proposed; he still, however, declined the honour, but at
last went down the ladder, and having stepped into the
barge, made a bow to Captain Maxwell, as if in acknowledgment
of the attention, but immediately afterwards went
into his own boat and pushed off, under a salute of three
guns from each ship.
Our intention of returning this visit the next day was
not mentioned during the discussions in the cabin, from the
certainty of its being combated, and perhaps overruled;
but when the last of the chiefs was getting into the boat,
the interpreter was desired to tell him, in a careless way, as
a matter of course, that next morning this visit would be
returned on shore. As had been foreseen, this did not
receive their approbation; the interpreter went into the
boat, where every persuasion was used to convince him of
the impropriety of our intention : they could not succeed,
however, in making him yield this point, and a t length went
away. This interpreter is called “ John” by all parties, and
though merely an under servant of the factory. at Canton,
he is a very shrewd fellow. His English is certainly not the
best, and probably the Chinese he speaks is the base provincial
language of Canton ; so that misunderstandings
are no doubt often caused by his erroneous interpretation.
John’s report after the boat had put off, and from which
we gather that we shall be expected, was as follows : “ They
ax me, .‘what for my Ta-yin come sho?’ I say, ‘ to make
chin-chin* they T a -y in | they tell me, ‘ You Ta-yin too
much great mandarine, no can come sho;’ I say, ‘ What
for my Ta-yin no come sho ? He great man ; he f Ta-wang-
tee too much great man; he let you ,Ta-yin come board
ship, and you no let him come sho, chin-chm you Ta-yin ;
what for this ?’ Then they speak long time together ; by and
by ax me, ‘ how many people bring sho you Ta-yin ? So I
shake my head, I no like gi've answer long time, (they
always take long time answer me). When they ax me again,
I say, ‘ Ta-yin bring five people mo besides me.’ They say,
‘ too much men come;’ I say, | No, no too much. They
ax, ‘ What time come?’ I give no answer.
2Sd September.—As we had not contemplated such
adventures as these, we had made no preparations for
them; and now that it was necessary to make some
.return to the chief whom we were going to visit, we found
great difficulty in preparing a suitable present. Captain
Maxwell took with him several dozens of wine, some books,
glasses, various trinkets, and a large piece of blue broad
* .Chin-chin in the corrupt dialect of Canton, means the ceremony of salutation,
which consists in the action of holding up the closed hands, pressed
together before the face, and bowing at the same time.
f Ta-whang-tee is Chinese for Emperor, King.