CO129-224 - Foreign Office - 1885 — Page 189

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Consul, Amoy, to forward a copy to the Colonial Secretary, Hong Kong, and I transmit a copy myself to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

WM. DONALD SPENCE.

Inclosure 2 in No. 4.

Declaration by Yen A-shếng, Chinese sailor,

"évadé" from French batteries, Kelung, January 10.

APPEARED before me, W. Donald Spence, Acting Consul, Taiwan, this 26th January, 1885, Yen A-shêng, and having sworn, after the manner of his nation, to speak the truth, deposed as follows:--

I was

My name is Yen A-sheng. I am 31 years of age, from the Pescadores. employed in an Anping junk, and was returning from Fanghao with a cargo of firewood on the 26th November, when she was captured by a French ship and all hands (five) made prisoners. The junk was towed to Anping, and on the 29th November blown up.

We were transferred from one ship to another for the space of a month. I did not see many Chinese prisoners on board. The French were often engaged with junks, but I did not dare to look over the side. I was very well treated on board and got plenty of food; but they shaved our heads.

(Witness' head clean shaved.---W. D. S.)

even that.

Finally I was taken to Kelang. We were there twenty days. We were a gang of 120 prisoners, 90 of us being made to carry sand in buckets fromt he shore to the batteries. The rest were employed in the barracks. All night we were put in irons. The only food we got was the leavings of the Annamese, a bowl of old rice at a time, and very often not We had not enough water to drink on days when there was no rain, There were over twenty French warders, mostly white men. Of the ninety Chinamen in the gang, seventeen fell out unable to work through illness and want of food, and they were all shot by the French. Two of my mates were shot. I saw them do it. One was my first cousin, Yen A-ch'in, aged 36; the other Chang A-cha, 35. They were unable to work, and the warder put a revolver to their ears and blew their brains out. I swear this is true. Men who could not work were progged by bayonets and made to work, and when that failed they were shot, some through the head, some through the chest. I saw them do it with my

own eyes.

An attack was made on the French posts by Lin Yu-li on the 10th January with his trainbands. The French turned out to repel the attack, and all our warders went except six or seven. We were in a battery on the top of a hill, and thinking it a good chance to escape, made a rush over the crest and down the other side in the direction of the Chinese lines. I fell and sprained my wrist. We were fired upon, but sixty-seven out of the whole number, including myself, escaped.

All this I swear to be true.

Sworn before me,

(Signed)

WM. DONALD SPENCE, Acting Consul.

X Mark.

Inclosure 3 in No. 4.

PARTICULARS of Damage to Junks by French Fleet off Formosa, January 1885.

Date.

District.

1884. Dec. 21

Hsia chu district

Dec. 31

"885. Jun.

6

גל

Occurrence.

A. French emizer anchored at Hung Mao-kong with a juuk in tow. She fired on another laden with Foochow poles, and drove her on to the shallows, where she was set on fire. Most of the crew killed, but some escaped.

At Hung-nanao five large junks and six small ones burnt and

scuttled.

Large junk from Amoy, with miscellaneous cargo fired upon by French at Hung Mao-kong. She escaped, but two others and two fishing-boats were seized. Crows of all four made prisoners and juuks turned adrift.

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