18 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. II. 
complaint originated. Sir Henry Pottinger acknow- 
ledged the irregularity of the proceeding, but blamed the 
Chinese authorities for allowing it for such a length of 
time, and claimed a period of six months to give time for 
the sale or removal of any articles the English might 
have on shore. This was agreed to on the part of the 
Chinese. 
And now comes the part of the business which so 
nicely illustrates the peculiar character of the Chinese. 
When I visited Namoa, in October, 1845, I made 
inquiry regarding the state of affairs on shore, and 
found that a little civility, and a few bottles of cherry 
brandy, had wonderfully softened the good old admiral, 
and that a communication had been received stating 
that some little show of compliance was actually neces- 
sary : they must pull down the house, for example, but 
the stables and horses might remain as before, and the 
captains might go on taking their accustomed exercise 
and recreation on the island, as they had been in the 
habit of doing. It was even hinted that no objection 
would be made to their putting up another cottage, if 
they chose to do so. In the mean time, a fine account 
had doubtless gone to Peking, showing how the barbarians 
had been driven from the island which they had dared 
to set foot upon ; perhaps a battle had been fought, and 
a few of our ships and their crews taken and destroyed, 
which would give a certain amount of ^clat to the affair. 
This is the way things are managed in China ! Matters 
being in this state, I had no difficulty in prosecuting my 
botanical researches amongst the hills. These hills are 
of the same barren nature as those formerly noticed, and 
