on board the two ships. The next
day, agreeably to a bargain made by Captain Gore, I sent our sheet-anchor
to the country ship, and received in return the guns, which she before rode
by.

Whilst we lay in the Typa, I was shewn, in a garden belonging to an English
gentleman at Macao, the rock, under which, as the tradition there goes, the
poet Camoens used lo sit and compose his Lusiad. It is a lofty arch, of one
solid stone, and forms the entrance of a grotto, dug out of the rising
ground behind it. The rock is overshadowed by large spreading trees, and
commands an extensive and magnificent view of the sea, and the interspersed
islands.

On the 11th of January, two seamen, belonging to the Resolution, found
means to run off with a six-oared cutter, and, notwithstanding diligent
search was made both that and the following day, we were never able to
learn any tidings of her. It was supposed, that these people had been
seduced by the prevailing notion of making a fortune, by returning to the
fur islands.

As we heard nothing, during our stay in the Typa, of the measurement of our
ships, it may be concluded, that the point, so strongly contested by the
Chinese, in Lord Anson's time, has, in consequence of his firmness and
resolution, never since been insisted on.

The following nautical observations were made while we lay here:

Harbour of Macao lat. 22 deg. 12' 0" north.
long. 113 47 0 east.

Anchoring-place in the lat. 22 9 20 north.
Typa long. 113 48 34 east.

Mean dip of the north
pole of the magnetic 21 1 0
needle

Variation of the compass 0 19 0 west.

On the full and change days it was high water in the Typa at 5^h 15^m, and
in Macao harbour at 5^h 50^m. The greatest rise was six feet one inch. The
flood appeared to come from the south-eastward; but we could not determine
this point with certainty, on account of the great number of islands which
lie off the mouth of the river of Canton.

_Prices of Provisions at Canton_, 1780.

L. s. d.
Annas 0 4 0 a score.
Arrack 0 0 8 per bottle.
Butter 0 2 0-4/5 per catty.[106]
Beef, Canton 0 0 2-3/4
Ditto, Macao 0 0 5-1/5
Birds' nests 3 6 8
Biscuit