1779- would occur in my bufinefs, the difficulty o f gaining admit-
. ecem er‘. tance to the Viceroy, the jealoufies and fufpicions o f the
Mandarines, refpefting our real defigns, which had rifen, he
faid, to an extraordinary height, from the ftrange account
w e had given o f ourfelves. -
After waiting feveral days, with great impatience, for the
event o f ou r application, without underilanding that the
matter was at all advanced toward a conclufion, I applied to
the Commander o f an Engliih country ffiip, who was to fail
on the 25th, and who offered to take the men and ftores on
board, and to lie to, i f the weather ihould permit, o ff Macao,
till we could fend boats to take them out o f his ffiip.
At the fame time he apprized me o f the danger there might
be o f his being driven with them out to fea. Whillt I was
doubting what meafures to purfue, the Commander o f another
country ffiip brought me a letter from Captain Gore, in
which he acquainted me, that he had engaged him to bring
us down from Canton, and to deliver the ftores we had procured,
at his own riik, in the Typa. All bur difficulties
being -thus removed, I had leifure to attend to the pur-
chafe o f our proviiions and ftores, which was completed
on the 26th; and the day following, the whole flock was fent
.on board. -
As Canton was lik e ly to be the mod advantageous market
for furs', I was defired by Captain Gore to carry with me
about twenty fea-otters ikins, chiefly the property o f our
deceafed Commanders, and to difpofe o f them at the beft
price I could procure; a commiffion, which gave me an opportunity
o f becoming a little acquainted with the genius o f
the C h in e fe . for trade. Having acquainted fome o f the
Engliffi fupercargoes with thefe circumftances, I defired
2 ■ ■ . ■ them
them to recommend me to fome Chinefe merchant o f credit
and reputation, who would at once offer me a fair and rea-
fonable price. I was accordingly direfled to a member o f
the Hong, a fociety o f the principal merchants o f the place,
who being fu lly informed o f the nature o f the bufinefs, ap--
peared fenfible o f the delicacy o f m y fituation ; affured me,
I might depend on his in tegr ity ; and that, in a cafe o f this
fort, he ffiould confider himfe lf merely as an agent, without
looking for any profit to himfelf. H a v in g laid my goods
before him, he examined them with great care, over and
over again, and at laft told me, that he could not venture to
offer more than three hundred dollars for them. As I knew
from the price our fkins had fold for in Kamtfchatka, that
he had not offered me one h a lf their value, I found m y fe lf
under the neceflity o f driving a bargain. In my turn, I
therefore demanded one thoufand; my Chinefe then advanced
to five hundred; then offered me a private prefent
o f tea and porcelain, amounting to one hundred m o re ;
then the fame fum in mon ey;.and , laftly,rofe to feven hundred
dollars, on which I fe ll to nine hundred. Here, each
fide declaring he would not recede, we parted; but the Chinefe
foon returned with a lift o f India goods, which he now-
propofed I ffiould take in exchange, and which, I was afterward
told, would have amounted in value, i f honeftly delivered,
to double the fum he had before offered. FindinsOr I
did not choofe to deal in this mode, he propofed as bis ultima»
tum,\hat we ffiould divide the difference, which, being tired
o f the conteft, I confented to, and received the eight hundred
dollars,
The ill health, which at this time I laboured under, left
me little reafon to lament the very narrow limits, within .
which the policy, o f the Chinefe obliges every European at
Canton.
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