History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea From 1807 to 1810

At one P.M. saw the Antelope under all sail, standing toward us. The Ladrone boat immediately anchored, and dispatched the Compradore's boat for the ransom, saying, that if she approached nearer, they would return to the fleet; and they were just weighing when she shortened sail, and anchored about two miles from us. The boat did not reach her 'till late in the afternoon, owing to the tide's being strong against her. She received the ransom and left the Antelope just before dark. A mandarine boat that had been lying concealed under the land, and watching their man[oe]uvres, gave chace to her, and was within a few fathoms of taking her, when she saw a light, which the Ladrones answered, and the Mandarine hauled off.

Our situation was now a most critical one; the ransom was in the hands of the Ladrones, and the Compradore dare not return with us for fear of a second attack from the mandarine boat. The Ladrones would not remain 'till morning, so we were obliged to return with them to the fleet.

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

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

(Signed) RICHARD GLASSPOOLE

China, December 8th, 1809.

A few Remarks on the Origin, Progress, Manners, and Customs of the Ladrones

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE END

1

The Chinese have particular histories of the robbers and pirates who existed in the middle empire from the most ancient times; these histories form a portion of every provincial history. The three last books (the 58th, 59th, and 60th) of the Memoirs concerning the South of the Meihling Mountains (see the Catechism of the Shahmans, p. 44) are inscribed Tsing fun (10,987, 2,651), and contain the Robber history from the beginning of Woo wang, of the dynasty Chow. The Memoirs only give extracts of former works; the extracts to the three last books are taken from the Great History of Yuĕ, or Province of Kwang tang (Yuĕ ta ke), from the Old Transactions of the Five Realms (Woo kwŏ koo sse), the Old Records of Yang ching, a name of the ancient city of Kwang tung (Yang ching koo chaou), the Official Robber History (Kwŏ she yĭh shin chuen), &c.

2

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

3

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

4

Toland, History of the Druids, p. 51. —

"This justice, therefore, I would do to Ireland, even if it had not been my country, viz. to maintain that this tolerating principle, this impartial liberty (of religion), ever since unexampled there as well as elsewhere, China excepted, is far greater honour to it," &c.

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

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

5

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

6

The Canton Register, 1829, No. 20.

7

Jang sëen is his Tsze, or title. The numbers which are to be found on the margin of the translation, refer to the pages of the Chinese printed text.

8

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

9

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

10

This statement is so extraordinary, that the Translator thought it necessary to compare many passages where the character shăh (8384 M.) occurs. Shăh originally means, according to the Shwŏ wăn, near, joining; and Shăh kwŏ, are, according to Dr. Morrison, "small states attached to and dependent on a larger one: tributary states." The character shăh is often used in the same signification in the 57th book of our work. The description of the Peninsula of Malacca begins (Mem. b. 57, p. 15 r.) with the following words: "Mwan lă kea (Malacca) is in the southern sea, and was originally a tributary state (shăh kwŏ) of Sëen lo, or Siam; but the officer who there had the command revolted and founded a distinct kingdom." In the war which the Siamese some years back carried on against the Sultan of Guedah, they always affirmed that the King of Siam is, by his own right, the legitimate sovereign of the whole peninsula of Malacca, and that the Sultan must only be considered as a rebel against his liege. The statement of the Chinese author, therefore, corroborates the assertions of the Siamese.

11

On the General Map of the Western Sea (Se hae tsung too) Lin yin takes the place of Sweden. I cannot conceive what can be the cause of that denomination. Lin yin, perhaps, may mean the island Rugen?

12

The common word for cloth, to lo ne, seems to be of Indian origin; it is certainly not Chinese. The proper Chinese name is jung.

13

Peih ke is written with various characters. See Morrison's Dictionary, under the word Peih, 8509.

14

The syllable lo is not in the Chinese text, as it is supposed, by a mistake of the printer.

15

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

16

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

17

The Mei ling mountains, which divide the province Kwang tung from the province Këang se. See Note in the beginning of the History of the Pirates.

18

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

19

I translate the Chinese words Wae she, by non-official historian, in opposition to the Kwŏ she, or She kwan, the official historiographers of the empire. Both Yuen tsze, author of the following History of the Pirates, and Lan e, author of the work which is referred to in the preface, are such Public historians, who write – like most of the historians of Europe – the history of their own times, without being appointed to or paid for by government.

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

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

Lan e begins his work with the history of those rebels called Tėen le keaou (the Doctrine of Nature). They were divided into eight divisions, according to the eight Kwas, and placed under three captains, or chiefs, of whom the first was called Lin tsing– the same Lin who is mentioned in the preface of Soo. These followers of the doctrine of Nature believed implicitly in an absurd book written by a robber, in which it was stated, that the Buddha who should come after Shakia (in Chinese called Me lĭh, in Sanscrit Maëtreya) is in possession of three seas, the blue, the red, and the white. These seas are the three Kalpas; we now live in the white Kalpa. These robbers, therefore, carried white banners. Tsing yĭh ke, B. i., p. i.

20

The Translator thinks it his duty to observe, that this preface, being printed in characters written in the current hand, he tried in vain to make out some abbreviations; he is, therefore, not quite certain if the last phrase beginning with the words: "Yuen tsze has overlooked nothing," &c. be correctly translated.

21

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

22

Keun, or Tsze, are only titles, like those of Master and Doctor in the European languages. Keun is, in the Canton dialect, pronounced Kwa, which, placed behind the family names of the Hong, or Hing (3969) merchants, gives How qwa, or How kwa, Mow kwa, &c., which literally means "Mr. How, Mr. Mow."

23

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

24

See the first Note to this preface.

25

In the original Chinese now follows a sort of Introduction, or Contents (Fan le), which I thought not worth translating. It is written by the author of the History of the Pacification of the Pirates, who signs by his title Jang sëen.

26

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

27

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

28

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

29

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

30

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

31

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

32

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

33

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

34

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

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

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

35

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