470 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP. 
XVII. 
May, 
1827. 
On the 21st, An-yah came off to say, that the mandarin had 
accepted my invitation to visit the ship, and would come on board that 
day: we consequently made preparation to receive him. As it appeared 
to me that Napa-keang possessed no boat sufficiently good for so great 
an occasion, I offered to send one of ours to the town for his accom- 
modation, which, in addition to obliging the mandarin, would afford an 
opportunity of seeing the place ; but An-yah would not permit it, and 
fearful that we might really pursue this piece of politeness further, got 
out of the ship as fast as he could, saying the mandarin was at Potsoong, 
and not in the town. About two o’clock he pushed off from that 
place with his party in two clumsy punts, sculled by several men 
singing a chorus, which differed, both in words and air, from that used 
by the boatmen in general. The mandarin was seated in the largest 
of these boats, under a wide Chinese umbrella, with two or three man- 
darins of inferior rank by him ; the other boat contained An-yah, 
Shtafacoo, Sandoo, and others, with whom we were well acquainted, and 
who rowed on before the mandarin, and announced his approach by 
presenting a crimson scroll of paper, exactly a yard in length, on which 
was elegantly written in Chinese characters, “ Ching-oong-choo, the 
magistrate of Napa, in the Loo Choo country, bows his head to the 
ground, and pays a visit.” By this time the other boat with the 
great man was alongside the ship, and four domestics with scarlet 
hatchee-matchees ascended the side, one of them bearing a large square 
hatchee-matchee box, in which there was an old comb. They pulled 
up the side ropes, and carefully inspected them, to see whether they 
were strong enough to hold their master, and let them dowm again for 
the mandarin, who, very little accustomed to such feats, ascended the 
side with difficulty. 
He was received with a guard under arms, and a mandarin’s salute 
was fired as he put his foot upon the deck, with which he was much 
gratified, and he shook every officer by the hand with unaffected plea- 
sure. The yards had been manned as he was coming off, and when the 
pipe was given for the seamen to come down, the evolution produced a 
little surprise, and must have impressed the Loo Chooans with the 
decided advantage of our dress over theirs, where activity is required. 
