438 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



uncertain when the passport might arrive, and my presence 

 might contribute materially to the expediting of our 

 supplies, I did not hesitate to put myself on board. 



" I reached Canton on the 18th, a little after it was dark, 

 and landed at the English factory, where, though my 

 arrival was very unexpected, I was received with every 

 mark of attention and civility. Wishing to make my stay 

 as short as possible, I requested the gentlemen to procure 

 boats for me the next day to convey the stores ; but I was 

 soon informed that a business of that kind was not to be 

 transacted so rapidly in this country, that many forms 

 were to be complied with, and, in short, that patience was 

 an indispensable virtue in China. 



" I waited several days for the event of our application, 

 without understanding that the matter was at all advanced 

 toward a conclusion. Whilst I was doubting what measures 

 to pursue, the commander of a country ship brought me a 

 letter from Captain Gore, in which he acquainted me that 

 he had engaged him to bring us down from Canton, and to 

 deliver the stores we had procured at his own risk in the 

 Typa. 



" As Canton was likely to be the most advantageous 

 market for furs, I was desired by Captain Gore to carry with 

 me about twenty sea-otters' skins, chiefly the property of 

 our deceased commanders, and to dispose of them at the 

 best price I could procure ; a commission which gave me an 

 opportunity of becoming a little acquainted with the genius 

 of the Chinese for trade. Having acquainted some of the 

 English supercargoes with these circumstances, I desired 

 them to recommend me to some Chinese merchant of credit 

 who would offer me a fair price. Having laid my goods 

 before him, he examined them with great care, and told me 

 that he could not venture to offer more than three hundred 

 dollars for them. As I knew from the price our skins had 

 sold for in Kajntschatka, that he had not offered me one half 

 their value, I found myself under the necessity of driving a 

 bargain. In my turn I therefore demanded one thousand ; 

 my Chinese then advanced to five hundred ; then offered me 

 a private present of tea and porcelain, amounting to one 

 hundred more ; then the same sum in money ; and lastly 

 rose to seven hundred dollars, on which I fell to nine 

 hundred. At last, being tired of the contest, I consented to 

 and received eight hundred. 



" During my stay at Canton I was carried by one of the 

 English gentlemen to visit a person of the first consequence 

 in the place. We were received in a long room or gallery, 

 at the upper end of which stood a table with a large chair 

 behind it. and a row of chairs extending from it on each side 



