408 Mr. Davis's Extracts from the Peking Gazette. 



district officers, that the master of the vessel had all his family and his 

 property embarked in her ; and the vessel and cargo being now burnt, his 

 situation is distressful and embarrassed. As the event proceeded from 

 causes which no care or foresight could prevent, and as the means of the 

 master are not equal to making good the vessel and cargo at once, the 

 Imperial goodness is petitioned, as a mark of tender compassion, to allow 

 him to commence from the winter of the present year, and in the course of 

 three years make good tlie grain destroyed. Besides addressing the Revenue 

 Board on the subject, I most respectfully present tliis address." 



XXVIII. Plundering inroads of Hassacls, or Cossacks, on the Russian 

 Frontier. — Imperial edict. 



7th moon, 11th day (5th August). 



" An address has been received from Ah-tse-heang-ah, stating tliat some 

 (Ha-sa-kih) Hassacks, headed by Chen-tae-le, had made an inroad through 

 one of the passes on the frontier of Ko-poo-to*, and carried off a number of 

 cattle, having attacked and wounded the herdsman. The officer, Cha-kih- 

 sang-ah, being despatclied after the plunderers, had returned from the pass 

 of Hunnj-ma-e-la-hoo without any of them being seized, &c. he. 



" The Hassacks being near the pass of Ta-urh-pa-ha-tae, which adjoins 

 the Russian boundaries, the seizure of these robbers is of the utmost im- 

 portance. Of late the Hassacks have every year made plundering inroads. 

 It is necessary that they be seized and rigidly dealt with, in order to strike 

 awe into foreigners and make manifest the nation's laws t. How happened 

 it that the officer who was sent to seize the plunderers allowed such a length 

 of time to elapse without apprehending even one of them ? His remissness 

 has been excessive. The commandant states that another officer, Ta^la?ig-ah, 

 has since been despatched to exert himself in apprehending the offenders. 

 Let Chd-kth-sang-ah be still kept at Hivvy-ma-e-la-hoo, to exert himself with 

 the utmost diligence in seeking for the plunderers. Should he again make 

 evasive excuses he will be severely punished. When it is discovered through 



* Chinese territory on the Russian frontier, between 85° and 95° long. 

 \ For the Chinese characters. See Plate XIII. No. 4. 



