On the 29th we anchored off the second bar, and found lying here the Hon. Company's Ship Canning, and two or three other Company's ships; on the 30th weighed and made sail, but there not being water enough, removed back to our old station. On the following day we crossed Whampo. After the cargo was discharged I went up to Canton.
Canton is a large and populous city, situated in one of the first rivers in the empire. It is the capital of the province of Quan-tong, and the centre of the European trade in that country. The streets are long and straight, paved with flag stones, and adorned with lofty arches. The houses are remarkably neat, but consist only of one story, and they have no windows to the streets. The covered market place is full of shops. The inhabitants are estimated at about 1,000,000; many of whom reside in barks, which touch one another, form a kind of floating city, and are so arranged as to form streets. Each bark lodges a family and their grand children, who have no other dwelling. At break of day all the people who inhabit them depart to fish or to cultivate their rice.
The frugal and laborious manner in which the great live, the little attention which is paid to the vain and ridiculous prejudice of marrying below rank; the ancient policy of giving distinction to men and not to families, by attaching nobility only to employments and talents, without suffering it to be hereditary; and the decorum observed in public, are admirable traits in the Chinese character.
There is little distinction in the dress of men and women; rank and dignity are only distinguished by the ornaments they wear, and they dare not presume to wear any thing without proper authority, without being severely chastised for it. Their dress in general consists of a long vest, which reaches to the ground, one part of it, on the left side, folds over the other, and is fastened to the right by four or five small gold or silver buttons placed at a little distance from one another. The sleeves are wide towards the shoulder, and grow narrow towards the wrist—they terminate in the form of a horse-shoe—round their middle they wear a large girdle of silk, the ends of which hang down to their knees; from this girdle is suspended a sheath, containing a knife, and over all they wear a loose jacket down to the middle, with loose short sleeves, generally lined with fur, and under all they wear a kind of net to prevent it from chafing. The general colour of these dresses is black or blue.
Their religion is idolatry, their principal idol is Fong Chon, and they are very superstitious, believing in magic and invocation of spirits, and the art of foretelling events by divination.
While receiving our cargo on board, a Chinaman belonging to one of the craft, stole a box of tea, but, by the exertion of our officers, the culprit was taken and immediately sent on shore to Dane's Island to the mandarine. He was found guilty of the crime, and his punishment three dozen blows with the bastinado. The instrument of correction, called pan-tsee, is a bamboo a little flattened, broad at the bottom, and polished at the upper extremity, in order to manage it more easily with the hand.
The culprit, after the mandarin has given the signal for punishment, is seized and stretched out with his belly flat on the ground, his breeches are pulled down to his heels, and on the mandarine throwing down a stick, of which he has a number by him, one of the officers in attendance uses the pan-tsee, and gives him five severe blows, which are succeeded by several others till the number is complete. When it is over, the criminal must throw himself on his knees, incline his body three times to the earth, and thank his judge for the trouble he has taken in his correction.
The mandarins are of two classes, viz.; those of letters, and the inferior sort are styled mandarins of arms. The latter class do not enjoy the same consideration as the former.
The Chinese in general are much addicted to commit depredations on the pockets, or, in fact, on any unguarded property. After all our cargo was received on board, I went in company with two midshipmen, Mr. C—— and Mr. R——, on Dane's Island. After we landed some Chinese came and decoyed us to their village, which was at the back of a number of hills and out of sight of the shipping, under a promise that they would let us have some of their country fruit, such as they sent us on board. The length of time that some of them were absent, and the sun going down fast, made us rather doubt the sincerity of their intentions; those that were with us begged that we would stop till the sun was down, but we began to be afraid of our lives. When the men saw that we were determined to wait no longer, they gave a dreadful whoop, which was answered by others stationed on the hills; they immediately seized hold of us and rifled our pockets.
On March 25th we sailed down to Macao, and on the following day we took our departure, and on the 24th of April arrived at Anjier point, and is a settlement belonging to the Dutch; it lies to the east of Batavia. The houses are generally built of bamboo; the inhabitants are of various casts, Pagans, Mahometans, and Chinese. The barbarism of the Batta Tribes is horrible, for they kill and eat their criminals or prisoners of war, or even sacrifice their own relations when aged and infirm, not so much with a view to gratify their appetites, as to perform a pious ceremony. Thus, when a man becomes infirm and weary of the world, he is said to invite his own children to eat him when salt and limes are cheapest. He then ascends a tree, round which his friends and offspring assemble, and as they shake the tree they join in a funeral dirge, the import of which is, the season is come, the fruit is ripe, and it must descend. The victim descends, and those that are nearest deprive him of life, and devour his remains in a solemn banquet.