THE PORTUGUESE PILOT. 557

and fresh provisions; which the people there, who are very cour:
teous and civil in their manners, supplied us with willingly, and
dealt very fairly and punctually with us in all their agreements and
bargains; which is what we did not find among other people, and may
be owing to the remains of Christianity, which was once planted
here by a Dutch missionary of Protestants, and is a testimony of
what I have often observed, namely, that the Christian religion
always civilizes the people, and reforms their manners, where it is
received, whether it works saving effects upon them or no,

From hence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at an
equal distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of China
where our European ships usually come, being resolved if possible
not to fall into any of their hands, especially in this country,
where, as our circumstances were, we could not fail of being
entirely ruined; nay, so great was my fear in particular as to my
being taken by them, that I believe firmly I would much rather
have chosen to fall into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition.

Being now come to the latitude of 30 degrees, we resolved to
put into the first trading port we should come at; and standing
in fer the shore, a boat came off two leagues to us, with an old
Portuguese pilot on board, who, knowing us to be a European ship,
came to offer his service, which indeed we were very glad of, and
took him on board; upon which, without asking us whither we
would go, he dismissed the boat he came in, and sent them back.

I thought it was now so much in our choice to make the old
man carry us whither we would, that I began to talk with him about
carrying us to the Gulf of Nankin, which is the most northern
part of the coast of China. The old man said he knew the Gulf
of Nankin very well; but smiling, asked us what we would do
there.

I told him we would sell our cargo and purchase China wares,
calicoes, raw silks, tea, wrought silks, &c., and so would return by
the same course we came. He told us our best port had been to
have put in at Macao, where we could not have failed of a market
for our opium to our satisfaction, and might for our money have
purchased all sorts of China goods as cheap as we could at
Nankin.