ARTICLE il. 



1. Letter from the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff to John Vaughan, Esq., on the Chinese 

 System of Writing. Read June 2lst, 1839. 



Macao, January 2d, 1839. 



Dear Sir, 



I am very much obliged for your valuable present of Mr. Duponceau's 

 Dissertation. Will you condescend to receive, for the library of your Society, 

 the four books and five classics in Chinese. I have also requested Mr. Tracey, 

 at Singapore, to forward to you, of all my Chinese works, both scientific as 

 well as religious, a copy, with the contents noted at the covers in English. 



Not making, myself, any pretensions to learning, the grand object of my life 

 has been practical usefulness. Providence having brought me in contact with 

 all the nations that have adopted the Chinese character, I merely wish to com- 

 municate the result of experience, without bias. 



1st. China was the great focus of civilization, from whence it diverged to all 

 the countries of Eastern Asia at a very early period of our era. The southern 

 parts of the empire were completely overrun by Chinese colonists, the abori- 

 gines driven into the mountains, and the country itself, including Tunkin and 

 Annam, (though now for many centuries independent,) incorporated with the 

 central kingdom. A constant influx took place into Corea, but the Chinese 

 emigrants were less numerous in Japan and the Loo-Choo islands. 



2d. The natives of those countries were as rude as the Germanic tribes 

 when the Romans first invaded their forests, devoid even of the art of writing. 



