A JAPANESE MERCHANT. 571

to venture to sail for the river of Kilam and the city of Nankin.
But providence seemed now more visibly, as I thought, than ever
to concern itself in our affair; and I was encouraged from this very
time to think I should one way or other get out of this tangled
circumstance and be brought home to my own country again, though
I had not the least view of the manner; and when I began some-
times to think of it, could not imagine by what method it was to
be done. Providence, I say, began here to clear up our way a little;
and the first thing that offered was, that our old Portuguese pilot
brought a Japan merchant to us, who began to inquire what goods
we had; and in the first place, he bought all our opium, and gave
us a very good price for it, paying us in gold by weight; some in
small pieces of their own coin, and some in small wedges of about
ten or eleven ounces each. While we were dealing with him for
our opium, it came into my head that he might perhaps deal with
us for the ship too, and I ordered the interpreter to propose it to
him. He shrunk up his shoulders at it when it was first proposed
to him, but in a few days after he came to me, with one of the
missionary priests for his interpreter, and told me he had a pro-
posal to make to me, and that was this: he had bought a great
quantity of goods of us, when he had no thoughts (or proposals
made to him) of buying the ship, and that, therefore, he had not
money enough to pay for the ship; but if I would let the same
men who were in the ship navigate her, he would hire the ship to
go to Japan, and would send them from thence to the Philippine
Islands with another loading, which he would pay the freight of
before they went from Japan; and that at their return he would
buy the ship. I began to listen to his proposal, and so eager did
my head still run upon rambling, that I could not but begin to
entertain a notion of going myself with him, and to sail from the
Philippine Islands away to the South Seas; and accordingly I
asked the Japan merchant if he would not hire us to the Philip-
pine islands and discharge us there. He said, No, he could not do
that, for then he could not have the return of his cargo; but he
would discharge us in Japan, he said, at the ship’s return. Well,
still I was for taking him at that proposal, and going myself; but
my partner, wiser than myself, persuaded me from it, representing