458 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, giving offence. Unwilling to give him any further uneasiness, I per- 
mitted him to go, requesting he would deliver to the mandarin an in- 
May, vitation to visit the ship, which he promised to do ; and seating himself 
and his companions on the mat in the boat, he sculled on shore to the 
musical chorus of “ ya-ha-me-shawdy.” 
Our decks were by this time crowded with spectators who had 
been coming off in boat loads. The place did not appear to afford many 
of these conveyances, and they had to go backwards and forwards be- 
tween the ship and the shore a great many times, always singing their 
boat songs as they sculled themselves along. Our visiters had paid us 
the compliment of putting on their best attire, all of which was made 
of the grass-cloth in the manner before described ; the colours were 
various, but mostly blue. 
The utmost good breeding was manifested by every one of them, 
not only in scrupulously making their bow when they entered and 
quitted the ship, but in not allowing their curiosity to carry them 
beyond what they thought perfectly correct. They all seemed deter- 
mined to be pleased, and were apparently quite happy in being permitted 
to indulge their curiosity, which was very great, and bespoke them a 
people extremely desirous of information. It was amusing to observe 
which objects attracted the particular attention of each individual, which 
we thought always accorded with the trade or profession of the party ; 
for, as we had at different times all the population of Napa on board 
the ship, we must have had persons of all occupations. We observed 
two of these people, after having gratified their curiosity about the 
deck, seat themselves in their canoes, and commence drawing a picture 
of the ship — one selected a broadside view, and the other a quarter, each 
setting at defiance all rules of perspective. The artist on the quarter 
had of course the most difficult task, and drew the stern as a continua- 
tion of the broadside, by which it appeared like an enormous quarter 
gallery to the ship. That they might make an exact representation, 
they took their station at the distance of twenty feet from the side of the 
ship, and commenced their drawing upon a roll of paper about six feet 
in length, upon which they pourtrayed not only the outline of the ship 
but the heads of all the bolts, the but-ends of the planks, and before it 
