THIRD VOYAGE 439 



of the room. Being previously instructed that the point of 

 civility consisted in remaining as long unseated as possible, 

 I readily acquitted myself of this piece of etiquette ; after 

 which we were entertained with tea, and some preserved and 

 fresh fruits. Our host was very fat, with a heavy dull 

 countenance, and of great gravity in his deportment. He 

 spoke a little broken English and Portuguese ; and, after we 

 had taken our refreshment, he carried us about his house 

 and garden, and having shewed us all the improvements he 

 was making, we departed. 



" In the evening of the 26th I took my leave of the super- 

 cargoes, having thanked them for their many obliging 

 favours, amongst which I must not forget to mention a 

 handsome present of tea for the use of the ship's companies, 

 and a large collection of English periodical publications. 

 The latter we found a valuable acquisition, as they both 

 served to amuse our impatience during our tedious voyage 

 home, and enabled us to return not total strangers to what 

 had been transacting in our native country. At one o'clock 

 the next morning we left Canton, and arrived at Macao 

 about the same hour the day following, having passed down 

 a channel which lies to the westward of that by which we 

 had come up. 



" During our absence a brisk trade had been carrying 

 on with the Chinese for the sea-otter skins which had every 

 day been rising in their value. One of our seamen sold 

 his stock alone for eight hundred dollars ; and a few prime 

 skins, which were clean and had been well preserved, were 

 sold for one hundred and twenty each. The whole amount 

 of the value in specie and goods that was got for the furs 

 in both ships, I am confident did not fall short of 2,000 

 sterling : and it was generally supposed that at least two- 

 thirds of the quantity we had originally got from the 

 Americans were spoiled and worn out, or had been given 

 away and otherwise disposed of in Kamtschatka. 



" The rage with which our seamen were possessed to 

 return to Cook's River, and buy another cargo of skins to 

 make their fortunes at one time, was not far short of 

 mutiny. 



" The barter which had been carrying on with the Chinese 

 for our sea-otter skins, had produced a very whimsical 

 change in the dress of all our crew. On our arrival here 

 nothing could exceed the ragged appearance both of the 

 younger officers and seamen, for as our voyage had already 

 exceeded, by near a twelvemonth, the time it was at first 

 imagined we should remain at sea, almost the whole of 

 our original stock of European clothes had been long worn 

 out, or patched up with skins, and the various manufactures 



