Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/16

 8 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. JULY i, 1905. called ' Borneo,' or more properly " My Captivity in Borneo,' and is a tale of shipwreck and savage life— a pretended autobiography like ' Robinson Crusoe.' So strong is the interest attached to the subject of Borneo, which has just received a third article in The Quarterly Renew, that I have little doubt of the book commanding an extensive sale, for I can vouch for the scrupulous correctness of all the details. But as it would destroy the authenticity of the narrative if the name of a novelist were attached to it, I mean to publish it anonymously, though in the end I shall be proud to acknowledge it, for it is one of the best written and most credit- able of my books. I had KHI/, each from Fisher for the ' Snowstorm' and ' New Year's Day,' but as my name is not to lie affixed to this work, I ask 501. I have not offered it to Fisher's successor, nor men- tioned it even in my own family, as I consider a strict incognito essential to its success. If, therefore, Mr. Colburn does not wish to purchase it, I rely upon him and you not to allude to the authorship to any one. I am myself perfectly convinced that this little work will become a permanent gift-book like ' Crusoe.' Believe me truly yours, C. F. GORE. The MS. is quite ready. It is the whole of the novel. This autobiography is, as a matter of fact, very dull reading, and its want of success is therefore easily explained. A laudatory dedication to Sir James Brooke (Rajah Erooke, of Sarawak), and frequent reference to his achievements, suggest that the writer considered that the popular interest in his conquests would help the book. Colburn in publishing it added a litho-frontispiece illus- trating a native dance. The bibliography provided after her life in the 'D.N.B.' names, in chronological order, some seventy novels of this author, but there is a strange hiatus between the years 1849-52. The present identification will help to fill this; but it is remarkable that so prolific a writer produced only this one work in four years. ALECK ABRAHAMS. 39, Hillmarton Road, N. PHONETICS OF THE FAR EAST.—These are worth studying. For example, to take Chinese equivalents for English kon;/ names. Full Lee stands phonetically for Hall and Holtz. But how ? The compradors, or native agent, is the traditional strong man in these cases. Here he drops everything but Holtz. Then, Chinese fashion, he adds a syllable, making it Ho-litz. Thereupon he selects the vowel sounds with a difference, making it uh-ee, and the name passes from mouth to mouth as Fuh Lee, and is adopted by the firm as its Chinese alias. After this, Wo-tah for Walter Dunn is Occidental in its simplicity. Clark becomes Ka-lah, but Clarkson, Shu-sun. Clif- ford is Ko-Ii-fun. Collins is Kao-lin, but Comins is, wonderfully, Ching Ming. Connell is by partial perversion Kung-lee. From Diederickson, Jebson <fc Co. the comjyradore selects rickson, and thereupon we get J it-sing, and so on. But where does the science of the operation come in ? Just in this way—that every one of the native aliases is made up of words well known to even comparatively illiterate China- men, and the nearest in sound possessing a good meaning are those selected, though much is left to the discretion of the compra- dore in the matter o_f choice. Good meanings are supposed to be implied, as in the case of Shu-sun, meaning " rising sun," for Clarkson. The rebus in heraldry is somewhat similar. This, too, is worth noting, that while the Chinese turn r into I— e.rj., lickshaw for rick- shaw, and veil;/ plitty for very pretty—the Japanese, in many cases, turn I into r, as in the cases of ramjm for lamp; Igirisu for English ; Berujilni for Belgium, perhaps by the avenue of F. Belyique ; Orandu for Hol- land ; and 2'arien for Talien, otherwise Yladivostock. DUH An Coo. Hongkew. QiurLts. WE must request correspondents desiring in- formation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. WALL, FORMERLY OF DYMOCK, GLOUCESTER- SHIRE.—The pedigree of this family, for five generations, is given in the ' Visitation of Gloucestershire, 1682-3.' Can it be brought down in the male or in any female lines to this time ' I have extracts from the wills of Mary, proved 5 September, 1710, widow of Thomas Wall, of Dytnock (she names her son William Wall, her daughter Elizabeth Pye "Wall, her brother-in-law Capell Wall, her grandchildren Mary, Anne, and Dorothy Cowcher, her brother Edward Pye Chamberlayne, her uncle George Chamberlayne, her nephew Edward Pye Chamberlayne, and her brother Jauncy); of William Wall, proved 2 March, 1716/17 (he refers to his estate in the parish of Dymock, and names his son Capell Wall, of London, merchant, and his daughter Dorothy, widow of Thomas Jauncy, and her children): of Capell Wall, already mentioned, proved 23 January, 1746/7 (he names his son William Wall, Doctor of Laws, one of the masters of the High Court of Chancery in Ireland, hi* daughter Penelope Wall, his niece Elizabeth Pye Carter, his godson Capell Wall, his niece Elizabeth Jauncy, and his cousin Mary Brog- den, widow); of William Wall, of Putney,