Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
RASHKB and author
Vol 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
59
In the appendix to Robert Ainslie's book of religious essays lacking a title page, but published about 1820 under the title Reasons of the hope that is in us, there appears "A Short Account of Lee Boo and Sackhouse, two Youths, brought at different periods from distant regions of the earth, still the rudest states of human society" and we may read the following curious story:
Lee Boo was born in one of the Pelew Islands. The Antelope East India packet was, in 1783, wrecked on its shore.
Lee Boo was the son of the rupack, or king... and was brought to Britain for his improvement at the desire of his father. He was sent to an academy, and instructed in reading; being not a little proud of his acquirements. He was of a most affectionate temper. But why, amid all the cares of his friends of this amiable young man, did they not innoculate him? Exposed to the infection of the smallpox, he was seized with the fatal malady, and, at the age of twenty, died of it on 27th July, 1784, to the great sorrow and regret of all who knew him. The East India Company handsomely erected a neat monument over his grave in Rotherhithe churchyard, with an inscription, expressive of their gratitude for the humane and kind treatment afforded by his father to the crew of their ship the Antelope, when wrecked upon his island".
Sackhouse was an Esquimaux, born in 1797, who in 1816 stowed away on a Scottish whaling ship and went with it to Scotland at his own request. He too learnt English, danced well, and played the flute; and those accomplishments, with his good-natured honest face, and obliging manners, rendered him a favourite and welcome guest wherever he went. He also died an early death in 1819 “most sincerely regretted”.
The appendix continues:
How unfortunate was it that those two excellent youths met such untimely fates! Had they lived they might have been the means, under Providence, of facilitating the introduction of Christianity into the most remote regions; and contributed to the happiness of millions,
Mr. Ainslie's two books of religious essays which he published remain deservedly obscure, but he himself has a claim to fame as a friend and correspondent of Robert Burns.
Before turning to Morrison's own contributions to Chinese studies and those of his contemporaries, mention must be made of his collection of Bibles in nearly thirty different languages, from Breton to Irish, from Hawaiian to Esquimaux, and Amharic to Catalan, more than a hundred of which are still in the Library,
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
RASHKB and author
Vol 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
59
In the appendix to Robert Ainslie's book of religious essays lacking a title page, but published about 1820 under the title Reasons of the hope that is in us, there appears "A Short Account of Lee Boo and Sackhouse, two Youths, brought at different periods from distant regions of the earth, still the rudest states of human society" and we may read the following curious story:
Lee Boo was born in one of the Pelew Islands. The Antelope East India packet. was, in 1783, wrecked on its shore.
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Lee Boo was the son of the rupack, or king... and was brought to Britain for his improvement
his father.
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at the desire of He was sent to an academy, and instructed in reading; being not a little proud of his acquirements. He was of a most affectionate temper. But why, amid all the cares of his friends of this amiable young man, did they not innoculate him? Exposed to the infection of the smallpox, he was seized with the fatal malady, and, at the age of twenty, died of it on 27th July, 1784, to the great sorrow and regret of all who knew him. The East India Company handsomely erected a neat monument over his grave in Rotherhithe churchyard, with an inscription, expressive of their gratitude for the humane and kind treatment afforded by his father to the crew of their ship the Antelope, when wrecked upon his island".
Sackhouse was an Esquimaux, born in 1797, who in 1816 stowed away on a Scottish whaling ship and went with it to Scotland at his own request. He too learnt English, danced well, and played the flute; and those accomplishments, with his good-natured honest face, and obliging manners, rendered him a favourite and welcome guest wherever he went. He also died an early death in 1819 “most sincerely regretted”.
The appendix continues:
How unfortunate was it that those two excellent youths met such untimely fates! Had they lived they might have been the means, under Providence, of facilitating the in- troduction of Christianity into the most remote regions; and contributed to the happiness of millions,
Mr. Ainslie's two books of religious essays which he published remain deservedly obscure, but he himself has a claim to fame as a friend and correspondent of Robert Burns.
Before turning to Morrison's own contributions to Chinese studies and those of his contemporaries, mention must be made of his collection of Bibles in nearly thirty different languages, from Breton to Irish, from Hawaiian to Esquimaux, and Amharic to Catalan, more than a hundred of which are still in the Library,
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