144 Notice of a Chinese Geographical work. [Feb. 



on their foreheads. They learnt the language of the country in a seclud- 

 ed spot. Others joined these and they commenced plundering. The 

 multitude called them Wai nu. They afterwards, being overcome, re- 

 turned to their own nation, eighteen men in number, and were punished 

 by the king according to the law. From that time to the present, their 

 ships have been forbidden to come to the Central Nation : and although 

 we go to their country, they dare not come to ours. In the history of 

 Wai* an account of these eighteen persons is given at large. 



Proceeding from Pho th6 to Cheang ki, you cross the sea of Wang 

 gang, in a direction from east to west. The wind raises vast and dan- 

 gerous waves. There is an adage that " Yi pan hath good things, but 

 Wu tao is hard to pass." 



Proceeding from Hea man to Chang khi, with the south monsoon, 

 you sight Ki lung shdn,"f on the island Thai wdn.% Going north to 

 Mi khong gang and Ileong thin y6ng, you again sight the great hill of 

 Sd tsi md t and Thin thdng. The course is parallel with the needle. 

 As for the two seas called Hong gang and Them gang, the first, in the 

 midst, resembles chaff [in colour?], and the latter resembles mushrooms. 

 Hence they are called the Sea of rice-chaff [Mi khong ydng\ and Hong 

 thin gang, the Sea of mushroons. To the south of Sa tsi ma is Liu 

 khiu. It lies on the rhumb ycet^ and is distant sixty-eight keng. The 

 natives of the interior practise the literature of the Central Nation. 

 The people are weak and the kingdom poor. They produce copper- 

 vessels, paper, sea-shells, indigo, and tortoise-shell, but have nothing 

 else to give in exchange for clothing and necessaries for the inhabitants. 

 The tribute passes through Fu chiu. These people have long been 

 known and seen, and it is unnecessary to describe them more fully here. 

 Liu khiu lies to the south of Yi pan. All the waters flow to the 

 eastward. Chang foi'|| hath said that water once covered Mi Ice, but 

 at what time is unknown ; and Chang tsi never lies !" 



The third chapter gives an account of Formosa, and is entitled 



* Japan. 



f The most northerly cape of the island of Formosa. 



% Formosa. 



§ East 15o South. 



|| The name of a Chinese sage. 



