2 
[No. 1, 
H. B. Hyde —Note on a Chinese inscribed slab. 
discovered at a depth of about 2f feet. These graves, he said, lay side 
by side, and were covered by large square tiles of great thickness, and 
upon these tiles were lying a number of flat stones. The Chaplain 
ordered all to be covered up at once, but one of the flat stones being 
displaced was removed to the place where the inscribed slab recently 
was found. A flower bed being about that time made around the Speke 
monument, the stone was buried where it lay, to get rid of it. No one 
at the time took any particular notice of the stone, and certainly the 
existence of an inscription upon it was unsuspected. He says that the 
slab now unearthed was the one then buried. 
The face of the stone still retains the remains of an original high 
polish, and upon this has been incised with a chisel an inscription of 
about 270 Chinese characters, arranged, as it were, in two pages or two 
series of columns. Of this inscription the following translation has been 
made by Mr. E. F. Taylor, Commissioner of Customs at Shanghai, and 
at present with the Chinese Commission at Darjeeling. 
It shows that the slab must have been the Foundation stone of a 
fort erected by the Mancliu Tartars on the Island of Chusan while 
they were subduing the Chinese of the Ningpo District. 
“ Record (of the building) of the coiled dragon and crouching tiger 
fortification :— 
“ In the 8th year of the 1st Emperor (Shunchih) of the Ching 
(present Mancliu) dynasty (i,e., about 1652 A. D.), the Imperial troops 
marched to the conquest of Weng Chon, and in the first battle Juan Chin 
(probably the Chinese chief or general of the district) was captured. In 
the second engagement the city of Chon (on the island of Chusan) was 
reduced. At that time our ships were in such numbers that they spread 
to the horizon, and our banners obscured the sky. The Gfovernor Ch’en 
[leading the Mancliu troops] with Ku-sai 1 Chin and Liu, Beileh 2 wu, 
Marshal T’ien and General Chang, having offered oblations of wine on 
the shore, ascended the two hills and gazed around them ; when H. E. 
Ch’en said—‘ This is a remarkable spot specially designed by heaven ; 
4 how unlucky for our foe that he did not observe its advantages. Had 
‘he posted troops in ambush on these two hills, and defended them on 
‘ every side with big guns, our soldiers, though brave, could never have 
‘ passed over. But we must profit by the experience of his disaster. 
‘ The whole conditions of the locality mark it out as a place to be 
‘ defended with fortifications and guns in position.’ H. E. Cli’en then 
turning to Chang said: ‘You must draw up the necessary plans.’ 
1 Manchu title. (?) ‘Guardians of the passes.’ 
S Manchu title. 
