HANS WETTERKUND, of Nirgendheim,

May surely in my humble rhyme,

A passing tribute fairly claim,

For he was known in village fame.

Folks call'd him aye, the weather-prophet,

And very proud too he was of it.

He vow'd he knew each hint and sign
That told us when the sun would shine:
Man, bird, beast, insect, fish, or worm,
Proclaim'd to him the coming storm.
When bats their ev'ning flight neglected,
Bad weather then might be expected;
Or when, with flitting wing, the swallows
Flew low and almost touched the shallows.
When ducks in pools were seen to tumble,
Thunder would soon be heard to rumble.
The solitary crow in the sand

Declar'd that rain was near at hand;
And when the frogs the pool forsook,
And in the fields a ramble took,
Bad weather would be sure to ensue,
For well the croaking tribe he knew.
The insect race too,-spider, gnat,
Bee, fly, he had their habits pat.

In short, if you would but believe him, No thing on earth could e'er deceive him. Thus had he liv'd and ever boasted

His wondrous skill, though often roasted
By envious tongues, who, murm'ring, vow'd
He could not see the coming cloud.
"But this was envy," Hans declar'd;

Rightly the careless loons had far'd,
"For had they heard him to an end,
"In safety they their way might wend.
"But scarce had he his speech begun,
"Off would the impatient varlets run,
"And for their haste were rightly serv'd,
"No better treatment they deserv'd."
His speeches were so ably fram'd
Whate'er the event, he boldly claim'd
That he, with prophet's intuition,
Foretold the case with due precision.
His words, both dexterous and sinister,
Were worthy our prime minister.

Thus at the window he would croak
With sapient mien; his pipe would smoke
As none but Germans can do, who
Puff morning, noon, and evening too.

His looby boy, with heavy look,
Would clamber up by hook or crook,
And holding fast by wood or nail,
His sire's wise oracles inhale.

But, ah! what boots the weather-wise, That he can scan the earth and skies?

In vain he boasts unerring skill

As once of yore; 't is useless, still:

Frau Wetterkund looks sullen down,
Or only answers with a frown.

She vows she does not care a pin
For all his prophecies, they took her in.
"Once she believed him, to her sorrow,
"And fixed her washing for the morrow."

QUEMOY.

Alas! all human fame is vain,

And thunder, lightning, hail, and rain,
Belied poor Hans: too plainly now,
Although he sorely tried to show
That he was right, and that it ought
To be fine weather, he was caught.
His wife his weather-skill impeaches,
And ever since has worn the

133

QUEMOY.

QUEMOY, or Kinman, belongs to the Amoy group of islands, and first became known during the recent war with China. As we shall subsequently have occasion to refer to the physical features of these islands, and to the events of which they became the scene in the conflict of the celestial empire with the English, we shall confine ourselves on the present occasion to the former history of the chief island in its commercial connexion with Europeans.

Amoy, as it is called by European navigators, or Heaman, in the Mandarin language, (Hahmoy in the Tukian dialect,) is situated directly opposite to Formosa, and the group of the Pongou, Pescadores, or Fishermen's, islands. The convenience of anchorage which these latter afford to ships sailing through the Formosa Channel, on their way from India to Japan, rendered them valuable in the eyes of the early European navigators. The Portuguese, who for a long time carried on a commercial intercourse with Ningpo, do not seem to have visited Amoy; but the Dutch (1620-1662) and the English, who settled early in Formosa, selected it as an emporium. After the Dutch had been driven from their fort in Formosa by the pirate Coxinga, the harbour of Amoy remained for a time accessible to the English, until this city was occupied by the Manchoo conquerors in 1681, when the English East India Company thought it more prudent, with their four Chinese tradingvessels, to join the Portuguese in Macao. In the year 1700 the three English trading-vessels were still ordered to Ningpo and Chusan, or, if they could not advance so far, to Amoy. Notwithstanding the many difficulties by which the local authorities strove to check the intercourse with the foreigners, the factories were not totally abandoned until the year 1735. In 1753 the English made new attempts to maintain or extend their commerce; but in 1757 the emperor, by an edict, forbade

VOL. II.

2 M