ving on
board the _Antelope_ at 7 P.M., where we were most cordially received,
and heartily congratulated on our safe and happy deliverance from a
miserable captivity, which we had endured for eleven weeks and three
days.

_A few Remarks on the Origin, Progress, Manners, and Customs of the
Ladrones_

The Ladrones are a disaffected race of Chinese, that revolted against
the oppressions of the mandarins. They first commenced their
depredations on the Western coast (Cochin-China), by attacking small
trading vessels in rowboats, carrying from thirty to forty men each.
They continued this system of piracy several years; at length their
successes, and the oppressive state of the Chinese, had the effect of
rapidly increasing their numbers. Hundreds of fishermen and others
flocked to their standard; and as their number increased they
consequently became more desperate. They blockaded all the principal
rivers, and captured several large junks, mounting from ten to fifteen
guns each.

With these junks they formed a very formidable fleet, and no small
vessels could trade on the coast with safety. They plundered several
small villages, and exercised such wanton barbarity as struck horror
into the breasts of the Chinese. To check these enormities the
government equipped a fleet of forty imperial war-junks, mounting from
eighteen to twenty guns each. On the very first rencontre, twenty-eight
of the imperial junks struck to the pirates; the rest saved themselves
by a precipitate retreat.

These junks, fully equipped for war, were a great acquisition to them.
Their numbers augmented so rapidly, that at the period of my captivity
they were supposed to amount to near seventy thousand men, eight hundred
large vessels, and nearly a thousand small ones, including rowboats.
They were divided into five squadrons, distinguished by different
colored flags: each squadron commanded by an admiral, or chief; but all
under the orders of A-juo-Chay (Ching y[)i]h saou), their premier chief,
a most daring and enterprising man, who went so far as to declare his
intention of displacing the present Tartar family from the throne of
China, and to restore the ancient Chinese dynasty.

This extraordinary character would have certainly shaken the foundation
of the government, had he not been thwarted by the jealousy of the
second in command, who declared his independence, and soon after
surrendered to the mandarines with five hundred vessels, on promi