322 INCIDENT WITH A FRENCH PRIEST. [1845. 



his liberty of rambling, confined him within the walls of 

 his garden (where Basil Hall was similarly confined}, and 

 that upon several occasions they had forcibly carried 

 him home when he straggled. I found that I had now 

 a difficult game to play ; the Frenchman desired me to 

 impress them with the probable vengeance such treat- 

 ment might evoke upon the return of the frigate, which 

 he hourly expected ; and the poor Loo-Chooans besought 

 me in the most touching manner to carry him off; sup- 

 posing that as we had punished the Chinese we were 

 masters of the world. 



A middle course was adopted, in which they were 

 warned, as the Frenchman wished, of the impolicy of 

 affording any ground for French interference which 

 might eventually risk the transfer of this island. On 

 the other hand they were told, that if the priest wished 

 to proceed to Macao, on my return from the north, (at 

 which period, tired of his confinement, he might give up 

 all hope of the visit of any of the French squadron for 

 the season), that I would willingly afford him a passage 

 in the ' Samarang ', but I thought for the interests of all 

 parties, that they should continue to treat him with the 

 most marked civility. 



The ship was visited by numbers of the inhabitants, but 

 not to the extent that I remember in the ' Blossom ', in 

 1827. The customary form of measuring the ship was also 

 gone through here, but I understood with rather less 

 precision than formerly. " Among the visitors," relates 

 our second master, Mr. Richards, " was a singular indi- 

 vidual, who brought on board with him a rope, composed 

 of twisted hay, for taking the dimensions of the ship, he 



