sently perceived the bent of this conversation, and enquired
of him if he had not received the money from the linguist, and finding
he had not, he offered to pay it him upon the spot. But this the
mandarine refused, having now somewhat more in view than the sum which
had been detained; for the next day the linguist was seized, and was
doubtless mulcted of all he had gotten in the commodore's service,
which was supposed to be little less than two thousand dollars; he
was, besides, so severely bastinadoed with the bamboo, that it was
with difficulty he escaped with life; and when he was upbraided by
the commodore (to whom he afterwards came begging) with his folly in
risking all he had suffered for fifty dollars (the present intended
for the mandarine.) he had no other excuse to make than the strong
bias of his nation to dishonesty, replying, in his broken jargon,
"Chinese man very great rogue truly, but have fashion, no can help."

It were endless to recount all the artifices, extortions, and
frauds which were practised on the commodore and his people, by this
interested race. The method of buying all things in China being by
weight, the tricks made use of by the Chinese to increase the weight
of the provision they sold to the Centurion, were almost incredible.
One time a large quantity of fowls and ducks being bought for the
ship's use, the greatest part of them presently died. This alarmed the
people on board with the apprehensions that they had been killed by
poison, but, on examination, it appeared that it was only owing to
their being crammed with stones and gravel to increase their weight,
the quantity thus forced into most of the ducks being found to amount
to ten ounces in each. The hogs, too, which were bought ready killed
of the Chinese butchers, had water injected into them for the same
purpose; so that a carcass, hung up all night for the water to drain
from it, hath lost above a stone of its weight; and when, to avoid
this cheat, the hogs were bought alive, it was found that the Chinese
gave them salt to increase their thirst, and having by this means
excited them to drink great quantities of water, they then took
measures to prevent them from discharging it again by urine, and sold
the tortured animal in this inflated state. When the commodore first
put to sea from Macao, they practised an artifice of another kind;
for as the Chinese never object to the eating of any food that dies of
itself, they took care