236 
CHARACTER OF THE CHINESE. 
who has omitted to mention that he was himself mainly accessary in 
preserving the lives of those that were saved ; it is but justice to 
recollect, whilst we admit the facts, that they occurred in a country 
where an ineffectual attempt to save the life of another, under the 
slightest shade of suspicion, is followed by the punishment of death. 
The Alceste having anchored off Macao on the morning of the 
twenty-third, the Ambassador and his suite landed on the same day, 
and again experienced the hospitality of the Factory, who gave up 
their houses for their accommodation. The Portuguese governor, 
like his superiors at Rio Janeiro, abstained from showing the Am- 
bassador any attention, and for the same alleged reason — the death of 
the Queen of Portugal. 
The town of Macao offered nothing to our observation that is 
worthy description. The country in its neighbourhood is full of 
rare plants, of which the nepenthes distittatoria is one of the most sin- 
gular. The rocks of the neighbouring islands consist of a very 
large-grained granite, contain masses of shorl, and are remarkable 
for groups of crystals of felspar which often occur separated from the 
other constituents. 
