Having determined to help establish a consul in China, and to satiate the buring curiousity of nations about the forbidden interior of the last great civilized country unknown to Europeans I embarked on the great ship Lion with a crew of 45 men on mission of exploration and diplomacy. History is likely not to remember to her children the story of my part to this endeavor, I being but a assistant to greater men, but thinking it worthy to record, I will write for her my true trials and curious observations of a curious land.

My name is Peter J. Williamson, the son of an the most upright ale-house keeper Peter D. Williamson Sr. of London, and good woman Alice Williamson, formerly of South Hampton. The eve before my departure I took a last drink with my good father, my mother standing by, stroking my pale hair with much pain, and thought what a place I am to leave for the misty terrainn of the unknown. Though, I was not to travel alone, as so many have, and will I think for sometime forward, I felt in that moment surrounded by my family in the ale-house whose roof hung affectionately over my infancy, adolescents, and early manhood, that I was leaving to plunge into a land wholey apart from the world. Would I return? When? God knows, voyages of exploration have a unpredictable appetite for men. That said, I kissed my beloved and parents, took my last strong mouthful of ale and strode off for the east.

Our ship, the Lion departed early the following morning into a gray mass of morbid clouds that seemed to dip down to the very face of the see. Needless to say, what excitement I felt was a bit tempered by this dark departure. I'd imagined setting sail for a golden orb of rising sun. I'd imagined song on aboard ship, and many thrilled looks from the men. I saw niether in this solemn business of departure. Rather, all about the ship were about some specific task, and all tended to their works without so much interest purpose as would startle a fly. Indeed, except for the diplomats who conversed about and planned in anticipation of the great hidden East they were to probe, and with hope establish a station in the rest of the ship seemed not to realize, or perhaps care for the adventure ahead.

What excitement their might of been, even in my own heart shrank by and by as the long voyage stretched on, seemingly without end. The greatest excitement came when, landing on the shores of very stopping points we began to notice a change in the terrain, which turned variously more green or more rocky, and showed in places artifacts of man that suggested a difference in cultural domain. By these moments alone, could one feel our progress. By theses moments alone, could I feel that I was progressing toward a reality, much fantasized about. The dream became more and more solid in the progression of land masses, and yet still formless and shifting. At times I struggled to comprehend the solid earth that seated China, our destination, and doubted much if, even as I stood upon it, I would be able to believe or explain it's solidity.....