^ t r a v e l s i n c h i n a .
tion as the meaneft failor in the fquadron. Proceeding to the
weftward, a capacious bay was difcovered. ^ One o f the pilots,
after a minute examination of the land, which was now elear,
afferted that he knew the place very w e ll; that it was the bay
o f Mee-a-taw. T he confidence with which he fpoke, and
the vaft concourfe o f people, crowding down towards the
fhore, as i f expecting our arrival, induced the Commander to
fteer directly into the bay : but the depth o f water diminiihing
to five fathoms, and land appearing on every fide, it was thought
prudent to let go the anchor. Several boats from the ihore were
prefently along-fide ; and we were foon convinced how little we
had to truft to the knowledge o f our pilots, even within fight
o f land. "We were informed that the bay was called Kee-fan-
feu , and that Mee-a-taw was, at leaft, fifteen leagues farther to
the weftward.
T he hills along this fouthern coaft o f the gulph o f Pe-tche-lee
have a very peculiar charader. T h e y are all o f the fame form
and nearly o f the fame fize, being regular cones with fmooth
fides as if falhioned by art, and entirely detached, each ftanding
on its proper bafe, refembling in their ihapes the fummercaps
worn by the ofiicers o f government; and having, as yet, no
European names, they were noticed in the journals by the appellation
o f the firft, fecond, third, & c ., mandarin’s bonnets.
Determining now to avail ourfelves o f the advice given by
the magiftrate o f Chu-fan, and to navigate from port to port,
we here procured two new pilots to carry the ihips to Mee-a-
taw. T h e y brought us indeed to this place, but, inftead o f a
harbour
harbour, we found only a narrow ftrait, with a rapid tide fitting
through it, and rocky anchoring ground. On the ihore
o f the continent was a city o f confiderable extent, under the walls
o f which next the fea was a bafon or dock, filled with vefiels
whofe Capacity might be from ten to one hundred tons.
The Governor o f this city (the name o f which we learned to
be Ten-tchoo-foo) paid his refpefts to the embaflador on board
the Lion, and obferved in the courfe o f converfation that his
orders from court were to render all the fervice in his power to
the embafly, and to provide proper means o f conveyance, either
by land or by fea. He feemed to be about the age o f five and
thirty, a man o f frank and eafy manners, courteous, intelligent,
and inquifitive. He flood higher in the opinion o f all o f us
than any we had yet feen. The following morning he fent off
what he was pleafed to call a trifling refrelhment, which confided
o f four bullocks, eight iheep, eight goats, five facks o f
fine white rice, five facks o f red rice, two hundred pounds o f
flour, and feveral baikets o f fruit and vegetables.
W e have always been taught to -believe that the Chinefe con-
fider us as barbarians ; but we have hitherto no reafon to fay
that they treated us as fuch. A t all events it was obvious that
the expefted arrival o f the Britiih embafly had made no flight
impreflion on the court o f Pekin.
Here we once more ventured on another pilot to carry the
fiiips acrofs the gulph o f Pe-tche-lee to Tien-Jing. He was an
old man o f 70 years, and feemed to pofiefs a perfect knowledge
k o f