1835.] Tea Province of Fuh-kin, in China. 557 



breeze, and our oars, we were unable to make any way against it, 

 and were obliged to come to an anchor accordingly. 



The war-boats, by dint of pulling and tracking, surmounted the 

 obstacle, and did not come to till they were about a mile or upwards 

 ahead of us. We found the people very kind and friendly ; but they 

 were soon checked by the appearance of a Kwanfoo, who came to us 

 in a little Sampan, with some loose papers in his hand. He address- 

 ed himself to me, but I answered with truth and nonchalance, that I 

 did not understand him : Mr. Gutzl\ff, who stood by, recommended, 

 that little notice should be taken of him ; that all communications 

 with the mandarins should be avoided, if possible ; and that the papers 

 which he offered, not being in the form of a letter, or otherwise in 

 an official shape, should not be received. The officer then asked some 

 of the people who were on shore near our boat, whether they knew 

 if any of us could speak Chinese. Pointing to Mr. Gutzlapp, they 

 said he knew a few words, enough to enable him to ask for 

 fowls, eggs, and ducks, which he wanted to buy ; and that he 

 spoke about nothing else. One of them was saying something 

 about his distribution of books ; but the Kwanfoo was at that 

 moment laughing heartily at the odd appearance of one of our 

 men, and the remark about the books, which was immediately checked 

 by one of the by-standers, passed unnoticed. He still persevered, 

 rather vociferously, in requiring us to receive his papers ; when he was 

 motioned to be off. Our Gunner gave the boat a hearty shove with 

 his foot, which decided the movement of the envoy. After it was 

 dark, the people of the village brought us bambus for pulling, with 

 other supplies. The lull of the wind continuing during the night, 

 we distinctly heard much beating of gongs, firing of arms, and 

 cheering in the quarter where the war boats lay ; but at day-break 

 of the 11th, we thought we saw them under weigh in advance. A 

 rather suspicious-looking man came to the shore, with a paper which 

 he wished to deliver. We showed no inclination to receive it, and 

 in attempting to throw it into the boat, tied to a piece of stick, it fell 

 into the water, and was lost. Soon after, a simple looking peasant 

 boy showed another piece of paper, which, from its rude appearance, 

 I thought not li'cely to have come from the authorities, and therefore 

 received and handed it to Mr. Gutzlapp. It was an intimation, that 

 multitudes of officers, with an army of 9000 men, were drawn up close 

 by, and that there were many tens of thousands of soldiers further 

 on. This was the first decided threat we had of resistance, and it 

 was so grossly exaggerated, that we attached no other importance 

 to it, than that it intimated decided objection to our further advance. 

 4 c 



