112 ' Biography of Consequa. 



tbus have been considered to have fulfilled any ordinary claim upon his grati- 

 tude; but he went farther than this: after some years he expressed his sur- 

 prise to the officer that he had not yet obtained the command of a ship. The 

 other replied, that that lucrative post could only be obtained by purchase, 

 and at an expense of some thousand pounds, a sum wholly out of his power 

 to raise. The Chinese merchant said that he would remove that difficulty, 

 and immediately gave him a draft for the amount required, to be repaid at his 

 convenience. The officer died on his voyage home, and the draft was accord- 

 ingly never presented : but I have been assured that it was drawn on a house 

 of great respectability, and would have been duly honoured.' {Staunton'' s 

 Miscellaneous Notices on China, part ii. p. 267., printed for private circulation 

 in 1828)" 



" Conseequa was of a very respectable family ', he was always considered 

 a very amiable man, and in his domestic relations was, as 1 have understood, 

 particularly so. He was reported to be entirely free from that debauchery 

 which but too frequently characterises the Chinese of all classes. He pro- 

 fessed to be, and indeed was, I believe, attached to Europeans, and at all 

 times endeavoured to show it, by his liberality, and his friendly and cordial 

 attentions and hospitality towards foreigners ; and there seemed no reason to 

 doubt his sincerity in these points. In his transactions as a hong merchant, 

 he was, in the latter years of his life, peculiarly unfortunate ; arising, per- 

 haps, from his too extensive or speculative dealings, and from no small degree 

 of inattention, I fear, on his own part, in the management of his concerns. 

 Conseequa died several years since. — Jas. B, Arniston. Walmer, near Deal, 

 October 20. 1833." 



" My acquaintance with Conseequa did not commence until 1812, when he 

 had passed the mei'idian of his opulence. I was absent from China part of 

 1816 and 1817 ; and he died of carbuncle, August 8. 1823 : therefore I can add 

 little information about him to what you already have. Part of his house 

 was burnt down in 1816, probably after Sir George's views were taken. I 

 am not sure if I possess any taken after the rebuilding, though I have a great 

 many of Chinese houses, gardens, plants, and of natural history, which I shall 

 be happy to show you here, 



" Conseequa was the first person to propagate the Wistan'fl, and the two 

 plants brought to England in 1816 by Capt. Wellbank and Capt. Rawes, were 

 obtained from him ; therefore the trivial name may of right belong to him ; 

 but the original plant was brought from Chin Chew (Chang Chow Foo), in 

 the province of Foheen, by his nephew Tinqua, and planted in his garden ad- 

 joining Conseequa's, and remained there still neglected in 1831. 



" The best accounts of Chinese gardening will be found in Mr. Livingstone's 

 communications to the Horticultural Society, and published in their Transac- 

 tions, vol. iii. pages 183. and 421. ; vol. iv. page 22i. ; and vol. v. page 49, &c. 



" The only Chinese who paid any decided attention to flowers, in my re- 

 membrance, was Puanhequa's brother (usually named by Europeans the 

 Squu'e) : he expended large sums upon them ; and I have seen some hundreds 

 of chrysanthemums at one time in blossom in his garden (of which a tolerably 

 correct view is in Wathen's Voyage to China). 



" Of Chinese gardening and gardeners, I entertain myself a very low idea: it 

 was only by engaging to purchase them, that I got the Wistark propagated for 

 sale : and I have tried in vain to get the gardeners at Fa Te to collect their 

 own wild plants, of which they have so many beautiful ones (and of which I 

 have drawings) not yet brought to England : nothing will drive them out of 

 * old custom.' They still go on, increasing only such as are required to 

 keep up the usual monthly supplies of blooming plants to those who hire 

 them. The gardens at Fa Te are falling off fast; many of them have been 

 converted into coal wharfs, since the people of Canton have taken to use 

 coals. — J. Reeves. Clapham, October 21. 1834." 



