China and the West

Franklin, Benjamin. A letter from China [ID D28918].
Lisbon, May 5, 1784
Sir : - Agreeable to your desire, I have examined the sailor more particularly, and shall now give you the circumstances of his story, with all the observations he made in the country, concerning which you are so curious. He appears a more intelligent fellow than seamen in general. He says that he belonged to the 'Resolution', an English ship, one of those that made the last voyage with Captain Cook. That on their return, being at Macao, he and a comrade of his were over-persuaded by a Portuguese captain, who spoke English and Chinese, to desert, in order to go with him in a brigantine to the northwestern coast of America, to purchase sea-beaver skins from the savages, by which they hoped to make fortunes. That accordingly they took a boat belonging to the ship, got ashore in the night, turned the boat adrift, and were hid by the Portuguese captain till the 'Resolution' was gone. That this was in January, 1780, and that in April following they sailed from Macao, intending to go first to a place he calls Nooky-Bay, in latitude 50. That they had twenty-five men, with eight guns and small-arms for their defence, and a quantity of iron-ware, cutlery, with European and Chinese toys for trade.
That about the beginning of May, in a dark night, the captain being-sick in his cabin, they were surprised and suddenly boarded by two boats full of armed men, to the number of forty, who took possession of the brig, no resistance being made. That these strangers altered her course, and stood, as he saw by the compass, to the northwest ; that the next day the captain understood by a Chinese among them that they were Curry [Korea ?] ladrones, or pirates, that they had been cruising on the coast of China, and had lost their vessel on a reef the night before , and it was explained to the captain that if he and his people would work the ship, and fight upon occasion, they should be well used, and have a share of plunder, or otherwise be thrown overboard. That all consented, and three days after they saw land, and coasted it northward ; that they took two Chinese junks, who were sent away steering northeast, eight men being put into each, and some of the Chinese taken out. That the brig went on to the northward for four days after without taking any thing; but running too near the coast in chase of another Chinese, they stuck fast on a shoal in a falling tide; that they hoped to get off by the night flood, but were mistaken, and the next morning were surrounded by a great many armed boats and vessels, which the chased vessel, which got in, had probably occasioned to come out against them. That at first they beat off those vessels, but, reinforcements coming, they saw it impossible to escape, and submitted, and were all brought on shore and committed to prison.
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 everybody 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 neighboring country people in time of harvest, under the care of the 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 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 neighboring village desired to have 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. 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 wife, with a piece of land ; and he believes that they did prevail with the jailer, 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, etc. That they used to put a little alum in their river water when foul, to clear it for use, and by that means made it 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 wagons, 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.
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 twenty-five 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 meantime 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 seaports 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 there was no harm in it, for strangers liked the false tea as well, or better, than the true; and that it was impossible to load with true tea all the ships that came for it ; China could not furnish such a quantity ; and, if the demand went on increasing as it had done some years past, all the leaves of all the trees in the country would not be sufficient to answer it. This tea was sold cheap, as he understood twenty catty of it (a catty is near one pound) for about an ounce of silver. They did not drink it themselves, but said it was not unwholesome, if drunk moderately.
That after some time he set out in the train of seven merchants for Canton, with a passport from the mandarin, going partly by land, but chiefly by water in canals. That they stopt a week in a part of the country where a great deal of China ware is made; that many farmers had little furnaces in some out-house, where they worked at leisure times, and made, some nothing but tea-cups, others nothing but saucers, etc., which they sold to country shopkeepers, who collected quantities for the merchants. The ware is there very cheap. He could have bought a dozen pretty cups and saucers for as much silver as is in an English half-crown.
He says it is not true, that they have large wheel carriages in China driven by the wind ; at least he never saw or heard of any such ; but that the wheel-barrow porters indeed, when passing some great open countries, do sometimes, if the wind is fair, spread a thin cotton sail, supported by a light bamboo mast, which they stick up on their wheel-barrows, and it helps them along. That he once saw a fleet of near three hundred sail of those wheel-barrows, each with a double wheel. That, when he arrived at Canton, he did not make himself known to the English there, but got down as soon as he could to Macao, hoping to meet with his Portuguese captain ; but he had never returned. That he worked there in rigging of vessels, till he had an opportunity of coming home to Europe ; and, hearing on his arrival here, from an old comrade in the packet, that his sweetheart is married, and that the 'Resolution' and 'Endeavor' got home, he shall decline going to England yet awhile, fearing he may be punished for carrying off the boat; therefore he has shipped himself, as I wrote you before, on a voyage to America. He was between three and four years in China. This is the substance of what I got from him, and nearly as he related it. He gave me the names of some places, but I found them hard to remember, and cannot recollect them.