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A day or two after our arrival the captain and senior officers landed, to partake of a dinner given by one of the principal mandarins. They were well plied with soup, fish, fowls, and sam-schoo, being attended on by minor mandarins. After dinner they were escorted through the town, accompanied by a large concourse of natives, who were kept by the police at a respectful distance.
When we were at Kuchin a Chinaman was convicted of selling sam-schoo without permission: his goods were confiscated for a time, to be redeemed only by his good behaviour. I am not acquainted with their punishments for minor offences, except in the above instance; but I believe it is generally by fine.
This account was evidently discredited, as it always was when such an assertion was made in those seas, for looking round him and explaining the nature of the communication to his followers, they all laughed. Before the conference was over, rice, cakes, and sam-schoo were handed round, and the captain promised that he would visit the chief mandarin on the following day.
We were treated with great attention, being permitted to enter the circle of the elders, who ordered the attendants to hand us refreshments, which consisted of cakes made of rice and cocoa-nut oil, and Sam-schoo. Some of our party, having become slightly elevated, volunteered a song, which proposition was opposed by the more reasonable.
He was found some little distance on land, having been enticed away by one of the chiefs, who was plying him with sam-schoo. On his way to return they forcibly detained him, and were in the act of conveying him away, when the appearance of the armed party from the boat surprised them, and they hastened to convey their own persons out of reach of our bayonets.
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