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

by John Lee Scott

The compradore now made his appearance, and produced several letters, which he handed to me to read: on opening them, I found that they came from Chusan, with various articles of clothing, and other comforts for Lieut. Douglas and Captain Anstruther, clothes of all sorts for Mrs. Noble, and a quantity for the child which was drowned; but nothing whatever arrived for the crew; although Lieut. Douglas had written for necessary clothes for us, as well as for himself. I read the letters over to the compradore, making him understand, as well as I could, the nature of the contents, and he repeated them to the mandarins, whose official took them down in Chinese. When we had finished reading the letters, Mrs. Noble, Lieut. Douglas, Capt. Anstruther, and the mate, were brought in, and their letters given to them; they were also permitted to open their stores. We were now allowed to converse together for a short time. Until now, I had not been able to speak to Mrs. Noble since the wreck. The mandarins soon called us up, and told us, by the interpreter, that all was peace, and that in six days we should be sent down to Chusan; but, after giving us this agreeable intelligence, they inquired if we had any clothes for the cold weather, which would soon come on. I immediately said, "If we are going so soon to Chusan, we shall not require any of your clothes." They sent out, notwithstanding, and soon after a basket was brought in, containing our future raiment, which the mandarins distributed amongst our party. They gave to each man a large loose coat, and a pair of leggings, made of dungaree, and lined with cotton.

They were very warm and well calculated to keep out the cold, but very clumsy and heavy; still they were not to be refused, and indeed had it not been for this kindness of the mandarins, we should have been exposed, almost naked, to the approaching inclement season. But this anxiety to provide us with clothing for the cold weather, made me doubt very much whether six days, or even six weeks, would find us on our way to Chusan. As it turned out, it was exactly sixteen weeks from that day before we were released.

After another consultation amongst the mandarins, we were all called up again, and the irons taken off our legs, beginning with Mrs. Noble. This was a great relief, as our legs were quite stiff with their long confinement, and in most cases the iron had worked into our flesh. Whilst they were being taken off, the compradore desired us to tell the Lascars, who had been left behind in the prison, that if they made no "bobberee," their irons would be taken off also.[11]

Being once more unfettered, we were again separated from Lieut. Douglas and his party, and led away to another room, the ceiling of which seemed very much inclined to come down on our heads. There was a table here, and a couch. I had no sooner taken my seat on the latter, than a well-dressed Chinese put writing materials before me, red paper, Indian ink, and a small brush. He made signs for me to write, salaaming low at the same time; I immediately complied with his request, and wrote a few lines for him. I had no sooner done this, and returned his brush, than he produced a handful of pice, and presented them to me; my finances being very low indeed, this donation was not to be rejected; I therefore accepted them, and found he had given me between fifty and sixty pice, (about four pence in our money,)—very good pay, I thought, for writing half a dozen lines.

In this room refreshments were brought for us; hard-boiled eggs, fowls and pork cut into small pieces, and two sorts of cakes, one being plain, with small seeds on the top; the other very like dumplings, with minced pork inside. In fact, there was as much as we could eat, and all was good of the kind; at any rate, we completely demolished the good things, and then we returned to our sedans, and were carried back to our rooms. Here we found the Lascars anxiously awaiting our return; we told them that the mandarins said we were going to Chusan in six days, which good news raised their spirits very much, and they began to abuse the Chinese, especially the female part of the community, for having imprisoned them at all. The next day our jailer brought us shoes and stockings of Chinese manufacture, and made signs that the Lascars' clothes were being made, and would very soon be ready.

In the course of the same day, my friend of the previous night came and requested me to write something more for him; I of course consented, and he then produced some plain white fans; I wrote a few lines upon them, and he seemed much pleased with my performance; Wombwell also wrote on one for him. In return, he gave us two a basket full of sweet cakes, which were very acceptable; he came to see us several times afterwards, and never failed to bring some token of his gratitude with him.

Time wore away: the six days went by, and we were not released; some said they were perhaps waiting till the Lascars' jackets were ready, but they were brought, and we were still kept prisoners.

With the new clothes came also some of those horrid creatures by which we had been tormented; these coming fresh from the tailors' hands, made us observe our guards a little more closely, and we could plainly discern that they were swarming with vermin. We were glad to find that what we had at first set down to our own dirt and unwholesomeness, was more attributable to the dirt and laziness of our jailers and other people. Even the walls had their inhabitants, for they fell down out of the rafters upon us.

Days and weeks passed on, and we gave up all hopes of a speedy release, expecting nothing less than an imprisonment of a year or two; but I cannot say that I was now much troubled with the fear of losing my head. During this time we were sometimes amused with a fight in the yard, between two of the soldiers—a most unpleasant kind of combat, for they seized hold of each other's tails with one hand, and dragging the head down almost to the ground, clawed and scratched with the other hand, till the one with the weakest tail rolled over and gave in; we always tried to get out and see fair play, but the soldiers mustered too strong at these times. Sometimes, again, a drunken soldier would make his appearance, and coming to the window afford us a little amusement, for, getting hold of his tail, we made it fast to the grating, and then left him to get loose as he could; generally one of his comrades, attracted by his bellowing, came and released him; all this was not very edifying employment, but it served to pass the time, which, having no books or employment, hung very heavily on our hands.

The weather now changed, and the winter set in; we were glad to put on our thick clothes, which we found very comfortable, except that they afforded a great harbour to the vermin: this was, however, by this time only a secondary consideration, as the cold weather had rendered them very torpid, and they did not bite so hard. We had only two meals a day, morning and evening, and these being soon settled, and not being allowed anything in the middle of the day, we made bags of our old clothes, and at breakfast-time filled them with rice, when the servants were out of the room, and stowed them away for a mid-day meal. The servants discovered it once or twice, but we generally managed to secrete some rice from our breakfast.