Page:The Chinese Repository - Volume 01.djvu/96

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82
Gutzlaff's Journal;
July,

pointed out to me; it was a hole, only large enough for a person to lie down in, and to receive a small box. I had six fellow-passengers. One of them, a captain 60 years of age, was obliged to become a passenger, because his own junk was unseaworthy, having sprung a leak whilst moored in the Meinam. He was my declared enemy; a master in opium-smoking (using the drug to the amount of about one dollar per day); a man thoroughly versed in all sorts of villainy; and averse to the instruction of his countrymen; though, at the same time, he was well aware of the superiority of Europeans, and knew the value of their arts. His son was an insolent youth, well trained for mercantile transactions; and anxious to amass wealth; he became my friend and neighbour. My mercantile friend, already mentioned, had a cabin beneath mine. He was remarkable for deceitfulness, loquacity, childish pride, and unnatural crime. His companion in trade was wealthy, self-sufficient, and debauched, but polite. In the practice of wickedness and deceit, no one was superior to captain Fo, another of my fellow-passengers. This man had formerly been in command of a Siamese junk, bearing tribute to China, and was shipwrecked on the coast of Pulo Way. On his release from that island, he returned to Bankok. Being skilful in various sorts of workmanship, especially in painting and mechanics, he at length gained so much property, that he was able, this year, to put some hundred peculs of goods on board a junk, and to proceed to China, where he had two wives still living. He was devoted to opium, and prone to lying; but, according to his own declaration, my best friend.

Our captain, Sin-shun, was a friendly man, well versed in the art of Chinese navigation; but, unhappily, long habituated to opium-smoking. His younger brother showed himself to be a man of truth; he was my private friend and associate, in every sort of trouble. One of the captain's brothers-in-law was