CHAPTER XVIII
INVESTIGATION OF THE COOLIE
TRAFFIC IN PERU
In the spring of 1873, I returned to China on
a flying visit for the sole purpose of introducing
the Gatling gun — a comparatively new weapon
of warfare of a most destructive character. I
had some difficulty in persuading the Gatling
Company to give me the sole agency of the gun
in China, because they did not know who I was,
and were unacquainted with my practical business
experience. In fact, they did not know how
successfully I had carried on the Taiping Green
Tea Expedition in 1860-1, in the face of dangers
and privations which few men dared to face.
However, I prevailed on the president of the
company, Dr. Gatling himself, the inventor of
the gun, to entrust me with the agency. Exactly
a month after my arrival in Tientsin, I cabled
the company an order for a battery of fifty guns,
which amounted altogether to something over
$100,000, a pretty big order for a man who it
was thought could not do anything. This order
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