By means of my money, and pointing at different objects in sight, I had no difficulty in making a man, who seemed to be the principal person of the company, comprehend the main business of our errand; and I as readily understood from him that the chief or captain was absent, but would soon return, and that, without his consent, no purchases of any kind could be made. We availed ourselves of the opportunity which this circumstance afforded us to walk about the town; and did not forget to search, though in vain, for the remains of a fort, which had been built by our countrymen near the spot we were now upon in 1702.[[80]]
On returning to the captain’s house, we were sorry to find that he was not yet arrived, and the more so, as the time was almost elapsed which Captain Gore had fixed for our return to the boat. The natives were desirous we should lengthen our stay; they even proposed our passing the night there, and offered to accommodate us in the best manner in their power. I had observed when we were in the house before, and now remarked it the more, that the man I have mentioned above, frequently retired into one of the end rooms, and staid there some little time before he answered the questions that were put to him; which led me to suspect that the captain was all the time there, though, for reasons best known to himself, he did not choose to appear; and I was confirmed in this opinion by being stopped as I was attempting to go into the room. At length, it clearly appeared that my suspicions were well founded; for, on our preparing to depart, the person who had so often passed in and out, came from the room with a paper in his hand, and gave it to me to read; and I was not a little surprised to find it a sort of certificate in French as follows:
Pierre Joseph George, Evêque d’Adran, Vicaire Apost. de Cochin China, &c. &c.
Le petit Mandarin, porteur de cet écrit, est véritablement envoyé de la cour à Pulo Condore, pour y attendre et recevoir tout vaisseau Européen qui auroit sa destination d’approcher ici. Le capitaine, en consequence, pourroit se fier ou pour conduire le vaisseau au port, ou pour faire passer les nouvelles qu’il pourroit croire nécessaire.
PIERRE JOSEPH GEORGE,
Evêque d’Adran.
A Sai-Gon,
10 d’Août, 1779.
We returned the paper, with many protestations of our being the Mandarin’s good friends; begging he might be informed that we hoped he would do us the favour to visit the ships, that we might convince him of it. We now took our leave, well satisfied, on the whole, with what had passed, but full of conjectures about this extraordinary French paper. Three of the natives offered their services to accompany us back, which we readily accepted, and returned by the way we came. Captain Gore felt peculiar satisfaction at seeing us; for, as we had exceeded our time near an hour, he began to be alarmed for our safety, and was preparing to march after us. He and his party had, during our absence, been profitably employed in loading the boat with the cabbage-palm, which abounds in this bay. Our guides were made exceedingly happy, on our presenting them with a dollar each for their trouble, and intrusting to their care a bottle of rum for the Mandarin. One of them chose to accompany us on board.
At two in the afternoon we joined the ships, and several of our shooting parties returned about the same time from the woods, having had little success, though they saw a great variety of birds and animals, some of which will be hereafter noticed.