168 VOYAGE TO THE 



was exactly the same as that which is current at Can- 

 ton, and found that it was also in circulation in Loo 

 Choo. Though they afterwards admitted this fact, 

 they denied having any silver or gold coin in the 

 country. 



Our subsequent excursions were nearly a repetition 

 of what has been described, and were made nearly to 

 the same places, with the exception of two or three, 

 which I shall describe hereafter. In all these the same 

 artifice was practised to induce us to confine ourselves 

 to the beach, and particularly to prevent a near ap- 

 proach to the villages. Tobacco, tsha, and chorassa 

 niasa were the great temptations held out to us ; but 

 neither the tea, nor the masa, which, by the by, was 

 seldom produced, had sufficient charms to dissuade 

 some of our young gentlemen from gratifying their 

 curiosity, though it was at the expense of the conve- 

 nience of the natives, whose dresses were very ill 

 adapted to speed ; and thus, by outrunning them, they 

 saw manv places which thev would not otherwise have 

 been permitted to enter, and got much nearer to the 

 town than I felt it would be rijjht for me to do in 

 consequence of my promise to An-yah. I shall, there- 

 fore, give such extracts from their journals as are in- 

 teresting, but in a few pages in advance, that I may 

 not disturb the order of the narrative. 



On the 21st, An-yah came off to say, that the man- 

 darin had accepted my invitation to visit the ship, and 

 would come on board that day : w^e conser^uently made 

 preparation to receive him. As it appeared to me 

 that Napa-keang possessed no boat sufficiently good 

 for so great an occasion, I offered to send one of ours 

 to the town for his accommodation, which, in addition 

 to obliging the mandarin, would afford an opportunity 



