GYPSUM. 
219 
of inoculating the lowest class of Chinese. I witnessed their opera- 
tions, in a temple near the British factory, on some of the children of 
the hundreds of anxious parents who flocked to procure the preserva- 
tion of their offspring from the small pox, at that time prevalent at 
Canton. If the paternal government of China can free itself from 
national prejudices, it will erect a monument of gratitude to the 
discovery of Jenner, and the services of Pierson. 
In the shops of Canton, and of many cities of China, we saw 
such large quantities of striated gypsum, as proved its very exten- 
sive use. I was neither fortunate enough to obtain any information 
respecting the places whence it is procured, or the purposes to 
which it is applied. I am disposed to believe, that after having 
been deprived of its water of crystallization by heat, and thus re- 
duced to mere plaster of Paris, it is used in the composition of - a 
cement for stopping the leaks of boats. A cement, of a white 
colour, was exposed for sale in shops, and applied to the leaks of our 
own boats ; and as it was used under circumstances in which it was 
necessary at once to keep out the water, it was probably a substance 
that very speedily hardened. 
The gypsum has been supposed to be used as an antidote to 
the effects of mercury, but as this remedy is very rarely given to 
the extent of producing salivation, it is not perhaps very likely to be 
administered with this view. 
Our rambles in the streets of Canton were entirely confined to 
the suburbs ; the city itself being as inaccessible to the curiosity 
of the Embassy as it is at all times to the members of the 
British factory. One of the gentlemen not being quite satisfied that 
it was impossible to enter it, and finding himself one day unex- 
pectedly before its gates, ventured to pass them ; but had not ad- 
vanced far when he was followed by a Chinese, who ran after him, 
holding in his hand an areca nut, and urging him to return to his 
stall to make some purchase ; taking him at the same time so forcibly 
by the arm, that his obeying him was scarcely voluntary. Having 
reached the stall, he endeavoured to satisfy the man that he had 
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