Temple—Cages—Women—Dinner—Hot water—Taken down a river—City—Guns—Hall of Ancestors—Twizell and the missing party—English prisoner—Corporal of marines—Jail—Other Lascars—Watch.
In the morning, when I awoke, I found I was in a temple; outside the railing was a large hall; on each side, rows of seats were ranged, with a broad space in the centre; the sides of the building were quite plain, and so also was the roof. Inside the railing was a green silk canopy, under which were several images, handsomely dressed in different coloured silks. Standing against the walls were four more figures the size of life, one painted entirely black, another red, and the other two variegated; and all armed with some extraordinary instruments of warfare. These I suppose represented their gods, and were tolerably well done, but not to be compared to others I afterwards saw. The whole building was so destitute of any ornaments, that, had it not been for the images, the idea of it being a jos-house would not have struck me.
Breakfast was brought in early, consisting of sweet cakes and tea. When we had finished, two wooden cages were brought; the Chinese lifted one of our men into each, and carried them outside the gate, to be looked at by the common people; whilst the gentlemen, and better class, with their families, were admitted about two dozen at a time, to look at us who remained inside: sometimes we were visited by a party consisting entirely of women; they were a remarkably plain set, their pretensions to beauty, in their own eyes, appearing to lie in having the face painted red and white, and the feet distorted into a hoof-like shape. After keeping those in the cages, outside for about two hours, they were brought in, and two fresh ones were taken out. Those who came in, told us that the bodies of our two poor fellows, who had been killed the day before, were lying outside on the grass, with the fetters still on. Fortunately it soon began to rain heavily, when the other two were brought in, and the crowd gradually dispersed.
About noon we had our dinner; one basin full of rice and vegetables, and cakes and tea, as before; our jailers would never give us plain water, but whenever we asked for anything to drink, brought us weak tea. For supper we had cakes and tea again, and, after this last meal, lay down on our straw for the night.
The next day was passed in a similar manner; towards evening there was a great mustering of cages in the hall; little did I think for what purpose they were intended. After the Chinese had ranged these horrible things in the open space in the centre, they made us all get into them, one into each. I forgot to say that before we were put into our cages, our jailers gave us each a loose jacket and a pair of trousers, besides as many cakes as we could carry. In these wooden contrivances—which were not much unlike what I imagine Cardinal Balue's machines to have been, only ours were wooden and portable—we had neither room to stand, sit, nor lie, so that we were obliged to place ourselves in a dreadfully cramped position. Some few of the cages had a hole cut in the lid, large enough to allow the top of the head to pass out: into one of these I was fortunate enough to get; but those who were not so lucky, had the misery of sitting with their heads on one side, to add to their other discomforts. Afterwards I was put into one without a hole, and miserable was my position.
When we were all stowed in our separate cages, we were carried down to the side of the canal, and placed in boats, two cages in each boat, attended by a mandarin officer and several soldiers. My companion was a marine, one who had come ashore in the junk with Webb and Wombwell, and was still suffering from the effects of his beating, besides being almost dead with dysentery. We lay alongside the quay till nearly midnight, the soldiers and other people constantly running backwards and forwards on shore, with torches and gongs, shouting and making a great noise. About midnight we shoved off, and started down the canal; but as the junk was covered over, and it was very dark, I could see nothing of the country.
We soon appeared to be in a wider stream, as they made sail on the boat, and we went along at a rapid rate. In the morning I found that we had got out of the canal, and were in a river, going down with wind and tide. At any other time I should have enjoyed myself very much, but at present my future prospects were too far from agreeable, to allow of anything approaching to enjoyment.
The banks of the river appeared to be well cultivated; here and there some military stations might be seen, distinguished from the other houses by their flag-staffs. Many junks were moored alongside the bank, some very large, one in particular, whose long streamers flew gaily out in the breeze.
We stopped at a town on the left bank, where the soldiers got some firewood, and immediately set to work to prepare breakfast; rice, and some compounds of I know not what, for themselves, and sweet cakes and tea for me and my companion; but he was too ill to eat, and was constantly craving for water, which was never denied him. On our arrival at this town, the people crowded into our boat, nearly capsizing her; and to my surprise our guards made no attempt to keep them out, but on the contrary rather encouraged them. They had not long to satisfy their curiosity, for as soon as the soldiers had procured all they wanted, the boat was shoved off, and they hoisted the sail again. We continued our way down the stream till we arrived at another large town on the left bank. Here we stopped again, and I could soon see we were to be disembarked. The people crowded to see us as usual, but one of the soldiers, throwing part of the sail over the tops of our cages, kept watch over us, and would allow no one to molest us.
On the sail being removed, that we might be taken out of the boat, the first thing that met my eye was one of our guns, with the carriage belonging to it; soon after I saw another gun and its carriage. To enable the Chinese to get these guns, the tide must have fallen considerably after we left the wreck. The sight of these guns, as may be imagined, caused me anything but pleasurable sensations, as they proved beyond a doubt to our captors, that we had come to their coast with warlike intentions; and though they would perhaps be ashamed to kill a few shipwrecked merchant sailors, they might not hesitate to do so, if they could be certain that we had been concerned in the recent warfare, and these guns were strong evidence against us.