our captain would lend him seventy thousand dollars till he returned from his cruise up the river, he would repay him, and send us all to Macao.  I assured him it was useless writing on these terms, and unless our ransom was speedily settled, the English fleet would sail, and render our enlargement altogether ineffectual.  He remained determined, and said if it were not sent, he would keep us, and make us fight, or put us to death.  I accordingly wrote, and gave my letter to the man belonging to the boat before mentioned.  He said he could not return with an answer in less than five days.  The chief now gave me the letter I wrote when first taken.  I have never been able to ascertain his reasons for detaining it, but suppose he dared not negociate for our ransom without orders from the head admiral, who I understood was sorry at our being captured.  He said the English ships would join the Mandarins and attack them.”

While the fleet lay here, one night the Portuguese who were left in the captured brig murdered the Ladrones that were on board of her, cut the cables, and fortunately escaped through the darkness of the night.

“At day-light the next morning, the fleet, amounting to above five hundred sail of different sizes, weighed, to proceed on their intended cruise up the rivers, to levy contributions on the towns and villages.  It is impossible to describe what were my feelings at this critical time, having received no answers to my letters, and the fleet under-way to sail—­hundreds of miles up a country never visited by Europeans, there to remain probably for many months, which would render all opportunities for negotiating for our enlargement totally ineffectual; as the only method of communication is by boats that have a pass from the Ladrones, and they dare not venture above twenty miles from Macao, being obliged to come and go in the night, to avoid the Mandarins; and if these boats should be detected in having any intercourse with the Ladrones, they are immediately put to death, and all their relations, though they had not joined in the crime, share in the punishment, in order that not a single person of their families should be left to imitate their crimes or avenge their death.”

The following is a very touching incident in Mr. Glasspoole’s narrative.

“Wednesday the 26th of September, at day-light, we passed in sight of our own ships, at anchor under the island of Chun Po.  The chief then called me, pointed to the ships, and told the interpreter to tell us to look at them, for we should never see them again!  About noon we entered a river to the westward of the Bogue.  Three or four miles from the entrance we passed a large town situated on the side of a beautiful hill, which is tributary to the Ladrones; the inhabitants saluted them with songs as they passed.”