NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF DE MAILLA
97
jusqu'à sa quarantième année: Ce prince les revit lui-même, y ajouta une préface de sa façon, & les fit imprimer dans son palais la quarante-septième année de son règne: il en distribua un exemplaire à chacun des grands de sa cour, défendant expressément d'en laisser paraître aucun au-dehors; cependant le P. de Mailla est parvenu à se procurer un de ces exemplaires, qui lui a fourni les détails qu'il donne de l'expédition contre les Eleutes, à laquelle Kang-hi marcha en personne, & où il acquit beaucoup de gloire.
Ce que le Missionaire historien dit de l'île Formose, que les Chinois appellent Taï-ouan, est tiré du Tchi-chu, ou Mémoires historiques de ces îles, rédigés sur les ordres de Kang-hi, par les plus habiles lettrés du Fou-kien. Le docteur Tchu-tsing-yen lui a encore fourni le complément de l'histoire du fameux pirate Tchin-tchi-long & de son fils Tching-tching-kong, qui chassa les Hollandais des îles Formoses, où il se forma une principauté indépendante, que Kang-hi n'enleva au prince Taï-van, son petit-fils.
We have already discussed the first of these works, Chu Lin's Ming-chỉ chi-lüeh; as for the discrepancy between the notes concerning its date of publication, the 35th year of K’ang-hsi, 1696, is correct. The account of Koxinga's campaign against the Dutch in Formosa, specifically attributed to this source, erroneously dates it as 1659,23 instead of 1661. I have been unable to determine whether the blame should be attached to Chu Lin, as de Mailla's editor surmises,24 or to the good father himself, who has elsewhere recorded the date properly.2
The second, Ch'in-cheng p’ing-ting shuo-mo fang-lüeh *****, provides a detailed account of the K'ang-hsi emperor's difficulties with the Eleuthes, 1677-98, including his campaigns against Galdan (d. 1697).26 Both Manchu27 and Chinese versions are extant, the latter, in 48 chüan (plus 1 chüan of geographical description) having been published with an imperial preface in 1708.28 The director-general of the compilation was Chang Yü-shu # 1₺ (1642-1711) who, in 1696, had accompanied the emperor on his campaign.29
I am at a loss to identify the third, "Tchi-chu," or the "historical memoirs" of Formosa, said to have been "drawn up at the command of K'ang-hsi by the most able scholars of Fukien."30 In addition to this source of information, de Mailla must have profited from a trip