On the 30th, Mr Lannyon arrived with the stores and provisions, which were immediately stowed, in due proportion, 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 0 0 4 Beache de Mar 0 2 0-4/5 Calf 1 6 9-3/5 Caravances, dried 0 0 2-2/3 Cabbage, Nankeen 0 0 4-4/5 Curry stuff 0 4 4 Coffee 0 1 4 per catty. Cocoa-nuts 0 0 4 each.