CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Sailing from Boston; Arrival at St. Jago; Description; Exports; Great Drought; Fogo; Fortifications; Sailing for Brazil; Description of the Coast; Harbour of Rio and Distant Views; the City; Public Garden; Boto Fogo; Botanic Garden; Population; Public Buildings; Senate and House of Representatives[13]
CHAPTER II.
Sailing from Montevideo; Description of the Island of Tristan D’Acunha; St. Pauls; Engano; Arrival at Bencoolen and Description[29]
CHAPTER III.
Sailing from Bencoolen; Arrival at Crokatoa and Forsaken Islands; Scenery; Beautiful Submarine Garden; British Frigate; Arrival at Angier; Sailing from Angier; Bay and City of Manila; Buildings; Population; Provisions; Labour[39]
CHAPTER IV.
Manila, continued; Calzada; Sea-Cucumber; Cigar-Factory at Binondo; Exports; Duties; Weights and Currency; Exchange; Imports; Luzon; Cavité; Hurricane; Lago de Bria; Pina; Indian and Buffalo; Visits to the Alcade[51]
CHAPTER V.
Departure from Manila: Cholera; Cape Bolina; Chinese Vessels; Pilot; Macao; Linting, Village; Whampoa; Jos Houses; Sacrifice; Arrival at Canton; River and Boats; Description of Canton; Great Idol Temple; Legend of the Jos House; Religious Ceremonies; Minor Temples[63]
CHAPTER VI.
Budhism; Tombs of Ancestors; Ceremonies; Origin of Tumuli or Tombs; Sacrifices to Confucius; Pan-Hwny-Pan; Infanticide; Charitable Institutions; Government Gratuities[75]
CHAPTER VII.
Description of Canton; Sacking of the City; Place of Honour; Mourning; Compass; Materials for Buildings; Houses; Principal Offices; Duties and Penalties of Governor; Fires; Governor’s Salary; Division of Power[89]
CHAPTER VIII.
Literary Institutions of China; Examinations; Schools; Teachers; School-room Ceremonies; Colleges; Domestic Commerce; Population of the Provinces; Imports; Exports[109]
CHAPTER IX.
Early Commerce of China; American Trade; Hong-Merchants; Translators; Linguists; Foreign Factories; Style of Living; Manufactories and Trade; Physicians; Egg-Boats; Manufacturers; Mechanics; Population of Canton[123]
CHAPTER X.
Weights and Measures; Money Weights; Commercial Weights; Opium; Opium-Smokers; Mantchou Dynasty[135]
CHAPTER XI.
Death; Ceremonies of Imperial Mourning; Population of the Chinese Empire; Knock-head Ceremony; Beggars; Cat and Dog Market; Dr. B. and the China-man; Barbers; Dress of the Chinese; the Dragon God; Slavery[147]
CHAPTER XII.
Climate of Canton and Macao; Meteorological Averages; Departure from Canton for Macao and Linting; Macao; Population; Superstitious Ceremony[162]
CHAPTER XIII.
Sailing from Linting to Vung-Lam Harbour, in the Province of Fooyan, or Phuyen; Government of Shundai; Assistant Keeper of Vung-lam; Letters to the King of Cochin-China; Catholic Priest; Deputies from Shundai[171]
CHAPTER XIV.
Present of a Feast to the Embassy; Description of Arrangement; Deputies of Hué; Extraordinary Demands—Refusal to Forward Despatches to the Emperor; Letter of the Envoy to the Minister of Commerce; President’s Letter; Unconditional Requirements of the Deputies[189]
CHAPTER XV.
Suspension of Intercourse; Failure of Mission; Departure of Embassy from Vung-Lam Bay; Envoy’s Titles; Mode of Husking Rice; Tombs of the Dead; Fishing Boats; Absence of Priests and Temples; Superstitions; Wild Animals; Mandarins’ House; Mode of taking Leave; Government of Cochin-China; Grades of Rank[213]
CHAPTER XVI.
Passage from Cochin-China to the Gulf of Siam; Arrival at the Mouth of the River Menam; Packnam; Procession to the Government-House; Reception; Governor; Siamese Temples; Interview with the Siamese Foreign Minister; Prima Donna; Feats of Strength; Siamese Females; Fire at Bang-kok; White Elephants; Embalming; Shaving-head Ceremony and Feast; Fox-bats[227]
CHAPTER XVII.
Presentation at the Palace of Bang-kok; Description; Royal Elephant; White Elephants; King of Siam; Great Temple of Guatama; City of Bang-kok; Temple of Wat-chan-tong, and Figure of Budha; Banyan Tree; Fire-feeders; Missionaries[253]
CHAPTER XVIII.
Chinese Junks; Mechanic Arts of Siam; Amusements; Dancing Snakes; Annual Oath of Allegiance; Description of the Capital; Embassy from Cochin-China; Education in Siam; Palace[271]
CHAPTER XIX.
Procession to the Funeral Pile of Wang-na, or Second King; Origin of Budhism in Siam; Sommona Kodom; Atheistical Principles of Budhism; Budhist Commandments; History of Siam; Government; Titles of the King; Officers of the Government[289]
CHAPTER XX.
Ancient Laws of Siam; Legal Oaths; Punishment for Debt; Divorces; Population of Siam; Stature and Complexion of the Siamese; Division of Time; Boundaries and Possessions of Siam; Marine of Siam; Imports; Inland Trade; Currency; Treaty of Commerce; Table of Exports[305]
CHAPTER XXI.
Departure from Bang-kok for Singapore; Singapore; Commerce; Bugis; Maritime Laws; Departure from Singapore; Straits of Gaspar; Island of Java; Population of Java; Clothing; Dying; Stamping; Fruits; Birds[319]
CHAPTER XXII.
Batavia; Burying-Grounds; Servants’ Wages; Academy of Arts; Departure from Batavia; Arrival at Angier; Departure from Angier; Red Sea; Arrival at Mocha; Turkie Ben Al Mas; Palace of Mocha; Currency at Mocha; Transparent Stone; Colour of the Red Sea[336]
CHAPTER XXIII.
Departure from the Red Sea; Cape Rosselgate; Arrival at Muscat; Blind Beggars; Fin-back Whales; Bedouin Arabs; Pearl Islanders; Arab Houses; Currency of Muscat; Naval Force of Muscat[351]
CHAPTER XXIV.
Departure from Muscat; Arrival at Quintangony and Mozambique; Exports from Mozambique; Imports; Departure from Mozambique; Arrival at Table Bay; Cape of Good Hope[365]
CHAPTER XXV.
Algoa Bay; Imports; Population of the Cape of Good Hope; Public Institutions; Newspapers; Departure from the Cape; Arrival at Rio Janeiro; Departure from Rio Janeiro; Arrival at Boston Harbour; Statistical Table[386]
APPENDIX.
Various Documents connected with the Work[403]

EMBASSY TO THE EAST.

CHAPTER I.

SAILING FROM BOSTON—ARRIVAL AT ST. JAGO—DESCRIPTION—EXPORTS—GREAT DROUGHT—FOGO—FORTIFICATIONS—SAILING FOR BRAZIL—DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST—HARBOUR OF RIO AND DISTANT VIEWS—THE CITY—PUBLIC GARDEN—BOTO FOGO—BOTANIC GARDEN—POPULATION—PUBLIC BUILDINGS—SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The Executive having, in the year 1832, resolved on an attempt to place our commercial relations, with some of the native powers of Asia, on a sure and advantageous basis, orders were issued to prepare the United States’ ship Peacock, and the schooner Boxer, for that special object.

The commanders of these vessels were required to visit certain ports on the southeastern coast of Asia, and to make a general report on the condition of our commerce, in relation to its security from piratical, or other hostile acts in the Indian seas. I was honoured by the President of the United States with the station of special agent or envoy to the courts of Cochin China, Siam, and Muscat, for the purpose of effecting treaties which should place our commerce in those countries on an equality with that enjoyed by the most favoured nations.

The Boxer, having orders to proceed on a voyage to Liberia and from thence to join the Peacock off the coast of Brazil, left Boston harbour about the middle of February, 1832; and on the following March we sailed from the same port, in the latter-named vessel, for Rio Janeiro; having on board F. Baylies, Esq., whom we were carrying to that place on his way to Buenos Ayres, to which Republic he had received the appointment of chargé d’affaires from the government of the United States. No circumstance, worthy of record, occurred until the eighth day of April, when at daybreak we discovered the isle of Sal, one of the Cape de Verds, and ere evening closed, St. Nicholas and Bonavista appeared in sight. We lay to on that night under the lee of Mayo and on the following morning cast anchor in the roadstead of Porto Prayo, in the island of St. Jago.

The customary salute of thirteen guns, given to the town, was immediately returned with a corresponding number. Of the weather, considering the season, we had no reason to complain. The thermometer ranged between 40° and 72°, rarely exceeding the one or falling below the other; the lowest point, when we passed St. George’s Bank, being 37°, and the highest, at the time the northeast tradewind first met us, being 71°, in latitude 19°, and longitude 26°. The barometer ranged from 29°, 97′, to 30°, 45′.

The most perfect order and regularity prevailed on board the ship, in every department of duty; each individual having his duties so defined as to prevent confusion among the crew, should any of the seamen be called suddenly to quarters, or to make, take in, or reef sails. Among the acquisitions most useful and instructive, were an excellent library, presented by the government to the officers, and a second selection of books, purchased by the officers and crew, jointly. It was a gratifying sight to behold men who might, otherwise, have been occupied in relating idle stories, singing immoral songs, quarrelling, or creating a mutinous spirit among their fellows, drawing useful information from the great sources of knowledge, and extracting from the page of history, at the same time, a fund of information and a code of morals.