THIRD VOYAGE 437 



time resident there. On my arrival at the citadel, the 

 fort-major informed me that the governor was sick, and 

 not able to see company ; on my acquainting the major 

 with my desire of proceeding immediately to Canton, he 

 told me that they could not venture to furnish me with a 

 boat till leave was obtained from the hoppo or officer of 

 the customs, and that the application for this purpose must 

 be made to the Chinese government at Canton. 



" The mortification I felt at meeting with this unexpected 

 delay could only be equalled by the extreme impatience 

 with which we had so long waited for an opportunity of 

 receiving intelligence from Europe. It often happens that, 

 in the eager pursuit of an object, we overlook the easiest 

 and most obvious means of attaining it. This was actually 

 my case at present, for I was returning under great de- 

 jection to the ship, when the Portuguese officer who 

 attended me, asked me if I did not mean to visit the 

 English gentlemen at Macao. I need not add with what 

 transport I received the information this question conveyed 

 to me ; nor the anxious hopes and fears, the conflict 

 between curiosity and apprehension, which passed in my 

 mind, as we walked toward the house of one of our country- 

 men. 



" In this state of agitation, it was not surprising that 

 our reception, though no way deficient in civility or kind- 

 ness, should appear cold and formal. In our inquiries, 

 as far as they related to objects of private concern, we 

 met, as was indeed to be expected, with little or no satis- 

 faction ; but the events of a public nature, which had 

 happened since our departure, now, for the first time, 

 burst all at once upon us, overwhelmed every other feeling, 

 and left us for some time almost without the power of 

 reflection. 



" On the 9th, Captain Gore received an answer from 

 the Committee of the English supercargoes at Canton, in 

 which they assured him that their best endeavours should 

 be used to procure the supplies we stood in need of as 

 expeditiously as possible, and that a passport should be 

 sent for one of his officers. 



" The following day an English merchant, from one of 

 our settlements in the East Indies, applied to Captain 

 Gore for the assistance of a few hands to navigate a vessel 

 he had purchased at Macao, up to Canton. Captain Gore 

 judging this a good opportunity for me to proceed to that 

 place, gave orders that I should take along with me my 

 second lieutenant, the lieutenant of marines, and ten sea- 

 men. Though this was not precisely the mode in which I 

 could have wished to visit Canton, yet, as it was very 



