these islands; and walked a very considerable distance before we saw a
human being. At length, in descending a valley, in the bottom of which
was a small village, we fell in with a young peasant, whom with some
difficulty, by means of an interpreter, we engaged in conversation.
Embarrassed in thus suddenly meeting with strangers, so different from
his own countrymen, in dress, in features, and complexion, his timidity
might almost be said to assume the appearance of terror. He soon,
however, gained confidence, and became communicative. He assured us that
the island on which we were, and of which he was a native, was the best
in the whole groupe, and the most populous, except that of _Chu-san_;
the number of its inhabitants being ten thousand souls. It was
discovered, however, before we had been long in the country, that when a
Chinese made use of the monosyllable _van_, which in his language
signifies ten thousand, he was not to be understood as speaking of a
determinate or precise number, but only as making use of a term that
implied amplification. A state criminal, for example, is generally
condemned to undergo the punishment of being cut into _ten thousand_
pieces; the great wall of China is called the _van-lee-tchin_, or wall
of _ten thousand lee_, or three thousand English miles, a length just
double to that which the most authentic accounts have given of it. But
when he means to inform any one that the emperor has _ten thousand_
large vessels, for the purpose of collecting taxes paid in kind, on the
grand canal, instead of the monosyllable _van_ he invariably makes use
of the expression nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, as
conveying a fixed and definite number, and, in this case, he will be
understood to signify literally ten thousand. In this manner, I suppose,
we were to understand the population of the island _Lo-ang_.
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_A Foreign Trader._]
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_A Rice Mill._
_Pub. May 2, 1804, by Mess^rs. Cadell, & Davies, Strand, London._]
At the sight of our large ships, so different in their appearance from
any of those belonging to the Chinese, a vast number of boats, issuing
from every creek and cove, presently crowded together, in such a manner,
and with so little management, as to render it difficult to pass
through without danger of oversetting or sinking some of them; a danger,
however, to which they seemed quite insensible. Vessels of a larger
description, and various in the shape of their hulls and rigging, from
twenty tons burden and upwards, to about two hundred tons, were observed
in considerable numbers, sailing along the coast of the continent, laden
generally with small timber, which was piled to such a height upon their
decks, that no extraordinary force of wind would seem to be required to
overturn them. Beams of wood, and other pieces that were too long to be
received upon the deck of a single ship, were laid across the decks of
two vessels lashed together. We saw at least a hundred couple thus laden
in one fleet, keeping close in with the coast, in order to be ready, in
case of bad weather, to put into the nearest port, being ill calculated
to resist a storm at sea. The ships indeed that are destined for longer
voyages appear, from their singular construction, to be very unfit to
contend with the tempestuous seas of China. The general form of the
hull, or body of the ship, above water, is that of the moon when about
four days old. The bow, or forepart, is not rounded as in ships of
Europe, but is a square flat surface, the same as the stern; without any
projecting piece of wood, usually known by the name of cutwater, and
without any keel. On each side of the bow a large circular eye is
painted, in imitation, I suppose, of that of a fish. The two ends of the
ship rise to a prodigious height above the deck. Some carry two, some
three, and others four masts. Each of these consists of a single piece
of wood, and consequently not capable of being occasionally reduced in
length, as those of European ships. The diameter of the mainmast of one
of the larger kind of Chinese vessels, such as trade to Batavia, is not
less than that of an English man of war of sixty-four guns. And it is
fixed in a bed of massive timber laid across the deck. On each mast is a
single sail of matting, made from the fibres of the bamboo, and
stretched by means of poles of that reed, running across, at the
distance of about two feet from each other. These sails are frequently
made to furl and unfurl like a fan. When well hoisted up and braced
almost fore and aft, or parallel with the sides of the ship, a Chinese
vessel will sail within three and a half, or four points of the wind;
but they lose all this advantage over ships of Europe by their drifting
to leeward, in consequence of the round and clumsy shape of the bottom,
and their want of keel. The rudder is so placed, in a large opening of
the stern, that it can occasionally be taken up, which is generally done
on approaching sands and shallows.
The Chinese, in fact, are equally unskilled in naval architecture, as in
the art of navigation. They keep no reckoning at sea, nor possess the
least idea of drawing imaginary lines upon the surface of the globe, by
the help of which the position of any particular spot may be assigned;
in other words, they have no means whatsoever of ascertaining the
latitude or the longitude of any place, either by estimation from the
distance sailed, or by observation of the heavenly bodies, with
instruments for that purpose. Yet they pretend to say, that many of
their early navigators made long voyages, in which they were guided by
charts of the route, sometimes drawn on paper, and sometimes on the
convex surface of large gourds or pumpkins. From this circumstance, some
of the Jesuits have inferred, that such charts must have been more
correct than those on flat surfaces. If, indeed, the portion of the
convex surface, employed for the purpose, was the segment of a sphere,
and occupied a space having a comparative relation to that part of the
surface of the earth sailed over, the inference might be allowable; but
this would be to suppose a degree of knowledge to which, it does not
appear, the Chinese had at any time attained, it being among them, in
every period of their history, an universally received opinion, that the
earth is a square, and that the kingdom of China is placed in the very
center of its flat surface.
The present system of Chinese navigation is to keep as near the shore as
possible; and never to lose sight of land, unless in voyages that
absolutely require it; such as to Japan, Batavia, and Cochin-China.
Knowing the bearing, or direction of the port intended to be made, let
the wind be fair or foul, they endeavour, as nearly as possible, to keep
the head of the ship always pointing towards the port by means of the
compass. This instrument, as used in China, has every appearance of
originality. The natives know nothing, from history or tradition, of its
first introduction or discovery; and the use of the magnet, for
indicating the poles of the earth, can be traced, from their records, to
a period of time when the greatest part of Europe was in a state of
barbarism. It has been conjectured, indeed, that the use of the magnetic
needle, in Europe, was first brought from China by the famous traveller
Marco Polo the Venetian. Its appearance immediately after his death,
or, according to some, while he was yet living, but at all events, in
his own country, renders such a conjecture extremely probable. The
embassies in which he was employed by Kublai-Khan, and the long voyages
he performed by sea, could scarcely have been practicable without the
aid of the compass. Be this as it may, the Chinese were, without doubt,
well acquainted with this instrument long before the thirteenth century.
It is recorded in their best authenticated annals merely as a fact, and
not as any extraordinary circumstance, that the Emperor _Chung-ko_
presented an embassador of Cochin-China, who had lost his way in coming
by sea, with a _Ting-nan-tchin_ "a needle pointing out the south," the
name which it still retains. Even this idea of the seat of magnetic
influence, together with the construction of the compass-box, the
division of the card into eight principal points, and each of these
again subdivided into three, the manner of suspending the needle, and
its diminutive size, seldom exceeding in length three quarters of an
inch, are all of them strong presumptions of its being an original, and
not a borrowed invention.
By some, indeed, it has been conjectured, that the Scythians, in the
northern regions of Asia, were acquainted with the polarity of the
magnet, in ages antecedent to all history, and that the virtue of this
fossil was intended to be meant by the flying arrow, presented to Abaris
by Apollo, about the time of the Trojan war, with the help of which he
could transport himself wherever he pleased. The abundance of iron ores,
and perhaps of native iron, in every part of Tartary, and the very
early period of time in which the natives were acquainted with the
process of smelting these ores, render the idea not improbable, of the
northern nations of Europe, and Asia, (or the Scythians,) being first
acquainted with the polarity of the magnet.
Yet even with the assistance of the compass, it is surprizing how the
clumsy and ill-constructed vessels of the Chinese can perform so long
and dangerous a voyage as that to Batavia. For, besides being thrown out
of their course by every contrary wind, their whole construction, and
particularly the vast height of their upper works above the water, seems
little adapted to oppose those violent tempests that prevail on the
China seas, known, as we have already observed, by the name of
_Ta-fung_. These hurricanes sometimes blow with such strength that,
according to the assertion of an experienced and intelligent commander
of one of the East India Company's ships, "Were it possible to blow ten
thousand trumpets, and beat as many drums, on the forecastle of an
Indiaman, in the height of a _Ta-fung_, neither the sound of the one nor
the other would be heard by a person on the quarter-deck of the same
ship." In fact, vast numbers of Chinese vessels are lost in these heavy
gales of wind; and ten or twelve thousand subjects from the port of
Canton alone are reckoned to perish annually by shipwreck.
When a ship leaves this port on a foreign voyage, it is considered as an
equal chance that she will never return; and when the event proves
favourable, a general rejoicing takes place among the friends of all
those who had embarked in the hazardous enterprize. Some of these ships
are not less than a thousand tons burden, and contain half that number
of souls, besides the passengers that leave their country, in the hope
of making their fortunes in Batavia and Manilla. A ship is seldom the
concern of one man. Sometimes forty or fifty, or even a hundred
different merchants purchase a vessel, and divide her into as many
compartments as there are partners, so that each knows his own
particular place in the ship, which he is at liberty to fit up and to
secure as he pleases. He ships his goods, and accompanies them in
person, or sends his son, or a near relation, for it rarely happens that
they will trust each other with property, where no family connexion
exists. Each sleeping place is just the length and breadth of a man, and
contains only a small mat, spread on the floor, and a pillow. Behind the
compass is generally placed a small temple, with an altar, on which is
continually kept burning a spiral taper composed of wax, tallow and
sandal-wood dust. This holy flame answers a double purpose; for while
the burning of it fulfils an act of piety, its twelve equal divisions
serve to measure the twelve portions of time, which make up a complete
day. It should seem that the superstitious notions inculcated in the
people have led them to suppose, that some particular influence resides
in the compass; for, on every appearance of a change in the weather,
they burn incense before the magnetic needle.
The losses occasioned among the ships that were employed to transport
the taxes paid in kind from the ports of the southern and middle
provinces to the northern capital, were so great, at the time of the
Tartar Conquest, in the thirteenth century, that the successors of
Gengis-Khan were induced to open a direct communication between the two
extremes of the empire, by means of the rivers and canals; an
undertaking that reflects the highest credit on the Mongul Tartars, and
which cannot fail to be regarded with admiration, as long as it shall
continue to exist. The Chinese, however, say, that the Tartars only
repaired the old works that were fallen into decay.
Six centuries previous to this period, or about the seventh century of
the Christian æra, the Chinese merchants, according to the opinion of
the learned and ingenious Mr. de Guignes, carried on a trade to the west
coast of North America. That, at this time, the promontory of Kamskatka
was known to them under the name of _Ta-Shan_, many of their books of
travels sufficiently testify; but their journies thither were generally
made by land. One of the missionaries assured me that, in a collection
of travels to Kamskatka, by various Chinese, the names of the several
Tartar tribes, their manners, customs, and characters, the geographical
descriptions of lakes, rivers, and mountains, were too clearly and
distinctly noted to be mistaken. It is, however, extremely probable
that, as furs and peltry were always in great demand, they might also
have some communication with the said promontory from the isles of
Jesso, to which they were known to trade with their shipping; and which
are only a very short distance from it. Mr. de Guignes, in support of
his opinion, quotes the journal of a bonze, as the priests of Fo have
usually been called, who sailed eastward from Kamskatka to such a
distance as, in his mind, puts it beyond a doubt that the country he
arrived at was no other than the coast of California. The Spanish
writers, indeed, of the early voyages to this country, make mention of
various wrecks of Chinese vessels being found in different parts of the
western coast of the New Continent; and they observe that the natives
here were, invariably, more civilized than in the interior and eastern
parts of America.
Even those on the eastern coast of South America have a very strong
resemblance to the Chinese in their persons, though not in their
temperament and manners. The Viceroy of the Brazils retains a dozen of
these people in his service, as rowers of his barge, with the use of
which he one day honoured us, to make the tour of the grand harbour of
Rio de Janeiro. We observed the Tartar or Chinese features, particularly
the eye, strongly marked in the countenances of these Indians; the
copper tinge was rather deeper than the darkest of the Chinese; but
their beards being mostly confined to the upper lip and the point of the
chin, together with their strong black hair, bore a very near
resemblance.
The island of Tcho-ka, or Saghalien, in the Tartarian sea, opposite the
mouth of the Amour, has evidently been peopled by the Chinese. When
Monsieur la Perouse visited this island, he found the inhabitants
clothed in blue nankin, and "the form of their dress differed but little
from that of the Chinese; their pipes were Chinese, and of Tootanague;
they had long nails; and they saluted by kneeling and prostration, like
the Chinese. If," continues the navigator, "they have a common origin
with the Tartars and Chinese their separation from these nations must be
of very ancient date, for they have no resemblance to them in person,
and little in manners." Yet from his own account it appears that both
their manners and customs have a very close resemblance.
The Chinese at one period carried on a very considerable commerce with
Bussora and other sea-ports in the Persian gulph, particularly _Siraff_,
near which some small islands, as well as several remarkable points and
headlands of the coast, still bear Chinese names. In some of the voyages
it is observed that a Colony of Chinese had apparently settled in the
kingdom of Soffala, the descendants of whom were, in the time of the
writers, easily distinguished from the other natives, by the difference
of their colour and their features. The early Portuguese navigators also
observe that on the island St. Laurence or Madagascar they met with
people that resembled the Chinese. That the celebrated traveller Marco
Polo visited Madagascar in a Chinese vessel there can be little doubt,
unless indeed, like his own countrymen, we chuse rather to reject the
probable parts of his narrative as fabulous, and to believe the miracles
performed by the Nestorian Christians in Armenia as the only truths in
his book.
It is impossible not to consider the notices given by this early
traveller as curious, interesting and valuable; and, as far as they
regard the empire of China, they bear internal evidence of being
generally correct. He sailed from China in a fleet consisting of
fourteen ships, each carrying _four_ masts, and having their holds
partitioned into separate chambers, some containing _thirteen_ distinct
compartments. This is the exact number of divisions into which _all_ the
holds of those sea-faring vessels were partitioned that transported the
presents and baggage from our own ships in the gulph of _Pe-tche-lee_
into the river _Pei-ho_; and we observed many hundreds of a still larger
description, that are employed in foreign voyages, all carrying _four_
masts; such vessels, our sailors who are remarkable for metamorphosing
foreign names, usually called _Junks_, from _Tehuan_ which signifies a
ship; the _Tsong-too_ or viceroy of a province is called by them _John
Tuck_.
Not only the form of the ships, but the circumstances of the voyage
taken notice of by this ancient navigator stamp his relation with
authenticity. The strong current between Madagascar and Zanzebar
rendering it next to impossible for ships to get back to the northward;
the black natives on that coast, the products of the country which he
enumerates; the true description of the Giraffe or Camelopardalis, at
that time considered in Europe as a fabulous animal, are so many and
such strong evidences in favour of his narrative, as to leave little
doubt that he either was himself upon the east coast of Africa, or that
he had received very correct information from his Chinese shipmates
concerning it. Yet Doctor Vincent has asserted, in his _Periplus of the
Erythrean Sea_[4], that in the time of this Venetian traveller none but
Arab or Malay vessels navigated the Indian Ocean. With all due deference
to such high authority I cannot forbear observing that the simple
relation of Marco Polo bears internal and irresistible evidence that the
fleet of ships in which he sailed were Chinese, of the same kind to all
intents and purposes as they now are. Nor have we any reason for
doubting the authority of the two Mahomedans who visited China in the
ninth century, when they tell us that Chinese ships traded to the
Persian gulph at that time. In a chart made under the direction of the
Venetian traveller and still preserved in the church of St. Michael de
Murano at Venice, the southern part of the continent of Africa is said
to be distinctly marked down, though this indeed might have been
inserted after the Cape of Good Hope had been doubled by the Portuguese.
[4] In the very next page (202) he however corrects himself, by
observing that _either_ the Chinese or Malays navigated as far as
Madagascar.
Whether the Prince of Portugal had seen or heard of this chart, or
consulted the Arabian Geographers, or had read of the circumnavigation
of Africa in the first translation of Herodotus that made its appearance
but a few years before the discovery of the southern promontory of this
continent by Bartholomew Diaz; or whether the voyages were undertaken at
that time on a general plan of discovery, authors seem not to have
agreed, but the opinion, I understand, among the Portugueze is that
Henry had good grounds for supposing that the circumnavigation of Africa
was practicable.
And whether the Phoenicians did or did not, in the earliest periods of
history, double the Cape of Good of Hope there is abundant reason for
supposing they were well acquainted with the east coast of Africa as far
as the _Cape of Currents_. Nor is it probable that the extent and
flourishing condition of the trade and commerce of _Tyrus_ should have
been limited to that part of the Indian ocean to the southward of the
Red Sea, which is a more difficult navigation than to the northward.
That this commerce was extensive we have the authority of the prophet
Ezekiel, who, in glowing terms, has painted its final destruction, and
who, it may be remarked, is supposed to have lived at the very time the
Phoenicians sailed round Africa by order of Necho. "Thy riches and thy
fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and
the occupiers of thy merchandize, and all thy men of war that are in
thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall
into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin." It is probable
therefore that the navigation of the Eastern Seas was known in the
earliest periods of history, and there seems to be no reason for
supposing that the Chinese should not have had their share in it.
Without, however, making any enquiry into the probability that an
ancient intercourse might have subsisted between China and the East
coast of Africa, either by convention for commercial purposes, or that
Chinese sailors might have been thrown on that coast either in
Phoenician, or Arabian, or their own vessels, I happened to observe in
a former publication of "_Travels in Southern Africa_," as a matter of
fact, "that the upper lid of the eye of a real Hottentot, as in that of
a Chinese, was rounded into the lower on the side next the nose, and
that it formed not an angle as in the eye of an European--that from this
circumstance they were known in the colony of the Cape by the name of
_Chinese Hottentots_." Further observations have confirmed me in the
very striking degree of resemblance between them. Their physical
characters agree in almost every point. The form of their persons in
the remarkable smallness of the joints and the extremities, their voices
and manner of speaking, their temper, their colour and features, and
particularly that singular shaped eye rounded in the corner next the
nose like the end of an ellipsis, probably of Tartar or Scythian origin,
are nearly alike. They also agree in the broad root of the nose; or
great distance between the eyes: and in the oblique position of these,
which, instead of being horizontal, as is generally the case in European
subjects, are depressed towards the nose. A Hottentot who attended me in
travelling over Southern Africa was so very like a Chinese servant I had
in Canton, both in person, features, manners, and tone of voice, that
almost always inadvertently I called him by the name of the latter.
Their hair, it is true, and that only differs. This, in a Hottentot, is
rather harsh and wiry, than woolly, neither long, nor short, but twisted
in hard curling ringlets resembling fringe. I possess not a sufficient
degree of skill in physiology to say what kind of hair the offspring
would have of a Chinese man and Mozambique woman; much less can I
pretend to account for the origin of the Hottentot tribes, insulated on
the narrow extremity of a large continent, and differing so remarkably
from all their neighbours, or where to look for their primitive stock
unless among the Chinese.