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[Illustration: _Hickey del^t T. Medland sculp^t_

_Portrait of Van-ta-gin_

_Pub. May 2, 1804, by Mess^rs. Cadell, & Davies, Strand, London._]




 TRAVELS

 IN

 _CHINA_,

 CONTAINING

 DESCRIPTIONS, OBSERVATIONS, AND COMPARISONS, MADE AND COLLECTED IN THE
 COURSE OF A SHORT RESIDENCE AT THE IMPERIAL PALACE OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN, AND
 ON A SUBSEQUENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE COUNTRY FROM

 PEKIN TO CANTON.

 _IN WHICH IT IS ATTEMPTED TO APPRECIATE THE RANK THAT
 THIS EXTRAORDINARY EMPIRE MAY BE CONSIDERED TO
 HOLD IN THE SCALE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS._


 "NON CUIVIS HOMINI CONTINGIT ADIRE _CORINTHUM_."

 _It is the lot of few to go to_ PEKIN.



 By JOHN BARROW, Esq.

 LATE PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE EARL OF MACARTNEY, AND ONE OF HIS SUITE AS
 AMBASSADOR FROM THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN TO THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.


 _ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVERAL ENGRAVINGS._



 _LONDON_:
 Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street,
 FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.
 1804.




 TO

 _THE EARL OF MACARTNEY, K. B._

 ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL,
 _&c. &c. &c._


 THIS VOLUME OF TRAVELS IN CHINA, _&c._

                  IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

                              BY

                       HIS MOST FAITHFUL

                            AND OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT,


                                               JOHN BARROW.




CONTENTS.


CHAP. I.

PRELIMINARY MATTER.


     _Introduction.--General View of what Travellers are likely to meet
     with in China.--Mistaken Notions entertained with regard to the
     British Embassy--corrected by the Reception and Treatment of the
     subsequent Dutch Embassy.--Supposed Points of Failure in the former,
     as stated by a French Missionary from Pekin, refuted._--Kien Long's
     _Letter to the_ King _of Holland.--Difference of Treatment
     experienced by the two Embassies explained.--Intrigues of
     Missionaries in foreign Countries.--Pride and Self-Importance of the
     Chinese Court.--List of European Embassies, and the Time of their
     Abode in Pekin.--Conclusion of Preliminary Subject._        Page 1


CHAP. II.

Occurrences and Observations in the Navigation of the Yellow Sea, and
the Passage up the Pei-ho, or White River.


     _Different Testimonies that have been given of the Chinese
     Character.--Comparison of China with Europe in the sixteenth
     Century.--Motives of the Missionaries in their Writings.--British
     Embassy passes the Streights of Formosa.--Appearance of a_
     Ta-fung.--_Chu-san Islands.--Instance of Chinese
     Amplification.--Various Chinese Vessels.--System of their
     Navigation--their Compass, probably of Scythian Origin--foreign
     Voyages of.--Traces of Chinese in America--in an Island of the
     Tartarian Sea--in the Persian Gulph--traded probably as far as
     Madagascar.--Commerce of the Tyrians.--Reasons for conjecturing that
     the Hottentots may have derived their Origin from China.--Portrait
     of a Chinese compared with that of a Hottentot.--Malays of the same
     descent as the Chinese.--Curious coincidences in the Customs of
     these and the Sumatrans.--Cingalese of Chinese Origin.--One of the
     Brigs dispatched to_ Chu-san _for Pilots.--Rapid Currents among the
     Islands.--Visit to the Governor.--Difficulties in procuring
     Pilots.--Arbitrary Proceeding of the Governor.--Pilots puzzled with
     our Compass--Ignorance of--Arrive in the Gulph of_
     Pe-tche-lee.--_Visit of two Officers from Court, and their
