XVI INTRODUCTION. 



was not suddenly made. The value and 

 variety of the products of the Archipelago 

 were in some measure disclosed to him during 

 his stay at Canton. He returned to Europe, 

 by this time full of his design, and in con- 

 junction with another gentleman, fitted out a 

 ship of large burden, and proceeded once 

 more into the China seas ; but circumstances, 

 which, considering his ardour and the pur- 

 pose he had at heart, must have been 

 numerous, or indeed deterring, prevented at 

 that time the accomplishment of his wishes. 

 He gave up the idea of carrying out his plan 

 in company with another, and again visited 

 Europe, to " bide his time, to wait a happier 

 hour." 



On the death of his father, Mr. Brooke 

 succeeded to a handsome fortune ; and in 

 October, 1838, eight years after his first 

 entrance into the China seas, he set sail 

 from England in his yacht, the ' Royalist,' 

 a handsome schooner of 142 tons, with a 

 picked crew of more than twenty men. 

 The sailing qualities of his vessel, and the 

 thorough seamanship of his crew, he had 



