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

Lëen is Lëen chow foo, from Pekin 9,065, from Canton 1,515 le; the district and two towns, paying together 1,681 leang, are dependent on the district-metropolis.

Luy is Luy chow foo, from Pekin 8,210, westerly from Canton 1,380 le; the district and its towns, paying together 13,706 leang, are dependent on the district-metropolis.

Këung is Këung chow foo, the capital of the island Hae nan or Hainan, from Pekin 9,690, south-west from Canton 1,680 le; three district towns, and ten towns of the third class, paying together 89,447 leang, are dependent on this capital. There is a town also called Këung shan hëen, and both town and capital take their name from the mountain Këung.

Kin is Kin chow, dependent on Lëen chow foo, and far from it 140 le.

Tan is Tan chow, a town of Hainan, south-west from the capital 370 le; the area of the town is 31 le.

Yae is Yae chow, a town of Hainan, southerly from the capital of the island 1,114 le. About this town many pirates have their lurking-place. This circumstance may have caused the mistake of Captain Krusenstern, stating that in A.D. 1805, the pirates who infest the coast of China had obtained possession of the whole island of Hainan.

Wan is Wan chow, a town of Hainan, in a south-easterly direction from the capital of the island 470 le.

36

Kwang is Kwang tung săng, or the metropolis of the province Kwang tung (Canton). Ten departments (foo), nine districts (chow), and seventy-eight towns of the third class (hëen), are dependent on the provincial city, and pay together in land-tax 1,272,696 leang, excise 47,510 leang, and in other miscellaneous taxes 5,990 leang. The import duties from the sea-side with measurement of foreign vessels is said in the Kwang tung tsuen too, p. 3v, to amount to 43,750 leang. All duties together of the province of Canton amount to 1,369,946 taels, about £450,000. The lists of population gave last October (1830) 23,000,000 (?) for the whole province, and we now see that the Chinese pay less duties (every inhabitant about fourpence halfpenny) than the population of any country of Europe. I received the population lists from Ahong, an intelligent Chinese, well known to the English residents at Canton. Distance from Pekin about 6,835 le.

The subject concerning the population of China, and the amount of the land-rent, the poll-tax, and other miscellaneous taxes, is surrounded by so many difficulties, that the writer of this dares not to affirm any thing about these matters until he has perused the new edition of Tay tsing hwy tëen. For the present he will merely remark, that in book 141, p. 38, of the said work, the population of China Proper for the year 1793 is reckoned at 307,467,200. If we add to this number the population of Chinese Tartary, it will certainly amount to the round number of 333,000,000, as reported by Lord Macartney.

Chow is chow king foo, from Pekin about 4,720, north-west from Canton 360 le. There is certainly some mistake in the Chinese Itinerary; how could Canton be only 6,835, and Chow king foo 7420 le? The imperial edition of the Tay tsing hwy tëen (book 122, p. 6 v.) only gives 5,494 le as the distance from Canton to Pekin; there seems to be a different sort of le. The district and eleven towns of the third class, paying together 162,392 leang depend on the district metropolis.

With the aid of the Chinese Itineraries and the new edition of the Tay tsing hwy tëen (printed 1797, in 360 large volumes) it would be an easy task to compile a "Chinese Gazetteer."

37

I found no particulars concerning these two small islands (Chow signifies island) in the Canton Itinerary; and I looked in vain on the great map of the Chinese sea-coast in the Hae kwŏ hëen këen for their position.

38

The town Sin hwy is south-west from Canton 230 le; its area is 138 le (?) and the taxes amount to 28,607 leang. This place suffered much from the pirates. I find no proper name for the river on which Sin hwy lies in the Chinese maps, it is merely called Këang, river. Near this place is the island where the last emperor of the Sung cast himself into the sea (1280).

39

The word pe (8335) cannot be translated in any European language. It means a vice common in Asia.

40

The pirates probably made use of the term saou (8833) and not of tse (10575), because saou written with a different character (8834), is the general term for boats and ships. Paou must be considered as the lieutenant or first minister of Mistress Ching, she being herself of the family Shĭh.

41

It will be very interesting to compare the regulations of Paou with those of the Buccaneers. When these pirates had got a considerable booty, each person, holding up his hand, solemnly protested that he had secreted nothing of what he had taken. – Voyage, l. c. p. 95.

42

The San po (8788, 8608) are national spirits, and, as it seems, not connected with Buddhism; there is a great variety in the number of these good old mothers, who by the different emperors have been declared saints, or spirits, for the Emperor of China is likewise the pope in his empire. Dr. Morrison has an interesting article on these old women in his Canton Vocabulary. Kang he mentions only two Po (s. v.), who may be considered as spirits. This is a character of which the Buddhists are very fond; perhaps the translator may be wrong, and that San po is merely the Sanscrit word Swayam-bhú.

43

Our author shews every where his partiality for Chang paou.

44

The author said just before that the dominion of the pirates in the Chinese sea lasted about ten years; but he only describes the transactions of the last three years, when their power and strength was at the highest point. He begins to give particulars from the 7th moon of the 13th year of Këa king, which corresponds nearly to the beginning of September 1808.

45

There are three wretched forts at the Hoo mun, the mouth of the Canton river, which could scarcely hinder any European vessel from passing through.

46

One of the islands marked upon European maps is called The Ladrones: these Ladrones, so called from the pirates, have all particular names on Chinese maps.

47

In the first preface of the Hae kwŏ hëen këen it is particularly stated, that the map of the sea-coast of China became first known to its editor by the expeditions against the pirates.

48

There are, as is stated in my preface, some vulgar or provincial characters in this history; here (p. 1.) occurs a character not to be found in Kanghe, composed out of the fifty-sixth radical and the group Leaou or Lew (7061, 7203). My whole library being locked up in the Custom-house, I am not able to consult a dictionary of the Canton dialect, therefore the meaning of these characters can only be guessed at by etymology. The etymology of the characters gives sometimes a better meaning than any dictionary, and sometimes it may entirely mislead us; there is no reliance on etymology. Usage is the only master of the Chinese, as of all other languages.

49

Hëang shan is a considerable place between Macao and Canton. I passed this town in the beginning of October 1830. Distance from Canton 150 le in an eastern direction.

50

It was, as we have before stated, the policy of Chang paou to befriend himself, when possible, with the lower sort of people.

51

Here the author himself says Te ming (9955, 7714) "name of a place." To find out the names of places and persons, and distinguish the titles of the different officers employed by government, is often a very difficult task. The last character in the name of this place, pae, is very seldom found; it is the fourth character of the division of eight strokes, rad. 177. – See Kanghe. O is, in the Canton dialect, commonly pronounced like A, in Italian.

52

These are large vessels with windows, from 200 to 500 tons; they are called by Europeans by the Chinese name, in the Canton dialect, junks; chuen is the Mandarin pronunciation. The foreign trade of Cochin-China and Tung king is almost exclusively with China, that to Siam, Singapur, and Malacca, being inconsiderable. The Cochin-Chinese government tried some years ago to open a regular trade with Calcutta; but this undertaking partly failed on account of the heavy duties on foreign sugar in the possessions of the East-India Company. Sugar is a great article of export in Cochin-China and Siam.

53

On the large map of the coast of China from Corea to Cochin-China, called Yuen (12542) hae tsuen too, this place is called Lao wan shan, "the old ten thousand mountains," and is exactly opposite to the Bocca Tigris in a direct southerly direction.

54

The sails of Chinese vessels are often called Mats, for they are really nothing else than matting.

55

Le: this itinerary measure, as we have remarked, is different in different parts of the empire; it is generally considered that 250 le make a degree of latitude.

56

This they did probably to look more ferocious. Plutarch observes of Sylla, that "the ferocity of his aspect was heightened by his complexion, which was a strong red, interspersed with spots of white."

57

Mun means an entrance or mouth; few of these places are to be found, even in the particular maps of the province Kwang tung in the Tay tsing hwy teen.

58

Paou, the first character of 8233, is in our own history always used in the signification of cannon. The word meant in former times an engine for throwing stones, and so it is used in the history of the Han dynasty. This gave rise to the opinion that the Chinese had guns and gunpowder long before its discovery in Europe. How could these extraordinary engines have escaped the discriminating genius of Marco Polo, had they existed in China?

59

The three provinces which have Këang (5500) in their name the same as the two Kwang, Kwang to the east (tung) and Kwang to the west (se), are usually united under one governor and one deputy governor.

60

Previously they robbed only in the open sea, outside the Canton river.

61

The river discharges itself by many channels into the sea.

62

Tung kwan hëen is easterly from Canton 150 le, its area amounts to 180 le, and pays 44,607 leang land-rent, or taxes. There are many small islands belonging to the district of Tung kwan.

63

Fan yu hëen, near Canton. The place where European ships anchor belongs to this Hëen; its area amounts to 140 le, and pays 48,356 leang. I looked in vain for some notices regarding the many small villages which are to be found in the sequel of the page. Some of them are merely mentioned in the Itinerary of the province Canton. The reader may compare the account of Richard Glasspoole in the Appendix.

64

These are names of different sorts of Chinese vessels or junks.

65

In the original Kin (6369). Kin cannot be the common cash (Tung pao) for then the sum would be too trifling – 8 to 900 are to be got in Canton for a Spanish dollar. If Kin were used for dollar, or tael, which is very probable, the sum is enormous. Richard Glasspoole states that the pirates demanded indeed ten thousand dollars! – See the Appendix.

66

Hoo mun. The following notice on the Chinese tiger is taken from the geography of Mookden, and translated by Father Amiot. Eloge de la ville de Moukden par Kien long, p. 249. "Au-delà de nos frontières (Mookden), il y a une espèce de tigre, dont la peau est un fort beau blanc, sur lequel il y a, par intervalles, des taches noires. Ces espèces de tigres sont plus méchants et plus féroces que les autres." Father Amoit adds, that these tigers are called Hoo by the Chinese, and Tasha by the Manchow.

67

The Chinese geographers and historians are very well acquainted with Siam; there is an interesting description of this empire in the Hae kwo hëen këen, p. 21, and in the 57th book, p. 13, of the memoirs concerning the south of the Mei ling mountains. That Siam acknowledges the supremacy of China, was known to the most early European travellers. Cluver says (in his Introductio in omnem Geographiam Wolfenbuttelæ, 1694, 4to., p. 473), that "Rex Siamensis irruptione crebriori Tartarica pressus, Chano denique Chinensi sese beneficiarium aut vasallum submisit." Mendez Pinto, who was in that country in the year 1540, states that the king of Siam acknowledged the supremacy of China; Bernhardi Vareni Descriptio regni Japoniæ et Siam; Cantabrigiæ 1673-8, p. 128.

68

It is impossible to translate the names of vessels of different descriptions. The large are the Chang lung, or great dragon vessels which by the Chinese law are forbidden to be used by any private person; these are the Mandarin, or government vessels. The pirates nevertheless had such vessels, as likewise the daring smugglers, who bring the opium from Lintin, or Linting, to Canton. The amount of the opium trade in the port of Canton was, in the year 1829-30, equal to 12,057,157 Sp. dollars.

69

One of the English sailors, who had been taken prisoner. "The pirates frequently obliged my men to go on shore and fight with the muskets, which did great execution; the Chinese principally using bows and arrows. They have match-locks, but use them very unskilfully." – See Appendix.

70

A shih, or stone, contains four keun: a keun thirty kin or catty, the well known Chinese weight: a catty is equal to one pound and a third English.

71

Nan hae hëen. Its area amounts to 278 le, and it pays 63,731 leang. The European factories in Canton lie in this district, and the monastery opposite to the factories is usually from the name of the district called the Hae nan sze, the temple of Hae nan. The district of every place is called by the name of the the place, and we must therefore speak of the town and district Nan hae.

72

This simple note of the Chinese author better illustrates the religion of China than many learned dissertations. All the deities, those of Greece and Rome, of China and India, are derived from two sources; both the powers of nature and highly gifted human beings were deified. These powers of nature, and the virtues and vices of men being in every community nearly similar, the same gods and goddesses are found everywhere; only their external form and shape is different. Every province, every town, and every village of China has its particular tutulary saint, or god, and on the day of his festival his effigy is carried in public. There is no essential difference in this respect between China and those countries where Roman Catholicism is yet in its highest vigour. The effigies of the Chinese gods and goddesses are all of the human shape; they have no monsters like India and Egypt, under which it was once the fashion to seek for extraordinary wisdom and astonishing science. Lucian has already taken the liberty of laughing at these deities, and at the writers, the prophets, and sophists, who try to find some sense in all this vulgar display of nonsense, by which the people are deluded. Lucian de Sacreficiis s. f. where he laughs at the Jupiter with a ram's head, at the good fellow Mercurius with the countenance of a dog, etc. [Greek: Krioprosôpon men ton Dia, chynoprosôpon de ton beltison Ermên chai ton Pana holon tragon], etc. See the pleasant story of Jupiter with the ram's head in Herodotus, II. 42.

73

The strong winds (Tay fung) in the Chinese sea begin about the middle of September, or just before the equinox.

74

It is not stated in the Chinese text, whose father rushed forward, whether it was the father of the lady, or of Wei tang chow.

75

I must again remark that there is a false character in our text: it should be Nëĕ, 7974 in the Tonical Dictionary of Dr. M.

76

I am compelled to give a free translation of this verse, and confess myself not quite certain of the signification of the poetical figures used by our author. Fūng signifies a hollow pyramid filled with combustibles; yĕn signifies the smoke caused by combustion; tseāng signifies the spar or yard in a boat or ship, to which the sail is attached, and ying is shadow. It seems that the author alludes to the spar or yard-arm, at which Mei ying was fastened by the pirate; but what he means by shadow I do not really know, perhaps ying is in the place of Mei ying.

77

The Chinese characters are printed like the other portion of the work. I have divided them according to the verses. Only the first eight lines have a regular metre of five feet, or words, and as the author himself says, his song is then at an end; but the language still remains poetical, and for that reason it was thought proper to divide also the remaining lines like verses. Every word must be considered as consisting of one syllable or sound, even if we write it with three or four vowels. Poetry is perhaps more esteemed in China, than in any other country in the world. The late governor-general of Kwang tung and Kwang se, his Excellency Yuen, published the poems of his daughter, who died when only nineteen years of age. Most of the emperors of China wrote verses, and I have, if I remember rightly, an imperial collection printed at the command of Këa king of many volumes, containing the poetry of the crowned heads of China. The reader may easily imagine that the Chinese have many works on poetry; I am also in possession of a Chinese Gradus ad Parnassum in ten large volumes, in which are to be found, divided under different heads, all the fine expression and poetical images of the classical poets. Mr. Davis has given some excellent specimens of Chinese poetry in his elegant dissertation on that subject.

78

Verbally "monkeys and birds," a sort of birds which according to Dr. Morrison are something similar to our crows.

79

In the memoirs concerning the south of the Mei ling mountains, three books (from 9-11 incl.) are filled up with a description of the seas, rivers, and lakes, of the province of Canton. Book ninth begins with a general description of the Chinese seas, and of the different entrances from the sea-side; then follows a particular description of the sea near Canton and Hainan, and of the different Tides at various places. The mariner would certainly be gratified by a translation of this part of the work. The translator has often remarked the extraordinary phenomenon of the fiery appearance of the sea, during his residence in China. In the before-mentioned work, b. ix. p. 5 v, we read the following notice concerning this phenomenon:

"The fire in the sea: It happens sometimes that sea waves have such a luminous appearance, as if the whole sea were full of fire. If you cast any thing into the sea, it becomes luminous like a star; but you do not see this during moonlight. Wood having in itself no fire, receives a fiery appearance, after having been passed through the water."

In b. x. p. 10 r. Whampo is said to be seventy le from the sea custom-house of Canton. In this extract foreigners are in general very unfavourably spoken of. Amongst other things we are told, "that foreigners or barbarians drink so much strong liquor that they are not able to stand on their feet; they fall down intoxicated, and before having had a sound sleep, they cannot rise again." It is also remarked in the same article that many people assemble together at Whampo, to attend the trade with the foreigners; the reason probably why our author calls it "the Great." The reader will remember what has been said on Hëang shan in a former note; I will only here add the remark of Martini, "that in his time the principal and most wealthy merchants lived in that place." (Thévenot, Rélations de divers voyages, iii. 167.)

80

It is well known that a great part of the population of China live on the water, and they are generally called Tan (9832) people; – a word which in the Canton dialect is pronounced Tanka. They are quite a separate race, and harshly dealt with by the Chinese government. There exist particular works concerning the history, the customs and laws of these boat-people. They more than once opposed the despotic regulation of their masters, and government was always afraid they might join the pirates. The history of the southern barbarians in the often quoted Memoirs, &c. begins with a description of the Tan jin, or Tanka people, and it is there said that they are divided into three different classes. The description of their customs and manners is very interesting, and I hope soon to lay it before the English reader. It has been supposed that the name Tanka people is derived from the form of their boats, which is similar to an egg; but Shwŏ wăn, as quoted in Kang he, explains the word only by Nan fang e yay, Barbarians of the southern region. There exist different forms of this character, but I think we should not presume to make an etymology of a Chinese character without being authorized by the Shwŏ wăn, the oldest and most genuine source of Chinese lexicography.

81

In the Chinese text is King king (the character is composed out of radical fire and ear), on which is to be found an interesting critical observation in Kang he, s. v. b. viii. p. 119r. In no other oriental language has there been so much done by the natives for the foreign student as by the Chinese.

82

The most common denomination for Portugal is now Se yang kwŏ, or more correctly Siao se yang kwŏ. "The small realm in the western ocean; Europe is called Ta se yang." (See Preface.) I thought it here more proper to translate E by foreigner, than by barbarian. In a Chinese history of Macao, we find various particulars regarding the Portuguese. The description of the Portuguese clergy and the Roman Catholic religion is the most interesting part of this curious publication. It consists of two parts, or volumes.

83

It would be interesting to read the Portuguese version of these skirmishes. A history of these skirmishes was printed at Lisbon, but I could not procure this publication. The reader may compare the statements of Richard Glasspoole in the Appendix.

84

The Chinese are very much accustomed to consult the Păh, or sort. There exists various ways, according to the ideas of the Chinese, of asking the divinity whether any undertaking shall prove either fortunate or not. The translator has seen different modes of casting lots in the temples of the suburbs of Canton. The reader may find an interesting description of casting lots in the "Histoire du grand Royaume de la Chine;" à Rouen 1614-8, p. 30. There is much useful information to be found in this work; but it would be curious to learn in what Armenian works ("escritures des Armeniens") it is stated, that "St. Thomas came through China in his voyage to the East-Indies" (l. c. p. 25)!

85

Woo (11753) how; Woo is the time between eleven and one o'clock of the day. The Chinese divide the day into twelve she shin, or great hours; the European twenty-four hours of the day are called seaou she shin, little hours. We learn by a passage of Herodotus (Euterpe 109), that the Greeks in his time also divided the day into twelve parts; Herodotus also adds that the Greeks received this division of time from the Babylonians. – See Visdelou in the Supplement to the "Bibliothèque Orientale," by Herbelot, under the word Fenek.