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Full text of "Narrative of a voyage in His Majesty's late ship Alceste, to the Yellow Sea, along the coast of Corea, and through its numerous hitherto undiscovered islands, to the island of Lewchew : with an account of her shipwreck in the straits of Gaspar"

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THE LIBRARY 

OF 

THE UNIVERSITY 

OF CALIFORNIA 

LOS ANGELES 



NARRATIVE 



THE ALCESTE'S VOYAGE 



THE YELLOW SEA, 



* 

* 



DS 

Si) 7 



TO 

JAMES WOOD, ESQ. 

OF POTTER HILL, 

THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, 

AS A TESTIMONY 

OF THE HIGH RESPECT AND ESTEEM 
IN WHICH HE IS HELD 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



THE author of the following pages has attempted to 
narrate (in the best and shortest way he can) the occur- 
rences of a voyage rendered remarkable by a combina- 
tion of extraordinary events, and the circumstance of a 
communication with an interesting people, with whom, for 
the first time, Europeans have had any intercourse ; and he 
has ventured a few occasional remarks, precisely as they 
arose in his mind on the spot, and which more mature re- 
flection has not induced him to alter. He is aware that his 
thoughts, as well as his mode of expressing them, may be 
liable to comment ; but he hopes that those who are mighty 
in criticism will be merciful in censure, and not visit 
with asperity that which is humble in pretension. 



DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 



Tofaee 
Portrait of Captain Maxwell Ti tie-Page 

Islanders of Sir James Hall's Group 38 

Corean Chief and Attendants 40 

Lewchewan Chief and Attendants 62 

Garden of the Temple at Lewchew 67 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 



TO 



CHINA. 



1HE British Government, on the repre- 
sentation of the Court of Directors of the 
East-India Company, respecting the trade 
with China, having decided, with the 
view of relieving that branch of its com- 
merce from the increasing vexatious im- 
positions of the local authorities of Can- 
ton, on the measure of sending an em- 
bassy to the court of Pekin ; as on a former 
occasion of a similar kind, a distinguished 
nobleman had been selected to fill the situa- 
tion of Embassador Extraordinary from the 

B 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

King of Great Britain to the Emperor of 
China, who carried out with him a nume- 
rous suite composed of gentlemen well 
skilled in every branch of natural know- 
ledge, with many curious and costly pre- 
sents ; so it was now determined v,o leave 
nothing short that could contribute to 
the splendour and respectability of the 
present embassy. The Right Hon. Lord 
Amherst (who had already filled the 
high situation of Embassador at the court 
of Sicily) was appointed to conduct this 
difficult and delicate mission. Mr. Henry 
Ellis (formerly employed in a success- 
ful negotiation with the king of Persia) 
was named secretary of embassy, with 
dormant powers to act as Minister Ple- 
nipotentiary, should any accident to the 
Embassador render that circumstance ne- 
cessary. The Hon. JefFery Amherst, as 
page ; Mr. Hayne, as private secretary ; 
Mr. Abel, as surgeon and naturalist ; the 
Rev. John Griffiths, as chaplain; Mr. 
Havell, as artist; and Dr. Lynn, with 
Mr. Maurige, Mr. Poole, and some others 



TO CHINA. 



to fill the respective departments, consti- 
tuted the suite of his excellency *. 

Many valuable presents, supplied, as on 
the former occasion, by the East-India 
Company, for the emperor and his minis- 
ters, consisting of specimens of our im- 
proved manufactures, made by the firs't 
hands, were also prepared. The command 
of the naval part of the expedition was in- 
trusted to Captain Murray Maxwell ; and 
the Alceste, a frigate of forty-six guns, 
was fitted up for the reception of the Em- 
bassador and suite. His Majesty's brig 
Lyra, commanded by Capt. Basil Hall, 
and the General Hewitt Indiaman, by 
Capt. Campbell, accompanied the Alceste, 
the latter carrying out the presents. 

On the 9th of February, 1816, the ships 
sailed from Spithead, and soon cleared the 
Channel, with a favourable breeze, which 
continued with us to Madeira, where we 



* Lieut. Cooke, of the Royal Marines, was also attached 
to the embassy, on its landing in China, the guard being 
selected from that corps. Messrs. Abbot, Martin, and 
Somerset, were likewise added to it at this period. 
B 2 



4 VOYAGE OF H. M. S.ALCESTE 

arrived on the 18th. In Funchal road 
we found the Phaeton, having Sir Hudson 
and Lady Lowe, with their suite on board, 
in their way to St. Helena ; and the Niger, 
with Mr. Bagot, on his mission to America. 
Our stay here was only twelve hours, and, 
in the evening, we pursued our course to 
the south-westward. The weather becom- 
ing hourly warmer, our people, who had 
been badly clothed, and had suffered a good 
deal from the severity of the cold in fitting 
out the ship, now began to thaw a little : 
things were beginning to find their proper 
places in the ship; and those unaccustomed 
to the rolling motion had, by this time, 
acquired their sea-legs. On the 4th March, 
in the evening, at the moment of crossing 
the equinoctial line, the voice of some one, 
as from the sea, announced himself as Nep- 
tune's eldest son, and, after putting the usual 
interrogatories, added, that his father being 
a little indisposed, and rather squeamish 
about exposing himself to the night air, 
had deferred his visit until the morning, 
when he would personally call on board 
to inspect the strangers who were now en- 



TO CHINA. 



tering his dominions. The son of Neptune 
seemed now to sink again into the deep. 
In the morning, his godship, agreeably to 
promise, appeared, seated in his car (a 
gun-carriage), with his trident and other 
insignia, attended by Amphitrite, and all 
his usual train of inferior deities. He was 
received by a strange-looking guard of hi,s 
own, the band striking up " Rule-Britan- 
nia!" After paying his respects to the 
Embassador, the Captain, and the rest, the 
novices, of whom there were not a few, 
were forthwith shaved, according to a 
practice immemorial, with a rusty iron 
hoop, full of notches ; and the lather being 
washed off, by playing the fire-engine in 
their faces, they were then wiped dry with 
a dirty swab. Much mirth and good hu- 
mour prevailed ; and a double allowance 
of grog finished the ceremony. We expe- 
rienced none of the calms usual near the 
line, and nothing of moment occurred until 
we reached the lat. 20 4" north, long. 31 
52 V/ west, on the 16th March, when the Lyra 
and Hewitt were directed to make the best 
of their way to the Cape of Good Hope, 



O VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

whilst the Alceste proceeded to the capital 
of the Brazils, where we arrived on the 21st 
of that month. 

All the bold, as well as beautiful, features 
of nature, have conjoined to enrich the 
scenery of Rio Janeiro. The luxuriant de- 
scriptions of former travellers are by no 
means exaggerated, for it would indeed be 
difficult to exceed the truth in portraying 
the sublimity and grandeur of such a 
scene as presents itself on entering the har- 
bour. The numerous islets appearing on 
this extensive sheet of water, its richly- 
wooded banks, rising like an amphitheatre 
on either hand, studded with villages and 
country seats, added to the distant view 
of lofty and picturesque mountain s, form, 
altogether, a very unusual and noble land- 
scape. 

The death of the queen, which hap- 
pened the day previous to our arrival, at 
the good old age of eighty-two, had rather 
cast a gloom over the city of St. Sebastians. 
The batteries and ships fired five-minute 
guns during the whole day and night ; the 
Alceste, Indefatigable, and a Spanish fri- 



TO CHINA. 



gate, following this example ; displaying 
also the usual exterior marks of grief, by 
hoisting the colours half-staff high, and top- 
ping the yards. The officers likewise wore 
crape; and, from a positive order being 
issued to all the inhabitants to go into 
mourning, (which none dared, under the 
severest penalties, disobey,) the prices of all 
black articles felt a sudden and enormous 
increase. 

The government of the Brazils seems 
perfectly despotic; and it is painful 
to see even Englishmen lose the natural 
freedom of their character under such domi- 
nion. Some, who from Ions: residence had 

o 

imbibed the feelings of the Portuguese, 
would, in answering any question relative 
to public affairs, look cautiously around, 
to see who was near them, and then whisper 
their reply. 

The prince (now the king) during the 
period her majesty laid in state, was shut 
up, according to their usage, not to be seen 
by any but his chamberlain. 

Swarms of priests occupied every avenue 
to the palace, and hung in clusters on the 



8 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

staircases. St. Sebastians seems to be a 
soil, in which these members of the autos 
da fe still thrive well. The Brazils have 
lately been raised from the state of a mere 
colony to the dignity of a kingdom ; and 
the residence of the court has conferred 
still more substantial advantages on it, 
arising from the emigration of the chief 
nobility from Portugal, and the transfer 
of their wealth to this country. 

Its commerce has of late years increased 
to a great degree, chiefly, however, under 
the direction of English houses. The re- 
turn of the court to the mother country, it 
is thought, would be the signal of revolt ; 
for it is not probable the Brazils would 
long remain in their present fettered state, 
whilst colonies in all directions around them 
are freeing themselves from the oppression 
of the mother country. The want of the 
usual public attentions of saluting the flag 
of a foreign power might have been ac- 
counted for under the present circum- 
stances of the court; but it was singular 
(considering, more particularly, our late 
relations with Portugal) that a house for 



TO CHINA. 9 

the accommodation of the Embassador and 
suite, during their short stay, and which 
had been granted to the former embassy, 
should have been refused in the present 
instance. The hospitality, however, of 
Mr. Chamberlayne, the British minister 
here, amply supplied this deficiency. All 
places of public amusement were of course 
shut; and the only spectacle, during our 
stay, was the funeral of the queen, which 
took place by torch-light ; all the military 
that could be collected, both horse and 
foot, lining the streets (which were illumi- 
nated) from the palace to the convent of 
Ajuda. The hearse and state-coaches were 
drawn up at the grand entrance, covered 
with black cloth, and near them the chief 
mourners, who were eight of the nobles, on 
horseback. Their dress was the ancient 
Poi tuguese costume of mourning. Each had 
a large broad-brimmed hat, rather slouch- 
ing down upon the shoulders ; a long black 
cloak, or robe, with the star of some order 
affixed to it ; conveying to the mind of an 
English spectator the whimsical combina- 
tion of a coal-heaver, a priest, and a knight. 



10 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

The king, accompanied by the two elder 
princes, attended the coffin to the principal 
porch, and saw it deposited in the hearse, 
when the whole cavalcade drove off, and 
the body was interred in the convent, with 
the usual religious ceremonies. The royal 
family next day appeared at the balconies 
of the palace ; on which occasion it is usual 
for the Portuguese to stand uncovered in 
the square opposite ; and, if any of the 
royal carriages are met on the road, the 
passengers on horseback must dismount, 
and even kneel. 

Neither of their Portuguese majesties can 
themselves be considered as regular beauties; 
but the princesses are good figures, and cer- 
tainly, upon the whole, handsome women. 
Don Pedro, their eldest son, promises to be 
a man of some spirit. Much indolence 
seems to exist among the inhabitants, and 
they are said still to possess their charac- 
teristic contempt of all reading ; so that a 
publisher of books in the Brazils would 
probably earn but a lean livelihood. This 
country produces all the various fruits of the 



TO CHINA. 

warmer climates; such as pine-apples, 
oranges, limes, mangoes, guavas, melons, 
bananas, c. ; the tea-shrub still conti- 
nues to be an article of growth, under the 
direction of some Chinese accustomed to 
manage it ; and it is to be hoped they may 
succeed in extending and improving its 
cultivation. The slave-trade still exists 
to its fullest extent; and this class of the po- 
pulation, however useful they may be, are 
certainly not ornamental ; being the ugliest 
race of negroes that can be collected from 
the African coast Gaboons, Congos, and 
Angolas. Our West-India islands having 
been generally supplied with Fantees, from 
the Gold Coast, with Eyeos, and Ashantees, 
who are a much finer-looking people ; this 
circumstance, added, perhaps, to their im- 
proved condition, their better clothing, and 
general treatment, gives a slave of Jamaica a 
far less degraded appearance than one in 
this country. Yet, though the situation of 
the former is much ameliorated (and un- 
doubtedly superior to his native state in 
Africa), it is unfortunate that the first Eu- 



12 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

ropean settlers of colonies, had not, instead 
of hunting down and oppressing the na- 
tives, trained them to habits of industry ; 
when the term slavery, so revolting to hu- 
manity even under the most favourable 
circumstances, so contrary to reason and 
natural right, need never have been known. 
Our East-India possessions, and late occu- 
pation of Java, sufficiently demonstrate the 
practicability of this system. 

They do Buonaparte, here, the honour of 
being very much afraid of him ; and keep a 
bright eye to windward, lest he should break 
adrift from St. Helena, and come down 
upon them before the fcind. This silly ap- 
pearance of fear is something like the 
weakness of ordering his name never to 
be mentioned, than which, perhaps, 
nothing tends more to keep up his con- 
sequence. 

This part of the Brazils is naturally hot 
during the months of December, January, 
and February ; but (more especially as the 
southern, are found to be comparatively 
colder than corresponding northern lati- 



TO CHINA. 



tudes,) it enjoys, during our summer, a sort 
of tropical winter, and is not considered an 
unhealthy climate, 

The town of St. Sebastians, without any 
public edifice worthy of notice, is regu- 
larly built, and, from the late influx of in- 
habitants, is daily extending its limits. Al- 
though this country produces plenty of beef, 
yet, from want of care and mana^e- 
ment, it is such as would be considered car- 
rion in England ; and in few parts of the 
world is there less accommodation for tra- 
vellers, there being only some casas, or inns, 
of the most wretched description. 

The Brazils display an inexhaustible 
field for the researches of the naturalist, for 
no where else can the objects of his inquiry 
be more varied or multiplied. The state of 
society here is represented, by those whose 
long residence and close intercourse afford 
them the means of judging, as extremely 
demoralized. The men, in their exterior 
appearance, are a squalid, hysterical, grim- 
looking set; but the ladies, though generally 
little, and dark-coloured, are not deficient 



14 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

in beauty or expression of countenance; 
they want, however, that elegance of gait 
and graceful walk, peculiar to the Spa- 
niards. They are said to be more atten- 
tive to the external forms of decorum than 
to the essential practice of modesty ; but 
.this, if true, may " depend/* as was sug- 
gested by an elegant writer of the last 
embassy, " on the example of the men ;" 
for it would scarcely be reasonable to expect 
the perfection of female morals, where every 
manly virtue is unknown. At least three- 
fourths of the world are in a state of bar- 
barism where women have no character at 
all ; being either immured in seraglios, or 
the mere slaves and play- things of 
their savage lords ; but in that portion of 
it, which has a claim to civilization, where 
they are allowed to have minds, and as- 
sume their just rank, the slightest glance 
will shew, that among those nations where 
honour, intelligence, and worth, are held in 
most esteem by the one sex, they are uni- 
formly rewarded by corresponding good 
qualities in the other. 



TO CHINA. 15 

The ship having recruited her supply of 
very excellent water*, and other matters 
settled, we took our leave of the Ameri- 
can shore on the 31st of March, steering 
south-easterly until we got from 36 to 
39 south, where we found the prevailing 
westerly winds. Keeping in the usual tract 
for ships crossing the Southern Atlantic, we 
passed the islands of Tristan d'Acunha, 
about fifty miles to the northward of them. 
The wind continuing favourable, we saw 
the Table Mountain on the 18th of April, and 
anchored on the same day in the bay. We 
arrived at a gay time, in the middle of horse- 
racing and balls. An India fleet touched 
here, homeward bound, one of the ships 
having on board the Countess of Loudon 
and family, on their passage to England. 
Cape Town has now become almost an 
English place, and is too well known to 
require any description here. 



* Captain Cook complained of the water here being 
very bad. At that time, perhaps, the aqueduct was not 
so extensively covered, and secured from the admission 
of impurities, as at present. 



16 VOYAGE OF H. AI. S. ALCESTE 

As strangers, on first landing here, we 
were forcibly struck by the remarkable 
difference of complexion in the female part 
of the society, compared with the brunettes 
we had just left at Rio Janeiro ; and an Eng- 
lishman is probably the more inclined to 
esteem the beauty of the Cape ladies from 
its great resemblance to that which he is 
accustomed to admire at home. It is hint- 
ed, however, that this resemblance exists 
chiefly during youth, and that, in their ma- 
turer years, they are apt (from sedentary 
habits and want of exercise) to acquire a 
peculiar Hottentotish obesity. But this, per- 
haps, is only said by ill-natured people. 

The ship having gone round to Simon's 
Bay, and the necessary refitment being 
completed, his lordship embarked at this 
place, with the usual marks of attention, 
on the 6th of May, and we proceeded on 
our voyage. From 38 to 40 south, we 
found our expected winds ; but, as winter 
was far advanced in this hemisphere, (latter 
end of May, and beginning of June,) the 
weather was cold, bleak, and boisterous, 
with a heavy sea. On the 24th May we made 



TO CHINA. 17 

the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. 
Smoke was seen, as we approached, issu- 
ing from the crevices of the latter. It is 
here where the hot springs so nearly adjoin to 
the greatsalt water basin, as to afford the sin- 
gular exhibition of catching fish in the latter, 
and boiling them in the former, without 
taking themorT the hook, and within reach of 
the rod. The state of the weather, which was 
very rough, and the time of the evening, did 
not allow us to verify this fact, but there 
is no doubt of its truth. An immense 
crater (now apparently converted into a 
sort of harbour, the sea having flowed into 
it) appears on the eastern side of the 
island. 

Having got sufficiently to the eastward 
for the purpose of fetching Java with the 
usual tropical winds, we began to haul 
to the northward and eastward, the wea- 
ther of course becoming daily warmer; 
and, on the 8th June, we saw Java Head, 
and anchored next day in Anjeri road, 
where we found the Lyra at anchor, and 
saw the Hewitt off Cape Nicholas, on 
her way to Batavia, they having only 



18 VOYAGE OF II. M. S. ALCESTJ3 

arrived two days before us*. This pas- 
sage was extraordinary for its rapidity, for 
in ninety -two days, under sail, the ship had 
traversed about fourteen thousand miles, 
and visited every quarter of the globe. 

After staying a day or two at the village 
of Anjeri (where we were amused with the 
ceremony of a Javanese wedding,) Colonel 
Yule, the resident of the Bantam district, 
accompanied by Mr. M'Gregor, waited on 
the Embassador to pay their respects ; and 
having provided the necessary accommo- 
dation for his lordship and suite to pro- 
ceed overland to Batavia, they all set out 
on their journey thither. During our short 
stay here, the king, or sultan, of Ban- 
tam, died; and his uncle (the nearest 
heir to the sovereignty) refused to accept 
the title, preferring to live in humble retire- 



* The superior sailing of the frigate enabled us to 
touch at Rio Janeiro, without in any way delaying the 
general passage ; as, notwithstanding this, she nearly 
overtook her consorts at the Cape. The same was the 
case here, though she remained ten days behind, being 
able to afford them, in such a run, a start of 1000, or 
1500 miles. 



TO CHINA. 19 

merit. The Alceste, having completed 
her water, sailed also for Batavia, as she 
had brought out duplicate despatches for 
the evacuation -of the island of Java. The 
Lyra, in the mean time, had been sent on 
to China, with a communication from Lord 
Amherst to Sir G. Staunton. 

On the 21st June we sailed from Batavia, 
with the General Hewitt ; saw the island of 
Lucepara on the 23d, and entered the 
straits of Banca. Our voyage up the 
China sea presented nothing unusual. On 
the 9th of July we met His Majesty's ship 
Orlando, and received intelligence of the 
motions of our coadjutors at Macao. We 
joined them at anchor near the Grand 
Lemma on the following day, and found 
along with the Lyra, the Discovery, and 
Investigator, two surveying-ships belonging 
to the Company, having on board Sir G. 
Staunton, and some other gentlemen * be- 
longing to the factory, whose knowledge 



N Messrs. Morrison, Manning, Toone, Davis, and 
Pearson. 



20 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

of the Chinese language rendered them 
necessary as interpreters. 

The apparent reason of choosing this 
rendezvous, was to be free from the im- 
pertinence of the Canton official people, 
whose business it naturally was to thwart 
the measures, and throw every possible im- 
pediment in the way of, the embassy. 
Circumstances occasioning the delay of a 
day or two, the ships passed on to an an- 
chorage among the Hong Kong islands ; 
where the Anjeri water, not being deemed 
good, was changed for that which fell from 
the rocks, and was certainly uncontaminated 
by any vegetable matter, for few places 
present a more barren aspect than these 
islands. They are also called the Ladrones, 
from being the haunts of pirates ; and for 
such a purpose their situation is extremely 
well adapted. Here a message arrived, 
stating the emperor's pleasure that the em- 
bassy should be received as in the former 
case ; and that the necessary orders had 
been sent to the ports of the Eastern and 
Yellow Seas for that purpose. 



TO CHINA. 21 

On the 13th July the squadron (four ships 
and the brig) sailed ; and, coasting along 
the provinces of Quang-tung and Fokien, 
passed through the Straits of Formosa, and 
entered the Tung Hai, or Eastern Sea. 
The breeze altered its direction occasion- 
ally, but was always favourable ; and, pass- 
ing out of sight of the Chusan islands, we 
saw the land to the eastward, which we then 
conceived to be the south-west point of 
Corea. On the 24th we made Staunton's 
island, and Capes Gower and Macartney, 
on the south-east part of the Shan-tong 
promontory ; and, the next day, rounding 
close the north-east point, we entered the 
Gulph of Pe-tche-lee. The country here 
had an extremely rugged and sterile look. 
On the 26th we passed through the Mee- 
a-tau islands, and steered for the mouth 
of the White (or North) River*, despatching 
the Lyra a-head, to announce the ap- 
proach of the squadron. 

An address was now publicly read by 



* It is doubtful whether Pel means white or north ; 
most probably the latter. 



22 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

Lord Amherst, to all the individuals who 
were to be attendants on the embassy, 
touching the great necessity of maintaining 
the strictest regularity and propriety of con- 
duct in their intercourse with the Chinese, 
so as to avoid every cause of offence or dis- 
agreement ; and laying down general re- 
gulations for their conduct in all respects. 

We anchored, on the 28th*, not many 
miles distant from the mouth of the river; 
but the land is here so very low, that the 
mast-heads of the junks in the river, and 
the tops of the houses only of the village 
of Ta-coo, were visible from the ship. It 
would appear that the ships had entirely 
outstripped theexpectationsof the Chinese; 
for they had no idea of seeing them so soon, 
or that they should not have heard of them 
in their passage up. Such rapidity of 
movement never entered into their con- 
ceptions; for they, in fact, had scarce heard 



* During our passage up the Yellow Sea the weather 
vras remarkably serene and fine, and we experienced 
none of the fogs which usually hang over the shallower 
parts of the ocean. 



TO CHINA. 23 

of them at one end of their empire, when 
they found them at the other. 

The viceroy of this province (Pe-tche-lee) 
had been for some offence dismissed from 
his office; and his successor, having not 
yet left Pekin, it was not until the 4th Aug. 
that two duly-authorized mandarins of rank 
(Chang and Yin) came on board to pay 
their respects to the Embassador, and to 
give the necessary directions for the dis- 
embarkation of the presents. To those 
who had seen, for the first time, the Chi- 
nese costume, these mandarins had a very 
strange appearance/ On a back view, 
their short jacket, or gown, with their crape 
petticoats, gave them the look of bulky old 
women ; but, in confronting them, their 
clumsy boots and " beards forbade the in- 
terpretation.^ The fishermen in this vi- 
cinity, (almost within a hundred miles 
of the capital,) were literally naked, 
even without a fig-leaf. This sort of in- 
decency we were little prepared to meet, 
amongst a people who affect to be so 
outrageously decorous as to discourage the 
art of sculpture, because it displays too 



24 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

distinctly the shape and lineaments of the 
human body. 

Chang was a civil, Yin a military, man- 
darin ; and they had, as usual, the title of 
Ta-zhin (or great man) added to their 
names. They were saluted on approach- 
ing the ship with seven guns each, and 
received with a guard. Every body was 
in lull dress; and it could not be said of 
this, as of the last embassy, that there was 
any want of splendour in' this respect. 
After a conference, in some degree cere- 
monious, and partly for arranging future 
proceedings, they partook of a banquet 
in the captain's cabin, and then returned 
to the shore. Quang, the Chin-chae, im- 
perial commissioner, or legate, (as he has 
been variously termed,) holding a superior 
rank to either of the others*, being ready to 
receive the Embassador on shore, his lord- 

* The person holding such an office as this, under 
the great seal, obtains a kind of temporary rank, entitling 
him, for the time, to take precedence even of the vice- 
roy of a province, although he may have an inferior 
button or ball on his cap, and be a mandarin of lower 
order in the state. 



TO CHINA. 25 

ship and the gentlemen of the embassy 
took their leave of us for a while, land- 
ing in great state on the 9th of August ; 
the squadron being dressed in colours, 
the standard flying, the yards manned, 
and a salute of 19 guns fired from each 
ship. They proceeded into the river at- 
tended by a number of Chinese junks, 
and by our boats in regular order. 
During the time we remained at this place, 
presents of bullocks, vegetables, rice, tea, 
and other refreshments were, according to 
usage, sent off to the ships, but by no means 
in great abundance. Several of the bullocks 
were brought along-side dead, having been 
drowned in the bottom of the boats, or died 
otherwise in their passage off. This, how- 
ever, was not meant as disrespect or incivi- 
lity, for they make no distinction themselves 
between an animal that is killed by the 
butcher, and one which dies naturally ; and 
in this way they eat dogs, cats, rats, and 
in fact, all manner of carrion and vermin. 

In this respect, therefore, they made 
no strangers of us, for they gave us their 
own family fare. 



26 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

It was now determined, by the senior 
officer, that the Lyra, attended by the 
Investigator, should take a southerly direc- 
tion in the Gulf, whilst the Alceste and 
Discovery were to proceed to the north, 
a certain rendezvous being pointed out for 
our meeting again, to which the General 
Hewitt was also directed. 

On the llth we weighed, and stood to 
the north-eastward ; the Discovery in 
company : the Lyra and Investigator to 
the southward. On the 13th saw the Sha- 
loo-poo-tien Islands, extending from north- 
west by north to west by south, distant 
about five leagues. We coasted along the 
western shore of the Gulf of Lea-tong, hi- 
therto unexplored by any European ship ; 
and found the land, as we advanced, be- 
came more and more mountainous. About 
noon, on the 14th, in latitude 39 29' N. 
longitude 1206'E., the great wall of China 
opened to the view, bearing north-west 
by west, its nearest and lowest point 
being then distant about six or seven 
leagues ; but we approached it closer in the 
afternoon. 



TO CHINA. 27 

Rising from the sea, this immense bar- 
rier passed over the first or lowest hill, and, 
mounting the second, was seen stretching 
to the right, in our point of view, obliquely 
towards its summit : then on the third and 
still higher land, it inclined to the left, 
making an angle with the last range ; and, 
ultimately ascending the highest and most 
distant mountain, it was there lost*. The 
opportunity of surveying this extraordinary 
structure, which, for more than twenty ages, 
has been deemed one of the greatest won- 
ders of the world, afforded, more especially 
in this unexpected way, from the deck 
of a British man of war, the most pleasing 
sensations. Whether it is considered (as it 
is by some) a mighty effort of human in- 
dustry, or (as by others) a monument of la- 



* It extends for about fifteen hundred miles, and is 
carried equally over mountains and rivers. " It is said 
not to be more than five-and-twenty feet high, flanked 
with lowers at short distances, but of sufficient breadth 
for several horsemen to travel easily abreast. Report says, 
that one-third of the men in China, capable of labour, 
M'ere employed in its construction, and that it was finished 
in the space of five years." 



28 VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTE 

borious folly, still it is an amazing object, 
not only from its immense extent, but on 
account of its great antiquity ; and, from 
being so seldom visible to an European eye, 
to have beheld it, even at this distance, was 
a high gratification of curiosity. Beyond 
the wall is a remarkable head-land, very 
much resembling Cape Sicie, a notorious 
place, near Toulon. The wind heading 
us here, we stood across, about sun-set, 
toward the coast of Chinese Tartary ; and on 
the 15th, in the evening, anchored in a bay * 
sheltered by winds from the north-west to 
south, but open to the southward and west- 
ward, lat. 39 33' N., long. 121 19' E., 
We found here a cascade of water gushing 
from the rock, which was excellent. 

The natives, who most probably had 
never seen any ships of our class before, 
crowded down next morning on the beach, 
but shewed no inclination to come on board. 
Indeed the people here seemed to be less 
amphibious than those generally found on 
sea-coasts ; few fishing or other boats were 

* Named Ross Bay. 



TO CHINA. 29 

to be seen, although a very large and fine 
harbour, for vessels of twelve or fifteen 
feet water, extended inland round a point 
from the head of the bay. 

The first officer who wandered up to the 
villages, about two miles from the water- 
ing place, was nearly devoured by the cu- 
riosity of the inhabitants. 

Being seated beneath a tree, every part 
of his dress underwent the strictest scru- 
tiny, from the shirt-frill to the shoes ; but 
the anchor-buttons seemed most to attract 
attention, for they would refuse a dollar, 
and gladly accept a button, for any thing. 
The women here had, universally, small 
feet, all who were seen (and on the first 
morning every woman in the village made 
her appearance) being crippled. This we 
by no means expected to have found so far 
on the Tartar side of the great wall. 

But these people are, in fact, completely 
Chinese ; the language, dress, and religion 
of that country evidently prevailing: and 
they appeared to differ in no material re- 
spect from those we afterwards saw in the 
province of Shan-tong, except that they 



30 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

were less rude and uncivil. No public 
officer, or man of any rank, made his ap- 
pearance to inquire into the motives of our 
arrival. They were remarkably neat in 
their houses and gardens ; and there was an 
air of comfort about their villages, not al- 
ways to be found in the more civilized parts 
of Europe. The face of the country is 
mountainous, and extremely denuded of 
wood ; not a tree being visible, except in 
the immediate vicinity of their dwellings. 
The hills had the appearance of sheep- 
feeding downs in England; and the soil, 
as far as we could penetrate, was ex- 
cellent, and a good deal cultivated ; the 
holcus sorghum appearing a prominent ob- 
ject. 

Many deep fissures or gulleys were ob- 
served on the sides of the mountains, oc- 
casioned by the torrents from the melting 
snow in winter ; for, although this part of 
the country is in the same parallel as the 
north of Italy or south of France, and was 
now (in August) very warm, yet the wintry 

season must be extremely cold, from the 

j 

general situation and appearance of the 



TO CHINA. 31 

country, and the bleak winds blowing 
over the uncultivated wilds to the nlfth- 
ward of it. -The rocks here were composed 
of a very ponderous sort of stone, evidently 
containing a great proportion of iron; and 
some slate was observed. There must be 
some town of commercial importance si- 
tuated at the head of the Gulf, from the 
number of junks we saw passing up and 
down. Some matchlocks were noticed at 
this place, but they were merely in the 
hands of individuals, as fowling-pieces ; for 
no military made their appearance. We 
were unable to procure a supply of fresh 
beef; not from want of cattle; but they 
could not comprehend the value of Spanish 
dollars, this coin of such universal circula- 
tion, being melted down, the moment it 
gets into the hands of a Chinese of Canton. 
Having completed our water, we weighed 
on the 19th, and steered along-shore to the 
southward. At four in the afternoon, we 
saw a considerable town, lying in a hollow 
between two red cliffs, the neighbourhood 
immediately around being rather fine, and 
better wooded than usual. It seemed a 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

place of some trade, and a number of junks 
were lying at anchor in the roads. The nar- 
row promontory which here extends into 
the Yellow Sea, and forms the eastern 
boundary of the Gulf of Lea-tong, was, from 
its resemblance to a sabre, named the Re- 
gent's Sword: the south end of it is the ex- 
treme Tartar point, and was called Cape 
Charlotte, in honour of her royal highness 
the princess. 

Leopold's Isle lies a little to the north- 
west of this cape. 

The coast along this shore from our an- 
chorage was not unlike that from Plymouth 
Sound to the Start. Next morning (20th), 
steering southerly, we passed through a 
cluster of islands (nearly opposite and not 
very far distant from the Mee-a-taus), which 
were named the Company's Group. The 
space between them and Cape Charlotte, 
St. George's Channel ; that through which 
we had sailed, Leadenhall-Passage ; Ried's 
Rock and Grant's Island were names ap- 
propriated on this occasion. Soon after 
we saw the Mee-a-tau Islands ; and, in the 
afternoon, passed the city of Ten-cheu-foo, 



TO CHINA. 83 

at which Lord Macartney, in the last em- 
bassy, touched. It looks very well from 
the sea, but the wall seems of much greater 
'extent than is necessary for the town. 
Stood on to the eastward, and entered, in 
the evening, the bay or harbour of Kin- 
san-seu or Zew-a-tau, The clear and ac- 
curate description of it, by Sir Erasmus 
Gower, enabled the Alceste to proceed in 
without the least hesitation or difficulty. 
Here we found the General Hewitt. There 
are two towns on the peninsula, forming 
the north-west side of the harbour, and one 
on the opposite shore. The} 7 have no for- 
tifications here ; at least none deserving 
that name. The people appeared a gross 
and boorish set, and we enjoyed the hap- 
piness of being crowded with them from 
daylight till dark, when they always went 
away without the least expression of thanks 
for civilities shewn them. We here noticed 
that all the females, high and low, had small 
feet, which is by no means the case in the 
southern provinces, especially about Can- 
ton. At the latter place, among the mid- 
dling and lower classes, the feet are aJ- 

D 



34 VOYAGE OF H. M. $. ALCESTE 

lowed to remain in their proper state, 
unless the girl promises to be handsome, 
in which case she is crippled, in order to 
give the finishing touch to her beauty, and 
with the view of preparing her for the man- 
darin market, where small feet bring a 
higher price, and she occasionally, also, ob- 
tains some interest or favour for her parents 
through the connexion. 

They walk, or rather totter along, like 
one shuffling on her heels only, without 
putting the fore part of the foot on the 
ground ; and, in moving quick, they not 
unfrequently tumble down, when they must 
get up again the best way they can; for, 
Chinese gallantry was never observed to 
extend so far as to afford any help on such 
an occurrence. Some, more cautious, were 
seen to move about, supporting themselves 
by the walls of the houses. Girls, from 
early infancy to eight or nine years old, 
were carried about in arms, their feet being 
too tender, during the first years of this 
absurd and cruel operation, to enable them 
to bear their weight ; the four smaller toes 
being turned down under the .sole, the 



TO CHINA. 35 

whole Toot and ancle cramped, and the 
growth impeded by tight bandages, and a 
small shoe, which is generally again enclosed 
in a larger one. The pain and irritation 
excited by this horrid process, as well as 
the want of exercise, evidently injures their 
general health, for all the female children 
had a sickly pallid look. It would be as 
difficult to account for the origin of this 
barbarous practice, as that of squeezing 
the waists of Englishwomen out of all 
natural shape by stays (an usage which 
has not long been laid aside); or of " treat- 
" ing men like mere musical instruments/' 
and timing them, as such, in Italy. 

On shore the people were inhospitably 
rude, and even the children were encou- 
raged to be insolent, and to throw stones. 
One mandarin seized a basket of vegetables 
from the officers' steward, ordering him and 
the interpreter (whom he also beat) into 
the boat, with a number of opprobrious 
epithets, such as " Foreign Devils ! Spies !" 
c. Our relation with the embassy tied 
our hands at this time. 

Finding no refreshment was to be ob- 
D 2 



36 VOYAGE OF H. M. 8. ALCEiTE 

tained here, and being told, by some one in 
authority, that there was a greater proba- 
bility of getting cattle at another harbour, 
forty miles farther to the eastward, we pre- 
pared to proceed thither. 

We had by this time been joined by 
the Lyra ; Captain Hall having surveyed 
the western and southern shores of the 
Gulf of Pe-che-lee, which were found to 
be in general low. One place, remarkable 
for its height over the adjoining land, had 
been named Mount Ellis. Here we parted 
for a time with our worthy friends of 
the General Hewitt, the companions of 
our voyage outward ; that ship proceeding 
to Canton, to complete her ulterior ob- 
jects. On the 26th we weighed from 
Zeu-a-tau, and next morning arrived at 
Oie-aie-oie, a very extensive and secure 
harbour, the Lyra sounding the passage 
in. On our entrance a number of man- 
darins (or, as the seamen termed them, 
mad marines) came on board to pay their 
respects ; and an old turret on the face 
of a hill fired three popguns by way of 
salute, turning out about a dozen and a half 



TO CHINA. 



37 



of soldiers, who looked a good deal like the 
stage-military in an old-fashioned play. 

Their salute was returned by an equal 
number of guns from the ships. Here died 
Mr. Gawthrop, the master, aged forty- 
three years, (thirty -three of which he had 
been to sea,) after a severe illness con- 
tracted at the Cape of Good Hope. He 
had been distinguished as a good seaman 
and correct navigator; his career in the 
navy had also been marked by his abilities 
as a surveyor of coasts and harbours ; and, 
although a man of blunt manners, his ho- 
nesty was sterling. The ship's reckoning 
had been kept, during his confinement, by 
Mr. Taylor, the chaplain. 

We buried him at sea, near the mouth 
of the harbour, with military honours ; it 
not being considered right to inter him 
among a set of men who would have dis- 
turbed the grave for the coffin or the 
clothes, and of whose thievish disposition 
we had had the fullest example. We lost 
no time at this place, where nothing sub- 
stantial was to be found*, but proceeded 

* Here parted for Macao the Discovery and Investi- 
gator. They were towed up, and sailed down again. 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

to sea on the 29th, standing to the east- 
ward along the Shan-tong shore. On the 
31st we saw the land bearing east; but, 
the wind being light, anchored in forty-three 
fathoms. Towards morning we weighed, 
and the next day anchored again among 
a cluster of islands, lat. 37 45' 'N. 
long. 124 40' 30" E. on the coast of 
Corea. The natives here exhibited, by 
signs and gestures, the greatest aversion 
to the landing of a party from the ships, 
making cut-throat motions by drawing their 
hands across their necks, and pushing the 
boats away from the beach ; but they of- 
fered no serious violence. These islands 
were named Sir James Hall's Group; the 
main land, of considerable height, was in 
view, and not far distant. Weighed again, 
and, the wind being easterly, stood to the 
southward. On the 2d we were out of sight 
of any land ; but, the wind changing to 
the eastward, made sail southerly, and, on 
the 3d, passed a number of islands, with 
which the sea was studded as far as the eye 
could reach from the mast-head ; and, on 
the 4-th, stood into a fine bay formed by 



TO CHINA. 41 

in 6'hina for men of merit) ; and the rest 
we^e civilians. He was ushered into the 
cabin, where, in preference to chairs, he 
sat down upon one of the sofa-cushions, 
placed upon deck. It appearing to be 
etiquette for the head to be covered, the 
whole party, consisting of Captains Max- 
well, Hall, and other officers, conformed 
to this rule, and, squatting on the cabin- 
floor, with gold-laced cocked hats on, amid 
the strange costume of the Coreans, looked 
like a party of masquers. 

edifying conversation was no 
on this occasion ; for much was 
said, but unfortunately not one word was 
understood, the Chinese interpreter we 
had on board not being able to write his 
own language ; and some of the Coreans 
could write, although they could not speak, 
at least, that dialect which he compre- 
hended. The old gentleman, however, 
displayed, by signs, his satisfaction at the 
mode of his reception ; and, after par- 
taking of some liqueurs and sweetmeats, 
took his departure late in the evening 
from the ship, when he was again saluted, 




42 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

his band striking up one of their martial 
airs. 

During the night several boats were an- 
chored near the Lyra, apparently to watch 
her motions; and early in the morning the 
same chief, accompanied by a still greater 
retinue, was seen embarking at the nearest 
village, and soon after he visited the Lyra, 
where he breakfasted. He had in his train 
some secretaries (or men of letters), who 
employed themselves in noting down every 
thing relative to the ships which could be 
acquired by signs: the complemfigt of 
men was described by pointing to thiBand 
then, holdingupten fingers a certain number 
of times, they counted the guns, examined 
the muskets, measured the decks, &c. &c. 
A shot was fired, by express wish, from 
one of the carronades; and the distance 
it went, but particularly its recochetting along 
the surface of the water, seemed to strike 
them with astonishment. After breakfast, 
a small party of the officers (Captains Max- 
well, Hall, Messrs. Clifford, Law, and 
M'Leod) got into the boats with the view 
of landing at the village ; and the old chief, 



TO CHINA. 43 

thinking they were going to the frigate, ac- 
companied them, his own boats attend- 
ing. But no sooner did he perceive the 
course directed to the shore than his coun- 
tenance fell, and he seemed altogether in a 
state of great perturbation, making signs that 
he wished to go to the Alceste, and shaking 
his head when they pointed to the town. 

Having reached the beach, the party 
landed, and were immediately surrounded 
by a concourse of people. The old chief- 
tain hung his head, and clasped his hands 
in mournful silence ; at last, bursting into 
a fit of crying, he was supported, sobbing 
all the way, to a little distance, where he 
sat down upon a stone, looking back at 
the officers with the most melancholy aspect. 
His feelings appeared to be those of a man 
who imagined some great calamity had 
befallen his country in the arrival of strange 
people ; and that he was the unhappy being 
in whose government this misfortune had 
occurred. 

The natives, who had in the mean time 
been driven by their soldiers to a respectful 
distance, stood gazing in astonishment 



44 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCEST15 

alternately at their afflicted chief and at our 
party. 

Captain Maxwell, seeing what distress 
it occasioned him, would permit no ad- 
vance, and, beckoning to him to come back, 
he arose, and slowly returned. 

It was explained as well as could be 
done that no injury was intended, and that 
we were friends. He pointed to the sun ; 
and, describing its revolving course four 
times, he drew his hand across his throat, 
and, dropping his chin upon his breast, shut 
his eyes, as if dead ; intimating that in four 
days (probably the period in which an an- 
swer could arrive from Kin-ki-tao, the 
capital, for he also pointed to the inte- 
rior) he would lose his head. One of his 
secretaries, or legal advisers (an amazing 
long-winded man), squatted on the top of 
a large stone, now made a harangue of 
considerable length, the purport of which 
was evidently against the advance of the 
strangers. Signs were made for something 
to eat and drink (thinking hospitality might 
induce them to invite us into their houses) ; 
but messengers were instantly despatched 



TO CHINA. 45 

to the village, who brought down little 
tables, with mats to sit on, and some re* 
freshments: this, however, not being the 
object, they were not accepted, making 
them understand that it was unbecoming 
to offer them in that unsheltered manner, on 
the open beach; and, by way of a hint that 
this was not our mode of treating strangers, 
invited them to return to the frigate, 
where they should dine handsomely, and 
meet with every respect. The old man, who 
had observed attentively, and seemed per- 
fectly to comprehend, the meaning of the 
signs, answered by going through the mo- 
tions of eating and drinking with much 
appearance of liveliness and satisfaction, 
patting his stomach afterwards, to say all 
was very fine ; then, looking grave, he drew 
his hand across his neck, and shut his eyes ; 
as if to say, " What signifies your good din* 
" ners when I must lose my head ?" 

Perceiving it was impossible to penetrate 
farther into the interior without violence, 
which we had neither the right nor the in- 
clination to use, the party re-embarked. 



4(5 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

affecting to be much hurt at the treatment 
they had received. 

The old gentleman followed on board 
the Alceste, seemingly much dejected, and 
looking as if ashamed that he could not pay 
more attention. Wandering about the 
decks, attempting to converse, by signs, 
with every one he met, he took a piece of 
paper from a gentleman who was sitting at 
his desk, and wrote some characters upon 
it, which he seemed to require an answer to, 
but of course none could be given. The 
paper was retained ; and, being shewn 
some months afterwards to Mr. Banner- 
man, at Canton, turned out to be " I don't 
" know who ye are ; what business have 
44 ye here V It was pretty evident, how- 
ever, that he was acting from orders which 
he dared not trifle with, rather than from 
any inhospitable feeling in his own nature. 

He received a Bible, which Captain 
Maxwell (to whom he seemed very thank- 
ful for not insisting upon going into the 
town) presented him with, and carried it 
on shofe with much care, most likely sup- 



TO CHINA. 47 

posing it to be some official communica- 
tion. 

Basil's Bay (which this place was named) 
lies in lat. 36 9' N., long. 126 32' E., be- 
ing, in sea-phrase, about 120 miles high and 
dry up the country, according to the exist- 
ing charts. 

This afternoon (5th) got under weigh, 
and stood to the southward, through in- 
numerable islands, which were all high, 
rising like mountains out of the sea. 
None of them seemed of great extent," few 
mg longer than three or four miles, 
, as far as we could see, in some de- 
gree cultivated, the inhabitants generally 
crowding to the top of the highest emi- 
nence, where they remained huddled to- 
gether, and gazing until the ships were 
passed. 

On the 8th, anchored in lat. 36 26' N., 
and here we found that the land seen on 
coining up the Whang Hai or Yellow Sea, 
and which had been called Cape Amherst, 
was not the continent. It was now named 
Alceste Island ; and another range, about 
twenty in number, running north and south, 



48 VOYAGE OF H. M. 3. ALCESTE 

rather within it, but outside the Corean 
Archipelago, was called the Amherst Isles. 
This morning, after sounding our way in, ' 
came to an anchor in a most excellent har- 
bour, named Murray's Sound; the two 
islands, which principally form it, Sham- 
rock and Thistle. 

Here a number of observations were 
taken, and surveys made, to ascertain the 
exact geographical position of the land, 
and the qualities of the anchorage; and 
distinguishing names were of course given 
to remarkable spots, which might serve on 
future occasions as leading marks. From 
the top of Montreal, one of the highest, 
135 other islands were distinctly counted ; 
the main land, which seemed very lofty, 
was seen ranging from north-east to east- 
south-east, distant about forty miles. From 
Murray's Sound, Craig Harriet, a very pe- 
culiar rock, rising in sugar-loaf form from 
the sea, bears south 39, west five miles. 
Another rock (Huntly Lodge), situate on 
an island, south 40 east, resembles a church 
with a square tower. Windsor Castle, 
north 40 50' east. The direction of the 



TO CHINA. 49 

sound itself north north-east half east, and 
south south-west half west; it is a very se- 
cure anchorage, with excellent holding 
ground. The intervening spaces between 
the multitude of isles, generally from one 
to two, or three, and even four miles across, 
are all (at least as far as the boats ex- 
amined) close harbours, and capable of 
containing, in security, all the navies of 
the world. They form, in fact, an almost 
endless chain of harbours, communicating 
with each other. The rise and fall of tide 
is here considerable, but the setting of the 
currents among; such a multitude of isles 

o 

must, of course, be extremely various. 
They appear to be all inhabited, and there- 
fore must possess fresh water. On first 
landing on Thistle Island, the women fled, 
with their infant children, over the hill, to a 
place which we named Eagle Point (from a 
large eagle being perched on the precipice as 
we came in), and hid themselves in recesses 
among the rocks ; Avhilst the men, in a 
body, but unarmed, waved and halloed 
to us not to advance, making the usual 
signal with their hands across the throat, 

E 



50 VOYAGE OF , M. S. ALCESTE 

When they found, however, by repeated 
visits, that no hostility was intended, and 
that we were rather inclined to give than 
to take from them, they became a little 
more tame, would crowd round the officers 
to see them fire at a mark, bring them wa- 
ter to drink, and offer them part of their 
humble fare to eat; but all this they 
seemed to do in a perfect spirit of inde- 
pendence, and not from fear. Then sud- 
denly, as if recollecting they were acting 
contrary to orders in holding any corre- 
spondence whatever with strangers, they 
would lay hold of some of the gentlemen 
by the shoulders, and push them away, 
pointing to the ship ; and this conduct was 
uniform wherever we touched. We ob- 
served no fire-arms among them, but some 
who came on board the Alceste discovered 
considerable acquaintance with the sword 
exercise. They cultivate as much grain as 
they want for their own consumption ; 
they feed cattle (at least for domestic pur- 
poses) ; and, as may naturally be sup- 
posed, from their peculiar and insular 
situation, they subsist a good deal by fish- 



TO CHINA. 51 

ing. Of their government, general man- 
ners, and customs, it would be impossible 
to speak with any accuracy from so limited 
an intercourse as we had with them. 

China has very little communication 
with the barbarians of the west, and that is 
chiefly confined to a particular spot, the 
port of Canton ; Japan still less, and Corea 
none at all. A connexion, however, is kept 
up with China by two or three annual junks 
from the eastern coast. 

What little knowledge we possess of Co- 
rea is mostly derived from the Jesuits of 
China, who certainly were not infallible 
guides in all matters; but in the geography, 
general literature, and delineation of man- 
ners and customs, when unconnected with 
their own superstitions, their labours are 
entitled to a distinguished place in the re- 
public of letters, especially when the diffi- 
culties they had to struggle with are taken 
into consideration ; but here they -were freed 
from every motive to deceive, and had only 
to tell the simple truth. 

Corea (or Kaoli) is tributary to the em- 
peror of China, and sends him triennial Em- 

J5 



52 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

bassadors expressive of its homage. We 
saw enough, however, to convince us that 
the sovereign of this country governs with 
most absolute sway ; and that, occasionally, 
he makes very free with the heads of his 
subjects. The allusion to this danger could 
not have been so constant and uniform, in 
places so remote from each other, without 
some strong reason. 

The law against intercourse with fo- 
reigners appears to be enforced with the 
utmost rigour *. At one of the islands to 

o 

the north, where we first landed, a Corean, 
in an unguarded moment, accepted a but- 
ton which had attracted his attention ; but 
soon after, as the boats were shoving off, he 
ran down into the water, and insisted on 
restoring it, at the same time (by way 
of reparation) pushing the boat with all 
his might away from the beach. On almost 
all occasions they positively refused every 
thing offered to them. His Corean majesty 

* It is said that the crew of a Dutch vessel, a con- 
siderable time since, wrecked on the eastern coast, were 
detained in slavery for nineteen years, without being 
heard of, when some of them managed to get away. 



TO CHINAS 53 

may well be styled " king of ten thousand 
isles," but his supposed continental domi- 
nions have been very much circumscribed 
by our visit to his shores. Except in the 
late and present embassy, no ships had 
ever penetrated into the Yellow Sea ; the 
Lion had kept the coast of China aboard 
only, and had neither touched at the Tartar 
nor Corean side. Cook, Perouse, Bougain- 
ville, Broughton, and others, had well de- 
fined the bounds on the eastern coast of 
this countiy, but the western had hitherto 
been laid down on the charts from imagina- 
tion only, the main land being from a hun- 
dred and thirty to a hundred and fifty miles 
farther to the. east ward than these charts 
had led us to believe. 

The Jesuits, therefore, must have taken 
the coast of Corea from report, and not 
from observation, for their chart is most in- 
correct, and by no means corresponds with 
their usual accuracy. The Chinese written 
characters have found their way here, but 
they would appear to be confined to the 
literati, for the common language has no 
resemblance in sound to the colloquial 
language of China. 



54 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

On the 10th we got under weigh and 
proceeded on our voyage, standing through 
the south passage, and made sail to the 
southward, giving the name of Lyra to an 
island which bore about east of Alceste's ten 
or twelve leagues, and distance nearly the 
same north-westerly from Quelpart). On 
the llth, sounded in forty-nine fathoms 
muddy bottom, in lat. 31 42' N., long. 
126 30' E. On the morning of the 13th we 
made Sulphur Island, a volcano, situated in 
lat. 27 56' N., long. 128 11' E. Whilst yet 
at a great distance, we could observe a vo- 
lume of smoke at short intervals bursting 
from its crater. We hove-to for some time 
under its lee, in front of a horrid chasm, 
from whence the smoke issued, but found it 
impossible to land, as there was much wind 
and swell, and the surf broke with tre- 
mendous violence around its base. The 
island, which does not appear above four 
or five miles in circumference, rises pre- 
cipitous from the sea, except in one or two 
spots; its height must be considerable, 
judging from the distance we saw it, per- 
haps 1,200 feet. The sulphurous smell 
emitted, even when two or three miles off, 



TO CHINA. 55 

was very strong. One end of the island 
displayed strata of a brilliant red-coloured 
earth, which had been noticed before on 
some part of the Corean main. One would 
almost be induced to believe that the mer- 
cury and sulphur, so abundant in these 
regions, had combined to give this ver- 
milion hue to the ground. From hence we 
stood on to the southward with a strong wind 
at north by east, which soon increased to 
a gale. Not having sufficient run for the 
night, and being totally unacquainted with 
the coast we were approaching, the ship 
was put under snug canvass, and hauled 
to the wind on the starboard tack. On the 
morning of the 14th we again made sail, and 
soon observed an island rising like a cone 
to a considerable height, with that of the 
grand Lewchew* immediately behind it. 
The state of the weather would not war- 
rant our standing closer in with the land 
than about eight miles, as it now blew fresh 
from the west-north-west, which made it 
a lee shore. We hauled to the south-west- 
ward, and in the afternoon saw breakers 

* Generally termed Lekeyo in charts. 



56 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

under our lee, the Lyra being closer in, and 
rather a-head. To have put about with 
the wind as it then was, would have em- 
bayed us for the night; for the main 
body of the island seemed to form, with 
the peak we had left astern, and the 
position we were now in, a sort of bight. 
The Lyra, indeed, could not have tacked 
in such a swell, and was almost too near to 
attempt wearing. Both ships, therefore, 
stood on with every sail they could carry, 
on the starboard tack, endeavouring to 
weather the reef. Much anxiety existed, 
at this moment, on boaYd the Alceste, for 
the fate of the brig ; the breakers rearing 
their white tops close to leeward of her, 
and rolling, with terrific force, upon the 
rocks. By steady steerage, however, and 
a press of sail, she at last passed the dan- *' 
ger, and bore up through a channel formed 
by the reef and some high islets to the 
southward, very much to the satisfaction of 
all concerned; and she was followed by the 
frigate. We hove-to, for the night, under the 
lee of the larger island, and the next morn- 
ing's dawn, the weather being now ex- 
tremely fine, displayed to our view a rich 



TO CHINA. 57 

extent of cultivated scenery, such as we 
had not been lately accustomed to, on the 
naked coasts of Tartary and China. Rising 
in gentle ascent from the sea, the grounds 
were disposed more like the finest country- 
seats in England than those of an island so 
remote from the civilized world, the 
tranquil, placid, and refreshing look of 
every thing around, forming a very pleas- 
ing contrast with the boisterous sea and 
dangerous condition of the previous day. 
We were in front of a town, having a sort 
of line wall, along the water's edge, from 
whence some fishing-boats approached the 
Lyra, which by this time had anchored; 
and on the people being interrogated, by 
signs, as to the proper anchorage, they 
pointed round the south-west end of the 
island, kindly offering, at the same time, 
some vegetables and fresh water, which 
they had in their cano s. 

We made sail in the direction indicated, 
carefully sounding and looking out as we 
advanced along shore, and at night an- 
chored in eighty-two fathoms. On the 
16th, at daylight, we continued our course, 
and about noon descried a considerable 



58 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

town, with a number of vessels at anchor 
under it, in a harbour, the mouth of which 
was formed by two pier-heads. In the 
afternoon, having explored our passage 
through the adjacent reefs, (the Lyra 
leading,) we anchored in front of this town. 
The astonished natives, who most proba- 
bly had never been visited by an European 
ship before *, were perched in thousands on 
the surrounding rocks and heights, gazing 
on the vessels as they entered. Soon after, 
several canoes came alongside, containing 
some people in office, who wished to know 
to what country we belonged, and the 
nature of our visit. By the assistance of the 
Chinese interpreter, whose language some 
of them understood, they were informed 
that we were ships of war belonging to the 
King of England, which had carried an 
Embassador from that monarch to the 
Emperor of China; and, after having 
landed him and his retinue near Pekin, we 
had, on our return to Canton, where the 



* Captain Broughton, after the loss of the Providence 
in 1797, anchored at this place in a schooner, and re- 
mained forty-eight hours. 



TO CHINA. 59 

Embassador was to re-embark, met with 
violent weather at sea, in which the ship 
had sprung a leak, obliging us to put in 
there, in order to repair our damages. To 
make this story feasible, the well was filled 
by turning the cock in the hold ; and the 
chain-pumps being set to work threw out 
volumes of water on the main deck, to the 
great amazement of these people, who 
seemed to sympathize very much with our 
misfortunes. This ruse was necessary to 
free their minds from that state of alarm, 
which must naturally arise on the arrival 
of ships of such unusual appearance and 
force, with whose motives they were unac- 
quainted, and who would justly be consi- 
dered as the objects of suspicion had no rea- 
son but mere curiosity been assigned. 
They returned on shore, and put in requisi- 
tion a number of carpenters, or people 
acquainted with the construction of their 
own vessels, who, at daylight in the morn- 
ing, hurried on board, bringing with them 
the rude implements of their art, in order 
to render what assistance they could in 
stopping the leak. This offer of kindness 



60 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

was, of course, civilly declined by the senior 
officer, on the ground that we had plenty of 
good carpenters on board, who were per- 
fectly equal to the task ; that an asylum 
was all we required during the time of re- 
pair, with permission to take on board some 
fresh provisions and water, of which we 
stood much in need; and all this we would 
most cheerfully pay for. 

An immediate supply of bullocks, pigs, 
goats, fowls, eggs, and other articles, with 
abundance of excellent sweet potatoes, ve- 
getables, fruit then in season, and even can- 
dles* and fire-wood, followed this intima- 
tion ; supplies of the samfe description being 
sent on board as often as was necessary, for 
about six weeks, the period of our stay on 
the island ; those who brought them taking 
a receipt to shew they had been delivered 
safely ; but the chief authorities, who sent 
them, obstinately refusing any payment or 
remuneration whatever. 

Meantime, it being found impracticable 
for the frigate to swing in the inner harbour 

* Their candles are made of unrefined wax, with paper 
wicks, and give an excellent light. 



TO CHINA. 61 

at low water, the road in which we lay was 
accurately examined, and found to be so 
protected with coral reefs to seaward, and 
covered by the land to the eastward, as to 
be completely sheltered, except in a very 
slight degree at its entrance, and of suffi- 
cient extent and depth to contain even 
ships of the line. 

On the 20th, we moved up to the head of 
this road, to a place which we called Baron- 
pool, where we afterwards rode out the equi- 
noctial gales (or change of the monsoons). 

On inquiring of them where the king was, 
they said, after some hesitation, 10,000 
miles off; and when it was hinted that it 
was necessary to have a party on shore, 
such as ropemakers and smiths, where 
they could have more room to work, and 
thereby expedite our refit ; they requested 
this might not be done until they heard from 
the king, it being an unprecedented case, in 
which they were incompetent to act with- 
out orders. 

Unwilling to give cause of alarm or un- 
easiness to a people who seemed so well 
disposed, and for whose fears and suspi- 
cions it was but reasonable to make every 



62 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

allowance, we remained quietly on board 
until the 22d, when intimation was received 
that a great personage intended paying a 
visit to the commodore. 

At the mouth of a little river, in front of 
which we were anchored, we observed this 
chief embarking amidst a great concourse 
of people. He was saluted on his approach 
with three guns from each ship, and re- 
ceived on board with every mark of re- 
spect. He was a man about sixty years of 
age, with a venerable beard : his dress a 
purple robe, with very loose sleeves, and 
fastened round his middle with a sash of 
red silk : he had sandals on his feet, with 
white gaiters, not unlike short stockings. 
His cap (the badge of his dignity) was 
made of some slight material, twisted neatly 
into folds, and covered with a light purple- 
coloured silk. He had a numerous suite 
with him ; some were official people of dif- 
ferent ranks, and the rest his personal at- 
tendants. Here the occasion of our visit was 
again discussed ; the pumps were set to 
work to shew the effect of the leak; and pro- 
mises, on their part, renewed, of every as- 
sistance. 



TO CHINA. 



Although they had not heard from the 
king on the subject of our coming on 
shore, and notwithstanding it was con- 
trary to a general rule for any stranger to 
land upon their coast, yet a few of the 
officers were always welcome to walk about 
within certain bounds. After partaking of 
a very handsome entertainment, he took 
his leave, the captain promising to return 
his visit. At one o'clock on the following 
day the boats were manned, and Captains 
Maxwell and Hall, with several of the offi- 
cers in full uniform, proceeded into Napa- 
kiang*. This harbour is the mouth of a river, 
at the entrance of which, on each side, are 
strong-built walls or piers, for a consider- 
able way up, and inside were anchored 
several rather large junks. Vessels under 
the size of frigates could be received very 
well in this river; the bottom is soft mud. 



* Napa appears to have been the original name of the 
town; but, since their connexion wkh China, the term Foo, 
(or city of the first class) has been added ; making 
Napafoo, Kiang, another Chinese word, signifies river,, 
and, when coupled with Napa, means merely the river, 
port, or anchorage of the place. 



64 VOYAGE Or H. M. S. ALCESTE 

The river widens somewhat immediately 
above the anchorage, and in it is situated 
a very pretty little island. At the landino-- 

o 

place the party were met by some of the 
chiefs, who had been most in the habit of 
visiting the ships, each of whom, taking 
one of the officers by the hand, led him 
through an immense collection of specta- 
tors to the gate of a public building, where 
the old gentleman already mentioned at- 
tended to welcome them into the house. 
Here an entertainment was served up in 
a style, which a pastry-cook, or connois- 
seur in eating, might describe; but which 
to another might be a difficult task. The 
utmost good humour, however, prevailed, 
and a liqueur (chazzi) something like rosolio 
was passed round in abundance, so that it 
was quite a man's own fault if he was not 
cheerful. 

Many loyal and friendly toasts, appli- 
cable to both countries, were given and drank 
with enthusiasm. As they had hitherto gene- 
rously supplied the ships with fresh provi- 
sions, vegetables, and fruit, and constantly re- 
fused any kind of payment, either in money 



TO CHIXA. 65 

or by way of barter, the captains thought this 
a proper opportunity to offer, as a mark of 
their personal regard, some presents to the 
chiefs, consisting of various wines, cherry 
brandy, English broad cloths, a telescope, 
and other things; and on this ground only 
they were accepted ; reserving it to them- 
selves, at the same time, to make what per- 
sonal return they might think proper to 
this interchange of friendship. 

At the end of this conference, when it 
was proposed to take a walk over the city, 
a consultation was held among them ; when 
the request was mildly declined, (supposed 
to be through the influence of Buonaparte, 
a man of dark and peculiar aspect, so 
named because he was suspected of being 
the most inclined to keep us at arm's length,) 
stating, they were afraid some bad people 
might be induced to treat us with disre- 
spect. It was evident they had not the 
power, without higher authority, to admit 
us to freer access ; for the people themselves, 
almost without exception, appeared by this 
time to have no apprehension about our 
motives. After much hilarity the party 



66 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

took their leave, attended in the same way 
as on landing. 

It was worthy of notice how much re- 
gularity and decorum existed among so 
many thousands as were here collected. A 
lane was formed, on the inner side of which 
the smallest boys (generally kneeling) were 
placed ; another row squatted behind these ; 
then the men (those nearest stooping a 
little); and outside the still taller people, or 
those mounted on stones, c.; so that all, 
without bustle or confusion, might have a 
complete view of the strangers. The ut- 
most silence reigned, and not a whisper was 
heard. Perhaps they had purposely sent 
their women out of the way, but the ladies 
managed (as usual) to outwit them, and to 
gratify curiosity in defiance of every pre- 
caution to the contrary. A number of 
them had either been placed intentionally 
on the other side of the river, or left there 
in consequence of all the men having come 
over to the show; but the boats, in going out, 
had to pass within a few yards of their pier- 
head ; when, finding themselves in almost 
exclusive possession of that bank, they left 



TO CHINA. 67 

their station on a hill, ran down to the 
point, and had their peep, whilst their 
friends on the opposite shore were unable 
(had it been their intention) to keep'them 
in the back ground. 

About this period a mutual friendship 
began to exist between us ; confidence 
took place of timidity; and now, instead 
of permitting only a few to visit the shore 
at a time, they fitted up the garden of a 
temple as a sort of general arsenal for 
us : the habitations of the priests were al- 
lotted as an hospital for the sick, whilst 
other temporary buildings of bamboo 
were erected for *the reception of our 
powder, which required airing, and for va- 
rious stores wanting inspection and repair. 
The rope-makers, smiths, and other arti- 
ficers, were established at a convenient 
spot, about a mile farther along the beach. 
They continued their usual supplies, bring- 
ing us even fresh water on board in their 
boats; and, understanding we required 
some wood for spars, they felled fir-trees, 
floated them down the river, and towed 

F2 



68 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

them alongside, singing their usual boat- 
song, which had a very plaintive and 
pleasing effect. 

The island of Lewchew* is about sixty 
miles long and twenty broad ; Napa Kiang, 
our position, (and within five miles of 
Kint-ching, the capital,) lying in lat. 26* 
14' N., long. 127 52' 1" E. This is its 
south-west point, the main body of the 
island extending from hence north, a little 
eastwardly. 

It is the principal island of a group of 
thirty-six, subject to the same monarch, and 
the seat of the government. The natives 
trace their history back to a period long an- 
terior to the Christian era ; but their first 
communication with the rest of the world, 
when their accounts became fully corro^ 
borated and undisputed, was about the 

* It is called by an infinity of names in books and 
charts, such as Lekeyo, Lieoo-Kieoo, Lequeyo, and 
Lieu-Kieu; but the word Lewchew will better express 
the sound, according to the native pronunciation, than 
any other. It is often by the lower classes corrupted into 
Doo-Ckoo. 



TO CHINA. 69 

year 605, when they were invaded by China, 
who found them at that time a time when 
England and the greater part of Europe 
were immersed in barbarism the same 
kind of people they are at the present day, 
with the exception of a few Chinese innova- 
tions; or, at least, they appear to have 
altered but in a very slight degree. Indeed, 
it is very obvious that a revolution in man- 
ners, and alteration of habits, are by no 
means so likely to occur with a people thus 
living in an obscure and secluded state, as 
among those who have a wider intercourse 
with other nations. The only connexion 
which the Lewchews have had with their 
neighbours, and that but very limited, has 
been with Japan and China, from neither 
of whom they were likely to receive any 
example .of change. 

The clearest and perhaps the only account 
given of their history is by Su-poa-Koang, 
a Chinese doctor or philosopher, who was, 
in 1? 19, sent as embassador to them *, 



Vide Lettres Edifiantes, tome xxiv. 



70 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

The following is the substance of his re- 
port as to their origin : " The Lewchew 
" tradition states, that, in the beginning, 
" one man and one woman were pro- 
" duced in the great void or chaos. They 
" had the joint name of Omo-mey-kieou. 
" From their union sprung three sons and 
" two daughters ; the eldest of the sons 
" had the title of Tien-sun, or Grand- 
" son of Heaven, and was the first king of 
" Lewchew ; the second was the father of 
" the tributary princes ; the rest of the 
" people acknowledge the third as their 
" progenitor *. The eldest daughter had 
" the title of Celestial Spirit ; the second, 
" the Spirit of the Sea. After the death of 
" Tien-sun, twenty-five dynasties reigned 
" successively in this country, occupying 
" (according to their story) a period of 
" 17,802 years previous to the time of 
" Chuntein, who commenced his reign in 
" 1187- This is their fabulous history, of 

* It seems rather unaccountable, in this marvellous 
tradition, that the third son, to whutu no wife is assigned, 
should have had the most numerous progeny. 



TO CHINA. 71 

" which they are very jealous ; but nothing 
" certain was known until 605, before which 
" the inhabitants of Formosa and the adja- 
" cent islands were denominated by the 
" Chinese the Oriental Barbarians. In this 
" year the emperor sent to examine them; 
" but, from want of interpreters, no clear 
" account was obtained. They brought 
" back, however, some of the islanders to 
" Sin-gan-foo, the capital of the province 
" of Chensi, and the seat of the court 
6i under the Sony dynasty. SomeJapan- 
" ese, who happened to be there, knew 
" the people, and described them as a race 
". of barbarians. The Emperor Yang-ti 
" sent forthwith some who understood 
" their language to Levvchew, to command 
" their homage, and acknowledgment of 
" him as their sovereign. The prince of 
" Lewchew haughtily replied, that he 
" would own none as his superior. A 
" fleet with 10,000 men was now fitted 
" out from Amoi and the ports of Fokien, 
" which force, overcoming the efforts of 
" the islanders, landed at Lewchew; and 
" the king, who had put himself at the 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" head of his people to repel the enemy, 
" being killed, the Chinese burned the 
" capital ; and, carrying off 5000 of the 
" natives, as slaves, returned to China. 
" From this, until 1 291 , the Lewchews were 
" left unmolested, when Chit-soo, an empe- 
" ror of the Yuen family, reviving his 
" pretensions, fitted out a fleet against them 
" from the ports of Fokien ; but, from va- 
" rious causes, it never proceeded farther 
" than the western coast of Formosa, 
" and from thence returned unsuccessful 
" to China. In the year 1372, Hong-ou, 
" emperor of China, and founder of the 
" Ming dynasty, sent a great mandarin 
" to Tsay-tou, who governed in Tchon- 
" chan, the country being at this period 
" divided, in consequence of civil disturb- 
" ances, into the three kingdoms, who, 
" in a private audience, acquitted himself 
" with such address as to persuade the 
" king to declare himself tributary to Cln'na, 
" and to request of the emperor the inves- 
" titure of his estate. 

" Having thus managed by finesse what 
" arms had been unable to effect, the em- 



TO CHINA. 73 

" peror took care to receive, with great 
" distinction, the envoys sent by their 
" master. They were accompanied by 
" offerings of fine horses, scented woods, 
" sulphur, copper, and tin, and sent back 
tf again with rich presents for the king 
" and queen ; among which was a gold 
" seal. 

" The two kings of the other districts, 
" Chan-pe and Channan, followed the ex- 
" ample of Chonchan, and their submission 
" was most graciously received. Thirty- 
" six Chinese families were sent to live in 
" Cheouli*, where grants of land were 
" conceded to them ; here they taught the 
" Chinese written characters, introduced 
" Chinese books, and the ceremonies in 
" honour of Confucius. The sons of the 
" Lewchewan grandees were also sent to 
" Nankin to study Chinese, and were edu- 
" cated with distinction, at the expense of 
" the emperor. 



: That district of Tcfion-chan in which the capital is 
situated, and where we resided. 



74 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" The reigns of Ou-ning and Tse-chao, 
" the son and grandson of Tsay-tou, pre- 
" sented nothing extraordinary ; but that 
" of . Chang-pa-chi was marked by the re- 
" union of Chan-pe and Channan with 
" Tchon-chan into one kingdom, and the 
" government has since continued in the 
" hands of a single chief. Lewchew is 
" said henceforth to have had consider- 
" able intercourse with China and Japan 
" in the way of commerce, much to her 
" advantage, and to have even mediated 
" between those two powers when misun- 
" derstandings had occured. 

" The famous Tay-cosama, however, 
" emperor of Japan, whom the Chinese 
" call ambitious, piratical, irreligious, 
" cruel, and debauched, because he had 
" pillaged their coasts, sent a haughty letter 
" to Chang-ning, commanding him to 
" transfer his homage from China to Japan, 
" which Chang-ning as firmly refused. 
" Notwithstanding the death of Tay-cosa- 
" ma, the Japanese fitted out a fleet at 
" Satsuma, made a descent on Lew-chew, 



TO CHINA. 75 

" took the king prisoner, and carried him 
" off, having plundered the palace, and 
" killed one of his near relations, who 
" also resisted the acknowledgment of 
" the Japanese. During a captivity of two 
<; years, Chang-i>ing acquired the admira- 
" tion of the captors by his unyielding 
" firmness and constancy in refusing to 
" swerve from his first allegiance, and 
" they generously sent him back to his states. 

" The Tartar dynasty, soon after this, 
" was placed, by conquest, on the throne 
" of China, and made some alteration in the 
" nature of the tribute to be paid, stipu- 
" lating that envoys, in future, should be 
" sent to Pekin only once in two years. 
" Cang-hi paid much attention to the wel- 
" fare of Lewchew ; and his memory to 
" this day is much respected by the peo- 
" pie. It is said to be nearly a thou- 
" sand years since the bonzes of the sect 
" of Fo introduced their mode of worship 
" into these islands, which has continued 
" to the present time. 

" When they take an oath, it is not be- 
" fore the statues or images of their idols; 



76 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" but they burn incense, and, placing 
" themselves in a respectful attitude before 
'* certain consecrated stones which are to 
" be seen in various public situations, they 
" repeat some mysterious words, said to 
" have been dictated by the divine daugh- 
" tersof Omo-mey-kieou. They have also 
" among them a set of holy women, who 
" worship certain spirits deemed powerful 
" among them, and who visit the sick, 
" give medicines, and recite prayers. This 
" seems to have given rise to the accusa- 
" tion of an old missionary at Japan, who 
" said they practised sorcery and witch- 
" craft. Cang-hi likewise introduced among 
" them the adoration of a new deity, under 
" the name of Tien-fey, or Celestial Queen. 
" Polygamy is allowed here as in China, 
" but seldom practised. Men and women 
" of the same surname cannot intermarry. 
" The king can only take a wife from one 
" of three great families, who always hold 
" the most distinguished posts: there is 
" also a fourth, of the highest considera- 
" tion, but with which the princes cannot 
" form an alliance, because it is doubtful 



TO CHIXA. 77 

* 

" whether that family is not itself of the 
" royal line. Their chiefs are generally 
" hereditary, but not always ; for men of 
" merit are promoted, and all are liable 
" to be degraded for improper conduct. 
" The king's revenue arises from his own 
" domains ; from imposts on salt, sulphur, 
" copper, tin, and several other articles ; 
" and from this income he defrays the 
" expenses of the state, and the salaries 
" of the great officers. 

" These salaries consist nominally in a 
" certain number of bags of rice ; but they 
" are paid generally in silks, and various 
" other necessary articles of clothing and 
" food, in proportions equal to the value of 
" so many bags of that grain. All their 
" interior commerce or marketting is per- 
" formed by the women and girls at regu- 
" lated times. They carry their little loads 
" upon their heads with singular dexterity, 
" consisting of the usual necessaries of 
" life and wearing apparel, which they ex- 
" change for what they more immediately 
" want, or for the copper coin of China and 



78 VOYAGE OF H. M. s. ALCESTE 

" Japan *. The men are said to be neat 
" workmen in gold, silver, copper, and 
" other metals ; and there are manufactories 
" of silk, cotton, flax, and paper. They 
" also build very good vessels, quite large 
" enough to undertake voyages to China 
" and Japan, where their barks are much 
" esteemed. They have adopted the Chi- 
" nese calendar with respect to the division 
" of the month and year. This island pro- 
" duces rice, wheat, and all sorts of vege- 
'* tables, in abundance. The people of the 
" coast are expert fishermen, and the sea 
" and rivers are well furnished with fish. 
" They are famous divers, and obtain 
" shells and mother-of-pearl, very much 
" esteemed in China and Japan. 

" They possess many woods proper for 
" dying; and one tree in particular yields 
" an oil which is held in great repute. 
" They have likewise a great variety of 
" most delicate fruits, oranges, citrons, le- 
" mons, long-y-ven, lee-tchses, grapes, &c. 

* We saw no money among them. 



TO CHINA. 79 

" Wolves, tigers, and bears, are unknown ; 
" but they have many useful animals, such 
" as horses, water-dogs, black cattle, stags, 
" poultry, geese, peacocks, pigeons, doves, 
" &c. 

" The camphor, cedar, and ebony, are 
" among the number of their trees ; and 
" they have also wood well fitted for ship- 
" building, and for public edifices. They 
" are represented as disdaining slavery, 
" lying, and cheating. They are fond of 
" games and amusements, and celebrate, 
" with much pomp, the worship of their 
" idols, at the end and commencement of 
" the year ; and there exists much union 
" among the branches of families, who giv6 
" frequent and cheerful entertainments to 
" each other. 

The ceremony of installation of the king 
of Lewchew is thus described: " When 
" the king dies, his heir sends an embassa- 
" dor to the emperor, to make known that 
" circumstance, and to demand his inves- 
" titure. Meantime the Lewchews treat as 
" king and queen the prince and the 
" princess his wife, though it is not, ac- 



80 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" cording to the Pekin regulations, until 
" after the installation that they assume 
" the titles. The emperor either sends 
" from himself a qualified person to per- 
" form this ceremony, or grants full powers 
" to the Lewchew embassador to do so on 
" his return. 

" If the former is determined upon, the 
" emperor orders the tribunal of ceremo- 
" nies to find a fit person to sustain with 
" dignity the majesty of the Chinese em- 
" pire; and the choice falls on whom they 
" know the emperor wishes, a second being 
" named in the event of death or sick- 
" ness. The emperor, after approving the 
" choice, admits the embassador to an au- 
" dience, and gives him the necessary in- 
" structions, and the presents intended for 
" the king and queen. The mandarins of 
" Fokien are ordered to equip a vessel, and 
" to choose a captain, officers, sailors, sol- 
" diers, and pilots, sometimes amounting 
" to three hundred and fifty persons. The 
" embassador is conducted from court with 
" great pomp to the capital of Fokien, 
" where he is lodged in a commodious 



TO CHINA. 81 

" palace, and treated with much distinc- 
" tion. 

" He is embarked with great state, when, 

" after the usual ceremonies to heaven, 

" and the goddess Tienfey, they make sail. 

" On their anchoring near Napa Kiang, 

" the king gives the necessary orders for 

" receiving the embassador, with all the 

" honours due to the title of Celestial Envoi/, 

" that is, to the envoy of the son of hea- 

" ven, or the emperor of China. The 

" princes and grandees repair to the port 

" in their court dresses. A number of ves- 

" sels richly ornamented conduct the 

" stranger into harbour, where the embas- 

" sador and suite lands, and is attended to 

" his palace with great pomp by the 

" princes and grandees, who take care to 

" make such an appearance as to do ho- 

" nour to the nation. Every thing is regu- 

" lated with respect to the maintenance of 

" the embassador and retinue, who are all 

" permitted, even to the lowest domestic, 

" the privilege of carrying a certain quan- 

" tity of money, and ot Chinese merchan- 

" dise, to make a little trade. In the time of 

G 



82 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" the Ming dynasty, the profits of the 
" Chinese were considerable at Lew- 
" chew ; at present only moderate. The 
" embassador ordinarily piques himself on 
" having no personal connexion with com- 

" merce*. 

/ 

" After having taken some repose, he 
" repairs to the grand hall, where he finds 
" a magnificent estrade, on which he seats 
" himself. On a signal given, at the same 
" instant, the princes, ministers, and gran- 
" dees of the first order, placed according to 
" rank, make the nine prostrations to sa- 
" lute the emperor. The embassador 
" stands; and, after the ceremony, makes 
" a profound reverence. When the chiefs 
" of the second and third class prostrate 
" themselves, he also stands, and after- 
" wards presents his hand to them. On 
" the performance of the inferior chiefs, 
" the embassador is seated, but afterwards 
" presents his hand to them. This ceremti- 
" nial finished, some grandees on the part 

* This is quite in the inflated style of these celestials, 
whilst in the practice of every thing that is sordid. 



TO CHINA. 83 

" of the king come to congratulate the em- 

" bassador on his safe arrival. The rest of the 

" day is spent in repasts, public rejoicings, 

" and concerts, in all the cities and neigh- 

" bouring villages, and on board the ves- 

" sels. On a certain day the embassador 

" goes to the temple of the goddess Tien- 

" fey, to return thanks for her protection, 

" and from thence to the imperial palace, 

" where he performs the Chinese ceremo- 

" nies, in honour of Confucius. On another 

" day the embassador with all his retinue 

" repairs to the royal hall, where are the 

" tablets of the deceased kings, the heir to 

" the throne also appearing, but as a prince 

" simply. 

" The embassador then performs, in the 

" name of the emperor, the Chinese marks 

" of respect in honour of the deceased king, 

" the predecessor of the reigning prince, 

" and also for his forefathers ; and presents 

" the odours, the silks, manufactures, and 

" silver, sent by the emperor for that pur- 

" pose. The prince then makes the nine 
" prostrations to thank the emperor, and 

G2 



84 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" incjiiires after the state of his health. 
" He next salutes the embassaclor, and 
" dines, familiarly, and without ceremony, 
" with him. When all is regulated for 
" the instalment, the embassador with 
" all his suite, and a great number of 
" people, proceed to the palace. The 
" court is filled with lords and chieftains, 
" richly attired, and ranged in proper 
" order. On his entrance, the embassador 
" is received by the princes, and con- 
" ducted, with music sounding, to the 
" royal hall, where there is an elevated 
" estrade for the prince and princess, and 
" a distinguished place for the embassa- 
" dor. All the princes, grandees, niiui- 
" sters, standing, the embassador reads, 
" with aloud voice, the imperial diploma; 
" in which the emperor, after some eulogy 
" on the defunct sovereign, acknowledges 
" for king and queen the hereditary prince 
*' and princess his wife. This declaration 
* is accompanied by exhortations of the 
" emperor to the new monarch, to govern 
" according to law ; and to the people of 



TO curxA. 85 



" the thirty-six isles to be faithful in their 

" allegiance. After it is read, the imperial 

" patent is presented to the king, who 

" transfers it to the minister, to be re- 

" tained among the archives of the court. 

" Then the king, queen, princes, &c., make 

" the nine prostrations, to salute and thank 

" the emperor. The embassador next dis- 

" plays the rich presents from his master 

" to the king and queen, when the usual 

" thanks are returned. Whilst the embas- 

" sador reposes himself for a short time in 

" an adjoining apartment, the king and 

" queen, seated on their thrones, receive 

" the homage of the princes, ministers, 

" grandees, and deputies, of the thirty-six 

" isles. The queen then retires, and the 

" king entertains the embassador with 

" much splendour. 

" Some days afterwards, seated in the 

" royal chair, borne by many porters, the 

" king, followed by the princes and mini- 

" sters, and a brilliant suite, goes to the 

" hotel of the embassador. 

" The road is ornamented by triumplial 

" arches; and at certain distances are 



86 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" found tents, in which are placed fruits, 
" flowers, and perfumes. Around the chair 
" of the king are seven young girls, on 
" foot, carrying his flags and umbrellas. 
" The princes, ministers, and grandees, 
" are on horseback, and are emulous to 
" distinguish themselves, on this occasion, 
" by their superb dresses and numerous 
" suite. 

" The embassador, at the gate of the 

" hotel, receives his majesty with great re- 

" spect, and leads him to the grand hall. 

" The king now again salutes the empe- 

" ror ; after which he honours the embas- 

" sador, by offering with his own hand 

" wine and tea. This the embassador de- 

" clines ; and, returning the cup, he takes 

" one for himself, which he does not drink 

" until after the king has first drank his. 

ft This ceremony finished, his majesty and 

" suite return to the palace. He names, 

" some days afterwards, an embassador to 

" proceed to the court ot the emperor, to 

" thank his majesty, and to send him pre- 

" sents, a list of which is communicated to 

" the Chinese embassador, and he orders a 



TO CHINA. 87 

" vessel to be equipped, which accompa- 
" nies that of the Chinese on its return. 
" At last, the imperial envoy, having deter- 
" mined the day of his departure, takes 
" leave of the king ; and some time after- 
" wards the latter proceeds to the hotel of 
" the embassador, to wish him a happy 
" voyage, and to make the usual pro- 
" strations in honour of the emperor, and 
" to return him thanks. 

" During the sojourn of the embassa- 
" dor, the king gives him frequent enter- 
" tainments; sometimes in the grand palace ; 
" at others in his pleasure-houses ; and, 
" occasionally, in water parties. The 
" queen, princesses, and ladies, assist at 
" these ceremonies. They have music, 
" dancing, and comedies, with songs, in 
" praise of the imperial and royal families, 
" and of the embassador, Sec." 

Such is the account of Supoa-Koang ; 
and, having observed a great part of what 
he relates to be true, it is but fair and rea- 
sonable to give him credit for what we had 
not the opportunity of actually seeing. 
One thing appears very evident, that these 



88 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

poor islanders have been much cajoled 
and humiliated, as well as encumbered 
with a load of ceremonies, very foreign to 
their nature, by the usurpation of the Chi- 
nese. 

The dress of these people is as remark- 
able for its simplicity as it is for its ele- 
gance. The hair, which is of a glossy 
black, (being anointed with an oleagenous 
substance, obtained from the leaf of a tree,) 
is turned up from before, from behind, and 
on both sides, to the crown of the head, 
and there tied close down ; great care being 
taken that, all should be perfectly smooth ; 
and the part of the hair beyond the las ten- 
ing, or string, being now twisted into a neat 
little top-knot, is there retained by two 
fasteners, called camesashee and ustsathee^ 
made either of gold, silver, or brass, ac- 
cording to the circumstances of the wearer; 
~ 

the former of these having a lit le star on 
the end of it, which points forwaid. This 
mode of hair-dressing is practised with the 
greatest uniformity, from the highest to the 
lowest of the mules, and has a very pleasing 
effect, whether viewed singly, or when they 



TO CHINA. 89 

are gathered together. At the age of ten 
years the boys are entitled to the usisashee, 
and at fifteen they wear both. Except 
those in office, who wear only a cap on 
duty, they appear to have no covering for 
the head, at least in fine weather. Inte- 
riorly, they wear a kind of shirt, and a pair 
of drawers, but over all a loose robe, with 
wide sleeves, and a broad sash round their 
middle. They have sandals on their feet, 
neatly formed of straw ; and the higher or- 
ders have also white gaiters, coming above 
the ancle. The quality of their robes de- 
pends on that of the individual. The su- 
perior classes wear silk of various hues, 
with a sash of contrasting colour, sometimes 
interwoven with gold. The lower orders 
make use of a sort of cotton stuff, generally 
of a chesnut colour, and sometimes striped, 
or spotted, blue and white. 

There are nine ranks of grandees, or 
public officers, distinguished by their caps ; 
of which we observed four. The highest 
noticed was worn by a member of the royal 
family, which was of a pink colour, with 



90 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

bright yellow flowers. -The next in dignity 
was the purple; then plain yellow; and 
the red seemed to be the lowest. 

On the female attire we could make but 
little observation. The higher ranks are 
said to wear (and some indeed were seen 
with) simply a loose flowing robe, without 
any sash ; the hair either hanging loose over 
the shoulders, or tied up over the left side of 
the head, the ends falling down again. The 
lower orders seemed to have petticoats 
scarcely deeper than a Highlander's kilt, 
with a short, but loose, habit above. 

The island of Lew chew itself is situate in 
the happiest climate of the globe. Re- 
freshed by the sea-breezes, which, from its 
geographical position, blow over it at every 
period of the year, it is free from the ex- 
tremes of heat and cold, which oppress 
many other countries ; whilst from the ge- 
neral configuration of the land, being more 
adapted to the production of rivers and 
streams than of bogs and marshes, one 
great source of disease in the warmer lati- 
tudes has no existence : and the people 



TO CHINA. 



seemed to enjoy robust health ; for we ob- 
served no diseased objects, nor beggars of 
any description, among them. 

The verdant lawns and romantic scenery 

of Tinian and Juan Fernandes, so well de- 

scribed in Anson's Voyage, are here dis- 

played in higher perfection, and on a much 

more magnificent scale ; for cultivation is 

added to the most enchanting beauties of 

nature. From a commanding height above 

the ships, the view is, in all directions, pic- 

turesque and delightful. On one hand are 

seen the distant islands, rising from a wide 

expanse of ocean, whilst the clearness of the 

water enables the eye to trace all the coral 

reefs, which protect the anchorage immedi- 

ately below. To the south is the city of Na- 

foo, the vessels at anchor in the harbour, 

with their streamers flying ; and in the inter- 

mediate space appear numerous hamlets 

scattered about on the banks of the rivers, 

which meander in the valley beneath ; the 

eye being, in every direction, charmed by 

the varied hues of the luxuriant foliage 

around their habitations. Turning to the 

east, the houses of Kint-ching, the capital 



92 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

city, built in their peculiar style, are ob- 
served here and there, opening from among 
the lofty trees which surround and shade 
them, rising one above another in gentle 
ascent to the summit of a hill, which is 
crowned by the king's palace : the inter- 
vening grounds between Napafoo and 
Kint-ching, a distance of some miles, being 
ornamented by a continuation of villas and 
country-houses. To the north, as far as 
the eye can reach, the higher land is covered 
with extensive forests. 

At a short distance from this eminence, 
the traveller is led by a foot-path to what 
seems only a little wood ; on entering which, 
under an archway formed by the inter- 
mingling branches of the opposite trees, 
he passes along a serpentine labyrinth, 
every here and there intersected by others. 
Not far from each other, on either side of 
these walks, small wicker doors are ob- 
served, on opening any of which, he is sur- 
prised by the appearance of a court-yard 
and house, with the children, and all the 
usual cottage train, generally gamboling 
about ; so that, whilst a man fancies him- 



TO CHINA. 95 

self in some lonely and sequestered retreat, 
he is, in fact, in the middle of a populous, 
but invisible, village. 

Nature has been bountiful in all her gifts 
to Lewchew : for such is the felicity of its 
soil and climate, that productions of the 
vegetable kingdom, very distinct hi their 
^nature, and generally found in regions far 
distant from each other, grow here side by 
side. It is not merely, as might be expected, 
the country of the orange and the lime ; but 
the banyan of India and the Norwegian fir, 
the tea-plant and sugar-cane, all flourish 
together. In addition to many good qua- 
lities, not often found combined, this island 
can also boast its rivers and secure har- 
bours ; and last, though not least, a worthy, 
a friendly, and a happy race of people. 

Many of these islanders displayed a spi- 
rit of intelligence and genius, which seemed 
the more extraordinary, considering the 
confined circle in which they live; such 
confinement being almost universally found 
to be productive of narrowness of mind. 
Our friends here were an exception to the 
general rule. Madera Cosyong, one of our 



94 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

most constant and intimate friends, ac- 
quired such proficiency in the English 
language, in the course of a few weeks, 
as to make himself tolerably understood. 
He evidently came on board, in the first 
instance, as a spy upon our conduct, before 
they were satisfied that we meant no harm ; 
and no man was ever better adapted for 
this duty ; for, as his conciliatory and 
pleasing manner won upon all hearts, he 
had therefore a natural access every where, 
and, had " stratagems or schemes" existed, 
he of all others was the most likely to have 
discovered them. 

His not assuming his proper character, 
which was that of a man of some dis- 
tinction, until his mind was satisfied about 
us, and his then doing it with frankness, is 
a proof that such were his original motives. 
To acquire our tongue, he marked the 
sound of any English word for the most 
familiar articles of the table, or terms of 
conversation, and noted them in symbols 
of his own language, with their significa- 
tion, which enabled, him, with slight re- 
ference to his vocabulary, to manage with- 



TO CHINA. 95 

out having recourse to the interpreter. If 
he happened to be walking on shore with 
any of the officers, he would not lose the 
sound or meaning of a word because he had 
not his book with him, but scratched it on 
the leaf of a tree, and transcribed it at his 
leisure. His first attempt to connect a sen- 
tence was rather sudden and unexpected. 
Rising to go away one evening after his 
usual lesson, he slowly articulated, " You 
" give me good wine, I tank you, I go 
" shore/' He delighted in receiving in- 
formation, and his remarks were always 
pertinent. The map of the world, with the 
track of the ship from England to Lew- 
chew, was pointed out and explained to 
him, which he, as well as others, seemed to 
trace with peculiar care, and at last, in a 
great degree, to comprehend, although the 
subject was, in the first instance, entirely new 
to them, for they certainly had no idea of the 
vast extent or figure of the globe. He was 
gay or serious, as occasion required, but was 
always respectable ; and of Madera it might 
be truly said, that he was a gentleman, not 
formed upon this model, or according to 



96 VOYAGE OF II. M. S. ALCESTE 

that rule, but " stamped as such by the so- 
" vereign hand of Nature/' 

They all seemed to be gifted with a sort 
of politeness which had the fairest claim to 
be termed natural ; for there was nothing 
constrained, nothing stiff or studied in it. 

Captain Maxwell having one day invited 
a party to dine with him, the health of the 
king of Lewchew was drunk in a bum- 
per: one of them, immediately addressing 
himself with much warmth and feeling to the 
interpreter, desired him to state how much 
they felt gratified by such a compliment ; that 
they would take care to tell it to every body 
when they went on shore ; and proposed, 
at the same time, a bumper to the king of 
the Engelees. A Chinese mandarin, under 
the like circumstances, would, most pro- 
bably, have chin-chinned (that is, clenched 
his fists) as usual ; he would have snivelled 
and grinned the established number of times, 
and bowed his head in slavish submission 
to the bare mention of his tyrant's name ; 
but it never would have occurred to him 
to have given, in his turn, the health of the 
sovereign of England. 



TO CHINA. 97 

This superiority of manner brought to 
our recollection the boorishness of the Chi- 
nese near the Pei-ho. Some mandarins, 
who were not of a rank sufficiently high to 
be entertained in the cabin, were invited 
to dine with the officers; and some of 
them, after gnawing the leg of a fowl, 
would without any ceremony thrust the 
remains of it into any other dish near 
them ; and instead of following our 
example (as the Lewchews uniformly did) 
in pouring out the wine into glasses, or, in- 
deed, in any way accommodating them- 
selves to our style, they would take up, 
with both hands, the decanter, and, apply- 
ing it to their greasy mouths, thereby secure 
the exclusive possession of that bottle. 

These islanders are represented as being 
remarkable for their honesty and adherence 
to truth, and to this character they appear 
to be fully entitled. The chiefs informed 
us that there was little probability of their 
stealing any thing; but, as iron implements 
were a great temptation, they begged that 
none might be left carelessly about. 
Although, however, the rope machinery and 

H 



98 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

other articles remained, for many nights, un- 
guarded on the beach, and their opportuni- 
ties on board were numberless, yet not one 
theft occurred during the whole of our so- 
journ among them. That proud and 
haughty feeling of national superiority, so 
strong! y existing among the common class 
of British seamen, which induces them to 
hold all foreigners cheap, and to treat them 
with contempt, often calling them out- 
landish lubbers in their OK n country, was, at 
this island, completely subdued and tamed 
by the gentle manners and kind behaviour 
of the most pacific people upon earth. 
Although completely intermixed, and often 
working together, both on shore and on 
board, not a single quarrel or complaint 
took place on either side during the whole 
of our stay ; on the contrary, each succeed- 
ing day added to friendship and cordiality. 
Although it was, no doubt, infringing on 
their established rules for strangers to land 
upon their coasts, yet they granted every 
possible indulgence, and conceded the 
point as far as they could ; for their dispo- 
sitions seemed evidently at war with the un- 



TO CHINA. 99 

social law. When any of the officers wan- 
dered into the country beyond the bounds 
prescribed, they were never rudely repulsed, 
as in China or Morocco, but mildly en- 
treated to return, as a favour to those in at- 
tendance, lest they should incur blame; 
and, as their appeal was powerful, it was 
never disregarded. 

They erected little temporary bamboo 
watch-houses or sheds, where those engaged 
in this duty resided ; and, as we wandered 
about, handed us over from one post to an- 
other. In these houses they always pressed 
the officers to partake of their fare, which 
was often very good, especially a kind of 
hung beef, which they have the art of curing 
extremely well. 

They appeared to be much accustomed 
to these pic-nic sort of parties, having a 
small japanned box, containing sliding 
drawers for the various viands, which a boy 
generally carried, on the end of a bamboo, 
to any part of the fields where they thought 
proper to dine. 

One man, very often accompanied by 
Geroo, or (as he was sometimes termed, from 

H2 



100 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

having a constant smile upon his counte- 
nance) the laughing mandarin, seemed to 
carry about with him a constant supply of 
these refreshments, and chazzi, a liqueur, 
which led us to believe that he had been 
deputed for the express purpose of paying 
attention to our officers. 

The sudden vicissitudes of weather to 
which we had been exposed, by leaving 
England during extreme cold, and passing 
suddenly into the torrid zone ; then imme- 
diately afterwards into the cold raw climate 
of the southern Atlantic ; meeting with heat 
again at the Cape of Good Hope ; then 
crossing in rather a high latitude the chilly 
SouthernOcean; and, quickly following that, 
appearing on the burning coast of Java ; 
might, in fact be said to have exposed us, 
in the short period of four months, to the 
effects of three summers and three winters ; 
and proved, as might naturally be sup- 
posed, extremely trying to the health of the 
men. On our arrival at Lewchew, our cases 
of sickness, though not numerous, were se- 
vere ; and to the kindness of the natives 
may , in a great measure, be attributed their 



TO CHINA. 101 

recovery. They were not only comfortably 
lodged, but the higher class of people* 
daily attended, inquiring into their wants, 
giving additional coogas or eggs, and other 
delicacies, to those whose cases more par- 
ticularly required them, and paying a cheer- 
ing attention to the whole; for theirs was a 
substantial, not a cold or ostentatious, charity. 

A young man, whose case had long been 
hopeless, died here. On that night a coffin 
was made by our own carpenters, whilst 
the natives dug a grave, in the English man- 
ner, in a small burial-ground under some 
trees near the landing-place. 

Next morning we were astonished to find 
a number of the principal inhabitants clad 
in deep mourning (white robes with black 



* One elderly man, whom Mr. Fisher (the assistant 
surgeon), who was always at the hospital, thought to be a 
physician, wrote something at the desk, which Mr. Fisher 
concluded was a prescription. On translating it afterwards 
at Canton it turned out to be a moral maxim, " Let not 
" the present day be passed in idleness. The days of our 
" youth will not return. By being diligent and studious 
" we arrive at offices of rank." (Literally) " We ride 
" on horseback, and wear embroidered clothes." 



102 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

or blue sashes), waiting to attend the fune- 
ral. The captain came on shore with the 
division of the ship's company to which the 
man belonged, and proceeded to the garden 
where the body lay. His messmates bore 
the coffin, covered with the colours; the 
seamen ranged themselves two and two, in 
the rear of it ; next were the midshipmen ; 
then the superior officers ; and last of all 
the captain, as is usual in military cere- 
monies of this kind. The natives, who had 
been watching attentively this arrangement, 
and observing the order of precedence to 
be inverted, without the least hint being 
given, but with that unassuming modesty 
and delicacy which characterize them, 
when the procession began to move placed 
themselves in front of the coffin, and in this 
order marched slowly to the grave. The 
utmost decency and silence prevailed 
whilst the funeral service was performing 
by the chaplain, although there was a con- 
siderable concourse of people ; and after- 
wards they marched back, but in different 
order, to the garden. Here they took the 
directions for the shape of a stone to be 



TO CHINA. 103 

placed at the head of a tomb, which, as a 
mark of respect, they had already begun 
to erect over the grave. This was soon 
finished ; and the shape of the English let- 
ters being drawn with Indian ink, they, 
notwithstanding the simplicity of their tools, 
cut out with much neatness the following 
epitaph, which, when explained to them, 
seemed to be highly gratifying : 

Here lies buried 

Aged Twenty-One Years, William Hares, Seaman, 
Of His Britannic Majesty's ship Alceste. 

Died Oct. 15, 1816. 
This Monument was erected 

By the King 

And Inhabitants 

Of this most hospitable Island. 

The day after the interment they went 
to the tomb, with their priests, and per- 
formed the funeral service according to the 
rites of their own religion. There is not 
an act of these excellent and interesting 
people which the mind has not pleasure in 
contemplating and recollecting. Not sa- 
tisfied with having smoothed the path of 



104 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

death, they carried their kind regards even 
beyond the grave ! 

Of our religion they could form no idea, 
nor was it possible to explain it to them. 
They seemed at first to consider us as wor- 
shippers of the sun or moon, and, of course, 
our astronomers as high priests, from seeing 
them busied about an observatory which 
had been erected in our garden, with a large 
telescope for the examination of the hea- 
venly bodies. 

One Sunday a number of them were ob- 
served, during divine service, peeping 
through the quarter-deck ports, but were 
not noticed in sufficient time to invite 
them in. 

Captain Maxwell's horse, in riding one 
morning to inspect the progress of the ar- 
tificers, stumbled, and fell among some 
rocks ; and by this accident the fore finger 
of his left hand was not only fractured, but 
badly dislocated. Some of his Lewchewan 
friends, who were near him, ran to the 
next village for one of their surgical profes- 
sors. He soon arrived, and, after much sa- 



TO CHINA. 105 

Jutation, proceeded to examine the injury, 
(the dislocation had in the interim been re- 
duced by the coxswain pulling upon it,) 
and then stated that he would come on 
board the ship, whither the captain was 
then proceeding, in an hour, with the ap- 
plications he thought necessary for it. At 
the 'time appointed, one of the chiefs, with 
this surgeon, and another more in the cha- 
racter of a physician, and their retinue, 
some of them bearing a medicine-chest, 
made their appearance alongside. The in- 
jury being again examined, (and it having 
been previously decided that they were to 
have the management of the cure, under 
surveillance', in order to observe how they 
would act,) a fowl was killed with much 
form, and skinned, and a composition of 
flour and eggs, with some warm ingredients 
about the consistence of dough, was put 
round the fractured part, (which had the 
effect of retaining it in its position,) and the 
whole enclosed in the skin of the fowl. As 
this fowl appeared to have been sacrificed, 
its skin being applied to enclose the whole 






106 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

was most probably meant to act as a 
charm. 

The manual part finished, the physician 
proceeded to examine the general state of 
health, and the pulse appeared to be his 
chief, and indeed only guide, in this re- 
spect. The arm was laid bare to the shoul- 
der, and he applied his fingers with great 
attention, and with as much solemnity as 
ever issued from Warwick-lane, to the 
course of the artery, and at all parts of the 
arm where he could feel it beat, to ascer- 
tain whether it was every where alike; and, 
lest there should be any mistake in this 
point, the other arm underwent the same 
investigation ; the whole party looking all 
the while extremely grave. Having now 
decided as to the medicines necessary on 
this occasion, his little chest was brought 
forward, with his pharmacopoeia, and a sort 
of Clinical Guide, directing the quantity 
and quality of the dose. 

His chest was extremely neat, its exterior 
japanned black, and a number of par- 
titions in it, again subdivided, so as to 



TO CHINA. 107 

contain about a hundred and eighty dif- 
ferent articles (quite enough in all con- 
science, even among the greatest hypo- 
chondriacs and drug-swallowers) ; but they 
were fortunately all simples, being a coU 
lection cf wood-shavings, roots, seeds, and 
dried flowers of his own country. There 
appeared also some ginseng, a product of 
Tartary and Corea, much in vogue in these 
parts. Small portions of the specified 
articles were measured out with a silver 
spatula, and put up in little parcels, and 
directions were now issued as to the mode 
of boiling and drinking the decoction. 
Next day they were highly delighted to 
hear the good effect of their medicines, 
though they had never been taken (as 
many a poor doctor is cheated by cunning 
patients) ; and a new application was 
brought for the finger, termed a fish poul- 
tice, so composed as to look, and indeed 
to smell, something like currant-jelly. 

Having carried on this scheme for a few 
days, they were then informed that the 
finger was so much better as to render their 
attendance unnecessary any longer ; and, 



108 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

as a reward for their services, they were 
presented with some little articles, and 
among others, as an addition to the chest, 
some spirits of hartshorn, displaying to 
them its effect on the olfactory organs, with 
which they were quite astonished and 
pleased; some spirits of lavender and oil 
of mint, they also considered a great 
acquisition. The physician, more espe- 
cially, seemed to be a very respectable 
man, and was treated as such by those 
about him. Their practice seems to be a 
good deal derived from the 'Chinese, for 
their notion of the circulation of the blood, 
or rather their having no correct notion 
about it, is the same. Neither have they 
any idea of anatomy from actual observa- 
tion, and, of course, the greater operations 
cannot be undertaken ; one man only was 
examined by Mr. Rankin, who had lost his 
arm, and his stump was rather a rude one. 
Some corn was left with them, which they 
promised to cultivate ; and fortunately 
Captain Hall had some English potatoes, 
which were likely to be productive, and the 
mode of planting them was particularly 



TO CHINA. 109 

described. Their fields were extremely 
neat, and their furrows arranged with much 
regularity by a plough of a simple con- 
struction drawn by bulls, assisted occasion- 
ally by the use of a hoe ; and they prac- 
tised irrigation in the culture of their rice. 
A young bull of English breed (though 
calved on the island) was presented to the 
chief authorities by Captain Maxwell, 
leaving them also a cow (having two on 
board,) so that it is possible the next 
visitors who touch at Lewchew may find a 
larger, though they cannot find a better, 
race of cattle. 

The mode of dancing of these people 
may, strictly speaking, be termed hopping; 
for they jump about upon one leg only, 
keeping the other up, and changing oc- 
casionally, making a number of extrava- 
gant motions, and clapping with their 
hands, and singing at the same time their 
dancing song. According to our notions, 
this was their only ungraceful action. A 
.number of them thus engaged, more espe- 
cially when joined by the officers, (who 
must needs acquire their style,) formed 



110 VOYAGE OF H. M. *. ALCE6TE 

rather a grotesque assembly. Thev at- 
tempted our mode of country dancing, and 
managed (considering it was necessary to 
make use of both feet) tolerably well. 

The Lewehews are a very small race of 
people, the average height ot the men not 
exceeding rive feet two inches at the utmost. 
Almost the whole animal creation here is 
of diminutive size, but all excellent . in 
their kind. Their bullocks seldom weighed 
more than 330lh.. but they were plump 
and well-conditioned, and the beef vrrv 

/ 

fine : their goats and pigs were reduced in 
the same proportion, their poultry seeming 
to form the only exception. However 
small the men might be, they were sturdy, 
well-built, and athletic. The ladies we had 
no opportunity of measuring, but they ap- 
peared to be of corresponding stature. 

These islanders, most probably, ori- 
ginated from Japan or Corea, having a 
good deal of the Corean lineaments, but 
rather milder, and softened down. They 
are obviously not of Chinese origin, having 
nothing whatever of that t/rof$i/ and elon- 
gated eye which peculiarly distinguishes 



TO CHINA. Ill 

the latter ; nor would it seem that the few 
Chinese and their descendants settled on 
the island freely mixed with the native Lew- 
chews, the national features and the natu- 
ral disposition of the two people being per- 
fectly distinct, and differing in every re- 
spect. Neither have they any mixture of 
Indian blood, being quite as fair as the 
southern Europeans ; even those who are 
most exposed being scarcely so swarthy 
as the same class of society in Spain or 
Portugal. 

The Chinese language is learnt by a few, 
as the French is in our own country; but the 
Bonzes, who are also schoolmasters, teach 
the boys their native language, which is a dia- 
lect of the Japanese, and is rather soft and 
harmonious; and they have nothing of that 
hesitation in utterance, or appearance of 
choking, which is observed in the former, 
often requiring the action of the hands to 
assist the tongue *. The orders and records 
of government are in their own, or Ja- 



* In this respect the Chinese seem to resemble what 
is said of a Frenchman : That if his hands are tied he 
cannot speak. 



112 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

panese character; but they have books 
in the Chinese language. 

They burn the bodies of their dead, and 
deposit their bones in urns, (at least in 
our neighbourhood,) in natural vaults, or 
caverns of the rocks along the sea-shore. 
The graves of the few Chinese residents 
here are formed in their own style. 

Crimes are said to be very unfrequent 
among them, and they seem to go perfectly 
unarmed, for we observed no warlike in- 
struments of any description ; and our 
guns, shot, and musketry, appeared to be 
objects of great wonder to them. It must 
have been the policy of the Chinese to 
disarm them, for it appears that, in the 
first instance, they defended themselves 
nobly against their attacks, as well as those 
of the Japanese. Not even a bow or arrow 
was to be seen; and, when they observed 
the effect of fowling-pieces in the hands of 
some of the gentlemen, they begged they 
might not kill the birds, which they were 
always glad to see flying about their houses; 
and if we required them to eat, they would 
send in their stead an additional quantity 
of fowls on board every day. An order 



TO CHINA. 113 

was immediately issued to desist from this 
sort of sporting. 

The people of Tatao and the north-east 
islands are reported to have been in pos- 
session of books previous to the Chinese 
attack on Grand Lewchew,and to have been 
even more polished than in the principal 
island. Tatao and Ki-ki-ai are said to pro- 
duce a sort of cedar, termed kien-mou by the 
Chinese, and iseki by the inhabitants, which 
is considered incorruptible, and brings a 
great price, the columns of the palaces of 
the grandees being generally formed of it. 

The vessels of these islands, in the gene- 
ral appearance of their hulls and plan of rig- 
ging and sails, are precisely the same as we 
had observed throughout the whole of our 
track from the Gulf of Pe-che-lee lo Napa- 
kiang. They had, in common use, canoes 
hollowed from the trunk of a tree, much 
the same in shape as those of other parts of 
the world where they are employed, and 
of sufficient size to contain easily from 
six to eight or ten people. For purposes 
of heavier burden, they had boats strongly 
built, and rather flat-bottomed. 

i 



114 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

In these boats they brought our water, 
bullocks, and other stock, on board. The 
water was not sent in barrels, but in open 
tubs, and baled from these into our casks. 

During our stay here, the Lyra was de- 
tached by the senior officer, in consequence 
of the people having told us that there was 
a closer and more secure harbour to the 
northward, to circumnavigate and examine 
the coast of the great island ; which service 
Captain Hall performed, and returned to 
Napa-kiang, in seven days. 

The state of cultivation was represented 
as very fine on a small island, which was 
named by Captain Hall Sugar-loaf Island; 
and a town was observed, which had a very 
handsome appearance from the sea ; trees, 
as usual, filling up the interstices between 
the houses, which rose from the water-side 
to the foot of the high land. 

About twelve miles easterly from this 
island they anchored near an islet, which 
was named Herbert's Isle ; and from thence 
proceeded in the boats to examine what 
seemed to be the mouth of a river ; here it is 
reported there were not less than ten fathoms 



TO CHINA. 115 

of depth within it, the whole passage being 
narrow, and the direction tortuous ; in short 
they here discovered a harbour, not inferior 
in any respect, and in some superior, to 
Port Mahon, in Minorca. The banks of 
this winding arm of the sea are high rocks, 
overgrown with climbing plants and flowers. 
It has, moreover, the advantage of Mahon 
of having a second outlet or communication 
with the sea : in short, it was discovered 
that an island in the mouth of a deep in- 
dent in the coast of the main island formed 
a circumnavigable passage, with safe an- 
chorage in every part of it, and a sufficient 
depth of water for the largest class of ships, 
with good holding ground. It was named 
Port Melville. 

In glens, formed by the opening of the 
rocks on its right bank, were observed seve- 
ral little villages, prettily situated ; and the 
inhabitants were found to be the same civil 
creatures as on every other part of the 
island. 

The north-eastern parts of the great Lew- 
chew would appear not to be so populous, 
and therefore not so much cultivated, as 

i 2 



116 VOYAGE OF H. M. S.ALCESTE 

the south-western side, or Cheouli, a 
greater extent of forest land being noticed ; 
and on the western side also appeared 
to be the best and safest places for an- 
chorages. 

A few days previous to our leaving the 
island, intimation was sent that a man of 
the first distinction (said to be one of the 
princes, and nearest heir to the crown) in- 
tended paying a visit to the ship. He was 
carried down to the mouth of the little river, 
opposite to the anchorage, in a close chair, 
or palanquin, amidst an immense concourse 
of people, who had nocked from all parts to 
this spot. He embarked in great state, in 
their own boats, with their flags flying ; and 
was saluted, on his approach to the ships,by 
seven guns from each, and received on board 
the Alceste with every possible respect 
and attention ; the rigging being manned, 
and the officers in full dress. He was 
above the usual size of the Lewchews, and 
had rather more of an European counte- 
nance. His robe was of a dark pink-co- 
loured silk ; the cap rather lighter, with 
bright yellow flowers on it. In his mien 



TO CHINA. 117 

and deportment there was much dignified 
simplicity ; for, although his carriage was 
that of a man of high rank, it was totally 
unmixed with the least appearance of 
hauteur; and his demeanour was, altogether, 
extremely engaging. 

As he passed along the decks, his own 
people saluted him by kneeling ; clasping 
the hands before their breasts and bowing 
the head. He examined minutely every 
thing about the ship, and seemed equally 
pleased and surprised with all he saw. 
After joining in a sumptuous collation in 
the cabin, he took his leave with the same 
honours as when he came on board, 
having previously invited the captain and 
officers to an entertainment on shore. 
The day appointed for this feast happen- 
ing to be the 25th of October, the anni- 
versary of our venerable Sovereign's ac- 
cession to the throne, a royal salute was 
fired, at sun-rise, by both ships ; at noon 
the standard was hoisted, the ships 
dressed in colours, and another salute fired ; 
after which the boats, with their flags flying, 
containing the captains and every officer 



118 VOYAGE OP H. M. S. ALCESTE 

that could possibly be spared, proceeded 
into Napa-kiang. 

They were received precisely as on the 
former occasion, except that the number 
of grandees was greater, and there ap- 
peared a higher degree of state. The 
prince received the party at the gate, and 
conducted them into the hall. Three tables 
were laid close to each other ; the first for 
the great man and the captains, the second 
for the superior officers, and the third for 
the young gentlemen. This prince, or 
chief, did the honours of his own table, 
occasionally directing his attention to the 
others; but a man of some rank was added 
to each of them, for the purpose of seeing 
the strangers properly treated, as well as 
to pass and proclaim the toasts; and for 
this purpose they were allowed to be 
seated, all the rest standing round the 
room, but, at the same time, joining heartily 
in the general mirth and glee. The healths 
of our King and Royal Family were toasted 
with much respect, and the anniversary of his 
Majesty's accession was a day of real jubilee 
atNapafoo. The sovereign of Lewchew,the 



TO CHINA. 119 

queen and princes, were proposed by our 
party ; whilst they (never deficient in po- 
liteness) toasted the wives and children of 
their friends, the Engelees. In dining on 
board the ship, Captain Maxwell had given 
confectionary to those who were married, 
in parcels, proportioned to the number of 
children they had; and on this occasion 
they returned the compliment; in the dis- 
tribution of which, it was quite amusing to 
see some of the young midshipmen ac- 
quiring at once wives and large families. 

Some personal presents from the cap- 
tains were on this day offered to the 
chiefs, consisting of various articles as be- 
fore, adding some damask table-cloths, and 
elegantly cut decanters and glasses, which 
they seemed highly to admire. Specimens 
of their manufactures in cloth were sent on 
board the ships in return. 

At their departure, the prince attended 
the party nearly to the landing-place; and, 
when about to take his leave, two small 
additional presents (at the suggestion of 
Captain Hall) were given to him, as memo- 
rials. One was a very neat pocket thermo- 



120 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

meter (the use of the larger ones having 
been explained to him on board), and the 
other a cornelian seal set in gold, with a 
ribband attached to each : they were hung 
round his neck ; and the ceremony, being in 
public, had the appearance of investing 
him with an order, with which he seemed 
to be highly gratified. As the boats shoved 
off from the landing-place, the crews gave 
them three cheers, which they returned in 
their own style of salutation. They had 
sent on board the ship a great number of 
coloured paper lanterns, for the purpose 
of illuminating her at night, in honour of 
our King. This was done after dark, the 
lanterns being regularly ranged along the 
yards and rigging, the main-deck ports il- 
luminated, sky-rockets thrown up, and blue 
lights burnt at the yard arms, bowsprit, 
and spanker-boom ends, with a feu-de-joie 
of musquetry, thrice repeated round the 
ship. The whole had a very brilliant 
effect from the shore, where thousands of 
the natives had collected to view the scene. 
About this time the boatswain's wife of the 
Alceste, who had been a good deal on shore, 



TO CHINA. 121 

and was much noticed by the higher class 
of natives, had a splendid proposal made, 
by a deputation from some great man, to 
remain behind; a grand house to live in, 
and all manner of finery and attentions; 
great offers were also made to the boat- 
swain to induce him to comply with this 
bargain ; but (after two days' considera- 
tion) the negotiation was broken off on the 
part of the husband, who refused to part 
with her. These proposals most likely 
came from the king, for it is not probable 
that any subject could have entered into 
a treaty of this sort. 

A young lady of high rank, who had a 
great curiosity to see this Inago-Engekse, 
or Englishwoman, was brought to her one 
day when she was quite alone, and walked 
round her for a considerable time, eyeing 
her with great appearance of surprise. 

The marriages of this country are not 
managed blindfold, as in China; but the 
young people are permitted to make their 
own choice, and to communicate without 
reserve. In China they would seem to 
have a superstitious dread of all foreign 



122 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

women ; so much so, that any ship, 
having one or more on board, must land 
them at the Portuguese settlement of Ma- 
cao, before they are permitted to pass up the 
river ; as they fancy that their putting foot 
on the celestial soil would be attended with 
some great calamity to the country, or per- 
haps rather that their unrestrained liberty 
would be a bad example for their secluded 
females. 

The rocks about the coasts of Lewchew were 
all of the coral kind ; and immense masses, 
some assuming very odd shapes, were 
seen every where along the sea-shore ; and 
some of the same formation were found 
on the higher land, and at some distance 
from the beach, whose situation is not 
easily to be accounted for, unless we sup- 
pose them to have been elevated by the 
force of volcanic fire. 

The period of our departure being now 
fixed, all the stores were embarked on the 
evening of the 26th October. The next morn- 
ing, as the ships unmoored, the Lewchews, 
as a mark of respect, arrayed themselves 
in their best apparel, and, proceeding to the 



TO CHINA. 125 

temple, offered up to their gods a solemn 
sacrifice, invoking them to protect the En- 
gclees, to avert every danger, and restore 
them in safety to their native land ! In the 
manner of this adieu there was an air of 
sublimity and benevolence combined, by 
far more touching to the heart than the 
most refined compliment of a more civi- 
lized people. It was the genuine benignity 
of artless nature, and of primitive inno- 
cence. Immediately following this so- 
lemnity, our particular friends crowded on 
board to shake hands, and say " Farewell \" 
whilst the tears which many of them shed, 
evinced the sincerity of their attachment. 
Even hard-faced Buonaparte was not un- 
moved ; and, as the ships got under weigh, 
they lingered alongside in their canoes, dis- 
playing every sign of affectionate regard. 

We stood out to seaward ; and, the breeze 
being favourable, this happy island soon 
sunk from the view ; but it will be long re- 
membered by all the officers and men of 
the Alceste and Lyra ; for, the kindness and 
hospitality of its inhabitants have fixed, 
upon every mind, a deep and lasting im- 
pression of gratitude and esteem. 



124 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

Standing between what had been termed 
Lyra's Keef (where she had been so nearly 
lost) and the Southern Isles, we pursued 
our course to the south-westward. On the 
next day we saw Typinsan, one of the most 
considerable of the Lewchewan group ; 
and, on the 30th, descried Botel Tobago 
Xima, very much resembling, in its general 
features, St. Helena. Passing to the north- 
ward of it, we discovered, on the same day, 
the island of Formosa. The south-east 
part (that which we saw) is extremely high 
and mountainous, as, indeed, the whole of 
it is represented to be ; and with the wind 
at N. E., as we then had it, and blowing 
strong, the surf rolled in with dreadful force 
upon the reefs extending from it *. Be- 

* The western parts of Formosa are under the domi- 
nion of the Chinese, but the eastern shores are still oc- 
cupied by the aboriginal inhabitants. They are stated to 
be in a very uncivilized condition ; that they can run with 
the swiftness of a greyhound ; and are such expert marks- 
men with the bow and arrow, as to kill a pheasant on the 
wing with the greatest certainty. The water of the island 
is considered most insalubrious. 

Their mode of courtship is rather odd : When a young 
man fixes his affections, he hovers about the house where 
the object of his regard resides, and plays upon some inu- 



TO CHINA. 125 

coming too dark to see our way between the 
south end of the island, and the rocks of 
VeleRete, we bore up, until, by our run, we 
were fairly to the southward of this danger, 
and then hauled to the wind on the star- 
board tack. The passage across the Straits 
of Formosa was boisterous in the extreme, 
blowing a severe gale at N. E., with that 
sort of tumbling sea felt in many other parts 
of the world, and which is infinitely more 
trying to ships than the long expansive 
swell of the wider ocean. The Alceste was 
a good deal injured, and the Lyra had 
nearly foundered, the fore-top sides giving 
way, and sustaining other damage. On 
the 2d November saw the grand Lemma ; 
and on the same day pushed up to the an- 
chorage, at the island of Lintin, without a 
pilot. Here we remained unnoticed for 
some days, when a number of men-of-war 



sical instrument, which signal she answers by coming out 
to meet him, and settle the matter, provided he is to her 
taste; should it be otherwise, she takes no notice, the 
gentleman whistles in vain, and must try his fortune else- 
where. The bridegrooms here transfer their filial duty 
to their fathers-in-law, and in fact are considered, after th 
marriage, as part of the wife's family. 



126 VOYAGE OF H. M. 8. ALCESTE 

junks anchored near us, and a mandarin 
(their admiral) came on board, who, after 
the usual interrogatories, promised that a 
pass and pilot should be sent to us, to pro- 
ceed up the river. In the time of Lord 
Anson, the Typa, near Macao, was of suf- 
ficient depth to receive the Centurion, a 
sixty-gun ship ; but, at the present day, no 
frigate of large size can with propriety 
enter it, having become much shallower 
from the deposition of mud. To have 
brought up the provisions and stores for the 
use of the ships, which had been left at that 
place, (subject to the conjoined impositions 
of the Chinese and Portuguese,) in hired 
vessels, would have been expensive: the 
Lyra, therefore, was ordered down for that 
purpose. 

We soon began to experience the invete- 
rate ill-will of the viceroy, Tsong-tou, of Can- 
ton, who, well aware thatthe object of theem- 
bassy was in a greatmeasure directed against 
his extortions, and those of his myrmidons, 
on our commerce, naturally entertained the 
most perfect hatred and detestation for any 
ship attached to such a mission. The peo- 
ple of Lintin (no doubt by the influence 



TO CHINA. 127 

of their superiors) dammed up the course 
of the water ; and it was not until sentries 
were placed along the little stream, to keep 
it clear, that we were enabled to fill our 
casks. The Comprador, or the person em- 
ployed to supply ships with provisions and 
necessaries, could only smuggle himself on 
board after dark ; and then hurrying away 
trembling, for fear of being found near us 
at daylight with his boats. His master, (or 
partner,) Aming, had very lately been 
tortured, imprisoned, and fined ; or, to use 
the Chinese phrase, squeezed in a very 
heavy sum, on suspicion that he knew of 
the intention of the captains of some Chi- 
namen to proceed into the city, in order to 
present a memorial to the viceroy ; and that 
he had not given information of this cir- 
cumstance, that it might have been pre- 
vented. It seems the viceroy, in malicious 
feeling to the General Hewitt, because she 
had been connected with the embassy, 
would not permit her to load, under 
pretence that she was a tribute ship ; that 
she must wait to carry back the unaccepted 
presents, and of course could have no room 




128 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

for teas. Had it even been intended that 
she should carry back the presents (which 
was not the case, as, in the event of their not 
being received, they were to be otherwise 
disposed of), still they would not have oc- 
cupied the tenth part of her tonnage; and, 
besides all this, it was no business of the 
viceroy to interfere with the arrangements 
about the unaccepted tribute. Captain 
Campbell, therefore, attended by a party of 
his brother officers, and some of the gentle- 
men of the factory, on finding other mea- 
sures vain, proceeded to make a personal 
application to the viceroy, and to present 
a memorial, stating the great hardship and 
unreasonableness of this prohibition. This 
bold manoeuvre, however, was unattended 
with success; and so far from the memorial 
being received they were treated with every 
indignity, the people spitting in their faces. 
The General Hewitt was guarded with more 
rigour than ever, being surrounded by war 
junks ; and, previous to our arrival, Capt. 
Colin Campbell, of the navy, who, being 
unemployed, accompanied his brother in 
this voyage, with all who happened to be 



TO CHINA. 129 

on board, were detained prisoners, at the 
second bar, for more than five weeks. 

On the llth another mandarin came on 
board, who disclaimed any knowledge of 
the former, or what he had promised, stat- 
ing, through the medium of an interpreter, 
(who seemed himself a man of some little 
consequence, and who evidently enjoyed 
peculiar satisfaction in repeating whatever 
was galling to the feelings of a Briton,) that 
he had been making fools of us about sending 
a pass ; that the Embassador had been sent 
away in disgrace from Pekin ; that he must 
soon arrive here, when he would be immedi- 
ately senton board, and dismissed with all the 
English ships from the country, and so forth ; 
adding that we must remain at our present 
anchorage, not attempting to pass up the 
river ; and even, during our stay here, il 
would be necessary to have a security-mer- 
chant to answer for our good conduct. The 
latter part of this rhodomontade about a se- 
curity-merchant for the king's ship, Captain 
Maxwell begged might not be repeated, 
unless they wished to be thrown overboard ; 
quietly telling them he would wait a reason- 



130 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

able time longer for the viceroy to send 
down a pass, or chop, to proceed up the 
river, which he was desirous of doing for 
two reasons : 1st, The ship required caulk- 
ing and other repairs, which it was impos- 
sible to accomplish in her present unpro- 
tected and exposed situation. Next, the 
Lion, in the former embassy, had been 
admitted to a place of security ; and the 
emperor having, in the first instance, ex- 
pressed his pleasure that the Alceste should 
have the same reception, it could only be 
considered an indignity to be excluded ; 
and would be a bad precedent. They now 
became a little more cool ; and, after some 
desultory conversation, took their leave: 
but previously Captain Maxwell insisted on 
their admitting (to exclude them from all 
shuffling), that, if a pass was not sent down 
in 48 hours, he was to take it for granted 
that leave was given. 

That day arrived without the least notice 
being taken of us ; and the pilot who had 
come on board, in the hope of carrying us up, 
sneaked off in the dark, saying it was danger- 
ous for him to have any connexion with us. 



TO CHINA. 131 

Against an open attack a British com- 
mander can never be at a loss how to act ; 
but the present was a most trying and em- 
barrassing case, and imposed a very heavy 
and serious weight of responsibility. That 
His Majesty's ship should be supplied by 
an unauthorized individual under cover of 
night, and by stealth, was not to be endured ; 
to be denied admission to the harbour, and 
detained in an unprecedented manner, at this 
season of the year, in an open and dangerous 
road, could not be viewed but as an act of 
absolute hostility ; and to all this were 
added sneering insult and contempt, of the 
most mortifying kind. 

To have waited longer for an explicit 
answer would have been vain ; for a Chi- 
nese who could so far forget himself, even 
in the most common occasions of inter- 
course, as to give a frank, ingenuous, and 
undesigning reply to any communication, 
would be considered by his own country- 
men a fool, and by foreigners a prodigy. 

They are a people, who, by early education 
and constant habit, are manceuwers, and al- 
ways enjoy a much higher satisfaction in 
K 2 



132 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

obtaining any purpose by fraud, trick, and 
overreaching, than by the most direct, can- 
did, or honourable means ; and afford a 
strong exemplification of the distinction be- 
tween low cunning and true wisdom. 

On the other hand, the king's representa- 
tive was in their power, and this circumstance 
rendered a decision on the case still more dif- 
ficult ; but it was equally clear that the go* 
vernment which attempted to dishonour- the 
flag would not respect the Embassador ; 
and experience has fully proved, that the 
tame submission of other nations has only 
added to the arrogance, and fostered the 
insolence of the Chinese. This, perhaps, 
was the impression on Captain Maxwell's 
mind, when he got under weigh on the 12th; 
but not a word was expressed. The ex- 
amination, however, of the locks and flints 
on the carronades by the gunner, with a few 
other minor preparations, were hailed as aus- 
picious omens, and excited themostpleasing 
hopes ; for the Chinese have no foreign 
friends ; every seaman, whether of the navy 
or merchant's service, from experience of 
their faithless conduct, considering himself 



TO CHINA. 133 

in a state of warfare from the moment he 
enters their territory. We got up as far as 
Lankeet Flat that night, without a pilot; 
but Mr. Mayne, the master, who knew the 
ground, volunteered to carry up the ship as 
far as she could go. Here we anchored for 
the night, and spoke the Cornwall India- 
man, bound homewards. 

About two o'clock P.M. next day we again 
weighed, the flood tide serving, and beat up 
towards the Bocca Tigris, or Bogue, then 
distant a few miles. The Bocca Tigris is 
the mouth of the principal branch of that 
river, on which Canton is situated, and 
where it is contracted to about the breadth 
of the Thames at London ; but the banks 
are formed by high land, more especially 
on the east side. 

The fortifications on this pass were for- 
merly insignificant, and allowed to remain 
in a very dismantled state; but lately they 
have been repaired and strengthened with 
much care ; an additional battery of forty 
guns being built, rather farther up, and on 
the same side with old Annan-hoy ; a hun- 
dred and ten pieces of cannon, of different 



134 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. XLCESTE 

calibres, being at present mounted on these 
forts, including that of the island of Wang- 
tong opposite, the whole three being within 
half-gunshot of each other, with a garrison 
at this time of about 1,200 men. 

Chumpee, which lies in a corner farther 
down, has about twelve or fourteen guns ; 
but a ship may keep out of reach of them. 
As we advanced, some war-junks formed a 
line off Chumpee, and were soon after 
joined by several more, making altogether 
seventeen or eighteen. They carry, on an 
average, six guns, with from sixty to eighty 
men each. About this time (five o'clock) 
the same loquacious linguist before men- 
tioned came on board from the mandarins, 
and desired, in a high and domineering tone, 
that the ship should be directly anchored, 
and that, if we presumed to pass up the 
river, the batteries would instantly sink her ; 
availing himself, at the same time, of that 
favourable opportunity, to express his per- 
sonal sense of low consideration for us, and 
plainly telling the captain he thought him 
very impertinent. The latter calmly ob- 
served that he would first pass the batteries, 



TO CHINA. 135 

and then hang him at the yard-arm, for 
daring to bring on board a British man-of- 
war so impudent a message : his boat was 
then cut adrift, and himself taken into cus- 
tody. The junks now commenced firing 
blank cartridge, which we returned with 
three guns from the ship, affecting to 
consider this as .a mere salute. On the 
next tack we passed close to these war- 
riors, who remained quiet until we got 
inside of them, and opened Chumpee ; 
when that fort, little Annan-hoy, and the 
junks (now under weigh), began to fire 
with shot. At this moment the wind be- 
coming light and baffling, we were 
obliged to drop anchor in Anson's bay, 
in order to hold the ground we had gained, 
and that they might not suppose they had 
driven us back ; and in the act of wearing for 
this purpose, we gave the admiral of the 
junks a single shot only, by way of a hint*. 

* This first shot was fired by the Captain's own hand, 
that, in the event of the Chinese demanding those who 
fired, instead of those who ordered, or of seizing upon any 
innocent person, he might fully place himself in the situa- 
tion of being individually responsible for all consequences. 



136 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

They immediately ceased firing ; and their 
junks anchoring near us, all remained quiet 
until a little after eight o'clock, when a 
light breeze sprung up, which enabled us 
to lay our course, and the anchor was again 
weighed. The moment this was observed 
by the junks, they beat their gongs, fired 
guns, and threw up sky-rockets, to give the 
alarm, and in an instant the batteries were 
completely illuminated, displaying lanterns 
as large as moderate-sized balloons, (the 
finest mark imaginable for us,) commencing 
also a warm, but ill-directed, fire from both 
sides. Steering a steady course, the ship 
maintained a slow and regular fire, as the 
guns could be got to bear, without yawing 
her. 

From the lightness of the breeze, which 
the cannonade seemed to lessen, it was a 
considerable time before we got abreast of 
the largest battery. At last, when within 
pistol-shot of the angle of it, and just be- 
fore they could get all their guns to bear 
into the ship, a whole broadside, with cool 
aim, was poured in among them, the two- 
and-thirty pounders rattling the stones 



TO CHINA. 137 

about their ears in fine style, and giving 
them at the same time three roaring cheers. 

This salvo was decisive at this particular 
point; their lights disappeared in a twin- 
kling, and they were completely silenced ; 
but from the island opposite they still con- 
tinued their fire, the balls which passed 
over and around us striking New Annan- 
hoy, which had thereby the full benefit of 
their own as well as our shot. 

Soon after this our point was gained ; and, 
standing up the river, we displayed our 
stern to these gentlemen. It is somewhat 
extraordinary that it should have been 
gained so easily ; for, notwithstanding we 
were nearly an hour wrangling in this nar- 
row passage, not a man (on our side) was 
killed, the ship only hulled twice, and some 
trifling damage done to the rigging. Al- 
most any European gunners, with the same 
advantages, would have blown the frigate 
out of the water. During this affair, the 
flashing of the guns on the glassy surface 
of the river, and the rolling echo of their 
reports along the adjoining hills, had a very 
grand and animating effect. The Chinese 



138 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

linguist, who had crawled below when he 
saw matters taking a serious turn, and 
having observed there was no joking in the 
case, began in real earnest to think, as one 
part of the promise had been fulfilled, that 
his time had now arrived. Coming trem- 

o 

bling upon deck, he prostrated himself, and, 
kissing the Captain's feet, begged for 
mercy. At that moment, hearing the order 
given to " stand by the larboard guns for 
" Tiger Island," (on which we then sup- 
posed there was a battery,) he said, with a 
rueful countenance, " What ! no hab done 
" yet r " Not half done" was the reply : 
" How many guns have you got on Tiger 
" Island?" but, without waiting to answer 
this question, (or indeed reflecting in his 
perturbation that there were none at all,) 
he wrung his hands, groaned heavily, and 
dived again below. 

We stood on for some miles farther, and 
then anchored. Next morning, before day, 
we found ourselves surrounded by their grand 
fleet ; but they were wise enough to make no 
attack ; for, having now broken the ice, it was 
too late for half-measures, and there was 



TO CHINA. 139 

plenty of grape at hand to pick their teeth, 
had they offered the least molestation. 

Half-measures seem to be a bad system 
in any dealings, but more especially with 
uncivilized people, for they are apt to attri- 
bute forbearance to fear, and acquire, under 
that impression, fresh courage. 

When the late Admiral Drury was in- 
duced to make a show of force at Canton, 
but was withheld, by circumstances, from 
proceeding to actual hostilities, there was 
no end to their gasconading ; they consi- 
dered his retiring as a great victory gained, 
and it is celebrated as such by an inscrip- 
tion in one of their pagodas. 

On the morning of the 15th, the Alceste 
anchored among the Indiamen at second 
bar, still attended, but with perfect respect, 
by their fleet. 

In the evening, Captain Maxwell, at- 
tended by two gentlemen of the ship, pro- 
ceeded in person to Canton to demand satis- 
faction (after having taken it) for the insult 
offered in firing upon the king's ship. On 
their way up they remained one evening 
with Captain Campbell, of the Hewitt, and 



140 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

on that night, the news of the business with 
the batteries having become public, much 
alarm was at first excited at Canton, as to 
the consequences of this measure ; but the 
next morning they were agreeably surprised 
by the appearance of several tea-junks 
alongside, with part of her cargo, the vice- 
roy having given permission for her to load 
immediately ! It also came to -pass that the 
said viceroy thought proper to send down 
to the frigate, on this day, a high mandarin, 
attended by one of the Hong merchants, to 
wait upon the captain to welcome him into 
the river, and compliment him with all pos- 
sible politeness ! 

It appeared, therefore, that the late head- 
thumping ceremony produced both tea and 
civility ; and, most probably, it is the only 
mode of Ko-towing*, by which we will ever 

* Ko-tozc is the ceremony exacted from all tributary 
princes and embassadors on approaching the presence 
of the emperor, and consists in kneeling, placing the 
hands forward, and then knocking the head thrice against 
the ground. The patient now stands upright, and, by word 
of command, kneels and knocks again, and afterwards a 
third time, making, in all, three prostrations, and nine 
thumps ; and this is required not merely in the imperial 



TO CHINA. 141 

receive either, on reasonable terms, from the 
Chinese. They affect in their usual disin- 
genuous cant, to despise our commerce; 
they say they could do perfectly well with- 
out it, and it is a mere matter of grace and 
favour that we are permitted to approach 
their shores, and carry on a trade highly to 
our advantage ; but, when the company's 
agents were lately driven to the necessity of 
abandoning Canton, of stopping the trade, 
and giving up all concern with them, 
having actually taken their departure, 
struck the flag and flag-staff, and were on 
their way down the river, the Chinese au- 
thorities became alarmed, and sent after 
them to beg they would return, making 
such fair promises as patched up, for a time, 
their differences. Neither will they trade 
honestly, or say at once there is an end of 
all intercourse ; and day after day we are 
insulted and trifled with by them. 

presence, but on receiving any message, or donation of 
broken victuals, from the emperor, and was actually per- 
formed by the Dutch embassy for some half-gnawed 
bones in 179-5. (Vide Van Braam's own account.) So 
that a man, to be much about court in China, would re- 
quire a skull as thick as a buffalo's. 



142 VOYAGE OF H. M. s. ALCESTE 

The removal of our trade for a single 

o 

year, and the appearance of a few of our 
lightest cruizers on their coasts, would 
throw the whole of this celestial empire into 
confusion ; for they are not prepared for 
the loss that would occur in the one case, 
nor to meet the tumult and convulsion that 
would be excited by the destruction of their 
fisheries and coasting trade in the other. 
So feeble is their naval power, that, after 
warring with the pirates for many years, who 
chased their vessels up the river, and sacked 
the towns and villages within a few miles of 
Canton, they were at last obliged to compro- 
mise with them, bribing the whole to be quiet, 
and making their chiefejirst-chop mandarins. 

Krusenstern, the intelligent Russian navi- 
gator,who had occasion, in his voyage round 
the world, to touch at this port, where he 
experienced much vexation and insult, 
says, with great truth and propriety, what 
all equally feel, that " the forbearance and 
mistaken lenity of the greater civilized 
powers have emboldened these savages, 
not only to consider as barbarians all Eu- 
ropeans, but actually to treat them as such." 

Captain Maxwell, on arriving at the city, 



TO CHINA. 143 

sent in a strong note to the viceroy on the 
subject of his rudeness to the ship, which 
the latter answered by a letter from the 
Hong merchants to Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, 
the chief of the factory, who told the mer- 
chants, that, having no control over the 
king's officers, he neither could receive nor 
communicate it. The Hong people next 
applied to Captain Maxwell personally, 
with their letter of explanation about the 
fracas that had occurred ; but he refused 
to receive them or their letter, on the 
ground that Chinese merchants were not 
the proper channel of communication be- 
tween him and the viceroy. There the 
matter rested. The substance of this epistle 
was known to be some flimsy excuse about 
a mistake in sending down the chop or pass, 
which not being received by the man- 
darins at the forts, they were obliged to 
act according to orders. But what shewed 
the barefaced effrontery of their assertions 
was their public account of the business, 
whilst in the very act of presenting this 
letter of explanation, (for they affect to give 
a public account of all transactions), which 



144 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

stated that the affair at the Bogue was a 
mere chin-chinning or saluting matter alto- 

o o 

gether. The first report, previous to the 
official fabrication, was forty-seven killed, 
besides a number of men spoiled* (wounded), 
which probably might be near the truth, 
considering they stood rather thick ; but, 
after the appearance of the edict, it be- 
came a subject on which "720 man can talk\" 
This is what the Chinese call " making 
" face," or keeping up appearances, with 

* Among these wise and enlightened people, if a man is 
materially spoiled he must die ; for they neither will per- 
mit the necessary knowledge to be acquired for the per- 
formance of any operation, nor will they allow a stranger, 
who has that knowledge, to save him, but at the risk of 
his own life ; as, in the event of the patient dying within 
forty days, from that or any other cause, the anatomist 
would certainly be strangled, or, if he had plenty of 
money, well squeezed, at least. 

t There was, however, a good deal of talk, sub rosa, 
upon the subject, and the shot found in the battery 
having been sent up to Canton and weighed, they hai- 
yawed a great deal at what \ve termed our smaller ships 
throwing shot of 25 catties (SSlbs.) each, asking seriously 
about the probable consequences of the rejection of the 
embassy, and whether our larger ships could come up the 
river. The last accounts from China state that these 
feelings have rather increased than diminished. 



TO CHINA. 145 

respect to any circumstances they are de- 
sirous of having reported their own way ; 
and the people on the spot are literally or- 
dered not to believe the evidence of their 
own senses, but to take the proclamation 
or edict * (as it is termed) for their guide, 
which is spread about in other parts, and 
handed down to posterity as good history, 
which no man dares to contradict. Few, it is 
supposed, will be credulous enough (who 
have ever been in China) to believe, that 
the people have the privilege of criticising 
the conduct of their superiors, and even of 
remarking publicly on the conduct of the 
Emperor. The law which permits them to do 
so may, indeed, be considered as a very 
severe piece of irony on their actual state. 

That the viceroy had an intention of in- 
sult beyond the mere exclusion of the ship 
is rendered more than probable from the 
circumstance of a number of barges having 
been placed in the back passage to Macao, 
and not in the route of Lord Macartney to 

* Some how or other the word edict has crept into ge- 
neral use for any piece of common information, whether 
it is from the Emperor, or has the force of a law or not. 

L 



146 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

Canton, which were removed from that 
situation immediately after the late occur- 
rence; and likewise from the general tenour 
of his conduct throughout. Be this as it 
may, it would clear-ly have been a triumph 
to his cause, and that of his adherents, that 
the Embassador should have arrived at 
Canton with as little eclat and appearance 
of respect as possible; it would have added 
(as exterior is every thing with them) in the 
eyes of the Chinese, as well as foreigners, 
to the idea of disgrace and discomfiture to 
an obnoxious mission. But the advance of 
the ship to Wampoa not only commanded 
as brilliant an entry for the embassy * as 
ever had been witnessed on any other oc- 
casion; but, what was of equal importance, 
it sustained the dignity of the flag, and re- 
duced the viceroy (after offering every 
insult) to the meanness of congratulating 
those who had defied his flotilla and bat- 
tered his fortifications. 

Canton may be considered the most in- 

* That the Chinese did not join in it, is only an addi- 
tional proof that they would have prevented it, had they 
dared. 



TO CHINA. 147 

teresting city in China. It is one of the 
first in point of size, and, perhaps, the very 
first with respect to wealth ; and here, as the 
native manners may be seen in all their pu- 
rity as perfectly as in any other part, the 
traveller has also the advantage of viewing 
them as connected with Europeans, and of 
noticing their brightest efforts of imitative 
genius, which the encouragement afforded 
by the commerce of the place calls forth. 

The numerous junks and boats of all de- 
scriptions in motion upon the Tigris sur- 
passes even the busy scene displayed upon 
the Thames ; for here the boats are the only 
residence of some thousand families, who 
live entirely on the water, and manage to 
obtain a livelihood, some by plying pas- 
sage, others by fishing and picking up 
floating articles, and not unfrequently by 
exercising their talents like our mud-larkers 
and river pirates. 

The appearance of the river at night, 
completely illuminated by the lamps and 
lanterns in all the boats, has a very pretty 
effect. Infanticide is said not to be so 
common in China as was at one time be- 

L2 



148 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTZ 

lieved ; but that it actually exists is not at- 
tempted to be denied even by the Chinese 
themselves; one of whom, on being interro- 
gated seriously on this subject, readily ad- 
mitted, without seeming to consider it as a 
crime, that they certainly did drown their 
children when they were so numerous as to 
be inconvenient to them ; but that boys 
might be exposed alive, and, if picked up, 
they became coolees or slaves. Jt would 
appear, therefore, that female children 
are most likely to become the victims in 
this way, from being less . useful to their 
parents when they grow up ; for the patri- 
archal law of China considers the sons as 
slaves of their father ; and he is entitled to 
sell them as such, should occasion require. 
The entertainments given by the Hong 
merchants at Canton to their European 
friends are considered to be very superb. 
Seldom fewer than a hundred people sit 
down in the great hall to dinner, which is 
usually dressed in our style, (although they 
have also their chop-stick feasts,) and plenty 
of the best viands, wines, and fruits, cover 
the table. Bird-nest soup is also handed 



TO CHINA. 149 

round as a great treat, to which the Chinese 
attribute very extraordinary and invigo- 
rating qualities. On us, however, it pro- 
duced no unusual effect; and we should not 
have known it from any other, had it not 
been pointed out. These bird-nests, which 
are collected in the Sunda Archipelago, are 
rather expensive articles, being purchased 
by an equal weight of silver. Their com- 
position is not yet exactly known, but it is 
some gelatinous substance, most likely of 
the vegetable kind, which the swallows 
pick up. 

During the whole of the entertainment, a 
play is performing on a stage erected at one 
end of the hall, the subject of which it is 
difficult, in general, for an European to 
comprehend, even could he attend to it 
for the deafening noise of their music. By 
collecting together in a small space a dozen 
bulls, the same number of jack-asses, a 
gang of tinkers round a copper caldron, 
some cleavers and marrow-bones, with about 
thirty cats ; then letting the whole com- 
mence bellowing, braying, hammering, 
and caterwauling together, and some idea 



150 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

may be formed of the melody of a Chinese 
orchestra*. Their jugglers are extremely 
adroit, and the tumblers perform uncom- 
mon feats of activity. 

The Chinese government, with regard to 
religion, is tolerant. It appears to be in 
worldly concerns only that it is tyrannical, 
and seems to be indifferent as to what a 
man professes, provided he does not inter- 
fere in state affairs. Some one, calling 
himself a Catholic bishop, was, a short 
time before our arrival, strangled in one of 
the provinces, being suspected of intermed- 
dling with temporal matters, and pro- 
moting the late rebellions. Another was 
said to be under sentence of death on the 
same accusation. 

They not only worship their own tutelary 
deities, but they are represented as making 
Offerings to evil spirits, or. as it is vulgarly 
termed in this country, they " hold a 
" candle to the devil," in order to avert 
mischief. They have not the advantage of 

* Their softer music, employed at their weddings, and 
other occasions unconnected Avith the stage, is not un- 
pleasing to the ear. 



TO CHINA. 151 

any particular day set aside for public 
worship, nor do they attend their temples 
congregationally . Their priests or bonzes are 
not treated with that reverence and respect 
which is justly and reasonably due to the re- 
spectable ministers of religion in all countries. 
They are otherwise free, however, from 
indecorum and irregularity, having no wild 
fanatics, such as exist in India ; they are 
not troubled with domineering spiritual in- 
quisitors, as in some of our neighbouring 
countries ; nor have they any impious quacks 
and mountebank preachers, abusing tole- 
ration and dishonouring religion, as in 
England. 

TheChinese are strangers to love : from the 
spirit of their institutions, which unnaturally 
prohibit all intercourse between the sexes, 
that passion can never be felt; and marriage 
is a mere cold-hearted bargain, conducted 
through the medium of some female agent, 
whenever a man finds it convenient to have 
a wife. As he never sees the lady until he 
unlocks the door of the sedan chair in which 
she is brought home, the key of which is 
previously sent to him, he is of course very 



152 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

liable to have tricks played upon him. 
For example, more especially as polygamy 
is allowed, a man may have a wife suffi- 
ciently young to be considered his daugh- 
ter ; should he want money, and the lady 
another husband, (both very likely cases,) 
or from any other reason should they wish 
to part, and think proper to act in collu- 
sion, she is sold as his daughter to another 
man, who is thus imposed upon by having 
a second-hand wife palmed off upon him, 
instead of a new one. The rigour of the 
law against offenders of this kind, which 
awards a very severe bambooing to all 
principals, aiders, and abettors, affords a 
proof that frauds of this description are not 
unfrequent. With a people who still ima- 
gine the earth to be a plain, and China in 
the middle, with all her tributary kingdoms 
around her; who are equally uninformed 
with regard to astronomy ; who, in the pro- 
hibition of the study of the human frame, 
preclude the attainment of the very basis 
of all medical knowledge ; and who, in fact, 
in every branch of natural philosophy, are 
equally ignorant, and resolved to continue 



TO CHINA. ' 153 

so ; it is evidently impossible to connect 
the term science in any shape or manner. 
The natural productions of the country, 
and their acquaintance with agriculture 
and the arts, (as far as they have been 
able to advance for that glorious edict 
which stamped them perfect, and com- 
manded they should not proceed beyond 
the bounds of excellence,) have already 
been (and probably may be again, with 
additional information) described, by those 
whose peculiar opportunities, as well as 
talent for observation, enable them to speak 
fully, and with precision, on those subjects. 
The government of China, however plau- 
sible it may sound in theory, is, by all that 
can be observed in a transient view, and 
by every concurrent testimony of residents 
in the country, most iniquitous and tyran- 
nical in practice. The mandarins, and 
even the Emperor, it is true, cannot boldly 
and openly chop off heads like a Turkish 
bashaw or the dey of Algiers, but they 
have the knack of rendering life very 
miserable, and assume the power of barn- 
booing, torturing, fining (or squeezing), and 



154 VOYAGE OF II. M.S. ALCESTE 

every species of oppression short of death. 
The human kind can scarcely be more de- 
graded than in China, for no where is 
power more diabolically perverted. Their 
laws, with the exception of some absur- 
dities (such, for example, of visiting mere 
accidental homicide with the same punish- 
ment as the most deliberate murder), read 
very well ; and, were they duly and impar- 
tially administered, might be found suffi- 
ciently adapted (as all laws ought to be) to 
the genius and character of the people they 
are formed for; but this is by no means 
the case ; bribery and corruption being so 
common, as scarcely to be the objects of 
indignation or remark. 

o 

A few years since an affray took place 
(as usual) between some of the seamen of 
the Indiamen who were at Canton on leave, 
and the Chinese mob, in which one of the 
latter by an unlucky blow was killed. The 
Chinese authorities demanded blood for 
blood, one of the seamen having been 
seized and detained in the factory: this, 
however, was not tamely yielded to (as in 
the case of the innocent gunner, who was 



TO CHINA. 155 

sacrificed in so cowardly a manner many 
years ago), but was resisted on the ground 
either of the aggression of the Chinese, or 
of a mutual inclination to fight, in which a 
man happened to be killed, without the 
least previous intention of murder. For- 
tunately the Lion, of 64 guns, Captain 
Rolles, happened to be there, which pro- 
bably gave some weight to these argu- 
ments ; and the mandarins, having no ob- 
jections to compromise the matter for 
money, proposed that a certain sum should 
be paid to them for the benefit of the de- 
ceased's relations, and a slave could then be 
purchased of the Portuguese at Macao, 
who might be strangled in lieu of one of 
the sailors, and thus the law would be per- 
fectly satisfied ! 

It may easily be imagined this proposal 
was not acceded to; and at last, after much 
discussion, the matter was arranged in some 
way or other without resorting to this hor- 
rible mode of expiation * 



* Related by J. Cotton, Esq., of the English factory at 
Canton. 



156 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

It is lamentable to observe that the in- 
stitutions of any nation should have the 
effect of deadening every feeling of sym- 
pathy, and of exciting, instead of discou- 
raging, " man's inhumanity to man ;" but 
such is the case in this country ; and when 
any one is severely wounded by accident, 
or falls into a river, or other situation of 
danger, he is certain of receiving no assist- 
ance from the by-standers, who will most 
probably take to their heels, in order to 
save themselves from being the last person 
seen near him. 

About midnight, some time in Novem- 
ber, 1816, when the Alceste was lying at 
second bar, the shrieks of some people in 
the water were heard near the ship. The 
Hon. Mr. Stopford, who had the watch, 
and another gentleman, collecting a few 
individuals who happened to be on deck, 
jumped into a boat alongside; pushed off to 
their assistance ; and, directed by their 
cries, picked up, one after the other, three 
Chinese, who were plunging about in the 
river, which is here several miles wide. 

It was a fine night, and a number of 



TO CHINA. 157 

small junks were moving up under easy 
sail, several of whom passed within a few 
fathoms of these people who were bawling 
for help ; and although they could, with- 
out the slightest difficulty, have saved the 
whole, they continued their course, the 
crews standing upon deck, and viewing 
their struggles with the most callous indif- 
ference. 

On carrying the three men on board the 
frigate, it appeared they had been cro'ssing 
the river at this place, in a little Sanpan, or 
boat ; in which were, besides themselves, 
the wife and child of one of them ; and 
that this boat had been run down by one 
of the headmost junks, which passed on 
without taking the least notice, and regard- 
less of their fate, although they had occa- 
sioned the mischief; the others coolly 
following their example ; when they were 
fortunately heard from the ship, and pre- 
served by the boat. The poor woman and 
child, being unable to swim, sunk and were 
drowned. 

Before day -light these people got a pas- 
sage on shore by a boat which happened to 



158 VOYAGE OF H. M. 8. ALCESTE 

be passing near the ship, and in the course 
of the forenoon one of them returned on 
board with a ctimshaw, or present, of three 
wild ducks, which lie presented on his 
knees to the gentleman who had saved him, 
stating that, by the junk running over their 
sanpan, he had lost his wife and a bull 
child, (his only mode of expressing a boy,) 
and must himself with the other men have 
perished also but for the assistance we af- 
forded them. Pleased with this appearance 
of heart and gratitude, where so little was 
expected, some money and provisions were 
given him for his ducks, and he was allowed 
to bring on board fish and other articles for 
sale, which, from becoming rather a fa- 
vourite, soon enabled him to repair the loss 
of his boat. 

The Chinese, viewing them in every 
point, are assuredly a very singular race, 
and afford a melancholy example of the 
perverseness of human nature ; exhibiting 
a people who have had for some thousand 
years a dawn of civilization, which, from 
the operation of the most narrow-minded 
principles, has never brightened into day. 



TO CHINA. 159 

But for the presumptuous folly of supposing 
themselves at the summit of perfection, and 
the absurd tyranny of fettering the human 
understanding, by forbidding all innovation 
and improvement, China might and ought 
to have been at the present hour the greatest 
nation of the world. Instead of impotent and 
gasconading pretensions to universal supre- 
macy, she might have enjoyed, from her early 
and local advantages, the real glory of being 
the seat of arts, literature, wealth, and power. 

AVhat have the governors or the governed 
gained by this pretended non-intercourse, 
and stupid contempt of the rest of man- 
kind? The frequent change of dynasty 
and constant rebellions tend to shew that 
the former have been by no means secure ; 
whilst the debased and humiliated state of 
the people sufficiently evinces that their 
sordid and illiberal plan confers no benefit 
on the general mass. 

The Chinese, however, are not without 
their admirers. Some attribute their sus- 
picious meanness, knavery, silly pride, and 
other ill qualities, to their depraved mode 



VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTE 

of government, which narrows their ideas, 
by compelling their attention, and attaching 
importance, entirely to the observance of 
useless forms and ceremonies ; and by ad- 
mitting of no deviation from one contract- 
ed path, even in the simplest transactions 
of life; and that, were it not for these 
shackles of the mind, they would be a gay, 
civil, industrious, and honest people. Per- 
haps there may be a good deal of truth in 
this argument, and it is, therefore, extremely 
unfortunate that some change does not 
take place in a system which produces 
effects so injurious to the reputation of 
mankind. Another, and very distinct class 
of encomiasts, (of the true antediluvian 
school,) affect to hold them in high estima- 
tion, solely on account of their unvarying 
habits, and tenacious adherence to their 
ancient customs ; and as they are now, in 
all respects, precisely what they were two or 
three thousand years ago, they venerate 
them as living monuments of former times, 
and as valuable specimens of the antique. In 
their present state, however, from whatever 



TO CHINA. 161 

cause it is produced, few moderns will take 
their leave of them with sentiments of regard 
or estimation ; and even the most invete- 
rate antiquarian, had he more concerns 
with them than those merely speculative, 
might be divested, perhaps, of some of his 
prejudices. 

Of the embassy, we had heard nothing 
distinctly for nearly five months, except 
that it had not been received ; and it was 
not clearly understood, until its arrival at 
Canton, that the refusal to submit to a 
humiliating ceremonial, considered as stamp- 
ing it with a character purely tributary, was 
the cause of this failure ; and that a recep- 
tion on the unconditional terms of the 
Chinese would have been deemed more 
prejudicial to the objects of the mission 
than even a rejection by a firm resistance. 
But these weighty matters are foreign to the 
subject of a mere simple sea-voyager, and 
will be so well described by those officially 
connected with them, as to render any far- 
ther observation unnecessary. Although 
the viceroy of Canton was in daily com- 

M 



162 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

munication with the legate, or commis- 
sioner, appointed to accompany the em- 
bassy through the country, yet he main- 
tained a sullen silence as to the probable 
period of its arrival, making no commu- 
nication that we might prepare for that 
event ; and it was not until the 31st of 
December that a letter of old date, having 
been detained for some time, was put into 
Captain Maxwell's hand, from Lord Am- 
herst, stating when the embassy was likely 
to enter Canton, which took place on the 
following day. A procession of boats, 
consisting of the barges of the two men of 
war, those of the factory, the American 
consul, and all the Indiamen, who were 
very numerous, with their respective flags, 
the captains and officers in full dress, and 
the boats' crews in uniform clothing, pro- 
ceeded some miles up the river, where they 
fell in with the Chinese barges, having the 
embassy on board. This meeting was 
highly gratifying to both parties, after a 
separation of nearly five months, during 
which each had, in its respective route, 



TO CHINA. 163 

observed many novel scenes, and encoun- 
tered extraordinary occurrences. 

Lord Amherst removing into his own 
(or the Alceste's) barge, a double line of 
boats was formed on each side, and in this 
order proceeded down the river, and was 
landed at the entrance of the great temple, 
on the Honan side, from whence he was 
conducted to his residence by a very nu- 
merous assemblage, who had collected to 
receive him. The apartments in this place 
had been fitted up with much taste, and great 
appearanceof comfort, under the inspection 
of Mr. Urmston, of the factory, and was by 
far the most commodious and respectable 
quarters they had met with in China. A 
temporary building, or wooden frame co- 
vered with yellow screens, and containing 
a chair of state, having also yellow orna- 
ments and the usual insignia of the Emperor, 
was erected in the principal square, for the 
occasion of the viceroy's interview with the 
Embassador, in order to deliver the Em- 
peror's letter to the Prince Regent. This 
ceremony took place some days after the 
M 2 



' 

164 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

arrival of his lordship. The viceroy had 
been ordered by his court to make a 
speech to the Embassador, on presenting 
this letter (which speech had been in re- 
hearsal for some months, and the substance 
of it publicly known through the medium 
of Portuguese translations) ; and it appeared 
that the tenour of this embryo harangue was 
rather of an insultingnature, containing such 
expressions as " Your good fortune has been 
small ;" " You sighed after happiness, and 
were unable to lift your eyes up to 
heaven/' i. e. to view the celestial Emperor, 
and others of a similar kind. The preamble 
of this edict also stated, that there appearing 
to be no want of respect in the King or 
Prince, who had sent over so many seas to 
pay him homage, but that the fault lay in the 
Embassadors not understanding the rules of 
true politeness ; he therefore had accepted 
some trifling articles of the presents of the 
said King, and in return had bestowed pre- 
cious gifts, agreeably to the maxim of 
Confucius, " Take little, and give much ;" 
and that, " on the receipt of these gifts, the 



TO CHINA. 165 

Embassadors became exceeding glad, and 
expressed great contrition * for their con- 
duct;" and went on to say " that the viceroy, 
on their arrival, was to give them an enter- 
tainment in compliance with good manners, 
after which he was to rid himself of them 
as soon as possible; and should they again 
supplicate him to accept their presents, he 
was enjoined to say to them, " The edict has 
passed, and cannot be revoked ! the Em- 
peror can be troubled no more !" and so 
forth. As it appeared this intended ad- 
dress had been made by them matter of 
public'notoriety, it was understood, that, in 
order to prevent any palaver of this sort, a 



* A tolerably strong example of this sort of face" 
making occurred during the discussion about the per- 
formance of the ceremony, in which the precedent of 
Lord Macartney's not having done it was brought for- 
ward, when ^the Emperor declared, through his ministers, 
that he himself had seen his lordship perform it; and they 
coolly called on Sir G. Staunton, who had been page in 
that embassy, to vouch for the truth of the fact. That he 
did submit to the Ko-tow is no doubt the fact they have 
put upon it iu all the records of the empire. 



166 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

hint was given to the viceroy the day pre- 
vious to the interview, cautioning him 
against the use of any improper language, 
as it might call forth replies which would 
be unpleasant. At the time appointed this 
meeting of ceremony took place, and was 
accompanied by the appearance of guards, 
music, and other attendants, there being 
much state observed on each side. 

The Emperor's letter, contained in a bam- 
boo case, covered with yellow silk, was 
now taken from this throne, and presented 
to the Embassador, who transferred it to 
his secretary ; and the persons on either side, 
who were (by previous regulation) allowed 
chairs, having taken their seats, and the 
usual unvarying number of complimentary 
questions having been gone through, such 
as " What age are ye?" and some others of 
the same high importance, the viceroy 
began to state, through the medium of 

o ^ 

Mr. Morrison, who interpreted, " By the 
favour of the Emperor you have traded to 
this country for more than a hundred years, 
very much to your advantage/' "Tell him/' 



TO CHINA. 167 

said Lord Amherst, " the advantage is 

O 

mutual/' This being done, the viceroy 
replied, " No, the advantage is very much 
on your side/' " Repeat to him/' said his 
lordship, " that the advantage is strictly 
mutual." From the dignified and inde- 
pendent manner in which this was spoken, 
(a manner which, of course, from his pecu- 
liar situation, and the different style of those 
he had to deal with, he could have no con- 
ception of,) and perceiving, also, a deter- 
mination to repulse every thing bordering 
on impertinence, he seemed to be quite 
awed and disconcerted ; the thread of his 
discourse was broken, and he got no far- 
ther on with this mighty specimen of altilo- 
quence, than to say something about " the 
subject being a disagreeable one;" when the 
Embassador, considering the public busi- 
ness ended by the presentation of the 
Emperor's letter, rose up, and, wishing 
him a very good morning, retired in the 
same state as on comino; to this hall of 

o 

audience. 

On the 20th, every tiling being ready, his 
Excellency left Canton on the forenoon of 



168 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

the 20th January, 1817, and was attended 
to Wampoa in the same style as on enter- 
ing it, except that, in passing the various 
ships in that branch of the river, each sa- 
luted with nineteen guns, the Chinese war- 
junks also saluting. It appeared that the 
viceroy, just as the Embassador had em- 
barked in his barge to proceed down the 
river, approached near in his boat, and 
made # tender of a complimentary card, 
which was not accepted, it being deemed 
an improper time and mode of presenting 
it. On the 21st the Alceste weighed and 
stood down the river ; and on the morning 
of the 22d, as we passed our friends at the 
forts, each battery fired a distinct salute, 
in honour of the Embassador, as did the 
different war-junks ; and their whole mili- 
tary force, exclusive of that in the batte- 
ries, was drawn out in line in Anson's Bay, 
and fired . a feu-de-joie with their match- 
locks. 

The ship answered all these in rotation, 
with three guns to each. On the same 
evening we anchored off the city of Macao ? 
and the next morning his Excellency 



TO CHINA. 169 

landed ; but here the ghost of the late queen 
made its way through the centre of the 
earth, (for we were now antipodes to the 
Brazils), and prevented any public atten- 
tions being paid to the Embassador, be- 
cause the accounts of her death had just 
arrived. The fact is, these poor people 
dare not, were they ever so willing, do any 
thing which they think may be displeasing 
to the Chinese, under whom they live in 
a state of miserable thraldom ; the latter 
having it in their power, and frequently re- 
sorting to the measure, of stopping their al- 
lowance of provisions whenever they display 
the least symptom of being unruly; and in 
the present case it seemed to be the wish of 
the Chinese to have the whole management 
of the honours to the Embassador ; a man- 
darin receiving him on going on shore, 
although within their walls, precisely as he 
would have done, had the Chinese flag, in- 
stead of that of the Portuguese, been flying 
there. 

Macao is stated to be a possession of little 
or no value to the crown of Portugal, and, 



170 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

under the circumstances of its present te- 
nure, certainly not one that is either ho- 
nourable or independent. The cave of 
Camoens is the only object here which 
attracts the notice of a traveller, from 
its being the spot in which he com- 
posed his celebrated poem of the Lusiad. 
Camoens, certainly the greatest, and per- 
haps the only, Portuguese poet whose fame 
ever extended beyond the boundaries of 
his own country, deserved a better fate; and 
it is painful to think he died a beggar in the 
streets of Lisbon. 

On the 9th January, the Embassador 
having re-embarked, we took our leave of 
China, steering for Manilla, the capi- 
tal of the Philippines, or Spanish India, 
where we arrived on Monday the 3d of Fe- 
bruary, but found it was only Sunday at 
this place, owing to the different routes 
by which the Spaniards and the Portu- 
guese advanced to the Asiatic seas ; the 
one by Cape Horn, the other by the Cape 
of Good Hope; a circumstance which 
may produce an awkward effect on people 



TO CHINA. 171 

newly arrived at Manilla ; for instance, 
a stranger invited to a party on Wednes- 
day, without at all reflecting on the way 
he came thither, might dress himself for 
the occasion, and make his appearance on 
Tuesday. The town of Manilla, from its 
peninsular situation, having on one side 
the sea, and on the other a deep and rapid 
river, with strongly-fortified ditches across 
the isthmus, ought to be, with a proper 
garrison, very defensible, for there are no 
commanding heights in its immediate vi- 
cinity ; but their soldiers consist almost 
entirely of mulattoes and blacks, and 
seem to be in a very lethargic state of dis- 
cipline. 

The Metees, or Mulatto women, who 
are a mixture between the Spaniards and 
the natives, are remarkable for their symme- 
try of form and stately mien, and this 
sort of beauty is so universal as hardly to 
admit of an exception. The religion of the 
Indians under the immediate control of 
the Spaniards is Christianity ; but at Min- 
danao and the other islands (of which there 
are more than a thousand), where they are 



172 TOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

governed by their own sultans, it is said to 
be a mixture of Mahomedanism with their 
original Pagan rites. The banks of the 
river, as well as the lake from which it 
issues, called the Laguna de Bria, (its near- 
est part about eighteen miles from the city,) 
are represented as extremely beautiful, and 
abounding in tropical scenery. 

This lake extends more than thirty miles 
into the interior. Near its head are some re- 
markable hot springs, called " Los Banos," 
or baths ; but they seemed rather too hot for 
that pupose. Luconia * is about four hun- 
dred miles in length, and two hundred in 

* Canada is said to have derived its name from the 
Spaniards, when they landed in that quarter, repeating 
the words " aca nada/' or " nothing here," (meaning 
there was no gold to be found,) which the Indians caught 
the sound of. Some similar occurrence appears to 
have occasioned the name of Lugon. When Magellan's 
party first went on shore they found one of the native 
women beating rice, as is usual at the present time, in a 
mortar hollowed frcm the trunk of a tree, and, rinding her- 
self surrounded by strange men, she held up to them the 
large wooden pestle, calling out Looson, which is the 
native term for it; and this becoming a by-word among 
the Spaniards, they named the island Luc,on, which has 
been modernized into Luconia. 



TO CHINA. 173 

breadth ; and, were it made the most of, is 
fully capable of affording all the produc- 
tions of either Western India or of the 
neighbouring Archipelago. 

It is so healthy, that the medical people 
have scarcely any practice, and complain 
that there are no "enfermedades reynantes," 
or reigning diseases, such as the yellow fever, 
as it exists at the Havannah, Vera Cruz, 
Carthagena, and other settlements more (by 
their reckoning) to the eastward . This misfor- 
tune most probably proceeds from the very 
limited intercourse which Manilla has, com- 
pared to any of the others, with Europeans, 
or new-comers, the Spaniards who inhabit it 
being almost without exception Creoles*, 
and therefore assimilated, from their birth, 
to the climate. This restricted intercourse 
may be observed in there not being a single 
inn for the accommodation of strangers in 

o 

the whole city of Manilla or its suburbs. 
Chinese emigrants are here in thousands, 
and are very industrious and money-making, 

' This term does not mean a person having the least 

mixture of black blood, but merely a white born in the 

% 
country. 



174 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

being the chief artificers and traffickers in 
small matters, resembling the lower class 
of Jews. From their being found scattered 
about in all the Indian islands, they might 
indeed be considered as the Jews of the 
east, were they only half as honest. 

The Spaniards appear not to be fully in 
possession of Luconia at the present day. 
They may be said, indeed, only to be 
masters of the ground they occupy in a 
military point of view, for, by their own 
accounts, it is not only dangerous to travel 
without an escort in the country, but it is 
not safe for a Spaniard to walk out singly 
after dark about the suburbs of Manilla. 
A day or two after our arrival, three of the 
natives, who had been concerned in the 
murder of a marchioness, were strangled 
before the porch of one of their churches. 
These people seemed to have been actuated 
not by a spirit of plunder, but of revenge, 
for some real or supposed injuries, as the 
deed was committed in the public square, 
by dragging her from the carriage on her 
return home in the evening ; and in this 
way frequent assassinations occur. A gen- 



TO CH1> T A. 175 

tleman of the Alceste being in a party one 
evening, where observations on the murder- 
ous character of the natives were the subject 
of conversation, took occasion to observe that 
if such was the case it would be necessary 
to keep a look-out in going homewards ; but 
he was assured that, as an English officer, 
he had nothing to fear. " No, Seilor, temen 
" ustedes, pero matan a nosotros," " They 
" are afraid of you, but they kill us/' It 
cannot be fear alone that induces the na- 
tives to spare the English officers, who 
certainly freely exposed themselves at time" 
and in situations the most favourable for 
assassination, without suffering the slightest 
injury ; and it is probable that a French, 
German, or any other transitory stranger 
might do the same; for it evidently is to 
their own immediate rulers that this feeling 

o 

of hostility exists ; and it is no doubt the 
result of their impolitic mode of governing. 
Such a state of things would render the 
Philippines a very easy conquest to any in- 
vading force in time of war ; but the court 
of Spain, at present, seems to have most to 



176 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

fear from those sentiments of independence 
which have extended from Buenos Ayres to 
Manilla, and appear to be a point of union 
in which almost all classes are agreed, not 
excepting even the hierarchy. 

The celebrated and unfortunate Perouse, 
when at this place in his voyage of disco- 
very, made the following remarks : " Ma- 
" nilla is built on the shore of a bay of the 
" same name, which is more than twenty- 
" five leagues in circumference. It lies at 
" the mouth of a river, navigable as far 
" as the lake from which it rises, and is, per- 
" haps, the most delightfully situated city 
" in the world. Provisions of all kinds are 
" in the greatest abundance there, and ex- 
" tremely cheap ; but clothing, European 
" hardware, and furniture, bear an exces- 
" sively high price. The want of compe- 
" tition, together with the prohibitions and 
" restraints of every kind laid on commerce, 
" render all the productions of India and of 
" China at least as dear there as in Europe; 
" and this colony, although the various 
" imports bring near 800,000 piastres an- 



TO CHINA. 177 

" nually into the treasury, costs Spain 
" 1,500,000 besides, which are sent there 
" every year from Mexico. 

" The immense possessions of the Spa- 
" niards in America have not admitted of 
" the government essentially directing its 
" attention to the Philippines, which resem- 
" ble the estates of those great lords whose 
" lands lie uncultivated, though capable of 
" making the fortunes of many families. 
" I should not hesitate to assert, that a very 
" great nation possessed of no other colony 
" than the Philippine Islands, and who 
" should establish the best government of 
" which they are capable, might behold all 
44 the European settlements in Africa and 
" America without envy. 

" Three millions of inhabitants people 
" these various islands, of whom that of 
" Luconia contains nearly one-third. These 
" people appear in no respect inferior to 
" those of Europe. They cultivate the 
" earth like men of understanding ; are car- 
! penters, joiners, smiths, goldsmiths, 
" weavers, masons, &c. I have walked 
" through their villages, and found them 
" kind, hospitable, and communicative; 

N 



178 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" and, though the Spaniards speak of and 
" treat them with contempt, I perceived 
" that the vices they attributed to the 
" Indians ought rather to be imputed 
" to the government they have themselves 
" established/' Speaking of no encou- 
ragement being given to labour, he states, 
that " as soon as the inhabitants have the 
" quantity of rice, of sugar, and of vege- 
" tables, necessary for their subsistence, 
" the superflux is of no value whatever. 
" In such circumstances, sugar has been 
" sold for less than a halfpenny the pound, 
" and the rice remained upon the ground 
" without being reaped. 

" It would be difficult for the most un- 
" enlightened society to form a system 
" of government more absurd than that 
" which has regulated these colonies for 
" the last two centuries. 

" The port of Manilla, which ought to 
" be free and open to all nations, has been 
" till very lately shut against Europeans, 
" and open only to a few Moors, Ameri- 
" cans, and the Portuguese of Goa. The 
"governor is invested with the most de- 
" spotic authority; and the Audiencia, which 

^ 



TO CHINA. 179 

" ought to moderate his power, is totally 
" impotent before the representative of the 
" Spanish government. In point of fact, 
" though not by law, it lies in his breast 
" to admit or confiscate the merchandise 
" of foreigners whom the hope of advan- 
" tage may have brought to Manilla, and 
" who would not expose themselves to this 
" risk but on the probability of a very 
" great profit, ultimately ruinous to the 
" consumers." It is undoubtedly as unac- 
countable, as it appears to be unen- 
lightened, that a nation should take de- 
liberate measures to make a colony a 
burden to it, which is not only fully 
able to maintain itself, if permitted, but 
to enrich the mother country. It seems 
almost equal to that of restoring the inqui- 
sition. 

The Spanish authorities here were marked 
in their attentions to the Embassador during 
his stay ; and, on the 9th of February, 
having re-embarked, we got under weigh, 
bound homeward, and parted company 
with our consort, the Lyra, who proceeded 
from hence with despatches for India. 
N 2 



180 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

A course was now shaped to avoid the 
numerous rocks and shoals not well defined, 
which lie in that part of the Chinese Sea 
more immediately to the westward of the 
Philippines, and to the north-westward of 
Borneo; and having by the 14th passed 
the whole, and got into the usual track for 
the passage of either the Straits of Banca or 
Gaspar, it was resolved to proceed through 
the latter, as being more direct and less 
subject to calms than the former, and con- 
sidering them equally safe from the latest 
surveys and directions being on board, 
some of them by those who had personally 
examined them. At day-light in the morning 
of the 18th we made Gaspar Island ex- 
actly at the time expected, and, passing it, 
stood on for the Straits. As is customary in 
approaching any coast or passage what- 
ever, but more especially one that all are 
not familiarly acquainted with, the utmost 
precaution was taken by keeping the leads 
going in both chains, men looking out at 
the mast-heads, yard-arms, and bowsprit 
end, the captain, master, and officer of the 
watch, on whom the charge of the ship at 



TO CHINA. 181 

such a time more particularly devolves, 
having been vigilantly on deck during the 
whole of the previous night and this morn- 
ing. Steering under all these guarded cir- 
cumstances, the soundings exactly corre- 
sponding with the charts, and following the 
express line prescribed by all concurring 
directions to clear every danger (and the 
last danger of this sort between us and 
England), the ship about half-past seven 
in the morning struck with a horrid crash 
on a reef of sunken rocks, and remained 
immovable ! 

It was very soon indeed but too evident 
that any attempt to move her would be 
attended with the most fatal consequences; 
for, on each side of the rocks on which she 
hung, the water deepened from ten to se- 
venteen fathoms immediately around her; 
and, from the injury received, she musthave 
gone down in a few minutes, had she forced 
her way over this narrow reef. The best 
bower anchor was therefore let go, to keep her 
fast; and the pumps were soon abandoned, 
being clearly of no avail. 

The boats were now hoisted out, and 



182 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

Lieutenant Hoppner, with the barge and 
cutter, ordered to proceed with the Em- 
bassador and suite, and all those not es- 
sentially required, to the nearest part of the 
island, which seemed about three miles 
and a half distant. Meanwhile every exer- 
tion was used by the captain and officers, 
who remained by the ship, to secure what 
provisions and stores could be obtained ; a 
task of considerable labour and difficulty, 
for all was under water, which now rose 
above the orlop-deck. 

When she struck .the tide must have 
been rising, for towards the afternoon it 
fell outside, and consequently inside the 
ship several feet, thereby enabling us to 
save ourselves from absolute starvation by 
laying hold of some articles of provender 
which floated up, assisted by divers, and 
which the boats were employed in con- 
veying to the shore. A raft was also con- 
structed, on which were placed the heavier 
siores, with some baggage, and towed to- 
wards the island. By the return of those 
boats which carried his Excellency on 
shore we learnt the very great difficulty of 



TO CHINA. 183 

effecting a landing, the mangrove-trees 
growing out to a considerable distance in 
the water ; and it was not until after ranging 
alongshore for nearly three miles from the 
place they first attempted that a small 
opening' appeared, through which, by 
scrambling from rock to rock, they at last 
obtained a footing on terra firma. Here, 
by cutting away a quantity of the smaller 
jungle at the foot of a hill (for the island 
was completely overgrown with wood), a 
space was cleared away, where, under the 
shade of the loftier trees, they bivouacqued 
for that day and night. 

On board the ship the work went on 
with activity, endeavouring to save what- 
ever might be most useful on such an oc- 
casion ; but, as the tide rose, the swell of 
the sea lifting her from the rocks, she 
dashed oi>4;hein again with such violence, 
as to render it necessary about midnight 
to cut away the topmast. At day -light on 
Wednesday the 19th, Mr. M'Leod landed 
with two men who had been severely 
wounded by the fall of the masts, and with 
a report from the captain to Lord Amherst. 






184 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

The spot in which our party were situated was 
sufficiently romantic, but seemed at the same 
time the abode of ruin and of havoc. 
Few of its inhabitants (and among the rest 
the Embassador) had more than a shirt or 
pair of trowsers on. 3Phe wreck of books, 
or, as it was not unaptly termed, " a literary 
manure," was spread about in all directions; 
whilst parliamentary robes, court- dresses, 
and mandarin habits, intermixed with 
check shirts and tarry jackets, were hung 
around in wild confusion on everv tree. 

/ 

On his lordship being informed that no 
fresh water had as yet been obtained from 
the ship, and that it was barely probable 
fcome might be got by scuttling the lower 
deck, he desired every body might be ' 
called around him, and ordered that a gill 
of that which had been sent on shore the 
day before (what happened to be on deck 
in the dripstones and water-jugs), with half 
that quantity of rum, should be equally 
served out to every man without distinc- 
tion, and, taking his own share with perfect 
good humour, afforded to others an ex- 
ample of calm fortitude, and a cheerful 



TO CHINA. 185 

readiness to share in every privation, which 
never fails on such occasions to have a 
powerful and beneficial effect, more espe- 
cially when that example is found, where 
it ought to be, in the first rank. 

Parties were now returning who had 
been searching for water in vain, every 
attempt to dig for it having proved 
fruitless, or, being too near the sea, salt 
water alone had oozed into the pits. At 
one spot they found the skeleton of a man, 
and the horrid idea of his having died from 
thirst rushed on every mind. Those who 
went into the wood, on these excursions, 
were obliged to notch the trees, and leave 
marks as they advanced, in order to find 
their way back. In the forenoon Captain 
Maxwell came on shore, to confer with Lord 
Amherst on the best mode to be adopted 
in the perilous situation they were then 
placed. The boats were utterly incapable 
of conveying half our number any where ; 
and, as some must necessarily go to the 
nearest friendly port for assistance, Cap- 
tain Maxwell judged it best that his excel- 
lency and suite should proceed with a 



186 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

proper guard for Batavia, or whatever part 
of Java they could fetch, from whence 
vessels could be despatched to bring off 
those who remained behind. 

This being what is termed the north-west 
monsoon, there was every likelihood of the 
boats reaching Java (the current being 
also in their favour) in three days ; and by 
this arrangement, which very happily was 
settled without loss of time, two grand pur- 
poses were answered the nearest to the cap- 
tain's heart, and his first duty, viz., the 
immediate conveyance of the Embassador 
and suite to a place of safety ; and, by their 
safety, ensuring more effectually than by 
any other means that of the officers and 
men who remained with himself upon this 
desert isle. It was thought probable that 
row-boats might be despatched from Ba- 
tavia after the arrival of his excellency, so 
as to reach the island (even against wind 
and current) in twelve or fifteen days ; and 
as Mr. Ellis volunteered to return with the 
first boat or vessel that shoved off to our 
assistance, an additional assurance was thus 
given, that, combined with the influence of 



TO CHINA. 187 

the Embassador with the Dutch govern- 
ment, no delay would occur in forwarding 
relief. After a short, and very slender ftte 
champStre in this wilderness (in which salt 
was viewed with the same horror as ar- 
senic), his lordship about five in the evening, 
accompanied by the gentlemen of his suite, 
by Lieutenant Hoppner, in command of 
the boats, Mr. Mayne to navigate, Lieu- 
tenant Cooke, R. M. (with a party as 
officers of the guard, in the event of falling 
in with any of the Malay pirates who infest 
these seas), Mr. Blair, midshipman, and 
Mr. Somerset (who had come to see the 
world a little), waded out to the edge of the 
reef, and embarked in the barge and cutter. 
They were in all forty-seven persons, and had 
with them a small stock of provisions, con- 
sisting of a side of mutton, a ham, a tongue, 
about twenty pounds of coarse biscuit, and 
some few more of fine, seven gallons of water, 
the same of beer, as many of spruce, and 
about thirty bottles of wine. This was 
all that could be spared ; and being deemed 
equal to sustain nature for four or five days, 
in which period they must either make the 



188 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

land, or be so disposed of as to require no 
provisions, it was considered sufficient. 
After pulling outwards a little way to clear 
all the rocks, they made sail to the south- 
ward, attended by the best wishes of every 
man of the island, and were soon out of 
sight. The number left behind was 200 
men and boys, and one woman. 

The first measure of Captain Maxwell, 
after fixing a party to dig a well in a spot 
which was judged, from a combination of 
circumstances, the most likely to find water, 
was to remove our bivouac to the top of the 
hill, where we could breathe a cooler and 
purer air ; a place in all respects not only 
better adapted to the preservation of our 
health, but to our defence in case of attack. 
A path was cut upwards, and a party em- 
ployed in clearing away and setting fire to 
the underwood on the summit. This last 
operation tended much to free us from 
myriads of ants, and of snakes, scorpions, 
centipedes, and other reptiles, which in 
such a place and climate generally abound. 
Others were employed in removing up- 
wards our small stock of provisions, which 



TO CHINA. 189 

were deposited (under a strict guard), in a 
sort of natural magazine, formed by the 
tumbling together of some huge masses of 
rock on the highest part of this eminence. 
On board the wreck a party were stationed, 
endeavouring to gain any accession they 
could to our stock of provisions and arms, 
and to save any public stores that could 
be found. There was a communication 
for this purpose between the shore and the 
ship whenever the tide permitted. For the 
last two days every one had experienced 
much misery from thirst : a small cask of 
water (the only one which could be ob- 
tained from the ship) was scarcely equal 
to a pint each in the course of that period ; 
and perhaps no question was ever so 
anxiously repeated, as " What hope from 
the well ?" About eleven at night the dig- 
gers had got, by rather a tortuous direction 
(on account of large stones), as far down as 
twenty feet, when they came to a clayey 
or marly soil, that above being a red earth, 
which seemed rather moist, and had no- 
thing saline in the taste. At a little past 
midnight a bottle of muddy water was 



190 A VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

brought to the captain as a specimen, and, 
the moment it was understood to be fresh, 
the rush to the well was such as to impede 
the workmen ; and it was necessary to 
plant sentries to enable them to complete 
their task, and permit the water to settle a 
little. Fortunately about this time a heavy 
shower of rain fell, and, by spreading sheets, 
table-cloths, &c., and wringing them, some 
relief was afforded. There are few situa- 
tions in which men exposed without shelter 
to a torrent of rain would, as in the pre- 
sent instance, hail that circumstance as a 
blessing : bathing in the sea was also re- 
sorted to by many in order to drink by ab- 
sorption, and they fancied it afforded relief. 
Thursday, 20th. This morning the cap- 
tain, ordering all hands together, stated 
to them in few words, that every man, by 
the regulations of the navy, was as liable to 
answer for his conduct on the present as 
on any other occasion ; that, as long as he 
lived, the same discipline should be exerted, 
and, if necessary, with greater rigour than 
aboard, a discipline for the general welfare, 
which he trusted every sensible man of 



TO CHINA. 191 

the party must see the necessity of main- 
taining; assuring them, at the same time, 
he would have much pleasure in recom- 
mending those who distinguished them- 

o o 

selves by the regularity and propriety of 
their conduct ; that the provisions we had 
been able to save should be served out, 
although necessarily with a very sparing 
hand, yet with the most rigid equality to 
all ranks, until we obtained that relief 
which he trusted would soon follow the 
arrival of Lord Amherst at Java. During 
this day the well afforded a pint of water 
for each man ; it had a sweetish milk-and- 
water taste, something like the juice of the 
cocoa-nut, but nobody found fault with it *; 
on the contrary, it diffused that sort of hap- 
piness which only they can feel who have 
felt the horrible sensation of thirst under a 
vertical sun, subject at the same time to a 
harassing and fatiguing duty. This day 
was employed in getting up every thing 
from the foot of the hill; boats passing to 

* It was happily said, when mixed with a little rum, to 
resemble milk punch ; and we endeavoured to persuade 
ourselves that it was so. 



192 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTK 

the ship, but unfortunately almost every 
thing of real value to us in our present case 
was under water. We were in hopes, how- 
ever, that, as no bad weather was likely to 
happen, we might be enabled by scuttling 
it at low water, or by burning her upper- 
works, many useful articles might be ac- 
quired. 

On Friday (21st) the party stationed 
at the ship found themselves, soon after 
day-light, surrounded by a number of 
Malay proas, apparently well armed, and 
full of men. Without a single sword or mus- 
quet for defence, they had just time to 
throw themselves into the boat alongside, 
and push for the shore, chased by the pi- 
rates, who, finding two of our other boats 
push out to their assistance, returned to the 
ship, and took possession of her. Soon 
afterwards it was reported, from the look- 
out rock, that the savages, armed with 
spears, were landing at a point about two 
miles off. Under all the depressing cir- 
cumstances attending shipwreck; of hunger, 
thirst, and fatigue; and menaced by a 
ruthless foe ; it was glorious to see the Bri- 



. 
TO CHINA'. 193 

tish spirit staunch and unsubdued. When 
the order was given for every man to arm 
himself in the best way he could, it was 
obeyed with the utmost promptitude and 
alacrity. Rude pike-staves, were formed 
by cutting down young trees; small swords, 
dirks, knives, chisels, and even large spike- 
nails sharpened, were firmly affixed to the 
ends of these poles ; and those who could 
find nothing better hardened the end of 
the wood in the fire, and, bringing it to a 
sharp point, formed a tolerable weapon. 
There were, perhaps, a dozen cutlasses ; 
the marines had about thirty muskets and 
bayonets, but could muster no more than 
seventy-five ball-cartridges among the whole 
party. We had fortunately preserved some 
loose powder drawn from the guns on the 
upper deck after the ship had struck, (for 
the magazine was under water in five mi- 
nutes,) and the marines by hammering 
their buttons round, and by pieces of 
broken bottles rolled up in cartridges, did 
their best to supply themselves with a sort 
of langrage which would have some effect at 
close quarters, and strict orders were given 

o 



194 VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTK 

not to throw away a single shot until sure 
of their aim. Mr. Cheffy, the carpenter, 
and his crew, under the direction of the 
captain, were busied in forming a sort of 
abattis by felling trees, and enclosing in a 
circular shape the ground we occupied; 
and, by interweaving loose branches with 
the stakes driven in among these, a breast- 
work was constructed, which afforded us 
some cover, and must naturally impede the 
progress of any enemy unsupplied with ar- 
tillery. That part of the island we had 
landed on was a narrow ridge, not above 
musket-shot across, bounded on one side 
by the sea, and on the other by a creek, 
extending upwards of a mile inland, and 
nearly communicating with the sea at its 
head. Our hill was the outer point of this 
tongue, and its shape might be very well 
represented by an inverted punch-bowl : 
the circle on which the bowl stands would 
then shew the fortification; and the space 
within it our citadel. 

It appeared by the report of scouts, a 
short time after the first account, that the 
Malays had not actually landed, but had 



TO CHINA. 195 

taken possession of some rocks near this 
point, on which they deposited a quantity 
of plunder brought from the ship; and 
during the day they continued making these 
predatory trips. 

In the evening all hands were mustered 
under arms, and a motley group they pre- 
sented ; it was gratifying, however, to ob- 
serve, that, rude as were their implements of 
defence, there seemed to be no want of 
spirit to use them if occasion offered*. 
The officers and men were now marshalled 
regularly into the different divisions and 
companies, their various posts assigned, 
and other arrangements made. An officer 
and party were ordered to take charge of 
the boats for the night, and they were 

* Even the little boys had managed to make fast a 
table-fork, or something of that kind, on the end of a 
stick, for their defence. One of the men who had been 
so severely bruised by the falling of the masts, and was 
slung in his hammock between two trees, had been ob- 
served carefully ^sA/Mg, or fixing, with two sticks ami a 
rope-yarn, the blade of an old razor. On being asked 
what he meant to do with it, he replied, " You know I 
" cannot stand ; but, if any of these fellows come within 
" reach of my hammock, I'll mark them." 

02 



196 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

hauled closer into the landing-place. An 
alarm which occurred during the night 
shewed the benefit of these regulations, for, 
on a sentry challenging a noise among the 
bushes, every one was at his post in an in- 
stant, and without the least confusion. 

On Saturday morning (22d,) some of 
the Malay boats approached the place 
where ours were moored ; and, with the 
view of ascertaining whether they had any 
inclination to communicate on friendly 
terms, the gig, with an officer and four 
hands, pulled gently towards them, waving 
the bough of a tree, (a general symbol of 
peace every where,) shewing the usual de- 
monstration of friendship, and of a desire 
to speak to them ; but all was vain, for they 
were merely reconnoitring our position, 
and immediately pulled back to their 
rock. 

The second lieutenant (Mr. Hay) was 
now ordered with the barge, cutter, and gig, 
armed in the best way we could, to proceed 
to the ship, and regain possession of her, 
by fair means, or by force ; the pirates not 
appearing, at this time, to have more than 



TO CHINA. 

eighty men. Those, on the rocks, seeing 
our boats approach, threw all their plunder 
into their vessels, and made off. 

Two of their largest proas were now at 
work on the ship ; but, on observing their 
comrades abandon the rock, and the ad- 
vance of the boats, they also made sail 
away, having previously set fire to the ship, 
which they did so effectually, that in a few 
minutes the flames burst from every port, 
and she was soon enveloped in a cloud of 
smoke. The boats were unable to board 
her, and therefore returned. 

Here was a period to every hope of ac- 
commodation with these people, if, indeed, 
any reasonable hope could ever have been 
entertained on that head. The Malays, 
more especially those wandering and pi- 
ratical tribes, who roam about the coasts 
of Borneo, Billiton, and the wilder parts of 
Sumatra, are a race of savages perhaps 
the most merciless and inhuman to be 
found in any part of the world. The 
Battas are literally cannibals. Insetting 
fire to the ship, they gave a decided proof 
of their disposition to us ; but, although 



198 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

certainly with no good intention, they did 
merely what we intended to do ; for, by 
burning her upper works and decks, every 
thing bouyant could float up from below, 
and be more easily laid hold of. 

The ship continued burning during the 
whole of the night ; and the flames, which 
could be seen through the openings of the 
trees, shed a melancholy glare around, and 
excited the most mournful ideas. This 
night also all hands were suddenly under 
arms again, from a marine firing his mus- 
ket at what he very properly considered 
a suspicious character near his post, who 
appeared advancing upon him, and refused 
to answer after being repeatedly hailed. It 
turned out afterwards that the branch of a 
tree, half-cut through the day before, had 
given way, under one of a race of large 
baboons, who we found about this time 
disputed the possession of the island with 
us. At the well, where there generally was 
kept a good fire at night, on account of the 
mosquitoes, the sentries had more than 
once been alarmed by these gentlemen 
shewing their black faces from behind the 



TO CHINA. 199 

trees. They became extremely trouble- 
some to some ducks we had saved from the 
wreck, (carrying them up the trees with 
them, and letting them fall down again 
when alarmed,) who, on several occasions, 
left their little yard, and came up among 
the people, when the monkeys got among 
them, instinctively preferring the society of 
man for protection. 

On Sunday morning, (23d,) the boats 
were sent to the still-smoking wreck, and 
some flour, a few cases of wine, and a cask 
of beer, had floated up. This last God- 
send was announced just at the conclusion 
of divine service, which was this morning 
held in the mess-tent, and a pint was or- 
dered to be immediately served out to each 
man, which called forth three cheers *. 
This seems to be the only style in which a 
British seaman can give vent to the warmer 

* Some decorously righteous man observing to the 
chaplain that he had never seen such a scene in England 
as the congregation cheering at the church-door ; the lat- 
ter replied, with proper liberality, (and tolerable good 
humour,) tf perhaps you never saw a thirsty English 
audience dismissed with the promise of a pint of beer 
apiece." 



200 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTt 

feelings of his heart. It is his mode of 
thanksgiving for benefits received ; and it 
equally serves him to honour his friend, to 
defy his enemy, or to proclaim victory. 
This day we continued improving our fence, 
and clearing away a glacis immediately 
around it, that we might see and have fair 
play with these barbarians, should they ap- 
proach. They had retired behind a little 
islet, (called Pulo Chalacca, or Misfortune's 
Isle,) about two miles from us, and seemed 
waiting there for reinforcements ; for some 
of their party had made sail towards Billi- 
ton. 

Monday morning, (24th,) the boats, as 
yesterday, went to the wreck, and returned 
with some casks of flour only partially da- 
maged, a few cases of wine; and about forty 
boarding-pikes, with eighteen muskets, 
were also laid hold of. With the loose 
powder secured out of the great guns in the 
first instance, Mr. Holman, the gunner, had 
been actively employed, forming musket 
cartridges; and by melting down some pew- 
ter basins and jugs, with a small quantity 
of lead, lately obtained from the wreck, 



TO CHINA. 201 

balls were cast in clay moulds, increasing 
not a little our confidence and security. A 
quart of water each had been our daily 
allowance from the well hitherto, and on 
this day a second was completed near the 
foot of the hill, in another direction, which 
not only supplied clearer water, but in 
greater plenty ; and we could now, without 
restriction, indulge in the luxury of a long 
chink, not caring even to excite thirst, in 
order to enjoy that luxury in higher per- 
fection. 

On Tuesday, (25th,) the boats made 
their usual trip ; some more cases of wine 
and a few boarding-pikes were obtained, 
both excellent articles in their way, in the 
hands of men who are inclined to enter- 
tain either " their friends or their foes." 
On shore employed completing the paths 
to the wells, and felling trees which inter- 
cepted our view of the sea. 

Wednesday, (26th,) at day-light, two of 
the pirate proas, with each a canoe astern, 
were discovered close in with the cove 
where our boats were moored. Lieutenant 
Hay, (a straight-forward sort of fellow,) 



202 VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTE 

who had the guard that night at the boats, 
and of course slept in them, immediately 
dashed at them with the barge, cutter, and 
gig. On perceiving this, they cut adrift 
their canoes, and made all sail ; they rather 
distanced the cutter and gig, but the barge 
gained upon them. On closing, the Ma- 
lays evinced every sign of defiance, placing 
themselves in the most threatening attitudes, 
and firing their swivels at the barge. This 
was returned by Mr. Hay with the only 
musket in the boat, and, as they closed 
nearer, the Malays commenced throwing 
their javelins and darts, several falling into 
the barge, but without wounding any of 
the men. Soon after they were grappled 
by our fellows, when three of them having 
been shot, and a fourth knocked down with 
the butt end of the, musket, five more 
jumped overboard and drowned them- 
selves, (evidently disdaining quarter,) and 
two were taken prisoners, one of whom was 
severely wounded. 

They had taken some measure to sink 
their proa, for she went down almost imme- 
diately. Nothing could exceed the despe- 



TO CHINA. 203 

rate ferocity of these people. One who 
had been shot through the body, but who 
was not quite dead, on being removed into 
the barge, with a view of saving him, (as 
his own vessel was sinking,) furiously 
grasped a cutlass which came within his 
reach, and it was not without a struggle 
wrenched from his hand : he died in a few 
minutes. The consort of this proa, firing a 
parting shot, bore up round the north end 
of the island, and escaped. Their canoes 
were also brought on shore, containing se- 
veral articles of plunder from the ship. 
They appeared to be the two identical 
proas which set fire to her. The prisoners 
(the one rather elderly, the other young) 
when brought on shore, seemed to have no 
hope of being permitted to live, and sul- 
lenly awaited their fate; but, on the 
wounds of the younger being dressed, the 
hands of the other untied, and food offered 
to them, with other marks of kindness, they 
became more cheerful, and appeared espe- 
cially gratified, seeing one of their dead 
companions, who had been brought on 
* shore, was decently buried. 



204 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

The Malays are a people of very unpre- 
possessing aspect ; their bodies of a deep 
bronze colour; their black teeth and red- 
dened lips, (from chewing the betel-nut 
and siri,) their gaping nostrils, and lank 
clotted hair hanging about their shoulders 
and over their scowling countenances, 
give them altogether a fiend-like and mur- 
derous look. They are likewise an un- 
joyous race, and seldom smile. 

The state of one of the wounds received 
by the Malay (his knee-joint being pene- 
trated, and the bones much injured) would 
have justified, more particularly in this kind 
of field practice, amputation ; but, on 
consideration that it would be impossible 
to convince him of this beinor done with 

o 

the intention of benefitting him, and might 
have the appearance of torture, which it 
was not improbable might suggest the idea 
of amputation and other operations to 
them, in the event of any, or all of us, falling 
into their hands, it was determined, there- 
fore, to try the effect of a good constitution, 
and careful attention. A little shed was 
built, and a blanket and other comforts 



TO CHIXA. 205 

given to him, and his comrade appointed 
his cook and attendant. They refused at 
first the provisions we offered them ; but, 
on giving them some rice to prepare in 
their own way, they seemed satisfied. Ne- 
ver expecting quarter, when overpowered 
in their piratical attempts, and having been 
generally tortured when taken alive, may 
account for the others drowning them- 
selves. 

In the forenoon, immediately after this 
rencontre, fourteen proas and smaller boats 
appeared standing across from the Banca 
side, and soon after they anchored behind 
Pulo Chalacca. Several of their people 
landed, and, carrying up some bundles on 
their shoulders, left them in the wood, and 
returned for more. We had some hope, 
from the direction in which they first ap- 
peared, as well as their anchoring at that 
spot (the rendezvous agreed upon at the 
departure of Lord Amherst), that they 
might have been from Batavia to our relief. 

The small flag (belonging to the em- 
bassy) was brought down and displayed 
on the look-out rock : the strangers, each, 



206 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

immediately hoisted some flag at their 
mast-heads. Anxious to know still more 
about them, Mr. Sykes was allowed to 
advance with the union jack, accompanied 
by some more of the young gentlemen, 
along the strand to a considerable distance ; 
and soon after some of their party, with a 
flag, set off to meet them. As they mu- 
tually approached, the Malays dropped a 
little in the rear of their flag-bearer, and 
laid down their arms ; ours also fell astern, 
and the two ancients (or colour men), 
wading into a creek which separated them, 
cautiously met each other. The Malay sa- 
lamed a good deal : many fine Yorkshire bows 
were made on the other side : shaking hands 
was the next ceremony, and then, joining 
flags, they walked up arm and arm to the 
place where the captain and several others 
were stationed. Satisfied now they must 
be friends sent to our assistance, they were 
welcomed with cheers, and every counte- 
nance was gladdened. But our joy was 
of short duration ; for, although their flag 
was laid submissively at the captain's feet, 
and all were sufficiently civil in their de- 



TO CHINA. 207 

portment, yet they turned out to be mere 
wanderers, employed gathering a sort of 
sea-weed, found on the coast of these (but 
in still greater abundance among the Pelew) 
islands, said by some to be an article of 
commerce with the Chinese epicures, who 
use it like the bird-nests in their soups. 
All this was made out chiefly by signs, 
added to a few Malay words which some 
understood. 

Mr. Hay, with his division armed, pro- 
ceeded down to their anchorage, himself, 
and some other officers, going on board 
with theiy Rajah (as they styled him), who 
expressed a great desire to see the captain 
on board, and sent him a present of a piece 

of fish, and some cocoa-nut milk. During 

o 

the night many schemes were proposed as 
to the best mode of negotiating with these 
people. Some thought that, by the hope 
of reward, they might be induced to carry 
part of us to Java, and our four remaining 
boats would then be equal to the con- 
veyance of the rest. Others, adverting to 
the treacherous character of the Malays, 
and the great temptation to murder us 



208 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

when in their power, from that sort of pro- 
perty still in our possession, and to them of 
great value, considered it safest to seize 
upon and disarm them, carrying ourselves 
to Batavia, and then most amply to remu- 
nerate them for any inconvenience they 
might have sustained from being pressed 
into the service. 

The morning of Thursday, the 27th, how- 
ever, perfectly relieved us from any further 
discussion on this subject, the Rajah and 
his suite having proceeded to plunder the 
wreck, which by this time they had espied. 
It is probable they were not certain of our 
real situation on the first evening, but 
might have supposed, from seeing the uni- 
forms, colours, and other military appear- 
ance, that some settlement, as at Minto, 
had been established there ; and this may 
also account for their civility in the first 
instance, for, from the moment their harpy- 
like spirit was excited by the wreck, and 
they saw our real condition, there were no 
more offerings of fish, or of cocoa-nut milk. 

To have sent the boats openly to attack 
them was judged impolitic ; it would only 



. 

TO CHINA. 209 

have driven them off for a moment, and 
put them on their guard against surprise 
by night, should it be thought necessary, in 
a day or two, to do so. They could de- 
prive us of little ; for the copper bolts and 
iron work, which they were now most in-' 
terested about, were not to us of material 
importance. 

We had the dav before moved the boats 

/ 

into another cove, more out of sight (from 
the overspreading branches of the trees), 
and safer in case of attack, being com- 
manded by two strong little ports (one 
having a rude draw-bridge), erected on the 
rocks immediately above it, and wattled in, 
where an officer and piquet were nightly 
placed ; and a new serpentine path was 
cut down to this inlet, communicating with 
our main position aloft. 

On Friday, the 28th, the Malays were still 
employed on the wreck. A boat approached 
us in the forenoon; but on the gig going out 
to meet it, they refused to correspond, and 
returned to their party. No relief having 
appeared from Batavia,and the period being 
elapsed at which (as was now thought) we 

p 



210 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

had reason to expect it, measures were 
taken by repairing the launch, and con- 
structing a firm raft, to give us additional 
powers of transporting ourselves from our 
present abode, before our stock of provi- 
sions were entirely exhausted. 

On Saturday, the 1st of March, the Ma- 
lays acquired a great accession of strength, 
by the arrival of fourteen more proas from 
the northward (probably of the old party), 
who joined in breaking up the remains of 
the wreck. 

At day-light, on Sunday, the 2d, still 
greater force having joined them during 
the night, the pirates (leaving a number at 
work on the wreck) advanced, with up- 
wards of twenty of their heaviest vessels, 
towards our landing-place ; fired one of 
their patereroes ; beat their gongs; and, 
making a hideous yelling noise, they an- 
chored in a line, about a cable's length 
from our cove. We were instantly under 
arms, the party covering the boats strength- 
ened, and scouts sent out to watch their 
motions, as some of their boats had gone 
up the creek, at the back of our position ; 



TO CHINA. 211 

and to beat about, lest any should be laying 
in ambush from the land. About this time, 
the old Malay prisoner, who was under 
charge of the sentries at the well, and who 
had been incautiously trusted by them to 
cut some wood for the fire, hearing the 
howling of his countrymen, left his wounded 
comrade to shift for himself, ran off into 
the wood, and escaped, carrying with him 
his hatchet. Finding, after waiting a short 
time in this state of preparation, that they 
made no attempt to land, an officer was 
sent a little outside the cove in a canoe, 
waving in a friendly manner, to try how 
they would act. After some deliberation, 
one of their boats, with several men armed 
with creeses, or their crooked daggers, ap- 
proached : here, as usual, little could be 
made out, except a display of their ma- 
rauding spirit, by taking a fancy to the 
shirt and trowsers of one of the young gen- 
tlemen in the canoe ; but, on his refusing 
to give them up, they used no force. 

A letter was now written, and addressed 
to the chief authority at Minto, a small 
settlement on the northwest point of Banca, 

p 2 



212 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

stating the situation in which we were 
placed, and requesting him to forward, if 
in his power, one or two small vessels to us, 
with a little bread and salt provisions, and 
some ammunition. Again the officer went 
out in the canoe, and was again met by 
the Malay boat. This letter was given to 
them, the word Minto repeatedly pro- 
nounced, (which they seemed to under- 
stand,) the direction pointed out, and signs 
made that on their return with an answer 
they should be rewarded with abundance 
of dollars, shewing them one as a specimen. 
This was done more to try them than with 
any hope of their performing the service; 
for, although a boat went down to Pulo 
Chalacca, (where they appeared to have 
somebody in superior authority,) yet none 
took the direction of Banca. Meantime 
their force rapidly increased, their proas 
and boats of different sizes amounting to 
fifty. The larger had from sixteen to 
twenty men; the smaller about seven or 
eight; so that, averaging even at the lowest 
ten each, they had fully five hundred men. 
The wreck seemed now nearly exhausted, 



TO CHINA. 213 

and appeared to be a very secondary ob- 
ject, knowing the chief booty must be in 
our possession, and they blockaded us 
with increased rigour, drawing closer into 
the cove, more especially at high water, 
fearful lest our boats, being afloat at that 
period, should push out and escape them. 
In the afternoon some of the Rajah's peo- 
ple (whom we at first considered our 
friends) made their appearance, as if seek- 
ing a parley ; and, on communicating with 
them, gave us to understand by signs, and 
as many words as could be made out, that 
all the Malays, except their party r , were ex- 
tremely hostile to us ; that it was their de- 
termination to attack us thatnio-ht; and 
urging also that some of their people 
should sleep up the hill, in order to pro- 
tect us. Their former conduct and pre- 
sent connexions displayed so evidently 
the treachery of this offer, that it is need- 
less to say it was rejected, giving them to 
understand we could trust to ourselves. They 
immediately returned to their gang, who 
certainly assumed a most menacing atti- 
tude. In the evening, when the officers and 



214 VOYAGE OF H< M. S. ALCESTE 

men were assembled as usual under arms, 
in order to inspect them, and settle the 
watches for the night, the captain spoke to 
them with much animation, almost verbatim 
as follows : " My lads, you must all have 
" observed this day, as well as myself, the 
" great increase of the enemy's force, for 
" enemies we must now consider them; 
" and the threatening posture they have as- 
" sumed. I have, on various grounds, strong 
" reason to believe they will attack us this- 
" night. I do not wish to conceal our real 
" state, because I think there is not a man 
*' here who is afraid to face any sort of dan- 
*' ger. We are now strongly fenced in, and 
" our position in all respects so good, that, 
" armed as we are, we ought to make a for- 
" midable defence against even regular 
" troops: what then would bethought of us, 
" if we allowed ourselves to be surprised by a 
" set of naked savages, with their spears and 
" creeses ? It is true they have swivels in 
" their boats, but they cannot act here. I 
" have not observed that they have any 
" matchlocks or muskets; but, if they have, 
" so have we. I do not wish to deceive you 



TO CHIXA. 215 

" as to the means of resistance in our power. 
" When we were first thrown together on 
" shore, we were almost defenceless; seventy- 
" five ball-cartridges only could be mustered : 
" we have now sixteen hundred ! They can- 
" not, I believe, send up more than five 
" hundred men ; but, with two hundred 
" such as now stand around me, I do not 
" fear a thousand, nay, fifteen hundred of 
" them ! I have the fullest confidence we 
" shall beat them ; the pike-men standing 
" firm, we can give them such a volley of 
" musketry as they will be little prepared 
" for ; and, when we find they are thrown 
" into confusion, well sally out among 
" them, chase them into the water, and 
" ten to one but we secure their vessels. 
" Let every man therefore be on the alert 
" with his arms in his hands ; and, should 
" these barbarians this night attempt our 
" hill, I trust we shall convince them that 
" they are dealing with Britons/' Pferhaps 
three jollier hurras Avere never given than 
at the conclusion of this short but well- 
timed address. The woods fairly echoed 
again ; whilst the piquet at the cove, and 



216 VOYAGE OP H. M. S. ALCESTE 

those stationed at the wells, the instant it 
caught their ear, instinctively joined their 
sympathetic cheers to the general chorus. 

There was something like unity and con- 
cord in such a sound, (one neither resem- 
bling the feeble shoutnor savageyell,) which, 
rung in the ears of these gentlemen, no 
doubt had its effect; for about this time 
(8 P.M.) they were observed making signals 
with lights to some of their tribe behind the 
islet. If ever seamen or marines had a 
strong inducement to fight, it was on the 
present occasion, for every thing conduced 
to animate them. The feeling excited by 
a savage, cruel, and inhospitable aggression 
on the part of the Malays, an aggression 
adding calamity to misfortune, roused 
every mind to a spirit of just revenge ; and 
the appeal now made to them on the score 
of national character was not likely to let 
that feeling cool. After a slender but cheer- 
ful repast, the men laid down as usual 
upon their arms, whilst the captain re- 
mained with those on guard to superintend 
his arrangements. An alarm during the 
night shewed the effect of preparation on 



TO CHINA. 217 

the people's minds, for all like lightning 
were at their posts, and returned growling 
and disappointed because the alarm was 
false. 

Day-light, on Monday the 3d, discovered 
the pirates exactly in the same position in 
front of us ; ten more vessels having joined 
them during the night, making their num- 
ber now at least six hundred men. " The 
" plot began to thicken/' and our situation 
became hourly more critical. Their force 
rapidly accumulating, and our little stock 
of provisions daily shortening, rendered some 
desperate measure immediately necessary. 

That which seemed most feasible was by 
a sudden night attack, by our four boats 
well armed, to carry by boarding some of 
their vessels, and, by manning them, repeat 
our attack with increased force, taking 
more, or dispersing them. The possession 
of some of their proas, in addition to our 
own boats, (taking into consideration that 
our numbers would be thinned on the occa- 
sion,) might enable us to shove off for Java, 
in defiance of them. Any attempt to move 
on a raft, with their vessels playing round 



218 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

it, armed with swivels, was evidently im- 
possible. Awful as our situation now was, 
and every hour becoming more so ; starva- 
tion staring us in the face, on one hand, and 
without a hope of mercy from the savages 
on the other ; yet were there no symptoms 
of depression, or gloomy despair; every 
mind seemed bouyant; and, if any estimate 
of the general feeling could be collected 
from countenances, from the manner and 
expressions of all, there appeared to be 
formed in every breast a calm determina- 
tion to dash at them, and be successful ; 
or to fall, as became men, in the attempt 
to be free. 

About noon on this day, whilst schemes 
and proposals were flying about, as to the 
mode of executing the measures in view, 
Mr. Johnstone, (ever on the alert,) who had 
mounted the look-out tree, one of the lof- 
tiest on the summit of our hill, descried a 
sail at a great distance to the southward, 
which he thought larger than a Malay ves- 
sel. The buz of conversation was in a 
moment hushed, and every eye fixed anxi- 
ously on the tree for the next report, a 



TO CHINA. 21ft 

signal-man and telescope being instantly 
sent up. She was now lost sight of from 
a dark squall overspreading that part of 
the horizon, but in about twenty minutes 
she again emerged from the cloud, and was 
decidedly announced to be a square-rigged 
vessel. " Are you quite sure of that ?" was 
eagerly inquired : " Quite certain" was the 
reply : " it is either a ship or a brig stand- 
ing towards the island, under all sail !" The 
joy this happy sight infused, and the grati- 
tude of every heart at this prospect of de- 
liverance, may be more easily conceived 
than described. It occasioned a sudden 
transition of the mind from one train of 
thinking to another, as if waking from a 
disagreeable dream. We displayed our 
colours on the highest branch of the tree, 
to attract attention, lest she should only be 
a passing stranger. 

The pirates soon after this discovered the 
ship, (a signal having been made with a 
gbn by those anchored behind Pulo Cha- 
lacca,) which occasioned an evident stir 
among them. As the water was ebbing 
fast, it was thought possible, by an unex- 



220 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTZ 

pected rush out to the edge of the reef, to 
get some of them under fire, and secure 
them. They seemed, however, to have 
suspected our purpose; for, the moment the 
seamen and marines appeared from under 
the mangroves, the nearest proa let fly her 
swivel among a party of the officers, who 
had been previously wading outwards*, 
and the whole, instantly getting under 
weigh, made sail off, fired at by our people, 
but unfortunately without effect; for, in 
addition to the dexterous management of 
their boats, the wind enabled them to wea- 
ther the rocks. It was fortunate, however, 
this circumstance took place, and thatithad 
the effect of driving them away ; for, had 
they stood their ground, we were as much 
in their power as ever, the ship being 
obliged to anchor eight miles to leeward of 
the island, and eleven or twelve from our 
position, on account of the wind and cur- 
rent ; and, as this wind and current conti- 
nued the same for some time afterwards, 

* The shot was picked up by one of the young gentle- 
men, and appeared to be of malleable iron, not quite 
round. 



TO CHINA. 221 

they might, most easily, (with their force,) 
have cut off all communication between us. 
Indeed it was a most providential and ex- 
traordinary circumstance, during this mon- 
soon, that the ship was able to fetch so far 
up as she did. The blockade being now 
raised, the gig, with Messrs. Sykes and 
Abbot, was despatched to the ship, which 
proved to be the Ternate, one of the com- 
pany's cruizers, sent by Lord Amherst to 
our assistance, having on board Messrs. El- 
lis and Hoppner, who embarked the day of 
their arrival at Batavia, and pushed back to 
the island. 

The gig was able to return (being a light 
boat); but our friends, who attempted to 
pull ashore in the cutter, were compelled 
to put back, after struggling with the cur- 
rent for nine hours, during the night of 
Monday, and morning of Tuesday, the 4th. 
That day was employed in getting all the 
movables we had saved from the wreck 
ready for embarkation. Wednesday, the 
5th, landed Messrs. Ellis and Hoppner : 
the recollection of the voluntary promise 
made by the former at parting, now ful- 
filled, and re-appearing as a deliverer. 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

added to the many interesting and pecu- 
liar circumstances of the meeting, gave a 
new glow to every feeling of friendship, 
and, on entering Fort Maxwell, they were 
received with heartfelt acclamation by the 
whole garrison, under arms. 

This fortification and its inhabitants had 
altogether a very singular and romantic 
look. The wigwams (or dens, as they were 
called) of some, neatly formed by branches, 
and thatched with the palm-leaf, scattered 
about at the feet of the majestic trees, 
which shaded our circle ; the rude tents of 
others ; the wrecked, unshaven, ragged ap- 
pearance of the men, with pikes and cut- 
lasses in their hands, gave, more especially 
by fire-light at night, a wild and picturesque 
effect to this spot, far beyond any robber 
scene the imagination can portray. 

Two of the Ternate's boats also arrived 
with a twelve-pounder carronade, some 
round and grape, and musket ammunition, 
in the event of the pirates thinking proper 
to return before we had finished our busi- 
ness ; which, from the difficulty of commu- 
nicating, required the whole of Wednesday 
to perform. 



TO CHINA. 223 

On Thursday, the 6th, the majority of 
the officers and men embarked in the boats 
(now increased in number), and proceeded 
to the Ternate ; the raft, also, with four 
officers and forty-six men, (and a cow,) got 
under sail, and, after a comfortable cold- 
bath navigation, reached the ship after 
dark. Every article which could not be 
carried off, and was thought might be of 
the slightest use to the savages, was piled 
into a heap, on the top of the hill, and made 
into a bonfire. 

At midnight the boats returned to bring 
off Captain Maxwell, and those remaining 
with him ; the whole arriving safe on board 
on the morning of the 7th March. We were 
most hospitably received by Captain Da- 
vidson and his officers.* 

The island of Pulo Leat is about six 
miles long, and five broad ; situate about 
two degrees and a half to the southward of 
the equator : it lies next to Banca, and is 
in the line of islands between it and Borneo. 

Is is uninhabited, and, as far as we could 

- 

! The wounded Malay was also carried to Batavia, and 
he is now (although with rather a disabled joint) most pro* 
bably employed on board the Ternate. 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

explore, (and exploring was no easy task,) 
produces nothing for the use of man. We 
found a great number of the rinds of what 
we afterwards discovered at Batavia to be 
the far-famed and delicious mangustin, 
which only thrives near the line; the^ba- 
boons, who manage to live here, having 
monopolized all the fruit. Had we found 
any entire, we might have indulged in them, 
even without knowing their nature ; as, 
more especially in a case of short commons 
like ours, there could be no great danger 
in following the example of a monkey. 

The soil of the island would appear to be 
capable of affording any production of the 
torrid zone, and, if cleared and cultivated, 
would be a very pretty place; the tree which 
produces the caoutchouc or Indian rubber 
grpws here. 

The small stock of provisions saved from 
the wreck, and the uncertainty of our stay 
there, rendered economy in their distri- 
bution, as well as the preventing any waste 
or abuse, a most important duty. The 
mode adopted by Captain Maxwell, to 
make things go as far as possible, was to 
chop up the allowance for the day into 



TO CHINA. 225 

small pieces, whether fowls, salt beef, pork, 
or flour, mixing the whole hotch-potch, 
boiling them together, and serving out a 
measure of this to each, publicly and 
openly*, and without any distinction. By 
these means no nourishment was lost; it 
could be more equally divided than by any 
other way ; and although, necessarily, a 
scanty, it was not an unsavoury, mess, All 
the bread, except a few pounds, was lost. 
The men had half allowance of rum divided 
between dinner and supper, (sometimes 
more on hard fags,) and the officers two 
glasses of wine at dinner, and a quarter 
allowance of rum (a small dram-glass) at 
supper. 

A small bag of oatmeal was found one 
morning, which some of the young Scotch 
midshipmen considered as their own, and 
sat down, with great glee, round a wash- 

' Truth requires it to be stated, and it may naturally 
be supposed, that, among so many, one or two progging 
sort of people might be observed, who had no disinclina- 
tion to a little more than their just allowance; but the 
general feeling was much too manly and fine to admit of 
contamination. 

Q 



226 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

hand basin* full of burgoo, made from it; 
but they reckoned too securely on the anti- 
pathies of their English friends, for (not 
thinking this, perhaps, a proper lime for 
indulging national prejudices) they claimed 
their share, and managed to get through it 
without a wry face. 

The guards at the posts, covering the 
boats, were generally under charge, alter- 
nately, of Messrs. Hay, Casey, Johnstone, 
Sykes, Abbot, Brownrigg, and Hope. The 
garrison duty, at night, was conducted, in 
turns, by the surgeon,chaplain,Messrs.Eden, 
Raper, Mostyn, Stopford, and Gore; thus 
making it light, and enabling them to keep 
their eyes open, and walk vigilantly round 
to observe that all the sentries were on the 
alert, and called out every quarter of an 
hour ; the younger midshipmen being 
perched, in rotation, on the look-out rock 
during the day, to watch the motions of 
the pirates, and give notice of any ship or 
vessel which might appear in the offing. 

It is somewhat remarkable, that, during 

* Not the only extraordinary mess-dish which this oc- 
casion had reduced some to. 



TO CHINA. 227 

our stay here of nineteen days, exposed al- 
ternately to heavy rain, and the fierce heat 
of a vertical sun, none were taken sick, 
and those who landed so (some very ill) 
all recovered, except a marine, who was in 
the last stage of a liver complaint, contracted 
whilst in China, as one of the guard to the 
Embassador. Another man, of very trou- 
blesome character, thought proper to leave 
his companions on the third day after 
landing. He may have been bit by a ser- 
pent in the woods, and died there, or have 
fallen into the hands of the savages but 

O ' 

he was never afterwards heard of. We 
marked with oil and blacking, in large cha- 
racters, on the rocks, the date of our de- 
parture, to be a guide to any that might come 
there in quest of us, and in the afternoon of 
the 7th, we bid adieu to Pulo Leat, where 
it is not wonderful that, in our situation, 
we should have suffered some hardship and 
privation ; but it is remarkable, indeed, that, 
surrounded by so many dangers, the oc- 
currence of any one of which would have 
proved fatal, that we should have escaped 
the whole. We had, for example, great 



228 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

reason to be thankful that the ship did not 
fall from the rocks on which she first struck 
into deeper water, lor then all must have 
perished ; that no accident happened to 
the boats which conveyed the embassy to 
Batavia ; for, in that case, we should never 
have been heard of; that we found water ; 
that no mutiny or division took place 
among ourselves ; that we had been able 
to stand our ground against the pirates ; 
and that the Ternate had succeeded in an- 
choring in sight of the island ; which she was 
only enabled to do by a fortuitous slant of 
wind for an hour or two. Had we been un- 
fortunate in any one of these circumstances, 
few would have remained to tell our tale. 

It is a tribute due to Captain Maxwell 
to state, (and it is a tribute which all most 
cheerfully pay,) that, by his judicious ar- 
rangements, we were preserved from all the 
horrors of anarchy and confusion. His 
measures inspired confidence and hope ; 
whilst his personal exam pie, in the hour of 
danger, gave courage and animation to all 
around him. 

We arrived at Batavia on the 9th, and, 



TO CHINA. 229 

from the Ternate being so small, a number 
of our party crossed in the boats, which 
kept company with the ship. On the 10th 
we landed, and were most kindly received 
by Lord Amherst, who converted his table 
into a general mess for the officers, as well 
as the embassy. Comfortable quarters 
were also provided for the men *, who, in a 
day or two, landed, and marched up there, 
with the flag which had been saved. They 
were met at Ryswick by his lordship, who 
accompanied them up. At Weltevreden, 
also, the officers met with a small, but 
choice, band of their countrymen, whose 
society will not be easily forgotten, or ever 
remembered without pleasure. 

A short journal of Lieutenant Cooke 
describes the passage of the embassy across 
the Javanese sea, in the boats. " At se\ en 
" in the evening of Wednesday, the 1 9th 
" of February, all arrangements having 
" been speedily made, the barge and cutter 

The hospitable houses of Messrs. Milne and Termo 
afforded lodging to the officers during their stay ; and 
much kind attention was experienced from Capta/i.s Forbes, 
Dalgains, Hanson, and M'Mahon ; oa the staff of Sir Wil- 
liam Keir. 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" weighed, and pulled out to seaward, there 
" being a heavy swell across the reef; soon 
" after made sail, and sounded in nineteen 
" fathoms ; kept more to the southward, 
" having got into mid-channel; at nine 
" at night, entrance point, in the island of 
" Banca, bore west, three or four miles. 

" Thursday, the 20th. At day-light, the 
" cutter in company ; moderate breezes at 
" W. N. W., and fair, with a smooth sea ; 
" high land of Banca bearing north ; 
" having been much crowded in the night, 
" some shifted into the other boat, in order 
" to equalize the numbers. At seven, 
" served out, for the first time, some pro- 
" visions : a small portion of fresh meat 
" and biscuit, with a gill of water and half 
" a gill of rum, to each person. At ten a 
" heavy squall occurred, attended by rain, 
" which enabled us, by spreading cloths, 
" and wringing them, to catch a bucket of 
" rain-water, affording, to each person, 
" about half a pint. Light airs, and calm : 
" occasionally found it necessary to pull 
" eight oars, and, by the assistance of the 
" marines, we had two reliefs. Spelled the 
" oars every two hours. Served out pro- 



TO CHINA. 231 

" visions and grog in the usual small pro- 
" portions. Lowered the sails, the wind 
" being ad verse, afterwards becoming calm, 
" and at other times light breezes from the 
" south-west : each person had about half 
" a pint of beer. Lightning from west to 
" south-west, water very smooth, mid- 
" night, light airs. 

" Friday, the 21st. Moderate breezes 
" from the westward, which soon became 
" squally, and more to the southward, oc- 
" casioning a swell of the sea. At seven 
" o'clock served out the remains of the 
" fresh meat, and the usual gill of water, 
" and half a gill of rum. Examined stock 
" after breakfast, and found remaining six 
" gallons of water ; spruce beer, eight gal- 
" Ions; rum, four gallons and a half ; beer, 
" four gallons ; wine, nineteen bottles ; five 
" ditto of additional water, one ham, one 
" tongue, and thirty pounds of bread. 
" Served out, at twelve o'clock, some spruce 
" to all hands. In the afternoon, served 
" g ro g m tne usual quantity. Continued 
" rowing all night, and gave some spruce 
" beer to the rowers, who began to be 



232 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTB 

" much fatigued. Wind variable from west 
" to south-west. 

" Saturday the 22d. Continued pulling 
16 all this morning, the breeze being very 
" light; mustered provisions, and found them 
" much reduced. At seven o'clock issued 
" grog and a little bread to each, reserving 
" a ham, the only meat now remaining, until 
" dinner time. All the gentlemen who could 
" pull relieved the rowers. About one 
;< o'clock a favourable breeze sprung up at 
" N. W. : made all sail, and at half-past three 
" o'clock saw Carawang Point, in Java, dis- 
" tant about nine or ten miles. At six o'clock 
" the land-breeze coming off obliged the 
" boats to anchor. Served out part of the 
" ham, and a little biscuit and grog, as usual. 
" At seven the wind moderated a little, and 
" an attempt was made to row in ; but, the 
" people being nearly exhausted, anchored 
" again at nine o'clock ; the cutter having no 
" grapnel, made fast to the barge. The night 
" was fine, but a heavy swell occasioned the 
" boat to roll extremely. 

" Sunday morning the C3;l, the people 
" having had some repose, and a little re- 



TO CHINA. 233 

" freshment served out to them, weighed the 
" grapnel, and pulled towards Batavia. Be- 
" tween the two points of land here, we ac- 
" cidentally fell in, although at a consider- 
" able distance from the shore,' with a stream 
" of fresh water running into the sea, which 
" put all in high spirits. To prevent any ill 
" consequences, a little rum was put into a 
" bucket, and every man drank about a pint. 
" A favourable breeze also sprung up, and at 
" half past ten o'clock we went alongside 
" the ship Princess Charlotte, in the roads, 
" where we were very kindly received, our 
" stock of provisions for forty-seven being 
" at this time four or five pounds of bread, 
" and (previous to falling in with the stream 
" of fresh water in the sea), one gallon of 
" water, one gallon of rum, and five bottles 
" of wine, with some Madeira in a jar/' 
During the whole cf this little voyage the 
strictest equality was observed in the dis- 
tribution of provisions ; and if any distinc- 
tion was made it was in favour of the 
rowers, those gentlemen who were unable 
to pull themselves taking a rather smaller 
proportion than those who did. 



234 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTZ 

The circumstance of the stream of fresh 
water, which seemed so providentially to 
extend into the sea, and afforded so much 
relief, is found to exist in many parts of the 
world, and has been lately turned to advan- 
tage by our Toulon fleet, which was en- 
abled to water at the mouth of the Rhone, 
almost without losing sight of the port 
they were blockading. 

Off the Mississippi, ships can water even 
out of sight of land ; and the same is stated 
to be the case with the Oronoco, in South 
America. This will most probably be 
found in all narrow-mouthed rivers, which 
burst suddenly on the sea ; and from the fresh 
being specifically lighter than the saltwater, 
it naturally floats on the surface of the hea- 
vier body, and remains unmixed as long as 
the current retains its force. 

The chief discomfort of this boat-voyage 
proceeded from being so crowded, and being 
obliged to sit so long in a particular pos- 
ture, and the great distress arising from 
thirst. It was very difficult indeed to pre- 
vent the people from drinking salt water; 
one man became delirious, and it was 



TO CHINA. 235 

attributed to this cause. It most pro- 
bably, however, proceeded from the ex- 
treme irritation occasioned by thirst ; for 
salt water, although an article of Materia 
Mcdica in very extensive use, has never 
been known to take the direction of the 
head. 

About the 21st March the ship Char- 
lotte returned to Batavia, which had sailed 
in company with the Ternate, having on 
board Messrs. Mayne, Blair, and Marrige. 
After beating against wind and cur- 
rent, from the 24th February to the l'6th 
March, without being able to fetch farther 
than the south-east end of Banca, the cur- 
rent constantly sweeping them to leeward the 
moment they opened the Straits, Mr.Mayne, 
finding nothing was to be done in the 
ship, resolved to shove off in the barge, 
accompanied by the above gentlemen, and 
Mr. Thomson the supercargo, with two 
casks of water and one of beef for us, in 
the event of being still on the island. They 
tugged at the oars until the next day, when, 
arriving in sight of the place we had occu- 
pied, they found a large flotilla of the pi- 



236 TOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

rates at anchor there, three of whom imme- 
diately gave chase to our boat. There was 
no time to be lost; the barge made sail; 
but, in addition to their sails, the Malays 
pulled furiously, and were gaining fast. 
The beef and water were now thrown over- 
board, to lighten the barge ; and, knowing 
whom they had to deal with, they pre- 
pared, being tolerably armed, to sell them- 
selves as dear as possible. Fortunately at 
this moment a strong squall occurred, which 
compelled the Malays to lower their sails, 
whilst the barge, carrying through all, got 
a-head and escaped, the pirates hauling 
their wind again towards the island. 

These proas were probably of the more 
distant islands, who, having only lately 
heard of the wreck, had arrived a day after 
the fair, and were hungry, and annoyed at 
finding no prey. 

Nothing could exceed the deplorable 
state of Java at the period of its conquest 
by the British forces in 1811. The natives 
had at all times been enslaved and oppressed 
by the Dutch colonists ; and, from the strict 
blockade of our cruizers, the produce of 



TO CHINA. 237 

the soil which they were unable to export 
was rotting in their warehouses, and re- 
ducing the latter to a state of bankruptcy. 

The system of government immediately 
introduced by Lord Minto, under the able 
superintendence of Mr. Raffles, corre- 
sponding with that existing in British (and 
what is here termed western) India, very 
much altered the state of affairs ; but it 
more especially ameliorated the condition 
of the native Javanese. It had been usual 
to compel the people to labour at the pub- 
lic works, whenever occasion required, with- 
out any, or at least for a very inadequate, 
remuneration. They were also obliged to 
deliver in a certain quantity of produce, 
often exceeding what they were able to af- 
ford ; whilst they were tyrannically restrict- 
ed to the cultivation of those articles only 
which best answered the purposes of the 
Dutch monopolists. By the new order of 
things these forced services were imme- 
diately abolished. The people were paid a 
reasonable price for their voluntary labour ; 
and, instead of arbitrary and compulsory 
deliveries, encouragement was given to grow 



238 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

what were considered the most valuable 
productions of the island, and the Javanese 
were now stimulated to exertion by having 
an interest in the fruits of their industry. 
The revenue was now raised (except in one 
or two immaterial instances, which could 
not at once be conveniently altered) by a 
moderate land-tax on the whole. The Ra- 
jahs or Regents of the different districts 
were allowed (and indeed preferred) a 
fixed salary to abandon their claims to the 
former harsh method of raisins their in- 

o 

comes, whilst they were still intrusted under 
proper surveillance with the administration 
of the laws, which were also new-modelled 
and rendered more equitable, torture being 
abolished, and the instruments burnt in 
the public square. The Chinese farmers of 
revenue, employed under the Dutch, who 
possessed peculiar ingenuity in squeezing 
the natives, were either removed, or their 
conduct narrowly inspected by the British 
residents *. In Java there is no interrup- 



* Sir T. Raffles, in his elaborate work on Java, states, 
" that whenever the Chinese formed extensive settlement* 



TO CHIXA. 239 

tion to the course of vegetation. The spring 
is eternal ; and it is quite usual on the same 
day to see them sowing in one field, the se- 
cond in half blossom, and reaping in the 
third. But with all these advantages of 
soil and climate the people had been driven 
to relinquish their native villages, and even 
to destroy the trees which the cruel impo- 
licy of the whites compelled them to cul- 
tivate equally against their interest and 
their inclination. 

In the first settlement of colonies, it is 
notorious that enormities were committed 
by all Europeans on the aborigines of the 
country ; but, without flattering our amour 
propre national, this unconciliatory and over- 
bearing system seems to have been far less 
practised by us than by other nations, if 



" in Java, the native inhabitants had no alternative but 
' that of abandoning the district, or of becoming slaves 

" of the soil. Their monopolizing spirit was often 

" even pernicious to the produce, as may be seen 
[t even at this day in the immediate vicinity of Batavia, 
' where all the public markets are farmed by them, and 
:< the degeneracy and poverty of the lower classes are 

" proverbial." 



240 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

we may judge from the comparative per- 
sonal security with which a Briton roams 
every where at large. Previous to our pos- 
session of Java, (when travelling became 
even more safe than in England,) no Dutch- 
man ever ventured to undertake a journey 
among the natives without a guard. The 
same is the case with the Portuguese and 
the original Brazilians, as well as the Spa- 
niards at Manilla, and throughout the whole 
island of Luconia. 

With the Javanese harsh and rigorous 
measures seem, and indeed have been 
clearly proved to be, as unnecessary as they 
are unjustifiable, for few people bear a more 
mild, docile, or inoffensive character. 
They are a distinct race from the Malays of 
the coasts, not only speaking a different 
language, but are anxious not to be 
confounded with them. Lord Minto, 
who was personally at Java at the pe- 
riod of its falling into our possession, 
made the following observations on the ex- 
isting state of affairs, and the alterations he 
judged necessary : 

" Contingents of rice, and, indeed, of 



TO CHINA. 241 

" other productions, have been hitherto 
" required of the cultivators, by govern- 
" ment, at an arbitrary rate ; this, also, is 
" a vicious system, to be abandoned as 
" soon as possible. The system of contin- 
" gents did not arise from the mere solici- 
" tude for the people, but was a measure 
" alone of finance and control, to enable 
" government to derive a revenue from a 
" high price imposed on the consumer, 
" and to keep the whole body of the peo- 
" pie dependent on its pleasure for sub- 
" sistence. I recommend a radical reform 
" in this branch to the serious and early 
" attention of government. The principle 
" of encouraging industry in the cultiva- 
* e tion and improvement of lands, by cre- 
" ating an interest in the effort and fruits 
" of that industry, can be expected in Java 
" only by a fundamental change of the 
" whole system of landed property and 
" tenure. A wide field, But a somewhat 
" distant one, is open to this great and in- 
" teresting improvement; the discussion of 
" tLe subject, however, must necessarily be 
" delayed till the investigation it requires 

B 



242 YOTAGE OP H. M. S. ALCESTE 

" is more complete. I shall transmit such 
" thoughts as I have entertained, and such 
" hopes as I hare indulged, in this grand 
" object of amelioration ; but I am to re- 
" quest the aid of all the information, and 
" all the lights, that this island can afford. 
" On this branch, nothing must be done 
" that is not mature, because the change 
" is too extensive to be suddenly or igno- 
" rantly attempted. But fixed and immu- 
" table principles of the human character, 
" and of human association, assure me of 
" ultimate, and, I hope, not remote, suc- 
" cess, in views that are consonant with 
" every motive of action that operates on 
" man, and are justified by the practice 
" and experience of every flourishing coun- 
" try of the world/' 

The wisdom and sound policy of these 
liberal and enlightened views have been 

o 

fully proved by the increasing happiness 
and prosperity of the colony, from the day 
they were practically adopted, up to the 
period of the transfer of the island; and 
that the same system should be continued 
under the restored government appears to 



TO CHINA. 243 

be the decided opinion of the wisest and 
most clear-sighted of the Dutch colonists ; 
as well for its obvious justice and humanity, 
as from a conviction of its superior efficacy 
in every other respect. 

At the same time measures were taken to 
abolish slavery, for the continuance of 
which, in Java* there appeared not even 
the plea of expediency, Their farther im- 
portation was forbidden, (for they were ge- 
nerally brought, for obvious reasons, from 
the neighbouring islands,) and regulations 
were formed for the protection and better 
treatment of those actually existing. They 
were not allowed, for instance, to be sold 
or transferred from one master to another, 
but with their own approbation ; they were 
permitted the right of acquiring property 
either by their own industry, or from the 
gifts of others, independent of the control 
of their masters, which they might appro- 
priate, if they thought proper, after a cer- 
tain term, to the purchase of their freedom, 
at a reasonable valuation, subject to the 
approval of' a magistrate. An annual re- 
gistry of each slave was also required, and 



VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

a tax laid upon that registry, the proceeds 
of which were applied to charitable pur- 
poses ; and, in any instance where this re- 
gistry was omitted to be given in, the slave 
was declared free. 

Although their present religion is that of 
Mahomet, (with a mixture of Paganism,) 
yet the numerous relics of Hinduism, in 
high preservation throughout the island, 
evidently shew that the latter was the ori- 
ginal mode of worship. Indeed, Balli, one 
of the neighbouring islands, performs the 
Hindu rites at this day. 

Batavia is considered, and with much 
reason, to be one of the most unhealthy 
spots in the world. But this character is 
applicable only to the town itself ; which, 
agreeably to Dutch usage, wherever they 
could find one, is built in a swamp. The 
effect of this, within seven degrees of the 
equator, is precisely what might be ex- 
pected ; but at Ryswick and Weltevreden, 
where the ground rises, certainly, not above 
a dozen or fifteen feet, and situated within 
three miles of the town, health is retained, 
at least, as perfectly as in any other part of 



TO CHINA. 245 

India ; and it has been even said that a bat- 
talion of a regiment quartered there has re- 
turned a smaller sick report than the other, 
Stationed in some part of England. No Eu- 
ropean, who can possibly avoid it, ever sleeps 
in the city ; but, after transacting his busi- 
ness, removes to the neighbourhood. Among 
seamen and soldiers, a night or two spent 
in Batavia is deemed mortal ; but this in- 
creased fatality among them proceeds 
evidently from their never sleeping there 
but for the express purpose of getting 
drunk ; and, when immersion in putrid 
and marsh effluvia, in so hot a climate, is 
applied to a body, rendered highly suscep- 
tible of their impression from previous 
ebriety, it is not to be wondered that a 
fever of the worst class should be the con- 
sequence. They are also not so likely, 
in these cases, to receive that prompt as- 
sistance (which alone can save them) ; for, 
conscious of having been irregular in their 
conduct, they are ashamed and unwilling 
to make application until it is often too 
late ; and the loss of a single day will, in 
severer cases, be attended, in all probability, 



246 VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTE 

with the most dangerous consequences*, 
The insalubrity of Batavia is attributed, 
but with little appearance of justice, to the 
numerous canals which intersect the town ; 
for they rather seem to do good, by acting 
as drains, in a marshy soil ; and, if they 
are the receptacles of filth and carcases, 
(which appeared not to be the case,) it is 
the fault of the police, and not of the 
canals. Rice-field e, creating an artificial 
swamp, in addition to the natural moisture 
of the ground, certainly ought not to be 
permitted to exist in the immediate vicinity 
of a populous city; and cannot be at all 
necessary in a country, two-thirds of which 
is uncultivated. 

The climate of Java may be varied at 
pleasure, from the suffocating heat of Ban- 



* Captain Charles Ross, of the Pique, in the West 
Indies, among other judicious regulations of that ex- 
cellent officer, (whose orders were neither multiplied nor 
confused, and, for that reason, more likely to be rational,) 
always considered a wan found drunk to be an object 
tor the surgeon's immediate care, in the first instance ; 
and it is astonishing the good effect this had, not only in 
preventing druakeuness, but in obviating its effects. 



TO CHINA. 247 

tarn, or Batavia, to the cool, and even 
keen, air of the mountains, where fires and 
blankets are necessary ; which, to invalids 
requiring an immediate change of tem- 
perature, is an advantage of the highest 
importance. 

It is extraordinary how defective all co- 
lonies are in seminaries of education ; a 
defect, more especially in those that are 
extensive and populous, for which there 
can be no good excuse, and is attended 
with much inconvenience ; for either the 
youth of both sexes receive no education 
at all, or must be sent home, at a great 
expense, for that purpose. This would 
appear to be much the case at Batavia, for 
the young men required to fill situations 
of responsibility must be supplied by fresh 
importations ; and the ladies, surrouaded 
by a crowd of flattering slave-girls, gene^ 
rally creolize * the whole day in a delectable 

* CreoLzing is an easy and elegant mode of lounging 
in a warm climate ; so called, because much in fashion 
among the ladies of the West Indies : that is, reclining 
back in one arm-chair, with their feet upon another, and 
sometimes upon the table. 



248 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 



state of apathy, without any sort of occu- 
pation ; at sun-set, perhaps, taking a short 
airing in the environs. The elder dames 
inveterately adhere to the kubaya (a loose 
sort of gown, or wrapper, sometimes richly 
embroidered), but the English and French 
modes are universal among the rising ge- 
neration. They form a curious contrast 
on public occasions, for, although sump- 
tuary laws exist, which prevent, more espe- 
cially ladies, from wearing jewels beyond a 
certain amount, and appealing abroad at- 
tended by servants exceeding the number 
allowed for the particular rank of their 
husbands or fathers ; yet all classes, male 
and female, seem privileged to undress them- 
selves as they please. 

One evening, on our passage outwards, 
at a grand ball given by the British army 
officers, on the anniversary of the battle of 
Waterloo, at the Harmonic, an elderly 
gentleman, in a full suit of black, highly 
trimmed, and in the cut of the last century, 
was seen strutting about the room with a 
white night-cap on his head. Indeed, at 
dinner, in the best companies, they do not 



TO CHINA. 249 

hesitate to wear their hats, if there is the 
least motion in the air, for they dread no- 
thing so much as sitting in a current. 

The villas of the councillors of the Indies 
are distinguished by having black instead of 
white statues in their fronts, and about their 
gardens. They are, generally, heavy-look- 
ing houses, situated on the Jacatra and Rys- 
wick roads, but have an air of stateliness. 

The restored Dutch government profess 
to act upon the principles which have been 
found successful during our possession ; but 
a circumstance which occurred a short time 
before our arrival here evinced strong 
symptoms of a recurrence to the system of 
terror. A body of the natives, about five 
hundred in number, having had some dis- 
pute with the local authorities near Indra 
Mayo, whilst making representation about 
some hardship (which they had been lately 
freely in the habit of doing, whenever they 
considered themselves in any way aggrieved); 
were seized, and confined in a house, which, 
like the black hole at Calcutta, being too 
small for the prisoners, they, in desperation, 
attempted to break through the roof; when 
a body of military having by tiiis time been 



250 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

collected, they were fired upon, the greater 
part killed, and the remainder, in some way 
or other, destroyed. It is somewhat extra- 
ordinary that the Dutch, who are, at home, 
a very unassuming, plain, and moral sort 
of people, should have displayed, on so 
many occasions, a ferocious and blood- 
thirsty disposition in their colonies. Mar- 
shal Daendels, it is confessed, made many 
judicious arrangements by the vigour of his 
measures, had he only been a little more 
scrupulous as to the mode of obtaining his 
purposes ; but, to use his own expression, 
he " found it necessary to put himself 
" above the usual formalities, and to disre- 
" gard every law but that which enjoined 
" the preservation of the colony intrusted 
" to his management." 

On one occasion he is said to have re- 
quested the magistrates to demolish their 
grand church in Batavia, which was not 
only in the way of some favourite scheme 
he had in view, but its cupola was the only 
land-mark for entering the bay, and, as 
such, greatly assisted the enemy's cruizers. 
The burgomasters ventured to oppose this 
project. In a very short time the church 



TO CHINA. 261 

was found to be on fire ; and the building 
being thereby in a great degree consumed 
and damaged, the remainder was soon 
razed to the ground *. His great military 
road, carried some hundred miles across 
the island, cost the lives of thousands of 
the Javanese, who were sacrificed to the 
system of forced services. He appears to 
have been little less despotic with the 
whites ; and many stories are told about 
him, " that he could even make hens lay eggs 
" when he thought proper ;" but, although 
all seem to agree that he carried a high and 
imperious hand, yet none dare, even now, 
speak ill of him, for fear he may return. 

In equipping a considerable army, merely 
from the resources of the country, when 
entirely cut off from any communication 
with Europe, supplying them with a cloth 
adapted to the climate, and furnishing 
them with most of the other accoutrements, 
he put the manufacturing talents of the 
natives to the test, and he succeeded. 

Sir William Keir, Mr. Feudal, and 

* The incendiaries were never found out. 



252 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

Mr. Cranssen, were still, at Batavia, for 
the purpose of finally adjusting the transfer 
of the colonies, with the commissioners of 
his majesty, the king of the Netherlands. 
The Dutch squadron was absent at the dif- 
ferent islands, resuming possession of them. 
They had, as well as the land-forces, suf- 
fered a very heavy loss from deaths ; and 
the Baron de Capellan, who is individually 
a man of humanity, and was extremely 
solicitous about their preservation, wasstated 
to have personally interfered with the me- 
dical staff, who appear to have been much 
wedded to the old-fashioned practice, and 
to have given positive orders that the mode 
of managing the sick, which had been 
proved successful with our troops % on the 
very same ground, should be adhered to. 

The ship Caesar, Captain Taylor, having 
been engaged to carry to England the em- 
bassy, with the officers and crew of the 
Alceste, being now ready for sea, her equip- 
ment having been expedited by the assist- 
ance of our artificers, his lordship em- 
barked on the 12th of April, attended by 
Sir William Keir, and all his staff, and re- 



TO CHINA. 253 

ceiving, from the Dutch authorities, every 
mark of respect due to his rank. We 
sailed on the same morning, and soon 
cleared the Straits of Sunda, and proceeded 
with a fair wind across the Indian Ocean. 
The gay scenes we had experienced for 
the last few weeks among our friends at 
Weltevreden and Batavia, and which we 
had enjoyed with the greater spirit from 
our previous adventures, made us more 
susceptible of the dull sameness attending 
our present sky-and-water view. But a 
circumstance occurred, of all others, pro- 
ducing the most instantaneous and effec- 
tual relief from this feeling of tedium vita or 
ennui. The ship, one morning, was de- 
clared to be on fire in the after store-room, 
and (to render the intelligence still more 
agreeable and interesting) close to the ma- 
gazine, whilst the flames seen in that direc- 
tion, and volumes of smoke now bursting 
forth, left no doubt of the fact. In a mo- 
ment the liveliest bustle took place of list- 
less yawning, and every mind was roused 
into a state of the highest activity. To be 
in a ship on fire in the middle of the ocean 



254 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

is supposed to be the most awkward and 
unenviable situation in which a man of 
weak nerves can be placed. Some again 
assert that it affords, more than any other 
occasion, an opportunity for the display of 
coolness, presence of mind, and decision. 
Happily, there were not wanting many pos- 
sessing the latter qualities, who, by pushing 
through the smoke to the point of danger, 
and scuttling the decks immediately above 
the place, succeeded in extinguishing the 
flames in about three quarters of an hour, 
but not without considerable difficulty and 
damage. Very fortunately it was washing 
morning, and, of course, buckets, and other 
water utensils, were at hand. Had the ac- 
cident taken place during the night, or 
had it been unobserved for a few minutes 
longer, and the fire had communicated to 
some oil and other combustibles near it, 
no human power could have saved us. This 
alarming occurrence, so nearly proving 
fatal, was occasioned by an idle looby, be- 
longing to the Caesar, carelessly pumping 
off spirits with a naked light, in order to 
preserve the body of a parrot, which had 



TO CHINA. 255 

died the night before. It had the effect, 
however, of occasioning the most rigorous 
precautions in future. 

Notwithstanding the crowded state of 
the Caesar, two passengers, of rather a sin- 
gular nature, were put on board at Batavia, 
for a passage to England : the one, a snake 
of that species called Boa Constrictor ; the 
other, an Ourang Outang. The former 
was somewhat small of his kind, being 
only about sixteen feet long, and of about 
eighteen inches in circumference ; but his 
stomach was rather disproportionate to his 
size, as will presently appear. He was a na- 
tive of Borneo, and was the property of a 
gentleman (now in England), who had two of 
the same sort ; but, in their passage up to 
Batavia, one of them broke loose from his 
confinement, and very soon cleared the 
decks, as every body very civilly made 
way for him. Not being used to a ship, 
however, or taking, perhaps, the sea for a 
green field, he sprawled overboard, and 
was drowned. He is said not to have 
sunk immediately, but to have reared his 
head several times, and with it a consider- 



256 VOYAGE OP H. M. S, ALCESTE 

able portion of his body, out of the sea, 
His companion, lately our shipmate, was 
brought safely on shore, and lodged in the 
court-yard of Mr. Davidson's house at 
Ryswick, where he remained for some 
months, waiting for an opportunity of being 
conveyed home in some commodious ship 
sailing directly for England, and where he 
was likely to be carefully attended to. 
This opportunity offered in the Caesar, and 
he was accordingly embarked on board 
of that ship with the rest of her numerous 
passengers. 

During his stay at Ryswick he is said to 
have been usually entertained with a goat for 
dinner once in every three or four weeks, 
with occasionally a duck or a fowl, by way 
of a desert. He was brought on board 
shut up in a wooden crib or cage, the bars 
of which were sufficiently close to prevent 
his escape ; and it had a sliding door, for 
the purpose of admitting the articles on 
w r hich he was to subsist; the dimen- 
sions of the crib were about four feet 
high, and about five feet square; a space 
sufficiently large to allow him to coil him- 



TO CHINA. 257 

self round with ease. The live stock for his 
use during the passage, consisting of six 
goats of the ordinary size, were sent with 
him on board, five being considered as a 
fair allowance for as many months. At ail 
early period of the voyage we had an exhi- 
bition of his talent in the way of eating, 
which was publicly performed on the quar- 
ter-deck, upon which he was brought. The 
sliding door being opened, one of the goats 
was thrust in, and the door of the cage 
shut. The poor goat, as if instantly aware 
of all the horrors of its perilous situation, 
immediatelybegan to utterthe most piercing 
and distressing cries, butting instinctively, 
at the same time, with its head towards 
the serpent, in self-defence. 

The snake, which at firstappeared scarce- 
ly to notice the poor animal, soon began 
to stir a little, and, turning his head in the 
direction of the goat, it at length fixed a 
deadly and malignant eye on the trembling 
victim, whose agony and terror seemed to in- 
crease; for, previous to the snake seizing its 
prey, it shook in every limb, but still con- 
tinuing its unavailing show of attack, by 

s 



* 

258 VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTE 

butting at the serpent, who now became 
sufficiently animated to prepare for the 
banquet. The first operation was that of 
darting out his forked tongue, and at the 
same time rearing a little his head ; then 
suddenly seizing the goat by the fore leg 
with his mouth, and throwing him down, 
he was encircled in an instant in his horrid 
folds. So quick, indeed, and so instanta- 
neous was the act, that it was impossible 
for the eye to follow the rapid convolution 
of his elongated body. It was not a re- 
gular screw-like turn that was formed, but 
resembling rather a knot, one part of the 
body overlaying the other, as if to add 
weight to the muscular pressure, the more 
effectually to crush his object. During this 
time he continued to grasp with his mouth, 
though it appeared an unnecessary pre- 
caution, that part of the animal which 
he had first seized. The poor goat, in 
the mean time, continued its feeble and 
half-stifled cries for some minutes, but 
they soon became more and more faint, 
and at last it expired. The snake, how- 
ever, retained it for a considerable time 



TO CHINA. 259 

in its grasp, after it was apparently 
motionless. He then began slowly and 
cautiously to unfold himself, till the goat 
fell dead from his monstrous embrace, 
when he began to prepare himself for the 
feast. Placing his mouth in front of the 
head of the dead animal, he commenced 
by lubricating with his saliva that part of 
the goat ; and then taking its muzzle into 
his mouth, which had, and indeed always 
has, the appearance of a raw lacerated 
wound, he sucked it i?i, as far as the horns 
would allow. These protuberances opposed 
some little difficulty, not so much from their 
extent as from their points; however, they 
also, in a very short time, disappeared; that 
is to say, externally ; but their progress was 
still to be traced very distinctly on the 
outside, threatening every moment to pro- 
trude through the skin. The victim had 
now descended as far as the shoulders ; and 
it was an astonishing sight to observe the 

o o 

extraordinary action of the snake's muscles 
when stretched to such an unnatural ex- 
tent an extent which must have utterly 
destroyed all muscular power in any 

s 2 



260 VOYAGE OF H. Wf. S. ALCESTE 

animal that was not, like itself, endowed 
with very peculiar faculties of expansion 
and action at the same time. When his 
head and neck had no other appearance 
than that of a serpent's skin, stuffed 
almost to bursting, still the workings of the 
muscles were evident ; and his power of 
suction, as it is erroneously called, unabated ; 
it was, in fact, the effect of a contractile 
muscular power, assisted by two rows of 
strong hooked teeth. With all this he must 
be so formed as to be able to suspend, for 
a time, his respiration, for it is impossible 
to conceive that the process of breathing 
could be carried on while the mouth and 
throat were so completely stuffed and ex- 
panded by the body of the goat, and the 
lungs themselves (admitting the trachea to 
be ever so hard) compressed, as they must 
have been, by its passage downwards. 

The whole operation of completely 
gorging the goat occupied about two hours 
and twenty minutes : at the end of which 
time, the tumefaction was confined to the 
middle part of the body, or stomach, the 
superior parts, which had been so much 



TO CHINA. 261 

distended, having resumed their natural 
dimensions. He now coiled himself up 
again, and laid quietly in his usual torpid 
state for about three weeks or a month, 
when, his last meal appearing to be com- 
pletely digested and dissolved, he was pre- 
sented with another goat, which he devoured 
with equal facility. It would appear that 
almost all he swallows is converted into 
nutrition, for a small quantity of calca- 
reous matter (and that, perhaps, not a 
tenth part of the bones of the animal) 

with occasionallv some of the hairs, 

/ 

seemed to compose his general feces ; and 
this may account for these animals being able 
to remain so long without a supply of food. 
He had more difficulty in killing a fowl 
than a larger animal, the former being too 
small for his grasp. 

Few of those who had witnessed his first 
exhibition were desirous of being present 
at the second. A man may be impelled by 
curiosity, and a wish to ascertain the truth 
of a fact frequently stated, but which seems 
almost incredible, to satisfy his own mind 
by ocular proof; but he will leave the 



262 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

scene with those feelings of horror and dis- 
gust, which such a sight is well calculated 
to create. It is difficult to behold, without 
the most painful sensation, the anxiety and 
trepidation of the harmless victim, or to ob- 
serve the hideous writhing of the serpent 
around his prey, and not to imagine what 
our own case would be in the same helpless 
and dreadful situation. 

A lion, a tiger, and other beasts of prey, 
are sufficiently terrible ; but they seldom, 
unless strongly urged by hunger, attack 
human beings, and generally give some sort 
of warning ; but, against the silent, sly, and 
insidious approach of a snake, there is no 
guarding, nor any escape when once en- 
twined within his folds. 

As we approached the Cape of Good 
Hope, this animal began to droop, as was 
then supposed, from the increasing cold- 
ness of the weather, (which may probably 
have had its influence,) and he refused to 
kill some fowls which were offered to him. 
Between the Cape and St. Helena he was 
found dead in his cage; and, on dissection, 
the coats of his stomach were discovered 



TO CHINA. 263 

to be excoriated and perforated by worms. 
Nothing remained of the goat except one 
of the horns, every other part being dis- 
solved. 

It may here be mentioned, that, during 
a captivity of some months at Whidah, in 
the kingdom of Dahomey, on the coast 
of Africa, the author of this narrative had 
opportunities of observing snakes more 
than double the size of this one just de- 
scribed ; but he cannot venture to say 
whether or not they were of the same 
species, though he has no doubt of their 
being of the genus Boa. They killed their 
prey, however, precisely in a similar 
manner ; and, from their superior bulk, 
were capable of swallowing animals much 
larger than goats or sheep. Governor Ab- 
son, who had for thirty-seven years resided 
at Fort William, (one of the African Com- 
pany's settlements here,) described some 
desperate struggles which he had either 
seen, or came to his knowledge, between 
the snakes and wild beasts, as well as 
the smaller cattle, in which the former 
were always victorious. A negro herds- 



264 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

man belonging to Mr, Abson (who after- 
wards limped for many years about the 
fort) had been seized by one of these 
monsters by the thigh; but, from his situa- 
tion in a wood, the serpent, in attempting 
to throw itself around him, got entangled 
with a tree; and the man, being thus pre- 
served from a state of compression which 
would have instantly rendered him quite 
powerless, had presence of mind enough 
to cut with a large knife, which he car- 
ried about with him, deep gashes in the 
neck and throat of his antagonist, thereby 
killing it, and disengaging himself from 
his alarming situation. He never after- 
wards, however, recovered the use of that 
limb, which had sustained considerable 
injury from his fangs, and the mere force 
of his jaws. 

These larger reptiles are seldom ob- 
served to be venomous, the smaller tribe 
being, in this respect, much more dan- 
gerous. 

In this country they had a smaller 
species of snake, called Daboa, which is 
the object of their worship and adoration. 



TO CHINA. 265 

It is perfectly harmless, (to larger crea- 
tures,) and is tameable. Great attention 
is paid to any that are found, being 
lodged in their temples, and fed by the 
priestesses with rats, mice, and smaller 
animals. People who are sick apply to 
it for relief; and, should one of them 
happen to entwine itself around a preg- 
nant woman, it is considered the happiest 
possibJe omen for herself and child. In 
this state she proudly marches through 
the town, sanctified, as it were, by the 
attachment of the snake, which encircles 
her naked frame ; and followed by 
crowds, those who meet her falling on 
their knees, and snapping their fingers 
(the usual salutation) as she passes. 

The Ourang Outang, also a native of 
Borneo, is an animal remarkable not only 
from being extremely rare, but as possess- 
ing, in many respects, a strong resemblance 
to man. What is technically "denominated 
the cranium is perfectly human in its ap- 
pearance ; the shape of the upper put of 
the head, the forehead, the eyes (which are 
dark and full), the eye-lashes, and, indeed. 



266 VOYAGE OF H. M.S. ALCESTE 

every thing relating to the eyes and ears, 
differing jh no respect from man. The hair 
of his head, however, is merely the same 
which covers his body generally. The nose 
is very flat, the distance between it and 
the mouth considerable ; the chin, and, in 
fact, the whole of the lower jaw, is very 
large, and his teeth, twenty-six in number, 
are strong. The lower part of his face is 
what may be termed an ugly, or caricature, 
likeness of the human countenance. The 
position of the scapulae, or shoulder blades, 
the general form of the shoulders and 
breasts, as well as the figure of the arms, 
the elbow-joint especially, and the hands, 
strongly continue the resemblance. The 
metacarpal, or that part of the hand imme- 
diately above the fingers, is somewhat elon- 
gated ; and, by the thumb being thrown a 
little higher up, nature seems to have 
adapted the hand to his mode of life, and 
given him the power of grasping more 
effectually the branches of trees. 

He is corpulent about the abdomen, or, 
in common phrase, rather pot-bellied, look- 
ing like one of those figures of Bacchus 



TO CHINA. 267 

often seen riding on casks ; but whether 
this is his natural appearance when wild, or 
acquired since his introduction into new 
society, and by indulging in a high style of 
living, it is difficult to determine. 

His thighs and legs are short and bandy, 
the ankle and heel like the human ; but the 
fore part of the foot is composed of toes, 
as long and as pliable as his fingers, with a 
thumb a little situated before the inner 
ankle ; this conformation enabling him to 
hold equally fast with his feet as with his 
hands. When he stands erect he is about 
three feet high, and he can walk, when led, 
like a child ; but his natural locomotion, 
when on a plane surface, is supporting 
himself along, at every step, by placing the 
knuckles of his hands upon the ground. 
All the fingers, both of the hands and feet, 
have nails exactly like the human race, 
except the thumb of the foot, which is 
without any. 

His natural food would appear to be all 
kinds of fruit and nuts ; but he eats biscuit, 
or any other sort of bread, and sometimes 



268 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

animal food. He will drink grog, or even 
spirits, if given to him ; and has been known 
repeatedly to help himself in this way : he 
was also taught to sip his tea or coffee, and, 
since his arrival in England, has discovered 
a taste for a pot of porter. His usual con- 
duct is not mischievous, and chattering 
like that of monkeys in general ; but he has 
rather a grave and sedate character, and 
is much inclined to be social, and on good 

o 

terms, with every body. He made no diffi- 
culty, however, when cold, or inclined to 
sleep, in supplying himself with any jacket 
he found hanging about, or in stealing a 
pillow from a hammock, in order to lie 
more soft and comfortably. 

Sometimes when teased by shewing 
him something to eat, he would display 
in a very strong manner the human pas- 
sions, following the person whining and 
crying, throwing himself off on his back, 
and rolling about apparently in a great 
rage, attempting to bite those near him, 
and frequently lowering himself by a 
rope over the ship's side, as if pretending 



TO CHINA. 269 

to drown himself; but, when he came near 
the water's edge, he always reconsidered 
the matter, and came on board again. He 
would often rifle and examine the pockets 
of his friends in quest of nuts and biscuits, 
which they sometimes carried for him. He 
had a great antipathy to the smaller tribe of 
monkeys, and would throw them overboard 
if he could ; but in his general habits and 
disposition there is much docility and good 
nature, and, when not annoyed, is ex- 
tremely inoffensive. He approaches, upon 
the whole, nearer to the human kind than 
any other animal. 

On the 2?th May we anchored in Simon's 
Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope, from 
which we sailed again on the llth of June, 
steering for St. Helena, where we arrived 
on the 27th. The exterior of this island 
has much of that appearance which induced 
Madame Bertrand to term it the birth- 
place of the demon of Ennui ; but the in- 
terior is not destitute of beauties, for there 
are many very pleasing spots situated in its 
different valleys. 



270 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

One cannot help, in contemplating the 
calm tranquillity which reigns about Long- 
wood (now the peaceful habitacion of the 
greatest agitator of the world), being forci- 
bly struck by the great mutability of human 
affairs. 

Buonaparte had for a considerable time 
past been very retired and difficult of 
access, but he was perfectly disposed to 
see Lord Amherst; and on the day pre- 
vious to our departure his lordship rode 
out there, accompanied b} T the gentlemen 
of his suite. He was introduced by Ber- 
trand with not a little form, and had, as well 
as Mr. Ellis, a very long private conver- 
sation previous to the introduction of the 
other gentlemen, w r ho in the mean time 
were attended by Generals Bertram!, Mon- 
tholon, and Gourgaud, in the next room. 
At last they also were ushered in ; and a 
ring having been formed by the Marshal 
round the principal personage of the group, 
Lord Amherst presented to him fust Captain 
Maxwell, to whom he bowed very civilly, 
and said his name was not unknown to 



TO CHINA. 



271 



him ; observing, he had commanded on an 
occasion where one of his frigates, La Po- 
mone, was taken in the Mediterranean. 
" Vous etiez trfa mtchant Eh bien! your 
government must not blame you for the 
loss of the Alceste, for you have taken 
one of my frigates/' He said he was very 
happy to see young Jeffery Amherst, and 
good-humouredly asked him what pre- 
sents he had brought with him from China, 
and so forth. 

The author of this narrative he interro- 
gatedaboutthe length of time he had served, 
and whether he had been wounded ; re- 
peating the last question in English. 

Proceeding next to Mr. Abel, (who was 
introduced as naturalist,) he inquired if he 
belonged to the Royal Society, or any of 
the public institutions, or was a candidate 
for that honour ; asking if he had been 
happy, in this voyage, in making any dis- 
coveries in natural history, which could add 
to our stock of knowledge on that subject. 
Whether he knew Sir Joseph Banks, whose 
name, he said, was a passport in France ; 



272 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE 

and his wishes always attended to, even 
during war. 

Mr. Cooke's name induced him to ask 
if he was a descendant of the celebrated 
navigator ; observing, " You had a Cook, 
who was, indeed, a great man/' He re- 
quested to know, on Dr. Lynn being pre- 
sented, at what university he had studied. 
" At Edinburgh" was the reply. " Edin- 
boorg \" he repeated ; and went on to in- 
terrogate him whether he was a Brunonian 
in practice; or if he bled and gave as much 
mercury as our St. Helena doctors. 

Mr. Griffith, the chaplain, was next in- 
troduced, whom Buonaparte termed I'Au- 
monier, and pronouncing, also, in English, 
clair-gee-man. " Well, sir/' he continued, 
" have you found out what religion the Chi- 
nese profess V Mr. G. replied it was some- 
what difficult to say ; but it seemed a sort of 
polytheism. Not appearing to understand 
the meaning of this word, spoken in Eng- 
lish, Bertrand remarked " PluraliteckDieiLr" 
" Ahl pluralite deDieux? said he; " do they 
believe in the immortality of the soul ?" " I 



TO CHINA. 273 

think they have some idea of a future state" 
was the reply. " Well," said Buonaparte, 
" when you go home you must get a gocd 
living ; I wish you may be made a pre- 
bendary, sir/' Proceeding to Mr. Hayne, he 
also questioned him in some general way ; 
and having now completed the circle, and 
said something to every body, he very 
courteously bowed to each of the party as 
they retired, who all felt much gratified at 
the opportunity of the interview. Although 
there was nothing descending in his manner, 
yet it was affable and polite ; and, whatever 
may be his general habit, he can behave 
himself very prettily if he pleases. He is 
by no means so corpulent as is usually re- 
presented, and his health appears to be 
excellent. Longwood, from its situation, 
ought certainly to be highly salubrious. 
On the 2d of July we sailed from St. Helena, 
touched at the Island of Ascension on 
the 7th, and, on the 12th, crossed the line, 
and got into our own hemisphere. Our 
passage homewards was extremely favour- 
able, on the 16th of August making the 

T 



274 VOYAGE OF H. M. S. ALCESTE TO CHINA. 

land, and the next morning brought us to 
Spithead, from whence we landed once 
more in our native isle; not merely with 
the common feeling of happiness which all 
mankind naturally enjoy on revisiting the 
land of their birth, but with those sensa- 
tions of pride and satisfaction with which 
every Briton may look round him, in his 
own country, after having seen all others. 



END OF THE NARRATIVE. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

ON our arrival at Portsmouth, a court-martial (as is 
usual in the navy) was held on board the Queen Char- 
lotte, to inquire into all the circumstances attending the 
loss of the ship, and into the conduct of the officers and 
men on that occasion; composed of Captaia Sir Archi- 
bald Dickson, Bart. President; Captains Alexander, 
Dacres, Meynell, and Hickey ; Moses Greatham, Judge 
Advocate ; when, after Captain Maxwell's interesting nar- 
rative, detailing the facts relative thereto, having been read, 
and a number of witnesses examined on the various state- 
ments contained in it, the Court pronounced the following 
sentence, after the usual preamble : 

" Having maturely and deliberately weighed and consi- 
" dered the whole, the Court is of opinion that the loss 
" of his Majesty's late ship Alceste was caused by her 
" striking on a sunken rock, until then unknown hi the 
*' Straits of Gaspar. That Captain Murray Maxwell, 
' previous to the circumstance, appeared to have con- 

T 2 



276 APPENDIX. 

" ducted himself in the most zealous and officer-like inan- 
" ner; and, after the ship struck, his coolness, self-col- 
" lection, and exertions, were highly conspicuous ; and 
" that every thing was done by him and his officers, 
" within the power of man to execute, previous to the 
" loss of the ship, and afterwards to preserve the lives of 
" the Right Honourable Lord Amherst, his Majesty's 
" Embassador, and his suite, as well as those of the 
" ship's company, and to save her stores on that occa- 
" sion ; and therefore adjudge the said Captain Murray 
" Maxwell, his officers and men, to be most fully 
" acquitted." 

The Court was very crowded, and there were 
present Lords Amherst and Colchester. The former, 
being examined by the Court, stated, '* that he had se- 
" lected Captain Maxwell, on the occasion of the em- 
" bassy, from motives of personal friendship, as well as 
" from the high opinion he entertained of his professional 
" character, which opinion had been much increased by 
" the events of this voyage." 



APPENDIX. 277 



No. II. 

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST of the Kings of Lewcherc, 
from the End of the Twelfth Century, to the Beginning 

of last. 

. 

First Year of Duration of 

their Reign. Lired. Reign. 

NAMES OF KINGS. 

A. D. Yean. Years. 

Chun-tien 118? 72 51 

Chun-Machuny, son of Chun-tien . 1238 64 11 

Ypen, son of Chun-Machuny - ... 1249 * 

Yn-tsou 1260 71 40 

Ta-tching, son of Yn-tsou 1301 9 

Yn-tse, second son of Ta-tching.. 1309 5 

Yu-tching, fourth son of Yn-tse .. 1314 23 

Ly-Oucy, son of Yu-tching .... 1337 23 14 

Tsay-tou 1350 46 

Ou-ning, son of Tsay-tou 1396 

Tse-chao, son of Ou-ning 1406 16 

Chang-pa-tchi, son of Tse-chao .. 1424 68 18 
Chang-tchong, second son of 

Chang-pa-tchi 1440 54 

Chang-tse-ta, son of Chan-tchong . 1445 42 5 
Chang-kin-foo, paternal uncle of 

Chang-tse-ta 1450 52 4 

Chang-tai-kieou, brother of Chang- 
kin-foo 1454 46 T 



278 APPENDIX. 



NAMES OF KINGS. 



First-YeT of Duration of 

tbeir R'ign. Lired. Rrign. 



A. D. Yean. Year*. 

Chang-te, third son of Chang- 

ta-kieon 1461 29 9 

Chan-y-ven 1 470 62 7 

Chang-tching, sonof Chang-y-ven. . 1477 62 50 

Chang-tsing, third son of Cbang- 

tching 1527 59 29 

Chang-y-ven, second son of Chang- 
tsing 1556 45 17 

Chartg-yong, second son of Chang- 
y-ven 1573 35 16 

Chang-ning, grandson of Chung- 

tsing 1 588 57 S2 

Chang-fong, descendant of a bro- 
ther of Chang-yong 1 6<2 1 . 51 20 

Chang-hien, third son of Chang-fong 1641 23 7 

Chang-tche, brother of Chang-hien 1648 40 21 

Chang-tching, son of Chang-hien. . 1669 65 41 

Chang-pen, grandson of Chang- 
tching 1710 34 3 

Chang-king, son of Chang-pen. ... 1713 

The above list being copied, by Pere Gaubil, from the 

Chinese Report of Suppa-Koang, they have, in that 
translation from the original language, no doubt, acquired 
their present Chinese character of expression. 



APPENDIX. 



279 



No. III. 

NAMES and SITUATION of the Lezvchew Islands, 
according to the same authority.. 



To the North-eastward. 

Yoii-chang-pou 

Fokou 

Yeoula 

Oa-kinou 

Kia-ki-luma 

Tatao (of considerable size) 

Ki-ki-ai 

To the South and Westward. 
Typin chan,orMa-kou-chan 
Ykima 
Yleang-pa 
Koulirna 
Talama 
Mienna 
Oukorai 
Pat-chong-chan 
Palouma 
Yeouni Koumi 
Kaumi 

Te-ke-tou-non 
Kauli-che-ma 
Ola-ke-se-kou 
Pa-tou-li-ma 



To the North and Westward. 

Gan-kiui-chan 

Kichan 

Ye-Kichan 

Lun-koan-chan (or Sulphur 

Island) 
Mat-che-chan, surrounded 

by five islets 
Another Mat-che-chan 
Koumi- chan 

To the Eastward, 
Kon-ta-tia 
Tsin-kinou 
Ysi 
Pama 



The whole situate at va- 
rious distances, extending 
from the main island to- 
wards Japan, Corea, and the 
island of Formosa, four only 
lying to the eastward. 



280 



APPENDIX. 



No. IV. 

MR. FISHER collected a few of the I^ewchewan words, 
which may tend to give some idea of the sound of their 
language. 



Beard. 

Button. 

Book. 

Bite. 

Boat \vith Sails. 

Boat rowed with Oars. 

Brunches of Trees. 

Comb. 

Chair. 

Cows. 

Cold. 

Cut. 

Candle. 

Coffin. 

Come a shore. 

Cloth. 

Colours (Ensign). 

Coral. 



Figoo. 

Tama. 

Shumutsee. 

Quayon. 

Tima. 

Chunee. 

Tanuii. 

Sabachee. 

Ee. 

Ooshu. 

Fuisa. 

Chichau. 

Doe. 

Quan. 

Chung. 

Dasha. 

Chuata. 

Ooru. 



APPENDIX. 



281 



Come here. 


Cuma cay-chung. 


Day. 


Okiou. 


Drink. 


iN'ummee. 


Dead. 


Sijoug. 


Eye. 


Me. 


Egg. 


Cooga. 


JEarth. 


Sinna. 


Eat. 


Conun. 


Fingers. 


Ibec. 


Feet. 


Fisha. 


Fowls. 


Fuee. 


Fan. 


Ogee. 


Fan-ning. 


Ogee-shun. 


Fish-ing. 


Juh-shun. 


Goat. 


Figa. 


Good. 


Yuti.ssa. 


Grave (for dead). 


Hacka. 


Good-by, or adieu. 


Wa-coutee. 


God. 


Joh. 


Gong. 


Caniutchung. 


Hair. 


Carasee. 


Hat. 


Camuree. 


He. 


Adee. 


Handkerchief. 


Sagee. 


Horse. 


Mah. 


Head-pin with a star-head. 


Camesashee. 


Head-pin with a scoop-head 


. Usisashee. 


How do you do ? 


Uga-ina-bidda ? 


Ink. 


Tamagufing. 


Jar. 


Tusaadzee. 


I or me. 


Oau. 


I will come again. 


Atucara. 



282 



APPENDIX. 



I do not understand. 

I thauk you. 

I will go. 

1 v, ill sing. 

Knife. 

Lurge. 

Moon. 

Musquito, 

Milk. 

Man. 

Nose. 

Nails. 

Night. 

Not good. 

No. 

Oil. 

Paper. 

Potatoes (sweet) 

Physician or Surgeon. 

Priest. 

Pig. 

Rain. 

Riding. 

Sun. 

Stars. 

Shoes. 

Stones. 

Sit down. 

Ship (large). 

Ship (small). 

Sleep. 

Sick. 



Chi-carang. 
Ca-fush. 

O& Atchung. 

Oa Utshaug. 

Sigu. 

Utisha. 

Stee. 

Gadjang. 

Chee. 

Ekegah. 

Hana. 

Cimee. 

Masta. 

Wassa. 

Arang. 

Unda. 

Cabee. 

Moo. 

Isha. 

Bozy. 

Oa. 

Amuie. 

Ditaugin. 

Tida. 

Hushee 

Saba. 

Ishee. 

Iree. 

Ufubuny. 

Cubunee. 

Ninjun. 

Yadon. 



APPENDIX. 



283 



Sailor. 

Shell. 

Silk. 

Stone-mason. 

Square used by ditto. 

Serpent. 

Sea. 

Sand. 

Sash or Girdle, worn by 
the Lewchewans. 

Stop. 

Small. 

Teeth. 

Trowsers. 

Trees. 

Tobacco-pipe. 

To bring. 

Tea. 

Temple, or house of wor- 
ship in the garden, 
where the sick were. 

Umbrella. 

Very good. 

Water. 

Wind. 

Wood. 

Woman. 

You. 

You give me. 

Yes. 

You are a good fellow. 



Biotee. 

Keh. 

Duusy. 

Ichi-secu. 

Banjoganee 

Onegha. 

Ooshu. 

Sinna. 

Ubu. 
Ichuna. 
Coosa. 
Ha. 

Jacama. 
Ifcoojee. 
Tsidee. 
'Toute-coo. 
Cha (Chinese). 



Jah Joh. 

Cassa. 

Churissa. 

Midzee 

Casechute. 

Kee. 

Inago. 

Ya. 

Yare Curran. 

Simung. 

Churamung. 



284 



APPENDIX. 



NUMERALS. 



1 Titsee. 

2 Tatsee. 

3 Metsee. 

4 Yutsee. 

5 Ititsee. 

6 Mutsee. 

7 Nanatsee. 

8 Jatsee. 

9 Cucunutsee. 

10 Too. 

11 Too-Titsee. 

12 Too-Tatsee, and so on to 

nineteen. 

20 Nijoo. 

21 Nijoo-Titsee, &c. 



30 Sanjoo. 

31 Sanjoo-Titsee, &c. 

40 Sinjoo. 

41 Sinjoo-Titsee, &c. 

50 Gunjoo. 

51 Gunjoo-Titsee, &c. 

60 Docodoo. 

61 Docodoo-Titsee, &c. 

70 Stigoo. 

71 Stigoo-Titsee, &c. 

80 Hacheegoo. 

81 Hachegoo-Titsee, &c. 

90 Cunjoo. 

91 Cunjoo-Titsee, &c. 
100 Hiacoo. 



The numbers after each ten were always repeated in a 
manner similar to our own arithmetic. 



APPENDIX. 285 

No. V. 
THE FAREWELL. 



[The insertion of the folio-wing verses, by Mr. Gillard, Clerk of 
the Lyra, may not, perhaps, be deemed irrelevant to the sub- 
ject, as they express not only his own, but the general senti- 
ments, on leaiing the worthy Islanders at Grand 



THE sails are set, the anchor weigh'd; 

Their course, south-west, the ships pursue 
And, friendly signs at parting made, 
We bid the land a last adieu ! 

From crowded boats, that grace our wake, 
In cap and vest but seldom wore, 

Their last " FAREWELL" the natives take, 
And, half-reluctant, seek the shore. 

Each cliffs rude height and sea-worn base 
Presents a silent gazing throng ; 

Where e'en regret may find a place, 
As swift the vessels pass along. 



286 APPE1VDIX. 

And now the harbour's far astern ; 

The dang'rous reefs in distance fade : 
No object can the eye discern 

Without the glass's friendly aid. 

Yet, while the anxious straining sight 
Can still behold the fleeting shore, 

The telescope shall yield delight, 
And all its pleasing scenes restore. 

Again the rocks and tombs appear, 
The trees and straw-built huts arise, 

Where constant guards were plac'd, by fear, 
To screen each beauty from our eyes. 

The path beside the wat'i ing-place, 
Where branching pines adorn (he lull, 

Th' assisted eye can faintly trace, 

And mark its nurn'rous windings still. 

There, too, the stone enclosure stands, 
Within whose high extensive walls 

The Pagan native lifts his hands, 
And on his wooden idol calls. 

Yet ye, who boast the Christian name, 

Blush at a deed which truth must tell; 
Hither they brought the sick and lame, 
. And bade them iu their temples dwell. 



APPENDIX. 287 

From noise and crowded decks remov'd, 

TV infirm inhal'd a purer air ; 
And native kindness daily prov'd 

They bless the hand that led them there. 

In yonder grove's encircling shade, 
Where time will long the truth attest, 

The last sad rites by strangers paid, 
A youthful seaman's ashes rest. 

What tho' Oblivion o'er his name 

May spread her veil of deepest gloom, 

Full many a fav'i ite child of fame 
Would not disdain an equal tomb. 

Yet not the sick their thoughts confin'd, 

Nor yet th' interment of the dead ; 
The living still they bore in mind, 

And gave the ships their daily bread. 

W r hile friendship thus was shewn to all, 

. Congenial minds attach 'd a few ; 
And mem'ry oft will pleas'd recall 

The names of" Mad'ra," and " Geroo." 

Farewell, dear isle ! on you may breath 

Of civil discord never blow ! 
Far from your shores be plague and death, 

And far oh ! far the hostile foe ! 



APPENDIX. 

To distant climes our course we steer, 
AVhere Fashion boasts her splendid reign; 

Where Science, Fame, and Wealth, appear, 
While Lux'ry reve.ls in their train. 

Meanwhile, ne'er 'mid your smiling scenes 
May Pride and fierce Ambition spring ! 

Ne'er may they know what mis'ry means, 
Which Vice and Dissipation bring ! 

Still on your sons may Plenty shine, 

Still may their happiness increase ; 
And Friendship long their hearts entwine 

With love, with innocence, and peace. 

No more ; for now the fresh'uing breeze 

Impels us swiftly o'er the deep ; 
Your verdant shores no longer please, 

And faint appear your mountains steep. 

Their summits now are cloth 'd in gray, 

And scarce the eye their place can tell ; 

/* 

And now they're melted quite away, 

Once more, DEAR ISLAND, FARE THEE WELL! 

THE END. 



Printed by W. CLOWES, Northuiblaod-conrt, Sinnd, London. 



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