prefled Into this difagreeable and laborious fervice, for which
they were to receive about fixpence a day fo long as they
tracked, without any allowance being made to them for returning
to the place from whence they were forced. Thefe people
knowing the difficulty there was o f getting others to fupply their
places, and that their fervices would be required until fuch ihould
be procured, generally deferted by night, difregarding their pay.
In order to procure others, the officers difpatched their foldiers
to the neareft village, taking the inhabitants by furprize and
forcing them out o f their beds to join the yachts. Scarcely
a night-occurred in which fome poor wretches did not fuffer
the laffies o f the foldiers for attempting to efcape, or for pleading
the excufe o f old age, or infirmity. It was painful to behold
the deplorable condition o f fome o f thefe creatures. Several
were half naked and appeared to be wafting and languiihing
for want o f food. Yet the taik o f dragging along the veflels
was far from being light. Sometimes they were under the ne-
ceffity o f w ading to the middle in mud fometimes to fwim
acrofs creeks, and immediately afterwards to expofe their naked
bodies to a fcorching fu t i; and they were always driven by a
foldier or the liitor o f fome petty police officer carrying in his
hand an enormous whip, -with which he laffied them with as
little relu£tance as i f they had been a team o f horfes.
T he Dutch Embafly proceeded by land to the capital, in the
middle o f winter, when the rivers and canals were frozen. The
thermometer was frequently from 8 to 16 degrees below the
freezing point, and the face o f the country was moftly covered
with ice . and fnow ; yet they were often under the necef-
3 fity
i f
:1
City o f travelling all n igh t; and the peafantry, who were prefled
to carry the prefents and their baggage, notwithftanding their
heavy loads, were obliged to keep up with them as long as they
could. In the courfe o f two nights, Mr. Van Braam obferves,
not lefs than eight o f thefe poor wretches aitually expired
under their burdens, through cold, hunger, fatigue, and the
cruel treatment o f their drivers.
It had been the praftice o f fome o f the gentlemen o f the
Britifh embafly, in their return through the country, to walk
during a part o f the day, and to join the barges towards the
hour o f dinner. One day an officer o f high rank took it into
his head to interrupt them in their ufual walk, and for this
purpofe difpatched after them nine or ten o f his foldiers, who
forced them in a rude manner to return to the veflels. Our
two condu£tors Van and Chou, coming up at the time, and being
made acquainted with the circumftance, gave to each o f the
foldiers a moft fevere flogging. One o f thefe, who had been
particularly infolent, had his ears bored through with iron wire,
and his hands bound to them for feveral days. The viceroy
o f Canton was at this time with the embafly, and being in rank
fuperior to the offending officer, he ordered the latter to appear
before him, gave him a fevere reprimand, and fentenced him to
receive forty ftrokes o f the bamboo as a gentle correction. Our
two Chinefe friends were particularly preffing that the gentlemen
infulted ihould be prefent at the punilhment o f the officer, and
it was not without difficulty they could be perfuaded that fuch a
fcene would not afford them any gratification. It happened alfo,
in the Dutch embafly, that an inferior officer was flogged and
V i dif.