published by him some years since, remains a remarkable memorial of his enterprise and perseverance. Though appointed bishop of Capsa, this fine title was the only profit he derived from his bishopric, which was of a somewhat shadowy character. Unable even to pay for the comforts of a European vessel, he was compelled to become a passenger on board the Chinese junks; and he gave some curious details of the system of navigation practised on board these vessels. The archbishop of Manilla, where Bruguières stayed some time, lent him a sum sufficient to pay his passage to Macao. Soon after his arrival at this port, he embarked on board a Chinese junk for Tongan, the residence of the vicar-apostolic for the province of Tokien. This voyage, of scarcely two hundred leagues in length, was more than two months in duration. The ignorance and timidity of the Chinese sailors, were the cause of this delay. They remained at anchor for more than a fortnight, and like delays happened frequently. The captain declared that the wind was contrary; they wanted a southerly wind, and the monsoon had just commenced. The Chinese did not know how to beat up against a contrary wind. The clumsy build of their ships, and the fear that they had of loosing their reckoning, never allowed them to take a bold offing. They always kept the land in sight, and this made their navigation long and dangerous. They had a compass on board, but it is a singular circumstance, that these people, the inventors of that instrument, and familiar with its use many ages before the Western nations, avail themselves but little of its guidance.
When at length they proceeded on this tedious
