Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 343

1811:

Topographical Account of Chusun.

329

Tinghae heën is one of these districts. It is subject to the pre- fecture of Ningpo foo; Chinhae heën, at the mouth of the river of Ningpo, is another district in the same prefecture.

The heën is the smallest division of territory in which the presiding officer is invested with all the powers of government. This officer is called a cheheën, i. e. 'knower of the district.' His powers and position relatively to the high officers of the provincial government resemble, in a great measure, those of magistrates over districts in India; and he has hence often been called a magistrate. The territory under him is frequently declared by Chinese writers to be analogous to the states or kingdoms of former days. And in accordance with this view of it, the actual “knower" of a district has under him clerks in the six several departments, of administration, revenue, civil and religious rites, war, justice, and public works, into which the business of the general national government is divided. To no officer of subordinate rank are these general powers given. The magis- trate's district is, however, subdivided into portions, under officers of police at times, otherwise under village elders. The duties of these parties consist chiefly in the preservation of the peace, and the col- lection of revenue. In addition, there is generally in each subdivi- sion of the district a tepaou, or “protector (or insurer) of the country a person held responsible for all disturbances and crimes committed within his beat. The village elders are called by various names, in different parts of the empire, and are much more recognized by the government in some parts than in others. The police officer, with powers for collection of the revenue, above spoken of, is generally called seun keën (i. e. officers who "go around” and “ex- amine," and the divisions of country under them are called sze (司); another common designation of divisions of country subordinate to a heën is chwang (E). The primary sense of this word being a farmstead, it has been employed probably with a special reference to the collection of revenue. And thus in each chwang are to be found- besides the officers of police, the village elders, and the responsible tepaou or constables-sundry officers subordinate to the collectors of revenue, who are at times military men, but in general men looking forward to a place on the civil list.

With these explanations premised, it will be more easy to under- stand the following brief remarks respecting the district of Tinghae and its divisions.

Chusan, the largest of the cluster or archipelago of islands to which it gives its name, is but a part of the district of Tinghae. The

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