seeing the reflection of a human head in the water, started, and could not be induced to move; and Heang yu, afraid of falling into the hands of his enemies, destroyed himself. These circumstances are only alluded to in the biographical sketches of Heang yu and Yu ke in the Wan seaou tang (p. 3), which mentions the death of the latter, and places which tradition had assigned as the tomb of her head and body. The lady was one of the four beauties.

As an instance of the independence of character and literary arrogance assumed by learned persons, the following pencilling of a man of some distinction is rather amusing. In the short pithy mention made of distinguished characters under the dynasty, it is stated, "Yen tsze ling, while asleep, placed his feet in the emperor's stomach :" a kind of footstool not reserved for many inhabitants of the central flowery kingdom.

"Yen tsze ling was a native of Yŭh yaou, and early in youth acquired considerable reputation. He travelled and studied together with the emperor Shetsoo (Kwang wuh), and the emperor would deliberate with him on political affairs. The emperor, having been told that there was a person dressed in a sheep-skin fishing in the lake, suspecting it to be Kwang, sent three friends to entreat him to come, and ultimately got into his chariot, and the same day arrived at Kwang's house, who was sleeping and did not arise. The emperor struck him on his stomach, and said, 'Halloo, Tsze ling, why don't you get up and behave properly?' The other replied, 'When doctors are at rest, why do you disturb them?' and went off to fish at Foo chun.”* (Wan seaou tang, p. 11).

The freaks of this worthy are, however, of not uncommon occurrence; for among the host of literary characters, the very galaxy of Chinese talent, the imperial historiographers, poets, musicians, blue-stockings, &c., occurs a notice of Soo joo lan, the lady who invented the revolving verses, the historian Pan koo, and several others of equally distinguished reputation; besides several military heroes, who figure in attitudes similar to that of Hean gyu, mention is made of Pang kung, a kung, or doctor, who seems to have indulged in seclusion to an excess only met with among ascetic devotees. He lived during the reign of the after Hans. He is represented dressed very like a Chinese farmer, and the biographical portion informs us, "that the annals of the after Han dynasty assert that Pang kung, who was a native of Seang yang, in the Southern Provinces, dwelt to the south of Heen shan, and never entered a city or town. He and his wife received as their guest the censor of Hing chow, named Leaou soo, who, many times beseeching him, could not turn him from his purpose, and finally told him, 'You take care of yourself, but how do you do any good to the empire?' The other smiled: 'The nest of the wild goose,' he said, 'is built upon the lofty wood, and yet in the morning it obtains a place to dwell in; the tortoise's cave is in the deep, and yet in the evening it finds a place to lie in. Do you not perceive that men, whether resting or stopping, have their nests and caves, each obtains his dwelling and resting-place, and provides for himself not the empire?' His wife, as he had left the plough, was weeding before him, and the censor Soo, pointing it out to him, said, 'If you lie in a ditch, you will not rise, and how will you hereafter provide for your family? The world,' replied Pang, 'in general, provides for them with difficulty; I provide for them with ease; what they will inherit may not be like that of others, yet they will not entirely want.' Soo exhorted him, and went

Yu Foo chun. Foo means 'rich,' and chun spring,' yu 'in' or 'at.'-Cf. Morr. Dictionary. If Foo chun is not the name of a place, the allusion is not known. Foo nëen means 'young,' I. e. rich in years yet to come.-Morrison. Tonic Part, voce Foo.

off. Pang afterwards took his wife with him, and ascended the Luh mun shan, in order to collect medicinal plants without going far for them."

Of Ching shun kung, there is the following account:-" This seen sang (savant) was called Haou, and surnamed Pa shun; at the age of ten he could versify; and between twelve and thirteen, dwelt in a college, like an old man. When he grew up, he studied, along with Te-e, at Chow yuen kung's. The plants which grew before Yuen kung's windows were not rooted up. Persons inquired the reason, saying, 'In your house, you should act uniformly, and before the seen sang's window the plants grow thickly, while they are carefully plucked up from the steps.' 'Not so,' was the reply; 'I desire to see the constructive growth of things.' Also, in the pond of water before the village, he kept several little fish, and was constantly looking at them, and when the meaning of this was asked, 'By seeing things attain their growth, we understand the universal law.' Seay te says: "this savant sat with the dignity of an image (joo tsang soo), and with his acquaintances was always in a perfect circle of amity and concord." Fan te also observes: "the savant's appearance was sedate, his disposition harmonious, his intention firm, and his conversation grave; and those beholding him could not fail being inspired with awe; indeed, none who saw or had intercourse with him ever left his presence without reverencing him as a man of true learning." He died in the eighth year of the emperor Yuen fung, about A.D. 1085. Wan loo kung wrote as an epitaph on his tomb, Ming taou, 'the enlightened reason.'" (Wan, &c. p. 11.)

Of Chew yuen kung, there is also the highest encomium in the same work, both from Choo tsze and also in the descriptive portion. "In the mind of this man, the very highest genius was scattered like rays of light." He appears to have been in his disposition one of the class of men familiarly known, or nicknamed, as "inquirers of the hills and seekers of the stream." The surprising memory of Wang wan kung can only be parallelled by that of Niebuhr, the historian. "Wang wan kung, who was called Gan shih and Keae poo, was a Linchow man, and early addicted himself to study; what he had once seen, he never forgot till the end of his life; and in literary composition, he wrote as if his pencils flew." Gaou yang wung chung kung, also named Sew, and surnamed Yung shuh, Tsuy ung, and Luh yih keu, was a Low ling man; his father, Wan, who had taken his doctor's degree, and had been created a judge, died, leaving him at the age of four. His mother, who was of the Ching family, taught him his characters by tracing them out for him with a reed upon the ground." "Although he was obliged to borrow his books from a neighbouring village to copy, he learnt them by heart, and finally graduated as a bachelor, and rose to the rank of tutor to the heir apparent, and was complimented by the emperors, Lin tsung and Ying tsung."

These specimens will show that the Chinese are not ignorant of the utility of teaching morals by good examples.

ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN THE BRITISH SETTLEMENTS IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF PENANG, SINGAPORE, AND MALACCA.

BY JOHN ANDERSON, ESQ., LATE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT
OF THESE SETTLEMENTS.

THIRD AND CONCLUDING ARTICLE.

THE general disbursements of these settlements have been greatly and properly reduced, compared with what they were under the old system of government. There remain now only four civil servants of the late Bencoolen establishment (all the surviving ones of the Penang list being dead or having retired), viz. the Governor and three Residents. The office of assistant at Penang is held by an extra covenanted servant of the late Fort Marlborough establishment, an efficient active man; that at Malacca by a private gentleman of Dutch extraction. It will shortly be found that other servants must be appointed, to fill vacancies as they occur. The Government will discover that there is little advantage in employing uncovenanted servants in situations of such trust and importance, and still less profit in sending civilians from Bengal, whose allowances are so much higher than were those of the local servants. Sending new and inexperienced men from other presidencies, only causes change and confusion: they are always endeavouring to undo, under the idea of improvement, what has been done by their predecessors after deliberate consideration and extensive local experience, and the attempt only ends in disappointment and useless expense. If they be of a speculative turn, they amuse the Court of Directors and the Supreme Government with schemes of increased revenues, which there is no prospect of ever realizing. They heap regulations upon regulations, and it has been frequently found that the last have been the worst. The Government gained little advantage from sending a Bengal civilian as commissioner to inquire into the land revenues, with a salary greater than the Governor, who could have performed the duty far better without any additional expense. The expenses of this inquiry have been more than the revenue to which it referred will yield for a great number of years, and the industry and enterprize of the inhabitants have been checked, and the improvement of waste lands entirely stopped, by the injudicious plans proposed by a person of no local experience, although able enough in another sphere. I long since predicted that the sanguine anticipation of a great increase of revenue from the lands with which the Court was flattered, in order to afford a pretext for increased superfluous expense, would end in disappointment, and the recent proceedings at all the settlements fully confirm my expressed expectations. It has been found that the estimates of land revenue at Province Wellesley have been a complete delusion; and this I showed very clearly would be the case, in a minute I recorded on the 8th Jan. 1829, when I was acting as resident councillor-extract of which I subjoin, as well as extract of another minute on 7th April 1829:

Extract of a Minute by the Acting Resident Councillor of Penang, on the subject of Province Wellesley, 8th Jan. 1829:

Remarks upon the Superintendent's Report.

Leases.-Great expectations are held out from the leasing system, and I hope they may be realized, although I must confess that I am by no means so sanguine in my anticipation as the superintendent; not but that I believe the population and cultivation in the province are considerably on the increase, and that it is a valuable dependency, as affording supplies of grain, cattle, and poultry, but because I cannot see how a demand for land can be expected to increase, now that a rent is proposed much beyond the quit rent formerly established, and when experience shows us how limited the demand was when land could be had on grant for comparatively nothing. It is, however, of course, desirable that the superintendent should take advantage of accidental circumstances, and a temporary influx of population, to enhance the value of lands still unalienated, as far as can be done consistently with other paramount considerations.

But the next column appears still more vague. The total of lowest estimated probable annual revenue from land, when all sources have become fully available, calculated at the rate of Rs. 4 per orlong for wet land and Rs. 2 per orlong for dry land, Rs. 123,538. The calculation appears to be made by supposing that the whole superficies of the present dense jungle in Province Wellesley is to be taken at the terms specified, there being yet to let 25,053 orlongs of wet land alone. While, there. fore, we observe that, after a lapse of so many years, the estimated extent of wet land cultivated in the province is only 8,503 orlongs, the greater part of which is held at a quit rent of less than half a rupee per orlong, and the proprietors have had no other burthens; it requires, I think, some ingenuity to discover how the remaining 25,053 orlongs of wet land, now in a state of forest, is, as it were by magic, to produce Rs. 4 per orlong; and as for the dry land, it has been admitted that there has been little or no demand for it when it could be had for a mere nominal rent.

The next column is 'general revenue;' and we have the estimated probable present value of the farms on luxuries, &c.,' not yet accounted for, the farms being sold generally, and without advertence to localities. This calculation is, according to the present population, Sa. Rs.50,000. Now, the superintendent must be well aware that the plan of sub-dividing the excise farms, which he refers to, has been tried in vain, and that the whole for the island and Province Wellesley is rented in the lump. At all events, if a transfer were made to Province Wellesley, there would be a corresponding diminution in what is now easily collected and carried to account on this island. He nevertheless adds this Rs. 50,000 of imaginary receipts to the preceding item, Sa. Rs. 123,538, and gives as the next column, •Total of lowest probable annual revenue of the whole province, when all the foregoing sources have become available, Sa. Rs. 173,000.' The precise period when this large revenue is to be realized is not stated; but I cannot withhold the expression of my opinion, that there is a tone of exaggeration, and a display of figures, only calculated to mislead. Past experience is, perhaps, the best criterion whereby to form a tolerably correct judgment, and I must acknowledge that, after an attentive perusal of preceding reports, flattering as they were, and reference to the statements of the three last years' receipts, 1827-28, being Sa. Rs.367 as the revenue of the province, I can place but little confidence in such statements as are now presented. In order to show that my present observations are not altogether uncalled for, I must beg leave to place in juxta-position the views on the subject of revenue and the estimates, as submitted by the same gentleman, on the 1st April 1827 and 27th Dec. 1828.

Here is a complete difference, too remarkable to escape notice, the last estimate being upwards of a lac of rupees less than the former !

Considering the class of which the chief part of the population is composed, the destitute state in which most of the refugees from Quedah arrive, and the prover