ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



573 



racy in their dealings with Europeans 

 trading to Canton. These men, who 

 are styled the hang merchants^ in 

 distinffion to a common merchant, 

 whom they call niai-mai.ghiy a buy- 

 ing and selling man, raijjht not un- 

 justly be compared with the most 

 eminent of the mercantile class in 

 England. 



" But as traders in general are 

 degraded in all the state maxims, 

 and consequently in public opinion, 

 it is not surprising they should at- 

 tach so little respeft to the charac- 

 ter of foreign merchants trading to 

 their ports, especially as several 

 knavish tricks have been praftised 

 upon them, in spite of all t^eir a- 

 cutcness and precaution. The gaudy 

 watches of indifferent workmanship, 

 fabricated purposely for the China 

 market, and once in universal de, 

 mand, are scarcely now asked fbr. 

 One gentleman in the honourable 

 East India company's employ, took 

 it into his head that cuckoo clocks 

 might prove a saleable article in 

 China, and accordingly laid in a 

 large assortment, which more than 

 answered his most sanguine expec- 

 tations. But as these wooden ma- 

 chines were constructed for sale 

 only, and not for use, the cuckoo 

 decks became all mute long before 

 the second arrival of this gentleman 

 with another cargo. His clocks 

 were now not only unsaleable, but 

 the former purchasers threatened to 

 return theirs upon his hands, which 

 would certainly iiavc been done, had 

 not a thought entered his head, that 

 not only pacifip<l his former cus- 

 tomers but procured him also other 

 inirciiasers for his second cargo : 

 he convinced them, by undeniable 

 authorities, that the cuckoo was a 

 very odd kind of bird, which sung 

 oiily at certain seasons of the year; 



and assured them that whenever the 

 proper time arrived, all the cuckoos 

 they had purchased would once agaia 

 " tune their melodious throats." 

 After this it would only be fair to 

 allow the Chinese sometimes to trick 

 the European purchaser with a wood- 

 en ham instead of a real one. 



" But as something more honour- 

 able might be expefted in a prince 

 of the blood, a grandson of the 

 emperor, I shall just mention one 

 anecdote that happened during my 

 abode in the palace of Yuen.min. 

 ijuen. This gentleman, then about 

 five and twenty years of age, having 

 no ostensible employment, came aU 

 most daily to the hall of audience, 

 where we were arranging the pre- 

 sents for the emperor. He had fre- 

 quently desired to look at a gold 

 time-piece which I wore in my 

 pocket : one morning I received a 

 message from him by one of the 

 missionaries, to know if I would 

 sell it, and for what price. I ex- 

 plained to the missionary that, being 

 a present from a friend, and a to- 

 ken of remembrance, I could not 

 willingly part with it, but that I 

 would endeavour to procure him one 

 equally good from our artificers, 

 who I thought had such articles for 

 sale. 1 soon discovered, however, 

 that his royal highness had already 

 been with these people, but did not 

 like their prices. The following 

 morning a second missionary came 

 to me, bringing a present from tho 

 prince, consisting of about half a 

 pound of common tea, a silk purse, 

 and a few trumpery trinkets, hint- 

 ing, at the same time, that he was 

 experted to carry back the watch 

 in return as an equivalent. I re- 

 quested the missionary immediately 

 to take back the princely present, 

 wbiell he did, with cunsiderable re- 



lu<^-taiice, 



