ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



963 



tathed. However lightly these gen- 

 tlemen may chuse to treat this hu- 

 miliating; chastisement, to which all 

 are liable, from the prime minister 

 to the peasant, it is but too often 

 indicted in the anger and by the ca- 

 price of a man in office, and fre- 

 quently with circumstances of un- 

 warrantable cruelty and injustice. 

 In our return down the Pci-ho, the 

 water being considerably shallower 

 than when we first sailed up this 

 river, one of our accommodation 

 barges got aground in the middle of 

 the night. The air was piercing 

 cold, and the poor creatures be- 

 longing to the vessel were busy un- 

 til sun-rise in the midst of the river, 

 using their endeavours to get her 

 oft". The rest of the fleet had pro- 

 ceeded, and the patience of the su- 

 perintending officer at length being 

 exhausted, he ordered his soldiers 

 to flog the captain and the whole 

 crew, M'hich was done in a most 

 nnmcrciful manner ; and this was 

 their only reward for the use of the 

 yacht, their time, and labour for 

 two days. The instance of degrad- 

 ing an officer and flogging all his 

 people, because the meat brought 

 for our use was a little tainted, 

 when the temperature was at 88° in 

 the shade, I have already had occa- 

 sion to notice. 



" Whenever the wind was con- 

 trary, or it was found necessary to 

 track the vessels against the stream, 

 a number of men were employed for 

 this purpose. The poor creatures 

 were always pressed into this disa- 

 greeable and laborious service, for 

 which they were to receive about 

 six-pence a day so long as they 

 tracked, without any allowance 

 being made io them for retiirniug 

 to the j)lare from whence they were 

 forced. These people knowing the 



difficulty there was of getting others 

 to supply their places, and that 

 their service would be required un- 

 til such should be procured, gene- 

 rally deserted by night, disregard- 

 ing their pay. In order to procure 

 others, the officers dispatched the 

 soldiers to the nearest village, tak- 

 ing the inhabitants by surprise, and 

 forcing them out of their beds to 

 join the yachts. Scarcely a night 

 occurred in which some poor 

 wretches did not sufler the lashes 

 of the soldiers for attempting to 

 escape, or for pleading the excuse 

 of old age, or infirmity. It was 

 painful to behold the deplorable 

 condition of some of these crea- 

 tures. Several were half-naked, 

 and appeared to be wasting and lan- 

 guishing for want of food. Yet the 

 task of dragging along the vessels 

 was far from being light. Sometimes 

 they were under the necessity of 

 wading to the middle in mud ; some- 

 times to swim across creeks, and 

 immediately afterwards to expose 

 their naked bodies to a scorching 

 sun ; and they were always driven 

 by a soldier, or the lictorofsome 

 petty police officer, carrying in his 

 hand an enormous whip, with which 

 he lashed them with as little reluc- 

 tance, as if they had been a team of 

 horses. 



" The Dutch embassy proceeded by 

 land to the capital, in the midst of 

 winter, when the rivers and canals 

 were frozen. The thermometer was 

 frequently from 8 to 16 degrees be- 

 low the freezing point, and the face, 

 of the country was mostly covered 

 with ice and snow ; yet they were 

 often under the necessity of travel- 

 ling all night ; and the peasantry, 

 who were pressed to carry the pre. 

 sents and their baggage, notwith- 

 standing their heavy loads, wcro 

 3 Q 2 obliged 



