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on, that four highway robberies, accompanied with violent assault, took place in the immediate neighbourhood, in open day, during the stay of six weeks which I made there in the autumn of 1842. The shopkeepers and boatmen are all Chinese; and among them may be found some as thorough-bred scoundrels as ever disgraced humanity. During the year 1843, the following crimes were perpetrated by Chinese in and about Macao: they were clearly brought home to them, and, in all probability, do not form a tenth of what might with justice be laid to their charge:-- 1. Mr. Sharpe's _lorcha_ (trading-boat), on her voyage from Macao to Canton, was piratically attacked within ten miles of the former place, and plundered of her cargo of opium; Mr. Sharpe was murdered, and five of his crew; the rest, being Chinese, were taken off by the pirates, (they subsequently proved to be their associates,) and the _lorcha_ was burned. 2. A _lorcha_ bound from Hong Kong to Macao, manned by Macao Chinese, and loaded with spice and other valuable property, was carried off by her crew, (who murdered an English doctor on board,) the cargo plundered, and the vessel burned. 3. Another _lorcha_, bound from Macao to Hong Kong, with a general cargo and two passengers, was carried off in the same way, plundered, and then burned: the unfortunate passengers (two respectable young men; one an Irishman, named Clark, the other from Shetland, a Mr. Clunis) were in like manner murdered. 4. A boat was sent off from Macao with a box of treasure containing some 12,000 dollars, under the charge of a Parsee clerk of the firm to whom the money belonged. They left the shore at two P. M., and the ship they were bound to was at anchor only five miles off. The non-appearance of the treasure which was expected on board, caused the captain to go on shore to make inquiries about five in the afternoon: his questions alarmed the Parsee merchant, who had sent off the money and his clerk at two. Strict inquiry was instituted, and the result was, the certainty that the poor man had been murdered and thrown overboard by the boat's crew, who made off with the money. 5. A boat was sent from a ship in the harbour called the _Typa_, to one in the outer roads, to transship fourteen chests of opium: the crew consisted of four Chinese and one Lascar, with
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