drowned in crossing an inlet of the sea. Some charitable Buddhist priests attended the nine survivors, healed their wounds, and then procured that they should be sent on to the grand imperial court of appeal at Peking. The unhappy Portuguese ascended the grand canals, which struck them with astonishment. They were also charmed with the number of the bridges and the magnificence of the pagodas, tombs, fountains and arches of triumph. Ferdinand had also occasion to admire the tranquil manners of the Chinese and the good order and industry that prevailed among them. Shortly after their arrival at Peking they were acquitted, or rather pardoned, by the supreme court, and liberated with a free permission to go again a-begging. For two months and a half they enjoyed this liberty in Peking, and among that countless population they found many charitable people. They were then sent to the city of Kin-sai, where they were taken into the service of the governor as part of his body-guard. They were kindly and even liberally treated, until (strange illustration of the kind of honor that often exists in the bosom of thieves!) there happened a quarrel among themselves about a question of precedence, genealogy and nobility, and a commotion and a scuffle, accompanied with bloodshed, which the Chinese laws have at all times held in great abhorrence. They were again well flogged or beaten with bamboos and thrown into prison, a method of settling such nice points in which the Chinese certainly set the nations of the West a good lesson. After eight more weeks of captivity the governor took pity. on them, and they were released, though only to be slaves in perpetuity, and under the doom that if they ever again quarreled and

fought among themselves, whether about the antiquity of their families or aught else, they would all be instantly scourged to death. Although their taskmasters made them work very hard, they were still obliged to beg from door to door for their daily bread or rice. Luckily one of them, Gaspar de Moreyles by name, was a very good musician, "playing the guitar and singing to it with a voice which was not a bad one; and this music was very agreeable to the richer sort of Chinamen, who pass their lives in banquets and the delights of the flesh, and so they called Gaspar in very frequently for their pastime, and never sent him away empty-handed." The minstrel generously shared the proceeds with his comrades. They were released from their present thraldom by the Manchu Tartars, who captured Kin-sai, carried them away with them, and very soon gave them good military employment, finding that they were brave and well skilled in the art of war. Beyond this point the adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto are but little connected with China.1

The first Portuguese embassy to Peking took place as early as the year 1520. It was headed by one Perez, who found the imperial court in a fury at the depredations committed at sea by his countrymen. He was sent back under custody to Canton, the provincial government of which place was no doubt instructed to arrest further attempts on the part of strangers to communicate with the court. At Canton, Perez was robbed of his property, thrown into prison, and ultimately, it is supposed, put to death. "The various embassies," adds Sir J. F. Davis, "which followed in three successive centuries to

1C. MACFARLANE, Romance of Travel, vol. ii. chap. 5.

Peking, met with different kinds of treatment; but, in whatever spirit conducted, they were (previous to the Opium War) equally unsuccessful in the attainment of any important points of negotiation."

The year after that in which Perez started on his mission, his countryman, Alfonso de Melo, with six vessels, and in ignorance of what had taken place, arrived in China. He became immediately involved in fierce conflicts with the indignant Chinese, who put to death more than twenty Portuguese prisoners who fell into their hands, and forced Melo's squadron to retire.

About the middle of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese, however, succeeded in establishing themselves at Macao, on a small peninsula near the mouth of the Canton river; the only European colony-and it with very limited success-that was planted on the coast of China until our own days and the recent war with the Celestial Empire. It seems that the Portuguese had a temporary refuge on shore as early as 1537, being allowed to erect sheds for drying goods, which were introduced under the name of tribute. By degrees the foreigners were permitted to build some warehouses, for which privilege they paid an annual tribute and rent. They erected there, by degrees, a number of good houses, and the merchants who went to reside took with them their wives and families, which was contrary to the laws of the empire, but connived at by the mandarins, who probably derived some advantage from granting this indulgence. Macao was honored by being the place of banishment of the great Portuguese poet Camoens, parts of whose beautiful poem of the "Lusiad" are said

to have been here written in a grotto which still bears his name.

The new Portuguese town of Macao being situated at the extremity of a small peninsula, joined by a narrow isthmus to the island of Heang-shan, the Chinese government caused a wall to be built across the slip of land as a barrier; for although the Chinese were not insensible to the advantages of foreign commerce, they adhered to their system of exclusion, and while they strictly prohibited the strangers from entering their cities, or even passing the bounds of their own settlement, they jealously watched all their proceedings. An officer was appointed at Macao, who governed the town in the name of the emperor, and whose duty it was to give information to his superiors of the conduct of the inhabitants.

The attempts of the Roman Church in the thirteenth

and fourteenth centuries had left little discernible fruit. John III., the enterprising king of Portugal, determined to send the Christian religion to the heathen lands which God had opened to his commerce. The devoted Francis Xavier was the first missionary who went forth under his care. He embarked at Lisbon, April 8, 1541, arrived at Goa in India the following year, labored there and in the neighboring countries for six years, and then determined to carry the gospel to Japan and China. After great success in Japan, he died upon the threshold of his work in China, December 2, 1552. His remains were carried to Goa for interment, but the little island of Shang-chuen, on which he died, is a place of resort for pilgrims till the present day.

Not long after the Portuguese had opened a trade

with China, the Spaniards, rivaling their example, began to send out ships to the Indian ocean, and in the reign of Philip II. established a colony at Manila (A. D. 1543), in the Philippine Islands, where they entered into commercial dealings with the Chinese merchants, who carried silks and porcelain thither for sale. But, although they still possess the privilege of trading at Canton, as well as at Macao and at Amoy, the Spaniards have derived less advantage from an intercourse with the "Middle Kingdom" than most other nations, notwithstanding the vast advantage they have in the locality of Manila, which is within a few days' sale of China, and approached with equal facility in either monsoon. But if these ultra-devout people did not grasp the commercial advantages within their reach, they paid every attention to the propagation of their faith. Manila, in a little time, was well stocked with churches and religious houses, and with monks; and of these last two were sent over to convert the Chinese about the year 1570.

The appearance of foreigners in a Chinese city was so rare a sight that the house in which the monks lodged was constantly surrounded by the populace, who mounted the walls and the housetops to obtain a glimpse of the men from an unknown land. When they went out sedan-chairs were provided for their accommodation, but they could scarcely make their way along the streets in consequence of the crowds that were assembled to see them. They found the country through which they traveled extremely fertile and well cultivated, and the people, who were then generally employed in harrowing and seed-sowing, appeared to be in comfortable circumstances; but the strangers were so closely watched that