RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 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, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 L 64 Sacred to the Memory of/ Robert Morrison, D.D.,/ The first Protestant Missionary to/ CHINA:/ where, after a service of Twenty-seven years,/ Cheerfully spent in extending the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer,/ during which period he compiled and published/ A DICTIONARY OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE;/ Founded the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca;/ And, for several years laboured alone on a Chinese version of THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,/ which he was spared to see completed, and widely circulated/ among those for whom it was destined. He sweetly slept in Jesus. He was born at Morpeth, January 5th, 1782;/ Was sent to China, by the London Missionary Society, in 1807;/ Was for twenty-five years Chinese interpreter, in the employ of the East India Company:/ And died at Canton, August 1st, 1834. A LIST OF BOOKS MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF AUTHORS OR OCCASIONALLY, OF TRANSLATORS. AINSLIE, ROBERT, 1766-1838. [Reasons for the hope that is in us.] Edinburgh, printed by Ballantyne & Co. [c.1820.] Amiot, Jean JOSEPH MARIE, 1718-1793. Dictionnaire tartare-mantchou-français, composé d'après un dictionnaire mantchou-chinois, par M. Amyot, rédigé et publié avec des additions et l'alphabet de cette langue, par L. Langlès. 2v. Paris, imprimé par Fr. Ambr. Didot l'aîné, 1789. BAZIN, ANTOINE-PIERRE-Louis, 1799-1863. Le pi-pa-ki ou l'Histoire du luth, drame chinois de Kao-Tong-kia représenté à Péking en 1404 avec les changements de Mao-Tseu, traduit sur le texte original. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1841. BAZIN, ANTOINE-PIERRE-LOUIS, 1799-1863. Théâtre chinois ou choix de pièces de théâtre composées sous les empéreurs mongols traduites pour la première fois Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1838. BIOT, ÉDOUARD CONSTANT, 1803-1850. Dictionnaire des noms anciens et modernes des villes et arrondissements compris dans l'Empire Chinois indiquant les époques auxquelles leurs noms ont été changés. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1842. ================================================================================