[18] _Junk_ is the Canton pronunciation of _chuen_, ship.
[19] The pirates had many other intimate acquaintances on shore, like Doctor _Chow_ of Macao.
[20] The pirates were always afraid of this. We find the following statement concerning the Chinese pirates, taken from the records in the East-India House, and printed in Appendix C. to the _Report relative to the trade with the East-Indies and China_, in the sessions 1820 and 1821 (reprinted 1829), p. 387.
"In the year 1808, 1809, and 1810, the Canton river was so infested with pirates, who were also in such force, that the Chinese government made an attempt to subdue them, but failed. The pirates totally destroyed the Chinese force; ravaged the river in every direction; threatened to attack the city of Canton, and destroyed many towns and villages on the banks of the river; and killed or carried off, to serve as Ladrones, several thousands of inhabitants.
"These events created an alarm extremely prejudicial to the commerce of Canton, and compelled the Company's supercargoes to fit out a small country ship to cruize for a short time against the pirates."
[21] That the whole family must suffer for the crime of one individual, seems to be the most cruel and foolish law of the whole Chinese criminal code.
[22] We know by the "History of the Chinese Pirates," that these "wasps of the ocean," to speak with _Yuen tsze yung lun_, were originally divided into six squadrons.
[23] In the barbarous Chinese-English spoken at Canton, all things are indiscriminately called _chop_. You hear of a chop-house, chop-boat, tea-chop, Chaou-chaou-chop, etc. To give a bill or agreement on making a bargain is in Chinese called _chă tan_; chă in the pronunciation of Canton is _chop_, which is then applied to any writing whatever.
[24] The following is the _Character of the Chinese of Canton, as given in ancient Chinese books_: "People of Canton are silly, light, weak in body, and weak in mind, without any ability to fight on land."
[25] _Joss_ is a Chinese corruption of the Portuguese _Dios_, _God_. The Joss, or idol, of which Mr. Glasspoole speaks is the _San po shin_, which is spoken of in the work of Yuen tsze.
The event which is here related is the capture by the Pirates of the English sloop _Eliza Ann_, bound from St. Johns to Antigua, and the massacre of the whole crew (ten in number) with the exception of one female passenger, whose life, by the interposition of Divine Providence, was miraculously preserved. The particulars are copied from a letter written by the unfortunate Miss Parker (the female passenger above alluded to) to her brother in New York.