Soon after nine o'clock, the Nemesis got under weigh, under the direction of Captain Herbert, having Captain Elliot and other officers on board. The object was not to make any minute survey of the passage; but merely to ascertain, by a cursory examination, the nature of the channel, and in what direction it was likely to terminate. Leaving Dane's and French Islands to the southward, they proceeded very cautiously to thread their way through the shoals or mud-banks which were found in the passage. The country on both sides was low and swampy, but the channel was not found blocked up by sunken junks or stones, as it had been in other parts; probably because the Chinese hardly expected that any attempt would be made to pass through it, and partly because the river into which it led (the Broadway or Macao passage) had been already sufficiently fortified and obstructed. They passed a deserted battery and one or two small villages. In the course of a couple of hours, during which time they had advanced slowly, with a depth of water from two to three fathoms, they came in sight of a circular stone fort, with a tower or pagoda upon it, apparently between two and three miles distant. As the truce had not yet expired, it was not thought right to proceed further for the present; but they had already reached the point of junction with the Macao passage or Broadway River, in the middle of which the fort (which was afterwards called the Macao Fort) was situated. Enough had been ascertained to serve as a guide for future operations; and the Nemesis, passing round a small island at the head of the passage, returned the same way she had come, and rejoined the squadron at Whampoa. It was through this passage that some of our vessels proceeded, a few days afterwards, to the attack of the fort, which has been noticed above. On the following day, the 6th, the truce expired. But there was anything but a peaceable disposition shewn on the part of the Chinese authorities. They issued strict orders that none of the natives should supply provisions to our ships. The boats which had hitherto come fearlessly alongside our vessels all on a sudden disappeared; and it was known at Canton that the native merchants were compelled to remove all the tea and silk out of the town. In consequence of these proceedings, a proclamation was addressed by Captain Elliot to the people of Canton, telling them that they were quite at our mercy, and that the city was only spared "in order to shew how _tenderly_ the good and peaceable inhabitants were considered" (by the English). But it was added, that, "if the authorities should continue to prevent the native merchants from buying and selling with the foreign merchants, then the whole trade of Canton was to be immediately stopped, and the city strictly blockaded." It then wound up by throwing "the whole responsibility of the present state of things upon the bad advisers of the emperor."