Early Relations between the United States and China. 91 



their coming, gave them every assistance. Abeel took up his 

 duties as chaplain both to the American residents and the foreign 

 seamen, in Canton, and was kept too busy for language study 

 or for work among the natives. 34 He preached in the large room 

 of the factory where he resided, and when occasion offered, on 

 the ships in the harbor at Whampoa. 35 In December he closed 

 his year s work and left for Batavia on a tour of investigation 

 for the American Board. Bridgman spent the year mostly in 

 language study, but he found time for teaching a few boys, 

 and for preaching and correspondence. By the end of the year 

 he had also prepared some Scripture lessons in Chinese. 30 



Most of 1831 passed without event. Bridgman and his little 

 school spent the summer at Macao. 37 A press was sent out in the 

 latter part of the year by Olyphant s church in New York, 38 and 

 on its arrival and at the suggestion of Morrison and others, 

 Bridgman determined to start a periodical. 39 This, the Chinese 

 Repository, was as its title suggests, begun for the spread among 

 foreigners of information concerning China, its laws, customs, 



dence in China and the Neighboring Countries, New York, 1836, pp. 61-74. 

 Correspondence of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 

 Missions, Mss. in their Library in Boston. Letter of Bridgman to Jer h 

 Evarts, Mar. 5, 1830. The date on the letter is Feb. 5, but other docu 

 ments prove this to have been a slip of the pen. 



34 Abeel, Residence in China, p. 105. 



33 Ibid., pp. 105-106, and 3d Annual Rep. of Am. Seaman s Friend 

 Soc., p. 3. 



36 Correspondence of the A. B. C. F. M., in China, Nos. 21, 35, 37, 41. 

 (Letters and Journal of Bridgman.) Abeel, Residence in China, p. 151. 

 The Life and Labors of Elijah Coleman Bridgman, edited by Eliza J. 

 Gillett Bridgman with an introductory note by Asa D. Smith. New 

 York, 1864, pp. 43-57. 



37 Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, 1831-7, No. 44. Bridgman to 

 Evarts, June 13, 1831. 



38 Morrison had wished a press sent out with the American mission in 

 the first place. Letter from him in Missny. Herald, 26 : 366. Frederick 

 Wells Williams, The Life and Letters of Samuel Wells Williams, LL.D., 

 Missionary, Diplomatist, Sinologue, New York, 1889. Letter of Wil 

 liams, p. 78. The press arrived in December, 1831, and the type came 

 months later. Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, Nos. 53, 60, letters of 

 Bridgman, Dec. 30, 1831, and Apr. 18, 1832. 



39 Corres. of A. B. C. F. M., China, No. 60, and Bridgman, Life and 

 Letters of Bridgman, p. 74. 



