Journal of a residence in China and the neighboring countries; with a preliminary essay, on the commencement and progress of missions in the world

Front matter

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A* r ^ j

JOURNAL

Contents

Abstract of missionary operations in the world, * . Page 5

Chap. I.— Departure from New York—Divine service on board— Island of St. Paul— Amsterdam— Sandal-wood island— Ombay passage --Islands of Flores, Solor, Lomblem, Ombay,Timor, Cambing, Baby —Early Catholic missions on these islands— Portuguese Xavier— Dutch conquests— Missions — Zeal of early missionaries— Declension of eighteenth century— Present mission of Dutch on Timor, Rotti Letty, Moa, Kesser, and Roma— Banda sea and island— Arroo group, Booro — Amboyna, Mr. Kam— Manippa— Ternati— Efforts of Netherlands' Missionary Society— New Guinea, Waijoo— Plan for the conversion of these islands— Pelew islands and natives.. . . . ......... 31

Chap. II. — Chinese fishing boats— Formosa— Ladrone islands — Chinese pilots— Lintin— Opium trade— Macao— Description and history of city — Catholicism— Superstitions — Passage in small Chinese boat to Whampoa — 'Foreign shipping — Objects on the wa} r — Night scene— Arrival at Canton— Dr. Morrison, . . . . 59

Chapter II China

February 17th, 1830. Latitude 22 degrees north, longitude 115 degrees, 18 minutes east.

Early this morning we were called up to view the Chinese fishing boats, scattered in almost every direction, around us. They had ventured beyond the sight of land, and were fishing in pairs, with a net trailing between them. These small boats are human habitations, occupied by as many generations as are usually permitted to exist cotemporaneously. What a prison for intellectual beings, with perhaps no prospect of a change in this life, and without a knowledge of the immortality in the next.

It is said they are not allowed to trade with foreign vessels, and their exceeding shyness, and the government boats attending them, confirm the existence of such an interdict. Two hundred were counted at one time.

18th. To-day we caught the first view of China, while sailing in a line with its coast. The distance was too great to define any thing, but the shadowy outline of its hills.

We have passed the latitude of Formosa, which claims a notice, alike on account of its own inherent

6* interest, and for the sad tale of missions, which its history unfolds. A chain of mountains, extending nearly north and south, forms a natural boundary between its aboriginal inhabitants, and the Chinese. The eastern coast, in the possession of the latter, it is said by the old Dutch writers, merits the name by which it is known. The western division is inhabited by several tribes, among which is a negro race of immense size. In the early part of the seventeenth century, the Dutch introduced Christianity into this island. A number of chaplains successively engaged in the undertaking, who baptized multitudes, and gathered many congregations. Parts of the Scriptures were translated into the vernacular of the aborigines, which differs greatly from the language of the empire. These were sent to Amsterdam, with other Christian books, for publication ; but there is no evidence that they ever went through the press. According to the account of the missionaries, this extensive field yielded with trifling care, and promised the most abundant fruits. But their prospects and projects were soon defeated ; the island was captured by a pirate, who massacred some of the chaplains, destroyed Christianity, and re-established idolatry. This event occurred in 1661, since which period, the Chinese have spread themselves in numbers over its eastern section ; at present, it is in a state of constant rebellion, the resort of the disaffected toward the government.

19th. The dawn of this morning disclosed the bluff, barren peaks of the Ladrone, and neighboring islands, called by the Chinese the old ten thousand

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hills. Our approach was soon descried by the vigilant natives, and before sunrise, a tall, muscular, swarthy man came on board, and offered himself as a pilot ; when informed that his services were not required, and convinced from the ill success of his repeated applications, that money could not be earned, he assumed the less honorable office of a beggar. The same means were adopted by others who succeeded him in the course of the day, and tried all possible expedients to obtain money or its value.

From our visitors we received information of a variety of recent events, principally relating to foreign residents in Canton, some of which were fraught with painful interest. Many of them employed a broken English of rather ludicrous peculiarity ; in fact, an unknown tongue to the uninitiated, but sufficient to communicate ideas on ordinary topics, to those who had been educated in the same school. With one, whom the captain recognized, an agreement was soon made, and dispatches forwarded to Canton. The time to which he was limited, and on which his recompense depended, was scarcely sufficient to allow the least interval of rest, although his countenance and conduct evinced that he considered ten dollars, the stipulated sum, an ample compensation. The distance from the place he met us is probably eighty miles from Canton, and the risk of being detected by government officers, in a business interdicted by law, by no means inconsiderable. Between eight and nine in the evening, we reached the anchorage at Lintin. This entrance of the £ celestial regions? is far from interesting. The numerous islands are rough and

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desolate, and with the exception of a few spots near the sea, there is scarcely the trace of man or beast, or the appearance of vegetation to be discovered.

20th. Our present anchorage is the depot of smugglers, where the opium ships are moored, and whence this deathful drag, to the amount of many millions of dollars annually, is conveyed throughout the empire. Among the boats clandestinely engaged in the local traffic, are a number commissioned for the protection of lawful commerce, but which are as actively employed against the interests of the government, as they would be in the maintenance of its laws, if with equal facility, and more gain, the revenue officers who have them in charge could mini the duties of their appointment,

This afternoon, for the first time in one hundred and twenty-seven days, we touched our feet upon solid ground, and though on a heathen shore, far from our native land, felt a gratification peculiar to the wave-tossed prisoner, when released from his tedious confinement. It was the island of Lintin. the resort and habitation of fishermen, and the possession of a few families, who cultivate the ground, and supply the shipping with provisions. To those who have been accustomed to attach value to industry, the striking disproportion between labor and its fruits will not fail to arrest the attention. Almost every foot of land which had been leveled by nature, or could be reduced by art. was in cultivation, while the adjacent springs and ponds of water were all submitted to the same tax.

We attempted to enter a small village, but an old

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man came out, and with a courteous air of authority forbade us. In some of the huts near the beach, they were engaged at their meals, and with mouths filled to distension, invited us to stop and take "a litte chou chou*' with them. To their rice they impart a flavor by a small portion of meat, fish, or vegetables. These condiments are generally placed in appropriate vessels on the table, if they have one, or on the ground, in the midst of the circle, as in the present instance. Each one is supplied with a bowl of rice, to which he conveys the more piquant articles, by means of two small sticks held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand; and placing the bowl in close vicinity, often in contact with the mouth, he hastily shovels into it as much of the rice as his cheeks can well contain.

The fact in which we are the most interested, and one which we cannot consider, without reflecting upon the ignorance and apathy of the Christian world, is the unrestricted intercourse we have with multitudes, who welcome us to their huts on shore, and come around us in the ship, with all the ingenuousness and docility of children. If we knew their language, there is not the least reason why we might not converse with them as freely on religious subjects, as on all others.

26th. As the ship was about to remain at Lintin for several days, we engaged a native boat to carry us to Macao, about eighteen miles, and started after breakfast on Monday. The intervening islands and distant hills present the same sterile, volcanic aspect, and scarcely an object of the least interest is seen until the bay and town of Macao open in delightful contrast to

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the view. These are entirely concealed by a projecting point of land, until you approach their immediate vicinity. After fruitless conjectures where a European town of the least size could be situated amid the scenes of desolation and ruggedness which appear from the level of the water, the change is sudden and unexpected. A long line of white European buildings, winding with a gentle sweep, around the crescent shore of the bay. large military and ecclesiastical establishments crowning the summits of the hills, with a motley group of chapels, and houses of almost every size and construction, burst upon the view at once, and hold the mind, for a moment, in delightful surprise.

Macao stands upon an island, or rather the peninsula of an island, with a beautiful bay in front, and a sheet of water in the rear. The irregular surface of the town, changing its appearance with every new position, encompassed with hill and dale, scattered villages, and cultivated fields, islets and bays, with an extensive and diversified water scenery, all beheld from the adjacent hills, are the admiration of its visitors.

Variety is the most remarkable feature in the buildings. The houses occupied by foreign merchants are generally spacious and well adapted to the climate. The public edifices, and especially the churches, though some of them are large, and the latter numerous, display nothing peculiar in exterior or furniture. Much of the town is in possession of the Chinese, and consists, according to their taste, of low, confined hutSj and narrow, filthy streets. According to a recent estimate, the number of inhabitants is about fifty thousand, of whom, forty-five thousand are said to be Chinese ; others suppose the whole amount does not exceed thirty, or thirty-five thousand.

Macao is the residence of those ladies who have accompanied their husbands to China, and the summer retreat of the majority of foreigners engaged in commerce at Canton. The number of English families, including one American, does not exceed a dozen,

One of the principal objects of curiosity, to the traveler, is the grotto of Camoens, where the poet compoposed his celebrated Luciad. It is inclosed within the pleasure grounds of a private residence, and combines the advantages of fine scenery, refreshing air, and undisturbed retirement. It is formed of three large rocks, two of which are upright, and support the third, The place where lie is reported to have sat, is a small cavity in one of the rocks, which at present is occupied by a representative of less perishable material. With a stern contour, a martial air, and the want of the eye, lost in the Sarcaren wars, there is very little to remind one of the poet, whose charming verse, according to his countrymen, could scarcely be surpassed.

The history of Macao is involved in considerable uncertainty ; but those points of inquiry most interesting to the Christian community, are by no means obscure.

The Portuguese say that they received it from the emperor about the middle of the sixteenth century, as an expression of gratitude for expelling a band of pirates, who, making it their head -quarters, infested the coast and blocked up the port of Canton. The Chinese insist upon it. that the place was gradually usurped by the Portuguese, in their previous rage for foreign possessions, and recent researches show, that if the former are correct, they cannot produce the emperor's grant to prove it, In whatever way possession was gained, the Jesuits and others immediately took the colony under their spiritual charge, erected churches, founded a monastery and college, and opened a communication with different parts of the interior. If the purity of their faith had harmonized with the force of their misguided zeal, there is every reason to believe this Pagan empire would have assumed a different aspect. long before the present. The truth would probably have awakened earlier persecution j but it would neither have provoked it by anti-ehris* tian measures, nor suffered so severely from its deadliest rage.

It is difficult to determine to what extent the forces of Catholicism, have been weakened in China. Since the general expulsion of the European priests, numbers have ventured, and are continually venturing into the interior, although the)' have generally been conveyed to their charge in a clandestine manner. Some have been sent from Macao to Pekin. to supply the board of mathematicians : but the emperor's request, and their avowed object in its compliance, were equally distinct from all ecclesiastical interference. Very recently one of them was transferred from Pekin to Canton, with considerable pomp, and with the intention of returning to Europe. It was said by many> to be a plan of the emperor to get him respectably out of. the country; others maintain that he requested permission to visit his aged mother before her death. However this may be, I am informed that at present, there is but one Roman Catholic priest employed in the emperor's service, and for the last twenty years no others have been invited.''

In the college of St, Joseph, formerly in the hands of the Jesuits, there is a number of Chinese youth, educated at the expense of the Portuguese government, with an exclusive reference to the priesthood. These are ordained as missionaries for the interior; other natives are received and instructed at their own charges, Beside this institution, there are about twelve churches, and forty priests, for the limited population, professing the Catholic faith.

Our attention was frequently arrested by flocks of women, visiting the different temples, and we were constrained to believe the season one of peculiar sanctity, or the place greatly given to superstition. Whether the first conjecture was correct or not, the narration of undisguised facts left no grounds to doubt the other. The patron saint, or rather tutelar deity of the place is St. Antonio, Having been skilled in the use

* The following estimate of the Catholic forces was obtained from one of their most credible priests, by a professed friend of both of us. Connected with the

French mission, are two bishops, four or five European misionaries, thirty native missionaries, and fifty-one thousand converts. ■

Portuguese mission, one bishop, one European missionary, twen* nine native missionaries, and eighty thousand converts. At Macao they have two seminaries, eight European missionaries, and one thousand converts,

Italian mission, four European missionaries, thirty thousand converts.

Spanish mission, one bishop, two European missionaries^ and thirty-five thousand converts.

m of " carnal weapons/' in the early part of his career, he is exceedingly popular among the military, and represented as a valuable assistant in war. When the Dutch attacked the place, it is said by many, that he appeared in the air, and routed the invaders ; others ascribe the victory to the timely aid of John the Baptist, the battle having occurred upon his day. The Portuguese government allow St. Antonio the pay of captain, and honor him with, or require from him in return, an annual feast of thirteen days' continuance. According to my informant, who is one of their number, and has frequently participated in the festivities of the season, they suppose it by no means inconsistent with the pleasure of the saint to indulge in excesses, which set at defiance all the laws of temperance, and bring their religion in discredit among their heathen neighbors. It is difficult to conceive how grosser ideas of idolatry could exist, than those which prompt some of the acts of their devotion to this deified hero. They are not satisfied with - bowing down before the graven image but not admitting the very heathen's distinction, I should say his professed distinction between the deity and his representation, they carry the figure in procession, with military pomp, to make an annual visit to the image of St. Francis, presiding at another church.

To the mind of one, who feels an interest in the conversion of the world, it is a painful circumstance, that the only spot under European control, in the whole empire of China, should exhibit to the heathen the most gross and absurd notions of that holy religion, whose name they attach to their worse than Pa-

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gaii abominations. Macao and Manilla, on the island of Luzon, which are among the most advantageous freign posts for Chinese missions, are subject to a power, and exert an influence which have the double tendency of keeping the true light from entering, and of prejudicing the minds of the heathen against it, should it penetrate. The same anti-christian influence prevails in the Chinese island of Hainan, where it is said the Catholic religion is still quite prevalent ; and in many of the adjacent kingdoms on the west and south, where the language is best known, and the intercourse with China most frequent.

Japan, on the east, has been arrayed as powerfully against the religion of the cross, as satanic malice could desire; so that by means of this spurious faith, the great enemy of God and man has attempted to raise impregnable barriers against the introducticn of the gospel into China. But how vain the policy and forces of hell, though intimidating to the faithless mind of man, to resist the power and wisdom which shall soon be brought to bear against them. Every difficulty of the kind should but simplify and strengthen our faith in that word, which is pledged to destroy them all, and the striking and speedy accomplishment of which, shall doubtless be a subject of admiration and gratitude, to all the followers of Christ.

In the town and immediate vicinity of Macao, arc several Chinese temples, to which a few priests of the Budha sect are attached. The most remarkable one is situated on the south-west side of the town. It consists of a number of small buildings on the acclivity of a steep hill^ grouped in a fanciful manner, with large upright rocks and overhanging trees. The rough lines of nature, and the polish of art, are blended in striking contrast,, in this grotesque form of pagan superstition. The principal part of the time unoccupied in our excursions, was agreeably passed in the family of Dr. Morrison, who had left the place but a few days before our arrival. We were happy to learn, that the Doctor had the recent gratification of baptizing another native convert. The English Factory, during their semi-annual residence here, are allowed to have service performed by their chaplain, and Dr, Morrison is not prevented from holding a religious exercise, every Sabbath, in his own dwelling.

On the morning of the 28th, we left this pleasant retreat, and, wafted by a fresh breeze, reached the ship about noon. As each had expected that some of the rest would cater for our breakfast, we were obliged to satisfy a craving appetite upon the boiled rice and salted cabbage of our temperate boatmen. On our arrival, we found that a small European vessel had been sent for us, from Canton, but owing to the uncertainty of our return, had sailed. The event left us to the choice of remaining a number of days in the ship, in this cold and rainy season, or of venturing in a native "fast boat, :/ * against one of their barbarous prohibitions. We soon decided on the latter alternative, and left the ship in the twilight of evening. We were obliged to pass the night in an apartment fitted up for the lodgings of the boatmen, and the residence of their gods. A group of small gilded images, seated in a shrine, decorated with colored paper, occupied one corner, and received the homage of the crew. Before the n shrine an incense stick of fragrant sandal-wood was kept lighted, and a lamp burning. The cabin, in which the idols, part of the crew, ourselves, and baggage were stowed, was so low that we could barely sit upright. After changing position as often as an opposing wind changed the course of our boat, we found ourselves at day-break but a very short distance above the last fort. This was a point of safety, which the men had toiled hard and silently to gain, before the light should expose us to those on shore. During the morning, though they scrutinized with a good glass every object of suspicion, they appeared to place so much dependence upon the performance of their brigantine, and their own muscular assistance, as to dismiss all apprehension, and labor with much cheerfulness. Indeed, as far as we are capable of judging, liveliness is a prominent characteristic of the Chinese.

Low lands, appropriated to the culture of rice, and ranges of hills, with no other verdure than a few scattering trees, made up the scenery, between our position at day-break, and Whampoa. A few temples appeared in different parts of the low lands, and one of commanding elevation crowned the summit of a high hill.

About the middle of the afternoon, we reached Whampoa, the principal anchorage for vessels engaged in lawful traffic with China. A recent difficulty with the government had detained the stately ships employed in the service of the East India Company ; and their yearly fleet, consisting of twenty vessels, or upwards, with those of other nations employed in the China trade, generally of the largest class, presented an array of naval magnificence unequaled in any

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CKIKA, other port. The number of seamen engaged in the company's service, and attached to the shipping in the harbor, varies but little from three thousand. What a congregation might be gathered from those who speak the English language, if the walls of national and ecclesiastical separation were entirely demolished, and if the custom of keeping holy the Lord's day, were universally observed.

The distance between Whampoa and Canton is about twelve miles. A strong opposing current kept us four hours on the way, and made it nine in the evening, before we arrived. For some time after we started, the light of day disclosed every remarkable object on land and water. Among the former are large pagodas, towering in the air, and darkened and mouldering with age. Two of them are situated on small eminences, " high places," compared with the surrounding country, and like the hill-capped one below, they probably appear to a heathen's mind as the presiding genii of the place. They are nine stories in hight, of an octagonal form, with doors or niches on each side of every story, and gradually diminishing in circumference to the top. Their sides and summits are partially covered with shrubs and herbage, springing from beds of earth, which it must have required ages to collect, and consolidate.

These towers were erected by the decendants of Dchingis Khan, in the Yuen dynasty, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It was a prevalent superstition of the times, that they were effectual in repressing demoniacal and noxious influences in the

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SUrroundiiig country, and that their efficacy was graduated by their hight.

As might be expected, there is a great variety in the structure and internal arrangements of their boats. Those intended for sea are too primitive and clumsy to be any thing but the products of the earliest and dullest invention. The bow and stern arise to a great elevation, and present such a dangerous surface to the wind, as to account for the numerous losses sustained every year. European improvements are disallowed. Some of the small government barges display a degree of taste and skill in construction, which form a strong contrast to the mass around them. The consequence and curse of spiritual ignorance, alas, too common where that ignorance is wilful, are apparent in many of the boats decorated and furnished to decoy u the simple" and lead him " into paths inclining unto the dead."

We had scarcely gained half our distance, when

* * * * " Sorrowing we beheld

The night come on, but soon did night display More wonders than it veiled."

As the shades of evening darkened around us, great numbers of lamps broke through the gloom, and appeared either ranged in rows, almost as far as the eye could reach, or changing their position, and varying the general aspect, according to the different directions of the moving vessels. The scene was more like magic, than reality, and calculated to awaken ideas, or call up visions, which seldom visit collected minds in wakeful hours. As w*e approached the city, our progress became more interrupted by the crowds of boats, and when we arrived within a short distance of the landing place, such was their density that the men were obliged to exchange their oars for short paddles, and work their way through whatever opening they could find or form.

On Thursday. February. 25th. 1830. we reached our ultimate destination, and were most kindly received by C. N« Talbot, Esq.. the consular agent.* whose father and brother had been our fellow passengers, and to whose hospitality we were commended by our friends in America. Upon learning our arrival, we were visited by Dr. Morrison, who, as might be expected, welcomed fellow missionaries into this long neglected field with no ordinary joy. A career of more than two and twenty year's labor, under the many embarrassments and trials, which were experienced, especially at first — without the permanent assistance of a single companion — and particularly after the sentence of death begins to be felt in a body shattered by toil and anxieties, might be supposed a sufficient preparative to the welcome reception of those whose avowed object is the same, and who are expected to find their highest interest in its promotion. From many of the residents, and especially from those of our own countrymen, to whom we had letters, we soon enjoyed all those polite and kind attentions which are calculated to reconcile a stranger to an abode in foreign parts.

* It is but justice to mention that myself and companion spent all our time in this house, and received every possible facility for the prosecution of our duties with the utmost readiness, and without the least expense.

Chapter III. China Canton And Its Vicinity

It may be acceptable to the reader, to interrupt the chain of events, as they occurred in chronological order, and present at the commencement a picture of Canton, and its vicinity.

The city stands upon the north bank of the Choo-keang or Pearl river, nearly eighty miles from the sea, Its site is almost a perfect level ; it is bounded in the rear by a range of naked, uninteresting hills. Including the river and neighborhood, the population has been estimated at from a million to fifteen hundred thousand. The city itself is surrounded by walls, within which the stranger is not allowed to enter: the suburbs or un walled town, probably of equal extent and populousness, is accessible to foreigners. There is nothing in the locality of the place, the arrangement of its streets, or the style of its buildings, calculated to call forth the admiration of the visitor. The scene, it is true, affords abundant interest to the stranger ; but it is the exclusive interest of novelty, and soon leaves the mind without an agreeable recollection. The houses are generally low, narrow, and exceedingly compact. Some of the factories or hongs T especially those occupied by the tea-merchants, are

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immensely spacious, and contain a vast number of compartments ; but you are obliged to enter them before you can determine their locality, as there is nothing in external appearance to distinguish them from the dense mass of buildings with which they are environed.

The width of the streets varies from about fifteen to three feet, measuring from house to house, and the medium proportion of the city would probably not exceed eight feet. In passing through even the business districts, I have frequently extended my arms, and reached the opposite houses. The principal streets are occupied by merchants and mechanics, and their shops are so constructed as to open in front, and expose their contents to the observation of the passenger. Boards, with large painted or gilded characters, intended as signs, are placed before each door, and, facing the direction of the street, constitute its most ornamental objects. The natives of Canton can furnish you with the names of more than 600 streets in the city. These are principally short and. crooked, although some of them extend to a great length. They are all flagged with stone, chiefly granite.

Trades are generally found in close vicinity. The different classes of mechanics bind themselves to certain conventional regulations, and each party has a public hall of meeting for consultation, feasting, and dramatic amusements. In the manufactories of the city about 17,000 persons, including women and children, are employed in weaving silks ; 50,000 are ordinarily occupied in the manufacture of cloth, and upwards of 4000 in making shoes. The number of licensed barbers is between 7 and 8000. There are about 2000 persons who obtain a livelihood from the practice of medicine. And yet it is thought by a writer in the Chinese Repository, that this large number includes only a fourth part of the mechanics and quacks of Canton. Those articles most saleable to foreigners, are brought to the streets adjacent the factories. It is a matter of at least amusing interest, to examine the heterogeneous contents of many of these shops, and no less so, to find that the spirit of the proprietor is still more accommodating than his well stored house. If your search is not rewarded with the required article, you have only to inquire, and if attainable any where, or by any means, within your specified conditions, you have entered the right shop and need proceed no farther,