him with sea-stores, as had
been pretended; that there was no biscuit baked, nor any one of the
articles in readiness which had been promised him; nor did it appear,
that the contractors had taken the least step to comply with their
agreement. This was most disagreeable news, and made it suspected,
that the furnishing the Centurion for her return to Great Britain
might prove a more troublesome matter than had been hitherto imagined;
especially too, as the month of September was nearly elapsed, without
Mr Anson's having received any message from the viceroy of Canton.

And here perhaps it might be expected that some satisfactory account
should be given of the motives of the Chinese for this faithless
procedure. But as I have already, in a former chapter, made some kind
of conjectures about a similar event, I shall not repeat them again
in this place, but shall observe, that after all, it may perhaps be
impossible for an European, ignorant of the customs and manners of
that nation, to be fully apprised of the real incitements to this
behaviour. Indeed, thus much may undoubtedly be asserted, that in
artifice, falsehood, and an attachment to all kinds of lucre, many of
the Chinese are difficult to be paralleled by any other people; but
then the combination of these talents, and the manner in which they
are applied in particular emergencies, are often beyond the reach of
a foreigner's penetration: So that though it may be safely concluded,
that the Chinese had some interest in thus amusing the commodore, yet
it may not be easy to assign the individual views by which they were
influenced. And that I may not be thought too severe in ascribing to
this nation a fraudulent and selfish turn of temper, so contradictory
to the character given of them in the legendary accounts of the Roman
missionaries, I shall here mention an extraordinary transaction or
two, which I hope will be some kind of confirmation of what I have
advanced.

When the commodore lay first at Macao, one of his officers, who had
been extremely ill, desired leave of him to go on shore every day on
a neighbouring island, imagining that a walk upon the land would
contribute greatly to the restoring of his health: The commodore would
have dissuaded him, suspecting the tricks of the Chinese, but the
officer continuing importunate, in the end the boat was ordered to
carry him. The first day he was put on shore he took his exercise, and
returned without receiving any m