The Mission to Siam, and Hué the Capital of Cochin China, in the Years 1821-2. Finlayson George

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СКАЧАТЬ assumed a tone of insolence and presumption too marked and too humiliating to be quietly submitted to by a commander in his majesty’s navy. This led to representations on the part of Captain Richardson, which were as bold as they were displeasing to the Chinese. At length the Chinese in a tumultuous manner made a wanton and unprovoked attack upon his men on shore in their boat unarmed, drove them into the sea, and wounded a considerable number of them. The first lieutenant seeing the disturbance from the ship, immediately beat to arms, fired grape shot amongst the Chinese, and sent armed boats to the assistance of the men in the water; on the approach of which the Chinese speedily dispersed. The lieutenant thought that the Chinese were beyond the reach of the shot. It appears, however, that at least five persons were killed, and several wounded.

      This affair was no sooner made known to the Chinese in authority, than they put an immediate stop to the trade with the English, and demanded from the frigate a number of men equal to that of the Chinese who had been killed.

      The captain resisted the proposal with indignation, and in his turn demanded of them justice and an apology for the unprovoked affront and unwarrantable attack on his men. In proportion as he remained firm and resolute, they became the less urgent in their demands. They even proposed to make the matter up, by suggesting that the captain should sign a paper which they brought ready prepared, to the effect that those who had actually killed the Chinese had either died of wounds, had fallen overboard, or otherwise perished. As he would not incur certain disgrace to himself and to his country, by asserting a palpable falsehood, the matter remained still unsettled, and the trade suspended, when he set out for Manilla.

      In the evening, it being calm, mild, and agreeable, we landed in a spacious bay, with a sandy beach, interspersed with rocks, within a few miles of the extreme point of the peninsula. We found the rocks to consist entirely of horn-stone porphyry. We traced this rock to the extent of upwards of two miles, in the course of which it presents no appreciable difference. Large surfaces, divided into innumerable irregular masses, for the most part oblong, and occasionally brick-shaped, with an ochry fracture, presented themselves. The rock is extremely hard.

      The land was, as usual, thickly covered with wood.

      Forest, on the coast, formed chiefly of the following trees: —

      Casuarina.

      Hibiscus, two arborescent species.

      Scævola.

      Calophyllum inophyllum. This generally grows close by the sea-side, its roots being washed by the tide at high water.

      Cycas revoluta. Very abundant; a more handsome palm than the C. circinalis. It was now in flower. The quantity of pollen discharged by the stameniferous plant was uncommonly great, and of an oppressively powerful odour. It appeared to us, on examining their structure, not at all extraordinary that this plant should long have been taken for a fern of gigantic size. A large, yellow-coloured, pine-shaped, squamate cone terminates the stameniferous plant. Each scale is somewhat of a triangular shape, the apex joining the central stem. On the under surface of the scale are innumerable sessile and minute globules, which burst exactly in the manner of many of the ferns, and discharge a fine, strong-scented, yellow pollen. This palm rarely exceeds ten or twelve feet in height.

      Besides these we observed a species of slender Caryota.

      Also Nipa fruticans,

      And a species of Calamus; and another of Urtica.

      We caught several fish in the seine on the 27th and 28th February.

      We stood over towards the coast of Borneo, with the wind strong, and quite against us. We now had a heavy swell and rough sea, which soon affected the less experienced amongst us with sickness to a distressing degree.

      On the first of March we had sight of a lofty conical hill in Borneo, and on the 2d we came in view of the coast of that island. The wind, which had hitherto been steady and strong, sunk into a gentle breeze as we approached the land, passing from the N.E. to N.W. and N.N.W. with a calm sea.

      On the 3d we were off the point called Tanjung api, and on the following day stood over in the direction of the islands called Natunas, the more southern of which we were in sight of, and even close to. Their vegetation seemed to be quite peculiar. We were at one time within two hundred yards of one of these islands; and could observe along the beach several handsome scitamineous plants, and a considerable number of Palms. In this part of our passage, we found the weather, though rather damp, and for the most part cloudy, remarkably agreeable. The thermometer did not rise above 80°, nor sink below 78°, in the course of twenty-four hours, during our passage from the coast of Borneo to that of Cambodia.

      An hourly register of the barometer, kept day and night, indicated a double tide in the column of mercury. At ten A.M., it was generally at its height, which on successive days, varied at this hour from 29.98 inches, to 30.1 inches, the barometer being suspended about eighteen feet above the sea. From five to six P.M., it had attained its lowest level, varying on successive days from 29.86 inches to 29.95. From this period it continued to rise till about midnight, when it had again obtained its maximum, and from four to five a.m. was at its minimum.

      About three P.M. on the 11th of March, we came abreast of the island of Pulo Ubi, in lat. 8° 25´ N., long. 104° 50´ E., off the southern extremity of Cambodia, and cast anchor in a bay on the N.E. side of it, and prepared to land. In the same bay a Chinese junk lay at anchor.

      As we approached the beach, we could observe one or two huts in a plot of tall grass, overshadowed by a solitary cocoa-nut tree, and several persons walking about. Our books had stated the place to be inhabited, but the dreary appearance of the island, the stunted form of its vegetation, its steril and forbidding aspect, and above all, the total absence of every thing calculated to remind us of humanity, soon destroyed the hopes we had cherished of mingling so soon in the concerns of our fellow-creatures, and of observing society under circumstances which might be supposed to confer on it a peculiar interest. We were therefore not a little gratified to observe these traces. We were still more pleased to observe one of the inhabitants walk towards the point we were approaching, and thence concluded that they must have been in some degree accustomed to the advent of strangers. This person proved to be a slender, but healthy and active old man. He wore a blue cloak, and an ample blue turban, and had a thin, scanty, long beard. His appearance was not unlike that of an Arab. He saluted us with respect, and though none of our party could understand his language, we could easily perceive that he was not displeased with our visit. We accompanied him to his house close by, which we found to be a sort of temple. On a rude altar of wood, raised about three feet from the ground, and covered with mats, was placed a small earthen image, of a reverend, though rather grotesque looking old man, in a contemplative attitude, his countenance not altogether destitute of a certain air of benignity and conscious innocence. He wore a long flowing beard and loose garments. On his left stood a smaller figure of more humble pretensions; probably the attendant of the former, or minister of his will. The first was different from the figure or image (Joss,) the more common object of the worship of the lower orders of Chinese.

      Before them were placed various offerings of fruit, sugar and sweet-meats. The altar was tawdrily ornamented with pieces of tinsel, shreds of gilt paper, and painted silks.

      Before the shrine was placed a low platform over which a mat was thrown, on which the old man invited us to sit down. In one end of the room were placed baskets of rice, a few small wax tapers, and some yams. We found that two families lived on this spot, and one or two Chinese. The latter had come for the purpose of collecting the gelatinous Fucus, agar-agar. The former had, it would appear, lived here for several years. Their subsistence had probably been chiefly obtained from Chinese mariners, to whom this lofty island affords an admirable land-mark, for which they always make in their coasting voyages. They look upon the place as peculiarly sacred, and never pass it without offering up prayers and praises СКАЧАТЬ