410 Mr. Davids Extracts from the Peking Gazette. 



XXX. Wreck of two Vessels from Loo-choo, or Lew-kew, near the Coast 



of Che-keang. 



8th moon, 28th day (20th October). 



" Shwae-ching-ying, deputy viceroy of Che-keang province, kneeling 

 presents to his Majesty this address concerning the compassionate treat- 

 ment of some unfortunate foreigners, natives of Lew-kexe, who have been 

 wrecked. As by law directed, he respectfully submits all the circumstances 

 of the case, and humbly entreats the Imperial attention. 



" On the coast of this province foreigners in their vessels are occasionally 

 driven by the winds ; and in tiie event of their being foreigners of Lew-kew, 

 it is by law and custom provided tliat tiiey be sent to Fiih-keen province, 

 and when a convenient opportunity occurs transported back to their owm 

 country. Liih-yu, the acting magistrate of Yu-hxvan* district, has reported 

 that on the 11th of the seventli moon the military commandant of Yu-hwan 

 had sent to him six unfortunate natives of Lew-kew. The said magistrate 

 inspected them, and found that they had long hair, tied in a knot on the 

 top of the head,t and that they wore long flowing garments : their speech 

 was unintelligible. Among them was an individual who understood the 

 Chinese character, and he being furnished with paper and a pencil was 

 desired to write. He then wrote ' that they were people from Na-pafoo t 

 in Lew-kew ; that the number of persons in the vessel was six ; that on the 

 28th of the sixth moon they sailed from Pa-chung-shan, an island belonging 

 to their country, with a cargo of four hundred bags of grain, and meeting 

 immediately with a hurricane which carried away their masts, their vessel 

 became water-logged, and they were compelled to throw overboard the. 

 larger half of their cargo. Being tossed about at sea, they were at length, 

 on the 8th of the seventh moon, taken on board by a cruizing vessel of war,' 

 &c. It was farther ascertained by the magistrate, that the quantity of grain 

 remaining in the vessel amounted to one hundred and seventy-seven bags, 

 of which sixty-one bags were damaged by wet. There were, besides, four 

 small bamboo boxes, containing various articles of food and of domestic 

 use : no prohibited goods were discovered. The six distressed foreigners 



* An island close to the coast of Che-keang. 



t See Plate XIII, No. 5. 



% The capital, called nearly by the same name in Captain Hall's Voyage to Loo Choo. 



