PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
473 
May, 
1827 . 
to our engagement, saying the mandarin was at Potsoong in readi- CHAP- 
ness to receive us ; we accordingly went, and were met at the landing- 
place by Jeema and a great crowd of Loo Chooans, with umbrellas, who 
accompanied us to the house, where we were received by the mandarin 
in a most cordial and friendly manner. F or convenience both apart- 
ments were thrown into one, by the removal of shifting panels, and 
the servants were regaled upon the floor in the inner room, while we 
were seated at a table in the outer apartment. Our table, which had 
been made in Japan, was nicely lacquered, and had Chinese characters 
gilt upon its edges and down the sides of the legs, recording the date 
and place where it was made, as well as the name of the workman, &c. 
It was covered with dishes containing a variety of eatables, principally 
sweetmeats, and tv/o sorts of spirits, sackee and mooroofacoo. The 
former resembles the samscheu of China, and the other is a dark- 
coloured cordial possessing a bitter-sweet taste. We were seated on 
one side of the table, myself in an old-fashioned chair, and the other 
officers upon camp-stools with japanned backs, and the host, Jeema, and 
the other mandarins, on the other side; and each person was provided 
with a small enamelled cup, and a saucer with a pair of chopsticks laid 
across it; the crowd all the while surrounding the house, and watching 
hrough its open sides every motion we made. Pipes and mooroofacoo 
were first offered to us, and then each dish in succession ; of which we 
partook, acccording to our different tastes, without being aware of the 
Chinese custom of giving the sweets first, and reserving the substantial 
part of the dinner for the last. 
Among the dishes, besides some sweet cakes made very light, were 
different kinds of pastry, one of a circular form, called haimahuree, 
another tied in a knot, hard and disagreeable, called matzakai, and a 
third called kooming, which enclosed some kind of fish. There was also 
a mamalade, called tsheeptang, a dish of hard boiled eggs without the 
shells, painted red, and a pickle which was used instead of salt, called 
dzeeseekedakoonee ; besides a small dish of sliced cold liver, called wat- 
shaingo, which in this course was the only meat upon the table. We 
ate more plentifully of these sweet things than we liked, in consequence 
of our ignorance of what was to follow, and partly from our not being 
S p 
