This letter was written on the 17th of December, and on the 19th in the morning a mandarin of the first rank, who was Governor of the city of Janson, together with two mandarins of an inferior class, and a great retinue of officers and servants, having with them eighteen half-galleys decorated with a great number of streamers, and furnished with music, and full of men, came to grapnel ahead of the Centurion; whence the mandarin sent a message to the Commodore, telling him that he (the mandarin) was ordered by the Viceroy of Canton to examine the condition of the ship, and desiring the ship's boat might be sent to fetch him on board. The Centurion's boat was immediately despatched, and preparations were made for receiving him; for a hundred of the most sightly of the crew were uniformly dressed in the regimentals of the marines, and were drawn up under arms on the main-deck, against his arrival. When he entered the ship he was saluted by the drums and what other military music there was on board; and passing by the new-formed guard, he was met by the Commodore on the quarter-deck, who conducted him to the great cabin. Here the mandarin explained his commission, declaring that his business was to examine all the particulars mentioned in the Commodore's letter to the Viceroy; that he was particularly instructed to inspect the leak, and had for that purpose brought with him two Chinese carpenters. This mandarin appeared to be a person of very considerable parts, and endowed with more frankness and honesty than is to be found in the generality of the Chinese. After the proper inquiries had been made, particularly about the leak, which the Chinese carpenters reported to be as dangerous as it had been represented, and consequently that it was impossible for the Centurion to proceed to sea without being refitted, the mandarin expressed himself satisfied with the account given in the Commodore's letter. And this magistrate, as he was more intelligent than any other person of his nation that came to our knowledge, so likewise was he more curious and inquisitive, viewing each part of the ship with particular attention, and appearing greatly surprised at the largeness of the lower-deck guns, and at the weight and size of the shot. The Commodore observing his astonishment thought this a proper opportunity to convince the Chinese of the prudence of granting him a speedy and ample supply of all he wanted. With this view he told the mandarin and those who were with him, that besides the demands he made for a general supply, he had a particular complaint against the proceedings of the custom-house of Macao; that at his first arrival the Chinese boats had brought on board plenty of greens and variety of fresh provisions for daily use, for which they had always been paid to their full satisfaction, but that the custom-house officers at Macao had soon forbid them, by which means he was deprived of those refreshments which were of the utmost consequence