Of fruits we noticed a variety of figs, and three species of mulberries; peaches and almonds; the Annona or custard-apple; the Eugenia Jambos, or rose-apple; the much-esteemed Lee-tchee or Sapindus-edulis; and the Kœlreuteria, another species of the same genus; the Averhoa Carambola, an excellent fruit for tarts; and the Ou-long-shoo, the Sterculia platanifolia. Besides these were abundance of oranges and bananas.
As vegetables for the table, was a great variety of beans and calavances, among which was the Dolichos Soja or soy plant, and the polystachios, with its large clusters of beautiful scarlet flowers; the Cytisus Cadjan, whole seed yields the famous bean-milk, which it is the custom of the Emperor to offer to Embassadors on their presentation; large mild radishes, onions, garlic, Capsicum or Cayenne-pepper; convolvulus batatas, or sweet potatoes; two species of tobacco; Amomum, or ginger, in great quantities, the root of which they preserve in syrup; Sinapis, or mustard, and the Brassica orientalis, from which an oil is expressed for the table.
Of plants that were useful in the arts, we observed the Rhus vernix, or varnish-tree, and two other species of the same genus; Curcuma, or turmeric; Carthamus used as a dye, and the polygonum Chinense for the same purpose; the Rhapis flabelliformis, the dried leaves of which are used for fans among the common people, and particularly by those who live in vessels; Corchorus whose bark, in India, is used as flax; but not, I believe, to any extent in China, the white nettle being here preferred. The only medicinal plants were the Rheum palmatum, Artemisia, and the Smilax or China root.
To make our entré into Canton the more splendid, a number of superb barges were sent to meet us, carrying flags and streamers and umbrellas and other insignia of office; and in some were bands of music. About the middle of the day we arrived before the factories, which constitute a line of buildings in the European style, extending along the left bank of the river, where the Embassador was received by the Song-too, or Viceroy, the Governor, the Ho-poo, or collector of the customs, and all the principal officers of the government. From hence we were conducted to the opposite side of the river, where a temporary building of poles and mats had been prepared for the occasion; within which was a screen of yellow silk bearing the name of the Emperor in gilt characters. Before this screen the Viceroy and other officers performed the usual prostrations, in token of gratitude to his imperial Majesty, for his having vouchsafed us a prosperous journey.
It is but doing justice to the Chinese government and to the individuals in its employ who had any concern in the affairs of the embassy, to observe, that as far as regarded ourselves, their conduct was uniformly marked by liberality, attention, and an earnest desire to please. Nor is there any vanity in saying that, after observing us closely in the course of a long journey and daily intercourse, the officers of government gradually dismissed the prejudices imbibed against us, as foreigners, from their earliest youth. Gained by our frank and open manners, and by little attentions, they seemed to fly with pleasure to our society as a relief from the tedious formalities they were obliged to assume in their official capacity. Van and Chou constantly passed the evenings in some of our yachts. It is impossible to speak of those two worthy men in terms equal to their desert. Kind, condescending, unremitting in their attentions, they never betrayed one moment of ill-humour from the time we entered China till they took their final leave at Canton. These two men were capable of real attachments. They insisted on accompanying the Embassador on board the Lion, where they took their last farewell. At parting they burst into tears and shewed the strongest marks of sensibility and concern. Their feelings quite overcame them, and they left the Lion sorrowful and dejected. Early the following morning they sent on board twenty baskets of fruit and vegetables, as a farewell token of their remembrance. We had the satisfaction to hear, that immediately on their arrival at Pekin they both were promoted. Chou is at present in a high situation at court, but Van, the cheerful good-humoured Van, has paid the debt of nature, having fallen honourably in the service of his country. On the conduct of Lee, our Chinese interpreter, any praise that I could bestow would be far inadequate to his merit. Fully sensible of his perilous situation, he never at any one time shrank from his duty. At Macao he took an affectionate leave of his English friends, with whom, though placed in one of the remotest provinces of the empire, he still contrives to correspond. The Embassador, Lord Macartney, has had several letters from him; the last of which is of so late a date as March 1802; so that his sensibility has not been diminished either by time or distance.
It is the custom of China to consider all Embassadors as guests of the Emperor, from the moment they enter any part of his dominions, until they are again entirely out of them. The inconvenience of this custom was severely felt by us, as it prevented us from purchasing, in an open manner, many trifling articles that would have been acceptable. The very considerable expence, incurred by the court on this account, may be one reason for prescribing the limited time of forty days for all embassadors to remain at the capital. To meet the expences of the present Embassy, Van-ta-gin assured me, that they were furnished with an order to draw on the public treasuries of the different provinces through which we had to pass, to the amount of five thousand ounces of silver a-day, or about one thousand six hundred pounds sterling: and that fifteen hundred ounces a-day had been issued out of the treasury at Pekin for the support of the Embassy during its continuance there. Supposing then these data to be correct, and I see no reason for calling their authenticity in question, we may form an estimate of the whole expence of this Embassy to the Chinese government.
| Oz. | ||
| From the 6th of August (the day we entered the Pei-ho) to the 21st (when we arrived in Pekin) inclusive | 16 days, | 80,000 |
| From the 22d August to the 6th October (in Pekin and in Gehol) | 46 days, | 69,000 |
| From the 7th October to the 19th December (when we arrived at Canton) | 74 days, | 370,000 |
| ———— | ||
| Total ounces of silver | 519,000 |
Or one hundred and seventy-three thousand pounds sterling; three Chinese ounces being equal to one pound sterling.
It is hardly possible that this enormous sum of money could have been expended on account of the Embassy, though I have no doubt of its having been issued out of the Imperial treasury for that purpose. One of the missionaries informed me, in Pekin, that the Gazette of that capital contained an article stating the liberality of the Emperor towards the English Embassador, in his having directed no less a sum than fifteen hundred ounces of silver to be applied for the daily expences of the Embassy, while stationary in the capital and at Gehol. The same gentleman made an observation, that the great officers of government, as well as those who had the good luck to be appointed to manage the concerns of a foreign embassy, considered it as one of the best wind-falls in the Emperor's gift, the difference between the allowances and the actual expenditure being equivalent to a little fortune.
Van-ta-gin, indeed, explained to us, that although the Imperial warrant was signed for those sums, yet that having a number of offices to pass through, in all of which it diminished a little, the whole of it was not actually expended on the Embassy. He gave to the Embassador an excellent illustration of the manner in which the Imperial bounty was sometimes applied. An inundation had swept away, the preceding winter, a whole village in the province of Shan-tung, so suddenly, that the inhabitants could save nothing but their lives. The Emperor having once lodged at the place immediately ordered 100,000 ounces of silver for their relief, out of which the first officer of the treasury took 20,000, the second 10,000, the third 5,000, and so on, till at last there remained only 20,000 for the poor sufferers. So that the boasted morality of China is pretty much the same, when reduced to practice, as that of other countries.