We sailed from Bengal in company with the Hon. Company's Ship Dunira, October 19th, 1820, with a fine breeze, and arrived at Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's Island, on the 6th of November. The houses have a noble appearance, and are built after the form of those in Calcutta. The inhabitants are principally Malays; of them I shall speak more hereafter. After having received on board a quantity of rattan, as private trade for the captain, we made sail and arrived at Macao, on January 26th, 1821, after a long and tedious voyage. Macao, a town of China, in the province of Canton, is seated in an inland at the entrance of the river Tae. The Portuguese have been in possession of the town and harbour since the early part of the seventeenth century. The houses are low and built after the European manner; the Portuguese are properly a mixed breed, having been married to Asiatic women. Here is a Portuguese Governor as well as a Chinese Mandarin. The former nation pays a great tribute to choose their own magistrates. The city is defended by three forts, built upon eminences; and the works are good and well planted with artillery. On the 29th we anchored off the second bar, and found lying here the Hon. Company's Ship Canning, and two or three other Company's ships; on the 30th weighed and made sail, but there not being water enough, removed back to our old station. On the following day we crossed Whampo. After the cargo was discharged I went up to Canton. Canton is a large and populous city, situated in one of the first rivers in the empire. It is the capital of the province of Quan-tong, and the centre of the European trade in that country. The streets are long and straight, paved with flag stones, and adorned with lofty arches. The houses are remarkably neat, but consist only of one story, and they have no windows to the streets. The covered market place is full of shops. The inhabitants are estimated at about 1,000,000; many of whom reside in barks, which touch one another, form a kind of floating city, and are so arranged as to form streets. Each bark lodges a family and their grand children, who have no other dwelling. At break of day all the people who inhabit them depart to fish or to cultivate their rice. The frugal and laborious manner in which the great live, the little attention which is paid to the vain and ridiculous prejudice of marrying below rank; the ancient policy of giving distinction to men and not to families, by attaching nobility only to employments and talents, without suffering it to be hereditary; and the decorum observed in public, are admirable traits in the Chinese character.