THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CALCUTTA, AND ARRIVAL AT
CHINA--AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGION, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS,
AND OF HIS BEING ROBBED ON DANES' ISLAND--THE AUTHOR'S
DEPARTURE FROM CHINA AND ARRIVAL AT ANJURE POINT--THE
CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE MALAYS--DEPARTURE THEREFROM, AND
ARRIVAL AT ST. HELENA--DESCRIPTION OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S
TOMB AND HOUSES--DEPARTURE FROM ST. HELENA, AND ARRIVAL IN
ENGLAND.
We sailed from Bengal in company with the Hon. Company's Ship Dunira,
October 19th, 1820, with a fine breeze, and arrived at Pulo Penang, or
Prince of Wales's Island, on the 6th of November. The houses have a
noble appearance, and are built after the form of those in Calcutta.
The inhabitants are principally Malays; of them I shall speak more
hereafter. After having received on board a quantity of rattan, as
private trade for the captain, we made sail and arrived at Macao, on
January 26th, 1821, after a long and tedious voyage.
Macao, a town of China, in the province of Canton, is seated in an
inland at the entrance of the river Tae. The Portuguese have been in
possession of the town and harbour since the early part of the
seventeenth century. The houses are low and built after the European
manner; the Portuguese are properly a mixed breed, having been married
to Asiatic women. Here is a Portuguese Governor as well as a Chinese
Mandarin. The former nation pays a great tribute to choose their own
magistrates. The city is defended by three forts, built upon
eminences; and the works are good and well planted with artillery.
On the 29th we anchored off the second bar, and found lying here the
Hon. Company's Ship Canning, and two or three other Company's ships;
on the 30th weighed and made sail, but there not being water enough,
removed back to our old station. On the following day we crossed
Whampo. After the cargo was discharged I went up to Canton.
Canton is a large and populous city, situated in one of the first
rivers in the empire. It is the capital of the province of Quan-tong,
and the centre of the European trade in that country. The streets are
long and straight, paved with flag stones, and adorned with lofty
arches. The houses are remarkably neat, but consist only of one story,
and they have no windows to the streets. The covered market place is
full of shops. The inhabitants are estimated at about 1,000,000; many
of whom reside in barks, which touch one another, form a kind of
floating city, and are so arranged as to form streets. Each bark
lodges a family and their grand children, who have no other dwelling.
At break of day all the people who inhabit them depart to fish or to
cultivate their rice.
The frugal and laborious manner in which the great live, the little
attention which is paid to the vain and ridiculous prejudice of
marrying below rank; the ancient policy of giving distinction to men
and not to families, by attaching nobility only to employments and
talents, without suffering it to be hereditary; and the decorum
observed in public, are admirable traits in the Chinese character.
There is little distinction in the dress of men and women; rank and
dignity are only distinguished by the ornaments they wear, and they
dare not presume to wear any thing without proper authority, without
being severely chastised for it. Their dress in general consists of a
long vest, which reaches to the ground, one part of it, on the left
side, folds over the other, and is fastened to the right by four or
five small gold or silver buttons placed at a little distance from one
another. The sleeves are wide towards the shoulder, and grow narrow
towards the wrist--they terminate in the form of a horse-shoe--round
their middle they wear a large girdle of silk, the ends of which hang
down to their knees; from this girdle is suspended a sheath,
containing a knife, and over all they wear a loose jacket down to the
middle, with loose short sleeves, generally lined with fur, and under
all they wear a kind of net to prevent it from chafing. The general
colour of these dresses is black or blue.
Their religion is idolatry, their principal idol is _Fong Chon_, and
they are very superstitious, believing in magic and invocation of
spirits, and the art of foretelling events by divination.
While receiving our cargo on board, a Chinaman belonging to one of the
craft, stole a box of tea, but, by the exertion of our officers, the
culprit was taken and immediately sent on shore to Dane's Island to
the mandarine. He was found guilty of the crime, and his punishment
three dozen blows with the bastinado. The instrument of correction,
called pan-tsee, is a bamboo a little flattened, broad at the bottom,
and polished at the upper extremity, in order to manage it more easily
with the hand.
The culprit, after the mandarin has given the signal for punishment,
is seized and stretched out with his belly flat on the ground, his
breeches are pulled down to his heels, and on the mandarine throwing
down a stick, of which he has a number by him, one of the officers in
attendance uses the pan-tsee, and gives him five severe blows, which
are succeeded by several others till the number is complete. When it
is over, the criminal must throw himself on his knees, incline his
body three times to the earth, and thank his judge for the trouble he
has taken in his correction.
The mandarins are of two classes, viz.; those of letters, and the
inferior sort are styled mandarins of arms. The latter class do not
enjoy the same consideration as the former.
The Chinese in general are much addicted to commit depredations on the
pockets, or, in fact, on any unguarded property. After all our cargo
was received on board, I went in company with two midshipmen, Mr.
C---- and Mr. R----, on Dane's Island. After we landed some Chinese
came and decoyed us to their village, which was at the back of a
number of hills and out of sight of the shipping, under a promise that
they would let us have some of their country fruit, such as they sent
us on board. The length of time that some of them were absent, and the
sun going down fast, made us rather doubt the sincerity of their
intentions; those that were with us begged that we would stop till the
sun was down, but we began to be afraid of our lives. When the men saw
that we were determined to wait no longer, they gave a dreadful whoop,
which was answered by others stationed on the hills; they immediately
seized hold of us and rifled our pockets.
On March 25th we sailed down to Macao, and on the following day we
took our departure, and on the 24th of April arrived at Anjier point,
and is a settlement belonging to the Dutch; it lies to the east of
Batavia. The houses are generally built of bamboo; the inhabitants are
of various casts, Pagans, Mahometans, and Chinese. The barbarism of
the Batta Tribes is horrible, for they kill and eat their criminals or
prisoners of war, or even sacrifice their own relations when aged and
infirm, not so much with a view to gratify their appetites, as to
perform a pious ceremony. Thus, when a man becomes infirm and weary of
the world, he is said to invite his own children to eat him when salt
and limes are cheapest. He then ascends a tree, round which his
friends and offspring assemble, and as they shake the tree they join
in a funeral dirge, the import of which is, the season is come, the
fruit is ripe, and it must descend. The victim descends, and those
that are nearest deprive him of life, and devour his remains in a
solemn banquet.
In a few days we made sail. We arrived at St. Helena, on the 10th of
July, 1821. This island is situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, its
circumference is about twenty miles, and at a distance it has the
appearance of a large rock rising out of the sea. On rounding the
island it has a very romantic appearance; the town lying in a valley
presents to the eye a beautiful chain of scenery. It has some very
high mountains, particularly one called Diana's Peak, which is covered
with wood to the very summit. There are other hills also, which bear a
volcanic appearance, and some have huge rocks of lava, and a kind of
half-vitrified flags. James Town is erected in a valley at the bottom
of a bay, between two steep dreary mountains, and has from the
shipping a noble appearance.
Accommodations are tolerably good, and the inhabitants, generally
speaking, are very hospitable. Their villas are pleasantly situated,
and have a fine view of the sea; the whole face of the country is
really romantic; the hills are immensely high, and the valleys very
narrow; and in many of them there are a few houses, which give the
whole island a very picturesque appearance.
After obtaining a passport from the Adjutant-General, I went over a
long succession of hills to see the habitations of the late Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte. The roads were very difficult to ascend, and
particularly rugged. The remains of this great and illustrious
personage are buried in a deep valley, about three miles from James
town, and about two miles from his late residence at Longwood, under
the peaceful shade of three weeping willows, and which also, (as in
respect to his dust,) lend a solemn air of reverential darkness to the
memorable _well_, from which, during his pilgrimages, he was wont to
receive his refreshing draughts.
No stately monument marks the spot; no polished alabaster, or the
mimicry of sculptured marble marks his grave: the real excellency of
the patriot is written on the minds of his countrymen; it will be
remembered with applause as long as the nation subsists, without this
artificial expedient to perpetuate it.
Let the poor pass by his grave, and thankfully acknowledge, there lies
the man who gloriously fought for his country and his subjects, to
free them from the galling yoke of tyranny and oppression: no tablets
are written to mark his actions, but those which are written in the
heart of his subjects.
The depth of his tomb is about twenty feet, and his coffin rests upon
two pedestals, ten feet high. His body is enclosed in four coffins,
first lead, second deal, third mahogany, and fourth marble. What is
very remarkable is, that part of his tomb is made of the flag-stones
of his new house, taken out of one of the kitchens. After viewing the
tomb of the man who was the most brilliant meteor in the political
world, I proceeded up to Longwood, to take a view of the habitation in
which he died.
After presenting my passport I had permission to inspect the premises:
the officer took great pains in shewing me the very spot on which he
quitted his troubles and persecutions, when he kindly left me to make
what sort of reflections I thought proper. The darkness of the room
gave it a very solemn appearance, and suited the mind to contemplate
upon this late extraordinary character;--but a short period past he
was the terror of the world, and now, alas! what is he? He is laid low
in the tomb, unregretted and unpitied by his merciless enemies. A
gleam of light through the casements reflected a dead glimmer through
the gloomy mansion. The _most illustrious_ have claimed the _tomb_ for
their last retreat; rooms of state are resigned! the sceptre has
ceased to wield, and sumptuous banquets are neglected for no other
ornament than the winding sheet! "Where is the star that blazed upon
his breast, or the coronet that glittered round his temples?" Alas!
they are resigned and given over, through the power of the tyrant hand
of death.
I have often walked between the impending promontory's craggy cliff; I
have sometimes trod the vast spaces of the lonely desert, and
penetrated the inmost recesses of the dreary cavern; but never beheld
Nature lowering with so dreadful a form; never felt impressions of
such awe striking cold on my heart, as under this roof; every thing
seemed to participate in grief for their deceased lord. The rooms were
very dirty and much neglected. The plants in his late garden seemed to
droop their heads in sorrow for the loss of the hand that reared them.
I next proceeded to the palace which had been sent from England, and
really it would have reflected honour on the British nation, and no
sovereign in the world need wish for a more magnificent one, had it
been placed in a more healthy part of the island.
We sailed for England on the 29th, and arrived on the 13th of
September, 1821, after a speedy and pleasant passage.
THE END.
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