974 ANNUAL REGISTEll, 1804. 



Iu6lance, dreading his highness's dis- 

 pleasure. The poor fellow hap- 

 pened to have a gold watch about 

 him, which he was desired to shew ; 

 and the same day he had a visit from 

 one of the prince's domestics, to say, 

 that his master would do him the 

 honour to accept his watch ; which 

 he Avas not only under the necessity 

 of sending, but was obliged to thank 

 him on his knees, for this extraor- 

 dinary mark of distinrtion. He told 

 me, moreover, that this same gen- 

 tleman had at least a dozen watches, 

 "ivhich had been procured in the ?aine 

 honourably way. 



'•• In the list of presents carried 

 by the late Dutch embassador, were 

 two grand pieces of machinery, that 

 formerly were a part of the curious 

 Kiuseum of the ingenious Mr. Coxe. 

 In the course of the long journey 

 from Canton to Pekin they had suf- 

 fered some slight damage. On leav. 

 ing the capital, they discovered, 

 through one of the missionaries, that 

 while these pieces were under re- 

 pair, the prime minister. llo-tcJiaiig- 

 tong^ had substituted two others of 

 a very inferior and common sort to 

 complete the list, reserving the two 

 grand pieces of clock-work for him- 

 self, which, at some future period, 

 te would perhaps take the merit of 

 presenting to the emperor in his 

 own name. 



'• These examples but too clearly 

 illustrate the great defeft in the 

 boasted moral character of the Chi- 

 nese. But the fault, as I before 

 observed, seems to be more in the 

 system of government than iu the 

 nature and disposition of the peo- 

 ple. The accession of a foreign 

 power to the throne, by adopting 

 the language, the laws, and the 



customs of the conquered, has pre- 

 served with the forms all the abuses 

 of the ancient government. The 

 character of the governors may dif- 

 fer a little, but that of the governed 

 remains unchanged. The Tartars, 

 by assuming the dress, the manners, 

 and the habits of the Chinese, by 

 being originally descended from the 

 same stock, and by a great resem- 

 blance of features, arc scarcely 

 distinguished from them in their ex- 

 ternal appearance. And if any phy- 

 sical difference exist, it seems to be 

 in stature only, which may have 

 arisen from local causes. The Chi- 

 nese ape rather taller, and of a more 

 slender, and delicate form than the 

 Tartars, who are in general short, 

 thick, and robust. The small eye, 

 elliptical at the end next to the nose, 

 is a predominating feature in the 

 cast of both the Tartar and the Clii* 

 nese countenance, and they have 

 both the same high cheek bones and 

 pointed chins, which, with the cus- 

 tom of shaving off the hair, gives io 

 the head the shape of an inverted 

 cone, remarkable enough in some 

 subje6ts, but neither so general, 

 nor so singular, as to warrant their 

 being considered among the monsters 

 m nature, homo monstrosus, w«- 

 crocephalus. cupite conico^ Chhwnsis.* 

 The head of our worthy conductor 

 Van-fa-gi/i, who was a real Chinese, 

 had nothing in its shape different 

 from that of an European, except 

 the eye. The portrait of this gen- 

 tleman, drawn by Mr. Ilickey, is 

 so strong a likeness, and he was 

 deservedly so great a favorite of 

 every Englishman in the train of the 

 British embassador, that I am hap- 

 py in having an opportunity of 

 placing it at the head of this work. 



I-inti. Systema Naturae. 



" The 



