whom we met, when they supposed that the eye of a spy was upon them.”
' Whatever progress we may make in conciliating the higher classes, and we
have made considerable, the lower orders of the people dare not, even by a
look, evince the slightest emotion; their stolid and impassive features
express nothing but toil and care, and are a sufficient index of their abjeot
condition.” “ I oan conceive of no greater act of humanity than it would
be to rescue, if possible, these miserable beings from the oppression of their
tyrannical rulers.” “ These poor creatures are the people who have been
represented by Captain Basil Hall as so innocent and so happy! | Well
disposed, peaceful, and naturally amiable, our gentlemen generally believed
them to be; but they were ignorant, and had been long obliged to resort to
the weapons of the weak; they were, therefore, cunning and insincere.
Under proper treatment, something might be made of them, but at present
they want the essential element of self-respect. Another obstacle in the
way of their improvement is the impossibility of their ever procuring a
vested right of ownership in the land. As fax as the Commodore could
gather information on the subject, it would appear that the soil is held by
the government, and its agents are employed to collect and consume its
produce. According to the hest accounts that could be obtained, the actual
cultivator receives not more than two-tenths of the produce. Of the
remainder, six-tenths go to the lord of the soil, or ruler, and two-tenths for the
expense of supervision of the land, costs of collection, &c. The peasant
has thus no stimulus to exertion. Wretched, however, as this system is,
and degraded as is the condition of the operative, it is astonishing to see the
large returns from agricultural labor. Nowhere do the people better understand
the art of producing the largest crops of which the land cultivated
is capable; no matter what may be the character and condition of the soil,
or the relative position of the field cultivated. The same is said to be true
of all the cultivated portions of the neighboring groups of islands. Every
advantage is taken of circumstances, and irrigation is both understood and
practised with skill and success. With such a soil and climate as Lew Ghew
possesses, if all parts of it that might be cultivated were made fields of
agricultural labor, it would support a very large population.
One of the subjects to which the attention of the Commodore was
drawn, was the origin of the population of Lew Chew. Want of sufficient
material has not enabled ethnology as yet conclusively to settle this question;
and, of course, the gentlemen of the expedition who attended to this
particular had to find their way as best they might. Many speculations
have been hazarded on the subject, founded on the very limited observations
of the few Europeans who have visited the islands. Of Captain Hall we
have already spoken. “ The description of Captain Basil Hall,” says the
Commodore, 1 is a mere romance; the production of the inventive brain of
a writer not very scrupulous of historical tru th ; and the account of Doctor
McLeod, of the Alceste, is not much nearer to accuracy. Captains Beechey
and Belcher, surveying officers of the British navy, have visited Great Lew
Chew since those just named, and their statements may be considered as
much more worthy of confidence; but, after all, such are the difficulties in
the way, that they had not much, if any, better means of acquiring a knowledge
of the history, laws, and civil institutions of this singular people, than
had those who preceded them. Difficulties have also beset us in our investigations,
and all the facts we may learn are but contributions on a subject
yet open to, and demanding more thorough investigation. We throw what
we can gather into the common heap.”
As far as the Lew Chewans themselves bear testimony to their origin,
they claim, like the Chinese, to have their descent from a divine source.
According to Chow-Hwang, a Chinese writer, who was sent to Lew Chew in
1757, as an envoy from China, and who on his return published an account
of the island, " the islanders declare that the original progenitors of the
Lew Chewans were two, a man and a woman. They had five children; the
oldest was a son, named Te6n-Sun, (Offspring of Heaven,) who was the first
master or ruler of the nation; the second son acted the part of his minister,
and the third constituted the people. The older daughter, for the protection
of the country, took the place of the God of Heaven, and the younger per-
sonified the God of the Sea. T66n-Sun and his descendants, having maintained
the government for 17,802 years, were at length succeeded by Shunteen, a
branch of the then ruling family of Japan. This occurred about A. D.
1200, when the Ming dynasty arose in China. Three kings ruled in Lew
Chew; one was styled 1 King of the Central Hills; ’ the second ‘King of
the Southern Trill«; > and the third * King of the Northern Hills.’ All were
tributary, and reigned by permission of fthe Son of Heaven.’ At length
the first became master of the whole country, which has ever since remained
under one king, always acknowledging himself a tributary of the Chinese
empire.” *
Klaproth, professing to follow Chinese and Japanese annals, gives an
account agreeing pretty well with the foregoing by Chow-Hwang, and says
further, that the race of kings reigning in Lew Chew is related to the imperial
family of Japan; that both China and Japan claim the sovereignty, and
that the Lew Chewans pay tribute to both.
As to the three king« of the “ central,” “ northern,” and “ southern ”
hills, respectively, there is something in the discoveries of our exploring
parties that may seem to give countenance to the truth of that portion of
the story. I t will be remembered by the reader that the explorers reported
the discovery of the ruins of a castle or palace at Nagagusko; the ruins of
another were afterwards found, of which an account will be given on a future
* Chinese repository for July, 1837, vol. VI.