That a few days after they were taken out and examined, and, the Portuguese captain making it appear that he and his people were prisoners to the Ladrones, they were recommitted, and the Ladrones all beheaded. That the brig, being got off, was, after some time, as he understood, by an order from court, restored to the Portuguese captain, who went away in her with all his people, except this relator and a Portuguese lad, who, being both ill of the flux, and likely to die, were left behind in prison. What became of the brig afterwards, he never heard. That they were well attended in their sickness, and soon recovered, but were not set at liberty. That the prison was a very clean, airy place, consisting of several courts and ranges of building, the whole securely walled and guarded, and governed with great order. That every body was obliged to work; but his work was not hard, it was weaving rushes upon hoops for the bottom of chairs, and they had some small pay for them, which, added to the prison allowance of rice and chong, was more than a sufficiency; and he thinks there are no such comfortable prisons in England, at least among those he had been acquainted with. That he applied himself to learn the Chinese language, and succeeded so far at last as to understand and make himself understood in common matters. That some of the most orderly prisoners were allowed to assist the neighbouring country people in time of harvest, under the care of overseers. That he and his companion were from time to time made to expect that orders would come from court for their release; but he supposes they were quite forgotten. They had written frequently to the Popish missionaries at Pekin, requesting their solicitations, but received no answer; and perhaps the prison-keeper, who had a profit on their labor, never sent their letters.

That after more than a year's confinement, being in the country at a harvest, he accidentally cut his foot very badly, and was left behind at a farmer's house to be cured; the farmer undertaking to return him to prison when recovered. That he got into favor in the family; that he taught the farmer's wife to make soap, which he understood, it being his father's trade. That he had himself been apprentice to a shoemaker before he took to the sea; and, finding some leather in the house, he made himself, with such tools as he could get or make, a large shoe for his lame foot. That the farmer admired the shoe much above the Chinese shoes, and requested a pair for himself. That he accordingly made shoes for the farmer, his wife, two sons, and a daughter. That he was obliged first to make the lasts for all of them; and that it is not true that the feet of Chinese women are less than those of English women. That, these shoes being admired, many inhabitants of the neighbouring village desired to have of them; so he was kept constantly at work, the farmer finding the leather, selling the shoes, and allowing him some share of the profit, by which he got about an ounce of silver per week, all money being weighed there. That the Chinese tan their leather with oaken chips, saw-dust, and shavings, which are saved by the carpenters for the farmers, who boil them, and steep their hides in the warm liquor, so that it is sooner fit for use. That the farmer's wife began to get money by selling soap, and they proposed to obtain his liberty, and keep him in the family, by giving him their daughter, when a little older, for a wife, with a piece of land; and he believes they did prevail with the jailor, by presents, to connive at his stay, on pretence of his lameness.

He liked their way of living, except their sometimes

eating dog's flesh. Their pork was excellent; the rice, dressed various ways, all very good, and the chong he grew fond of, and learnt to make it. They put kidney beans in soak for twenty-four hours, then grind them in a hand-mill, pouring in water from time to time to wash the meal from between the stones, which falls into a tub covered with a coarse cloth that lets the meal and water pass through, retaining only the skins of the beans; that a very small quantity of alum, or some sort of salt, put into it, makes the meal settle to the bottom, when they pour off the water. That it is eaten various ways, by all sorts of people, with milk, with meat, as thickening in broth, &c. That they used also to put a little alum in their river water when foul, to clear it for use, and by that means made it as clear as rock water, the dirt all settling. Their house was near a great river, but he does not remember its name. That he lived in this family about a year, but did not get the daughter, her grandfather refusing his consent to her marriage with a stranger.

That they have a sort of religion, with priests and churches, but do not keep Sunday, nor go to church, being very heathenish. That in every house there is a little idol, to which they give thanks, make presents, and show respect in harvest time, but very little at other times; and, inquiring of his master why they did not go to church to pray, as we do in Europe, he was answered, they paid the priests to pray for them, that they might stay at home and mind their business; and that it would be a folly to pay others for praying, and then go and do the praying themselves; and that the more work they did while the priests prayed, the better able they were to pay them well for praying.

That they have horses, but not many; the breed small, but strong; kept chiefly for war, and not used

in labor, nor to draw carriages. That oxen are used; but the chief of their labor is done by men, not only in the fields, but on the roads, travellers being carried from town to town in bamboo chairs, by hired chairmen, throughout the country; and goods also, either hanging on poles between two, and sometimes four men, or in wheel-barrows; they having no coaches, carts, or waggons, and the roads being paved with flat

stones.

They say that their great father (so they call the emperor) forbids the keeping of horses, because he had rather have his country filled with his children than with brutes; and one horse requires as much ground to produce him food, as would feed six men; yet some great people obtain leave to keep one horse for pleasure. That the master, having a farm left to him by a deceased relation, in a distant part of the country, sold the land he lived on, and went with the whole family to take possession, and live on the other. That they embarked in one of the boats that carry sea fish into the heart of the empire, which are kept fresh even in hot weather, by being packed in great hampers with layers of ice and straw, and repacked every two or three days with fresh ice, taken at ice-houses on the way. That they had been ten days on their voyage, when they arrived at the new farm, going up always against the stream. That the owner of the boat, finding him handy and strong in rowing and working her, and one of the hands falling sick, persuaded him to go fifteen days farther, promising him great pay, and to bring him back to the family. But that, having unloaded the fish, the Chinese went off with his boat in the night, leaving him behind, without paying him. That there is a great deal of cheating in China, and no remedy. That stealing, robbing, and

house-breaking are punished severely; but cheating is free there in every thing, as cheating in horses is among our gentlemen in England.

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That, meeting at that place with a boat bound towards Canton in a canal, he thought it might be a means of escaping out of that country, if he went in her; so he shipped himself to work for his passage, though it was with regret he left for ever the kind family he had so long lived with. That after twentyfive days' voyage on the canal, the boat stopping at a little town, he went ashore, and walked about to look at it, and buy some tobacco; and in returning he was stopped, taken up, examined, and sent away, under a guard, across the country to a mandarin, distant two days' journey. That here he found the lingo somewhat different, and could not so well make himself understood; that he was kept a month in prison before the mandarin had leisure to examine him. That, having given a true account of himself, as well as he could, the mandarin set him at liberty, but advised him to wait the departure of some persons for Canton, with whom he proposed to send him as a shipwrecked stranger, at the emperor's expense. That in the mean time he worked in the mandarin's garden, and conversed with the common people. He does not recollect the name of the province, but says it was one of the tea countries; and that, besides the true tea, they made a vast deal of counterfeit tea, which they packed up in boxes, some mixed with good tea, but mostly unmixed, and sent it away to different sea-ports for the supply of foreign countries. That he observed they made ordinary tea of the leaves of sweet potatoes, which they cut into form by stamps, and had the art of giving such color and taste as they judged proper. When he spoke of this practice as a fraud, they said