384 



Proceedings of Societies 



[Oct . 



the different idioms which are spoken by the people of Japan 14 who 

 inhabit the coasts of that Empire ; for acquiring a knowledge of the 

 Island of Quelport, • ' which, from its local situation, is of as much 

 importance to those who wish to carry on a trade with Japan and 

 Corea, as the Island of Singapore is to those who wish to carry 

 on a trade with Siam and Cochin-China, on the one side, and 

 all the islands of the Eastern Archipelago on the other ; for having 

 translations! 6 made from the Dutch into English of all the papers 

 in the Dutch records of Ceylon, Cochin, Negapatnam, and Malac- 

 ca, which throw any light upon the history of the islands in the 

 Eastern Archipelago, and upon the trade which was, and is still, carried 

 on between the Dutch settlements and those islands ; and for obtain- 

 ing from Mr. Earl, 1 7 a gentleman whose observations as to these is- 

 lands, and the policy which the British Government ought to observe 

 with respect to their inhabitants, are of so much value, the informati- 



gnage, at Canton, -with portraits, maps, and diagiams. Sir Alexander Johnston, having 

 submitted his paper on the Practice of Medicine by the Chinese to Sir Heary Halford, 

 who, notwithstanding his extensive practice, devotes much of his attention to inquiries 

 in every part of the world, connected with the knowledge of his profession, has for- 

 warded from him to the Rev. IMr. Gutzlaff, a set of queries, which are calculated to elicit 

 from the Chinese medical men, such further information as may be interesting to the 

 medical men of this country. 



1 4 He has recently sent to Sir Alexander Johnston, a vocabulary of the idioms of 

 the language spoken by the Japanese who inhabit the coasts of Japan, which he com. 

 piled from the information he receive! from four Japan mariners, who, after having 

 been wrecked in the Chinese Seas, were brought to Macao, and resided with him at that 

 place for some time. 



I 5 It is believed that the Government of the United States are fully aware of th© 

 commercial importance of the local situation of this island. The plan which they, and 

 the Government of France have adopted, of sending their ships of war on frequent 

 cruises through the Eastern Archipelago and the Chinese Seas for the purpose of mak- 

 ing the inhabitants of these seas aware of their maritime power, and for that of acquir- 

 ing local information respecting all the islands in those seas, and all the coasts of China 

 bordeiinc^ on them, has enabled those two governments, particularly the former, to ac" 

 quire such a knowledge of these seas as may be of the greatest importance to them 

 in a political and com.mercial point of view. 



\6 Sir Alexander Johnston, while President of His Majesty's Council in Ceylon 

 had most of these documents, and most of the Dutch works upon the same subject, 

 translated from the Dutch into the English language for his own information ; and 

 he is at present collecting them in order that he may present them to the Society. 



1 7 This gentleman, some time ago, wrote, at the request of Sir Alexander Johns- 

 ton, the papers relative to Borneo which have been published in the Society's Jour- 

 nal ; and it is to be hoped that he will be employed in some situation in which he 

 will have an opportunity of carrying on, with facility, those researches respecting the 

 islands in the Eastern Archipelago, and the utility of establishing an English Colony^ 

 on the Northern part of Australasia, for which he is so peculiarly well salculated, by 

 his acc^uirements, hiis character, and his zeal, 



