414 cook's voyage to jan. 



of any European vessels that may touch at Con- 

 dore." Although we apprehended that this let- 

 ter was designed for French ships in particular, 

 yet as the direction included all European captains, 

 and as Luco was desirous of our perusing it, we 

 broke the seal, and found it to be written by the 

 bishop who wrote the certificate. Its contents were 

 as follows : " That having reason to expect, by 

 some late intelligence from Europe, that a vessel 

 would soon come to Cochin China, he had, in con- 

 sequence of this news, got the court to send a Man- 

 darin (the bearer) to Pulo Condore, to wait its 

 arrival ; that if the vessel should put in there, the 

 commander might either send by the bearer an 

 account to him of his arrival, or trust himself to the 

 Mandarin, who would pilot him into a well-sheltered 

 port in Cochin China, not more than a day's sail 

 from Condore ; that should he choose to remain in 

 Condore, till the return of the messenger, proper 

 interpreters would be sent back, and any other 

 assistance, which a letter should point out, be fur- 

 nished ; that it was unnecessary to be more par- 

 ticular, of which the captain himself must be 

 sensible." This letter had the same date as the 

 certificate, and was returned to Luco again, without 

 any copy being taken. 



From this letter, and the whole of Luco's con- 

 versation, there remained little doubt that it was a 

 French ship he was to expect. At the same time, we 

 found he would be glad not to lose his errand, and 

 had no objection to become our pilot. We could 

 not discover from the Mandarin, the exact object 

 and business which the vessel he was waiting for 

 intended to prosecute in Cochin China. It is true, 

 that our interpreter, the black, was extremely dull 

 and stupid ; and I should, therefore, be sorry, with 

 such imperfect means of information, to run the 

 risk of misleading the reader by any conjectures of 

 my own, respecting the object of Luco's visit to 



