Narrative of a Recent Imprisonment in China after the Wreck of the Kite

by John Lee Scott

On being taken out of the boat, a long bamboo was passed between the bars of my cage, and two men, placing the ends on their shoulders, lifted it off the ground; and in this manner I was carried through an immense crowd, the bearers sometimes stopping to rest, and placing my cage on the ground, upon which the people gathered round and began to torment me, as they had done in former cases. At length, after passing through a great many streets, some of them very gay, we arrived at an open space, at the end of which were large folding gates; through these I passed, and after going up one or two passages, I found myself in a large hall. It was a large plain room, with a balustrade running down each side, behind which were several rough horses, saddled and bridled. At the end opposite the door was a large red silk canopy, under which was a small table, covered with a green cloth, and on it several metal plates and vases, dedicated to the manes of the ancestors of the person to whom the house belonged.[5] Many of the prisoners in their cages had arrived before me, and the rest followed in due time. The Chinese ranged us in our cages in two lines, one on each side of the hall; and at the end of each line they placed one of the guns, with its muzzle towards us. When we were thus arranged, like beasts in a show, many well and richly-dressed people came to look at us; and none but the better sort seemed to be admitted, for, with the exception of the soldiers, there were no ragged people in the place. Our visitors were mostly dressed in fine light silks, beautifully worked with flowers and figures of different descriptions. All of them had fans, some of them prettily painted, and others plain. One or two of the men had enamelled watches, which they wore hanging to their girdles by a gold chain. We were treated pretty well by them, as they gave us fruit and cakes, and sent water to those who asked for it.

We did not remain long in this hall, for our bearers again made their appearance, and mine, shouldering the cage, marched off, and I was once more exposed to the mercies of the mob; the soldiers, our guard, never making the slightest attempt to keep the people off. Fortunately for me I had had my hair cut close only a few days before we were wrecked, so that there was little or nothing to lay hold of; for the people on one side would pull my hair to make me look their way, and those on the other side would instantly pull again, to make me look round at them; and I, being ironed, hands, feet, and neck, could not offer the least resistance, but was obliged to sit very patiently, or, in other words, to grin and bear it.

Heartily glad was I, when again taken up and walked off with. After passing through many streets, I arrived at a mandarin's house, and was placed with the other prisoners in a small court. Some empty cages were standing about, larger than the one I was in, and with small yellow flags flying on their tops.

In a short time some officers came in, and opening the lid of my cage, lifted me out, and led me out of this court into a larger one. To my great delight I here saw Twizell, and the three of the crew that had been missing, sitting in one corner, under a tree. I could not stop and speak to them, my guides hurrying me on. We scarcely recognized one another, so much were we altered.

I walked on for a short time, meditating on the past events, and wondering what my fate would be, when, raising my eyes from the ground, to my astonishment I perceived a man walking before me, heavily ironed, and whom I had never seen before. He was evidently an Englishman, and seemed almost in a worse condition than myself. When he heard me clanking after him, he turned round and spoke a few words, expressing his sorrow at seeing any one else in such a situation. I asked him who he was, and how he came there; but before he had time to answer, he was led down one passage, and I along another; so I could neither learn who he was, nor where or how he had been taken.

On emerging from the passage, I found myself in a small paved court, and in the presence of several mandarins. In the centre of this court an old Chinaman was kneeling, fettered as I was; there was no guard over him, and nobody seemed to take the least notice of him, at least not whilst I was there.

To my surprise, one of the mandarins addressed me in English; there was also an interpreter present, a native of Macao, and a prisoner like myself, having his legs in irons.[6] After they had asked me several questions concerning the Kite, where we had been, whither we were going, and how we were lost, I was sent away, and the other prisoners were brought up and interrogated in the same manner. They asked all of us our names and ages, wrote our names on a strip of cotton, and sewed it to the backs of our jackets. We were then all sent away: the Chinese had brought all the cages from the outer to the inner yard, round which they had ranged them.

I now had an opportunity of speaking to Twizell and the others who had run away, and was sorry to hear that two of them (marines) had received several spear wounds, and that all four had been severely bambooed when taken. They had travelled by land all the way from the coast, in the cages, having been put into them the day after we were all captured, and had been two days sooner in their cages than our party.