·

The stones of two of the mills were being repaired, the upper ones being turned off from the lower ones that their faces might be ' pecked' or sharpened. The stones were of granite, and their faces were cut into grooves, which were divided into eight sections, and in such a manner as to give the grain a centrifugal motion as the stones move round. According to European notions it is judged best that the upper stone should be supported by an axis, or some other contrivance, so that the distance between the two may be adjusted according to the fineness which it is intended to produce in the meal or or flour. Among the Chinese no such machinery is deemed necessary; and the face of the upper stone is allowed to rest directly on that of the lower one; but the motion of the mill is so slow that by this bad construction no great injury is occasioned, either to the stones or to the flour. All the grain that I saw in the mill was wheat, and of a very good quality.

Laborers standing in the market-place. Early this morning, while picking my way among the tubs, baskets, temporary stalls, etc., which almost blocked up the street at a market-place near one of the gates of the city, I suddenly found myself surrounded by a gang of coolies, forty or fifty in number. Some of them were standing up; others were sitting down. Their only implements were bamboo poles, with short ropes attached to them. Some of them were shod with sandals, made of plaited grass; and others were barefooted. They were without hats, or caps, or any other kind of covering for their heads; and the only garments on their bodies were a light pair of trowsers, and a short frock or jacket; indeed, only a few of them had any jackets. They were all idle, except that their tongues were busy in joking and in making remarks on those who were at the market, or passing along the street. During the morning, and even till past midday, such gangs of men are often to be seen collected at the corners of the streets, market-places, and gates of the city. On inquiry, I find that they are job and day laborers, formed into companies, having each their respective districts. They take the place of beasts of burden; but claim the right of doing all of certain kinds of work which is to be done in the streets, or landing places, where they exercise their jurisdiction. Their muscular power is sometimes very great; and they are the most healthy and robust class of men that I have seen in China. Their custom of "standing idle in the marketplaces is like that of the laborers mentioned in the gospel of Matthew; the coolies whom I saw this morning were all standing idle, 'because no man had hired them.' Saturday, July 18th.

ART. VII. Literary Notices. 1. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2.; London, November, 1834.

2. Translation of a Comparative Vocabulary of the Chinese, Corean, and Japanese, languages: to which is added the Thousand Character Classic, in Chinese and Corean; the whole accompanied by copious indices of all the Chinese and English words occurring in the work. By PHILOSINENSIS, Batavia [Java]. Printed at the Parapattan press, 1835.

1. THE second number of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, completing the first volume of this publication, has reached us. We are much pleased with its character, and with the promise which it holds out, not in its preface but in its contents, of furnishing a valuable collection of interesting papers respecting the east and oriental literature. The object of the publication is explained in the following extract from the preface to the volume now completed. "The mode heretofore followed in publishing the transactions of the Society having been attended with many inconveniences, arising partially or wholly from restrictions on the subjects to be introduced, as well as from the quarto form of the impression, and from the uncertain but widely extended periods at which the editions were made, the council has considered it advisable to sanction a regular quarterly publication in octavo, and less limited as to the nature of the materials of which it is to be composed. *** The quarto transactions may still be continued whenever the accumulation of matter on subjects more peculiar to its original design shall render any additional volume expedient."

Among the papers in the present number of the Journal, several are deserving of more particular attention than we are now able to give to them. Such are captain Swanston's memoir of the primitive church of Malayála, or of the Syrian Christians of the apostle Thomas, which is accompanied by a plate representing the metropolitan of the Syrian church-two articles on female infanticide in Cutch by lieut. Burnes; and an account of laws and police as recognized in Nepál, by the assiduous British resident at Kat'hmandu, Mr. Hodgson. We propose taking further notice hereafter of Mr. Thoms' description of Chinese vases, which is continued in the present number. The representations of the vases are well executed. The account by Mr. Stevenson (of the Madras civil service) of the two murderous tribes of P'hansigárs, or gang-robbers, and Shúdgárshids, or jugglers and fortune-tellers, cannot fail to afford a painful interest; the former tribe making it a rule never to rob without first murdering, although the object sought after should be, as it often is, nothing more than the dress that a man has on; while the latter scruple not to deprive women of life as soon as they have become mothers, for the sake of extracting from their breasts, wrists, and ankles, the sinews, supposed to be highly efficacious as charms. We have room

only to make two extracts.

"It appears as if the P'hansigárs found a delight and a pastime in such deeds of blood. This seems more probable, as I found from their cant phrases, (of which I collected a few examples, since lost), that they had ludicrous names for the convulsive struggles of their expiring victims, as well as for murder, the noose [which they inva riably employ], and the different acts attending their diabolica! trade. An old woman, one of the tribe, repeated them to me with a great deal of glee. She, as well as most of the other females, made no secret of their vocation, and appeared to think that there was nothing wrong in it. When asked of what caste they were? They answered P'hansigárs. How do you get your livelihood? By p'hansigaring. Are you not ashamed of your way of life? have you never followed any other trade? No, this is the same trade that our fathers followed; if we dont p'hansigár, how are we to live ?"

***

"A rich merchant named Dévelát had a married daughter (Lakshmi) who resided in his house, and who had been confined of her first child about ten days, when she was suddenly missed. The infant was found in its cradle, but no search was successful in discovering the unfortunate mother. It was at last remembered by some member of the family, that on the morning of the day on which the girl was missed, a female shudgárshid had been at the house, and had told the fortunes of several of the inmates. Knowing the habits of these people, apprehensions and anxiety regarding the fate of the lost Lakshmi were excited to their height, as it was deemed beyond doubt that she had been enticed away, and had fallen a victim to the shudgárshid, who was immediately seized; but nothing could be learned from her, for she denied ever having seen the girl. In the course, however, of the inquiries and cross-questioning of the friends, probably not conducted in the mildest manner, some words dropped from the juggler regarding a neighboring tank. This induced the parties to proceed there, and to examine its waters, in which the body of the unfortunate girl was quickly found; the sinews from the breast, ankles, and wrists, had been extracted, but no further marks of violence were visible. The event was now made known to the civil authorities, but the shúdgárshid continued firm in her denial of all knowledge of the affair, nor was any other information regarding the fate of the unhappy Lakshmi ever obtained."

2. Comparative Vocabulary of the Chinese, Corean, and Japanese, languages.

"The following vocabulary," says the translator, in his preface, appears to have been originally composed by a native of Corea, for the purpose of facilitating the acquisition of the Japanese language to those of his countrymen who should visit Japan; and as the Chinese language is common to both nations, he has made that the basis of his work. Thus the Chinese character is first written at the top of the page, then follows the sound of that character, expressed in Corean letters; after that comes the Corean word, both in the vernacular and learned idioms; and finally, the Japanese; all expressed in Corean letters. That which has been aimed at in the

translation, is to give the meaning of each Chinese character at the top of the page; for the purpose of ascertaining which, the Chinese above has been compared with the Japanese below, and both referred to Chinese and Japanese dictionaries. An attempt has also been made to express the sounds of the different Corean letters, by the help of a Japanese and Corean alphabet brought from Japan, and of an English and Corean alphabet which appeared in a periodical published at Canton. In fixing the sounds, regard has been had to the known sounds of the Chinese and Japanese words employed in the work; and though the translator has never yet seen or conversed with a Corean, he hopes he has not greatly erred in thus hazarding to elucidate their language. The Corean alphabet, with the scheme of orthography annexed, will, it is hoped, be sufficient to enable the student to decide on the power of the English letters employed; and the different indices which follow will assist in the search for any given word. The English and Corean index will be found to contain almost every primitive or important English word, to which the vernacular Corean is joined, with figures of reference, the first showing the page, and the second the line, in which the given word is to be found. The Chinese index is arranged according to the Chinese radicals, and is also provided with figures, pointing out the page and line, in which the character occurs. The translator is induced to put forth the present work, merely as a help to those students who may wish to turn their attention to the Corean language, and who may not be possessed of better assistance. Should the least facility be hereby afforded for the attainment of a language of which hitherto little has been known, and should the advancement of knowledge and religion in those dark regions of the earth be in the smallest degree forwarded, the translator's end will be abundantly answered."

Some remarks on the Corean language may be found in the first volume of the Repository, pages 276....279; and the Corean syllabary, with additional remarks on the language, will be found in the second volume, page 135. The 'Comparative Vocabulary' will afford much assistance to those who wish to learn the language of Corea.

ART. VIII. Journal of Occurrences.

Anchorage at Kumsing moon; damages occasioned by the typhoon; new regulations for foreigners; decapitation of a priest; purchase of office; change of ministry; northwestern frontiers; Tibet.

ANCHORAGES at the mouth of the Pearl river, by which ships ascend to Whampoa, are numerous and commodious; the places most generally occupied are Lintin, Kapsing or Kapshuy moon, and Kumsing moon. These are all situated without the Bogue, which marks the boundary of the waters of the celestial empire, and

are the theatre of an extensive trade, nearly or quite equaling that which is carried on at Whampoa. On the 4th instant, there were at Whampoa only 13 ships, while there were 26 at Lintin: on the 11th, there were 18 at Whampoa, and 23 at Lintin: on the 18th, there were 19 in the one, and 23 in the other place: at the end of the month, there were 22 in port at Whampoa, and 27 outside at Lintin, or rather at Kumsing moon. It should be remembered, however, that most of the ships at Lintin are bound to Whampoa. Lintin being the principal anchorage beyond the Bogue, ships are generally reported to be at that place, when in fact they are at one of the other anchorages; which is usually the case during those months, say July, August, and September, in which typhoons are expected. Hitherto for several years, Kapsing moon, (or more properly Kapshuy moon,) has generally been the anchorage of the fleet during this season; but being difficult of access on account of the prevalence of 'chowchow water,' another anchorage, Kumsing moon, was tried two years ago by part of the fleet. Circumstances, which it is unnecessary for us to mention, prevented it from being visited last year. This season, however, the increasing amount of business outside,' has induced a very large majority, if not all, of the ships to enter Kumsing moon, 'the port of golden stars.' This secure and beautiful anchorage is situated almost due west, and about ten or twelve miles from Lintin; it is nearly the same distance from Macao. It is formed by a strait running between Heängshan, and another small island, called Keaou (or Keow). The northern end of the strait is defended by a bank, on which there is sufficient water to permit the passage-boats plying between Canton and Macao to sail through at all times without danger. The entrance to the anchorage is from the east; and on one side of it there is deep water near the shore. The current through it, as might be supposed, is very rapid. We have heard it mentioned that Kumsing moon is likely to become the anchorage for ships during the whole of the year.

Typhoon. On the 5th and 6th of the current month was experienced one of the severest storms ever known on the coasts of China. In that which occurred in 1809, the mercury fell to 28.30. On the 3d of August, 1832, it fell to 28.10, and by some instruments to a still lower point. During the late storm it stood at 28.05. The typhoon commenced on the evening of the 5th, after three or four days of very hot weather with northerly winds, and continued to the afternoon of the next day. Its violence was the greatest at about two o'clock on the morning of the sixth. The damage occasioned by the storm at Canton was small; but it was not so at Kumsing moon, Macao, and elsewhere on the coast. The following particulars have been collected from various sources, but chiefly from the Canton Register.

The

In Kumsing moon, the Portuguese brig Santa Anna, was dismasted. American bark Kent, parted her cables, and was carried by the united force of wind and waves upon the beach, high and dry.

On the eastern end of the island Pootoy, the Danish bark Maria, was wrecked; and ten of her crew, five of whom were Danes, were lost. The captain, mate, steward, sail-maker, and two Chinese, were saved. The Governor Findlay, was caught among the islands, coming in from the eastward, and cut away all her masts. The British brig Watkins, was dismasted near Lantao. Another British ship, the Cœur de Lion, went on shore in the Typa. Two Spanish vessels in the mouth of the inner harbor, Macao, were driven on shore; and two Portuguese lorchas de carga, large boats for carrying cargo, were totally wrecked, and the crew of one of them was lost. The St. George, one of the European passage-boats running between Canton and Macao, which was in the inner harbor, struck adrift, fell athwart hawse of a lorcha, and foundered; crew saved. The Sylph, Hawk, and Loon, three other boats of the same description, their masts having been cut away, rode out the gale.

The Lady Hayes, which left Macao roads a day or two before the storm, returned to Kumsing moon. "The following extract, from a private letter," we copy from the Canton Register of the 18th instant: "Early in the morning of the 5th," says the writer of the letter, "we observed indications of approaching bad weather, and in consequence commenced securing boats, anchors, spars, &c., with a determination to face it stoutly, and be in as snug condition as possible. At 10 A. M., the wind freshened a little from the same quarter it had been for the last