by the Shanghai and Ningpo stations to fill the place of Mr. Lowrie, appeared and took his seat. The want of health at this juncture prevented Dr. Boone from occupying his place in the Committee. The other delegates, however, without further delay proceeded with their work, their daily sessions extending from 10 A. M. to 2.30 P. M., allowing in the interval a recess of half an hour. The following memoranda will indicate the progress of their work. Matthew's Gospel was completed May 30th, 1848. The revision of The Acts of the Apostles was completed April 19th, 1849. Having thus gone through with the historical portions of the New Testament, it was deemed proper to take a review thereof. In this the progress has been more rapid, but not hasty; Matthew was completed May 8th; Mark, May 21st; Luke, June 16th; John, June 30th; and on the Acts, the progress up to this date has continued at about the same rate. This review finished, the other parts of the New Testament will be taken up in course, and the work carried on without interruption, I trust, till it is completed. Shanghái, July 7th, 1849. Adieu, E. C. BRIDGMAN. ART. VI. Journal of Occurrences: Visit of the U. S. brig Dolphin to Formosa. THE U. S. brig Dolphin, Commander Ogden, has recently returned from her cruise to Formosa, and we have been kindly furnished with the following particulars of her visit to that little known island. The Dolphin left Macao June 12th, and Hongkong shortly after, arriving at Amoy en route on the 21st. Here her captain procured the services of a Chinese sailor who was acquainted with the harbor of Kilung, having already engaged two interpreters through whom he could communicate with the authorities. He reached K lung harbor on the 24th, and the next day was visited by the naval officer in command, with whom presents were exchanged. The harbor of Kilung, or Killon as it is often written, lies between lat. 25° 09′ and 25° 16′ N., and long. 121° 43′ and 121° 47′ E., and is landlocked on all sides except the north, and here too ample protection is afforded from the waves by the coral reefs-and a rocky islet, which bound the eastern side of the harbor, stretching round to the north. To one unacquainted with this harbor, it is not very easy of access, chiefly owing to the low shores and the absence of any prominent headland ; the entrance can not be seen three miles off, and is rendered hazardous by the strong and varying currents which beset it, and the steep shores which prevent a vessel anchoring securely when she is in danger. A further acquaintance with the harbor lessens most of these hazards. The country around it is well peopled by agriculturalists, and even the sloping hillsides are brought under cultivation, and their intervales adapted to rice culture by terracing and watering the descending plats by leading the mountain rills from one to the other. Many of the inhabitants attend to fishing, going out in fleets, and occasionally fishing in company by night with torches at the bows. The supplies to be had at Kilung consist chiefly of fish, vegetables, and poultry. Capt. Ogden remained only two days in the harbor, during which he visited the village of Kilung and some of the others; that town contains from a thousand to twelve hundred people; the others are smaller; in all of them the foreigners were received with great civility, and the inhabitants further gratified their own curiosity by going off to the brig in crowds. The object of the Dolphin in visiting Formosa was explained to the magistrate of the place, who scemed to understand it fully, and ready to give all the information in his power. He strongly dissuaded Capt. Ogden from visiting the coal mines, which he said was the burial ground of the natives, who guarded the spot with great care against intrusion; and further added that the governorgeneral of Fuhkien had prohibited it. The mines seem to have been already examined, however, as we should infer from the following account written about two yeare since by a British officer. "The coal appears very abundant, the sides of the hill being perforated in many places, and in one or two tunneled to the distance of about 40 yards, five feet by four, showing a distinct vein of about four feet thick, hard and easily detached, lying between a blue soft shale and sandstone. The slip lies about 24 deg. north-easterly, taking its direction from the valley at the commencement of the range of hills. The sides of the hills show numerous alternations of sandstone, shale, and coal, associated with beds of ironstone and old red sandstone. The quality of the coal is very good, heavy, brilliant, easily ignited, and burning with a bituminous gassy flame, leaving a very small quantity of ashes of a reddish white color. The practicability of working the coal appears not at all a difficult matter, plenty of wood growing on the spot which may be felled, and the largest about the size of sleepers for a tram road; the length of iron [rail] required is about a mile, and the ascent is one foot in fifteen. A canal or creek connects the road with the harbor, which is navigable for flat bottomed boats of four or five tons, and the coal would not have to be carried more than three miles and a half. The mine is 230 feet elevation by barometer. The coal and land around appears to be unclaimed, any one taking away as much as they like. The inhabitants themselves offered to bring us forty or fifty tons at a day's notice, at less than a dollar a ton; probably a much larger quantity might be obtained with a little exertion." Since this was written, it would appear that the Chinese government has taken possession of the mines, and thrown impediments in the way of exporting the coal. The agents of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Co. made a contract with a Chinese some two years since for 700 tons of Formosan coal at $7 a ton, but the contractor failed to bring any; and with the exception of 300 tons brought to Hongkong in a junk last winter none has been received from the island. Capt. Ogden was informed that no coal could be exported from Kilung, which probably referred to foreign vessels taking it; but he is of op.nion that no effective contract could be made with any probability of sucess except with a high officer, and this could not be done without previous communication and underThe existence of standing with the governor-general or the imperial court. coal at this accessible point, and the desirableness of depending less upon the supplies brought from Europe, will soon induce the foreign authorities in China to stir in the matter. Capt. Ogden corroborates what we have already heard respecting the good qualities of this coal, stating it to be easily kindled, and to burn a longer time than any mere bituminous coal he had seen, and with less coking. Those who used that imported last winter represent it as better fuel than Liverpool coal. NOTE TO ART. IV, JUNE No. Since the publication of the narrative of the Visit of the Preble, we have learned that the suggestion made in the last paragraph of the account of the sailors, on page 331, that the government at Washington should communicate to Mr. Levyssohn its sense of his kindness to the captive Americans, had already been attended to by Commodore Geisinger, in his Instructions to Commander Glynn. THE CHINESE REPOSITORY. VOL. XVIII.-August, 1849.-No. 8. ART. I. Annals of Confucius; or a survey of the Chronology and Geography of the Chinese empire during two hundred and fortytwo years, the period embraced in the Chun Tiú, or Annals of Lú the native State of Confucius. CHRONOLOGY and Geography have been designated, the "two eyes of history;" and certainly without their aid it would be very difficult to give the western reader any clear idea of what existed prior to the Christian era, in this obscure quarter of the earth. As a prerequisite to the study of the Life and Times of Confucius, therefore, some knowledge of these, so far as they relate to Chinese history, may be deemed indispensable. For the period in question, fortunately, we have prepared by Confucius himself, all that could be expected, though by no means all that is desirable. In the Chun Ts'iú and its commentaries, we have the best history extant of the Chinese empire, during the eventful and revolutionary times in which the sage lived and those immediately preceding, including a period of two hundred and forty-two years. These Annals are dry and dull beyond almost anything ever written; but we shall not trouble our readers with even a single quotation from the book, nor attempt to give more than a sketch of the chronology and geography, as we find them prepared for us in an edition of the Annals published a century ago, by orde of the emperor Kánghí. On opening the imperial edition, which is in twenty volumes, we first find a commendatory preface written by the aged emperor; next a copious index, dividing the Annals into thirty-eight chapters or kiuen; next a list of commentators, more than one hundred and fifty in number; and next a long introduction, giving us a full account of the manner in which the Annals were originally compiled, and the present imperial edition prepared. Every kingdom or principality had its own historiographer; and it was from the record kept by them, and from personal inquiry, that the work before us was compiled. Such Annals were called by various names; those compiled by Confucius he called Chun Ts'iui. e. Spring and Autumn, but his commentators are not agreed about his reasons for giving the work this name. In the second volume, the compilers give us a tabular view, extending over a period of 242 years, and exhibiting, between parallel lines, first, the name of the dynasty, and the names of the twenty principal states comprising the empire; and in the second place, year by year, the names of the emperors and of the princes. This view occupies nearly a hundred pages, and shows at a glance the commencement and end of each reign, and also the sovereign and subordinate princes who were contemporaries. Of this tabular view a summary will here suffice. The following is the list of the emperors, who in succession occupied the throne, commencing with the thirteenth monarch of the Chau dynasty. Names of the Sovereigns Reign commence. Reigned. Names of the Sovereigns Reign commenced. Reigned. Ping wáng BC. 770 51 yrsKwúng wáng B. C. 612 6 yrs. 719 23 定王 Ting wáng 606 21,, 簡王 Kien wang 桓王 Hwan wáng 簡靈景 Chwang wang,, 696 15 585 14 倩王 Hi wang 684 5 靈王 Ling wàng * King wang 敬王 King wáng 項王 King wáng The Annals commence with the 49th year of the emperor Ping wáng, 722 B. C., and end with the 39th of King wáng, 481 B. C.; or according to the Chinese method of reckoning by sexagenary cycles, they extend from the year ki-wi, the 56th, on completing four cycles and two years, to that marked kang-shin, the 57th, in the cycle. In the Annals, when detailing the affairs of the states or kingdoms which composed the empire, two dates are usually given in addition to the years of the cycle. Accordingly, the year with which Confucius commences his Annals is thus indicated. 1st. It is marked ki-wi, i. e. the 56th of the cycle; 2d. Of the Chau dynasty, it is the 49th year of the emperor Ping wáng; 3d. Of the kingdom of Lú, it is the 1st year of prince Yin. After the same manner, to take another example, we find the year in which Confucius was born thus indicated 1st. It is marked kang-siuh, i. e. the 47th year of the cycle 2d. Of the Chau dynasty, it is the 21st year of the emperor Ling wáng; 3d. And of the kingdom of Lí, it is the 22d year of prince Siáng. Now, by referring to the summary of the tabular view given above, we find that the 49th year of the emperor Ping wing corresponds to the year B. C. 722. So, by a similar reference, we find that the 21st of the emperor Lingwáng, corresponds with the year B. C. 551, the year in which the sage was born. With the aid of the foregoing summary, therefore, and these brief explanations of the Chinese method of indicating time, any year specified in the Annals, or in the life of Confucius, may be easily determined according to the Christian chronology. As to the geography of the Chinese empire, during the period in question, viz. from B. C. 722 to 481, we are thrown upon our own resources, and such aids as we can derive from the labors and the modern surveys made by the Jesuits. We have before us, besides the imperial edition of the Annals, a very neatly printed duodecimo edition. Each contains a map of the empire, prepared by the celebrated Sú Tungpú of the Sung dynasty, and especially designed to illustrate the geography of the Chun Ts'iú. This map, in the small edition, is neatly executed for one that is purely Chinese, but is so egregiously incorrect as to be utterly useless. The compilers of the imperial edition have not attempted to define the boundaries of the empire, nor of the states which composed it during the period embraced in the Annals; but they have pointed out, so far as they were able, the cities which now occupy the sites of the capitals of those ancient states. Hence, in order to arrive at a knowledge of the sites of those ancient capitals, we have only to see what is the latitude and longitude of the cities built thereon. These states were twenty in number, and we give a plan intended to indicate the relative position of their capitals; and short descriptions of these kwoh, or kingdoms. This rough plan will be better understood by those already acquainted with the geography of China, if they remember that No. 9 is in the vicinity of Peking; No. 12 is north of the Tungting lake; No. 11 in Eastern Kansuh; and that most of the figures indicate the position of the fertile regions on both sides of the Yellow river. The commentators on the Annals of Confucius give the 20th year of Ling wang and the 21st year of Siang, as that in which the sage was born, but his biographers show that the commentators are in error |
