By their boldness and activity the fire
was soon extinguished, to the amazement of the Chinese, and the building
being all on one floor, and the materials slight, the seamen,
notwithstanding their daring behaviour, happily escaped with no other
injuries than some considerable bruises. The fire, though at last thus
luckily extinguished, did great mischief during the time it continued,
for it consumed an hundred shops and eleven streets full of warehouses,
so that the damage amounted to an immense sum. It raged, indeed, with
unusual violence, for in many of the warehouses there were large
quantities of camphor, which greatly added to its fury, and produced a
column of exceeding white flame, which shot up into the air to such a
prodigious height that the flame itself was plainly seen on board the
Centurion, though she was thirty miles distant.
Whilst the Commodore and his people were labouring at the fire, and the
terror of its becoming general still possessed the whole city, several of
the most considerable Chinese merchants came to Mr. Anson to desire that
he would let each of them have one of his soldiers (for such they styled
his boat's crew from the uniformity of their dress) to guard their
warehouses and dwelling-houses, which, from the known dishonesty of the
populace, they feared would be pillaged in the tumult. Mr. Anson granted
them this request, and all the men that he thus furnished to the Chinese
behaved greatly to the satisfaction of their employers, who afterwards
highly applauded their great diligence and fidelity.
Pages:
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214