y miles farther W.N.W. we had thirty-five
fathom; and the same bottom, from whence our sounding gradually
decreased from thirty-five to twenty-five fathom; but soon after, to
our great surprise, they jumped back again to thirty fathom: This was
an alteration we could not very well account for,[4] since all the
charts laid down regular soundings every-where to the northward of
Pedro Blanco; and for this reason we kept a very careful look-out, and
altered our course to N.N.W. and having run thirty-five miles in this
direction, our soundings again gradually diminished to twenty-two
fathom, and we at last, about mid-night, got sight of the main land of
China, bearing N. by W. four leagues distant: We then brought the ship
to, with her head to the sea, proposing to wait for the morning; and
before sun-rise we were surprised to find ourselves in the midst of an
incredible number of fishing-boats, which seemed to cover the surface
of the sea as far as the eye could reach. I may well style their
number incredible, since I cannot believe, upon the lowest estimate,
that there were fewer than six thousand, most of them manned with
five hands, and none with less than three. Nor was this swarm of
fishing-vessels peculiar to this spot; for, as we ran on to the
westward, we found them as abundant on every part of the coast. We at
first doubted not but we should procure a pilot from them to carry
us to Macao; but though many of them came close to the ship, and we
endeavoured to tempt them by showing them a number of dollars, a most
alluring bait for Chinese of all ranks and professions, yet we could
not entice them on board us, nor procure any directions from them;
though, I presume, the only difficulty was their not comprehending
what we wanted them to do, for we could have no communication with
them, but by signs: Indeed we often pronounced the word Macao; but
this we had reason to suppose they understood in a different sense;
for in return they sometimes held up fish to us, and we afterwards
learnt, that the Chinese name for fish is of a somewhat similar sound.
But what surprised us most, was the inattention and want of curiosity,
which we observed in this herd of fishermen: A ship like ours had
doubtless never been in those seas before; perhaps, there might not
be one, amongst all the Chinese employed in this fishery, who had ever
seen any European vessel; so that we might reasonably have expected
to have been considered by them as