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.
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
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.