Original Text
In the autumn of the year Jisi, a great ship drifted in from the sea to Lingnan, bearing eleven men clad in garments woven from bird feathers, resplendent with dazzling patterns and hues. They declared, "We are men of Luzon. Encountering a fierce gale at sea, our vessel capsized, and dozens perished, leaving only the eleven of us clinging to a massive timber. Drifting to a large island, we narrowly escaped death. For five years, by day we caught birds and insects for sustenance, and by night we slept in rocky caves, weaving sails from bird feathers. Suddenly, another ship drifted by, its oars and sails all gone, likely shattered by the winds at sea, and so we boarded it. As we sought to return, a great wind again blew us to Macau." The governor memorialized this to the court and sent them back to their own country.
Commentary
This is likely the southernmost region recorded in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. In terms of China, it involves Macau under the Lingnan Circuit of the Qing Dynasty; in terms of foreign lands, it mentions the Kingdom of Luzon, which is present-day Philippines. The tale merely records the hearsay of the time and does not involve ghosts or strange phenomena. The autumn of the Jisi year refers to the twenty-eighth year of the Kangxi reign, that is, 1689, when the Governor of Guangdong was Zhu Hongzuo, the father of Zhu Xiang, a friend of Pu Songling. Zhu Xiang visited Guangdong while his father served as governor there. It is estimated that this story was obtained by Zhu Xiang from his father's narration and then conveyed to Pu Songling.