The wife of Ching y[)i]h was very strict in every transaction; nothing could be done without a written application. Anything which had been taken, or plundered, was regularly entered on the register of the storehouse. [sd: (6 v.)] The pirates received out of this common fund what they were in need of, and nobody dared to have private possessions. If on a piratical expedition any man left the line of battle, whether by advancing or receding, every pirate might accuse him at a general meeting, and on being found guilty, he was beheaded. Knowing how watchful Chang paou was on every side, the pirates took great care to behave themselves well. The pirates used to call the purser, or secretary of the storehouse, _Ink and writing master_; and they called their piratical plunder only _a transhipping of goods_. [Sidenote: 1807.] There was a temple in _Hwy chow_ dedicated to the _spirits of the three mothers_,[42] near the sea-coast, and many came thither to worship. The pirates visited this place whenever they passed it with their vessels, pretending to worship; but this was not the case--they thought of mischief, and had only their business to attend. Once they came with the commander at their head, as if to worship, but they laid hold on the image or statue to take it away. [sd: (7 r.)] They tried in vain from morning to the evening,--they were all together not able to move it. Chang paou alone[43] was able to raise the image, and being a fair wind, he gave order to bring it on board a ship. All who were concerned in this transaction feared to find, from the wrath of the spirit, their death in the piratical expeditions. They all prayed to escape the vengeance of heaven. [Sidenote: 1808.]