Chap. I. 
Captain George Sheivocke. 
European , contrary to my Knowledge, then confined to 
my Bed. My Officers were engaging the Indian Gentle- 
men in their Intereft, and had left my Son; with a few Ne* 
groes, to look after my Ship, and defend my Effects, which 
I thought on the Brink of falling into the bottomlefs Pit of 
Chinefe Avarice. In fhort, the Ship’s Company had fo many 
Ways of dilpoffng of their Effeds, that it was impoffible to 
oblige them to do what I fhould have thought Juftice to the 
Gentlemen in England. In few Words, they were all foon 
recovered of their Illnefs, by the Affiftance they met with, 
and were become their own Mailers. There were no Ma- 
giflrates to appeal to on fir ore, that would have done 
me fo much Service, as to have obliged them to keep to 
their own Ship ; and my Brother Officers, commanding the 
Englijh Ships, could not, through Fear of a Mifreprefenta- 
tion of their Adions to the India Company by their Super- 
cargoes, afford me fuch an Help, as, perhaps, they would 
have been inclined to, through a Senfe of their Duty. But 
the Gentlemen, who prefided over the Trade, fo little re- 
garded it, . that they had a mind to refufe me a Paffage in 
one of their Ships ; and, in Effed, I was treated by them, 
as one Enemy would treat another in a neutral Port ; for as 
fuch they looked upon me, for offering to come within the 
Eaft India Company’s Limits, without confidering the Ne- 
ceffities that forced me to commit that Trefpafs. 
The Captains Hill and Newfham , when they came to fee 
me, were aftonifhed at the ruinous Appearance of my Ship, 
and could fcarce think it was poffible fhe fhould have un- 
dertaken fo long a Stretch. The Rottennefs of our Cord- 
age, and the Raggednefs of our Sails, filled them with Ad- 
miration and Pity of my Condition ; infomuch that, at 
their firft Yifit, when I had given them a fhort Hiftory of 
my Voyage, and defired they would receive my Officers 
and Ship’s Company, with their Effeds, they anfwered, 
That, fince they plainly faw my Ship was in no Condition 
to ftir any farther, upon Payment of our Paffages, they 
would entertain us, as foon as we pleafed. This I depended 
upon, and expeded no further Trouble, than to remove 
ourfelves at any time ; but I found that I had, through Ig- 
norance, applied to the wrong Perfons •, for the Supercar- 
goes were angry, that I had not fent to them, who, when 
afhore, are the chief Men, tho’ they are only Paffengers 
when aboard ; fo that I was quite negleded, and the Englijh 
Captains ordered to fall down with their Ships five or fix 
Miles below us. Thus was I left destitute, in the Company 
of five foreign Ships, who, feeing that my own Country- 
men were fo carelefs of me, were fo kind as to offer me 
their Service, and affiffed me with what they could : And 
had it not been for them, I do not know but that I might 
have fuffered to the laft degree •, for I was under perpetual 
Apprehenfions, that the Chinefe had a Defign to feize my 
Ship. When the Murder of the Cuftom-houfe Officer was, 
in a manner, forgot, there was an outrageous Adion com- 
mitted by what they call a Little Mandarin , who, at the 
Beginning or thefe Troubles, had Warrants given him to 
take all the Englijlo he fhould meet; which he negleded, till 
all was over : But, pafling by the European Fadories, he 
ordered his Attendants to feize on all the Englijh they’ faw 
m the Shops thereabouts ; and accordingly they took nine 
or ten, as well French as Englijh , and carried them away, 
with Halters about their Necks, to the Chant ock' s or Vice- 
roy s Palace in the City. Upon this, there was Application 
made to the Hoppo -, who reprefented Matters to the Chan- 
tock in favour of the injured Europeans : Upon which, the 
Mandarin, who was guilty of this Violence, was fent’ for- 
and he, being unable to vindicate himfelf, was degraded from 
his Poft, bamboo’d, which is a fevere Punifhment ufed in 
moft of the Eaftern Governments, and rendered incapable 
or acting again and the Europeans diredly difchar°ed. 
However, in the mean time, the EnglijJj feem to me to be 
tyrannized over by the Chinefe , and expofed to the Caprices 
of every Magiftrate ; which made me the more urgent to 
be on board one of the European Ships : And, as I had now 
difcovered my Miftake in addreffmg the Captains, which 
had difgufted the Supercargoes, I fent a Letter to them, 
not to defire, but to demand, a PafLge for me, my Officers, 
and Ship s Company ; which, I was fenfible, they could not 
refufe : And indeed they did not ; but their Condefcenfion 
was accompanied with a Charge to the India Captains, not 
Numb. 16. 
to receive any thing belonging to us, except it was configned 
to the Eafl India Company in England . I wasnow informed 
of the Hoppo' s Demand for Anchorage in the River. I had 
been long in Sufpenfe upon that Head, and all along appre- 
hended, that I fhould have fome extravagant Exadion hn- 
pofed upon me : And indeed fb it happened ; for they de- 
manded 6000 Label-, and, to quicken me in the Payment 
of it, and to fhew me they were in Earneft, there was a 
Penalty annexed to this Extortion, of 500 additional Label, 
for every Day we failed in the Payment. In fhort, there 
was no means by which I could evade this unconfcionable 
Impofition. In vain I fhewed the Hoppo my Commiffion, 
which was alfo read in the Chinefe Tongue to him ; and 
to as little Purpofe did I alfo remonftrate, that I came 
with no other Defign, than to obtain a Paffage home in one 
of our Country Ships, my own being incapable of going 
farther. It was infilled upon, though it was but a Day be- 
fore I could poffibly fend that Sum up, I fhould add ^00 
Label for Neglect of Payment ; fb that they received from 
me 6500 Label , 2166/. io } s. 4 d. Sterling; which was 
about fix times as much as the Cadogan paid, which was the 
largefl Englifh Ship there, and meafured a third more than 
mine. I foon after fold her for 2000 Label-, which Money, 
and the reft of my Effeds, were configned to the India 
Company : And I prevailed with mofl of my Officers and 
Ship s Company to take their Paffages in the Englifo home- 
ward-bound Ships. 
It cannot be expeded, confidering the fhort Stay I made 
here, the bad State of Health I was in, and the Troubles I 
met with during that [Space, I fay, thele Circumftances 
being confidered, it cannot be expeded, that I fhould be 
able to give any tolerable Account of this Place, from my 
own Obfervation ; and, to copy others, would be inconfift- 
ent with the Defign of this Work. I fhall content myfelf 
therefore with obferving, that, at the time I was there, the 
Englifh had no fettled Fadory at Canton , but were only per- 
mitted to hire large Houfes, or, as they are called in the 
Language of the Country, Hongs , with convenient Ware- 
houfes adjoining, to receive their Goods before they are 
fhipped off ; and, when this is done, they pay the Proprie- 
tors their Rent, and take other Warehoufes, if they think 
proper, the next time they have Occafion for them. The 
Bufinefs I had to tranfad kept me, notwithflanding the 
utmofl Diligence I could ufe, in a conflant Hurry, till the 
Ships were ready to depart, which was in December 1721 ; 
at which time, heartily tired of the Country, and the Ufage 
I had met with, I failed in the Cadogan , Captain John Hill, 
in Company with the Francis , Captain Newfham , who, 
failing better than we did, left us as foon as we got out to 
Sea. Captain Hill, finding his Ship very tender, put into 
Batavia , to bring her into a better Trim. At Batavia we 
continued about ten Days ; but I can give no particular De- 
fcription of this Place, being, at that time, not able to fland 
on my Legs, and was abroad but twice in a Coach to take 
the Air two or three Miles out of the City ; in which little 
Tour we had a great Variety of very beautiful Profpeds of 
fine Country-feats and Gardens : And indeed every thing 
round us carried a Shew of the greateft Induftry. As to 
the City icfelf, the Buildings are, in general, very hand- 
some, which form very regular Streets, having Canals 
running through moll of them, with Trees planted on each 
Side of them ; fo that this City may be juftly called a fine 
Place. But, I confefs, the Sight is the only Senfe that is 
gratified here ; for, when the Tide is low in the Canals, 
they fmell very offenfively, and breed great Numbers of 
Mufkitoes ; which are more troublefome here, than ever I 
felt them in any other Part of the World. A great Part of 
the Inhabitants of Batavia are Chinefe , who are remarkable 
there for wearing their antient Chinefe Drefs, with their 
Hair rolled up in fuch a manner, that there is no great Dif- 
ference between the Mens Appearance and the Womens : 
Ever fince the Revolution in China , the Lartarian Drefs 
has been impofed upon the whole Kingdom, which was not 
effected without great Bloodfhed ; for many of the Chinefe 
were fo fuperftitioufiy fond of their old Modes, that they 
unaccountably chofe the Lofs of Life, .rather than the Lois 
of their LI air, it being the 2 artarian Cuflom to fhave their 
Heads all over, except the Crown, from whence hangs a 
long Lock, which they plat in much fuch a manner as we 
3 ? do 
