426 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



bamboo watch-houses or sheds, 

 where those engaged in this duty 

 resided ; and, as we wandered 

 about, handed us over from one 

 post to another. In these houses 

 they always pressed the officers to 

 partake of their fare, which was 

 often very good, especially a kind 

 of hung beef which they have the 

 art of curing extremely well. 



They appeared to be much ac- 

 customed to these pic-nic sort of 

 parties, having a small japanned 

 box, containing sliding drawers 

 for the various viands, which a 

 boy generally carried, on the end 

 of a bamboo, to any part of the 

 fields where they thought proper 

 to dine. 



One man, very often accompa- 

 nied by Geroo, or (as he was 

 sometimes termed, from having a 

 constant smile upon his counte- 

 nance) the laughing mandarin, 

 seemed to curry about with him 

 a constant supply of these refresh- 

 ments, and chazzi, a liqueur, which 

 led us to believe that he had been 

 deputed for the express purpose of 

 paying attention to our officers. 



The sudden vicissitudes of wea- 

 ther to which we had been exposed, 

 by leaving England during extreme 

 cold, and passing suddenly into the 

 torrid zone ; then immediately af- 

 terwards into the cold raw climate 

 of the southern Atlantic j meeting 

 with heat again at the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; tlien crossing in rather a 

 high latitude the chilly Southern 

 Ocean ; and, quickly following 

 that appearing on the burning 

 coast of Java ; riight, in fact, be 

 said to have exposed us, in the 

 short period of four months, to 

 the effects of three summers and 

 three winters ; and proved as 

 might naturally be supposed, ex- 



tremely trying to the health of the 

 men. On our arrival at Lewchew, 

 our cases of sickness, though not 

 numerous, were severe ; and to 

 the kindness of the natives may, 

 in a great measure, be attributed 

 their recovery. They were not 

 only comfortably lodged, but 

 the higher class of people daily 

 attended, inquiring into their 

 wants, giving additional coogas or 

 eggs, and other delicacies, to those 

 whose cases more particularly re- 

 quired them, and'paying a cheer- 

 ing attention to the whole ; for 

 theirs was a substantial, not a cold 

 or ostentatious charity. 



Captain Maxwell, in riding one 

 morning to inspect the progress 

 of the artificers, by the stumbling 

 of his horse, which fell among 

 the rocks, not only fractiu'ed the 

 bone, but badly dislocated the 

 joint of his fore-finger. Some of 

 his Lewchewan friends, who were 

 near him, ran to the next village 

 for one of their surgical profes- 

 sors. He soon arrived, and, after 

 much salutation, proceeded to 

 examine the injury, (the disloca- 

 tion had in the interim been re- 

 duced by the coxswain pulling 

 upon it,) and stated that he would 

 come on board the ship, whither 

 the captain was then proceeding, 

 in an hour, with tlie applications 

 he thought necessary for it. At 

 the time appointed, one of the 

 chiefs, with this surgeon, and 

 another more in the character of 

 a physician, and their retinue, 

 some of them bearing a medicine- 

 chest, made their appearance 

 alongside. The injury being again 

 examined, (and it having been 

 previously decided that they were 

 to have the management of the 

 cure, under surveillance, in order 



to 



