Various attempts had been made to establish 'floating' depôts further north, for which purpose even the coast of Corea had been visited, as well as the port of Ke-Lung on the north end of the island of Formosa. The clipper 'Sylph,' Captain Wallace, sailed up to the Gulf of Leaou-Tung, having on board the celebrated Prussian missionary Gutzlaff, who, for the privilege of distributing the Scriptures and tracts, acted as interpreter for the sale of opium. The Rev. M. Gutzlaff was an 'old coaster,' his first appearance in China being as passenger from Singapore in a Chinese junk. As he had also studied at Malacca, there was a fellow-feeling between us. The first foreign opium vessel stationed on the East Coast was the 'Colonel Young'[43] in 1831, her tender, running between the station and Lintin, being the 'Fairy.' M. Gutzlaff was for some time on board the former, and, from his knowledge of the Chinese coast dialects, could make himself very useful. He resembled a Chinese very much, while _they_ declared him to be a 'son of Han in disguise'! The accounts of his travels along the coast and in the interior which he gave me on his return were very curious and interesting. He would leave the brig and be absent many days together. On one occasion he nearly reached the frontier of the Canton province; on another he penetrated to the Bohea tea-country, in the province of Fuh-Keen. He described the people as hospitable and kind. Sedan-chairs of a rustic sort were furnished to him, with food without stint, and he never failed to find quarters for repose and refreshment in a temple. His object in travelling, besides the acquisition of knowledge, was the distribution of tracts. On visiting a town or village he would distribute translations of 'The Word of Life' and administer 'Lee's Antibilious.' Landing one day in the ship's boat, she was capsized, and he found himself rolling about in the surf with 'The poor man's friend,' a box full of 'Saints' Rest,' to which he clung, and packages of 'Cockle's pills,' while in momentary alarm that he and the boat's crew (four Caffres) would be picked up by shovel-nosed sharks.
At the end of a fortnight I decided to return to Capshuymun and Canton. My friend Mr. N---- was agreeable, but the question was, how and when? The 'Rose' had still a considerable quantity of opium to dispose of, and would not probably be ready for a month. In this dilemma two days went by, when the schooner 'Harriet'[44] came in from the northern stations. She was a small fore and aft craft of nominally 100 tons, built at Macao by Hamilton, an American ship carpenter, and was commanded by a friend, Captain Hall, who consented to take us back to Capshuymun. After she had received treasure from the three Namao vessels, her entire freight consisted of $430,000 in value of gold bars and Sycee-silver. We went on board with our traps and servants, and were soon under way. The cabin being, of course, of preposterously small dimensions, and overrun with ants, cockroaches, and centipedes, with which we should have interfered, we made ourselves comfortable on deck--dining, smoking, and joking _al fresco_. We anchored at Kow-Lung just in time to escape an unusually heavy taiphoon. We rode it out there; then sailed to Capshuymun, and from thence direct to Canton by fast boat.
