As
usual, our descent was a comparatively quick affair, and we soon found
ourselves on board the junk on our way back to Macao, beating across
the harbour.
Just before tiffin the yacht made her appearance, causing great
excitement in the minds of the natives. The gig was soon lowered and
came as close as she could. There was not water enough for her to come
within four miles of the shore, but we went out to meet her occupants.
Tom, who was one of them, looked so ill and miserable that I felt
quite alarmed for a few minutes, till the doctor comforted me by
assurances that it was only the effect of the Chinese dinner last
night--an explanation I had no difficulty in accepting as the correct
one after perusing the bill of fare. In their desire to do him honour,
and to give him pleasure, his hosts had provided the rarest
delicacies, and of course he felt obliged to taste them all. Some of
the dishes were excellent, but many of them were rather trying to a
European digestion, especially the fungus and lichen. One sort had
been grown on ice in the Antarctic Sea, the whale's sinews came from
the Arctic Ocean, the shark's fins from the South Sea Islands, and the
birds' nests were of a quality to be found only in one particular cave
in one particular island. To drink, they had champagne in English
glasses, and arrack in Chinese glasses.
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