In the summer of the year _Ke sze_ (1809),[16] I returned from the capital, and having passed the chain of mountains,[17] I learned the extraordinary disturbances caused by the _Pirates_. When I came home I saw with mine own eyes all the calamities; four villages were totally destroyed; the inhabitants collected together and made preparations for resistance. Fighting at last ceased on seas and rivers: families and villages rejoiced, and peace was every where restored. Hearing of our naval transactions, every man desired to have them written down in a history; but people have, until this day, looked in vain for such a work. Meeting once, at a public inn in Whampo,[18] with one _Yuen tsze_, we conversed together, when he took a volume in his hand, and asked me to read it. On opening the work, I saw that it contained a _History of the Pirates_; and reading it to the end, I found that the occurrences of those times were therein recorded from day to day, and that our naval transactions are there faithfully reported. Yuen tsze supplied the defect I stated before, and anticipated what had occupied my mind for a long time. The affairs concerning the robber _Lin_ are described by the non-official historian _Lan e_, in his _Tsing y[)i]h ke_, viz. in the _History of the Pacification of the Robbers_.[19] Respectfully looking to the commands of heaven, _Lan e_ made known, for all future times, the faithful and devoted servants of government. Yuen tsze's work is a supplement to the History of the Pacification of the Robbers, and you may rely on whatever therein is reported, whether it be of great or little consequence. Yuen tsze has overlooked nothing; and I dare to say, that all people will rejoice at the publication. Having written these introductory lines to the said work, I returned it to Yuen tsze.[20] Written at the time of the fifth summer moon, the tenth year of Tao kwang, called K[)a]ng yin (September 1830). A respectful Preface of _Ying hing Soo_, from _Peih keang_. KING CHUNG HO's[21] PREFACE. My house being near the sea, we were, during the year _Ke sze_ of Këa king (1809), disturbed by the Pirates. The whole coast adjoining to our town was in confusion, and the inhabitants dispersed; this lasting for a long time, every man felt annoyed at it. In the year _K[)a]ng yin_ (1830) I met with _Yuen tsze yung lun_ at a public inn within the walls of the provincial metropolis (Canton). He showed me his _History of the Pacification of the Pirates_, and asked me to write a Preface to the work; having been a schoolfellow of his in my tender age, I could not refuse his request. Opening and reading the volume, I was moved with recollections of occurrences in former days, and I was pleased with the diligence and industry of _Yuen keun_[22] The author was so careful to combine what he had seen and heard, that I venture to say it is an historical work on which you may rely.