An Authentic Account of the Embassy of the Dutch East-India Company, to the Court of the Emperor of China, in the Years 1974 and 1795/Notes
NOTES
ARRANGED IN
ALPHABETICAL ORDER,
AND WHICH ARE
REFERRED TO IN THE COURSE OF THE WORK.
Bamboo.
IT is indigenous in China, where no less than sixty-three distinct species are known. See Memoires Chinois, vol. ii. of the quarto edition, page 623.
Barrow.
In a work written by Father Martin, a Jesuit, intitled, Description Geographique de la Chine, and qupted by the Histoire Générale de la Chine, par Mailla, redigée par Grasier, in the 13th vol. of the quarto edition, it is said that the Chinese sailing barrows, or waggons, are a fiction. It would require, however an extravagant degree of scepticism to doubt of their existence, after what the Author relates, and the engraved plan of one that is added to the drawings, of which a notice will be found at the end of the Second Volume.
Bean.
The bean of which mention is several times made in this work, and which furnishes the Chinese with a kind of juice or liquor, that they drink like milk, is the Cytisus Cajan of Linnæus, known in several places by the name of Pois Pigeon, and erroneously confounded by Bomare with the Angola pea, which resembles it neither in form, taste nor, colour. (Fr. Ed.)
Beggars.
Beggars are not common in China. Some are seen at Canton.
During the journey of the Embassy, the author met with none, except in the west part of the province of Chang-tong, and in that of Tcheli. They are very unfrequent in the other parts of the empire. (Fr. Ed.)
Bird's-nests.
The following account is given of these bird's-nests in the the Histoire Générale de la Chine, par Mailla, vol. 13, of quarto edition, page 650.
"They come from the rocks upon the coast of Tong-king, Java, Cochinchina, &c. and are the nests built by a species of bird, of which the plumage much resembles that of our swallows. Their manner of building them is also nearly the same, except that the nests of the former are made of little fish, which they contrive to glue together with the spume of the sea. They are detached from the rocks as soon as the young one's take their flight; for it is the nest, and not the bird, that is of value. Whole boats are filled with this commodity, which becomes a considerable branch of commerce in the above countries. The property of this singular sort of aliment is to give a savoury taste to every dish of which it makes a part."
The Chinese are also of opinion that these bird's-nests are a stimulant to love, and in this persuasion, some of them have been known to give as much as an hundred Louis d'ors for twenty-five pounds weight of bird's-nests.
The Author himself sold some at Canton as high as six Louis d'ors the Cati, or twenty ounces French. (Poids de marc.)They are carried to Holland, where there is a great consumption of them, and where they are in high request. (Fr. Ed.)
Button.
A button, placed upon the front of the cap, serves In China to mark all the gradations of power, from the Emperor to the lowest Mandarin. The Emperor alone wears a large pearl as a button. Among the Mandarins, the buttons decrease in value in the following order:
A button of a dark purple stone of a round form, but having six sides or facets.
The same, oblong,
A button of figured coral of a round form, with six sides.
The same, oblong.
A button of plain coral of a round shape, and having six sides.
The same, oblong.
A button of a blue transparent stone of a round form, with six sides.
The same, but of an oblong shape.
A dark blue button of a round form, having six sides.
The same, oblong.
A white transparent button, having six sides, and a round form.
The same, oblong.
An opake white button of a round form, with six sides.
The same, oblong.
A round gilt button.
A round silver button.
Castles.
The Chinese Castles are fortifications of more or less consequence, intended to defend particular points, and surrounded with walls, having embrasures, or loop holes in them, through which the soldiers fire their arrows or musket-shot.
Cati.
The Cati is a Chinese weight equal to sixteen taels or ounces, each of which is equivalent to an ounce and a quarter troy weight. (Poids de marc.)
Catjang. See Bean.
Cedar.
Authors who have written concerning China have ventured to assert, that no such tree exists in the country; but M. Van Braam speaks of them too frequently for any doubt to remain on that head.
The Reader is also referred to the second vol. of the Memoires Chinois, quarto edition, page 529, where it is called the Nammou of the Chinese. (Fr. Ed.)
Chap.
A generical word, which indicates a piece of board or tablets inscribed with the name of any one, or with some title designating him, to which the same honours are paid that he would have a right to expect in person.
A petition or memorial addressed to a tribunal, or to a person invested with any authority whatever, no matter on what subject, and even a common letter, is also a Chap.
Cobido.
Cohang.
The final g must not be pronounced. It is the Company of merchants of Canton, who enjoy the exclusive privilege of trading with Europeans.
Cohangist.
A Merchant, member of the Company of Cohang.
Confucius.
I must observe here, that it is only in conformity with the French pronunciation, that I have put in the body of the Work Kong-fou-tsé, instead of Hong-fou-tse, which M. Van Braam assures me is the true way of spelling the name of the first of all the Chinese philosophers. (Fr. Ed.)
Corea.
A kingdom of the peninsula of Asia, situated between China and Japan, to the north-east of the latter, on which it borders.
The inhabitants of this kingdom, which is tributary to China, are called Coreans. It was there Ambassadors whom the Author found at Pe-king, and with whom he was admitted to several audiences or imperial ceremonies. (Fr. Ed.)
Coulis.
This name, which is borrowed from India, is applied to all sorts of labourers, but particularly to those who carry persons, merchandize, &c. an occupation which is considered as the lowest of all, because it is that of such individuals as can get nothing else to do. Almost all of them go with their head and feet naked.
M. Van Braam thinks that the pay of those employed in the journey of the Embassy from Canton to Pe-king, was about twenty-five, French sous (a shilling English) per day. All authors concur in praising the Chinese Coulis for the address with which they carry the heaviest loads, by means of bamboos, which they lay across their shoulders, and to which the load is suspended by a cord. (Fr. Ed.)
Dragon.
That fabulous animal is at once symbolical and mythological in China. Every thing that emanates from the Emperor bears the figure of a dragon; and it is also put upon all the Imperial edifices, furniture, and ornaments.
The Dragon is venerated throughout China; but the Emperor alone has the right of having them painted, embroidered, or sculptured with five claws or talons. The rest of the nation cannot use figures of dragons with more than four.
Emperor.
It has been said erroneously (Lettres Edifiantes, tome 17, page 69) that he alone has the right of having his palace exactly fronting the south; for every individual turns his house as much as he can to that quarter of the sky, as the most salubrious and convenient exposure. See Memoires Chinois, tome iii. in 4to. page 434. (Fr. Ed.)
It is with the same disregard of truth that it has been said, that the Chinese shut themselves up in their houses when the Emperor goes out, and that those he happens to meet on his road turn their backs with their face to the ground, to escape the penalty of death. It has even been, asserted, that this is the reason why the houses have no windows looking into the streets. These assertions, already contradicted by the Memoires Chinois, tome ii. page 273, are formally, disproved by what the Author relates of the Emperor, while on his way to Yuen-ming-yuen. (Fr. Ed.)
He, of whose hanging himself the Author speaks, was Hoai-tsong, the last Emperor of the Chinese dynasty of Ming. Seeing himself on the point of falling into the hands of the Manchoo Tartars, he hung himself with his own girdle, within the walls of the Imperial palace, after having given his daughter a sabre wound, of which Duhalde (vol. i. page 478, of the octavo edition) says she died; but from which the Histoire Générale de la Chine, par Mailla, vol. x. octavo edition, page 492, affirms that she recovered. At the time of this event, which took place in 1644, the unfortunate monarch was thirty-six years of age. (Fr. Ed.)
Examination of Students.
This relates to the young men who devote themselves to the study of the sciences. There are generally four thousand in the Academy, or Gymnasium, at Canton.
The Chinese attach the highest importance to the examinations they undergo, because those who get through them successfully are destined to fill the different posts in the Administration, even the most eminent.
Very curious details concerning these examinations, and the attendant formalities, are to be found in the Lettres Edifiantes, page 125. (Fr. Ed.)
Fou-yuen.
This is the governor of a great city, and of a portion of territory forming the district round. Four of the provinces of China have Fou-yuens for their immediate Chiefs.
Gate.
Those which mark the separation of the provinces, and of which the author mentions one in the course of the work, are great and heavy gates of wood, with their hinges let into the rock. They are carefully guarded, and shut during the night.
Gongom.
The Gongom is a copper bason suspended by a cord, and struck with a very large stick. This instrument, which is very sonorous, has the sound of a small or large bell, according as it is of greater or smaller size.
The word Gongom is not Chinese; for it is used in Africa to signify a large drum, which is also called Tamtam in other African countries.
The Chinese word for Gongom Is Lo. In the Mémoires Chinois, vol. ii. of the quarto edition, is a very curious description of the manner of making it, given by the learned M. Amiot, who says that it is composed of a mixture of copper, tin, and bismuth, in the proportion of ten parts of copper, three of tin, and one of bismuth. (Fr. Ed.)
Hou-pou.
Is the principal officer of the customs, and receiver-general of the taxes. It is merely an office, and not a distinct rank among the Mandarins; for a Mandarin with a white button, and even with a clear blue button, may be equally appointed Hou-pou.
Jos.
A Chinese generical word, signifying Idol.
Lamas. See Thibet.
League.
As often as the word league occurs in this work, it must be understood as a league of 25 to the degree, and equal to 2,282 toises.
It must also be observed that the distances, mentioned in those parts of the journey performed by water, are those actually travelled, in following the course of the rivers and canals and not the positive distance from one place to another.
Lema Islands.
Li.
A Chinese Itinerary measure. 250 Li make a degree of latitude. Now, as a degree of latitude is estimated at 25 leagues of 2,280 toises each, it is equivalent to 57,050 toises. A li is consequently equal 228⅓ toises. The toise is six French feet. (Fr. Ed.)
Lingua.
This term is Portuguese.
Mahometans.
We find in the Mémoires Chinois, tom. 5, in 4to. page 24, that Gengis-kan introduced Mahometans into China, and that about 1650, the Emperor Chun-chy drove out those who were still in possession of the chair of mathematics.
As to the motive of the expulsion of the Mahometans from China in 1784, which agrees with that mentioned by the author, when speaking of the Mosque, which he found at Hong-tcheou-fou, a very circumstantial account of it is given in a letter from M. Aniot, a Missionary, dated the 15th of November, 1784, and also contained in the Mémoires Chinois, tom 11, in 4to. page 590. (Fr. Ed.)
Manchoo. See Tartars.
Measure.
As often as measures are not specially designated, they are French. (Fr. Ed.)
Miao.
A general term for temples dedicated to idols. They are very considerable buildings in China, and some of them cost immense sums. See Religion. (Fr. Ed.)
Money. See Tael.
Monguls. See Tartars.
Monqua.
Or, according to the pronunciation, Moncoua, was the Chief of the Company of Cohang, at the time of which the author is speaking. (Fr. Ed.)
Namheuyen.
This is a Mandarin of Justice, whose special business it is to maintain the police, and preserve order among the inhabitants.
Paint.
It appears in the instructions of the Emperor Kang-hi to his sons, given in the Mémoires Chinois, quarto edition, vol. ix. page 226, that under the preceding dynasty, the ceruss and cinnabar consumed by the servant-girls belonging to the palace, cost ten millions of livres. (Fr. Ed.)
Palanquin.
It is, properly speaking, an European sedan-chair, except that the poles are longer, more elastic, and borne upon the shoulders. There are some which are open, and others that are more or less richly painted, according to the uses, and the persons, for which they are intended. The poles or shafts are so contrived, that the number of bearers may be increased; rather out of luxury, and to announce high rank, than for any purpose of real utility. From two to eight porters are generally employed; but the Emperor has no less than thirty-two. (Fr. Ed.)
Peacock's Feather.
In the Imperial palace, there are Mandarins wearing this feather, who may be compared to the Valets-de-Chambre of European Princes.
There is also a kind of Mandarins who wear a long black feather; but these two kinds of Mandarins in waiting do not wear their feathers out of the palace, nor even when off duty; while the Mandarins of the first rank never lay theirs aside.
Pe-king. See Chun-ting-fou. See also Temperature.
At Pe-king, the north part, in which stands the Imperial palace, is distinguished by the appellation of the Tartar City; and all the south quarter, which properly speaking is only the suburbs of Pe-king, is called the Chinese City.
The proper name of this city is Chun-ting-fou; the word Pe-king, which signifies the Northern Court, being only an epithet. But the Europeans have adopted the latter word, because more easy to pronounce.
Picol.
A picol is equal to a hundred Catis, or a hundred and twenty-five French pounds, troy-weight (poids de marc). (Fr. Ed.)
Portugueze.
The reader must not be surprised In this work, at several words derived from the Portugueze, since Portugueze and English are the habitual and commercial tongues of foreigners at Canton. (Fr. Ed.)
Prostitutes.
On the river of Canton there are boats with women of pleasure in them. With these women the Chinese of the town sometimes pass three or four days together.
They are trained up by other women, who carry on this shameful traffic; and are so instructed as to be ignorant of nothing lascivious or immodest. As the Chinese experience no tenderness from their wives, they are fond of this fort of immorality.
Among these girls there are some who at the age of ten years are already withered and worn out by the excess of their complaisance.
Several of them sometimes join the execution of what they have been taught, or what they have devised to inflame the imagination of their admirers. (Fr. Ed.)
Red Candles.
They are made of a kind of tallow extracted from a tree, and are coated with tallow of a harder kind, and afterwards painted red. The wick of all the Chinese candles is of bamboo.
Regency.
The word Regency is repeatedly used in this work to signify government or administration; as the regency of Batavia, the regency of Macao, and even the regency of Canton, that is, the administration of the province of Quang-tong, intrusted to the Tsong-tou, the Pou-yuen, and the Hou-pou, who all reside in the city of Canton. (Fr. Ed.)
Religion.
The second sort of religion, adopted long after the first, and consequently when the Chinese were already embodied into a regular nation, is Idolatry, and Idolatry carried to such a length, that every one is free to make Gods according to his fancy, so that every head of a family has some of his own creation.
This plurality of Gods naturally precludes all idea of a particular form of worship bringing together the members of certain sects. There are no external practices of devotion among the Chinese, if we except the male and female Bonzes.
There are, however, principal divinities who are very generally revered, and to whom all agree in ascribing a power over some particular thing. The Chinese sometimes go to the temples of these divinities to offer them homage; and to this worship the women are not altogether strangers, though they repair to the pagodas with great precautions to avoid being seen; but this has nothing in common, nor comparable with the usage, which in certain religions bring together all the individuals who profess it in one common temple. The Bonzes alone assemble to pray.
But notwithstanding the almost universal prevalence of idolatry, and notwithstanding its being countenanced by the Emperor himself, it is worthy of remark that he never goes to adore an idol, but contents himself with sending Mandarins to do so in his stead.
He professes publickly no other religion than that of the Almighty, God of Heaven and of Earth; nor does he offer sacrifices to any but that Being superior to all others, to the manes of his ancestors, and to the spirit of Confucius.
There are temples or Miaos where obscene Idols receive a tribute of respect and devotion from the Chinese, who generally blush at things which the most severe modesty does not blame in other countries; but superstition throws as it were a veil over these images, which prevents Chinese modesty from being here put to the blush. Samsou.
A Chinese liquor drawn from rice by distillation. The common Samsou has a very disagreeable taste, but that of the court is on the contrary very pleasant.
Salutes.
The salutes sited by the Chinese, in honour either of the Embassy, or Ambassador, consisted in discharging three small pieces of cannon, or rather pedereros, stuck in the ground with their muzzles upwards.
Sampane.
A Chinese boat, which carries from five to eight hundred weight. They are used at Vampou to load and unload the European ships, which find it impossible to get beyond that roadsted into the river of Canton, on account of the shallowness of the latter.
Sapantin.
The Portuguese name for a light vessel, built for going fast, either with oars or sails, and employed, for that reason, as advice boats between Canton and Macao. These vessels also go out to sea.
Tael.
A weight of gold or silver, equivalent to an ounce and a quarter French, or in money to about seven livres ten sous. In China a hundred Spanish dollars are reckoned worth seventy-two taels.
The Chinese have no pieces of money but sepeccas of copper.
Tartars.
The Manchoo Tartars are those who inhabit Chinese Eastern Tartary. Expelled from China in 1368, with the Monguls who had admitted them, they had their own chiefs under the name of Kans till 1644; but the Kan of Ningouta, then become Emperor of China, and head of the present dynasty, which consequently springs from a Manchoo Tartar, subjected them all.
The Mongul Tartars, who conquered China in 1280, and who were driven out in 1280, inhabit Chinese Western Tartary. They are governed by Kans, or princes, who are all subject to the Emperor of China, as Grand Kan of the Tartars, (Fr. Ed.)
Temperature.
I beg the reader here to pardon my entering into a comparison of temperatures.
Pe-king is in 39 degrees 55 minutes north latitude, and Philadelphia in 39 degrees 56, so that they may be said to be under the same parallel.
The winter is exceedingly cold and severe at Pe-king; and the nature of the winter at Philadelphia is the same.
The winter begins earlier at Pe-king than at Philadelphia, but it is over equally late at both places,
At Pe-king the north wind is inexpressibly piercing and prevalent.
In the city of Philadelphia the same may be said of the northwest.
At Pe-king, water freezes before Reaumur's thermometer has fallen to the freezing point, a phenomenon also observed at Philadelphia.
There is however in general less intensity, and still less duration in the cold at Philadelphia, than at Pe-king; since in the former city there are pretty frequently partial thaws, which soften the surface of the ice (for it doe's not melt till at a degree of heat which would melt it in France.)
As to the summer it is so hot at Pe-king that Reaumur's thermometer is often at 32 degrees above 0 (140s Fahrenheit.)In 1743 the heat was so excessive, that increasing from the 15th of July to the 25th, it raised the thermometer, that last day, to 35 degrees and a half (111⅞ of Fahrenheit). There died within that time at Pe-king eleven thousand four hundred persons, although refreshments were distributed in the streets.
In 1760 the heat killed eight thousand persons in less than two months.
Philadelphia is without doubt far from experiencing such a fatal degree of heat; but the thermometer often rises as high as 28 degrees of Reaumur (95 of Fahrenheit). In the summer the days are burning hot; they are distressing; and the nights are almost as hot as the day.
Another resemblance between the two places I am speaking of, is the sudden change in the state of the atmosphere — a change which sometimes amounts to ten or twelve degrees of Reaumur, in less than twenty-four hours, and frequently to five or six degrees in a very few hours. This variation is most frequently produced at Philadelphia by the north-west wind.
The barometer also undergoes very sudden changes at Philadelphia. I have sometimes observed there from 6 to 7 lines difference in less than as many hours.
Pe-king is then at once colder and hotter than Philadelphia; but can the opinion adopted by the inhabitants of the latter city, concerning the favourable alteration that is to take place in both seasons, be considered as well founded, after what we know of Pe-king, which notwithstanding the clearing of the land some thousand years back, still remains the same?
I am aware that it may be said that Naples and Madrid, which are nearly under the same parallel of latitude as Pe-king and Philadelphia, enjoy notwithstanding a very different temperature from that of those two cities. But I believe that we may conclude from that very circumstance, that the clearing of the land, from which alone a change of climate seems to be expected in America, is not the only cause that operates in producing a particular temperature; and in spite of all that is said of the favourable alteration that has taken place in the last 60 years, I doubt whether that opinion, though pretty generally received, deserves entire confidence. Nothing is more subject to error than judgments formed concerning the state of the atmosphere, when they are only founded upon our sensations. (Fr. Ed.)
Thibet.
A kingdom tributary to China, and bordering upon it to the westward. The priests are there called Lamas, and there the Grand or Dalai-Lama has his residence. (Fr. Ed.)
Tides.
Father Martin, in his geographical description of China, tom. 8, in folio, du Recueil des Voyages de Thevenot, page 141, speaks of the movement of the tide at Hong-tcheou-fou mentioned by M. Van Braam. He even pretends that in the month of October it is accompanied by very extraordinary circumstances.
Trees.
The author's speaking of the made of trees on the 27th of November, is by no means surprizing, when it is considered that he was still in the province of Quang-tong, where the forest trees never lose their leaves, but only change them in the spring, the winter being there scarcely perceptible.
The fruit trees, on the contrary, shed their leaves in the months of September and October.
Tsong-tou.
Is, properly speaking, a Vice-roy governing a province. This employ is the most elevated that can be held by a Mandarin of the first rank, who is not officially resident at Court. Only eight of the fifteen provinces of China are governed by Tsong-tous, three of whom have two provinces subject to their administration. The four remaining are superintended by Fou-yuens.
The authority of a Tsong-tou is very great. He is never addressed without marks of the most profound respect: no Chinese, unless a Mandarin, is ever allowed even to speak to him but on his knees. The title given him by his countrymen in addressing him is most suitably translated by that of Highness.
Wall. (Great)
Which is the boundary of China towards Tartary.
The annals of China say it was begun under one Prince, three hundred and three years before the Christian æra; that it was then continued by two others; that a fourth united these first three portions; and that it was completed more than two hundred years after. See Mémoires Chinois, tm. 2, in 4to. p. 461.
The Chinese call the great wall Ouan-li-tchang- tching, that is, the great wall of ten thousend li.
It does not, however, with all its windings and turnings comprise more than five hundred leagues. It is twenty or twenty-five feet high, and broad enough in some places for six horses to pass abreast. In some parts it is carried over mountains almost inaccessible, and is in one place, according to Father Verbiest, eight hundred and sixty-four toises above the level of the sea. In some places it is also carried over rivers upon arches.
Since the Tartars subdued China, some few passages are alone kept in repair. The rest is falling to ruins.
See Histoire Générale de la Chine, par Mailla, tom. 2, in 4to. page 373. (Fr. Ed.)
Yellow.
Is the colour set apart for the Imperial Family in China.
All the princes of the blood, descended in a right line from the founder of the dynasty, wear a yellow girdle. In the collateral branches, the girdle is orange-colour.There is no fear of any other individual wearing that colour, because in the Empire of China, the dress of every one is fixed by law, from the Emperor, to the very lowest classes.
There are sometimes articles of dress in which yellow appears, although they do not belong to Members of the Imperial Family. Such are the robes given to celebrated warriors. But those vestments have something in their form which exhibits a striking difference, at the same time that the yellow colour excites the idea of a great favour conferred". (Fr. Ed.)
Y-tay-yen.
This is a Court Mandarin, and member of the great tribunal for the administration of public affairs.