Soon after the New Year's Festival, Wombwell and I were again sent for by the mandarins, and found letters to the same purport as before; but in one of the letters was a Latin quotation, which led me to suppose that peace was not quite so close at hand as the English part of the letter gave us to understand; however, this I did not translate, nor did I say anything about it to the other prisoners, thinking it was intended for the officers' private information. With the letters came some packets of medicine; and amongst them several doses of Epsom salts, which the Chinese mistook for saltpetre, and were quite astonished that it did not take fire when they applied a candle to it. Seeing them so inquisitive, I tried very hard to persuade them to take some blue pills which had been sent, telling them that they were sweatmeats of some sort, and very good for the stomach; but to no purpose, they were not to be taken in. This was a thoughtless action, I must own, as the consequences of the experiment, had I succeeded in persuading them to take some, might have made them imagine that we wished to poison them. We then returned to our sedans, and were taken home. Just outside the gates of the mandarin's house, I observed a number of people collected, and amongst them, several children fancifully dressed, and crowned with artificial flowers; I could not imagine why they were arrayed in this style, unless they formed part of some procession in honour of the New Year. During our absence, the jailer had been to the window, making signs that we were all going away; he appeared very much grieved, and putting his hand to his breast, with tears in his eyes, seemed to express his great regret at having to part with us. At last, his feelings completely got the better of him, and he was obliged to run into his room; where he shut himself up for the remainder of the day; sending us, however, some substantial marks of his regard, in the shape of stewed beef, bird's-nest soup, and samshu. During the winter months, the Chinese amused themselves with kite-flying; their kites had a hole in the centre, across which were placed several strings; and when they were up in the air, the wind passing through the hole produced a loud humming noise. I suppose this was on the same principle as the Æolian harp. Some of them were very pretty and ingenious, being in the shape of birds and butterflies, the wings of which were made of loose thin paper, which fluttered about as they rose into the air. Time passed, and we two paid several more visits to the mandarins, when we always heard the same reports of liberty. I rather liked these visits, as they gave me opportunities, which I should not otherwise have had, of seeing a little of the Chinese; besides the great advantage of getting fresh air, and being able to stretch my limbs.