VISIT TO A CHINESE COLONEL. 
89 
all restraint ceased, and I was presently laden with bundles of flowers, 
which although of no great variety, I could seldom refuse ; as, in 
doing so, I occasioned very evident chagrin to my young friends. 
On the morning of the 17th, the Ambassador having had another 
conference with the Legate, the boats quitted their anchorage, and 
again proceeded with their heads towards Pekin. In the evening, 
I walked along the banks of the river, accompanied by Mr. Amherst 
and Mr. Poole, till we were very disagreeably pressed by a crowd of 
Chinese who collected about us. We then stopped before the boat 
of a Mandarin, and being invited in, went on board. This gen- 
tleman, a Colonel in the Chinese army, was sitting, when we first 
saw him, on the bow of his boat, naked to his waist, reclining on 
a chair with a sloping back, and smoking his pipe. He quitted 
both on our entrance, and immediately clothed himself. We were 
hospitably entertained, and treated with fruits and wine. The wine 
was heated in a small kettle over a basin of boiling water, and 
drunk from small porcelain cups, not much larger than a thimble. 
Having remained as long as we wished, I proposed rejoining our 
companions ; but on rising, we were rudely, the Chinese would say 
politely, replaced on our seats, and now found that our boats were 
not in sight. The vessel in which we were, had moved from the shore 
without our knowledge, and was now very far ahead of the barges of 
the Embassy. It was eight o’clock, and very dark. I began to fear 
that His Excellency would be alarmed at the absence of his son ; but 
in vain endeavoured to impress the same apprehension on the mind 
of the Mandarin : he insisted that we should remain, and ordered 
his servants more than once to lead me back to the cabin, which 
I had left to ascertain if the lamps of the Ambassador’s barge 
were visible. It was ten o’clock before we again anchored, and 
twelve before the boats of the Embassy arrived, which had been 
delayed by the grounding of several, in consequence of the shallow- 
ness of the river. As soon as the Mandarin was informed of their 
near approach, he ordered his servants, dressed in their costume of 
ceremony, to conduct us to the Ambassador’s yacht ; on reaching 
N 
