38 
EARLY EUROPEAN RESEARCHES 
conclude, that C. went from Chusan to Amoy in 1703,. We 
know from the “ New account of the Bast Indies” published 
in 1723 by Capt. Hamilton, that the factory at Chusan was 
commenced by the E. I. Company in 1700 and abandoned 
by the chief supercargo Mr. Catchpole in 1703 by reason of 
the exactions of the Chinese government and the Company’s 
neglecting to send money. 
Cunningham’s let.ters on china. 
The first of these letters bears no date. It seems to have been 
written in October 1701 (but perhaps in 1700). It reads 
as follows : 
Sir ! My last to you was from the island of Borneo, in which 
I gave you an account of our arrival there the 17th July, 
where we staid but two days, the season of the year being so 
far past, and from thence made the best of our way through 
the Strait of Banca with favourable winds and weather, till 
we came on the coast of China the 13th of August. There 
we had variable winds which carried us abreast of JEJmuy the 
19th following, at which time the north east winds setting 
in fresh, put us in, great fears of losing ottr passage: where¬ 
upon we were forced to turn it up against wind and current 
all the way, the weather so favouring us, that we were never 
but by our topsails, else we should have lost more ground in 
one day, than we could have gained in eight. The last of 
August we came to an anchor under the Crocodile islands both 
to shelter us from the bad weather and also to look for fresh 
water, not having recruited since we came from the Cape of 
Gr. H. There are three small islands lying in the latitude of 
26 degrees, about 6 leagues from the river of Hochsieu ; on 
two whereof we found very good fresh water with a convenient 
watering place on the south west side of the innermost of the 
three*. By, the assistance of a few Chinese fishermen we 
procured some fresh provisions from the mainland, because 
we did not reckon it safe to adventure ourselves thither, lest 
we should have been brought into trouble by the government 
there. While we lay here, on the 6th of September, we had a 
sudden short shift of the monsoon to south-west, the fnry 
whereof others felt, in coming jipon the coast of China at the 
* There can be no doubt, that C.’s Crocodile islands are the Bogs 
islands of modern maps, south east of the mouth of the Min river on 
which Fu chon (or Hok chiu in the local dialect) ig situated. 
