linguist on board, to whom he readily explained the impropriety of anchoring so near; and I confess I was not sorry to observe my friend comply so readily, and get his anchor up again to take his station along with the rest of the fleet. It was soon apparent they intended us no immediate mischief, but were sent to watch us, and I suppose to keep us in awe; for every morning and evening, at sun-rise and sun-set, there was a grand mustering on board each junk; all the crews were displayed on the decks, and a furious beating of gongs set up, which was doubtless meant to be very terrific and impressive.
“We took no further notice, but proceeded with our re-equipment, till on the 15th of November accounts reached Macao that Captain Maxwell had been engaged with the batteries, and had afterwards sailed up the river. I was on shore at Macao at the time the news arrived, but went on board instantly to see what part the Chinese fleet would take, not knowing how far it might suit the admiral’s ideas of the service, to visit the sins of the frigate upon the sloop of war. But to my surprise I beheld them all getting under weigh in the utmost hurry and confusion, as if the pigmy Lyra was going to swallow these giants up; and without waiting for order of battle, or any order at all, ran off as hard as they could scamper out of our reach, into the inner harbour of Macao, where they crowded themselves together like sheep, and moored in a compact body, actually touching one another.
“As I knew nothing of the Alceste’s procecdings, except through the reports of the Chinese and Portuguese, which varied every hour, I resolved to wait Captain Maxwell’s further instructions. It was a week before I heard from him, and my orders then were to proceed up the river, to where the Alceste lay, and not to return the fire of the batteries, should they recommence hostilities, but in that case to anchor below the Bogue, until I was joined by the frigate. In order to avoid all mistakes, or misunderstandings, he also sent me positive directions to avoid all intercourse with the Chinese, whatever advances might be made by the commanders of the forts or fleets. In pursuance of these directions, I tripped my anchor on the 25th, and sailed out of the Typa; but the tides not being favourable, we were obliged to force our way through the mud, and at one place actually sailed for upwards of half a league in two feet less water, by the sounding line, than the ship drew: that is to say, we appeared to be in ten feet water, while the vessel drew twelve. The moment our sails were set, we observed a stir amongst the men-of-war junks, and in a little while they came out one by one. As the wind was against us, we had to make a tack towards the harbour’s mouth, where we were met by the whole eight sail of the line, gaily dressed out in long swallow-tailed streamers, and led by their gallant commodore, who carried a flag twice as large as any of the rest. At sunset it fell calm, and the tide having turned, we all anchored together, no one of the junks being above a cable’s length, or two hundred yards from the brig. As soon as the sails were furled, the commo-