waq to keep poiTeilion o f the pearl till the remaining part
o f timpurcjiafe-money Ihould be ready ; and in order to obviate
any ppffibility ,of trick, the box in which.it was kept was fealed
with the purchafer s feal. Several days elapfed without his
hearing any thing, further from the Chinefe; and, at length,
the time approached when all foreign merchants are ordered
down to Macao. The Armenian, in vain, endeavoured to find
out the people who had purchafed his pearl, but he contented
himfelf with the refledion that, although he had been difap-
pointed in the main objedt o f his journ e y, he ftill had his
property, and that the depofit was more than fufficient, to defray
his expences. On reaching his home, he had no longer
apy fcruple in breaking open the feal; but his mortification may
eafily be fuppofed, on difcovering that his real pearl had
been exchanged for an artificial one, fo very like as not to be
deteded but by the moil critical examination. The daily vifits
o f thefe people, it feems, were for no other purpofe than to enable
them to forge an accurate imitation, which they had dex-
teroufly fubftituted for the real one, when they propofed the '
cunning expedient o f fealing the box in which it was inclofed.
The Armenians, however, were determined not to be outdone
by the Chinefe. A noted charader, o f the name o f Baboom, '
equally well known in Bengal and ,Madras as in Canton, juft
before his failure in about half a million ft.erling, depofited a valuable
caiket o f pearls, as he reprefented them, in the hands o f
one o f the Hong merchants, as a pledge for . a large fum o f
money, which, when opened, inftead o f pearls was found to"
be a cajket ofpeas.
It
It has always been cqrifidered that a foreigner has little chance
o f obtaining juftice at Canton. The import and export duties,
which by the la\v o f the country ought to be levied ad valorem,
are arbitrarily fixed according to the fancy o f the colledor.
And although the court is at all times ready to punifh, by con-
fifcation o f their property, fitch as have been guilty o f corruption
and oppreffion, yet by accepting their prefents, it feems to
lend them its encouragement. Befides,' the diftance from Canton
to the metropolis is fo great,- the temptations To ftrong, and
the chances ó f impunity fo much in their favour, that to be
honeft, when power and opportunity lend their aid to roguery,
is a virtue not within the pale o f Chinefe morality. A finkin
g in ikn c e 'o f theif peculation appeared in a circumftance that
was connected’w ith the liritifli Embafiy; In confideration o f
the Hindoftan having carried-' prefents for the Emperor, an order
was ■ iffued from. Court that-fire ihould7 be exempt from
dnties at any o f the ports'where ihe might take in. a cargo. It
happened :that the Hong merchants had' already paid the H in -
doftan’s duties with thofe. of the other Ihips, o f which her par-
ticular iharevwasr .30,odo Ounces: t>£ filver. . The Hoo^foo or cól-,
ledtor was therefore req.uefted to return this! fum agreeably to*
the order from court, but he refunded only into Mr. Browne’s;
hands 14,000 dollars, which can be reckoned as little.more-
thaii- i-i ,q o o ounces, obferving, that fo much was the exadt
amount o f the Emperor’s duties. As in this inftance o f a public
nature the colledtor could not be fuppofed to adt without, c ir -
cumfpedtlon, we may conclude how very fmall a proportion
o f the duties, extorted from foreigners trading, to Canton, finds,
its way into the Imperial treafury. *
Thu®