"_The fire in the sea_: It happens sometimes that sea waves have such a luminous appearance, as if the whole sea were full of fire. If you cast any thing into the sea, it becomes luminous like a star; but you do not see this during moonlight. Wood having in itself no fire, receives a fiery appearance, after having been passed through the water." In b. x. p. 10 r. Whampo is said to be seventy le from the sea custom-house of Canton. In this extract foreigners are in general very unfavourably spoken of. Amongst other things we are told, "that foreigners or barbarians drink so much strong liquor that they are not able to stand on their feet; they fall down intoxicated, and before having had a sound sleep, they cannot rise again." It is also remarked in the same article that many people assemble together at Whampo, to attend the trade with the foreigners; the reason probably why our author calls it "the Great." The reader will remember what has been said on Hëang shan in a former note; I will only here add the remark of Martini, "that in his time the principal and most wealthy merchants lived in that place." (Thévenot, Rélations de divers voyages, iii. 167.) [80] It is well known that a great part of the population of China live on the water, and they are generally called _Tan_ (9832) people;--a word which in the Canton dialect is pronounced _Tanka_. They are quite a separate race, and harshly dealt with by the Chinese government. There exist particular works concerning the history, the customs and laws of these boat-people. They more than once opposed the despotic regulation of their masters, and government was always afraid they might join the pirates. The history of the southern barbarians in the often quoted _Memoirs_, &c. begins with a description of the _Tan jin_, or _Tanka_ people, and it is there said that they are divided into three different classes. The description of their customs and manners is very interesting, and I hope soon to lay it before the English reader. It has been supposed that the name _Tanka people_ is derived from the form of their boats, which is similar to an _egg_; but _Shw[)o] w[)a]n_, as quoted in Kang he, explains the word only by _Nan fang e yay_, Barbarians of the southern region. There exist different forms of this character, but I think we should not presume to make an etymology of a Chinese character without being authorized by the Shw[)o] w[)a]n, the oldest and most genuine source of Chinese lexicography. [81] In the Chinese text is _King king_ (the character is composed out of radical _fire_ and _ear_), on which is to be found an interesting critical observation in Kang he, s. v. b. viii. p. 119r. In no other oriental language has there been so much done by the natives for the foreign student as by the Chinese.