whenever it is possible; and when they have entered a harbour, they have no wish to depart till all they have is wasted, although their families at home may be in the utmost want and distress. Their curses and imprecations are most horrible, their language most filthy and obscene; yet they never condemn themselves to eternal destruction. A person who has lived among these men, would be best qualified to give a description of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as to appreciate the blessings of Christianity; which, even in its most degenerate state, proves a greater check on human depravity, than the best-arranged maxims of men.
The whole coast of China is very well known to the Chinese themselves. As their whole navigation is only coasting, they discover, at a great distance, promontories and islands, and are seldom wrong in their conjectures. They have a Directory; which, being the result of centuries of experience, is pretty correct, in pointing out the shoals, the entrances of harbours, rocks, &c. As they keep no dead reckoning, nor take observations, they judge of the distance they have made by the promontories they have passed. They reckon by divisions, ten of which are about equal to a degree. Their compass differs materially from that of Europeans. It has several concentric circles; one is divided into four, and another into eight parts, somewhat similar to our divisions of the compass; a third is divided into twenty-four parts, in conformity to the horary divisin of twenty-four hours, which are distinguished by the same number of characters or signs: according to these divisions, and with these signs, the courses are marked in their directory, and the vessel steered.
China has, for centuries, presented to the Romanists a great sphere for action. Latterly, the individuals belonging to the mission, have not been so eminent for talents as their predecessors, and their influence
