l^A P . feeling, and minuteness. The se descriptions, th o u g h th e y h a re been
— ^ a little overdrawn from th e impulse o f grateful recollections, from th e
is??, igio™''®® in " 'h ich tb e a uthors were k e p t by th e cautious inhabitants,
an d from tb e ir desire to avoid giving offence, by pushing th e ir inquiries
as far as was necessary to enable th em to form a correct ju d gm en t
upo n many things, are, upon th e «'hole, very complete representations
o f th e people.
T h e supposition th a t th e in h ab itan ts o f Loo Choo possessed no
weapons, offensive or otherivise, n a tu ra lly excited surprise in England,
a n d th e circumstance became one o f our ch ie f objects o f inquiry. I
c annot say th e re su lt o f th e investigation was as satisfactory as I could
have wished, as we never saw any weapon whatever in use, or oth e r-
Avise, in th e is la n d ; an d th e supposition o f th e ir existence rests
en tire ly upon th e a u th o rity o f th e natives, and upon circumstantial
evidence. T h e mandarin Ching-oong-choo, and several o th e r persons,
d eclared th e re Avere b o th cannon and muskets in th e island; and A n-yah
d istinc tly s tated th e re Avere twenty-six o f tb e former d is trib u ted among
th e ir ju n k s *. AVe were disposed to believe this statem en t, from seeing
tb e fishermen, and all classes a t N ap a, so familiar with th e use and
exercise of our cannon, and p a rticu la rly so from th e ir appreciating th e
improvement o f th e flint-lock upon th a t o f th e match-lock, AA’hich I
understood from th e natives to be in use in Loo Choo; and unless they
possessed these locks it is difficult to imagine from whence th ey could
have derived th e ir knoAvledge. T h e figures drawn upon th e panels
o f th e joshouse, seated upo n broadswords and boAA-s and arrows, may be
adduced as fu rth e r evidence o f th e ir possessing weap o n s; and this is
materially s tren g th en ed by th e fact of th e ir harbour being defended
by th re e square stone forts, one on each side o f th e entrance, and th e
o th e r upon a small island, so s itu a ted within th e harbour, th a t it Avould
p re s en t a rak in g fire to a vessel e n te rin g tb e p o r t ; and these forts
h aving a number o f loop-holes in them, and a platform and parapet
formed above with stone steps leading u p to it in several places. 'J'his
platform AAOuld not have been wide enough for o u r cannon, it is t r u e ;
• T iiere Avere none on board tlie ju n k whicli sailed for China.
T F I
ilili,
uijf:
b u t unless it were b u ilt for th e reception o f those Aveapons, th e re is CHAP.
ap p aren tly no o th e r use for which it could have been designed. I
May,
p re s en te d tb e mandarin with a p a ir o f pistols, which he^ thankfully
1827.
accepted, and th ey were taken charge of by his domestics w ith o u t
ex c itin g any unusual degree o f curiosity. Upon q u estioning An-yah
where bis government procured its powder, he immediately replied
from F ochien.
I t is fu rth e r ex trem e ly improbable th a t th e se people should have
no weapons, considering th e expeditions which have been successively
fitted o u t by b o th China and J ap a n against Loo Choo, an d tb e cwil
Avars which u n fo rtu n ately prevailed in th e island, more or less, d u rin g
th e g re a te r p a rt of th e time th a t th e na tio n Avas divided in to th re e
kingdoms *. Besides, th e h au g h ty to n e of th e king to th e commander
of an expedition which was sent, in A. D . 605, to d emand submission
to bis master th e Em peror of China, viz. “ T h a t he would acknowledge
no master,” is n o t th e language o f a people d e s titu te of weapons.
Loo Choo h as been subdued by almost every expedition against it, y e t it
is n o t likely tb e country could have made even a show ot resistance
against tb e invaders had th e in h ab itan ts been u n a rm e d ; th ey nevertheless
resisted th e famous Tay-Cosama, and th o u g h conquered, threw
off th e yoke of J ap a n soon afterwards, and re tu rn e d u n d e r tb e dominion
of C hina. I t was afterwards re taken by K ingtchang aaUIi SOOO
Japanese, Avbo imprisoned th e king, and killed Tching-hoey, his father,
because he refused to acknoivledge tb e sovereignty o f J ap an f . 'Ib e y
are, besides, said to have s en t swords as trib u te to Jap an . In 1454 th e
k ii3 Cbang-tai-keiou bad to sustain a civil war against bis brother,
Avho was a t first successful, and b e a t Cbang-tai-keiou in a battle, in
Avhicb he fought a t tb e b e ad o f h is tro ops . I t is n o t probable th a t all
th is warfare and bloodshed should have tran sp ired w ith o u t th e Loo
Chooans being possessed o f a rm s ; besides, it is expressly s tated by
• From its division imder Yut-ching in 1.800, niitil it was u nited under Cliang-pat-clii,
about a c entury afterwards. , , 1 7 r
t R ep o rt o f Supoa-Koang, a learned Chinese physician, sen t by the Emperor ot
China to Loo Choo in 1719, to report upon the co u n try .— L e ttre s Edifiantes e t Curieuses,
vol. xxviii.