in favour of this opinion: but, though we cannot agree with Capt. Colnett in his preference, we nevertheless think that the authority which he has mentioned,-joined with his own experience, is sufficient encouragement for attempting the passage in winter, whenever it may be deemed necessary.

Capt. Colnett's attention to the comforts of his people, particularly to their provisions, which it was as much his care to render palatable as wholesome, deserves great praise; and he has been successful in adding to the instances before known, of the preservation of health in the performance of long voyages. In particular, the following passage, relative to his treatment of that dreadful disorder the yellow fever, merits consideration:

The whole crew had been, more or less, affected by the yellow fever, from which horrid disorder, I was, however, so fortunate, as to recover them, by adopting the method that I saw practised by the natives of Spanish America, when I was a prisoner among them. On the first symptoms appearing, the fore-part of the head was immediately shaved, and the temples, and pole, washed with vinegar and water. The whole body was then immersed in warm water, to give a free course to perspiration; some opening medicine was afterward administered, and every four hours, a dose of ten grains of James's powders. If the patient was thirsty, the drink was weak white wine and water, and a slice of bread to satisfy an inclination to eat. An increasing appetite was gratified by a small quantity of soup, made from the mucilagenous parts of the turtle, with a little vinegar in it. I also gave the sick, sweetmeats and other articles from my private stock, whenever they expressed a distant wish for any, which I could supply them with. By this mode of treatment, the whole crew improved in their health; except the carpenter, who, though a very stout, robust man, was, at one time, in such a state of delirium, and so much reduced, that I gave him over; but he at length recovered.'

An account is given, in a long note, of the treatment which the author received from the Spaniards in a voyage made by him in the year 1789, from China to the western coast of North America. This relation reflects very great discredit on the Spanish commanding officer; whose conduct appears to have been in a high degree treacherous, violent, and dishonourable. Capt. C. had entered into partnership with other English gentlemen at Macao, who agreed to fit out a number of vessels, in order to collect furs on the American coast; and it was a part of their intention to have established a factory at Nootka Sound, not knowing that this port was then occupied by the Spaniards. The command of this expedition was trusted to Captain Colnett, who sailed in a vessel called the Argonaut. We shall continue the relation in his own words.

It is unnecessary upon this occasion, to have recourse to any occurrences in that unfortunate voyage, prior to the time when I appeared off Nootka, viz. the third day of July, 1789. At nine in the evening, when it was almost dark, we hailed a boat; and the persons in it desiring to come on board, their request was immediately granted. It proved to be a Spanish launch, with Don Estevan Martinez, commodore of some Spanish ships of war, then lying in Friendly Cove: we were visited at the same time by another Spanish launch, and the boat of an American ship. I had no sooner received Don Martinez in my cabin, than he presented me a letter from Mr. Hudson, commander of the Princess Royal Sloop, which was under my orders. The commodore then informed me, that the vessels under his command were in great distress, from the want of provisions and other necessaries; and requested me, in a very urgent manner, to go into port, in order to afford him the necessary supplies. I hesitated, however, to comply with this demand, as I entertained very reasonable doubts, of the propriety of putting myself under the command of two Spanish men of war. The Spaniard observing my unwillingness to comply with his request, assured me, on his word and honour, in the name of the King of Spain, whose servant he was, and of the Viceroy of Mexico, whose nephew he declared himself to be, that, if I would go into port and relieve his wants, I should be at liberty to sail whenever I pleased. He also added, that his business at Nootka was for no other purpose, than merely to prevent the Russians from settling on that part of the coast, and that it formed a leading principle of his instructions, as it was his private inclination, to pay all becoming respect and attention to every other nation. I am ready to acknowledge that the story of his distresses, and the letter of Mr. Hudson, which appeared to be deserving of credit, had very considerable weight with me: besides, I was an officer in his Britannic Majesty's service; and might be, in some degree, influenced by a professional sympathy. I therefore suffered myself to be persuaded to enter the harbour; and, as it was a calm, to let the Spanish boats assist in towing the Argonaut into Friendly Cove; where we arrived by twelve at night, and found an American ship called the Columbia, riding at anchor, commanded by Mr. Kendric, and a sloop of the same nation, called the Washington, commanded by Mr. Gray; with two Spanish ships of war, called the Princessa, and Don Carlos. The next morning, after I had ordered some provisions and stores for the relief of Don Martinez to be got ready, I went to breakfast with him, in consequence of his invitation. After breakfast he accompanied me on board my ship, the Argonaut; I gave him a list of the articles I intended to send him, with which he appeared highly pleased. I then informed him it was my intention to go to sea in the course of the day: he replied, he would send his launch to assist me out of the harbour, and that I might, on the return of the boat, send him the promised supply. The launch not coming so carly as I wished, I sent one of the mates for her, but instead of bringing me the boat, I received an order from Don Martinez, to come on board his ship and bring with me my papers. This order appeared strange, but I complied

with it, and went on board the Princessa. On my coming into his cabin, he said he wished to see my papers: on my presenting them to him, he just glanced his eye over them, and although he did not understand a word of the language in which they were written, declared they were forged, and threw them disdainfully on the table, saying at the same time, I should not sail until he pleased. On my making some remonstrances at his breach of faith, and his forgetfulness of that word and honour which he had pledged to me, he arose in an apparent anger, and went out.

I now saw, but too late, the duplicity of this Spaniard, and was conversing with the interpreter on the subject, when having my back towards the cabin door, I by chance cast my eyes on a looking glass, and saw an armed party rushing in behind me. I instantly put my hand to my hanger, but before I had time to place myself in a posture of defence, a violent blow brought me to the ground. I was then ordered into the stocks, and closely confined; after which, they seized my ship and cargo, imprisoned my officers, and put my men in irons. They sent their boats likewise to sea and seized the sloop Princess Royal, and brought her into port, for trading on the coast.'

We shall not describe the particulars of the hard usage which Captain Colnett and his people endured in the sequel of this business. Their sufferings were so great, and the whole was accompanied with so many circumstances of aggravation, that it threw him into a violent fever, attended with delirium; and his life was, for some days, in great danger. Such treatment inflicted on them, unprovoked, and with impunity, • worked on the minds of the sickly part of the crew, several of whom took it to heart and died, and one destroyed himself in despair. At the end of thirteen months' captivity, and with the loss of four out of the five vessels originally employed in the undertaking, Capt. C. obtained the release of himself and surviving companions: but before this was granted, the Spaniards insisted on his signing a paper, expressing his complete and entire satisfaction of their usage to him and his people: to which the wretched state of the crew, and their clamours to depart, obliged him to submit.

The unsettled aspect of public affairs, when Capt. Colnett left England on the voyage related in the volume before us, made him think it probable that, during his absence, this country might be involved in a dispute with Spain. He therefore did not deem it prudent, while he was in the South Seas, to venture into any port on the American coast; lest, as he expresses himself, they might again be obliged to trust to the tender mercies of the Spaniards.-With the narrative, he has given charts and plans of the islands and anchoring-places visited during the voyage, from his own surveys.

In the introduction, Capt. C. says that, in the only vessel which remained to him in his unfortunate voyage to Nootka, not caring to return empty to China, he continued on the American coast, and procured another valuable cargo of furs; with which he proceeded to China :-but, a prohibition having been laid by the Chinese on the sale of furs, I did not,' says he, remain there, but in a short time, at the request of the gentlemen who were joint agents with me, set sail, and coasted for a market to the west side of Japan, and east side of Corea.'

Here an encouraging prospect of a new and valuable commerce for my country unfolded itself before me, when in a typhoon, in the latitude of 38° N. on the coast of Corea, I lost my rudder, which obliged me to put back into the port of Chusan in the northern parts of China.' He alds that a full account of this voyage, with charts and drawings, were left by him in England when he departed on his last expedition; and that they will hereafter,' he trusts, be presented to the public. When it is considered how dangerous the attempt at a communication with Japan has for so long a time been regarded, on account of the general belief of the hostile disposition of the Japanese towards Europeans; and that ships of considerable force, which have passed near to their coast, have thought it unsafe to stop, or to search for a port; we cannot but admire the spirit manifested in undertaking, with only a single trading vessel, an enterprise which has been esteemed so hazardous; and we are glad, on this occasion, to express our wishes that the curiosity of the public may be soon gratified.

ART. IV. M. Van Braam's Account of the Embassy from the Dutch East India Company, to the Emperor of China, in 1794 and 1795. [Article concluded from the Rev. for March, p. 249.]

THE

HE Continuation of our account of these volumes having been accidentally interrupted in the last month, we now resume our selection of such particulars as appear to us most interesting and curious.

One morning, when M. Van Braam was repairing to the Emperor's court, he had the misfortune of being overturned into a ditch; which, however, being frozen over, he received no hurt. The Mandarins, who conducted him, expressed much satisfaction at his escape; for the tyranny of the Chinese government is such, that the Mandarins not only were responsible for any disasters that might happen to their visitors, but were even in danger of losing their lives, if any accident REY. MAY, 179,

D

should

should have proved fatal to any one individual belonging to the Embassy.

The author saw the elegant carriage which the King of Great Britain sent to the Emperor of China; and opposite to it was placed

A thing, which made a remarkable contrast with this splendid vehicle; viz. a Chinese waggon with four wheels of equal height, very clumsy, painted green all over, and in every respect resembling the waggons used in Holland for the purpose of carrying manure. I confess this sight set my imagination to work. Was this waggon placed here with a view of opposing the idea of its utility to that of the superfluity of a carriage so sumptuous, at least according to the estimation of the Chinese? I was thus giving way to my conjec tures, when I was told, that the waggon is the very same that is made use of at the annual ceremony, when the Emperor pays a solemn homage to agriculture, in the temple of the Earth.'

The Voo-tchong-tang, or first Minister of China, wore a watch made by Arnold, for which having given no more than 175 livres, (71. 155. sterling,) he thought that the price of some watches in the possession of the Dutch mechanist was too high. It would have been easy for the Embassy to give him a very intelligible explanation of the low price at which he had bought his watch but the fear of the consequences that might have attended it, in respect to the transactions of the Mandarins and merchants of Canton, and particularly the risk that might be run by the former, prevented M. Van Braam from entering into particulars.-The enormous impositions, under which the European commerce at Canton labours, have often been explained by supposing that the Chinese Ministers of State connive at them from interested motives. This presumption, however, is unfounded; if, as the author positively asserts, the Ministers never accept a present from any one, without the express permission of the Emperor.

For the great antiquity of the Chinese as a nation, M. Van B. assigns a cause which does honour to his sentiments:

There is no nation so servilely attached to the usages and maxims of its ancestors as the Chinese. And we shall cease to be astonished at it, when we know, that filial respect is without bounds aniong them; that this tie of nature stands in the stead of legislation, the place of which it entirely supplies; and that their great philosopher," Kong-fou-tsé, by deducing all his principles of family relations from those between father and son, found means to acquire an authority, which served in its turn to strengthen that first natural sentiment, that primary foundation of every social system. And does it not seem as if the Divine blessing promised by the commandment, that requires the children of Israel to honour their parents, were become the portion of the Chinese! It is also in the execution of this sacred

law,