24 



cecded lo hi* office. He soon obtained several scores of 

 trading vesBels, which he despatched to different ports, and 

 gained, wherever they Louchcdp (jerit per cent profit. Before 

 many yean had expired, he became the richest man in all 

 the couniryj when ho kept hia Binging-boyi, and trained his 

 dancing-girls ; he hftd a sumptuous table spread before him, 

 and hundreds of females waiting at his eide. When I 

 fiist arrived at Samarang, I obsiervBd a native officer of the 

 rank of Tonionggong (i^ Tam-pan-koog), paying 



a visit tri Pvlt'heog. His train consisted of leveral hundred 

 horsemen, who came in grand proceesion, but on thtir arri- 

 val at the ouiet gate, they alighted ; and on entering ap- 

 proached on their knees, while Pa-k'iiengsate:ealted, untj< thej 

 came near, when he greeted them with a slight inclination 

 of his head« Most assuredly, lo attain such an extent of 

 elevation in a foreign land, shows what the flowery Chinese 

 are cajmhle of. 



In B^lavia tliore used la b« a lar^o building^ called th« 

 Sainarang factory, where, on the arrival of the Chinese 

 junka, Iho&e new-comers, who wished to proceed to Sama- 

 rang, took up tlieir reaidence, until tljey foujid vesaelj ready 

 to take ihem on thither ; these, whether of the same or 

 differ»nt clans, whether well or iU-recommunded, were all 

 received and recorded ; after which every man was employed 

 aecoiding lo hia ability, and placed in the situation beet 

 adapted for him. Both Chinese and foreigner! received as- 

 sistance from Pa-k'hengj and his merchants and factors 

 were without number. Trading vessels thus accumulated in 

 Samarang, and mercantile coramoditieB were abundant, 

 attove all other places in the western ocean : but when our 

 hero died, the merchant ahipa came to an anchor, the busy 

 mart was stilt, and silence and solitude pervaded Samarang. 

 How true is the proverb, that A ^ S ^ tJklmt 

 is the soul of a place. 



