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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
     Present--enter the_ Pei-ho, _and embark in convenient
     Yachts.--Accommodating Conduct of the two Officers.--Profusion of
     Provisions.--Appearance of the Country--of the People.--Dress of the
     Women.--Remarks on their small Feet.--Chinese an uncleanly and
     frowzy People.--Immense Crowds of People and River Craft at_
     Tien-sing.--_Decent and prepossessing Conduct of the
     Multitude.--Musical Air sung by the Rowers of the Yachts.--Favourable
     in the Chinese Character.--Face and Products of the
     Country.--Multitudes of People Inhabitants of the Water.--Another
     Instance of arbitrary Power.--Disembark at_ Tong Tchoo, _and are
     lodged in a Temple._                                            25


CHAP. III.

Journey through the Capital to a Country Villa of the Emperor. Return to
Pekin. The Imperial Palace and Gardens of Yuen-min-yuen, and the Parks
of Gehol.


     _Order of Procession from_ Tong-choo _to the Capital.--Crowd
     assembled on the Occasion.--Appearance of Pekin without and within
     the Walls.--Some Account of this City.--Proceed to a Country Villa
     of the Emperor.--Inconveniences of.--Return to Pekin.--Embassador
     proceeds to Tartary.--Author sent to the Palace of_
     Yuen-min-yuen.--_Miserable Lodgings of.--Visit of the President and
     Members of the Mathematical Tribunal.--Of the Bishop of Pekin, and
     others.--Gill's Sword-blades.--Hatchett's Carriages.--Scorpion
     found in a Cask packed at Birmingham.--Portraits of English
     Nobility.--Effects of Accounts from Tartary on the Officers of
     State in Pekin.--Emperor's return to the Capital.--Inspects the
     Presents.--Application of the Embassador for Leave to
     depart.--Short Account of the Palace and Gardens of_
     Yuen-min-yuen.--_Lord Macartney's Description of the Eastern and
     Western Parks of Gehol.--And his general Remarks on Chinese
     Landscape Gardening._                                           87


CHAP. IV.

Sketch of the State of Society in China.--Manners, Customs, Sentiments,
and Moral Character of the People.


     _Condition of Women, a Criterion of the State of Society.--Degraded
     State of in China.--Domestic Manners unfavourable to Filial
     Affection.--Parental Authority.--Ill Effects of separating the
     Sexes.--Social Intercourse unknown, except for gaming. Their
     Worship solitary.--Feasts of New Year.--Propensity to gaming.
     Influence of the Laws seem to have destroyed the natural Character
     of the People.--Made them indifferent, or cruel.--Various Instances
     of this Remark in public and in private Life.--Remarks on
     Infanticide.--Perhaps less general than usually thought.--Character
     of Chinese in Foreign Countries.--Temper and Disposition of the
     Chinese. Merchants. Cuckoo-Clocks.--Conduct of a Prince of the
     Blood. Of the Prime Minister. Comparison of the Physical and Moral
     Characters of the Chinese and_ Mantchoo _Tartars. General Character
     of the Nation illustrated._                                    138


CHAP. V.

Manners and Amusements of the Court--Reception of
Embassadors.--Character and private Life of the Emperor--His Eunuchs and
Women.


     _General Character of the Court--Of the buildings about the
     Palace_--Lord Macartney's _Account of his Introduction--Of the
     Celebration of the Emperor's Anniversary Festival--Of a
     Puppet-Shew--Comedy and Pantomime--Wrestling--Conjuring and
     Fire-Works--Reception and Entertainment of the Dutch Embassadors
     from a Manuscript Journal--Observations on the State of the Chinese
     Stage--Extraordinary Scene in one of their Dramas--Gross and
     indelicate Exhibitions--Sketch of_ Kien-Long's _Life and
     Character--Kills his Son by an unlucky Blow--conceives himself
     immortal--Influence of the Eunuchs at the Tartar Conquest--their
     present State and Offices--Emperor's Wife, Queens, and
     Concubines--How disposed of at his Death._                     191


CHAP. VI.

Language.--Literature, and the fine Arts.--Sciences.--Mechanics, and
Medicine.


     _Opinion of the Chinese Language being hieroglyphical
     erroneous.--Doctor Hager's mistakes.--Etymological Comparisons
     fallacious.--Examples of.--Nature of the Chinese written
     Character.--Difficulty and Ambiguity of.--Curious Mistake of an
     eminent Antiquarian.--Mode of acquiring the Character.--Oral
     Language.--Mantchoo Tartar Alphabet.--Chinese
     Literature.--Astronomy.--Chronology.--Cycle of sixty
     Years.--Geography.--Arithmetic.--Chemical Arts.--Cannon and
     Gunpowder.--Distillation.--Potteries.--Silk
     Manufactures.--Ivory.--Bamboo.--Paper.--Ink.--Printing.--Mechanics.
     --Music.--Painting.--Sculpture.--Architecture.--Hotel
     of the English Embassador in Pekin.--The Great Wall.--The Grand
     Canal.--Bridges.--Cemeteries.--Natural Philosophy.--Medicine.--Chinese
     Pharmacopoeia.--Quacks.--Contagious Fevers.--Small-pox.--Opthalmia.
     --Venereal Disease.--Midwifery.--Surgery.--Doctor Gregory's Opinion of
     their Medical Knowledge.--Sir William Jones's Opinion of their general
     Character._                                                    236


CHAP. VII.

Government--Laws--Tenures of Land and Taxes--Revenues--Civil and
Military Ranks, and Establishments.


     _Opinions on which the Executive Authority is grounded.--Principle
     on which an Emperor of China seldom appears in public.--The
     Censorate.--Public Departments.--Laws.--Scale of Crimes and
     Punishments.--Laws regarding Homicide.--Curious Law Case.--No
     Appeal from Civil Suits.--Defects in the Executive
     Government.--Duty of Obedience and Power of personal
     Correction.--Russia and China compared.--Fate of the Prime
     Minister_ Ho-chang-tong.--_Yearly Calendar and Pekin Gazette,
     engines of Government.--Freedom of the Press.--Duration of the
     Government attempted to be explained.--Precautions of Government to
     prevent Insurrections.--Taxes and Revenues.--Civil and Military
     Establishments.--Chinese Army, its Numbers and
     Appointments.--Conduct of the Tartar Government at the
     Conquest.--Impolitic Change of late Years, and the probable
     Consequences of it._                                           357


CHAP. VIII.

Conjectures on the Origin of the Chinese.--Their Religious
Sects,--Tenets,--and Ceremonies.


     _Embassy departs from Pekin, and is lodged in a Temple.--Colony
     from Egypt not necessary to be supposed, in order to account for
     Egyptian Mythology in China.--Opinions concerning Chinese
     Origin.--Observations on the Heights of Tartary.--Probably the
     Resting-place of the Ark of Noah.--Ancients ignorant of the
     Chinese.--Seres.--First known Intercourse of Foreigners with
     China.--Jews.--Budhists.--Nestorians.--Mahomedans.--Roman
     Catholics.--Quarrels of the Jesuits