo,
the last city in the province of
Shantung,
TE-TCHOO.
is seated on the river, in Lat. 37° 32′. From hence we immediately enter into the province of
Pe-tche-lee,
the most northern in
China.
The navigation is continued to
Tong-choo-soo,
within a small distance of
Peking,
the latter part on the river
Pei-ho,
which flows from the northern capital of
China
into the gulph of
Pe-tche-lee.
ON the mountains near
Sinkosien
grow the eagle-wood trees and the
Calamba;
EAGLE WOOD.
both form great articles of commerce, and are sold even in
China
at a large price, but at still greater in
Hindoostan,
where so much is consumed by the Gentoos for burning their dead. Near this city is a most beautiful octagonal pagoda, consisting indeed but of three stages, but admirable for the roofs, of most exquisite workmanship.
Single
and
Tien-sing-foo
are the next cities.
SINGLE AND TIEN-SING-FOO.
The last is seated Lat. 39° 10′, on the conflux of three great rivers. On an island formed at that spot is a most singular castle, of a triangular form, truncated at the top; this is the greatest emporium in all
China,
and strongly fortified in the manner of the country; the resort of jonks, and all sorts of shipping, are incredible, it being a port free from tribute. The city is not large, but the suburbs so extensive as to make it one of the most populous in the empire, and are filled with palaces and pagodas.
Nieuhoff
imagines this city to have been the
Quinsay
of
Marco Polo
Bergeron's Coll. p. 116.
which he says "was like
Venice
built on a morass." The emperor, he informs us, had a magnificent palace here; and adds, that no less than six hundred thousand families were to be found in this vast place. What is singular, the
Neslorians
had a church in the city; a proof that Christianity was tolerated in this empire in the thirteenth century.
NEAR
Joerwoe
Mr.
JOERWOE.
Nieuhoff
went along another canal, made in the river
Chaolcang;
he passed by
Focheen, Sansianswey,
and
Tong-tchoo-foo.
TONG-TCHOOFOO.
At the distance of four miles from
Peking
the navigation ends. The reason assigned for its not being brought to the walls of the city is, that multitudes of the poor entirely subsist by the carriage of goods and the necessaries of life into the capital. At this place the
Dutch
embassadors were met by a magnificent cavalcade of mandarines and people of rank, sent by the emperor to do them honor; and they entered the city in a most pompous procession. After being treated with the utmost external respect, they were dismissed without obtaining the end of their embassy.
I SHALL not attempt the description of this magnificent city, but will content myself with speaking to the eyes by the plates of Mr.
Nieuhoff,
which I believe represent with great fidelity the various cities, pagodas, and other buildings he passed by; in these may be seen the different forms of houses, and public edifices. The splendor of the emperor's palace, and a general view of the city, are shewn in the 158th page. The pagodas, the idols, in various other pages, and the customs and dresses of the inhabitants are most frequently exhibited. In respect to the gardens of the
Chinese,
those of the private men are mentioned in the second volume of the
Chinese
Miscellany, and those of the emperor most admirably described by
Le Frere Attiret,
painter to the reigning monarch in 1743.
I NOW return to the latitude of
Canton,
COASTS OF CHINA.
and pursue the topography of the coasts. By reason of the great rigor with which the
Chinese
exercise their prohibition of trading in any of their ports except
Canton,
our knowledge of the shores or harbors is very confined. We shall have very little to say of an extent of between two and three thousand miles of coast, following the bending of the outline; the whole of which appears strangely rugged, with promontories, divided by bays, harbors, and creeks.
THE
Ladrone
isles,
LADRONE ISLES.
and those of
Lema
before the bay of
Canton,
are lofty, rude, and broken; that of the
Asses ears
takes its name from two hills that assume the form.
Piedra Biancas,
farther to the north, is a very high rock of a white color; both the last are marks to navigators.
Foo-tchien,
the province adjoining to
Quang-tung
on the north,
FOO-TCHIEN.
is a mountanous country, but the mountains, by the industry of the inhabitants, are formed into amphitheatres, with terraces, which often extend several miles in length, and a series of twenty or thirty, one above the other. The account given by
Du Halde
Vol. i. 273.
is so curious as to merit the attention of our readers. These are planted with rice, which is nourished by water forced up to a great height, and conveyed to the different plantations in pipes of bamboo. This province is remarkable for its vast commerce, opulence, and population, and also for its amazing fertility.
AMONG the vegetable productions,
ORANGES.
it is distinguished for its fine oranges; one is very large, and its rind quite loose to the pulp, which has the taste and smell of the muscadine grape. This kind is candied, and sent to all parts of the empire; another is of a deep red; and a third very small.
China
is the native place of oranges, from whence they were communicated to the western world.
THE
Li-chi
and
Long-ywen
are fruits peculiar to the more southern parts of this empire,
LI-CHI FRUIT.
of most exquisite flavor, especially the first, which has of late years been most successfully introduced into
Bengal.
Hyamen,
A-MWY.
or the port of
A-mwy,
is an excellent road for ships, in a deep bay, beneath the shelter of the isle of
A-mwy,
in Lat. 24° 27′. The island is flat and morassy, and garrisoned by about six or seven thousand men. Before the prohibitory edict it was much frequented by
European
ships. The
Dutch,
about the year 1645, made a treacherous attempt on the place; they came with five ships, and landed about three hundred men, who entered the town; the greater part of the inhabitants fled, but cunningly left in their houses abundance of spirituous liquors; this proved the bait they intended. The
Dutch
intoxicated themselves to a great degree; of this the fugitive citizens had notice; they returned, surprised the invaders in their sleep, and put them all to the sword. The
Chinese
have preserved the history in large characters, on the face of a smooth rock near the entrance of the harbor.
ON the isle of
A-mwy
is a vast rocking stone of forty tons weight, moveable by the slightest touch.
ROCKING STONE.
Whether it is treated with superstitious respect, as the
Britons
did their
Loggan-stone, Hamilton
does not inform us. A stone of this kind is found in
Cachemire,
which the
Mullahs
or priests say is moved by the miraculous power of the saint to whom it is dedicated.
THE great island of
Formosa,
ISLE OF FORMOSA.
or
Ta-wan
as it is called by the
Chinese,
lies off the coast of
Foo-tchien,
at the distance of about sixty miles from the nearest place. The length is ninety leagues, the greatest breadth about thirty. It is of a curvated form, with the convexity facing the continent; the tropic of
Cancer
passes over it, at the distance of a hundred and five miles from the southern end, almost dividing it in equal parts. It is very singular, that notwithstanding its proximity it was unknown to the
Chinese
till the year 1430, when a eunuch of that nation, returning from the west, was driven there by a tempest. This was not immediately productive of any consequences, nor did his countrymen profit of the discovery before the last century, when, in the reign of the emperor
Kang-Hi,
it was invaded by the famous
Coxinga,
who conquered at last the western part, not for the empire of
China,
but for himself. At that time the kings of
Quang-tung
and
Foo-tchien
had revolted from the empire. As soon as their rebellion was quelled,
Kang-hi,
in 1683, was put in possession of as much of
Formosa
as the young descendant of
Coxinga
had power to yield.
THE
Japanese
seized on this island about the year 1620. The
Dutch,
in their way from
Japan,
about the year 1633 made here a settlement. The manner of obtaining it, and their future expulsion, has been given at p. 122 of this volume, in my account of their first commerce in these parts with the empire of
China.
THE coasts of
Formosa
are rude,
PORT OF TA-WAN.
lofty, and rocky. The principal port is that of
Ta-wan,
the same with that which the
Dutch
took possession of. Near it is the capital city of the same name; unfortified, but garrisoned by ten thousand
Tartars,
and very populous, to which the
Chinese,
who are a commercial people, carry on a prodigious trade. There are besides three other cities and several villages, all inhabited by
Chinese.
The whole is remarkably fertile, productive of grain, and all the fruits which the correspondent parts of
China
afford. As the whole of the island was inhabited by a barbarous people, domestic animals are in some degree scarce. Oxen are in use for riding instead of horses; stags abound; and among the wild animals, monkies; but it does not appear that tygers or beasts of prey are known in any part of
Formosa.
THE island is divided from north to south by chains of lofty and inaccessible mountains.
NATIVES OF FORMOSA.
The greater part of the western side is inhabited by
Chinese,
the natives have the eastern entirely to themselves; those which continue on the western are not better than servants to the colonists, except the inhabitants of three out of the twelve districts formed by the
Chinese,
which have revolted. The
Formosans
are a fine people, and of remarkable swiftness, which they attain by practice, so that they can outrun a horse at full speed. Their shape is easy and slender, their complexions olive, and their hair fleck, and hanging over their shoulders. In the southern part of the isle they wear a linen wrapped round the middle, and falling to the knees: in the northern, the skin of a stag made into a sleeveless jacket. Their bonnet is formed of
Banana
leaves, adorned with tufts of the feathers of cocks or pheasants.
THEIR morals have been much misrepresented by the
Chinese
and the Jesuits. They have no external worship, but a strong notion of a Supreme Being, which renders them a quiet, honest, and benevolent race. An inveterate hatred subsists between them and the
Chinese.
The last had reason to suppose that the island had its gold mines; but as they could not discover them in their part, they equipped a ship, and sailed to the eastern. They were received by the natives in the most humane manner, invited on shore, and furnished with every necessary. In this visit the
Chinese
observed in the poor cottages a few ingots of gold left negligently, as if of no value. This excited their avarice; they made their hosts drunk, and in their sleep cut all their throats, and carried away the gold, the incitement to this horrid action.
IT must not be forgotten,
OF PSALMANAZAR.
that the history of
Formosa
was written by a person who pretended to be a
Japanese
converted to christianity, and to have fled from his country to avoid the dreadful punishment inflicted by the emperor on all proselytes. He assumed the name of
Psalmanazar,
and is generally supposed to have been born in the south of
France.
He was a man of uncommon abilities. After leading a vagabond life through various parts of
Europe,
in which he acted the part of a most consummate impostor, and suffering frequently the greatest misery from his profligate life, he was reduced to become a common soldier in a
Scotch
regiment at
Sluys;
there he first assumed the character of the
Japanese. Innes,
a worthless chaplain of the corps, undertook his conversion, not through principle, but the hopes of promotion on his arrival in
England. Innes
had discovered him to be an impostor, but for their joint interest they united in the deceit.
Psalmanazar
formed a
Formosan
alphabet; he pretended to be converted in form, was baptized by
Innes
by the name of
George,
and the credulous governor of
Sluys
stood godfather.
Innes
had, by his correspondence with the good
Compton,
the bishop of
London,
been encouraged to bring him to our capital. The prelate was made most completely the dupe of these villains.
Psalmanazar
had many patrons and many opponents, but his abilities and impudence baffled all detection. He undertook a history of
Formosa
(which he pretended was subject to
Japan
), a most fabulous composition; yet, as the
English
are always delighted with the marvellous, it was so greedily bought up as to induce him to prepare a second edition.
Innes
attained his end, got preferment, and then basely deserted the cause of his promotion.
Psalmanazar
lived some time by various tricks and impostures. At length, at the age of thirtyeight, he began to feel compunction at the infamy of his life, and was struck with most sincere remorse. He became a most lively penitent, and applied his great abilities to useful learning. He wrote his own life, which was not to be published till after his death. I believe it to be a true narrative, and that he concealed nothing but his real name and the place of his birth, fearing to leave reproach upon his family. The list of his works, many of which are on important subjects, may be found in the
Gentleman's Magazine
Vol. xxxv. p. 13.
. He lived till
August
1763, when he died at the age of eighty; having long led an exemplary life, fully atoning for the irregularity of his early career.
THE isles of
Pong-ho
form an
Archipelago
off the western coast of
Formosa,
having the tropic passing over them.
ISLES OF PONO-HO.
They are destitute of all the necessaries of life, even to fuel, so that every thing must be brought from
Formosa
to supply the
Chinese
garrison. They consist of only rocks or sand; yet, as they possess a fine port (which
Formosa
is destitute of), they become essential in the preservation of that great island. The
Dutch
built a fort at the entrance of the harbor, of which nothing except the name remains. The
Chinese
remember it by that of the fort of the
Red hairs.
It was the famous
Coxinga
who took these islands from the
Dutch,
and kept them for his own use.
THE province of
Tche-Tchiang
continues the maritime parts of
China
from
Foo-tchien.
This, like the rest,
TCHE-TCHIANG.
is amazingly commercial; remarkable for its rich silks, embroidered with gold and silver; for its timber, vast forests of the useful
bamboo;
for its mushrooms, hams, and the vegetable tallow.
SALT.
Salt is made in abundance along the shores, and serves to cure the quantities of fish taken on the coasts, which are packed in barrels, and sent to the more distant provinces. The salt itself is transported to several of the internal parts within any reasonable distance; but those which border on
Tartary
are supplied from certain salt-pits, providentially given for the use of the inhabitants
For many interesting particulars relating to the preparation of salt in
China,
the reader is reserted to Sir George Staunton's Account of the Embassy, vol. ii. p. 20. E.
.
THIS province,
PROVINCES GAINED FROM THE SEA.
and that of
Kyang-nan
are supposed to have been gained from the sea, as
Holland
was by the
Dutch.
The period is not justly known. The tradition of the
Chinese
is, that there had been a mighty deluge: in all probability that of
Noah. Du Halde
Du Halde, vol. i. p. 144.
attributes to the emperor
Yau
the vast works which recovered these provinces from the sea. I will not dispute the learned Jesuit's skill in chronology; but the emperor began his reign in 2237 before
Christ,
and reigned a hundred years; the period in which he was born could not therefore have been long after the universal deluge.
Le Poivre
also informs us, that these provinces were, some thousand years ago, covered with water, and regained from the sea by the industry of the inhabitants. The immense mounds which guard it from the fury of the waves, are stupendous marks of the power of labor exerted by a most populous nation. They exceed all the similar dikes of
Holland;
besides, they have a much more powerful sea to resist than that which beats on the coast of the
European
low countries.
Montesquieu
attributes to the industry of the natives of these two provinces, their superior fertility to any in the
Chinese
empire.
In Lat.
ISLE OF CHEW-SHAN.
30°, at a small distance from the coast, is the island of
Chew-shan,
or as we call it
Chusan,
mentioned in this volume at p. 115 as the first settlement the
English
had in
China.
It is surrounded with many little isles, the remotest of which constitutes the most eastern part of the great curved shore of the empire.
AT the bottom of a long estuary stands the city of
Ning-po,
NING-PO, OR LIMPO.
known to the
Europeans
by the
Portuguese
name of
Liampo
or
Limpo.
It is seated in the midst of a fine plain, cultivated like a garden, surrounded with hills, and divided by a principal canal branching from it, with sixty-six others. On one of these canals, between
Shau-hing-foo
and this city, is an example of the singular method of passing from one level to another, and seemingly a very awkward one
Embassy to China,
vol. ii. p. 450, and plate 34 of the solio volume. E.
. The waters of one canal not being on a level with that of another, the boat, by means of two capstans, is hoisted upon a stone glacis, or slope, which being made slippery with water, the boat glides down into the second canal, as swift as an arrow out of a bow. For this reason, they are made in form of
Gondolas,
with keels of a wood hard enough to sustain the weight of a bark. These boats are proper only for carrying goods from
Ning-po,
and the towns depending on it, as far as the canal of
Shau-hing.
They differ much, both as to size and make, from the imperial barks, which would be broken to pieces, or at least receive some considerable damage in the descent.
Ningpo
carries on a considerable trade with
Batavia, Siam,
and
Japan.
The
Portuguese
had early a settlement in this city, where they acquired immense wealth, and with it, all the vices attendant on riches. Insolent and highly debauched,
PROFLIGACY OF THE PORTUGUESE.
they dared to seize the most beautiful young girls they could hear of, and employed a set of profligates for that purpose. When they had kept these poor victims as long as they thought proper, they returned them to the unhappy parents. Enraged at this, the
Chinese
cut off a party of the infamous
Chasseurs.
The
Portuguese
had the audacity to complain; the affair was brought before the highest tribunal; and such scenes of iniquity were discovered, that a decree was immediately made that the
Portuguese
should instantly quit the empire; thus, says
Hamilton
Vol. ii. p. 284.
, "ended the most opulent colony at that time in the world."
To the north of this city an open bay runs deeply westward into the country, the vast estuary of the river
Tchen-tang-tchiang
The great city
Hang-tchoo
stands at some distance from its discharge into the bay,
HANG-TCHOO.
on a spot where the river is a league broad; here is carried on a great manufactory of silk, as the province is distinguished for the cultivation of the worm. In
Hang-tchoo
sixty thousand workmen live within the walls, and several hundred thousand in the adjacent country.
NEAR this city is a most beautiful little lake called
Si-hû,
SI-HÛ LAKE.
about two leagues in compass. The water quite crystalline; causeways are made through it for the convenience of walkers, and elegant open halls raised on posts for the amusement of the citizens. It is full of the famous golden fish,
GOLDEN FISH.
which shew to great advantage among the leaves and flowers of the
Nymphaea,
with which the lake is filled. This favorite fish of the
Chinese
is found in many other provinces; here it forms a species of commerce, the spawn and fry being transported to all parts of the empire which do not produce them.
THE golden fish is of the most vivid colors;
Linnaeus
names it
Cyprinus auratus;
the gold is highly resplendent, but varies in part of the same fish into the brightest silver or richest blues which can be imagined. It seldom reaches the length of eight inches, commonly is much smaller; has one dorsal sin, which sometimes is wanting, and the back marked by one or two small protuberances; in many the tail is most remarkable, being so formed as to exhibit the appearance of two, and even three tails. Mr.
Edwards,
tab. 209, and
Bloch.
iii. tab. 92. give figures of the varieties. They have been introduced into all parts of
Europe,
and will not only live but multiply prodigiously in our little stews.
Du Halde
gives the following account of the treatment of them in
China:
The next thing remarkable (says the accurate historian) is the
Kin-yu
or golden fish; these are kept, either in little ponds, made for that purpose, wherewith the houses of pleasure belonging to the princes and great lords are embellished, or else in basins, that commonly adorn the courts of their houses; in these basins, which are more deep than wide, they put the least that can be found; for the smaller they are, they think them the more beautiful; besides, the greater number may be kept of them, and they afford more diversion.
THE prettiest of them are of a curious red, speckled as it were with gold dust, especially towards the tail, which is forked with two or three points; some are of a silver color, others white, and some spotted with red; both sorts are extraordinary lively and active, delighting to play on the surface of the water; but then their smallness renders them so tender, that the least impression of air, and even any violent shaking of the vessel, will kill great numbers of them. Those that are bred in ponds are of various sizes; some are bigger than our largest pilchards; they teach them to rise up to the top of the water at the noise of a clapper, which the person uses who feeds them. What is most surprising is, that according to all accounts, the best way to preserve them is to give them nothing in winter; it is certain they do not feed them for three or four months at
Peking,
while the very cold weather lasts; what they live on in the mean time, under the ice, it is not easy to understand, except we suppose, either that they find little worms in the roots of herbs, which grow at the bottom of the ponds, or else, that pieces of roots themselves, being softened by the water, become proper food for them; but those which, to prevent their being frozen, are taken into the houses, and kept all winter in a chamber, often shut up in a china vessel, without being fed at all, are towards spring put into the basins again, where they sport with the same strength and agility as they did the year before. One would imagine they knew their masters, and those who carry them food, by their being so ready to rise at their approach. The greatest lords themselves delight in feeding them with their own hands, and spend some time to observe their nimble motions, and sporting in the water.
FROM the estuary of the
Tchen-tang-tchiang
the land bends towards the north-west.
PROVINCE OF KYANG-NAN.
The next province to
Tche-tchang
is
Kyang-nan.
On the southern side of the entrance into the bay of the great river leading to
Nanquin,
ISLE OF TSONG-MING.
is the island of
Tsong-ming,
ninety miles in length, in the breadth about twenty. It was originally a sandy spot overrun with reeds, to which it was customary to banish robbers and all kinds of profligates; necessity compelled them to industry; they cleared the ground, sowed the few seeds they brought with them, and by the assistance of some
Chinese
who came from the continent to settle among them, made a barren land fruitful. Other families arrived; the island was divided among them, and the shares granted in perpetuity, on the payment of a small yearly rent of the produce of their labor. It is at present well stocked with buffaloes and hogs, and bears the usual grain and fruits of the neighboring continent; among the last, it is remarkable for its fine peaches.
THE approach to
Nanquin
is now very difficult, the channel being obstructed by sand, so that the greater ships cannot enter. The
Chinese
possibly might remedy this, but it is supposed they wished rather to promote their inland trade than launch into distant commerce.
THE great and rapid
Whang-ho-hoo
also empties itself into the ocean near the northern boundary of this province.
RIVER WHANG-HO.
Some leagues farther, opposite to the little isle
Yun-tay-shan,
in about Lat. 34° 31′, begins the province of
Shan-tung.
From thence the land changes its course, and trends to the north-east as far as
Chin-shan-wey.
The correspondent coast to
China,
all the way from the mouth of the
Yellow
river, is the kingdom of
Korea,
and the intermediate space is named
Whang-hay,
or the
Yellow
sea. The promontory of
Shan-tung
advances greatly,
YELLOW SEA.
and forms the entrance into the gulph of
Pe-che-li,
which is bounded by part of the province of
Shan-tung,
of
Pe-che-li,
and of
Lyauting,
a portion of
Chinese Tartary,
and finally by the western coast of
Korea.
WITHIN the gulph, in Lat. 37° 48′,
TEN-CHOO-FOO.
is the city and port of
Ten-choo-foo.
On the part of the province more salient, towards the north, a number of small isles stretch out still further. This port is a very fine one, and has a strong garrison and fleet to guard the coast.
AMONG the productions of this province is the famous worm producing the silk mentioned by
Pliny
Lib. vi. c. 17.
SILK OF PLINY.
, which that naturalist, with other antient writers, believed to have been a vegetable combed from the leaves and branches of trees. I vindicate his opinion so far as to say that it was collected from a plant, but he was ignorant that it was the produce of an insect.
Du Halde
Vol. i. p. 104.
gives an account of its history, but leaves us in the dark as to the species of insect which yielded this kind of silk. Speaking of a certain sort of silk manufactured at
Tri-nan,
a city of this province, he says, that the stuffs named
Kyen-chow
incline to a greyish color, which is produced only by the wild worms, resembling caterpillars. These worms spin their webs on shrubs and bushes, and furnish as great quantities as the domestic worms. This silk is the more estimable, as it costs in a manner nothing, and so strong, that the goods made of it are very lasting, and have a tolerable vent every where.
THE gulph,
PROVINCE OF PE-CHE-LI.
from
Ten-choo-foo,
retires far towards the south, then returns northward, and in Lat. 38° 12′ begins the province of
Pe-che-li,
which in Lat. 39° takes a north-castern direction, and on the gulph finishes this great empire, in Lat. 40°. The capital,
Peking,
is about a hundred miles from the mouth of the
Pei-ho,
TIAN-SIN, PORT OF PEKING.
on which is
Tian-sin,
the port of the capital. The river flows far to the south-west, out of the lake
Tay-hoo.
A canal joins it about thirty miles from the sea, and receives the vessels which are to discharge their ladings near to the imperial residence. This province was conquered in about 1324 from the
Tartars,
by
Tay-tsu,
the first emperor of the dynasty of
My
g;
he took the capital,
Peking,
in one day, erected the country into a sovereignty, and vested it in his fourth son.
THE empire ends about 150 miles farther, in Lat. 40° 45′.
GREAT WALL.
Here begins the celebrated wall, completed two hundred and twenty-one years before
Christ,
by the emperor
Tsing-chi-whung,
to protect the northern parts of
China
from the incursions of the
Tartars.
It appears first in the very sea, on a vast bulwark, founded on a number of ships, sunk by a wonderful weight of huge stones, to render immoveable the terminating superstructure. The wall is all the way from twenty to twenty-five feet high, generally cased with brick, and terrassed at top of a breadth sufficient for five or six horsemen to ride a-breast. It passes along the frontiers of the provinces of
Pe-che-li, Shan-si,
and
Shen-si;
is guarded by a series of square towers or forts, at proper intervals, of only two bow-shots asunder; and has its gates often of a vast size, with rooms adjacent, fitted up as
places d'armes,
and peculiarly well garrisoned. At no great distance, in several cities, general officers are posted with considerable bodies of troops. The generalissimo resides at
Kan-choo.
Many of these cities are the magazines for the articles of commerce brought from different parts to be transported into the various provinces of the empire.
THIS great protection of
China
is not uniformly built of the same materials. In some places the walls, and even the forts, are of earth. In the district of
Ning-hya,
a few leagues from the city of the same name, the mountains are so high and precipitous as to supply the necessity of a wall for the space of ten leagues. In other places it is carried along vast and rugged mountains, almost inaccessible, yet the fears of the
Chinese
urged them to prolong their defence even over the sides or summits of these alps, which direct its course, according to the nature of the country, over deep vallies or level plains. In a certain tract a great trench is cut to supply the place of the wall; and on the banks of the fierce river
Whang-ho,
or the yellow, are series of sentry-boxes, filled with soldiers, who keep watch night and day. As the wall must in its course pass over various great rivers, arches or bridges, of a stupendous height and strength, are thrown over them.
Later emperors,
SECOND WALL.
to give greater security to their capital, have built a second wall, at some distance from
Peking,
as strong as the first: It is called the great inner wall, and unites with the other by
Wen-wha-fu.
Near it is a city which rises and falls with the form of the mountain it is built on, and amazes the spectators with the boldness of the structure.
THE length of the wall, in a strait line, is seven or eight hundred miles, and allowing for the windings, for the ascents over the craggy mountains, or descent into the deep vallies, may be estimated at double that length. Yet what may justly excite our admiration is, that this stupendous work was said to have been completed in the space of five years. In this empire of obedience every power was exerted to perform the commands of their common father, issued forth for the common security.
IMMEDIATELY beyond this bulwark begins the country of the antient
Liau-tong,
LIAU-TONG.
or part of that of the
Manchew Tartars,
the last conquerors of
China,
and who gave the present imperial family to the throne. The gulph of
Liau-tong
runs deeply into the north of the country from the foot of the
Chinese
wall. This territory has also its guard, but no better than a precinct of palisadoes with a few mean gates. The capital
Mugden,
which the
Manchews
look on as their metropolis, has a
Tartarian
commander in chief, and is inhabited by multitudes of
Chinese,
who carry on the trade of
Tartary.
Just without the gates are the magnificent tombs of their antient princes. Paper, made of cotton, is a great manufacture of this country, its principal use is for the sash windows of the palaces and houses of men of rank in
Peking;
those of glass have not reached even the cold latitude of so splendid a people.
GING-SENG.
Gingseng,
the celebrated medicinal plant of the
Chinese,
is found in this country, and many parts of
Chinese Tartary,
of
Korea,
and even in the provinces of
Shan-si
and
Ho-nan,
in
China
itself; but the latter is of an inferior kind. It grows on the steeps of wooded mountains, or rocks, and on the banks of deep rivers. The root which is applied to use is said to be of the shape of a man. There is not a physician of eminence but who has celebrated its virtues; and exactly in the style of our empyrics. "It fortifies," says
Shi-Chin,
the noble parts, keeps the body in good plight, fixes the animal spirits, cures the palpitations occasioned by sudden frights, dispels malignant vapours, clears the sight, opens and dilates the heart, and strengthens the judgment. When it is taken a considerable time together, it makes the body light and active, and prolongs life.
In a few words, there is not a disease incident to the human body but what it infallibly cures. The
Manchews
style it
Orhota,
the
most noble,
or
queen of plants;
others the
golden well bordered with pretious stones.
There are extant nine antient receipts and sixtynine modern.
GING-SENG.
The value of the root increases; it was formerly worth its weight in silver; "at present," says
Du Halde
Vol. ii. 215.
,
it is sold for nearly its weight in gold.
IN 1709, when the great
Kang-hi
was on one of his progresses into his
Manchew
dominions, he was desirous to give his favorite
Tartarians
a valuable perquisite, and sent ten thousand of his soldiers to collect all the
Ging-seng
they could find. Each was to give him two ounces of the best, and to receive for the remainder an equal weight of fine silver. They sallied forth, and collected in the year twenty thousand pounds weight; but suffered sufficiently, for they were allowed neither tent or any sort of covering, and the places of search swarmed with tigers. Those who did not return on the signal of moving their quarters, were supposed to have been devoured by those dreadful animals.
IN the
Chinese
dominions
Ging-seng
grows between the thirtyninth and forty-seventh degree north Latitude, and between ten and twenty east Longitude from
Peking:
but is not confined to the old world; it was discovered in
Canada,
in 1704, by M.
Sarrasin,
who sent specimens to
Paris.
It was introduced into
England,
in 1740, by the worthy
Peter Collinson,
and now flourishes in
Kew
garden.
Linnaeus
first called this plant
Sion Ninsi,
afterwards
Panax quinquefolium. Ehret.
in
Trew,
tab. 6. names it
Araliastrum;
and
Catesby,
Appendix, tab. 16.
Aureliana Canadensis,
after
Lafilau.
Doctor
Woodville,
i. 270. retains the
Linnaean
name.
IN
America
it is not confined to
Canada.
IN AMERICA ALSO.
It is found even as far south as
Virginia
Gronov. Fl. Virg. 162.
, being discovered on the shady hills and vallies of that state, towards the end of the last century, by doctor
John Clayton.
The six
Indian
nations call it
Garangtoging,
or the
human thighs.
The Europeans have imported a great deal into
China;
but it is not in the same esteem, says
Osbeck,
in which the roots of the
Chinese
dominions are held. The Indians of
America
do not apply them to any use, but multitudes are employed in collecting them for sale to the merchants of
Quebec.
Our physicians depreciate the virtues of this root so much, that notwithstanding it has found a place in our dispensatory, yet is not mentioned in the
Pharmacopoeia
of the London College. The power of the medicine may possibly have been exaggerated in
China,
but I never can believe that a root so universally esteemed in that empire for ages can be destitute of virtues. Father
Jartoux
speaks highly of its qualities from his own experience, and on the very spot
Phil. Trans. Abrig. iv. part ii. p. 315.
. To him I give full credit, but at the same time shall observe that the trial he made was from the fresh roots. The experiments on which the
English
physicians founded their opinion, were from dried and exhausted specimens.
ADJACENT to the eastern side of
Liau-tong
is the peninsula of
Korea,
KOREA.
extending from Lat. 42° 50′ to Lat. 34°, bounded on one side by the gulph of
Pe-che-li,
and the approach to it, on the eastern, by the
Japanese
gulph.
Japan
extends the whole length of the coast, and even stretches beyond its southern part.
Korea
is of an oblong form; about a hundred leagues in breadth; its greatest length extends a hundred and eighty.
ITS SITUATION.
It lies between three mighty nations, so that the inhabitants are a mixed people, but call themselves of
Tartar
origin; boast of great antiquity; and produce some books which are two or three thousand years old. They have been conquered by the
Chinese, Japanese,
and
Tartars;
since the conquest of
China
by the latter, their yoke has been light; they only are obliged to send four ambassadors to
Peking
annually, to perform homage, where, after their audience from the emperor, they remain in a state of confinement till their return. The
Chinese
fear that some time or other they may unite with the
Russians,
who have advanced far towards the
Chinese
frontiers; this may occasion a revolt, and the consequences prove fatal to the repose of the empire.
Korea
had its wall to the north-west, which has long since been in a ruinous state; but even when complete, did not prevent the conquest of the country by the
Manchew Tartars.
THE
Korea
is mountainous, and not very fertile, except the vales. It is full of woods, and produces most of the European fruits and forest-trees. The southern part yields rice and excellent grain. It breeds a hardy race of horses, exclusive of a small variety not three feet high; also cows, and black swine; abounds with various animals; among others are numbers of tigers, the skins of which are a considerable article of commerce in their intercourse with
Japan.
Among the noxious reptiles are crocodiles of an enormous size.
THEY have great quantities of feathered game, and a variety of birds; possibly many of those we have described in the
Arctic Zoology,
as belonging to the
Tartarian
or
Siberian
world. But the species of the pheasant kind, with feathers of the tail three feet long, are confined to this country. The feathers are sent from
Korea
an article of commerce to various parts of the
Chinese
empire.
THE natives of the northern part are a fine race of men, tall,
NATIVES.
robust, active, and without any of the
Tartarian
aspect. Those of the southern part resemble the
Chinese,
of a sallow complexion, and tender constitutions.
THEIR government is regular,
GOVERNMENT.
and its customs and laws resemble those of the
Chinese.
This makes it likely that their origin may more safely be derived from
China
than
Tartary.
The
Chinese
pretend that they were subdued as early as the reign of
Yau,
eighth emperor from
Fo-hi,
which may well account, if true, for the similitude of laws and customs. Their rulers are absolute and sole masters of the land, which is granted to every man according to his family; but the personal estate descends from father to son. Their religion is that of
Fo,
with all its superstitions; they are very fond of literature, and have triennial examination of Doctors, Bachelors, and Masters of arts. These adopt the pure doctrine of
Confucius,
and despise the ridiculous idolatry of
Fo.
THE
Koreans
of rank are very splendid in their habits, wear fur caps and brocade cloaths; and affect purple-colored silk richly ornamented with gold and silver. Furs are much in use. The learned are distinguished by two feathers in their caps.
THE productions of the country are
Ginseng,
cotton, paper,
PRODUCTIONS.
gold, silver, iron, mineral salt, the skins of sables and beavers; and a beautiful varnish which resembles gilding, made from the gum of a tree.
THE natives carry on a great commerce with
China;
TRADE.
about sixty merchants attend the annual ambassadors; they travel in
March,
and cross the ice of the gulph in sledges; so severe is the cold, even in this latitude! Others go in
August
in large vessels, discharge their cargoes in the
Chinese
ports, and carry it by land to
Peking.
They bring with them great quantities of the window paper, umbrellas, fine mats, tobacco, striped cotton, furs, and dried fish taken from a large shell on the coast of
Japan.
This dried fish is only a covert to the other articles of commerce. They import besides great quantities of gold and silver in ingots, and part in
Spanish Pistoles,
and carry back prodigious cargoes of raw and fine silk, which they manufacture at home; thin silks, the kind called by the
Chinese, Kao-li-Toanza,
or
Korean
damask; tea, vast quantities of cotton, china ware, and white copper vessels of all sorts.
THAT penetrating writer, Mr.
Campbell,
has given an excellent account of the commerce of this people. My plan is of that confined nature, that I must content myself with a reference; and request the reader's perusal of Mr.
Campbell
's
Vol. ii. 1000.
account, in his collection of voyages, which will amply repay them.
THE
Koreans
trade openly with
China,
WITH CHINA, &c.
clandestinely with
Japan,
the
Phillippine
isles, and perhaps
Java;
under the general notion of their being
Chinese,
they may traffick in disguise to many other places. Their trade with the nations to the north, and north-west, and probably with the
Russians
of their
Asiatic
dominions, comes under the same description; all this is strictly prohibited by the
Chinese
emperor; who even keeps a Mandarine at the
Korean
court, to take care that the order be observed; this precaution, with so corrupt a nation, has very little effect.
THE intercourse to the north,
RUSSIANS.
is the most dreaded by the
Chinese.
The
Russians
have made great advances on that side, and had formed settlements on the
Amur,
which runs through the northern part of the empire. This brought on more than one war. The
Koreans
are said either to navigate the river
Songor,
or the
Schingal,
till they arrive in the
Amur;
or to sail along the coast, and proceed directly up its mouth, and trade either with the subjects of
Russia,
or possibly with the
Russians
themselves. All the intervening track from
Korea
is affectedly given wrong by the
Chinese,
in order to keep both their own subjects and those of
Russia
in ignorance; but in vain; the
Koreans
are a match for them in cunning. They pretend in their voyage up the
Amur
that they come from some distant isle.
Ysbrande Ides
informs us of this, but without knowing that they imposed on him. They trade even with the
Manchew Tartars,
subjects of the emperor; but these people, for gains sake, content themselves with the deception. From them, and from the
Russians,
or
Russian
subjects, they procure the quantities of furs which they pretend are the produce of their own country.
THE
Koreans,
having their country three parts surrounded by the sea, must naturally be a naval people; they trade commonly with
Japan,
and obtain the articles of commerce of those islands.
WITH JAPAN.
The
Japanese
have ceded the little intermediate isle of
Susima,
the
Tuitatao
of the
Koreans,
on purpose to facilitate the trade.
By the pretence of sailing to the island of
Quel-praet,
seated to the south of the peninsula, to take in the
Chinese
manufacture from the magazines formed there, they proceed on the east side of
Formosa,
MANILLA.
and to
Manilla,
where they trade under the name of
Chinese,
and by this means acquire such quantities of
Spanish
silver; they likewise get abundance of ducats in
Japan,
exchanging their ingots for specie; with this silver they pay for great part of the manufactures of
China.
THEY do not purchase any
European
goods in
China,
yet
Korea
abounds with those of our distant world; these are procured in the
Phillippines,
or at
Batavia;
spices, and several other insular commodities, are bought in the same market; from that of
Manilla,
they bring amethysts and emeralds; the last certainly from the mines of
Atacames, Manta,
and
Santa-Fe
Ulloa, vol. i. 81. 506.
, in
Spanish America.
Their intercourse with the Oriental islands must have been long, for Mr.
Campbell
observes, that the people who were so cruelly murdered by the
Dutch,
in
Amboina
in the year 1622, for the pretended conspiracy with the
English,
were
Koreans,
and not (as they are called)
Japanese.
But there is no limiting the period of trade among these distant nations, forward as we have shewn them to be in the arts of navigation.
I SHALL conclude the account of this singular country, with a view of the adjacent nations, whether dependent or independent on this mighty empire.
THE kingdoms on the south are
Tonquin
and
Laos;
NATIONS ADJACENT TO THE CHINESE EMPIRE. AVA, THIBET.
a small part of
Pegu
advances a little into the south-west, and the northern end of
Ava
borders on the lower part of the province of
Yunan. Thibet
is adjacent to the provinces of
Sechwen,
a great part of
Shen-si,
and the upper part of the last is bounded by
Hokonor Tartars;
in their country is a large lake of the same name, in Lat. 35. 36. These
Tartars
have among them a coarse woollen manufacture, which they dispose of to the
Chinese.
Inaccessible and rude mountains lie to the south of that people, inhabited by a most savage race, so as to cut them off from all intercourse with the still more southern countries.
LET me here introduce some account of the celebrated drug,
OF RHUBARB.
the Rhubarb, of which
Tartary
and
China
is the seat. The rhubarb of all the medicinal kinds is found in great abundance in several parts of the
Chinese
dominions, and even in
China
itself. In the province of
Se-chwen,
in the mountains of
Snow,
in
Shen-si,
where troops of camels are loaden with nets full of rhubarb in the months of
October
and
November:
it abounds also in
Tanguth
about the lake
Koko-nor, Little Bucharia,
and all the chain of hills from lake
Baikal
westward. It grows south as far as
Quang-tung;
but the southern rhubarb is little esteemed, yet much of it comes to
Europe
by sea; I may add, that out of the
Chinese
empire it is found in
Thibet.
RHUBARB was known to
Dioscorides,
who lived in the reign of
Nero,
as a valuable purge; and
Paulus Aeginetus,
a physician of the seventh century, prescribed it for the same purpose. It was brought from the remotest parts of the ancient
Scythia,
and the use was continued through all succeeding ages, without any certain knowledge of the plant to which the roots belonged.
Marco Polo
observed it on the rocky mountain near
Suchur,
in the province of
Tanguth,
and says it was sent to all parts of the earth; for it found its way to
Europe
from those distant regions even in that early time.
Gerard
P. 393.
gives a figure of the well known rhubarb of our gardens, with roundish crisped leaves. This he names, very properly,
Rha verum antiquorum. Parkinson
gives another
P. 484, 485.
in his
Paradisus terrestris,
which he procured from Doctor
Mathew Lister,
physician to
Charles
I. This is acknowledged, from both their accounts, to be weaker than the other kind which came from
China;
it is frequent in our gardens. I do not remember that the roots were ever applied to medicinal uses, but of the tender shoots of the leaves, are made excellent tarts, in the early summer, not inferior in taste to the codling.
THE plants which produce the true rhubarb have been but lately discovered; the seeds of the
Rheum Palmatum
were sent from
Russia
by the late Doctor
Mounsey,
to Doctor
Hope
of
Edinburgh,
in 1763. He sowed them in the botanical garden; they succeeded greatly; and he, with his usual liberality, communicated them to the curious. He drew up an account of the plant, and inserted it, attended with most accurate plates, in vol. lv. p. 290, of our Phil. Transactions. Doctor
Woodville
gives also a good figure of the plant at p. 227 of his medicinal botany; as to that referred to by
Linnaeus (Le Brun
's travels, i. p. 188, 189) it seems of some other species of
Rheum
The
Rheum Rhaponticum,
cultivated in our
English
gardens. F.
.
THAT most excellent character the Duke of
Athol,
CULTIVATED IN SCOTLAND.
propagated it with great success, not only in his garden, but on the highland mountains that surround his seat at
Athol.
His benevolent design of rendering common and cheap this useful medicine, is blest with the utmost success. The roots which he cultivated in the light soils, similar to those of the
Tartarian
deserts, the native place, encrease to a vast size; some, when fresh, have been found to weigh fifty pounds, and to be equal in smell, taste, and effect to those we import at an enormous expence to our country. On being dried, they shrink to one quarter of their original weight. There is reason to suppose that the
Scotch
rhubarb may be superior in virtue to the foreign, the last being gathered in all seasons, as the
Mongall
hunters chance to pass by. They draw up the roots indiscriminately, pierce them at one end, sling them on their belts, and leave them to dry on their tents without further care. In all probability the time is not remote in which the
British
rhubarb will supersede the necessity of the use of the foreign.
BUT there are other kinds which are said to be equally efficacious with the
Rheum Palmatum,
such as the
Rheum Rhabarbarum
of
Linnaeus,
the
Undulatum
of the
Hortus Kewensis,
with long waved leaves; the
Rheum Compactum,
a third species, boasts of the same virtues;
Miller
had the seeds sent to him as those of the true kind. The
Rheum Rhaponticum
is besides met with in
Tartary
about lake
Baikal,
as well as most of the others. This is the species which gave the name of
Rhubarb
or rather
Rhabarb
to this drug, the plant being first observed near to the banks of the ancient
Rha,
or river
Volga;
the same prescribed by
Paulus Aeginatus
as one of the ingredients for a purge, under the name of
Rheum Ponticum;
perhaps the trivial might be derived from its being brought from some part of
Pontus,
to which it was carried from its place of growth.
Pliny
Lib. xxvii. c. 12.
mentions a plant with a medicinal root called
Rhacoma;
he says it came from the countries beyond the kingdom of
Pontus,
and by the name, probably from the
Rha.
He describes its uses, but none of them are similar to that of the rhubarb; I cannot therefore venture to say that it is the same plant.
IN
Chinese Tartary
the
Bobak Marmots,
(Hist. Quad. ii. No 324) are said to be the propagators of Rhubarb. Wherever ten or twenty plants grow you are sure of sinding several burrows under the shades of their broad spreading leaves. It is probable the manure they deposit about the roots contributes not a little to its increase; and their casting up the earth makes it shoot out young buds and multiply. It appears that the
Mongalls
never accounted it worth cultivating; but that the world is obliged to the
Marmots
for the quantities scattered, at random, in many districts of this country. For whatever part of the ripe seed happens to be blown among the thick grass, can very seldom reach the ground but must there wither and die; whereas, should it fall among the loose earth thrown up by those animals, it immediately takes root, and produces a new plant.
THE
Chinese
call rhubarb
Tay-whang;
they use it nearly in the same manner as is done in
Europe;
esteem its virtues much as we do, except that which comes from
Canton:
the greatest part of the
Tartarian,
or most valuable, is engrossed by the
Russians,
who purchase it at their town of
Kiachta
(a little south of lake
Baikal)
from
Bucharian
merchants, and send it to
Petersburgh.
This is called the
Turkey Rhubarb,
because formerly it was brought from
Constantinople,
the merchants there receiving it from the
Bucharians,
who now find a readier market near home. The
Chinese
prohibit the exportation of the best rhubarb under severe penalties, but much of it is procured, either by concealing it mixed with roots of inferior quality, or by a contraband trade. The
Russian
government is very attentive to the business, and appoints at
Kiachta
persons to inspect the drug, and to reject all that is bad.
ALL this extensive tract has a most elevated situation,
ELEVATED COUNTRY.
giving rise to numbers of great rivers, which, running southward, water the several parts of
India,
both
intra
and
extra Gangem:
the
Ganges
itself is one: the
Burrampooter,
or
Tsampoo
of the
Chinese,
another, with the various contributary streams that fall into those amazing rivers: the river of
Arrakan
may be added to the list; as to those of
Ava, Pegu, Siam,
and
Cambodia,
each of them originate in the south of
China.
The elevated plains of this part of
Asia
did not escape the notice of
Marco Polo,
for he mentions his journey of twelve days over one called
Pamer
Bergeron, p. 31.
; and asserts that he found on those heights the fire to burn with difficulty, by reason of the excessive cold and rarefaction of the air. These plains are on the north of
Cashgur,
and to the west of
Little Bucharia.
THE immense deserts of
Gobi,
or as the
Chinese
call them,
DESERTS OF SHAMO.
Shamo
and
Hankai,
are dreadful boundaries to the north and northwest of the
Chinese
dominions. They consist of sands that move with the winds like the current of a river. Nature has formed three passagesacross them, by means of three chains of mountains, which run from the great
Tartary,
and are mixed with pleasant vallies amidst these oceans of sand. Travellers who take any other course are liable to be overwhelmed with the torrents of sand, equally dangerous with the deserts of
Arabia.
The first of these communications is in Lat. 42° north, to the E. N. E. of
Peking;
the second to the east of the province of
Shen-si;
and the third in Lat. 32° to the east of
Hami,
on the frontiers of
Thibet.
By these means a safe access was given from the vast
Tartarian
regions, and through them, from the countries bordering on the
Caspian
sea, and more remotely from
Europe
itself; they were the roads of the travellers and merchants of the middle ages.
ADJACENT to the south-western parts were some important cities well known to those adventurers,
HIERKIN. CASHGUR.
such as
Hierkin,
and
Cashgur,
already mentioned in this work
Outlines of the Globe, vol. i. p. 8.
, to which
Ptolemy
gives the names of
Comedae
and
Casia Regio;
the first is supposed to have been
Cashgar,
the capital of
Casia Regio; Hierkin,
the
Carcham
of
Marco Polo,
p. 34, is conjectured to have taken its name from its situation on the
Aechardes,
a river which runs from the northeast, and was remarkable as a station which merchants trading with the
Seres
had in the very neighborhood. In the time of our great traveller the inhabitants were
Mahometans,
intermixed with a few
Nestorians.
Hoton
or
Coton,
HOTON.
a province to the south-east of
Hierkin,
bordering on the desert, is supposed to have belonged to the ancient
Chatae.
It is very populous; the inhabitants are commercial, cultivate cotton,
PEYM.
flax, hemp, and wheat, and make wine.
Peym
is another province productive of Chalcedonies and Jaspers. The capital of the same name is in Lat. 38. These places, and many others mentioned by
Polo,
are to be found in the modern maps.
Lop,
the city visited by
Marco Polo,
lies in Lat. 41°,
LOP.
and is seated on a lake, which gave name in his time to the great desert. At
Lop
the travellers always stop to provide themselves with mules or strong asses, and provisions for their toilsome journey over the barren waste, which takes a whole month.
Marco Polo
seems to have crossed it in the most difficult part, for the entire tract consisted of unstable sands or rugged mountains, uninhabitable by even birds or beasts, with scarcely any water, and that usually bitter. At length he arrived at the city of
Sachion,
the modern
Shatcheu,
at the entrance into the kingdom of
Tanguth.
NOT far from thence is
Camul,
CAMUL.
a city to be found in the old maps.
Polo
celebrates the great kindness of the inhabitants, who on the arrival of any strangers, immediately surrender to them their wives and houses, and retire for the time to other habitations. He adds, that
Mangu Khan,
shocked at the indecent custom, directed them to build inns for the reception of the travellers. This, these contented
Cornuti
took in such ill part, that they never rested till by presents and remonstrances they prevaled on the
Khan
to revoke the edict.
FURTHER, in Lat. 44° 11′, Long. 107° from
Greenwich,
KARAKARIN.
stood
Karakarin,
the
Holin
of the
Chinese,
the capital of the antient
Mongois,
founded before the twelfth century, or the time of
Jenghiz Khan.
It was previous to his reign an inconsiderable place, and the residence of
Ung, Khan
of the
Karaites,
when
Jenghiz
wrested it from him. The conqueror improved it greatly, and his son
Oktay Khan
rebuilt it with great splendor about the year 1225; ten years afterward he surrounded it with walls, of no better materials than of mud; but his palace called
Wangan,
was of great magnificence.
Rubriquis
P. 106 and 95.
gives a full account of it to his master. He informs us that
William
the
Goldsmith
was employed in the ornamental work. The famous silver tree in one of the courts was in a fine taste.
SILVER TREE.
At the foot of the tree were four lions, the same number of gilt serpents twined round the stem, and their heads appeared out of the branches pointing different ways, spouting various liquors, one of wine, another of
Caracosmos,
or the liquor of mares milk; the third made of honey; the fourth of rice; and each fell into a great silver cistern placed beneath. On the summit of the tree was an angel with a trumpet, which sounded by the help of a pipe blown by a man artificially concealed. All this shewed taste in the
Khan,
as well as beauty of design in the artist. This city, placed in the middle of the desert, on a salient chain of mountains, might well astonish the traveller with its population, and the splendor of its palaces. These parts of
Tartary
were about that period full of opulent cities, but little more than the site of them, or of
Karakarin
itself, was discoverable by the Jesuits who were employed by the emperor in the vast work of the survey of his
Tartarian
dominions. The labors of the Fathers
Regis, Fidelli,
and many others, are comprised in twelve maps, in the second volume of
Du Halde.
In the third sheet is shewn the situation of this once famous city; and in some of the others, the whole of the desert which lies in the
Chinese
territories. The chains of communication are expressed; and the roads, which the more hardy travellers ventured over, amidst the trackless sands.
THE part of this desert which is clamed by the
Chinese,
begins in Lat. 35° north, and in Long. 112° 30′ east from
Paris,
winds towards the north-east as high as
Halter Gobi,
HALTER GOBI.
in Lat. 47° and Long. 136. After running south-westward to the borders of
India,
it skirts
Thibet,
the country of the
Koko-nor Tartars,
and then the borders of the far projecting province of
Shen-si.
These tracts were known by the almost obsolete name of the once potent kingdom of
Tanguth.
TANGUTH.
Rubruquis
and
Marco Polo
travelled through, and describe its flourishing state, and the number of its cities. The friar is the first who mentions the ox with a tail like a horse, covered with silken hairs, the grunting ox, Hist. Quad. i. No 8, since his days fully verified.
Polo,
in his road to
Tanguth,
passed through the great desert, which he names that of
Lop.
During night, says he, the caravans are terrified with the delusions of demons which haunt these horrid sands. The travellers must be careful how they stray, for they will imagine themselves to be called by their proper names by some of their comrades, till they are brought to the edge of a precipice; and sometimes they will be entertained with aerial music. Superstitions fitted to the dread of the place.
IT afterwards passes between the country of the
Calmucs
and the
Kalkas
to the north-west, the
Ortus Tartars
and the
Mongols
to the south, and concludes its course of above two thousand miles, from the borders of
India
to
Halter Gobi,
its remotest extremity. The extreme point to the south-west is not distant from the lakes
Lanke
and
Mansaroar,
the sources of the
Ganges;
and the lake which gives origin to the great
Burrampooter.
EVEN these deserts do not want inhabitants: some pittance is found amidst the sands to support the
Takija,
or wild horses; the
Dshikketei,
WILD MULES AND ASSES.
or wild mules; and the
Koulan,
or wild ass. I refer the readers to p. 2. 4. 8. vol. i. of my History of Quadrupeds, for an account of those curious animals.
THE
Chinese
empire in
Tartary
extends to the north as high as Lat. 56° 32′. Its most western limit is not far from the southern end of lake
Baikal,
in Lat. 51° 30′, and Long. 100° 30′ west from
Greenwich.
It passes southward, with some irregularity, to the kingdom of
Thibet;
and has on that side, as a difficult limit, the great desert of
Shamo.
The northern boundary runs from the spot defined, near lake
Baikal,
eastward for some space, then turns northward along a vast and lofty range of mountains, the more antient seat of the
Mongols,
and at their extremity, not far from the source of the river
Aldan,
in Lat. 56° 32′, bends to the south-east, and concludes in the sea, in Lat. 54° 30′, to the north of the river
Amur.
All the tract between these lines and the empire of
China
Proper are inhabited by
Tartars,
subject to or under the protection of the
Chinese
government. For the further explanation, I refer to my friend the Reverend
William Coxe
's
Russian
Discoveries
Page 100.
, and Mr.
Arrowsmith
's Map of the World, but above all to the Travels of Father
Gerbillon
and other Jesuits, who followed the progresses of the great
Kang-hi,
or were employed in the actual survey of his vast empire. Their travels are given in the second volume of
Du Halde
's History of
China.
THE boundaries were settled in 1689 by the treaty of
Nertshinsk,
TREATY OF NERTSHINSK.
upon the river
Ingoda,
in the reigns of
John
and
Peter,
afterwards surnamed
The Great,
and that of
Kang-hi.
The politic
Russians
had long been endeavoring to make themselves masters of the important navigation of the river
Amur,
which in time might have given them the command of the
Japanese
and
Chinese
seas. This the
Chinese
foresaw, attacked and took a fort called
Albasin,
built by the
Russians.
They levelled it to the ground, and carried the garrison prisoners into
China.
This brought on an embassy from the
Russians. Gallowin,
governor of
Siberia,
was the embassador, attended by a most splendid train.
So San,
captain of the life guard and minister of state, and
Tong Jau-ye,
maternal uncle to the emperor, were embassadors on the part of the
Chinese,
both men of the highest rank, and to them were added four others of the first distinction. The cunning of the
Chinese
was assisted by the subtlety of the Jesuits, for
Kang-hi
added to the negotiators Father
Gerbillon
and Father
Pereyra.
The
Chinese
ministers had a suite inferior indeed in magnificence; but what gave the greater weight to the negotiation was, that the wise
Kang-hi
had added ten thousand men besides the escort, and which were attended by a fleet of seventy-six vessels, each carrying a piece of artillery. The
Russians
had fixed on
Albasin
as the place for settling the business; but to their surprise, the
Chinese
appeared suddenly before
Nertshinsk,
or, as they call it,
Nip-chu,
encamped near the place, and the whole business was transacted under tents. All this gave argument irresistible. The treaty was concluded. The
Chinese
offered to swear to the performance on the crucifix.
Gallowin
chose that they should swear by their own gods; and both couched the sacred appeal in these terms (imprecating the Divine vengeance on the faithless party):
We, embassadors extraordinary of the two empires, having been sent to settle the bounds of both dominions, and establish a solid and perpetual peace between both nations, which we happily executed in the conferences held by us in the seventh moon of the 28th year of
Kang-hi,
near the town of
Nip-chu,
by distinctly setting down in writing the names of the countries and places where the two empires join each other, have, by fixing the bounds of both, and ordering in what manner such disputes as may fall out for the future are to be treated of; have mutually received an authentick writing, in which is contained the treaty of peace, and have agreed that the said treaty, with all its articles, shall be engraven on stone, to be fixed in the places appointed by us for the bounds of both empires, to the end that all who pass by those places may be fully informed thereof, and that this peace, with all its conditions,
OATH OF OBSERVANCE.
may be for ever inviolably observed. But should any one have the thought only, or secret design, to transgress these articles of peace, or breaking his word and faith, should violate them out of private interest, or from the design of exciting new troubles, and rekindling the fire of war, we pray the supreme
Lord
of all things, who knows the bottom of men's hearts, not to suffer such people to live out their days, but to punish them by an untimely death.
I MAY here remark the observance of two very antient customs in the execution of this treaty;
A ROMAN FORM.
the one in the manner of the oath, which agrees with that in use among the
Romans,
of which
Polybius
has lest us the following form, made on the occasion, and which remained in his days, cut on tables of brass, in the temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus,
in the archives of the aediles.
THE first of these treaties was confirmed by oath in the following manner: The
Carthaginians
swore by the gods of their country, and the
Romans
by a stone, agreeably to an antient custom; and by
Mars Enyalius.
The ceremony of swearing by a stone was thus performed: the person that was appointed to this office, having first solemnly attested the publick faith for the due observance of the treaty, took in his hands a stone, and pronounced the following words—'If I swear truly, may the gods be propitious to me: but if I think or act any thing that is contrary to my oath, then let the rest enjoy in safety their country, laws, possessions, household gods, and sepulchres; and let me alone be cast out from the society, as this stone is now cast away.' At the same time he threw away the stone
Hampton's Polybius, book iii. chap. iii. p. 214.
.
THE other custom was one of the earliest date on this very continent,
COLUMNS MEMORIAL.
that of preserving the memory of any remarkable transactions by pillars of stone. Thus we find in
Genesis
Chap. xxxi. v. 51.
, that the treaty between
Laban
and
Jacob
was confirmed and perpetuated by the erection of a pillar and a heap of stones. The
Chinese
embassadors raised two pillars on the spot, to determine the boundaries of the respective empires, and on them engraved the treaty.
IT was the intention of the
Russians
to have made the
Amur
the limits of their empire.
RIVER AMUR.
This vast river is formed originally by the junction of the
Onoa
and the
Schilka,
to the west of
Nertshinsk.
From thence it flows easterly, takes a vast bend southernly, and then returns to the north-east, and falls through a mouth four or five leagues wide into the lower part of the sea of
Ochotzk,
opposite to the great island
Sachalin,
in Lat. 53°. The
Tartars
call the river
Sachalin ula,
or the black river; the
Chinese, Helong Kiang,
or the river of the
black dragon;
and the
Russians,
the
Amur.
It was first known to them in 1639, by means of some
Cosacks,
sent on an expedition towards the river
Witim.
According to
Du Halde
Vol. ii. p 311.
, it is navigable for large barks for the space of five hundred leagues.
THE
Russians
were charmed with the discovery of a river which report made to fling up gold and silver; and its neighborhood to abound with the most pretious sables, cattle, fruit, and grain; and its inhabitants to be clad in nothing but damask and gold brocades: in short, it was represented as a land of
Canaan.
The
Russian
colonists of the neighboring places migrated thither in crowds, and depopulated their former country. They founded a fort in Lat. 53°,
FORT ALBUSIN.
which they called
Albasin,
the
Chinese, Jaksa,
from the river near which it was seated. The
Chinese
burnt it in 1680; but it was resounded, and at length strongly garrisoned, till it gave such serious cause of jealousy to that nation as to bring on the treaty which occasioned its total demolition. It is no wonder that they were alarmed: the borders of the river were remarkably fertile, had numbers of large cities, and a most populous territory; besides, the mountains to the north were productive of the richest sables and other furs, and inhabited by a hardy race of hunters. Had the
Russians
rendered themselves masters of the
Amur,
even
Katherine,
the moderate, might have made the
Chinese
tremble for the fate of
Peking
itself.
THE
Chinese
had several places on the
Argun
of some importance, such as
Aigun,
or, as it is called by them,
AIGUN.
Sachalin ula Choton,
near the junction of the
Seja
with that great river, a fort from which they detached their fleets against the
Russian
encroachments.
Tondon
is another town, in Lat. 50°, where the cold begins with great severity as early as the beginning of
September;
later in the year the greatest rivers are frozen over. Tigers inhabit even these high Latitudes. This country was visited and surveyed by some of the missionaries, by order of
Kang-hi.
Whoever wishes to gratify his curiosity farther, may consult
Du Halde,
vol. ii. p. 245, and the following pages.
THE country is full of forests; the missionaries were nine days in passing through one. They observed that the inhabitants of
Usuni
made use of sledges drawn by dogs, and persons of rank have sometimes a hundred to relieve each other on long journies on the snows or frozen rivers. The river of
Usuri
Du Halde,
vol. ii. map the sixth.
, which rises far to the south, and falls into the
Amur,
abounds with fish, mostly of species common to
Europe.
These serve the
Ypi Tartars
for food and raiment.
YPI TARTARS.
They are very ingenious in dressing the skins, which they dye of various colors, cut them into shape, and sew them so neatly that they appear like silk. Sturgeons swarm in these waters. The native
Tartars
make their boats of the bark of trees, sewed lightly together.
IT does not appear that the missionaries went farther than
Tondon.
ISLE OF SAGALIN.
The report they had of the great island of
Sagalin,
or
Saghalian anga hata,
or the island of the mouth of the
black river,
was from some
Manchews
sent by the emperor in their barks. For want of necessaries, they were soon obliged to return. They observed certain villages; and that the inhabitants had neither horses or any beasts of burden, but made use of a sort of tame stags (rein deer) to draw their sledges. The island is said to be a hundred and eighty miles long and sixty broad. All the coast of the continent, from the part opposite to this island, as low as the northern boundary of
Korea,
is scarcely known; it bounds the western side of the streights of
Yoso.
What could be said of this obscure part, and of the opposite islands, will be delivered in a future volume of this work.
FAUNULA OF CHINA.
QUADRUPEDS.
I. HOOFED.
HORSE.
—THE native horses of
China
are low, compact,
I. HOOFED.
strong, and patient of labor; the flesh of mares is a favorite dish with the
Chinese,
a taste perhaps acquired from their conquerors the
Tartars.
On the mountain
Holan,
in the province of
Shen-si,
are abundance of wild horses.
OX.
—Buffaloes are very common in most parts of the empire, especially the southern.
The
Indian,
No 7.
The silky-tailed or
Thibetian,
No 8, is found, says Mr.
Nieuhoff,
about
Teng-chew
or
Ching-chew.
The soldiers ornament their caps with tufts of the hair; Mr.
Nieuhoff
's, with horns whiter than ivory, is to be farther enquired after. It is a wild species, so fond of salt, that the hunters place some in its haunts; which they lick so eagerly as to be inattentive to those who lie in wait for them.
SHEEP.
—The Sheep are of the broad tailed kind. Hist. Quadr. i. p. 41.
GOATS.
—Domestic goats are common.
ANTELOPE.
The
Chinese,
or yellow, No 44, abound on the borders adjacent to
Tartary,
and are great objects of the chace.
DEER.
—Stag,
I. HOOFED.
No 54. In
Yunan,
says
Du Halde,
i. 122, not taller than common dogs.
Fallow Deer, No 53.
Roe-buck, No 61, possibly this species is the tail-less, No 62, being so near to the regions where that alone is known.
MUSK.
—
Thibet,
No 65, according to Doctor
Forster,
is found in
China.
CAMEL.
—The two bunched, No 69, B. is very common, both tame and wild, the last only in the deserts; the tame is a beast of burden, as in other places. The
camels with feet of the wind,
are famed for their swiftness. This animal enters into the
materia medica
of
China;
the fat is called the oil of
bunches;
the flesh, the milk, and even the hair, and very dung, are admitted into the prescriptions.
HOG.
—
"Neque alio ex animali numerosior materia ganeae;"
a remark of
Pliny
's, may be as well applied to the
Chinese
as to the
Romans.
No animal supplies them with more delicacies, for it is the foundation of all their feasts, and is in season the whole year round. Their hams are allowed to be exquisite in the taste of every nation.
RHINOCEROS.
—
Du Halde,
i. 121, says that the
Rhinoceros,
No 81, is found in the province of
Quang-si,
in Lat. 25°.
ELEPHANT.
—No 165, is placed, like the camel, in the
materia medica
of
China;
they are found in the provinces of
Quang-si
and
Yunan.
Do they exist there at present? None are applied to use.
II. DIGITATED.
APE.
—Great black apes, with features like the human,
II. DIGITATED.
in the island of
Hai-nan;
scarce.
Grey apes, in the same island; very ugly, and common.
Apes with yellow hair; in shape, and shrilness of cry like dogs: In the province of
Quang-si.
None of these species ascertained.
DOG.
—Dogs are a favorite food in
China,
and their flesh is common in the shambles. When the butchers are dragging (as is customary) half a dozen to the slaughter-house, they are attacked by all the dogs within hearing of the cries of their fellows, so that they are obliged to have people to defend them with sticks.
The common people of
China
will eat any animal, even if they have died of sickness, such as dead horses and dogs that they see floating down the canals.
China
is certainly the most plentiful, yet from the vast superabundance of the inhabitants, no people suffer such misery as the lowest order; the produce of the earth frequently is insufficient to support such multitudes; this, not want of affection, compels them to expose their infants to death. In
China,
children are esteemed a peculiar blessing. In times of famine, or when the mothers fall sick, or their milk fails, they expose them in the streets,
II. DIGITATED.
or leave them to be murdered by the midwives; such horrid spectacles are frequent in the streets of
Peking
and
Canton.
Wolf, No 159.
Fox, No 161.
CAT.
—Tigers, No 180, were found in the province of
Tche-tchiang,
but are most frequent on the borders of
Tartary.
In so very populous an empire one would have thought it impossible they could long remain unextirpated; but in the northern roads, hundreds of travellers are seen with lanthorns carried before them to secure them from these ravenous animals. The hunting of the tiger was a constant diversion with
Kam-hi,
in his progresses into
Tartary.
At the age of sixty-nine, this great monarch died of an illness contracted by the violence of his exertions in the chace of one of these animals. There are no lions in
China;
the first ever seen in that empire, was a present made to the emperor
Tay-tsu,
about the year 1324.
Leopard, No 182, or
Poupi.
Domestic, No 195, eaten in
China.
Angora,
No 195, a. white, with beautiful silky hair, and hanging ears, the delight of the
Chinese
ladies.
In the province of
Shen-si,
is an animal resembling a tiger,
Du Halde,
i. 108.
BEAR.
—Brown, No 208, or black, No 209. The paws of this, and divers other animals, brought salted from
Siam,
and
Cambodia
and
Tartary,
are highly esteemed in
China.
BADGER.
—
European,
No 215, eaten by the
Chinese,
II. DIGITATED.
and often found in the shambles.
WESEL.
—Martin, No 242.
Civet, No 274.
HARE.
—Common, No 299.
Rabbit, No 302.
PORCUPINE.
—Crested, No 314, frequent in the shambles.
MARMOT.
—Earless, No 326.
Nieuhoff,
p. 109, part ii. mentions a large mouse, with a valuable yellow skin, found in a place he calls
Siven.
RAT.
—The Rat and mouse very common; and the first, among the eatables of the country.
SQUIRREL.
—Common, No 329.
MANIS.
—Short tailed, ii. No 460, found in
Formosa;
the
Chin-Chion Seick
of the
Chinese.
BAT.
—Bats, says
Du Halde,
as big as hens, eaten by the
Chinese,
are frequent in
Shen-si.
These are either the Ternate, No 495, or the
Roujette.
This certainly is a very imperfect Faunula of the great empire.
BIRDS.
I. RAPACIOUS.
I. RAPACIOUS.
FALCONS.
—Of various kinds, but chiefly from
Tartary.
Chinese
Eagle,
Latham,
i. 35. tab. iii.
Asiatic
Falcon, Supp. 31.
OWL.
—
Chinese,
Supp. 44.
Sonnerat
ii. 185.
White barn owl, i. 138.
Br. Zool.
No 67.
II. PIES.
II. PIES.
SHRIKE.
—
Chinese, Latham,
i. 173.
Jocose, i. 175.
White-wreathed, i. 178, commonly painted on the
Chinese
paper.
Fork-tailed, i. 158.
PARROT.
—
Alexandrine,
i. 234.
Edw.
292.
Cockatoo, i. 256.
Pl. enl.
263.
Philippine,
i. 311.
Pl. enl.
520.
Lesser white Cockatoo, i. 258.
Cochin-China,
Supp. 65.
Green and red
Chinese,
i. 278.
Pl. enl.
314.
Grisled, Supp. 64.
Sapphire-crowned, i. 312.
Pl. enl.
190. fig. 2.
HORN-BILL
—
Philippine,
i. 345.
Pied, i. 349?
CROW.
—Carrion, i. 370.
Br. Zool.
i. No 75.
White breasted, i. 376, tab. xv. leaves
China
and the
Mongols
country in vast flights in the spring, migrating into the neighborhood of lake
Baikal.
Jay, i. 384.
Br. Zool.
No 79, is frequent in
China.
Little Jay, Supp. 83.
Sonnerat,
ii. tab. 107; forehead white, great white spot under each eye, other colors plain.
Red-billed Jay,
Latham
i. 390.
Pl. Enl.
622.
Blue Crow, i. 394.
Purple-headed Crow, Supp. 83.
Macao
Crow, Supp. 84.
Sonnerat,
ii. p. 187. a small species.
Rufous Crow, Supp. 84.
Sonnerat,
ii. p. 186. tab. 106. size of a black bird, very long tailed; predominant color, reddish; resembles in shape a magpye.
Short tailed Crow, Supp. 82.
I have no doubt but the hooded crow,
Br. Zool.
i. No 77, is found in
China,
being a native of the
Philippine
isles, not very remote from this part of the continent; the same might be said of the birds of
Tartary,
or of the countries adjacent to the west and south of
China.
ROLLER.
—
Chinese,
i. 414.
Pl. Enl.
620.
Black-headed, Supp. 86.
ORIOLE.
—Kink, ii. 448.
Pl. Enl.
617.
Golden, ii. 451. var. A.
Edw.
77.
Chinese,
ii. 452. var. C.
Pl. Enl.
570.
GRAKLE.
—Minor or Mino, ii. 456.
Edw.
i. 17. inhabits the island of
Hainan.
Greater Mino, ii. 457.
Edw.
17. may be taught to talk, whistle, and sing very well, even better than a parrot; its food is fruits; if denied what it likes, will whine like a young child; it inhabits every isle, and possibly the continent east of the
Ganges.
Crested, ii. 464.
Edw.
19. This has the faculty of speech, &c. like the preceding; frequent on the
Chinese
papers or paintings.
BARBET.
—Grand, ii. 502.
Pl. Enl.
871.
CUCKOO.
—Spotted, ii. 516.
Pl. Enl.
764.
Chinese,
ii. 530.
WOOD-PECKER.
—
Bengal,
ii. 581.
KINGS-FISHER.
—
Cape,
ii. 610.
Black-capped, ii. 625.
Pl. Enl.
673.
Common, ii. 626.
Br. Zool.
i. p. 246.
Arct. Zool.
p. 280.
HOOPOE.
—Common, ii. 687.
Br. Zool.
No 90.
CREEPER.
—Grey, Supp. 133.
NUT-HATCH.
—
Chinese, Latham,
ii. 655.
III. GALLINACEOUS.
III. GALLINAGEOUS.
PEACOCK.
—Crested, ii. 668.
Pl. Enl.
433. 434. Peacocks are found in vast numbers in a state of nature, as well as domesticated, in the province of
Quang-tung,
and abundance are sent from thence to different parts of the empire.
Iris,
or peacock-pheasant, iv. 673. This is a native of the provinces bordering on
Thibet.
The
Thibet
Peacock of M.
Brisson
is no other than this bird. It is well figured in tab. 67, 69, of Mr.
Edwards
's work.
PHEASANT.
—Common, iv. 712. This species abounds in all parts of
China
and
Chinese Tartary,
as does the variety with a white ring round the neck.
Argus, iv. 710. This is a magnificent species found in
China.
Mr.
Edwards
has given two figures of this rare bird, one in the Phil. Trans. vol. lv. p. 88. and the other never published, of which he presented me with several. It is of the size of a large turkey-cock; the middle tail seathers are two feet long: the primary feathers of the wings very broad, and one web most attractively ocellated. The history is unknown. Its residence is in the north of
China
and in
Korea.
There is in the
Chinese
empire, a bird, whether of this genus I will not determine, with some of the tail feathers six feet and one inch long, and an inch and a half broad; colors white, edged with dull buff; webs as if serrated on each side of the shaft with black upon the white ground. The bird is said to have been in body no larger than a pigeon. One of the kind died on board the ship in 1781, in its passage from
China.
Colonel
Davies,
of the artillery, made an accurate drawing from the feather itself, and favored me with a sight of his performance.
Golden, iv. 717.
Edw.
68, 69. This species is among the most splendid of the feathered creation. Is not uncommon in the
British
menageries, and hardy enough to bear our climate in a state of liberty, if the brilliancy of its colors did not make it the mark of our poachers, and quickly bring on its extirpation. It breeds readily in confinement; its eggs are redder than those of the common pheasant. These birds are called in
China, Kin-ki,
or
Golden hens.
They are found in the provinces of
Yunan, Se-chwen,
and
Shen-si;
its flesh is more delicate than the common kind.
Silver, iv. 719.
Edw.
66. In brilliancy of colors this species must give way to the preceding; but not in elegance. The whole upper part of the male being white, most beautifully pencilled with black lines, the lower of a fine purple black; breeds with us in confinement.
Superb, iv. 709.
Pencilled, iv. 719.
Fire-backed, Embassy to
China,
vol. i. p. 246. tab. 13.
Nat. Misc.
pl. 321.
PARTRIDGE.
—Pearled, iv. 772.
Brisson
i. 234. tab. 28. The
Chinese
in severe weather keep their hands warm by holding this and the
Chinese
quail between their palms, as appears in many of their painted papers.
Chinese,
iv. 783.
Edw.
247.
Pl. Enl.
126. Not above four inches long. The male is scarcer than the female. The
Europeans
buy up the females to makes pies for their homeward voyage.
Common, iv. 779.
Pl. Enl.
170. These are trained by the
Chinese
for fighting, as we do the fighting cocks in
England.
Hackled, iv. 766. tab. 66. common to
China
and the
Cape of Good Hope. Du Halde
mentions a sand partridge. I suppose the
Tetrao Arenaria
of
Pallas, Nov. Com. Petrop.
xix. 418. tab. 8. Iter. iii. 699.
Latham
iv. 751. He says that partridges are seen in
China
by thousands in a flock, and appear in clouds together.
Green, iv. 777.
IV. COLUMBINE.
IV. COLUMBINE.
PIGEON.
—Crested, iv. 668.
Queest, iv. 635.
Br. Zool.
i. No 102.
Chinese
Turtle, iv. 647.
Collared T. iv. 648.
Striated T. iv. 650.
Barred T. iv. 650.
Edw.
16.
Blue crowned T. iv. 655.
Great Turtle,
Sonnerat,
ii. 178, as large as the
English
Queest.
Chinese
grey, iv. 649.
Sonnerat,
ii. tab. 102.
V. PASSERINE.
V. PASSERINE.
STARE.
—Silky, iii. 10.
Brown
's Illustr. tab. 21. frequently represented on the
Chinese
papers.
Green, iii. 10. with the forehead and chin tufted.
Brown, iii. 10.
THRUSH.
—White-wreathed Shrike, iii. 35.
Chinese,
iii. 36. The
Hoamy
of the
Chinese.
Crescent, iii. 37.
Black-faced, iii. 37. The
Shan-hu
of the
Chinese.
Violet, iii. 57.
Sonnerat,
ii. tab. 108.
White-headed, iii. 59. called in
China,
by the
French, Petites Galinotes.
Black-necked, iii. 60.
Chanting, iii. 61.
Pl. Enl.
604. Inhabits the southern parts of
China;
is said to be the only bird in the vast empire that has any thing like a song.
Yellow, iii. 63.
Green? iii. 65.
Georgi,
who saw one in a cage, supposes it came from
China,
and adds, it sung well.
GROSBEAK.
—Padda, iii. 129.
Edw.
41. 42. Very injurious to the rice grounds; called in
China, Hung-tsoy.
Chinese,
iii. 135.
Malacca,
iii. 141. var. A.
Edw.
43.
Grey-necked, iii. 145.
White-headed, iii. 151.
Asiatic,
iii. 155. called by the
Chinese, Lap-tzoy.
Red-billed, iii. 151.
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 243.
Edw.
271.
Orange bellied, iii. 157. var. A.
Edw.
83. f. 1.
Dwarf, iii. 158.
Dominican,
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 242.
Yellow,
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 244.
Cyaneous,
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 244.
Edw.
125.
Brown,
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 245.
Cardinal,
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 242. This, if rightly referred to,
Catesby,
i. tab. 38. is certainly a bird peculiar to
North America.
I have my doubts to some of the preceding six; for Mr.
Osbeck
seems to have communicated to Mr.
Lagerstrom,
birds, which the most intelligent ornithologists have given to other countries, but Mr.
Lagerstrom,
for the honor of
China,
bestows them on that empire.
BUNTING.
—
Chinese, Latham,
iii. 169.
Barred tail, iii. 187.
Mixed, B.
TANAGRE.
—
Chinese,
iii. 229.
Military, iii. 242.
Amoen. Acad.
iv. 241.
Edw.
82. 342.
SPARROW.
—House.
Br. Zool.
i. No 127. This petulant bird is nearly universal.
Chinese, Latham,
iii. 277.
Brown, iii. 279, very little larger than a wren.
Green, iii. 286.
Edw.
272. 128.
Ch.
Siskin, iii. 293.
White-earned, five specimens, supposed to be varieties.
Latham,
iii. 314, small birds with a white spot near each ear; very common on
Chinese
paper.
Ceylon,
iii. 317.
Brown-throated, iii. 318.
Azure-headed, iii. 319.
White-bellied,
Edw.
355.
FLY-CATCHER.
—Wreathed,
Latham,
iii. 336.
Sonnerat,
ii. p. 107.
Green, iii. 336.
Grey-necked, iii. 337.
Yellow-necked, iii. 337.
Orange-vented, ii. 338.
Nitid, Supp. 173.
Greenish,
Sonnerat,
ii. 197.
Black-headed,
Sonnerat,
ii. 197.
LARK.
—Mongolian, iv. 384.
White-winged, iv. 383.
WARBLER.
—Nightingale, iv. 408.
Br. Zool.
i. No 145.
Luzonian,
iv. 451.
Black-hooded Wheat Ear,
Latham,
iv. 471.
White-crowned, iv. 4
2.
Chinese,
iv. 474.
Long-tailed, iv. 501.
TITMOUSE.
—
Chinese,
iv. 555.
SWALLOW.
—Chimney, iv. 561.
Esculent, iv. 570.
Chinese
Swift, iv. 586.
WATER FOWL. THE numerous waters of this empire must certainly afford infinite variety and plenty of birds of this class. The rocks and cliffs which border many of the coasts are doubtlessly the habitation and breeding places of multitudes of gulls, auks, and corvorants; but we are under the necessity, from want of authority, of omitting numbers that in all probability are natives of
China.
I. CLOVEN-FOOTED.
I. CLOVENFOOTED.
HERON.
—
Sibirian
Crane,
Latham,
v. 37,
Arct. Zool.
ii. No 156, frequently painted on the
Chinese
papers.
Common Crane, v. 50.
Cinnamon H. v. 77.
Malacca
H. v. 78.
Chinese
H. v. 99.
WOODCOCK.
—Common, v. 129.
Br. Zool.
ii. No 178.
Snipe, v. 134.
Cape
Snipe, v. 139.
Green Shank, v. 147,
Br. Zool.
ii. 183.
Red Shank, v. 150.
Br. Zool.
ii. 184.
PLOVER.
—Long-legged, v. 195.
Br. Zool.
ii. 209.
JACANA.
—
Chinese,
v. 246.
Vappi-pi,
Latham,
Supp. 25.
GALLINULE.
—Crake, v. 250.
Purple, v. 254, common on
Chinese
papers.
Red-tailed, v. 259,
Ind. Zool.
p. 49, tab. xii.
Crested, v. 269.
II. PINNATED FEET.
II. PINNATED FEET.
COOT.
—Common, v. 275.
Br. Zool.
ii. No 220.
Crested, v. 278. tab. xc.
III. WEBBED-FOOTED.
III. WEBBEDFOOTED.
DIVER.
—
Chinese,
vi. 345, tab. xcvii.
TERN.
—
Chinese,
vi. 365.
Caspian,
vi. 351.
DUCK.
—
Chinese
Goose, vi. 447, and var. A.
Mallard, vi. 489.
Br. Zool,
ii. No 279. Both the wild and tame, in vast numbers in
China,
and multitudes are hatched by artificial heat.
Falcated, vi. 516.
Arct. Zool.
ii. p. 301.
Chinese
Teal, vi. 548.
Common,
Br. Zool.
ii. No 290.
Baikal
Teal, vi. 557.
Hino.
T.
Latham,
vi. 558.
PELICAN.
—Frigate, vi. 587.
Corvorant, vi. 593.
Chinese
fishing Shag, Emb. to
China,
ii. 388, tab. xxxvii.
Lesser Gannet, vi. 611. called in
China Bubbi,
one of the species used by the
Chinese
in fishing.
Osbeck,
i. 127.
FISHES.
CARTILAGINOUS.
CARTILAGINOUS.
LOPHIUS.
—Histrio,
Bloch.
i. p. 13, tab. cxi.
BALISTES.
—Monoceros,
Bloch.
ii. p. 12. tab. cxlvii.
Catesby,
app. tab. xix.
Vetula,
Bloch.
ii. p. 22, tab. cl.
Catesby,
ii. tab. xxii.
Scriptus,
Catesby,
ii. tab. xix.
Nigro Punctatus,
Osbeck,
ii. 331.
Ringens.
Bloch.
ii. p. 27. tab. clii.
Sinensis,
Marcgrave,
154.
TETRODON.
—Hispidus,
Amoen. Acad.
iv. p. 247.
Ocellatus,
Bloch.
v. p. 3. tab. cxlv.
Osbeck,
ii. 331,
Furube, Koempfer, Japan,
i. 134.
THE length of this species is about nine inches;
DESCRIPTION.
the upper part of the body is smooth, and of a green color; between the pectoral fins, across the back, is a crescent, black in the middle, bounded on all parts with bright yellow; the belly covered with whitish spines. It can blow itself up into the form of a round ball.
THIS,
HISTORY.
and some other species of the same genus, are frequent in the
Chinese
and
Japanese
seas. This specimen was taken in the
Canton
river. The effects of eating it is dreadful; if eaten entire, it is the most fatal of poisons, and even when dressed according to art, has had mortal consequences; yet such is the rage of epicurism, that many people will not forbear this tempting viand. It is often used by such who in despair wish to remove themselves into the other world. The
Chinese
boil with it a branch of the
Illicium anisatum, Koemp. Amoen.
tab. 885, in order to secure the effects. Such is the strange but true history of this deadly fish.
BONEY FISHES.
APODAL.
APODAL.
TRICHIURUS.
—Lepturus,
Brown. Jam.
p. 444. tab. xlviii. f. 3.
Seb. Mus.
iii. tab. xxxiii.
THORACIC.
THORACIC.
GOBIUS.
—Niger,
Bloch.
ii. p. 5. tab. xxxviii.
Br. Zool.
iii. No 95, found also on the coast of
Britain.
Eleotris,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 332.
Anguillaris,
Gmel. Lin.
1201.
Pectinirostris,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 332.
CHAETODON.
—Pinnatus,
Seb. Mus.
iii. tab. xxv. fig. 15.
Argenteus,
Gmel. Lin.
1242.
SPARUS.
—Nobilis,
Osbeck,
ii. 332.
Chinensis, Osbeck,
ii. 332.
LABRUS.
—Opercularis,
Gmel. Lin.
1286.
Chinensis.
PERCIL.
—
Chinensis.
SCOMBER.
—Trachurus,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 332,
Br. Zool.
iii. No 134.
ABDOMINAL.
ABDOMINAL.
CLUPEA.
—Thrissa,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 333.
Du Halde,
i. 119, calls this species the
shad.
"There is," says he, "near
Nanking,
a famous fishery for shads, called
She-yu,
in the months of
April
and
May;
and at another place, a good way from thence, there is such plenty of this sort of fish, that they often carry them to a neighboring island, called
Tsong-ming,
where they were sold exceeding cheap, at the time the missionaries made the map of it."
Mystus,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 333.
Sinensis,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 333.
Lanatus,
Osbeck,
ii. p. 333.
CYPRINUS.
—Auratus, see p. 156 of this volume.
Cantonensis, Osbeck,
ii. p. 333.
JAPAN.
JAPAN.
THE remainder of the north of
Asia
has been described in my ARCTIC ZOOLOGY, what I have said in this, serves to give all I can collect respecting that vast continent. The islands to the north of
Formosa
must now be added, the omission would render this volume incomplete, for we should not only lose the account of the important island of
Japan,
but break into the great chain, which extends quite from the first of the
Malayan
to the
Kuril
isles, already described in the above work.
THE islands, called by Mr.
Arrowsmith
the
Tatpin,
TATPIN ISLES.
form a numerous group of small isles dependent on those we are just going to mention; they lie not remote from the eastern side of
Formosa,
with the tropic of Cancer passing over the southern end.
THE isles of
Liquejo,
or as they are called by the natives
Riuku,
ISLES OF LIQUEJO.
are the next; they are seventy leagues to the north-east of
Formosa;
the most considerable,
Kintschin,
which lies north and south, between Latitudes 26° 28′, and 25° 45′, is about fifty leagues long, and fifteen broad: the east side and south end skirted by numbers of little isles and rocks; the inhabitants are chiefly
Chinese,
who fled from the
Tartars
at the time of the last revolution. They were well received by the natives, who speak a broken
Chinese,
which argues their descent, so that the new comers were considered as countrymen. They are principally husbandmen and fishermen, and are a most cheerful happy people, diverting themselves, after the labor of the day, with a glass of rice beer, and with their musical instruments, which they take into the field with them. A few centuries ago, these islands were conquered by a prince of
Satzuma,
a province of
Japan,
who governed them by his lieutenants; they still remain in the same state of dependence, but are taxed with much gentleness. The inhabitants also send annually to the emperor of
China,
a gift in token of loyalty and submission. They carry on a commerce with
Satzuma,
and visit it once a year; they have there a company of merchants, but are confined in their commerce to that port, and limited to the value of their trade, but by the connivance of the
Japanese
officers, they dispose of an infinitely greater quantity than the law admits. They import into
Satzuma
all kinds of silks and stuffs, and various
Chinese
commodities, which they carry over in their own jonks, and some of their own produce, such as corn, rice, fruit, and pulse, and a sort of brandy made from the remainder of their crops. They bring great quantities of the
Cypraeae Monetae,
CYPRAEAE MONETAE.
or cowries, the same species which is found in the
Maldive
isles
Outlines of the Globe, vol. i. p. 151.
; from those shells is also prepared a white varnish, with which the boys and girls paint their cheeks; they besides export a sort of large flat shells, which when polished, are almost transparent, and serve the
Japanese
for glass in their windows; to these add some articles of luxury, in various scarce flowers and plants brought in pots, and a few other matters of a trifling nature. Notwithstanding these people are really subject to the
Japanese,
they do not allow the emperor's supremacy, yet, like them, they have a
Dairi
or hereditary ecclesiastical governor, to whom they pay great respect, and suppose to be lineally descended from the gods of their country; he resides at the isle called by
Kaempfer
Hist. of
Japan,
p. 380.
(to whom we are indebted for all this account)
Jajama,
not remote from
Osima,
an island of second magnitude.
THAT island, another larger, called
Tanaasima,
TANAASIMA ISLAND.
with several lesser, extend north and south to the north-east of the
Liquejo
islands, and form the links between them and
Japan.
Between the isle of
Tanaasima,
and that of
Liquejo,
are the streights of
Van Diemen;
that island is the most southern of those which compose the great empire of JAPAN. and is the smallest of the number; the latitude of the south end is 30° north, according to Doctor
Thunberg,
and the most northerly of the
Japanese
islands extends to 40°, the longitude from 143° to 161° east. The coasts are rude and rocky; the circumambient seas, raging with storms during nine months of the year,
STORMY.
are shallow, filled with shoals and rocks, and extremely subject to frequent shipwrecks. Off this coast are two whirlpools, dangerous, and not less tremendous than those of the famous
Maelstrom
near the
Norwegian
shores; there are frequent instances of ships being absorbed in the vortex, and their shattered fragments slung up at the distance of many leagues. The poets of
Japan
make constant allusions to these horrible phaenomena.
THE climate of the
Japanese
isles, like that of
Great Britain,
is very changeable, and subject to frequent rains, fertilizing the ground, as they do that of our island. Thunder is frequent, and earthquakes so common, as never to be minded, unless attended (as has been often the case) with dreadful consquences.
THE summer heat is very great,
HEAT.
and scarcely tolerable, when not alleviated by the winds; it sometimes, in
July
and
August,
raises
Fahrenheit
's thermometer to 100°. The cold on the contrary is excessive, and sinks the mercury many degrees below the freezing point, especially when the winds blow from the north and the east; in the northern parts there are mountains scarcely ever free from snow.
THE whole empire is mountanous,
SOIL.
level meadows are unknown; the fields of the vallies consist of a clayey soil, sometimes sandy, yet rendered fertile by the incredible industry of the inhabitants; even the higher hills are cultivated to the very tops.
IN my account of the objects of their labor,
BOTANY.
and the botanical productions, I shall follow that able naturalist and traveller Doctor
Thunberg,
who visited this empire in 1775, and even had the happiness of making a journey to its capital
Jedo;
as yet we have only been favored by him with the
Flora
of the country
A translation of his travels was published in 1795, two years after this account of
Japan
was composed. E.
; I shall not pursue the brief account of the vegetable productionssy stematically, but class them as Doctor
Thunberg
has done, according to their uses. Japan has been fortunate in having been visited in 1699 by Doctor
Engelbert Kaempfer,
one of the ablest naturalists and scholars of his time. His
Amoenitates exoticae,
and his travels into this empire, render any other eulogium superfluous. He will be frequently quoted in the ensuing pages, as (ranking with Doctor
Thunberg)
my best authorities.
THE first class comprehends the vegetables of use in
medicine.
MEDICAL.
Rosmarinus officinalis, Flora Japonica,
22.
Fl. Coch.
34. Sp. pl. i. 60.
Gerard,
1292, cultivated here, a native of
Spain, Italy,
and the
Levant,
introduced possibly by the
Portuguese.
N. B.
—Such species which are peculiar to
Japan,
have not the mark Sp. pl. of
Linnaeus
affixed.
Urtica nivea,
71.
Rumph. Amb.
tab. 79. f. 1. Sp. pl. 4. 153.
Fl. Coch.
683.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 891. A caustic oil is expressed from the seeds; the bark is used to make ropes, and the strong threads for weaving.
Fagara piperita,
64. Sp. pl. i. 333.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 892. fig. p. 893.
Fl. Coch.
101. The bark, leaves, and berries aromatic, and used instead of pepper; the leaves ground, mixed with rice flour, and formed into a poultice, serve as a blister in rheumatisms.
Ipomoea triloba,
86. Sp. pl. i. p. 451.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 856.
Nicotiana tabacum,
91. Sp. pl. i. p. 502. The plant, as the name imports, introduced by the
Portuguese,
also the use.
Sium ninsi,
118. Sp. pl. i. 694,
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 818. fig. p. 819. The highest cordial in all
Japan,
and the dearest; the root is brought from
Korea,
and used in most medicines pulverised; a pound costs six hundred imperials.
Lycium barbarum,
94. Sp. pl. i. 525.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 777.
Fl. Coch.
165. The leaves are administered to the sick as tea; physicians prescribe the eating the fruit; the plant is used to inclose the segments of the
Japanese
gardens.
Chenopodium scoparia,
113. Sp. pl. i. 622.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 885. A famous medicine, says Doctor
Thunberg,
according to
Kaempfer,
from whom he borrows most of the medicinal virtues of the plants.
Aeorus calamus,
144. Sp. pl. 2. p. 92.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 912.
Fl. Coch.
259.
Calamus aromaticus, Gerard,
63, still retained in our dispensatory.
Convallaria Japonica,
139.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 823. fig. p. 824.
Lin. Suppl.
p. 204. The roots, preserved in sugar, are recommended both by the
Chinese
and
Japanese
to sick people.
Smilax China,
152. Sp. pl. 4. 256.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 781. fig. p. 782.
Flor. Coch.
763.
Polygonum multiflorum,
169. The root eaten raw is esteemed a cordial; roasted it has a bitter taste.
Laurus camphora,
CAMPHOR.
172. Sp. pl. 2. p. 226.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 770, f. 771.
Travels,
i. 115.
Flor. Coch.
306. The camphor tree grows to a vast size in all parts of
Japan,
and its islands; as yet it has only been figured by
Kaempfer.
The camphor is extracted from the wood by the peasants, who cut it into small pieces, and boiling them in water, obtain this drug, which they sell very cheap. The
Japanese
value the camphor of
Sumatra
and
Borneo
much more than their own, and will give eighty or a hundred
Catti
of their boiled camphor for one of the
Bornean;
the last is native, and gathered on the stumps of the trees, or taken from the interstices in small crystallized lumps. There is another kind found fluid, which is called camphor oil, but never on the same tree with the concrete; this seems another species, and is obtained by incision; a hole is made in the trunk capable of holding about a quart, a lighted reed is placed in it, which attracts the fluid to that part. Neither of the trees which yield the
Sumatran
or
Bornean
camphors are yet ascertained;
Kaempfer
says,
"ex Daphneo Sanguine non est;"
so it certainly is not even of the same genus as the
Japanese.
Thea Bohea,
225, Sp. pl. 2. p. 589.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 505.
TEA.
817.
Kaempfer
's Travels, i. 115. ii. appendix, 2. tab. 38, 39. The tea cultivated in
Japan
is the
Bohea,
the
Tsjaa
of the
Japanese,
the
Theh
of the
Chinese.
The origin of it has its legend equal to any in the universe.
Darma,
the son of an
Indian
king, who flourished about the year 519 of the
Christian
era, arrived in
China
to preach his doctrine to the inhabitants. It seems he was a sort of pope in
India,
the twenty-eighth in succession from the founder of eastern paganism. He had vowed the greatest austerities, particularly a perpetual watchfulness; nature, worn out, was obliged at length to submit to the refreshment of sleep; on finishing his slumbers, he cut off both his eye-brows, which had dared to close, and flinging them on the ground, each became a shrub;
Darma
eat some of the leaves, and to his great surprise, found himself invigorated, so as to undergo any labors or any watchings; he communicated the virtues to his disciples, and tea became of universal use. It is therefore styled by some the eye-brows of
Darma;
he is represented as a horrid ugly fellow, with vast eye-brows, wrapped in a great cloak, and standing on a reed, on which he had been wafted from region to region.
WE may be certain from this tale, that the tea plant was aboriginal of
China.
It is cultivated by sowing, not in whole fields, but round the borders in rows, so that it may not hurt the land; good farmers manure the plants with human ordure. In seven years time it grows to the height of a man; its few leaves, at that time are gathered, the shrub cut down, and the most plentiful harvest is obtained from the vigorous shoots of the succeeding years.
THE leaves are gathered by laborers, peculiarly brought up to the business; they must not be taken by handfuls, but pulled off one by one. The trees are not stripped entirely, for there are three gatherings in the year. The leaves are sorted into three parcels; the finest, the small, tender, primaeval shoots, are reserved for princes and great men, and on that account called imperial. They are next prepared by drying over the fire in an iron pan, and after that rolled with the palm of the hand on a mat, in order to fold them. Public laboratories are built for the purpose. All the processes are given at large by
Kaempfer
See also Staunton's Embassy to
China,
vol. ii. p. 464.
.
TEA is in as universal use in
Japan
as in
China,
and taken two ways. The most common is similar to the
European,
or rather the mode we learned from the
Orientalists;
but the manner of taking it is attended with the utmost ceremony. The art is called
Sado
and
Tsianoi.
We have our dancing-masters, &c. and in my time M.
Vestris
gave lectures to our quality on the manner of eating gracefully their soup. The
Japanese
masters are to instruct in the manner of behavior at tea, how they are to make it, and how they are to present it in a polite manner.
THE qualities of tea are as much disputed in
Japan
as they are in
Europe;
but such is the charming infatuation, that the use is still followed in defiance of those who take the side of depretiation in the old controversy.
Kaempfer
gives us an excellent figure of the plant, in vol. ii. tab. 38, and of the process of the tea-table, and all its apparatus, in tab. 39, and of the teacup; nor is the representation of its great founder
Darma,
forgotten, with his vast over-hanging eye-brows.
Arum dracontium,
233. Sp. pl. 4. p. 68.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 786.
Flor. Coch.
651. Has a hot and purgative quality.
Dracontium Polyphyllum,
234. Sp. pl. 4. p. 74. From the acrid root is prepared the famous medicine
Konjakf.
Illicium anisatum,
235. Sp. pl. 2. p. 624.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 880. seqq. fig. p. 881.
Flor. Coch.
432. The
Bonzees
believe this plant to be peculiarly grateful to the gods; they strew the branches before their idols, and burn the bark as incense to them. The leaves are used to increase the virulence of the poison of the
Tetraodon ocellatus.
Ocymum crispum,
248.
Kaemp. Amoen.
v. p. 784.
Bignonia catalpa,
251. Sp. pl. 3. p. 155.
Kaemp. Amoen.
v. p. 841. fig. p. 842. The leaves used in nervous cases, the pods in asthmas.
Sesamum Orientale,
254. Sp. pl. 3. p. 188.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 835.
Flor. Coch.
464. Useful for the oil expressed from it; constitutes in
Japan
an article of food; and also a medicine, on account of its emollient virtues.
Clerodendrum trichotomum,
256.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 827. Children are often made to swallow the
larva
of an insect bred on this plant, as a cure for the worms.
Taxus nucisera,
275. Sp. pl. 4. p. 280.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 814. fig. p. 815. The interpreters who are obliged to stand long at court eat the nuts, to enable them to retain their urine for a great length of time.
Citrus Trifoliata,
294. Sp. pl. 3. p. 585.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 801. fig. p. 802. The live shrub is excellent for hedges, on account of its vast, strong, and sharp spines.
Artemisia vulgaris,
310. Sp. pl. 3. p. 744.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. 897.
Fl. Coch.
600. Common mugwort,
Gerard,
1103.
Hudson. Fl. Angl.
ii. 359.
Flor. Coch.
600. The famous antient cau
ic of the East, the
moxa
is made of the leaves of this plant.
Kaempfer
's Travels, ii. App. 37.
Trichosanthes cucumerina,
322. Sp. pl. 4. p. 199.
Flor. Coch.
722. The seeds sometimes used to dissolve the viscid juices of the bowels.
Polypodium dichotomum,
338. The ashes used with allum pulverized, for ulcers in the mouth and elsewhere.
Ficus Pumila,
ESCULENT.
33. Sp. pl. 4. p. 368.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 803.
Flor. Coch.
820.
Scirpus Articulatus,
36. Sp. pl. 1. p. 130.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 827.
Holcus sorghum,
42. Sp. pl. 4. 307.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 834. Grows naturally, and also cultivated.
Panicum verticillatum,
45. Sp. pl. 1. p. 153.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 835. Its flour is made into cakes.
Cynosurus Coricanus,
51. Sp. pl. 1. p. 200.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 835. Cultivated on account of the seeds.
Avena Sativa,
54. Sp. pl. 1. p. 222.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 834. Common oats.
Hordeum vulgare,
55. Sp. pl. 1. p. 235.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 834. Barley cultivated here and there.
Triticum aestivum et hybernum,
56. Sp. pl. 1. p. 238.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 834. Both species cultivated.
Trapa natans,
65. Sp. pl. 1. p. 341,
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 817.
Convolvulus edulis,
84. A not well-tasted vegetable, yet the black roots are used in broths.
Solanum Aethiopicum et tuberosum,
92. Sp. pl. 1. p. 515.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 810. The berries of the former used in broths.
Potatoes are cultivated near
Nagasaki,
but do not prosper.
Hovenia dulcis.
101.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 808. fig. p. 809. The foot-stalks eaten, are sweet like a pear.
Vitis vinifera,
103. Sp. pl. 1. p. 569.
Flor. Coch.
192. Grapes do not ripen here well.
Beta vulgaris,
113. Sp. pl. 1. p. 623.
Flor. Coch.
217. The root in
Japan
is red, in most other parts of
India
white.
Daucus carota,
117. Sp. pl. 1. p. 667.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 822.
Flor. Coch.
222. Common carrot, every where cultivated.
Allia varia,
132. All the various kinds of leeks are cultivated in
Japan.
Oryza sativa,
147. Sp. pl. 2. p. 113.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 834.
Flor. Coch.
267. This grain is cultivated in all parts of
Japan,
on the mountains as well as low grounds, and is esteemed the finest in the world.
Zca mayz,
37. Sp. pl. 4. p. 96.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 834.
Flor. Coch.
272.
Mayz
is cultivated near
Nagasaki,
supposed to have been introduced by the
Chinese.
Asparagus Ossicinalis,
139. Sp. pl. 2. p. 68. Cultivated at
Jedo.
Dioscoreoe,
149. All the different sorts are cultivated or eaten wild.
Lilium bulbiserum,
134. Sp. pl. 2. p. 43.
Kaemp. Amoen.
v. p. 871. The root is eaten.
Diospyros Kaki,
157.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 805. 806. 807. fig. p. 806.
Flor. Coch.
278. The fruit is preserved like figs; eaten before it is ripe, occasions a
diarrhaea.
Polygonum sagopyrum,
169. Sp. pl. 2. p. 212.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 835. Buck wheat is made into round cakes, and sold to travellers at all the inns.
Quercus cuspidata,
176.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 816. A species of oak; the acorns are eaten either dressed or raw.
Fagus caslanea,
195. Sp. pl. 4. p. 166.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 816.
Flor. Coch.
699. The common chesnut.
Cactus sicus,
198. Sp. pl. 2. p. 470.
Indian
sig, common to
Japan
and
South America.
Punica granatum,
199. Sp. pl. 2. p. 480.
Flor. Coch.
383. The pomegranate.
Amygdalus persica, et nana,
199. Sp. pl. 2. p. 481.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 798.
Flor. Coch.
386. Peach, and dwarf almond.
Prunus Armeniaca, cerasus, aspera et domestica,
200. 201. Sp. pl. 2. p. 485.
Flor. Coch.
388.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 798. The apricot, cherry, both the rough and common plum, cultivated; the
aspera
a new species.
Mespilus Japonica,
206.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 800. A tree of vast height and size, the berries as large as a cherry.
Pyrus communis,
207. Sp. pl. 2. p. 500.
Kaempf. Amoen.
800.
Flor. Coch.
393. Common pear.
Pyrus baccata,
207. Sp. pl. ii. p. 502.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 800. Grows in the
Dutch
hotel at
Osakka;
perhaps introduced from
Sibiria.
Pyrus Japonica et cydonia,
207.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 844.
Flor. Coch.
394. The
Japan
pear and the quince.
Rubus trifidus et palmatus,
217.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 787. The fruits of these two have a grateful taste.
Nymphaea nelumbo,
223. Sp. pl. 2. p. 579.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 880.
Flor. Coch.
416. A sacred plant; the flowers ornament the altars, and are painted as the seat of the gods. The stalks eaten among other greens.
Arum esculentum,
234. Sp. pl. 4. p. 69.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 828.
Flor. Coch.
654. The roots and stalks used in broths.
Cycas revoluta,
229.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 897.
Titsjiu, Rumph. Amb.
1. 70. tab. 24. The
drupae
are eaten; the
sago,
or pith, is beyond measure nutritive, a small bit will support a man a very long time. It is forbidden, on pain of death, to export any out of
Japan.
Sagittaria Sagittata,
242. Sp. pl. 4. p. 155.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 827.
Flor. Coch.
698. The root esculent.
Brassica rapa,
261. Sp. pl. 3. p. 278.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 822. Rape, common in
England,
used for oil, and the seeds for small birds. The root eaten in
Japan.
Raphanus Sativus,
263. Sp. pl. 3. p. 284.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 822. Raddish,
Gerard,
237.
Flor. Coch.
481. The most common edible root in
Japan;
eaten raw, dressed, and dried.
Phaseolus vulgaris,
278. Sp. pl. 3. p. 441.
Flor. Coch.
527. Common kidney bean, much eaten.
Phascolus radiatus,
278. Sp. pl. 3. p. 444.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 837.
Flor. Coch.
529. Also much used.
Dolichos polyslachyos,
281. Sp. pl. 3. p. 450.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 856. Often cultivated.
Dolichos Soja,
282. Sp. pl. 3. p. 451.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 837. sig. p. 838.
Flor. Coch.
537. Also cultivated; used in soups; the commonest dish in
Japan.
An exquisite sauce, called
Soja,
is prepared from its seeds. Bruised, it serves the purpose of sea salt.
Pisum sativum,
283. Sp. pl. 3. p. 457.
Flor. Coch.
539. Our common pea, cultivated in most parts of
Japan.
Vicia saba,
284. Sp. pl. 3. p. 475.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 836.
Flor. Coch.
540. Beans, much cultivated.
Citrus Japonica,
292.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 801. The
Japan
citron fruit is quite diminutive, but sweet and grateful.
Citrus Aurantium,
293.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 801. Sp. pl. 3. p. 585.
Flor. Coch.
569. The orange in
Japan
excellent.
Citrus Decumana,
293.
Flor. Coch.
571.
Shaddock,
introduced from
Batavia
by the Dutch.
Lactuca saliva,
300. Sp. pl. 3. p. 625.
Flor. Coch.
585.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 831. Common lettuce, cultivated and eaten in these islands.
Cichorium,
304. Sp. pl. 3. p. 665.
Flor. Coch.
583. The C.
endivia
and
intybus,
both much cultivated and eaten.
Cucurbita pepo,
323. Sp. pl. 4. p. 203.
Flor. Coch.
728.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 811. The
European
gourd. The C.
lagenaria
used for bottles; but rather scarce.
Cucumis melo,
323. Sp. pl. 4. p. 205.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 811.
Flor. Coch.
726. The melon often cultivated near
Nagasaki.
Cucumis sativus,
324. Sp. pl. 4. p. 206.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 811.
Flor. Coch.
726. Common cucumber.
Cucumis flexuosus et conomon,
324. Sp. pl. 4. p. 207.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 811. The twisted; esteemed very delicate. The fruit is preserved in the lees of the
Japanese
rice beer, and constitutes a frequent dish; it is called
Conomon,
and is sometimes imported into
Holland.
Pteris Aquilina,
332. Sp. pl. 4. p. 396.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 912. The very young shoots of the leaves are eaten, and often sold in bunches. The woody root is bruised, and the water being expressed, in which it had been steeped, the pulp is eaten by the poorest people.
Agaricus campestris et alii,
346. Sp. pl. 4. p. 597.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 832.
Fucus saccharinus,
346. Sp. pl. 4. p. 597.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. 833.
Flor. Scot.
ii. 940.
Flor. Coch.
847. Eaten much in
Japan,
as it is in
Iceland, Scotland,
and even on some of the
English
shores.
Lycoperdon tuber,
349. Sp. pl. 4. p. 623.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 832. Trufles,
Fl. Scot.
ii. 1064. A well known vegetable; when salted, used in the
Japanese
soups.
Betula Alnus,
76. Sp. pl. 4. p. 127.
DYING.
The cones are used to dye black, and sold ready dried.
Rubia cordata,
60.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 912.
Lithospermum aruense,
81. Sp. pl. 1. p. 385. From the root is made a red dye.
Gardenia Florida,
108. Sp. pl. 1. p. 592.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 808.
Flor. Coch.
83. The fruit gives a yellow dye. Common also to
Hindoostan, Amboina,
and the
Cape of Good Hope.
Basella Rubra,
127. Sp. pl. 1. p. 748.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 784. The
Japanese
use the berries to dye the silks and cotton, red.
Eurya japonica,
191.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 778.
Commelina communis,
35. Sp. pl. 1. p. 113.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 888. sig. p. 889.
Flor. Coch.
48. Of the flower is made a blue, resembling the rich
ultramarine. Kaempfer
gives the process at length.
Polygonia varia,
163. Of the leaves of the
Chinense barbatum
and
aviculare,
Sp. pl. 2. p. 208, 209, 211, are made a dye that colors like Indigo.
Thea Bohea,
225. Sp. pl. 2. p. 589.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 817. The leaves of this tree are sometimes used to dye the silk webs of a pale brown color.
Ocymum Crispum,
248.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 784. The
Japanese
use this plant to give a full red color to the roots of raddishes, and several kinds of fruits.
Carthamus tinctorius,
307. Sp. pl. 3. p. 697.
Flor. Coch.
587.
Baslard saffron,
much cultivated in
Spain, Egypt,
and the East, and forms a great article of commerce, as a yellow dye, see
Hasselquist,
p. 483. Common prostitutes dye their lips with this plant.
Impatiens balsamina,
327. Sp. pl. 3. p. 971. The
Japanese
tinge their nails red with its juice mixed with alum.
Osyris japonica,
FOR SAUCES.
31.
Arundo bambos,
54. Sp. pl. 1. p. 227.
Flor. Coch.
70. I am obliged to my friend the reverend Mr.
Dickinson,
for the following curious account of the
Arundo Bambos,
"which" says he,
grows in the woods and mountains of
Japan,
and produces many varieties, differing much in habit, and distinguished by different names. Yet, amidst all this variety,
Thunberg
observes that he never had the satisfaction of meeting with a single plant of it in the flowering state. This is not to be wondered at, when we are informed by
Reede,
Mal. v. i. p. 25. that it does not flower till it has attained the age of about sixty years, and what is very remarkable, sheds its leaves a month previous to the time of flowering, and immediately after having perfected its fruit, withers and dies.
The small slender walking canes, so much admired for their elegant rings, are obtained from young irregular suckers or shoots of the bambo, which spring from the root, after the main stem has been repeatedly cut down. Nature has not formed them precisely of the figure in which we receive them. They are originally crooked and pliant, and much art is used, by suspended weights attached to them, and the application of smoke, to render them strait and stiff. It is farther necessary to retrench with a knife the fibres which adhere to the rings, and were intended by nature to propagate the plant, in the same manner as the
Triticum repens
(couch grass) multiplies its offsets by shoots from the joints.
This species of walking stick is distinguished from the
Rotang,
or true cane, not only by its singular protuberances, but also by a small perforation extending through the center of the whole length of it, which is common to all
Bambus,
and in their mature state enlarges into spacious cavities, rendering this inestimable vegetable subservient to a thousand useful domestic purposes. It is only in the island of
Japan
that the
Bambu
is thus artificially prepared for the purpose of a walking cane: and constituting a lucrative article of commerce, it is counterfeited at
Surat
(upon the
Malabar
coast) and a spurious sort made of a different wood imposed upon the ignorant. The name of
Bambu
is not
Indian,
but was given to this plant by
Europeans,
as expressive of the violent explosion that comes upon committing its branches to the flames, the report of which is said to equal that of the firing of guns, and is caused by the rarefaction of great quantities of air, which had been imprisoned in its numerous chambers. See an accurate description of the
Japan
walking-stick with portuberant joints,
Rumph. Amb.
vol. iv. lib. 6. p. 18. sect. the last. The minute perforation of the young shoots of the
Bambu
is noticed by
Rheede, Hort. mal.
v. 2. p. 25. sect. 3. '
Stipites qui ex radice,
&c.' So high a sense had the
Indians
in antient times of the multifarious benefits and blessings of this vegetable, that they actually made it an object of divine worship, particularly in the island of
Amboina, Rumph.
v. iv. p. 18. sect. 3.
Ob multiplicia arundinum,
&c.
Let me add, that of the germs which spring from the root is made the fine pickle called
Atsjaar,
they are macerated in salt and vinegar, with leeks, and
capsicum
pods added.
Fagara Piperita,
64. Sp. pl. 1. p. 333.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 895.
Flor. Coch.
101. The bark, leaves, and aromatic fruit used in soups.
Menyanthes nymphoides,
82. Sp. pl. 1. p. 415.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 828. The leaves are salted, and become a very glutinous substance; it is used in soups, boiled in which it becomes very tender.
Capsicum annuum,
93. Sp. pl. 1. p. 521.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 826.
Flor. Coch.
157. Cultivated every where.
Anethum faeniculum,
120. Sp. pl. 1. p. 722.
Flor. Coch.
226. Common fennel; the seeds are brought from
China,
and cultivated near
Jedo.
Pimpinella anisum,
120. Sp. pl. 4. p. 724.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 825.
Aniseed,
an eastern plant, rarely cultivated in
Japan;
introduced in our dispensatory.
Apium Petroselinum,
120. Sp. pl. 1. p. 725.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 825. Common parsley, cultivated in many places.
Illicium anisatum,
235. Sp. pl. 2. p. 624.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 880. seq. fig. p. 881.
Flor. Coch.
232. Doctor
Thunberg
places this under the head of sauces, the very plant which gives such additional power to the virus of the
Tetraodon.
It reminds me of part of the Fryar's speech in
Romeo
and
Juliet,
in which he describes the discordant powers resident in the same plant.
Sinapis cernua,
261. The
Dutch
use it as a mustard.
Lycium japonicum,
93.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 780.
FENCES.
A low plant very full of branches.
Lycium barbarum,
94. Sp. pl. 1. p. 525.
Kaemps. Amoen.
v. p. 1. p. 577.
Flor. Coch.
165. see p. 213 of this volume.
Citrus trisoliata,
294. Sp. pl. 3. p. 585.
Kaemps. Amoen.
v. p. 801. sig. p. 802. A most excellent hedge, by reason of its long, strong, and horrid spines.
Gardenia florida,
108. Sp. pl. 1. p. 592.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 808.
Dolichos polystachyos,
ARBORS.
281. Sp. pl. 3. p. 450.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 856. Used to form arbors.
Syringa suspensa,
19.
Buxus semper-virens,
COMBS.
77. Sp. pl. 4. p. 128.
Flor. Coch.
678. for making combs.
Pinus sylvestris,
TUEL.
274. Sp. pl. 4. p. 172.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 883.
Flor. Coch.
709. The
Scotch
pine; many other trees used for fuel.
Morus papyrifera,
PAPER.
72. Sp. pl. 4. p. 134. The great material for making paper. Doctor
Thunberg
gives the process at length, as does Doctor
Kaempfer,
attended with a print of the tree, vol. ii. appendix p. 21. tab. 40. The part applied to the manufacture is the bark.
Celtis orientalis,
114. Sp. pl. 11. p. 4, 335.
Kaempfer
's Travels, ii. app. 26. tab. 40. Called by
Kaempfer
the
Papyrus spuria.
It is used for making the coarser papers.
Hibiscus manihot, Oreni Japanor,
Sp. pl. 3. p. 363.
Alcea,
&c.
Kaempfer
's Travels, ii. app. 27. tab. 41. Contributes to the manufacture of paper, by the admixture of the viscous matter produced from the roots.
Uvaria Japonica,
237. Sp. pl. 2. p. 628.
Kaempfer
's Travels, ii. 58. tab. 42. The leaves and stalks likewise produce a viscous juice used for the same purpose as the last. The ladies of
Japan
oil their hair with a crystalline mucilage which exudes from the stalks, to make it shine and lie smooth.
Arundo bambos,
54. Sp. pl. 1. p. 227. Contributes also to the paper manufacture.
Laurus camphorisera,
172. Sp. pl. 2. p. 226.
Flor. Coch.
306.
MECHANICS.
The camphor tree.
Pinus Sylvestris,
274. Sp. pl. 4. p. 172.
Cupressus japonica,
265.
Lin. Suppl.
p. 421. grows to a vast height, very straight, and about the thickness of a man's thigh. It is cultivated, and also grows on all the mountains.
Taxus macrophylla,
276. These five last species are of the greatest use in
Japan
among mechanics, especially the cabinet makers.
Rhus vernix,
121.
CANDLES.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 791. fig. p. 792. Sp. pl. 1. p. 728.
Rhus succedaneum,
122. Sp. pl. 1. p. 728.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 794. fig. p. 795.
Laurus Camphora,
172. Sp. pl. 2. p. 226.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 770. fig. p. 771.
Laurus glauca,
173.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 770.
Melia azederach,
180. Sp. pl. 2. p. 271.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 788.
Flor. Coch.
239. The five last are greatly used in making candles.
Brassica orientalis,
261. Sp. pl. 3. p. 276.
LAMP OIL.
Dryandra cordata,
13. 267.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 789. From the seeds of the two last is expressed an oil useful in lamps.
Urticae variae.
CORDAGE.
Cannabis sativa,
113. Sp. pl. 4. p. 251.
Flor. Coch.
756. Both of the above are much used in the rope manufacture.
Deutzia scabra,
185.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 854.
Prunus Aspera,
201.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 779.
Artemisia vulgaris.
Gnaphalium arenarium,
312. Sp. pl. 3. p. 754.
Kaempf Amoen.
v. p. 912.
Salix alba,
25. Sp. pl. 4. p. 234.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 908. The five last are in much use for the polishing of wood.
Ricinus communis,
INK.
270. Sp. pl. 4. p. 194.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 790.
Flor. Coch.
716.
Bignonia tomentosa,
252.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 859. fig. p. 860.
Malva mauritiana,
271. Sp. pl. 3. p. 347.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 858.
Nymphaea nelumbo,
IDOLATROUS.
223. Sp. pl. 3. p. 579.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 880.
Ocymum inflexum.
249. The two last are sacred to the idols, as is the
Illicium anisatum,
used also for making musical instruments.
Thca bohca,
TEA.
225. Sp. pl. 2. p. 589.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 817.
Camellia sasanqua,
273.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 853, both these used as teas. The appearance of the shrub
Sasanqua,
is so like that of the tea as scarcely to be distinguished. The leaves are mixed with the bohea tea to improve its flavor
Sir
G. Staunton
's Account of the Embassy to
China,
and the figure, vol. ii. p. 467. E.
.
Uvaria Japonica,
A WASH.
237. Sp. pl. ii. p. 628. Is used as a wash for the hair, as are the
Sasanqua,
and the
Hibiscus Manibot.
Gossypium herbaccum,
LINENS.
271. Sp. pl. iii. p. 355.
Flor. Coch,
505. A vast manufacture of this plant (cotton) is carried on in
Japan
for the cloathing the inhabitants.
Morus papyrisera,
75. Sp. pl. 4. p. 134. A strong cloth is woven from parts of this, and richly painted for cloathing; used as handkerchiefs to wipe the nose, &c. also for the packing of goods.
Cucurbita lagenaria,
323. Sp. pl. 4. p. 202.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 8. o.
Flor. Coch.
728. Serves instead of a bottle.
Fucus saccharinus,
346. Sp. pl. 4. p. 577.
Fl. Scot.
ii. p. 940. Eaten in
Japan,
as it is in many parts of the north of
Europe.
The leaf of this plant glued to paper, and edged with gold or silver thread, is used as a plate to offer gifts on ceremonious occasions.
Mirabilis jalapa,
91. Sp. pl. i. p. 490.
Flor. Coch.
123.
PAINT.
Carthamus tinctorius,
307. Sp. pl. 3. 697.
Flor. Coch.
587. The
Japanese
ladies use the former as a white paint for their complexions; this to give a ruddiness to their lips.
Rhus vernix,
VARNISH.
121.
Kaempf. Amoen. Ex.
p. 790. and tab. 791. Sp. pl. i. p. 728, as a varnish to their fine cabinet work. The
Rhus succedaneum,
122.
Kew Garden,
i. 366, is made use of for the fame purpose, but the quantity of juice it exudes is so small, as scarcely to make it worth the gathering. The
Japanese
call it
Urus, Urus noki,
and
Sitz.
That which grows at
Jamatto
is the best, but the
Japanese
in general is far superior to that of other countries; great quantity of the varnish is imported from
Siam, Cambodia, Tonquin,
and other places, and used in the coarser works.
Chamaerops excelsa,
131.
BRUSHES.
Brushes are made from the bark of the trunk, finely netted.
Juncus effusus,
145. Sp. pl. 2. p. 94.
MATTING.
Oryza sativa,
147.
Morus papyrisera,
71. Sp. pl. 4. p. 134.
Morus alba,
71. Sp. pl. 4. p. 134. Of these four are worked carpeting for floors, and hanging for the walls.
Arundinum culmi,
55. Sp. pl. i. 225. Of the stalks of various sorts of reeds are made writing pens.
Lindera umbellata,
145. The
Japanese
clean their teeth with soft brushes made of this wood, and also of the two former.
Salices,
24. Different sorts of willows.
Euonymus tobira,
99.
Celastrus alatus,
PHILTRES.
98. Lovers place the buds of the flowers before the doors of parents, as philtres, to conciliate the affections of the daughters.
Nyctanthes sambac,
ORNAMENTAL.
17. Sp. pl. i. p. 15.
Flor. Coch.
75.
Syringa suspensa,
19.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 907.
Rosmarinus officinalis,
22. Sp. pl. i. p. 60. Our well-known rosemary cultivated and introduced from
Europe.
Orchides,
25. Orchis
sasannae.
Sp. pl. 4. p. 4. Japonica, Falcata.
Limodorum striatum,
28,
ensatum,
29. Sp. pl. 4. p. 32.
Epidendra varia,
30.
Irides,
33. The several sorts of Iris or
fleur de lis, Squalens,
Sp. pl. i. p. 106.
Sibirica,
Sp. pl. i. p. 108.
Versicolor,
Sp. pl. i. p. 108.
Graminea,
Sp. pl. i. p 109.
Morea chinensis,
34.
Ixia chinensis,
Sp. pl. i. p. 98.
Ilex japonica,
79.
Primula cortusoides,
82. Sp. pl. i. p. 413.
Celastrus alatus,
98.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 796.
Convolvulus japonicus,
85.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 856.
Ipomaea triloba,
86. Sp. pl. i. p. 451.
Kaemps. Amoen.
v. p. 856.
Azalea Indica,
84. Sp. pl. i. p. 428.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 845. 847. fig. p. 846. The flowers of great elegance, and infinite variety of colors.
Bladhia japonica,
95.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 775.
Colosia argentca,
106. Sp. pl. i. p. 577.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 863.
Flor. Coch.
203.
Celosia cristata,
106. Sp. pl. i. p. 577.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 962.
The cockscomb is of various colors, red, yellow, and mixed; it grows here to vast perfection, but degenerates when carried to other countries.
Gardenia florida,
108. Sp. pl. i. p. 592.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 808.
Gardenia radicans,
109.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 808.
Vinca rosea,
110. Sp. pl. i. p. 594.
Flor. Coch.
146.
Nerium oleander,
110. Sp. pl. i. p. 594.
Flor. Coch.
141. The Oleander grows common in
Spain, India,
and
Japan.
Viburna varia,
122. Five species, all peculiar to
Japan.
Amaryllis sarniensis,
131. Sp. pl. 2. p. 27.
Flor. Coch.
247. A most elegant species, first introduced into
England
in 1659, by that accomplished gentleman general
Lambert,
at his seat at
Wimbleton.
The root is poisonous.
Lilium candidum,
133. Sp. pl. 2. p. 43.
Flor. Coch.
256. Our white lily. This common species inhabits also
Syria
and
Palestine.
Lilium japonicum,
133.
Kaempf. Amoen.
879.
Lilium pomponicum,
134. Sp. pl. ii. 2. 44.
Flor. Coch.
257. Native also of the
Pyrences
and distant
Sibiria.
Lilium Bulbiferum,
134. Sp. pl. 2. p. 43. also of
Sibiria, Austria,
and
Italy.
Lilium Superbum,
134. Sp. pl. 2. 45.
Trew's Ehret.
tab. xi. The great yellow martagon orange spotted with black. A rich flower, native of
North America.
Lilium Canadense,
135. Sp. pl. 2. p. 45. Native of
North America;
yellow, spotted with black, the flower grows in rich clusters.
Lilium Philadelphicum,
135. Sp. pl. 2. p. 46. Miller's plants, 110. tab. 165. fig. i. Flowers purple, marked at the base with spots of the same more deeply colored, native of
Pensylvania.
It is observable that many plants of
Japan, Sibiria,
and
North America,
approximate each other.
Hemerocallis,
143. Three species, the H.
fulva.
Sp. pl. 2. 91. or
copper colored day lily. Gerard.
Herb. 99. native also of
China
and
Hungary.
H.
Japonica
and
Cordata.
The two last peculiar to
Japan.
Nandina domestica,
147.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 776.
Scdum anacampseros,
186. Sp. pl. 3. p. 380.
Flor. Coch.
353.
Scdum spinosum,
186.
Lychnis coronata,
187.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 873.
Euphorbia canariensis,
196. Sp. pl. 2. p. 435.
Eurya japonica,
191.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. 778.
Rhododendron maximum,
181. Sp. pl. 2. p. 291.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 877.
Cactus sicus,
198. Sp. pl. 2. 470.
Punica granatum,
199. Sp. pl. 2. p. 480.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 800.
Flor. Coch.
383.
Amygdalus Persica,
199. Sp. pl. 2. 481.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 798,
Flor. Coch.
386.
Amygdalus nana,
199. Sp. pl. 677.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 799.
Mespilus Japonica,
206.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 800. A tree of vast size, and very lofty.
Spiraeae plures,
209.
Rosae plures,
213. such as the
Rugosa Gallica,
Sp. pl. 2. p. 529.
Canina,
Sp. pl. 2. p. 530,
multislora.
Papaver somniferum,
222. Sp. pl. 2. p. 574.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 835.
Papaver rhoeas,
222. Sp. pl. 2. p. 572.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 910. often cultivated in vases for ornament.
Corchorus japonicus,
227.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 844. Cultivated for the beauty of its flower.
Magnolia glauca,
236. Sp. pl. 2. p. 626.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 845.
Melittis melissophyllum,
248. Sp. pl. 3. p. 91.
Volkameria japonica,
255.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 861. A tree of vast size, full of branches, very smooth.
Thuia dolabrata,
266.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 884. A vast and lofty tree; the most beautiful of ever-greens.
Alcea rosea,
271. Sp. pl. 3. p. 342.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 888.
Croton acutum,
269.
Malva mauritiana,
276. Sp. pl. 3. p. 347.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 858.
Hibiscus syriacus,
272. Sp. pl. 3. p. 361.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 978.
Flor. Coch.
511.
Camellia japonica,
272. Sp. pl. 3. p. 368.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 850. fig. p. 851.
Citrus omnis,
292. The four species of this country are cultivated for beauty as well as use.
Hypericum patulum,
295.
Hypericum monogynum,
297.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 845.
Clchorium Intybus et endivia,
304.
Inula helenium,
317. Sp. pl. 3. p. 823.
Tagetes patula,
320. Sp. pl. 3. p. 840.
Flor. Coch.
616.
Chrysanthemum Indicum,
320. Sp. pl. 3. p. 848.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 875.
Flor. Coch.
610.
Calendula officinalis,
321. Sp. pl. 3. p. 924.
Cucurbita lagenaria,
333. Sp. pl. 4. p. 202.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 810.
Flor. Coch.
728. cultivated for its singularity.
Impatiens balsamina,
327. Sp. pl. 3. p. 971.
Acrostichum lingua,
320.
Kaempf. Amoen.
v. p. 891.
Acrostichum hastatum,
331.
THE quadrupeds of these islands are not numerous.
QUADRUPEDS.
The horses are small, but well shaped; and employed for riding, drawing, and ploughing.
Cows are never used for the purposes of the dairy. The
Japanese
know nothing of milk or butter. The oxen are of a vast size, with bunches on their shoulders, and only used for the plough, or the conveyance of goods in great cities.
ASSES, mules, camels, and elephants are not known here.
SHEFP, goats, and swine are not among the native animals; the
Dutch
and
Portuguese
imported some, and the first still bring a few from
Batavia,
for their own use. As to swine, the
Japanese
get them from
China,
but merely to sell to the
Chinese
traders. They hold the
Pythagorean
doctrine so strongly as to forbear eating any thing that has had life.
Japan
has deer and wild boars. These, and hares, the followers of certain sects are at one time of the year permitted to eat, contrary to their usual rule of religion.
MR.
Zimmerman,
in his zoological chart, gives the
Rupicapra,
or
Chamois,
as an animal of
Japan.
NO country breeds more dogs; they have masters,
DOGS;
but lie about the streets, and are very troublesome to passengers. In
Kaempfer
's time there was an emperor so fond of these animals as to cause huts to be built,
MUCH RESPECTED.
and provisions to be found for them in every street; the utmost care was taken of them during sickness, and when they died, they were carried to the usual burying-places on the tops of the mountains. This attention to the canine species at that time arose from its happening, that the reigning emperor was born under the sign of the dog, one of the
Japanese
constellations. A poor fellow who had lost his dog by death, sweating under his load in climbing the mountain of interment, was heard by his neighbor cursing the plaguing edict at a terrible rate. "Friend," said his neighbor to him,
you should rather return thanks to the gods that the emperor was not born under the horse, for what would have then been your load.
WILD dogs, with large gaping snouts, are among the animals of the country.
THE cats are very beautiful; whitish,
CATS.
marked with large yellow and black spots, their tails very short, as if they had been mutilated. The ladies carry them about, and are perpetually caressing them. As to mousing, they are quite useless.
HERE are some monkies,
MONKIES.
by
Kaempser
's description, of the baboon class, and of the kind I describe under the name of the
dog-faced. Hist. Quad.
No 103. They are of a dusky brown, with naked red faces and buttocks.
A FEW small bears are found in the northern provinces. Foxes are very common. Rats and mice swarm. The rats are taught several tricks, and serve for the amusement of the common people. The animals called
Tanucki, Pulor, Stutz,
and
Tin,
are unknown to me.
"
Thunberg
to the foregoing catalogue only adds the wolf, an animal confined to the northern provinces." E.
THE birds of this empire are probably similar to those which inhabit the same
Asiatic
Latitudes immediately to the west.
BIRDS.
I find here
cranes, Arct. Zool.
ii. p. 141. and
snowy geese,
No 477. and doubtlessly many others will be discovered as soon as Doctor
Thunberg
has favored us with his
Fauna Japonensis.
THE
Japan
peacock,
Latham,
ii. 672.
Aldrov. av.
ii. tab. 33. 34.
Johnston. av.
tab. 23. may be a new species.
"DR.
Thunberg,
vol. iv. p. 99. of the translation of his travels, gives the following unsatisfactory list:
Phasianus gallus, Latham,
iv. 700.
Corvus corax,
raven,
Latham,
i. 367.
Br. Zool.
i. No 74.
Anas Anser,
wild goose,
Latham,
vi. 459
Br. Zool.
ii. No 266.
Galericulata, Chinese
teal,
Latham,
vi. 548.
Querquedula,
Garganey,
Latham,
vi. 550.
Br. Zool.
ii. No 289. tab. 101.
Ardea alba,
great white heron,
Latham,
v. 91.
Br. Zool.
ii. No 175.
Ardea major,
Common Heron,
Latham,
v. 83.
Br. Zool.
ii. No 173.
Tetrao coturnix,
quail,
Latham,
iv. 779.
Br. Zool.
i. No 97.
Loxia pyrrhula,
bulfinch,
Latham,
iii. 143.
Br. Zool.
i. No 116.
Loxia Oryzivora, Latham,
iii. 129. rice bird.
Edw.
tab. 41. 42.
Columba oenas,
stock dove,
Latham,
iv. 604.
Br. Zool.
i. No 103.″ E.
IN respect to reptiles, we may inform the reader,
TORTOISES.
that the
Testudo Graeca,
or common land tortoise, is found here; some sea tortoises of enormous size; another species, with a long beak-like nose, called
Doogame,
is figured by
Kaempfer,
tab. xiii. fig. 6.
A BLACK water lizard, with a red belly and pinnated tail,
LIZARD.
is described by the same writer, p. 138. tab. xiii. fig. 2. as exceedingly venomous.
A GREEN snake, with a flat head and sharp teeth or fangs,
SNAKES.
is reputed to give a mortal bite. The name signifies the
length of a day,
for people are supposed to die of the effect before the sun quits the horizon.
Kaempfer
Hist. of
Japan,
p. 128.
says that it is also found in
Malabar.
The
Boa,
or at least some monstrous snake, an amphibious kind, is found on the mountains and in the waters.
THE fishes are very numerous. Whales are frequent,
FISHES.
and taken not only by harpooning, as in
Greenland,
but also by nets, in which those huge animals are entangled, so that they become a ready prey to the harpooners. Much oil is extracted from them; the flesh is a common food. Of the tendons are made ropes and cords, chiefly for packing the bales of cotton; and of the finer sort, the strings for musical instruments.
Kaempfer
has given good outlines of several of the fishes; not a few are common to our seas, such as the
spotted shark, Br. Zool.
iii. No 46. our
lampries,
No 27, 28,
eels,
and several others. The famous
Fu Rube,
the
Tetraodon ocellatus,
a luxury and a poison before described at p. 203 of this volume, is frequent.
Kaempfer
Hist. of
Japan,
p. p. 134, 135.
mentions the fatal effects of this fascinating food.
THE few other fishes that I can enumerate from
Linnaean
authority are the following:
FISHES.
Callionymus Japonicus, Gm. Lin.
iii. 1155.
Uranoscopus Japonicus,
1157.
Coryphoena Japonica,
1195.
Cottus Japonicus,
1213.
Scorpoena volitans,
1217.
Pleuronectes Japonicus,
1239.
Chaetodon Imperator,
1255.
Chaetodon guttatus,
1256.
Chaetodon collare,
1263.
Chaetodon mesomelas, ibid.
Sparus argentatus,
1272.
Sparus boops,
1274.
Sparus latus,
1276.
Sparus virgatus,
1276.
Sparus notatus,
1272.
Sparus suscreseens,
1279.
Labrus hoops,
1291.
Gasterosteus Japonicus,
1325.
Scomber Japonicus,
1329.
Scomber auratus,
1330.
Centrogaster fuscescens,
1337.
Cobitis Japonica,
1352.
Silurus imberbis,
1361.
Fistularia tabacaria,
1387.
Clupea Thrissa,
1406.
Clupea Thunberg
adds (vol. iv. p. 99).
Muroena nebulosa.
Muroena picta.
Muroena annulata.
Muroena fasciata.
Ophicthus cinereus.
All beautiful and singular species of eels.
THE following are extracted from
Bloch
's magnificent Icthyology:
Scarus viridis,
vol. vii. p. 20. tab. 222.
Bodianus Boenac,
vol. vii. p. 31. tab. 226.
Bodianus maculatus,
vol. vii. p. 35. tab. 228.
Holocentrus ongus,
vol. vii. p. 52. tab. 234.
Holocentrus servus,
vol. vii. p. 61. tab. 238. fig. 1.
Holocentrus quinque lineatus,
vol. vii. p. 65. tab. 239.
Holocentrus calcariser,
vol. vii. p. 80. tab. 244.
Lutianus lutianus,
vol. vii. p. 85. tab. 245.
Lutianus hasta,
vol. vii. p. 87. tab. 246. fig. 1.
Lutianus erythropterus,
vol. vii. p. 93. tab. 249.
Lutianus verres,
vol. viii. p. 7. tab. 255.
Sparus fasciatus,
vol. viii. p. 15. tab. 257.
Sparus chlorourus,
vol. viii. p. 21. tab. 260.
Sparus erythrouros,
vol. viii. p. 23. tab. 261.
Sparus vittatus,
vol. viii. p. 83. tab. 275.
Sparus Japonicus,
vol. viii. p. 87. tab. 277. fig. 1.
Sparus cynodon,
vol. viii. p. 91. tab. 278.
Labrus viridis,
vol. viii. p. 104. tab. 282.
Labrus melapterus,
vol. viii. p. 111. tab. 285.
Labrus chloropterus,
vol. viii. p. 121. tab. 288.
Labrus fasciatus,
vol. ix. p. 6. tab. 290.
Labrus trichopterus,
vol. ix. p. 21. tab. 295. fig. 2.
Labrus mclapterus,
vol. ix. p. 26. tab. 296. fig. 2.
Perca argentata,
vol. ix. p. 75. tab. 311. fig. 1.
Perca Japonica,
vol. ix. p. 77. tab. 311. fig. 2.
Anthias macropthalmus,
vol. ix. p. 99. tab. 319.
Anthias Vosmeri,
vol. ix. p. 103. tab. 321.
Anthias testudineus,
vol. ix. p. 104. tab. 322.
Anthias bilineatus,
vol. x. p. 1. tab. 325. fig. 1.
Anthias Japonicus,
vol. x. p. 3. tab. 325. fig. 2.
Anthias orientalis,
vol. x. p. 8. tab. 326. fig. 3.
Epinephetus, merra,
vol. x. p. 15. tab. 329.
Epinephetus, ruber,
vol. x. p. 19. tab. 331.″ E.
CRABS of great variety inhabit these seas; and that greatest of insects,
CRABS.
the
Monoculus polyphemus,
or
Molucca
crab, is not infrequent.
AMONG other insects is found the classical
Cicada,
CICADA.
Roesel,
ii. tab. 25.
Mousset
127.
Cantharides,
or
Spanish
flies, are frequent here, but never applied to use. Another very caustic fly is described by
Kaempfer
Kaempfer, i. 132. tab. x. fig. 7.
, reckoned by the
Japanese
poisonous: it is of a blue and gold color, enriched with scarlet spots and lines.
Japan
is rich in minerals.
GOLD.
Gold is found in various parts of the island, sometimes in grains washed out of the sand; in other places it is extracted by fusion, from its matrix, or the ores of copper. All the mines of this metal are claimed by the emperor, and none dare work without his permission; when this is obtained, two thirds of the produce are the portion of the emperor, the proprietor of the land receives one third for his expences.
SILVER mines abound. Copper is the most common of all the metals,
SILVER. COPPER.
and the greatest article of commerce with the
Dutch
factors. All the ore is melted at
Saccai
or
Osacca,
and there only, where it is cast into cylinders, about a span and a half long, and a finger thick. The finest ore is dug at
Seruga,
from which the
Japanese
separate and refine a quantity of gold. The coin of
Japan
is made either of gold, silver, or copper;
COINS.
those of the two former are generally of an oblong shape, rounded at the ends, and inscribed with letters, and the arms of the mint master, or the emperor, or
Dairo.
The form of the coins is given by
Kaempfer,
i. tab. 19. and by
Tavernier,
part ii. p. 9. tab. 9. p. 10. tab. 10.; in the last, the silver coins are irregular at their edges. As to the copper coins, they are round, and perforated in the middle, in order to string them for conveniency of carriage. Some of the gold coins weigh an ounce and six drams; and of the silver seven ounces. Several of the silver
Japanese
coin are stamped with the image of
Daikos,
the
Plutus
or god of riches of the country; he is represented seated on two barrels of rice, with a sack in his left hand and a hammer in his right, by a stroke of which he is supposed to produce, on any spot, money, food, cloathing, or whatever is useful to man
Thanberg, iv. 116. E.
.
THE
Japanese
speak of two islands
Kaempfer, i. 68.
one named
Ginsima
or the
silver,
GOLD AND SILVER ISLES.
the other
Kinsima
or the
golden.
Their situation is kept very secret; but
Philip
III. having heard of them, and instigated by avarice, sent a ship with a skilful pilot to find them out. The
Dutch,
urged by the same passion as the
Spaniards,
made two attempts to discover them, one in 1639, the other in 1643, but both were fruitless. They are said to lie to the E. N. E. of the coasts of
Japan,
a hundred and fifty miles distant. All that I can find is, that they are both put down in Mr.
Arrowsmith
's map; one in about Lat. 30° north, under the name of
Rica di oro
or the
gold
island, and the other
Rica di plata
or the
silver,
still farther north. Mr.
Arrowsmith
supposes it to be that stupendous rock called
Lot's Wife,
a pyramid three hundred and fifty feet high, admirably described and depicted by Mr.
Meares,
in p. 97 of his voyage.
The Lat. says he, was 29° 50′ north, the Longitude 142° 23′ cast of
Greenwich.
The waves broke against its rugged front with a fury proportioned to the immense distance they had to roll before they were interrupted by it. It rose almost perpendicular to the height, according to the tables, of near three hundred and fifty feet. A small black rock appeared just above the water, at about forty or fifty yards from the western edge. There was a cavern on its south eastern side, into which the waters rolled with an awful and tremendous noise. In regarding this stupendous rock, which stood alone in an immense ocean, we could not but consider it as an object which had been able to resist one of those great convulsions of nature, that change the very form of those parts of the globe which they are permitted to desolate.
SOME
Kaempfer, i. 109.
tin is found in
Japan
of exquisite fineness,
TIN.
almost equal to silver, but it is a metal very little used.
IRON abounds in the
Japanese
empire;
IRON.
that likewise is fused into cylindrical forms; it is as dear as copper; most sorts of instruments are composed of that metal and of brass; but they are wise enough to make their culinary vessels of a composition of iron.
COALS abound in
Japan,
COALS.
but notwithstanding the severity of the weather in winter, the inhabitants chiefly use charcoal, placed on ashes in a great pot, so prepared as to prevent any noxious effect from the fumes.
THAT useful article, salt, is made from the sea-water,
SALT.
filtrated through sand, and then boiled to a proper consistence, and calcined in earthen pots.
Naptha
is frequent in one part of
Japan.
NAPTHA.
The natives collect and burn it in their lamps instead of oil.
Sulphur
abounds in an island called
Iwogasima
or
Sulphur isle,
SULPHUR.
near the province of
Satzuma. Kaempfer
gives a curious account of the place.
It is, says he, not above a hundred years since they first ventured thither. It was thought before that time to be wholly inaccessible, and by reason of the thick smoke which was observed continually to arise from it, and of the several spectres, and other frightful uncommon apparitions, people fancied to see there in the night, it was believed to be a dwelling-place of devils, till at last a resolute and courageous man offered himself, and obtained leave accordingly to go and examine the state and situation of it. He chose fifty resolute fellows for this expedition, who upon going on shore found neither hell nor devils, but a large flat spot of ground at the top, which was so thoroughly covered with sulphur, that wherever they walked a thick smoke issued from under their feet. Ever since that time this island brings in to the prince of
Satzuma
about 20 chests of silver
per annum,
arising only from the sulphur dug up there, besides what he gets by the trees and timber growing along the shore.
VULCANOES are to be found in many parts of the empire,
VULCANOES.
which in general abounds with their great
pabulum, sulphur
and metallic bodies. Some have burnt incessantly for ages; others have ceased, or only emit flames periodically. The most noted is the mountain
Fesi,
in the province of
Surugu,
equal in height to the pike of
Teneriff,
and capt with everlasting snow.
No country is more subject to earthquakes than
Japan;
EARTHQUAKES.
so frequent are they, that the natives regard them with as little terror as a
European
would a storm; yet no annals can produce such tragical relations of their sad effects. That in 1586, told by Father
de Frocs,
preserved by
Kaempfer,
is one, but dreadfully surpassed by the earthquake of 1704, when the whole city of
Jeddo
was destroyed, and two hundred thousand of its inhabitants perished in the ruins.
IN many places are springs of water most intensely hot;
HOT SPRINGS.
some boil up with such violence as to fling up the largest stones which are laid over them; we are not told to what height. They are said to be periodical, so I suspect them to be of the same nature with the
Geysers
of
Iceland.
Those of a gentler heat are used as baths for several disorders. Those of the boiling heat were formerly applied (as I shall have occasion to mention) for the most cruel purposes.
THE empire of
Japan
consists of three greater islands;
NIPON.
the largest,
Nipon,
which gives name to the whole, is of a curvated form, and approximates at the southern end to the south-western extremity of
Korea.
Between both are the streights of
Korea,
and within is the great gulph of the same name, bounded on the eastern side by the concavity of
Nipon.
According to M.
D'Anvilles
scale, that island is above six hundred miles in length.
THE next island is that of
Sikokf,
or the country of
four,
SIKOKF.
because divided into four provinces. It is irregular in its form, and lodged between two large projections of
Nipon;
its length is two hundred miles.
BETWEEN its eastern end and the west of the salient part of
Nipon,
AWAD.
is a smaller island named
Awad.
THE third, or more southerly island, is separated from the western part of
Sikokf
by a narrow strait, and is named
Saikokf,
SAIKOKF OR KIUSIU.
or the western country, and
Kiusiu,
or the country of
nine,
because divided into nine provinces.
AROUND most of these greater islands are innumerable small ones, inhabited or uninhabited; among them
Firando
and
Gesima
are the most celebrated, as having been the seat of
European
factories, and distinguished in history.
THE
Japanese
islands were certainly visited,
VISITED BY MARCO POLO.
in the thirteenth century, by the famous
Marco Polo.
He describes the riches of the country in high terms, and says that the emperor's palace was covered with plates of gold, and that the seas abounded with fine pearls of a red cast. He adds, that the inhabitants were idolaters, and worshipped monstrous images with the heads of beasts, and with many hands; and that if they took any foreigner who was able to ransom himself, they let him go; otherwise they killed him, and with their friends made a feast on his body.
Marco Polo
Travels, p. 125, 126.
gives a long account of the imprudent invasion of this island by the great
Tartarian
emperor
Kublai Khan
(the
Siu Tsu
of the
Chinese
Du Halde, i. 214.
) about the year 1281, who sent there his general,
Argas,
with a most numerous army and vast fleet. The greater part of his ships perished in a tempest, and all the men who escaped to shore were massacred by the
Japanese,
so that very few returned to give any account of the misfortune. The
Chinese
never more attempted the empire of
Japan.
THAT country cannot properly be said to have been discovered by the
Europeans
till the year 1542,
DISCOVERED BY THE PORTUGUESE.
by three
Portuguese,
named
de Mota, Zeimoto,
and
Peixolo;
these, as I have before mentioned, in common with the rest of their countrymen, instigated by avarice, had sailed from
Malacca
in search of an imaginary spot, called the
island of gold.
Driven by a hurricane, they were wrecked on the shores of
Japan:
The lord of the district received them with great humanity, and signified an earnest desire of entering into a commerce with a nation which he flattered himself would be so advantageous to him and his subjects.
IT was at this period that
Francis de Xavier,
FRANCIS DE XAVIER,
the great apostle of the
Indies,
was deeply engaged in his mission in the peninsula of
Malacca.
His fame had reached
Japan,
when a native of the country determined to make a visit to that part of
India,
to be satisfied of the truth of the wonders reported to have been wrought by
de Xavier.
He came, attended by two servants, was converted to Christianity, and adopted the name of
Paul
of the
Holy Faith;
so zealous was he in his new religion, that he may truly be called the
Apostle
of
Japan. De Xavier
determined to attend him to his native country. He associated with him two Jesuits, sailed and landed in 1551 at
Kangoxima,
in the kingdom of
Satzuma,
on the southern part of the island of
Kiusiu,
and soon after passed to
Firando,
a small island, where he, assisted by
Paul,
made converts innumerable.
INTRODUCES CHRISTIANITY.
His zeal then determined him to visit the emperor, at the royal city of
Miaco;
he arrived at the court, and was received with much respect. The multitude of proselytes was incredible. The benevolence and humanity of our religion were the principal instruments with which the missionaries operated on the minds of the people, who compared the conduct of the Christian preachers with that of their own
Bonzees.
The last suppose that all sick and infirm people are the objects of the wrath of Heaven, and constantly leave them to perish. The missionaries observed the precepts of our Saviour; they fed the hungry, cloathed the naked, and administered to the sick. These irresistible proofs of the superior excellency of our doctrine, gave success to their labours; for near a century the true religion flourished, and spread more and more over the empire. Other circumstances concurred to facilitate the reception of the gospel in
Japan.
The
Bonzees
preached the necessity of mediators in their
Xaca
and other gods; they underwent long and severe fasts and mortifications, and both Christians and
Japanese
agreed in the worshipping of images, in the monastic life, in beads, processions, praying for the dead, and even auricular confession.
The
Jesuits
were followed,
JESUITS, &c.
as occurred in
China,
by crowds of
Dominicans, Franciscans,
and
Augustlines
to assist in the harvest. The holy men soon fell into the same error as in that empire; they quickly began to quarrel with the Jesuits, accused them of avarice, and of temporizing with the vices and superstitions of the
Japanese.
Let the reader peruse p. 98 of this volume, and he will learn the imprudency of all these religious adventurers.
THE vast profits resulting from the commercial and worldly spirit of the Jesuits, were one cause of the toleration which the Christian religion experienced for so great a length of time. The emperors saw the wealth the
Europeans
brought into their country; and as long as the Christians did not disturb the peace of the government, they permitted the conversion of their subjects, and the exercise of our religion. The
Portuguese
settled at first at the harbors of
Bungo
and
Firando,
and afterwards at
Nagasaki
only. They carried on immense trade; and in one year exported not less than three hundred tons of gold from
Miaco,
the emporium, at that time, of all their commerce in this part of the world. In the year 1636, when their trade was on the decline, they even sent from that town 2350 chests of silver.
The
Dutch
introduced themselves into
Japan
about the year 1600, established their first factory at
Firando,
and obtained from the emperor a patent for a free commerce. The deep enmity between them and the
Portuguese
soon began to shew itself, and each nation took every possible means to supplant its rival. In the year 1636 an opportunity offered.
CONSPIRACY.
The
Dutch
happened to take a
Portuguese
ship, in which were found certain letters from a captain
Moro
to the
Portuguese
ministry at
Lisbon,
wherein he had laid a plan for murdering the emperor, and reducing the empire to the power of his countrymen.
Moro
was a
Japanese
by birth, chief of the
Portuguese
in
Japan,
and very zealous for the Christian religion. The letters were carefully transmitted to the emperor.
Moro
was empaled, and burnt alive. After a little time an edict followed, which entirely banished every foreigner from the empire, with the most rigid prohibition of their ever entering it again. A persecution was raised against the Christians,
PERSECUTION.
perhaps the most horrid that ever was known; it lasted forty years, and thousands perished by the most dreadful torments; it was computed that above a third of the people of the empire were professors of Christianity. The punishments those miserable creatures underwent are not to be related, the inventions of Hell itself must have been put to the stretch. If any one has the strange curiosity of being acquainted with them, he need only turn to
Ogilvy
's History of
Japan
P. 253.
, which he will probably shut with the same horror as I did. Let me only add, that the boiling water mentioned by me at p. 247 of this work, was one of the instruments of torture, varied and lengthened by the most diabolical inventions. Those of
Singok
were the most horrible; they flow with vast violence and noise beneath a lofty precipice, and emit the most noisome sulphureous vapor, which rises to a great height. Hither the Christians were brought in multitudes; and in case they refused to renounce their religion, were carried bound to the summit of the mountain, and precipitated into the subjacent
Phlegethon.
IN order to impress on every subject a detestation of the
Christian
religion,
TREADING ON THE CRUCIFIX.
and possibly to discover if there be any latent favorers of its doctrine, the following annual custom is preserved throughout the empire: people of all ranks and periods of life, even to children of a certain age, are assembled in the different places, where they perform the ceremony of trampling upon the cross. It was even said to have been a rite exacted from the
Dutch,
as the price of their commerce with the
Japanese. Swift,
in his voyage to
Laputa,
is humorous on the subject; for when
Gulliver,
under the character of a
Dutchman,
petitions the emperor to be excused the ceremony, his majesty, much surprised, tells him, that he was the first of his countrymen who ever made any scruple, and that he suspected he must be a Christian, and not a
Hollander.
DUTCH.
In 1611 the
Dutch
sent a solemn embassy to the emperor, then resident at
Miaco,
and were said to have at that time obtained an advantageous commercial treaty; at length they fell under the general edict of expulsion; yet even after that severe decree, procured re-admission, under most mortifying restrictions; they virtually are compelled to renounce their religion; they must give up their prayer-books on first landing, and relinquish during their whole confinement every mark of Christianity. But what will not a
Dutchman
do for gain! They make from the factory an annual journey to the emperor's court, which they dignify with the name of embassy; but it is no more than a compulsory visit to present their gifts: their manner of travelling, both on their way and on their return, is under a strict guard, more like that of a parcel of convicts, than the merchants of a great commercial nation. One ship only is permitted to trade with this empire annually, and that is confined to the port of
Nagasaki,
in the little isle of
Desima,
on the west side of the island
Kiusiu.
In fact, this is the only secure harbor in all the mighty empire of
Japan.
As soon as a vessel arrives, a
Japanese
guard is put on board; the number, size, age, and complexion of the crew noted down; every living creature in the vessel is to be accounted for; a monkey died, and the coroner's inquest sat on the body. The next thing done is to take an exact inventory of, and to cause all the sails, masts, ropes, rudder, guns, arms, ammunition, &c. and all the tackle of the ships, to be conveyed into the emperor's warehouse, there to be kept under lock and seal till the time comes for their departure, when they are restored, according to the inventory taken, of which both parties have an exact duplicate
Some of these precautions,
Thunberg
says, are now omitted. E.
.
THE factory is imprisoned in the little island the whole year,
FACTORY.
excepting during the six weeks of open trade, when the
Japanese
come there with their goods, erect booths, and have all sorts of amusements.
SMUGGLING.
Smuggling, even of the most trifling articles, is forbidden under pain of death;
Kaempfer
History of
Japan,
i. 330.
assures us, that three hundred were executed for that crime only in six or seven years time; two were put to death while he was in the island, and the factory obliged to attend; their crime was no more than smuggling one pound of camplior.
THE articles imported by the
Dutch,
TRADE. IMPORTS.
are raw silk from
China, Tonquin, Bengal,
and
Persia;
and from the same countries all kinds of stuffs, silks, and woollens, provided they are not wrought with gold or silver; various sorts of the cotton manufactures of
India,
but not painted; woollen cloths, stuffs, and serges from
Europe;
buffalo and deer hides from
Siam
and
Cambodia;
tanned hides from
Persia
and
Bengal;
pepper, sugar, cloves, and nutmegs from
India,
or the spicy isles;
gum-lac,
sandal-wood, camphor, from
Borneo; Catechu, Storax Liquida,
saffron and
Costus,
coral, cinnabar, antimony, lead, saltpetre, and borax, looking glasses, which the
Japanese
break to make spying glasses, magnifiers, &c. files, needles, and various sorts of iron ware, from
Europe;
large drinking glasses, spectacles, toys, curiosities natural and artificial, and strange birds of all kinds. Once the
Dutch
brought a
Cassowary;
it was considered as a bird of ill omen, and the owner was obliged to send it back.
IN return the
Dutch
obtain,
EXPORTS.
during the six weeks fair, gold, silver, and copper bullion, japanned cabinet and other works, porcelain, tea, and
Japanese
camphor, and also copper in bars, and other forms. These constitute the sum of the traffic, which on the whole is far from considerable, ever since the abolition of Christianity in the empire. The
Abbe Raynal
estimates the whole annual commerce at little more than forty-five thousand pounds.
THE first time that the
English
traded directly with
Japan,
ENGLISH.
was in 1613, when captain
Saris
entered the port of
Firando;
he met with the most courteous reception from the king of the island.
Saris
was charged with letters and presents from our commercial pacific monarch
James
I. to his imperial majesty of
Japan.
After a short stay at
Firando,
he proceeded on his journey to
Surunga,
where the emperor at that time kept his court. A most honorable answer was returned, and privilege of trade granted to the
English
throughout the
Japanese
empire;
Saris
then made a visit to the emperor's son at
Jedo.
The history of these transactions is given by
Purchas
Pilgrim, vol. i. p. 366-377.
, and is well worth consulting.
Saris
found at
Firando, William Adams,
an
Englishman,
who by a strange chance was flung on this island, and detained there
Ibid, p. 125-132.
till his death. He was of no small use to
Saris
as an interpreter.
Saris
established a factory at
Firando,
till the general expulsion of the
Europeans,
the
Dutch
excepted.
THE
French,
in the time of
Colbert,
FRENCH.
were desirous of partaking of the advantages of the
Japanese
trade; that great minister proposed sending a number of
Huguenots,
who might safely swear that they were not of the same religion with the
Portuguese;
but the jealous
Japanese
rejected the request.
THE
Chinese
had once prodigious commerce in this empire,
CHINESE.
and came and settled in any numbers they pleased; but in time the jealous
Japanese
took umbrage at the vast concourse of those foreigners, and at length confined them to a certain precinct, near the same island with the
Dutch.
They are allowed to have three sales in the year, one in spring, when they are permitted to dispose of the cargoes of twenty jonks, a second of thirty jonks, and a third in autumn of twenty. All above the number are obliged to return without being suffered to unlade.
THE religion of the
Japanese
is idolatry:
THEIR DEITIES.
their deities are amazingly numerous; tradition says that they had been men eminent for their piety or mortification, deified after death for their several virtues. They also hold that their earliest emperors were gods and demi-gods, and that during the first period, they were governed by seven great celestial spirits, each of which reigned a certain, but immense number of years. Their temples are very numerous, dispersed not only over the cities, but even the mountains and deserts. Their idols assume a thousand extravagant forms, and colossal sizes; in one of their temples is an idol of copper gilt, the very chair it sits on is seventy feet high, and the head so large as to be capable of containing fifteen men; many of them work miracles, and bring abundance of gain to the temple or monastery which possesses such a treasure.
A TEMPLE near
Miaco
takes its name from its number of idols, which amount to 33,333; Doctor
Kaempfer
gives us a view
History of
Japan,
vol. ii. tab. 36.
of this vast repository, and in the following plate represents its celebrated idol
Quenwoa,
sitting on the flower
Tarate.
THE monastic life is much in vogue in
Japan.
MONASTIC LIFE.
The monasteries are filled with regulars and seculars, like those of the church of
Rome;
some lead most austere lives; others indulge like the plump
Benedictines;
others are accused of great irregularities.
THERE is one order of singular austerity, that of the
Jammabos,
i. e. the
mountain soldiers;
they in one sense answer to our military religious, being bound to fight for the gods and religion of their country, but never have degenerated into the voluptuousness of the knights of the
European
orders. They pass their time amidst the holy mountains, and practise the greatest mortifications; the richer live more at their ease in their own houses. This order is now divided into two sects, one called
Jofanfa,
the votaries of which bind themselves to ascend once a year the great mountain of
Fikoasan,
a journey of vast difficulty, by reason of its heights and dreadful precipices, but still more tremendous on account of the penalty attending any impure person making the attempt; he infallibly is possessed by the devil of the mountain, and becomes stark mad. The other sect is named
Fonsansa;
this likewise is obliged to make an annual pilgrimage to the summit of the
Omine,
a mountain not less terrible than the other; but should any one presume to ascend it without being duly prepared by purification, he is certain of being flung down the precipices, or seized with a lingering illness, the penalties of his neglect.
THE
Japanese
religion is split into a multitude of sects;
VARIOUS SECTS.
each differ in some tenets, yet all agree in five indispensible commandments. 1. They are not to kill, or eat of any thing that is killed; 2. they are not to steal; 3. nor to lie; 4. nor to commit adultery; 5. nor to drink wine. Is it not evident that they brought with them, on the dispersion of mankind, some of the Mosaical laws, and in the last that they had adopted the rite of the
Rechabites?
Japan
has its peculiar language,
LANGUAGE.
different from all the
Asiatic,
and probably the primitive one, brought over by the colonists who originally peopled the islands, and came directly from the banks of the
Euphrates,
on the dispersion of mankind after the confusion of languages. The
Japanese
have an opinion that the primoeval emigrants settled in the province of
Isje;
numbers therefore make a pilgrimage annually to the antient spot, the place where their ancestors dwelt, and as such honor it with peculiar acts of devotion. At
Isje
are two temples
Kaempfer,
i. tab. 17. 18.
; within that which they name the
True Temple,
nothing is to be seen but a looking glass, and bits of white paper, emblems of truth and purity. They probably brought with them a pure Monotheism, which was afterwards converted into Polytheism, by their intermixing with the several nations, which subsequently contributed to the population of
Japan,
because it is reasonably believed, that empire received a vast increase of inhabitants by the numerous shipwrecks on its stormy coasts, and likewise by migrations from the neighboring
China
and
Korea.
Whether the vast reverence which the
Japanese
pay to their parents was copied from the
Chinese,
or whether it might not have been introduced by the primoeval colonists, as a part of the first great code of laws, the fifth commandment, I will not pretend to determine.
Japan
is governed by two emperors;
GOVERNMENT. SECULAR.
one called the
Cubo,
or secular monarch, who rules with absolute power; all the princes and great lords of the empire pay him the most servile obedience. Formerly the whole was divided into small independent states, the rulers were stiled kings and princes, many of which retain the names, and govern absolute enough; but entirely under the direction of the emperor.
THE antient title of the monarch was
Dairo;
he was also sovereign pontiff, and like the pope the supreme head of the church. In that character his person was held so sacred, that little short of divine worship was paid to him; for a long period he governed by means of a prime minister, who was called the
Cubo,
a dignity usually bestowed on one of his younger sons; the father, like other eastern monarchs, devoting his whole time to indolence and sensuality. At length a
Cubo
arose, who dethroned the
Dairo,
or rather usurped his more important office, that of secular emperor; he permitted him to retain that of pontiff.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
The
Cubo
thus stripped him of all sort of power except ecclesiastical, but preserves the farce of paying him all external respect, as much as if he had enjoyed the antient plenitude of authority; he renders him an imaginary homage, and pretends to act only as his deputy, and to hold the empire from him.
THE
Dairo
was permitted to reside in the palace, in the old imperial city of
Miaco,
and to keep up the antient state, but that is now done with difficulty, as the
Cubos
have successively lessened the revenues. Still he reigns supreme over the church. The people pay him the utmost veneration, and the
Cubo
himself is obliged to marry one of his daughters, in case he has any that are marriageable. The first
Cubo
who usurped the empire, retired to
Jedo,
which is the other great capital of the island.
THE laws of
Japan,
as is told of those of
Draco,
SEVERE LAWS,
may be said to have been written in blood.
Montesquieu
observes, that it is to supply the great defect of the religion of the country, in its ignorance of the doctrine of future rewards and punishment. Almost every crime is punished with death,
AND PUNISHMENTS.
and often attended with the most excruciating torments. Crucifixion is very common; sometimes the malefactor is crucified erect, sometimes with the head down. I have little doubt but that these punishments were unknown in the empire, till the propagation of Christianity. The ideas were taken from the crucifixes of the Christians, and from the pictures of the suffering of our SAVIOR. The mode in which death was inflicted on the apostle St.
Peter,
probably gave rise to that variation of cruelty in
Japan.
THE punishment for gentlemen and soldiers is ripping open the belly. As a peculiar favor, they are sometimes permitted to be their own executioners. The emperor sends his mandate; the person whom he so favors, receives it with the utmost respect; makes a great feast, and on the conclusion puts the imperial order in execution, in the very presence of his friends and family.
FROM the variety of feature and form of body in the
Japanese
of the several provinces, it is evident they are descended from different races of people, who have migrated, or have been cast on the coasts at various times. "Thus," says
Kaempfer,
i. 95.
although the
Japanese
in the main, particularly the common people of
Nipon,
be of a very ugly appearance, short-sized, strong, thick-legged, tawny, with flattish noses and thick eyelids (though the eyes stand not so deep in the forehead as in the
Chinese
), yet the descendants of the eldest and noblest families, of the princes and lords of the empire, have somewhat more majestick in their shape and countenance, being more like the
Europeans.
The inhabitants of the provinces
Satzuma, Oosijma,
and
Fiuga,
are of a middle size, strong, courageous, and manly, otherwise civil and polite. The same is observed of the inhabitants of some of the northern provinces in the great island
Nipon,
excepting those of the great province
Osju,
who are said to be beyond others cruel and unmerciful. The inhabitants of some provinces of
Saikokf,
particularly of
Fisen,
are short, slender, but well-shaped, of a good handsome appearance, and extremely polite. The inhabitants of the great island
Nipon,
particularly of its eastern provinces, are known from others by their big heads, flat noses, and musculous fleshy complexion.
Kaempfer
Hist. of
Japan,
i. 93.
relates,
ISLE OF BLACKS.
that some centuries ago the
Japanese
discovered the island of
Genkaisima,
situate to the north of
Nipon,
and inhabited by
Owi,
or
black devils;
and that after extirpating them, they peopled the isle with a colony of their own. These blacks are described in the antient chronicles of
Japan
to have worn long hair spread over their shoulders, and to have had strange household goods and high-crowned hats.
Kaempfer
justly imagines them to have been
Malayes
wrecked on that island. Those people are remarkable for wearing their hair of a great length; and as to the hats, they most probably were
European,
and among the articles imported into the
Malaye
islands, which in old times were brought over land to
Ormuz,
and from thence dispersed by sea to the peninsula of
Malacca, Siam,
and other places.
NOTWITHSTANDING the
Japanese
have for ages scarcely known the pest of war,
MANNERS.
yet they are endowed with the greatest heroism. If in any quarrel they have been conquered by an enemy, and find they cannot revenge the insult, they will put themselves to death: I speak of this, not in praise, but to describe a high spirit, bordering on brutality. That spirit, exerted in a foreign land against the treachery of
Peter Nuyts,
the
Dutch
governor, merits our admiration and applause
Univ. Hist. vol. x. p. 321.
Kaempfer
's
Japan,
vol. ii. app. 57.
. To fill the catalogue of their vices, they are distrustful, proud, cruel, and destitute of benevolence; and from the doctrine of their
Bonzees,
are so insensible to the wants of their fellow-creatures, as to suffer them to perish by denying them every sort of relief. To their intrepidity may be added their patience under labor, their ability to undergo any hardships. Their other virtues are numerous: they have great industry, great moderation in their pleasures, are entirely free from luxury and intemperance; moderate in their desires of wealth, just in their dealings, and true to their word; chaste in word and action; religious, but apt to deviate into the grossest superstitions.
THEY are celebrated for the quickness of their apprehensions, and facility in learning. Before the arrival of the missionaries, their acquired knowledge was at a low ebb. What they attained after that period may possibly be lost. At that time they were very ignorant astronomers,
ASTROLOGY.
but much addicted to judicial astrology; they undertake nothing without consulting some pretending impostor.
GEOGRAPHY.
As to geography they made the world consist of three parts,
China, Siam,
and
Japan.
We may see by their maps their extent in that branch of science; we have one as a proof in the
British Museum.
THEIR skill in physic is not less moderate;
PHYSIC.
their great art is that of the pulse. The physicians first feel one arm and then another, as if the impulse did not come from the same machine, the heart. Their
Aesculapius
or
Apollo,
is the god
Jakusi.
They have very few remedies; two form the principal, the one is the
Acu-punctura,
or pricking with the needle,
ACU-PUNCTURA.
in use for a dreadful species of colic common in
Japan.
The professors in the art make use of certain needles; and form with much ceremony and superstition, the punctures in three rows
Kaempfer, ii. App. p. 29. tab. 43.
. But this operation is applied for the cure of other disorders
A singular coincidence with the Chinese-practice, mentioned by Dr. Gillan. Embassy, vol. ii. p. 249. E.
.
THE other great remedy is the
Moxa,
MOXA.
a caustic applied in almost every distemper. It is made of the leaves of the
Artemisia vulgaris,
and being set on fire, is placed on the part affected. The flame is not visible, nor is the burning attended with any considerable pain. The astrologers are consulted on the occasion, who have figures of the human body drawn like the man in the almanack, with all its parts marked to which the
Moxa
is to be applied
Kaempfer, ii. tab. 44.
, for the physicians seem to act with peculiar reverence to the influence of the stars.
THIS remedy is also in use in
India,
and other countries in
Asia.
It has even been introduced into
Europe
as a cure for the gout, but I believe with such little success, that the practice has long since been exploded.
THE
Japanese
have another medicine,
A FAMOUS POWDER.
a powder to be taken internally in colicky diseases. The inventor had the art to give out that it was communicated to him in a dream by
Jakusi
the god of physic, which stamped such a veneration for this medicine, that he enriched himself so greatly as to build a temple with part of his gains, and the family, who keep the
nostrum
to themselves, have erected two or three more; the chief ingredient is supposed to be the
China
root, great quantities of which, and also of the
Ginseng
root, is imported into
Japan
for medical purposes.
BOTANY is much studied by the physicians of the empire, and many books are composed on the subject. Dr.
Thunberg
met with two physicians at
Jedo
who had great knowledge, not only in their own profession, but in botany, mineralogy, and zoology.
THE famous
Terra Japonica
or
Catechu
is prepared chiefly at
Odowara;
CATECHU.
the principal ingredient is foreign, being an extract from the
Mimosa Catechu
Woodville's Med. Bot. vol. ii. p. 183. tab. 86.
, a small tree which grows in great plenty on the mountains of
Hindoostan,
not the
Areca catechu,
as had been long supposed; we were first favored with this discovery by Mr.
Ker,
assistant surgeon in
Bengal:
Much is manufactured in the province of
Bahar;
an ointment is composed from it of general repute throughout
India,
being found a most useful astringent in that hot climate. It has for a great length of time kept its place in our dispensatory as an efficacious medicine in weakness of the bowels in general, and the consequential fluxes. It has also been used with much success as an antiseptic, in cases of a putrid dissolved state of the blood, by the great physicians
Huxham
and
Pringle.
In
Japan
it is sold perfumed, and made up in various forms for the use chiefly of the ladies, who hold it in great esteem to fasten their teeth, and give a sweetness to their breath.
THE
Japanese
are fond of good paintings,
PAINTINGS.
and the rich will give immense prices for pieces of merit. As to their own artists they are on a level with those of the
Chinese,
but excel us greatly in the beauty of their colors.
THEIR cabinet-works,
JAPAN WORKS.
and the several things which go under the common name of
Japan,
are well known for the excellency of the varnish, which surpasses that of all the world. The black also is most intense, and the coloring or painting exquisite; as to the brass furniture of the cabinets, it is very coarse and clumsy. But the
Japanese
excel in iron manufactures;
STEEL.
their metal is of the best quality; their arms are muskets, bows and arrows, daggers, and scymitars. The last of a most remarkable temper; it is customary to try the edge on the bodies of executed malefactors, which they cut to pieces by way of experiment.
WHEN I am on the subject of arms,
ARMY.
I may mention the military of the empire. It is computed that the standing army consists of a hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. In a kingdom which can have no foreign wars, nor fears intestine tumults, this is surprising; but since the conspiracy of the
Portuguese,
and the extirpation of Christianity, the emperors have been in constant fears of plots and invasions from the
European
powers.
LET me now return to the arts.
PRINTING.
Printing has been among them from time immemorial; like the
Chinese,
they cut the letters on blocks of wood, but excel them in neatness; they print and write like that nation. In this art, and in several others, as well as in customs, there is such an agreement that I cannot doubt but that the
Chinese
were their original instructors in science; but, as is often the case, the scholar has excelled the master.
THEY also claim the invention of gunpowder,
GUNPOWDER.
but remain inferior to the
Chinese
in its uses, not only in artillery, but in all species of fire-works.
THE architecture of the
Japanese
resembles in some degree that of the
Chinese;
ARCHITECTURE.
it is much more plain, being not loaden with ornaments as that of
China.
The common houses are small, consisting of two stories; the upper of which is seldom inhabited, and the rest is almost destitute of furniture, except mats, and a small table to eat on. The cedar
(Juniperus virginiana)
fir, and the bamboo, are the great materials for building. Their mirrors are made of metal, but never used but at their toilets. The windows are covered with a white paper thin enough to admit the light.
THE castles of the nobility consist of three different inclosures,
CASTLES.
one round the other, and are defended by a deep ditch; but never by artillery: they are usually at the skirts of large towns; the owners are bound to keep them in repair.
THE temples are often very magnificent,
TEMPLES.
and some are peculiarly remarkable for the height of the roof, the elegance of the sculpture, and beauty of the gilding and painting.
HERE are considerable manufactures of silk and cotton,
SILK AND COTTON.
the produce of their own country; but the
Dutch
are allowed to import a great quantity of cloths, stuffs, chintzes and cottons.
THE dress of the better sort of people are silk, of the lower,
HABITS.
cotton. Their habits are loose gowns with large sleeves. In summer they are thin; in winter quilted; and often they put on one or more additional, according to the severity of the season. The women's apparel resembles the men's, only the gowns of the former are much longer, and trail on the ground; men of rank also wear trowsers, and short black jackets placed over their gowns. They use sandals, but do not wear stockings; and always go bare-headed, except in a journey, when they put on a conical cap of straw; at other times they protect themselves from the sun and rain by fans and umbrellas.
THE manufacture of porcelain is of great antiquity.
PORCELAIN.
I CONCLUDE the account of
Japan
with a very brief mention of the two capitals, of which
Miaco
is the most antient,
MIACO.
and the original seat of empire. The plan is given by
Kaempfer
Hist. of Japan, vol. ii. tab. 27.
, copied from the original now deposited in the
British Museum,
by which it appears most regularly built, the streets crossing each other at right angles. It lies in about Lat. 35° 40′ north, in a large plain, surrounded with beautiful verdant hills and mountains, and watered by numbers of small streams.
Miaco
is the residence of the
Dairo,
or ecclesiastical emperor, and is full of manufactures of all kinds, being the chief mercantile town in the empire. Here, the richest stuffs with gold and silver flowers are woven; copper smelted; and among the most trifling matters, are made the puppets with moving heads.
THE number of inhabitants in
Kaempser
's time was 529,726, of which 52,169 were ecclesiastics.
VARIOUS streams unite and form a river which flows from hence to the great commercial city and port of
Osacca,
on a fine bay; which last is said to be so populous, that in case of need it could send forth an army of eighty thousand men.
DOCTOR
Kaempfer
gives
Hist. of Japan, vol. ii. p. 468. tab. 25.
a very good idea of the beauty and singularity of some of the coasts between
Miaco
and
Osacca,
in his views of
Simoasi, Morizu,
and
Muru,
with the semicircular hills with which those places are backed, most characteristically cultivated to the very tops.
Jedo,
JEDO.
the residence of the temporal, and in fact the real emperor, is built with far less regularity
Ibid. vol. ii. tab. 39.
, because built by degrees, and on no certain plan: It stands in Lat. 35° 32′ north. The palace is very large, and covers a vast extent of ground. The city has great numbers of temples dedicated to
Amida,
and the various deities; the ecclesiastics are of course prodigiously numerous. The houses are in general small and mean, and liable to frequent fires; four thousand have been burnt by a single accident. A large river runs through the city, and falls into the harbor; one branch encompasses the castle, and divided into five streams, unites with the other in the port.
THE naval force of the
Japanese
is very small,
NAVY.
the emperors not having thought proper to maintain a fleet since the expulsion of foreigners, presuming it impossible to have quarrels with nations with whom they could have no intercourse.
SHIPPING.
The merchant ships, which are built only for conveying goods from island to island, are most clumsily made, and by the emperor's order, in such a form as renders it impossible for them to go far to sea. They are commonly about twenty-eight yards long, and eight broad. The stern is square, with a hole left in the middle, expressly to increase the danger of distant navigation; both stern and prow are very lofty. The ships have only one mast, and are constructed for rowing as well as failing. The figures in
Kaempfer
Kaempfer, Hist. of Japan, vol. ii. tab. 21.
will give the best notion of their form.
Korea,
and certain other territories,
KOREA.
have been long tributary to the
Japanese
empire. The neighboring
Korea
shall be first mentioned. I refer the reader to a future volume for farther particulars of that country. Here I shall briefly add its history as far as concerns the
Japanese.
It had been conquered first by
Mikaddo Tsiuu Ai,
emperor of
Japan,
and after that,
Anno Christi
201, by his relict
Dsin Ju,
a princess celebrated for her abilities and valor. The
Koreans
in time shook off the
Japanese
yoke, and continued independent till
Taiko,
having usurped the secular empire, in order to free himself from such of the nobility who were disaffected to his government (and under pretence of reducing the
Koreans
) sent them at the head of a potent army: they landed on the continent, obliged the
Koreans
(but not without the bravest resistance) to become once more tributary to the empire.
Taiko
died, the affairs of
Korea
were neglected, and the
Japanese
driven down to the coasts, and of all their conquests left only in possession of the maritime parts of the province of
Tsiosijn,
and two islands, one called
Iku,
the other
Tsussima,
on which is kept a garrison of fifty men; but these islands are neither remarkable for their size or their fertility.
THE articles brought from thence are cod,
PRODUCE.
and other fish pickled, walnuts, rare medicinal plants, and flowers, and the famous
Gingseng
roots, and before the imperial prohibition, certain earthen pots made in the
Tartarian
provinces of
Japii
and
Niuke.
THE other country dependent on
Japan,
ISLE OF MATMAY.
is the island of
Matmay
or
Matsumai,
part of the land of
Jeso,
divided from the north end of
Nipon
by an incurvated streight, in the nearest place sixty
versts,
or forty-five miles broad. According to
Charlevoix,
in his
Fastes Chronologiques,
the first
European
who visited that island was father
Jerom de Angelis,
a
Sicilian
jesuit, who went there by sea from
Japan,
and landed at the capital. He reached it in the year 1620, and returned in 1621, but without being certain whether it was an island or part of the continent, nor has he left us any account, either of it or its inhabitants.
THE next
Europeans
who visited this country were the
Dutch,
LAND OF JESO.
who in 1643 sailed from the
Cape Nabo
in the ships
Castricom,
captain
De Vries,
and the
Breskes,
on a voyage of discovery off the coasts of
Tartary.
In Lat. 44° 30′ north, they fell in with what they call
Eso
or
Jeso.
Whether this was the north extremity of
Matsumai,
or another land almost contiguous to it, does not appear. By Mr.
Arrowsmith
's map it should seem that these discoverers sailed along the eastern coast of a certain country from the most southern part of
Matsumai,
as high as Lat. 49° 30′, and gave names to several bays or points of lands. As to the western sides of the region, they probably are quite undiscovered. In the map I am so partial to, not only that coast, but those of the corresponding continent are left undetermined, noted only with dotted lines, even as high as the south end of the island of
Sachalin.
The intermediate space is the supposed streight of
Jeso.
Whether the land of
Jeso
is, as Mr.
Müller
conjectures, any more than an archipelago, or whether it is part of the
Tartarian
continent, at present remains extremely doubtful.
Matsumai
alone seems to have been proved to be an island.
The voyage of the unfortunate
de la Perouse,
has thrown considerable light on the hitherto undescribed land of
Jeso,
and the opposite shore of
Tartary.
After coasting for some time the inhospitable isles of
Japan,
that able navigator traversed the intervening sea, till he came in sight of the continent of
Asia,
in Lat. 42°, which he followed in a northerly direction, and in Lat. 45° 13′ landed at the
Baie de Ternai.
Here he found a country of the most abundant vegetation, but shewing no signs of being occupied, except by wandering hunters, or occasional visitants by sea. Game of all kinds were seen in quantities, and the sea afforded a copious supply of cod, herring, and falmon. In an excursion inland, some of the party discovered a tomb, in which were deposited two bodies clad in the skin of bears,
Chinese
coin, and copper ornaments were attached to their girdles, and near them lay silver earings, an iron hatchet, a knife, a wooden spoon, a comb, and a small bag of rice.
Still pursuing the coasts of
Chinese Tartary,
the navigators touched at a bay to which they gave the name of
Suffrein,
situated in Lat. 47° 51′; continual fogs retarded their progress. In Lat. 48° 35′ they discovered to the east the apparently rocky and barren shores of the nominal land of
Jeso,
part of the vast island
Tehoka
or
Sachalin,
to which they sailed. They found the inhabitants advanced to a considerable degree of civilization in consequence of their intercourse with the
Chinese,
parts of whose dress they had adopted, and with whom, and the
Mantchew Tartars,
they carried on a trade in dried fish and oil. Leaving these intelligent islanders, who had traced on the sand with almost geographical accuracy the object of his farther enquiry,
de la Perouse
proceeded northwards, and touched at a spot he denominated
Baie d'Estaing;
the channel between
Tehoka
and the continent narrowed to the distance of twelve leagues; the soundings also became gradually less, and in Lat. 51° 45′ did not exceed nine fathoms. The enterprizing spirit of a
Cook
or a
Vancouver
seemed here wanting;
de la Perouse,
after a trial of a few hours, remained satisfied that a bank of sand, over which boats only could pass, connected the shores and closed the extremity of the vast gulf. He however draws the just conclusion, that the island called
Sachalin
by the
Russians,
the northern extremity of which has long been known, extends from the 46th to the 54th degrees of latitude, and consequently includes a portion of the
Yedzo,
or
Jeso
of our geographers. The straights which separate this island from that of
Matsumay,
are ascertained with accuracy, and justly distinguished by the name of the French navigator.—On the return of the ships from their fruitless attempt to penetrate into the sea of
Ochotsk,
they entered the
Baie de Castries,
on the coast of
Tartary.
Here was situated a small village, inhabited by a race whose high cheek bones and small eyes announced its origin; but it appeared only the occasional residence of different tribes for the purpose of fishing, who carry the produce of their labor to the
Mantchew Tartars,
living on the banks of the great river
Segalien
or
Amur,
from whom they receive in exchange for their dried salmon, grain, nanquin, and other articles probably brought from
China.
The custom of leaving in their huts, during the long season of absence for the purposes of commerce, their bows, arrows, nets, and such furniture as their few wants require, constitutes an interesting proof of the honesty of this harmless race of people; in several particulars they agree with the natives of
Kamchatka;
and tombs far exceeding the proportion of the apparent population, excited similar astonishment, and gives the same cause for investigation, as the numerous memorials of the dead on the coast of
America
observed by
Vancouver.
De la Perouse,
after doubling
Cape Crillon,
the southern extremity of the island
Sachalin,
in Lat. 45° 57′, landed in a secure bay, inhabited by a tribe of a darker complexion than those of the north, and more industrious; their utensils and dress shewed their intercourse with the
Japanese.
The distance from hence to the northern shores of the isle of
Matsamay,
does not exceed twelve leagues. The navigators here fell into the track, and had the opportunity of rendering justice to the veracity, of the Dutch voyagers in 1643. E.
That all the tract which the
Dutch
saw to the west is that land of
Jeso,
there can be no dispute; even
Matsumai
is comprehended under that name: that island was early annexed to the
Japanese
empire, and is chiefly peopled with exiles. We have two accounts of the inhabitants of this country; one is left us by Captain
Saris,
the other by the
Dutch
Purchas's Pilgr. vol. i. p. 384.
, the former gives us the following information on the subject, which he collected from a sensible
Japanese
who had actually visited the island of
Matsumai;
we may collect from him that it was known to the
Japanese
by the name of
Yedso
or
Jeso.
The relation beginning thus:
DESCRIBED.
THAT
Yedso
is an island, and lyeth on the north-west side of
Japan,
and distant from thence ten leagues; that the people are white, and of good condition, but very hairy all their bodies over like munkeyes. Their weapones are bowes and arrowes poysoned. The people in the southernmost part thereof doe understand weight and measure, whereof within the land thirtie dayes journey they are ignorant. They haue much silver and sand gold, whereof they make payment to the
Jappanners
for rice, &c. Rice and cotton cloath of
Japan,
is heere well requested, iron and lead is brought to them from
Japan.
Necessaries for the belly and backe are most vendible to them; rice transported from
Japan
to
Yedso,
hath yeelded foure for one.
THE town where the
Japanners
have their chiefe residence and mart is called
Matchma,
therein are five hundred household of
Japanners,
who likewise have a fort there, the governour whereof is called
Matchmadonna.
This towne of
Matchma,
is the principall marte towne of all
Yedzo,
whither the natines most resort to buy and sell, especially in
September
for their prouision for winter. In
March,
they bring downe salmon, and dryed fish of sundrie sorts, and other wares for which the
Japanners
barter, which the
Japanners
rather desire than siluer.
THE
Japanners
haue no setled being or trade in any other towne then
Matchma.
That further to the northward upon the same land, are people of very low stature like dwarfes. That the
Yedzos
are people of the stature of the
Japanners,
and haue no apparell but what is brought them from
Japan.
That there settleth a very violent current between
Yedzo
and
Japan,
which commeth from
Corea,
and setteth to the east-north-east. That the winds are for the most part, as usually they are in
Japan,
viz. that the northerly winds beginne in
September,
and end in
March,
and then the southerly winds begin to blow.
THE account given by the commander of the
Castricom,
concurs in a great measure with the above. The author of the
Recueil de Voyages au Nord,
vol. iv. has preserved the voyage. It appears that the captain had landed in several places; that in Lat. 44° 30′, he found the country very mountanous and high, covered with lofty trees, many of which were fit for masts; the soil very clayey and wet, and near the shores covered with brushwood; it was reported that there were several rich silver mines.
IN Lat. 45° 10′,
ACQUIES.
at a place called
Acquies,
the land was very high, and covered with trees. The soil clayey, but producing good fruits, such as mulberries, red and white gooseberries, raspberries, &c. also oaks and other kinds of trees, and in the vallies lilies of a vast height. The rivers are bordered by rushes, and also with red roses.
IN Lat. 46° 30′, he fell into a great gulph abounding with salmon, the shore was covered with vegetables, and had the appearance of the coasts of
England;
but the natives neither cultivated the ground, nor made any advantage of their rich soil. The most northern part of the range which he touched at on this coast, was in Lat. 48° 50′, where he found the land rise into little hills cloathed with herbage; and met with good anchorage, in from 25 to 40 fathoms depth, with a bottom of sand.
HE speaks in general of the inhabitants of the coast of
Jeso
as being strong and square made,
NATIVES OF JESO.
short and gross, their hair and beard long, and the last so thick as almost to cover their whole face; their bodies likewise very hairy; the hair on the fore part of the head is shaved. The features are tolerably good, their eyes black, forehead flat, complexion yellow; both sexes wear rings in their ears and on their fingers. Their dress is of the
Japanese
fashion; some is made of silk, others of stuff, and others of the skins of animals.
THEIR houses are built against the slope of a hill,
HOUSES.
constructed of planks, and covered with the bark of trees; they are supported by the trunks, and have an hole at top to let out the smoke; their fire-place is in the middle of the floor; their doors so low that they are obliged to creep in. The only furniture is matting made by the women; to these add a cup and a plate of varnished ware for each individual in the family. In some respects the houses resemble those of
Nootka Sound,
and are in groups of fifteen or twenty, each group about half a league distant from the other, and each seems to be peopled with a kindred clan.
THE common food of the natives is the lard and oil of whales,
FOOD.
fish, and all sorts of vegetables, especially the fruit of roses, which are as large as medlars, and being dried, are considered as excellent winter provision. Notwithstanding this, they often die of cold or famine. It is customary with them to put their dead into a case, and cover them with oyster-shells; these are supported by four posts, placed beneath huts neatly made.
THE natives of
Matsumai
shew very few signs of religion,
RELIGION.
nor have they any idols. When they drink, if they are near the fire, they pour a few drops into it; they also stick in their chambers some small rods with little flags at the end. If a person falls sick, they cut long slips of the wood, and tie them round the head and arms of the patient.
NOTWITHSTANDING the rude appearance of these people,
MANNERS.
they are prudent and civilized in their manners, and among strangers pay them the compliment of putting on their best cloaths.
THEY are a very indolent race; never cultivate the ground, but pass much of their time on the water in canoes, which they call
praos,
cut out of the trunk of some great tree, raised on the side with planks. In these they go to the chace of seals, which they shoot with arrows, or of whales, which they harpoon. They beside catch other fishes with seines, in the manner done in
Europe.
Several objects of chace are mentioned. Birds they catch in snares; and shoot with arrows elks, roes, stags, bears, and other animals unknown to the
Dutch
navigators. Besides the weapons I have mentioned, they wear a short cutlass made of iron, which they procure from the
Japanese.
HEMP grows wild in the country,
HEMP.
the women spin it, I suppose by splitting it first; they then hold one end between their teeth, and turn and twist it into thread on a distaff.
THE natives exchange with the
Japanese
the lard and oil of whales and fishes, the dried tongues of whales, furs, and feathers of eagles, for winging of arrows. The people of
Japan
pay them an annual visit, and bring in return rice, sugar, silken cloaths in the
Japanese
fashion, smoaking-pipes, tobacco, and varnished cups and plates. The
Japanese
seem to have introduced civilization among these people by their intercourse with them. The
Chinese
sometimes come and trade with them. The capital of this chain of islands is called
Matsumai,
and is the residence of the prince or governor, who annually makes a voyage to
Jedo,
to do homage to the emperor. The
Japanese
once attempted to extend their conquests from
Matsumai
northward; they succeeded at first, but after a revolt of the inhabitants
Kaempfer, i. p. 65.
, are now content to accept from the chieftain, whom they stile prince of
Jeso,
a tribute of very small value, which is annually paid at
Matsumai.
WE now arrive at the southernmost isles of the long chain of the
Kurils.
KURIL ISLES.
I have given an account of the most northern in my introduction to the
Arctic Zoology.
The whole chain diverges to the north-east in a direct line, and concludes very near to the cape of
Lopatka,
in
Kamschatka.
The
Russians
reckon
Matsumai
among the number. Those next to the land of
Jeso
were discovered by the
Casticrom. Tschicota, Kounaschir,
and
Atorkou
are the most southern; the two first lie opposite to
Matsumai,
and at no great distance from its coasts, and
Atorkou
a little to the north-east.
Tschicota
is a hundred and twenty versts, or ninety miles long, and forty miles broad.
Kounaschir
is about a hundred and twelve miles long, and about thirty-seven broad, and
Atorkou,
or
Etorpu,
is equal in length and breadth, being two hundred and twenty-five miles across, according to the
Russian
accounts in the
Neue Nordische Beytrage
Vol. iv. 133.
. This island is the
Staten-land
of the
Dutch,
STATEN-LAND.
a name bestowed on it in their voyage of 1643.
Ouropi
is the
Company
's land of the same voyagers;
COMPANY'S LAND.
and they bestowed on the streight which separates it from
Atorkou
the name of
De Vries's,
DE VRIES'S STREIGHT.
in honor of their commander. No places have puzzled geographers so greatly.
D'Anville
gives to
Jeso, Josogasima,
as it is sometimes called, the form of a vast island; and to the
Company's Land
and
Staten-land
a figure possibly very different from the reality. The editors of
Cook
's Voyage make them only small islands. The
Russians
again, in their history of
Kamschatka,
give them another form; and Mr.
Arrow-smith
very properly leaves it undecided whether
Jeso
is continent or archipelago. This being mentioned, we hasten to the conclusion of this volume, and give a brief account of the remainder of the
Kuril
isles.
Etorpu,
the nineteenth in order, reckoning from
Lopatka-noss,
comes next. Most of the islands of this long chain are volcanic.
Raschotti,
the tenth, has in our days been so rent with an earthquake, as entirely to drive away the numerous flocks of birds that used to frequent its cliffs; but the sea-lions still keep their stations.
VOLCANOES.
On
Kounaschir,
the twentieth, is one volcano; on
Etorpu
are two; on
Amakutan
another; and on the lofty
Poromoschir,
the highest in the chain, remarkable for its vast peaked mountains, is probably another. I have treated of these islands so fully in my introduction to the
Arctic Zoology,
that I shall not tire my reader with the repetition; I therefore will only say here, that many of them have been conquered by the
Russians,
who, not thinking them worth the expence of colonizing, content themselves with accepting a small tribute.
THE inhabitants resemble those of the land of
Jeso,
NATIVES.
and are equally hairy. By the accounts of the
Russians
who visited these islands in 1777, they differ in some of their customs from the former. They have multitudes of little household gods, like the
Mongol Tartars,
and they pay a worship to the owl. The
Mongols
do the same, for the reason given in the zoological part of the
Arctic Zoology
Vol. i. p. 272.
. This may direct us to the origin of these islanders. They bury their dead in the earth, and believe in a future life, to be passed in certain subterraneous regions.
END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
APPENDIX.
A LIST OF ARTICLES IMPORTED FROM THE EAST INDIES.
ARRACK and Brandy.
Aloes
Socotrina.
Epatica.
from the Cape.
Amber.
Ambergrease.
Assasoetida.
Arsenic.
Amarus
BALSAM,
artificial.
natural, or
Gilead.
Bdellium.
Benjamin.
Bezoar Stones.
Blood Stones.
Borax, refined.
Borax, unrefined, or Tincal
CAMBOGIUM.
Cantharides.
Camphire,
refined.
unrefined.
Cardamoms
Cassia
Fistula.
Lignea.
Caliicoes, white.
Candles. Wax.
Carmenia Wool.
Canes, walking, or Dragon's Blood.
Carpets, Persia.
Cane Hats, under 22 inches diameter.
China Ware and Clay Figures.
China Roots.
Cinnamon.
Carpets, Turkey, long.
Cinabrum or Vermilion.
Coffee.
Cotton Yarn.
Coloquintida.
Cocculus Indicus.
Costus Dulcis.
Coral,
whole, polished.
whole, unpolished.
in fragments.
Cotton.
Cowries.
Cloves.
Cubeba.
Cake Lack.
Cortex Peru, or Jesuits Bark.
DIMITIES, white.
Diagredrum or Scammony.
Dragon's Blood.
ELEPHANTS Teeth.
Ebony Wood.
Earth Oil, from the Banks of the Ava.
FOLIUM Indiae.
GALBANUM.
Gallinga.
Garnets,
rough.
cut.
Galls.
Ginger.
Green.
Gum
Oppoponax.
Sarcocol.
Glass Bottles.
Gum
Sagapenum, or Serapinum.
Amoniacum, or Armoniac.
Tragagant, or Tragacanth.
Lack, or Lump Lack.
Animi.
Ellemni.
Senica, Senega, or Arabick.
Gold Plate, wrought.
HURS
INDIGO.
LAPIS Calaminaris.
Lapis
Contrayerva.
Tutiac.
Lazuli.
Lacquered Ware.
Lead, White.
Lignum Asphalthum.
MANNA.
Mastic,
White.
Red.
Molasses.
Mace.
Mirabolanes, dry.
Musk.
Cods.
Muslin, plain or stitched.
Madeira Wine.
Myrrh.
NUTMEGS condited.
Nutmegs.
Nux Vomica.
OLIBANUM.
Opium.
Orpiment, or Auripigmentum.
PEPPER.
long.
Paper, painted.
Pictures.
QUICKSILVER.
RADIX Contrayerva.
Rattans.
Reeds, Bambo.
Rhubarb.
Rice.
SALT Petre.
Sal Armoniac.
Sanders,
Red.
Yellow.
Sappan Wood.
Seahorse Teeth.
Seed Pearl, charged as a drug unmanufactured.
Senna.
Seed Lack.
Silk,
raw.
wrought.
Silver,
wrought.
Plate, gilt.
Parcel, gilt.
Shell Lack.
Spikenard.
Squilla.
Squinanthum, or Camels Hair.
Stockings of Cotton.
Storax Calamita.
Stick Lack.
Sugar Candy,
Brown.
White.
Succades.
Stags Horns, or Harts Horns.
Snuff.
Skins, dressed, and China Paper, White.
TAMARINDS.
Tea.
Tincal.
Turbith Root.
Ditto Thapsiae.
Turmerick.
Tortoise Shell.
Tobacco.
WAX of Bees.
Worm Seeds.
ZEDOARIA.
GOODS MANUFACTURED.
ARRANGOES.
Agates.
Bamboe Achar.
Cornelian Stones.
China Ink.
Cane Blinds.
Cherong.
Copper enamelled.
Fans.
Fireworks.
Handles for Knives.
Vermicelli.
Cane Mats.
Mother of Pearl Beads, Necklaces, &c.
Kittisols.
Mangoes.
Mother of Pearl Counters.
Ivory Toys.
Paper Prints.
Rice Flowers, Images, &c.
Rosewood Furniture.
Soy.
Sago.
Shawls.
Wrought Copper, or Gold.
Pickles.
Curry Stuff.
Unrated Seeds.
Leaves for making Curry Stuff.
Chinese Musical Instruments.
Landscapes in Stone.
India Glue.
Succades.
Butterflies and Insects preserved.
Artificial Flowers.
Wood Frames, carved and gilt.
Painted Bambo Sticks.
Black Wood Drawers.
Sandal Wood Drawers.
Walking Sticks, inlaid.
Mocha and Cambay Stones.
Conchou Cloth.
GOODS UNMANUFACTURED.
TUTENAQUE.
Tortoise Shells, rough.
Paddy.
Mother of Pearl Shells, rough.
Birds Nests.
Sea Shells, rough.
Tygers Teeth.
Tygers Claws.
Rough Pebbles.
Cassue Nuts.
Ebony Wood.
Sandal Wood.
Chain Pepper in the Pod.
India Weed.
Bambo Pieces.
Rose Wood.
DRUGS MANUFACTURED.
GOA Sto.
Oil, Cloves.
Oil, Cinnamon.
Oil, Castor.
Oil, Nutmegs.
Oil, Mace.
Oil Camphire.
Fossil Alkali.
Oils, Chymical.
Unrated Tincture.
Tincture of Rhubarb.
DRUGS UNMANUFACTURED.
Cassia Buds.
Cassia Minea.
Columbo Root.
Rag Pearl.
Seed Pearl.
Aloes from the Cape.
Drugs unrated.
Cardemom Seeds.
Castor Seeds.
Unknown Drugs.
Jesuits Beans.
Jesuits Bark.
Gum Copal.
INDEX TO QUADRUPEDS.
A.
ANTELOPE, Chinese Page 187
Ape,
great black Page 189
grey ibid.
yellow ibid.
B.
Badger, European Page 191
Bat ibid.
Bear,
brown Page 190
black ibid.
Boar, wild Page 237
Buffalo Page 47, 187
C.
Camel, two-bunched Page 188
Cat,
domestic Page 190, 237
Angora Page 190
Cow Page 236
D.
Deer Page 47, 188, 237
Dog Page 189, 237
E.
Elephant Page 47, 65, 74, 189
F.
Fox Page 190
G.
Goat, domestic Page 187
H.
Hare, common Page 191
Hog Page 188
Horse Page 187, 236
L.
Leopard Page 190
M.
Manis, short-tailed Page 191
Marmot, earless ibid.
Monkey,
douc Page 66
dog-faced Page 238
Musk, Thibet Page 188
O.
Ox,
Indian Page 187
Thibetian ibid.
P.
Porcupine, crested Page 191
R.
Rabbit, common Page 191
Rat ibid.
Rhinoceros, one-horned Page 188
Roebuck ibid.
S.
Sheep, broad-tailed Page 187
Squirrel, common Page 191
Stag Page 188
T.
Tiger Page 65, 190
W.
Weesel,
civet Page 191
martin ibid.
Wolf Page 190, 238
INDEX TO BIRDS.
B.
BARBET, grand Page 194
Bunting,
barred-tailed Page 199
mixed ibid.
Chinese ibid.
C.
Coot,
common Page 202
crested ibid.
Creeper, grey Page 194
Crow,
carrion Page 193
white-breasted ibid.
rufous ibid.
purple-headed ibid.
blue ibid.
Macao ibid.
Cuckoo Page 194
E.
Eagle, Chinese Page 192
F.
Falcon, Asiatic Page 192
Flycatcher Page 200
green ibid.
grey-necked Page 200
yellow-neeked ibid.
orange-vented ibid.
nitid ibid.
greenish ibid.
black-headed ibid.
G.
Garganey Page 238
Grakle,
mino Page 194
greater mino ibid.
crested ibid.
Grosbeak,
Padda Page 198
Chinese ibid.
Malacca ibid.
grey-necked ibid.
white-headed Page 199
Asiatic ibid.
red-billed ibid.
orange-bellied ibid.
dwarf ibid.
dominican ibid.
yellow ibid.
Cyane ous ibid.
brown Page 199
cardinal ibid.
H.
Heron,
common crane Page 201, 239
Siberian crane Page 201
cinnamon ibid.
Malacca ibid.
Chinese ibid.
great white Page 238
Hoopoe Page 194
Hornbill,
pied Page 192
Philippine ibid.
J.
Jay,
little Page 193
red-billed ibid.
Jacana,
Chinese Page 202
Vappi-pi ibid.
L.
Lark,
Mongolian Page 200
white-winged ibid.
Loxia oryzivora Page 239
N.
Nut-hatch Page 194
O.
Oriole,
golden Page 193
Chinese ibid.
Owl,
Chinese Page 192
white barn ibid.
P.
Parrot,
green and red locri Page 192
Alexandrine ibid.
Cockatoo ibid.
Philippine Page 192
lesser white C. ibid.
Cochin China ibid.
grisled ibid.
sapphire crowned ibid.
Partridge,
Chinese Page 197
common ibid.
hackled ibid.
green Page 197
pearled Page 196
Peacock,
crested Page 195
Iris ibid.
Japan Page 238
Pelican,
frigate Page 203
corvorant ibid.
Chinese fishing shague ibid.
lesser gannet ibid.
Phasianus Gallus Page 238
Pheasant,
Argus Page 195
common ibid.
golden Page 196
silver ibid.
superb ibid.
pencilled ibid.
fire-backed ibid.
Pie, short-tailed Page 40
Pigeon,
Nicobar Page 22
crested Page 197
Chinese ibid.
queest ibid.
collared ibid.
striated ibid.
barred ibid.
blue-crowned ibid.
great turtle ibid.
Chinese grey ibid.
Plover, long-legged Page 202
Q.
Quail, common Page 239
R.
Raven Page 238
Roller,
Chinese Page 193
black-headed ibid.
S.
Shrike,
jocose Page 192
white-wreathed ibid.
fork-tailed ibid.
Sparrow,
house Page 199
Chinese ibid.
brown Page 200
green ibid.
Chinese siskin ibid.
white-eared ibid.
Ceylon ibid.
brown-throated ibid.
azure-headed ibid.
white-bellied ibid.
Stare,
silky Page 198
green ibid.
brown ibid.
Stock-dove Page 239
Swallow,
chimney Page 201
esculent ibid.
Chinese swift ibid.
T.
Tanagre,
Chinese Page 199
military Page 199
Thrush,
white-wreathed shrike Page 198.
Chinese ibid.
crescent ibid.
black-faced ibid.
violet ibid.
white-headed ibid.
black-necked ibid.
chanting ibid.
yellow ibid.
green ibid.
Titmouse, Chinese Page 201
Turtle, Quedah Page 23
W.
Warbler,
nightingale Page 200
Luzonian ibid.
black-hooded wheat-ear ibid.
white-crowned ibid.
Chinese ibid.
long-tailed ibid.
Woodcock,
common Page 201
snipe ibid.
Cape snipe ibid.
green-shank ibid.
red-shank ibid.
Woodpecker,
of Malacca Page 40
Bengal Page 194
INDEX.
A.
ACQUIES Page 274
Agollocha wood Page 63, 145
Aigun Page 185
Albusin, fort of Page 184
Amur, river of Page 183
Amwy Page 148
Andaman,
islands of Page 18
lesser Page 20
Anthropophagi ibid.
Arabs, in China Page 99
Aracan,
kingdom of Page 1
river ibid.
Arches, triumphal Page 128
Archipelago of Mergui Page 17
Argali, or wild sheep Page 112
Armour fish Page 139
Artillery in China Page 104
Asses, wild Page 180
Ava,
kingdom of Page 5, 170
river Page 6
city Page 7
Aurea Chersonesus Page 28
Awad, isle of Page 247
B.
Barussae, Ins. Page 20
Bees Page 11
Berabonna Page 9
Birds
of Ma'acca Page 39
Tonquin Page 74
China Page 192
Japan Page 238
Bocca Tigris Page 126
Bore, or head wave Page 13
Boundaries of China Page 122
Burmah, kingdom of Page 5
C.
Cachao, city of Page 77
Cambodia Page 52
productions of Page 53
city Page 54
the ancient Thinae and Sinae Page 55
Camphor Page 214
Camul Page 177
Canal,
imperial Page 133
imperial ends Page 145
Cannibals Page 18
Cannon, cast by the Jesuits in China Page 97
Canton,
very populous Page 127
European factories at Page 128
river of Page 129
Cape Negrais Page 9
Carn Nicobar Page 20
Cashgur Page 176
Catechu Page 264
Cattigara Page 52
Cheduba isle Page 8
Chiamay, lake of Page 6
China Page 87
government of ibid.
despotic Page 88
filial duties of Page 89
self-interest of its inhabitants Page 90
pride ibid.
antiquity of Page 91
Fo-hi founder of the empire ibid.
religion ibid.
christianity, when introduced Page 93
convents Page 94
Jesuits Page 95
Dominicans in Page 98
Arabs in Page 99
last revolution of Page 100
form of the inhabitants Page 101
little feet of ibid.
arts of ibid.
Seres, northern inhabitants of Page 109
present trade of Page 117
imports and exports ibid.
boundaries of Page 122
coasts of Page 147
amazingly populous Page 87, 127
army Page 100
birds of Page 192
Chittigong Page 8
Chusan, isle of Page 154
Ciampa Page 59
Civet, animal Page 38
Cochin China Page 61
inundated Page 62
rice cultivated at ibid.
sugar ibid.
cotton Page 63
shipping of Page 65
elephants of Page 65
monkey at Page 66
edible nests at ibid.
government of Page 69
Coco trees Page 21
Coins of Japan Page 243
Columba wood Page 63
Column, memorial Page 183
Confucius, where born Page 144
Corvorants trained for fishing Page 132
Cotton Page 63, 108
Country, elevated Page 175
Cowries Page 210
Coxinga Page 122, 141
Crabs Page 242
Crocodiles of Pegu Page 13
D.
Dammer pitch Page 56
Deserts of Shamo Page 175
Dominicans
in China Page 98
their quarrels with the Jesuits ibid.
Ducks,
tame Page 129
wild, how taken Page 131
Dutch
settlement on the island of Formosa Page 122
outwitted by the Jesuits Page 27
first trade with China Page 122
E.
Eagle wood Page 63, 145
Edible nests Page 66
Elephants Page 47, 65, 74
English, their intercourse with China Page 115
European factories at Canton Page 128
Exports of Pegu Page 11
F.
Factories at Tonquin Page 78
Fair, great, on the water Page 134
Faunula of China Page 187
Feet, little, of the Chinese ladies Page 101
Fishes
of China Page 131, 203
armour Page 139
whang-yu ibid.
golden Page 156
of Japan Page 239
Five horse heads Page 137
Fo-hi, founder of the Chinese empire Page 91
Fo, sect of Page 93
Foo-tchien Page 147
Form of the Siamese Page 47
Formosa,
isle of Page 149
natives of Page 150
Forster, J. Reinhold Page 111
Foy Foe port Page 64
G.
Ginseng,
the famous plant Page 163
found in America Page 164
Glass manufacture in China Page 105
Gobi, desert of Page 179
Gold Page 30, 243
Golden fish Page 156
Government
of Cochin China Page 69
of Japan Page 258
Great fair on the water Page 134
Gulph of Siam Page 32
Gunpowder
in China Page 104
in Japan Page 266
H.
Hainan,
island of Page 124
gold at ibid.
Haltar Gobi Page 179
Hangtchoo Page 156
Hastings bay Page 17
Heat of the atmosphere in China Page 123
Hills, pierced Page 138
Hoko-nor Tartars and lake Page 171
Hoton Page 176
Hoo tchoo Page 139
J.
Japan Page 209, 211
its stormy shores ibid.
soil of Page 212
botany of ibid.
quadrupeds of Page 236
minerals Page 243
persecution of christians Page 251
Dutch embassy Page 252
deities of Page 256
language Page 258
laws, severe Page 259
manners Page 262
geography Page 263
painting Page 265
printing Page 266
habits Page 267
navy Page 268
Jax-Hinno Page 144
Jedo Page 268
Jerkin Page 176
Japanning Page 106, 265
Jeso,
land of Page 270
natives of Page 274
Jesuits in Japan Page 250
Imperial canal Page 133
Ink in China Page 103
Inoculation at China Page 102
Insulae bonae fortunae Page 18
Joerwoe Page 146
Johore, kingdom of Page 28
Islands
of Andaman Page 18
of Hainan Page 124
of Negrais or Siriam Page 10
Junkseilon, isle of Page 15, 22
Juthia, city of Page 43
K.
Kajutsui Page 143
Karakarin Page 177
Kiusiu isle Page 249
King te Ching Page 140
Korea Page 165, 269
natives of Page 167
government of ibid.
productions of ibid.
trade of ibid.
with China Page 168
Russia Page 169
Japan ibid.
Manilla Page 170
Kurile isle Page 277
Kyang river Page 138
Kyang nan province Page 158
L.
Lac Page 11
Ladrone isles Page 147
Lake
Poyang Page 139
Si-hu Page 156
Liant river Page 48
Liau-tong
kingdom Page 162
Ginseng plant found at Page 163
Lichi fruit Page 148
Ligore Page 41
Limpo Page 154
Lintsin-choo Page 145
Liguejo isles Page 209
Lop Page 177
Lower Siam Page 16
Loyes, a people Page 59
Lundsey Page 8
M.
Macao, isle and city Page 125
Magnum Promontorium, or Malaeucolon Page 29
Malacca,
streights of Page 23
city Page 24
taken by the Portuguese Page 25
Malayes, of the Page 33
Mandeville, Sir John Page 112
Mangostan Page 40
Marco Polo Page 111, 248
Marcura Metropolis Page 10
Martaban Page 15
Matmay, island of Page 270
Meckley kingdom Page 5
Meinam river Page 42
Melory tree Page 21
Men, a large race of wild Page 39
Mergui,
town of Page 16
archipelago of Page 17
Miaco Page 267
Missionaries sent to
Siam Page 46
Tonquin Page 80
Monkey Page 66, 238
Mount Ophir Page 30
Moyes, a people Page 60
Mulberry
trees Page 72
in China Page 106
Mules, wild Page 180
N.
Nantchang foo Page 139
Nanhang city Page 137
Nangan Page 137
Nanquin Page 140
Natives of Formosa Page 150
Nations adjacent to the Chinese empire Page 170
Negrais,
cape Page 9
isle, or Siriam Page 10
Nertshink,
treaty of Page 180
oath of observance of Page 182
Nicobar
islands Page 20
pigeon Page 22
Nieuhoff,
John Page 134
his travels to Peking Page 136
Nieuhoff, H. Page 135
Ning-po or Limpo Page 154
Nipon isle Page 247
Notium promontorium Page 53
Nyctanthes Sambac Page 117
Nymphaea Nelumbo, plant Page 138
O.
Oath of observance Page 80
Ophir, in Malacca Page 30
Oranges Page 148
P.
Pagoda, fine Page 144
Pahang Page 30
Paper manufacture in China Page 102
Paracels, the Page 71
Patani Page 32
Pe-che-li, province of Page 160
Pegu Page 9
exports of Page 11
imports of Page 12
river of ibid.
city ibid.
natives of Page 15
Peking,
water passage to Page 133
city Page 146
Pekkinsa Page 138
Pepper Page 31, 63
Persaim river Page 10
Peym Page 176
Phaulkon, history of Page 43
Pierced hills Page 138
Piperi Page 32
Pirates Page 31, 35, 82
Pitch, Dammer Page 56
Pliny, silk of Page 107, 160
Poivre, M. Le,
of Page 69
quoted, Page 33, 49, 69
Pongho, isles of Page 153
Ponteamas Page 49
M. Le Poivre's description of, ibid.
Porcellane Page 109, 267
tower Page 141
Port of
Foy Foe Page 64
Tawan Page 150
Portuguese
expelled from Malacca by the Dutch Page 27
profligacy of the Page 155
first in China Page 113
Poyang lake Page 139
Printing in China Page 102
Prior quoted Page 83
Provinces gained from the sea Page 153
Province of
Tche-tchiang ibid.
Pecheli Page 160
Psalmanazar, of Page 151
Pulo
Pera Page 24
Aru ibid.
Timon Page 29
Condore Page 55
animals of Page 57
tortoises at ibid.
English settlement there Page 58
Q.
Quadrupeds
of China Page 133, 187
of Japan Page 236
Quedah, kingdom of Page 23
R.
Rachmi Page 55
Revolution, the last in China Page 100
Rhubarb,
of Page 171
cultivated in Scotland Page 172
Rhus vernix Page 72
Ricci, father, the great Jesuit of China Page 96
Ridang isles Page 31
River of
Liant Page 48
Meinam Page 42
Tonquin Page 75
Roads, strange Page 136
Rocking stone Page 149
Romano, cape Page 29
Rubruquis, a friar Page 110
Russians, their intercourse with China Page 113
S.
Sabaracus Ptolemei, the Ava Page 8
Sada civitas Page 9
Sagalin, isle of Page 186
Salt Page 153
Sanciam Page 125
Sangir isle Page 85
Sappan wood Page 74
Sauce, soya Page 75
Seres, northern inhabitants of China Page 109
Shamo, deserts of Page 175
Siam,
lower Page 16
gulph of Page 32
upper Page 41
account of Page 45
fertility ibid.
religion of ibid.
form of the inhabitants Page 47
elephants at ibid.
deer at ibid.
other productions of Page 48
Sihu lake Page 156
Sikokf Page 247
Silk Page 106
of Pliny Page 107, 160
of Virgil Page 109
Silver tree Page 178
Sincapour, streights of Page 28
Sindae, Ins. Page 20
Sitang river Page 15
Staten land Page 277
Stockings, silk, when first known in Europe Page 108
Stone, rocking Page 149
Streights of
Malacca Page 23
Sincapour Page 28
Sultan Sujah, of Page 3
Swallows with edible nests Page 66
Sylveira, his sad fate Page 14
T.
Tanaasima islands Page 211
Tanguth Page 179
Tartars conquer China Page 100
Tatpin isles Page 209
Taut-se, sect of Page 92
Ta-wan, port of Page 150
Tea, bohea Page 215
Teal, Chinese Page 131
Te-tchoo Page 145
Teek woods Page 7
Teeth, black Page 82
Ten-choo foo Page 159
Thibet Page 170
Ttche tchiang Page 153
Tien sing soo Page 145
Tian-sin, port of Peking Page 160
Tides in the bay of Tonquin Page 76
Tiencienwey and Single Page 145
Tigris, Bocca Page 126
Tonglyu Page 140
Tong-tchoo foo Page 146
Tonquin,
bay of Page 72
fruits of ibid.
mulberry cultivated at ibid.
Rhus vernix ibid.
soya sauce made at Page 75
birds of Page 74
river of Page 75
factories at Page 78
medicine Page 79
religion ibid.
oath Page 80
extent of Page 81
natives Page 82
Topasses Page 54
Tower, porcelane Page 141
Trade
of China Page 117
in women Page 142
of Japan Page 254
Trangano Page 31
fruits of ibid.
Tree, silver Page 178
Tsong-ming, isle of Page 158
Turtle-dove Page 23
Typa harbour Page 126
Typhons Page 76
V.
Vannunga Page 138
Verbiest, father Page 97
Vessels, singular Page 142
Upper Siam Page 41
Volcanoes of Japan Page 246
Vries de, streights of Page 278
W.
Wall,
great Page 161
second Page 162
Water passage to Peking Page 133
Whang-ho river Page 143, 159
Whay-ngan Page 143
Whang-yu fish Page 139
Whay, the king's court Page 68
Wild
men Page 39
mules and asses Page 180
Women, trade in Page 142
Woods,
Teek Page 7
Agollocha and Columba Page 63
Sappan Page 74
Woollens Page 109
X.
Xantsui Page 144
Xaochew city Page 136
Xavier, Francis St. de Page 95, 249
Y.
Yang-choo Page 142
Yellow
fish Page 139
sea Page 159
Ypi Tartars Page 185
Printed by Luke Hansard, Great Turnstile, Lincoln's Inn Fields.