336 VOYAGE OF %HE POTOMAC. [May, 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
t 
China — Town of Macao — Lintin Island and Bay — Opium Smugglers — The Com- 
modore's Excursion to Canton — Inhabitants of Lintin — Small Feet of the Chinese 
Women — Religious Ceremonies — The Potomac ordered to Depart by the Chinese 
Authorities — Second Excursion to Canton — Passage up the River — Forts, Pa- 
godas, Scenery, &c.— Wampoa, aquatic Population, &c. — Wonderful Skill of the 
Pilots — -The Factories at Canton — Hospitable reception of the Party — The great 
Temple, or Jos-house — The officiating Priests — The Jos Pigs, clerical Cells, 
Gardens, <&c.— The great Bazar — Dramatic Performances — Anniversary of the 
Snake-boat — Police of Canton — Its Walls and Gates — Forcing an Entrance — ' 
The Hong Merchant's expedition in Business — Mode of Computation — Descrip- 
tion of Canton — Return of the Party. 
The town of Macao is in latitude 22° 13' north, longitude 113° 
46' east. The city of Canton is about sixty miles further inland, 
in the direction of north-northwest. The whole bay, or estuary, 
is thickly studded with rugged and barren islands. Macao is on 
the west side of the entrance ; built on a peninsula, which is 
almost an island, being joined to the main by a very narrow 
isthmus, across which is erected a barrier or wall, about two miles 
north of the town, being the limit prescribed to the ceded terri- 
tory, to prevent any intercourse between the Portuguese and the 
liege subjects and citizens of the Celestial Empire. This barrier 
was constructed in fifteen hundred and seventy-three, and the 
heaviest penalties were threatened to those who passed it in either 
direction. These restrictions, however, have gradually fallen into 
disuse, and are not at all regarded at present. 
This site, for a commercial establishment, was ceded to the 
Portuguese as a recompense for an essential service they had 
rendered the Emperor of China. About the year fifteen hundred 
and thirty-eight, a pirate of notorious daring and success, having 
under his command a considerable naval force, took possession of 
this peninsula, and was thereby enabled to block up the southern 
ports of China, and even extended his audacity so far as to lay 
siege to Canton ! • 
In this extremity, the neighbouring Mandarins applied for as- 
