456 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP. After our visiters had satisfied their curiosity concerning our object 
in putting into Loo Choo, they sat down to dinner, which was ready, 
May. and with much address and good-humour showed us they had learned 
to chin-chin, or drink healths in the English manner. 
I was very anxious to find out who my guest with the vocabulary 
was, as it at first occurred to me that it might be Mddera, of whom 
Captain Hall so frequently speaks in his delightful publication on Loo 
Choo ; but then he did not seem to be so well acquainted wdth the 
English language as Madera appears to have been, and, besides, he must 
have been much younger. His objection to answering our inquiries 
on this head, and disclaiming all knowledge of any vessel having ever 
been at Loo Choo before, put it out of my power at first to inform 
myself on the point, and had not his own curiosity overcame his pru- 
dence, it would perhaps have long remained a secret. 
The manner in which the discovery was made is curious : after the 
sackee* had gone round a few times, An-yah inquired if “ship got wo- 
mans ?” and being answered in the negative, he replied, somewhat sur- 
prised, “ other ships got womans, handsome womans !” alluding to Mrs. 
Loy, with whom the Loo Chooans were so much captivated that, it is 
thought, she had an offer from a person of high authority in the island. 
I then taxed him with having a knowledge of other ships, and when 
he found he had betrayed himself, he laughed heartily, and acknow- 
ledged that he recollected the visit of the Alceste and Lyra, which he 
correctly said was 144 moons ago, and that he was the linguist An-yah 
whom Captain Hall calls An-yah Toofishoon/a, but he disclaimed all right 
to this appendage to his name. Having got thus far, I inquired after 
almost all the characters which so much interested me in reading the 
pubhcation alluded to above, but they either prevaricated, or disclaimed 
all recollection of the persons alluded to, and I found it extremely dif- 
ficult to get a word in answer. 
At last one of them said Ookoma was at the other end of the 
island, and another immediately added that he had gone to Pekin. A 
* The Loo Choo name for wine or spirits. 
