PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
471 
Ojee, one of the party, who also styled himself Jeema, and is men- 
tioned by Captain Hall, followed, and then the rest of the mandarins 
in yellow hatchee-matchees and gowns. 
To persons who had visited a fine English frigate, disciplined by 
one of the ablest officers in the British service, the Blossom could have 
presented nothing extraordinary; and as the greater part of our visiters 
were familiar with the Alceste, they were very little interested in what 
they saw ; but Ching-oong-choo had not been long from Pekin, and 
never, probably, having put his foot on the deck of a ship before, a 
Chinese junk excepted, examined every thing very attentively, and 
made many inquiries about the guns, powder, and shot. 
None of the natives offered to seat themselves in the cabin in the 
presence of the mandarin until dinner was brought in, but they then 
dispensed with formalities, and those who were familiar with European 
customs chinchinned each other with wine, and reversed their glasses 
each time, to the great amusement of their superior. During dinner 
the fate of Madera was inquired into, but we got no satisfactory 
answer, and a mystery seemed to hang over his fate, which made us 
suspect he had in some way or other been disgraced. Jeema took 
the opportunity of showing he recollected his visits to the Alceste 
and Lyra, but he did not make any inquiry after his friends in either 
vessel. 
As we had lately been at Canton, we were provided with many 
things which were happily to the taste of our guests, who would other- 
wise have fared badly, as they did not appear to relish our joints of 
meat ; nor did some bottled porter accord better with their taste, for 
after occasioning many wry faces, it was put aside as being bitter ; 
a flavour which 1 have observed is seldom relished for the first time. 
Not so some noyeau, which was well adapted to the sweet palate of the 
Loo Chooans ; nor some effervescing draughts, which were quite new 
to them, and created considerable surprise. They, however, seemed to 
enjoy themselves a great deal; were jovial without being noisy, and 
'vith the exception of a disagreeable practice of eructation, and even 
Worse, they were polite people ; though I cannot say I approved of 
their refinement upon our pocket handkerchief. An-yah often inti- 
CHAP. 
XVII. 
May, 
1827. 
