reater dislike to our countrymen than to any other, or that he acted
otherwise towards them than he was accustomed to do in similar cases.
Bougainville complains of him much, and represents him as a turbulent
ill-mannered fellow. "Having," says he, "on one occasion, upon the
repeated leave of the viceroy, concluded a bargain for buying a snow,
his excellency forbad the seller to deliver it to me. He likewise gave
orders, that we should not be allowed the necessary timber out of the
royal dock-yards, for which we had already agreed; he then refused me
the permission of lodging with my officers (during the time that the
frigate underwent some essential repairs) in a house near the town,
offered me by its proprietor, and which Commodore Byron had occupied in
1765, when he touched at this port. On this account, and likewise on his
refusing me the snow and the timber, I wanted to make some remonstrances
to him. He did not give me time to do it: And at the first words I
uttered, he rose in a furious passion, and ordered me to go out; and
being certainly piqued, that in spite of his anger, I remained sitting
with two officers who accompanied me, he called his guards; but they,
wiser than himself, did not come, and we retired, so that nobody seemed
to have been disturbed. We were hardly gone, when the guards of his
palace were doubled, and orders given to arrest all the French that
should be found in the streets after sunsetting." According to this
writer, it appears that neither the laws of nations, nor the rules of
good breeding, were respected by this very important being, "vain of his
authority."--E.]

This promise was performed, and on the next morning, the 14th, I went on
shore, and obtained leave of the viceroy to purchase provisions and
refreshments for the ship, provided I would employ one of their own
people as a factor, but not otherwise. I made some objections to this,
but he insisted upon it as the custom of the place. I objected also
against the pulling a soldier into the boat every time she went between
the ship and the shore; but he told me, that this was done by the
express orders of his court, with which he could in no case dispense. I
then requested, that the gentlemen whom I had on board might reside on
shore during our stay, and that Mr Banks might go up the country to
gather plants; but this he absolutely refused. I judged from his extreme
caution, and the severity of these restrictions, that he suspected w