Besides the town of Bombay, which is about a mile in length, with mean houses (a few only excepted), there is a capacious harbour or bay, reckoned the finest haven in the east, where all ships may find security from the inclemency of the different seasons. After remaining here for the space of three months, I was engaged as captain's clerk on board the Hon. Company's Ship Marquis of Huntly. We sailed from hence July 25, 1820, and arrived at the new anchorage in nineteen days' sail; soon after I went up to Calcutta on duty for the ship.

Calcutta, or Fort William, the emporium of Bengal, and principal seat of India, is situated on the western side of the Hoogely river, at about ninety-six miles from its mouth, which is navigable up to the town for large ships. This extensive and beautiful town is supposed to contain between four and five hundred thousand inhabitants. The houses are variously built, some of brick, others of mud and cow-dung, and a great number with bamboos (a large kind of reed or cane) and mats. The bamboos are placed as stakes in the ground, and crossed with others in different ways, so as to enable them to make the matting fast, when for the roofing they lay them one upon the other, when a large family lie in that small compass of about six feet square, which makes a very motley appearance. The mixture of European and Asiatic manners observed in Calcutta is wonderful; coaches, phaetons, hackeries, two-wheeled carriages drawn by bullocks, palanquins carried by the natives, and the passing ceremonies of Hindoos, and the different appearance of the faquirs, form a diversified and curious appearance. The European houses have, many of them, the appearance of palaces or temples, and the inhabitants are very hospitable.

After the cargo was sent on board I returned to the ship, but on our passage down the river we were compelled to lie out in the river, owing to the great boar, as it is called; it is a quick overflowing of the water, which rises in a great body and with such violence that it breaks down all before it. It arises from the narrowness of the river, and the force which it makes from the sea; in the course of two minutes it rises to the height of four or five feet.

Lying in one of the creeks till the tide was turned, I was greatly alarmed by the men getting into the boat in great disorder and telling me that it was a crocodile which I had for a long time observed, and mistaken for the hull of a tree. A crocodile is an amphibious voracious animal, in shape resembling a lizard. It is covered with very hard scales, which cannot but with difficulty be pierced, except under the belly, where the skin is tender. It has a wide throat, with several rows of teeth, sharp and separated, which enter one another.

On my arrival on board every thing was in confusion, as we expected to sail in a few days.



SECTION IX.

THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CALCUTTA, AND ARRIVAL AT CHINA—AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGION, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS, AND OF HIS BEING ROBBED ON DANES' ISLAND—THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CHINA AND ARRIVAL AT ANJURE POINT—THE CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE MALAYS—DEPARTURE THEREFROM, AND ARRIVAL AT ST. HELENA—DESCRIPTION OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S TOMB AND HOUSES—DEPARTURE FROM ST. HELENA, AND ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.

We sailed from Bengal in company with the Hon. Company's Ship Dunira, October 19th, 1820, with a fine breeze, and arrived at Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's Island, on the 6th of November. The houses have a noble appearance, and are built after the form of those in Calcutta. The inhabitants are principally Malays; of them I shall speak more hereafter. After having received on board a quantity of rattan, as private trade for the captain, we made sail and arrived at Macao, on January 26th, 1821, after a long and tedious voyage.

Macao, a town of China, in the province of Canton, is seated in an inland at the entrance of the river Tae. The Portuguese have been in possession of the town and harbour since the early part of the seventeenth century. The houses are low and built after the European manner; the Portuguese are properly a mixed breed, having been married to Asiatic women. Here is a Portuguese Governor as well as a Chinese Mandarin. The former nation pays a great tribute to choose their own magistrates. The city is defended by three forts, built upon eminences; and the works are good and well planted with artillery.

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.

In a few days we made sail. We arrived at St. Helena, on the 10th of July, 1821. This island is situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, its circumference is about twenty miles, and at a distance it has the appearance of a large rock rising out of the sea. On rounding the island it has a very romantic appearance; the town lying in a valley presents to the eye a beautiful chain of scenery. It has some very high mountains, particularly one called Diana's Peak, which is covered with wood to the very summit. There are other hills also, which bear a volcanic appearance, and some have huge rocks of lava, and a kind of half-vitrified flags. James Town is erected in a valley at the bottom of a bay, between two steep dreary mountains, and has from the shipping a noble appearance.

Accommodations are tolerably good, and the inhabitants, generally speaking, are very hospitable. Their villas are pleasantly situated, and have a fine view of the sea; the whole face of the country is really romantic; the hills are immensely high, and the valleys very narrow; and in many of them there are a few houses, which give the whole island a very picturesque appearance.

After obtaining a passport from the Adjutant-General, I went over a long succession of hills to see the habitations of the late Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The roads were very difficult to ascend, and particularly rugged. The remains of this great and illustrious personage are buried in a deep valley, about three miles from James town, and about two miles from his late residence at Longwood, under the peaceful shade of three weeping willows, and which also, (as in respect to his dust,) lend a solemn air of reverential darkness to the memorable well, from which, during his pilgrimages, he was wont to receive his refreshing draughts.

No stately monument marks the spot; no polished alabaster, or the mimicry of sculptured marble marks his grave: the real excellency of the patriot is written on the minds of his countrymen; it will be remembered with applause as long as the nation subsists, without this artificial expedient to perpetuate it.

Let the poor pass by his grave, and thankfully acknowledge, there lies the man who gloriously fought for his country and his subjects, to free them from the galling yoke of tyranny and oppression: no tablets are written to mark his actions, but those which are written in the heart of his subjects.

The depth of his tomb is about twenty feet, and his coffin rests upon two pedestals, ten feet high. His body is enclosed in four coffins, first lead, second deal, third mahogany, and fourth marble. What is very remarkable is, that part of his tomb is made of the flag-stones of his new house, taken out of one of the kitchens. After viewing the tomb of the man who was the most brilliant meteor in the political world, I proceeded up to Longwood, to take a view of the habitation in which he died.

After presenting my passport I had permission to inspect the premises: the officer took great pains in shewing me the very spot on which he quitted his troubles and persecutions, when he kindly left me to make what sort of reflections I thought proper. The darkness of the room gave it a very solemn appearance, and suited the mind to contemplate upon this late extraordinary character;—but a short period past he was the terror of the world, and now, alas! what is he? He is laid low in the tomb, unregretted and unpitied by his merciless enemies. A gleam of light through the casements reflected a dead glimmer through the gloomy mansion. The most illustrious have claimed the tomb for their last retreat; rooms of state are resigned! the sceptre has ceased to wield, and sumptuous banquets are neglected for no other ornament than the winding sheet! "Where is the star that blazed upon his breast, or the coronet that glittered round his temples?" Alas! they are resigned and given over, through the power of the tyrant hand of death.

I have often walked between the impending promontory's craggy cliff; I have sometimes trod the vast spaces of the lonely desert, and penetrated the inmost recesses of the dreary cavern; but never beheld Nature lowering with so dreadful a form; never felt impressions of such awe striking cold on my heart, as under this roof; every thing seemed to participate in grief for their deceased lord. The rooms were very dirty and much neglected. The plants in his late garden seemed to droop their heads in sorrow for the loss of the hand that reared them.

I next proceeded to the palace which had been sent from England, and really it would have reflected honour on the British nation, and no sovereign in the world need wish for a more magnificent one, had it been placed in a more healthy part of the island.

We sailed for England on the 29th, and arrived on the 13th of September, 1821, after a speedy and pleasant passage.

THE END.

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