Chapter 61: The Commercial Agent's Report (Part 4)

The three of us discussed the purpose of the strange wooden stakes. Mr. Gonzalez believed that this was a special kind of idol worship of the Australians. It was a kind of sacrificial facility with religious meaning. But Mr. Trini said that he could not see any religious meaning in it, because it could not be regarded as an idol, and no Australian showed any reverence for it. I personally think that Mr. Trini’s statement is reasonable. We did not see anyone on the road expressing respect or worship for these wooden stakes, nor were there any similar traces: no one offered sacrifices, burned incense, or offered sacrifices to the wooden stakes.

The distance from Bopu to Bairen was very short, and we estimated that it was only one league. We then entered the scope of Bairen City. Later we learned that we had never entered Bairen City—the so-called Bairen City was the Australians’ castle, and no one could enter or leave except themselves and the native confidants who served them. But outside Bairen City, a city of considerable scale was built around the Australians’ castle. They called it the East Gate Market because it was located on the east side of Bairen City. It is said that when the Australians first arrived in Lingao, they traded with the local natives here. Within a few years, this originally simple market has developed into a quite prosperous town.

The East Gate Market itself was not protected by a city wall, but there were watchtowers at the entrances and exits of the roads. This kind of watchtower was very common here. Not only were there in Bopu, but they were also distributed on both sides of the road. The Australians seemed to use it as a major defensive facility. The watchtowers were generally square, with a base built of heavy stone strips and a body built of fired bricks. Some were very simple, built of crisscrossing wood or bamboo. The watchtowers generally had two to three floors. The facilities of some watchtowers could be called a small fortress. There were moats surrounding the watchtowers, as well as walls, and the tops were often equipped with artillery. The Australians deployed guards in the watchtowers to form a strict lookout and alert system. Obviously, the Australians were very anxious about their presence in this place and were always on guard against someone coming to attack.

Our carriage entered the East Gate Market and entered the main street of the East Gate Market, which ran from east to west. The street was wide and flat, wide enough for twelve fully armed cavalrymen to ride abreast. There were many shops on both sides of the street, displaying a wide variety of goods. The shops were two or three stories high and very compact. The street scene here reminded me of the commercial districts of The Hague or Amsterdam. The Australians’ houses were not at all similar to Chinese architecture, but were more similar to European houses, but more simple and practical. Their use of space was astonishing. How to extract the greatest space from a limited area was the only aesthetic standard of their architecture. And what surprised us most was that every house we saw was roofed with tiles, and every house, regardless of size, used windows with large panes of glass.

On both sides of the main street, there were also many small transverse streets. Whether it was the main street or the side roads, there were not many pedestrians on the streets. All the streets were paved with the same black gravel as the main road, and were as flat and smooth as the main road. The streets were surprisingly clean—whether in the East or the West, except in the Netherlands, I have never seen such a clean city. There was no garbage, no sewage, and no human or animal excrement.

On both sides of the street, there were separate stone sidewalks, and coconut saplings were planted on the sidewalks. The Australians seemed to love coconut trees very much and planted this useful plant everywhere. Here we saw similar wooden stakes as on the main road. But this time we could easily distinguish its purpose—it was obviously a street lamp. The iron lamp head and glass cover confirmed our thoughts. It is said that every night, a special person will light the street lamps. Lighting the street lamps at night to provide illumination can obviously provide enough security for shops and pedestrians. However, their use of such a costly practice seems to prove the view that the Australians “act extravagantly.”

Our carriage stopped in front of a beautiful red brick house. It was a square house with a sloping roof covered with German-style flat tiles. The windows were high and narrow. Among all the Australian houses I have seen in Lingao, it was the one closest to the aesthetic view of European houses. According to the accompanying official, this was a trading house, specially for receiving foreign visitors. And foreign merchants could also choose to stay here, where there were exquisite food and rooms.

We got off the carriage under the guidance of the accompanying official. The Australians did not pay attention to pomp and circumstance at all. Except for a few accompanying officials and guards, there were no extra people, let alone a magnificent honor guard. We were simply led into the trading house. Then we were taken to a small reception hall.

Before entering the hall, our entourage and interpreters were left in the reception hall. I expressed my objection to the leading official about this, because we would not be able to communicate in this way. The other party replied in German, “You don’t need your interpreter who can only speak Cantonese.”

His German was a bit strange, but it was the most accurate German I had heard in all of Asia except for the Germans. His accent seemed to be from the northern region of Germany.

But then, no matter how I tried to talk to him, he remained silent until we were taken into the hall to be received.

The hall was not large, but it was gorgeously decorated. A beautiful glass chandelier hung from the ceiling—but we found that the glass lampshade seemed to be completely enclosed, and we could not see any traces of candles on it. Perhaps it was just a decoration. In the center of the hall stood a luxurious Chinese-style screen, which was larger than any Chinese screen we had seen in India or Persia. On the walls were large paper paintings of mountains, rivers, and flowers, with bright colors. The size of these paintings was very large, and some almost completely covered the entire wall. Mr. Trini believed that these paintings had obvious European techniques, including the use of light, composition, and perspective. Thinking of the booklet that Your Excellency gave me, which mentioned that the Portuguese missionaries were active in Lingao, this was probably the work of some monks.

The floor of the hall was covered with a luxurious Persian carpet. In front of the screen, there were many Chinese-style chairs and tea tables arranged neatly in a semicircle. A high-ranking Australian official was waiting for us in front of the screen.

This Australian official was a so-called “Executive Committee member”—in status similar to our master. The accompanying official reminded us that this was one of the nine most honorable elders in the entire Australian Senate, and he had full authority in trade matters.

This Executive Committee member was very young. Because the Australians did not grow beards at all, it was difficult for us to see their specific age. But I estimated that his age would not exceed thirty. A person of this age in such a high position might have obtained it through inheritance. His clothes were very simple and no different from all the Australian officials we had seen along the way. If our accompanying official had not introduced him, we would not have been able to identify such a great person on the street.

Your Excellency, during my voyage, I have read many travelogues of China written by travelers and missionaries. Every one of them mentioned that Chinese officials are fond of luxurious and magnificent scenes, and a large number of retinues and honor guards are necessary facilities for every official. But here with the Australians, we did not see any such hobby of the Australians at all. As an Executive Committee member, he had neither an honor guard, nor many officials and guards, and he received us in the most simple manner. This made me think of our motherland—the Australians have many similarities with us in many aspects.

The Executive Committee member invited us to sit on the chairs in front of the screen. Then he expressed his apologies through the accompanying official, because there was no one in this place who understood our language. If High German could not be used as the language for the talks, he asked if we could use French, English, Spanish, or Latin. I said that High German was a very convenient language for us.

Before the talks began, I submitted to the Executive Committee member the letter from the East India Council of Batavia to the Australian Senate of Lingao to prove our identity, and also presented them with a list of gifts. The other party expressed their thanks. Then, we started a relevant conversation on trade issues.

The Australians expressed great interest in all the goods we brought. They were willing to buy all the goods we brought, and were willing to start further negotiations on expanding trade. I seized this opportunity to express my objection to the customs tariff issue. Your Excellency must have seen in my previous report that although they levy very low or even no taxes on most imported products, they impose heavy taxes on the company’s main export commodity in the East Indies, spices. I expressed my objection to this and requested to reach a unified tariff with them, that is, except for tax-free goods, all goods we transport to Lingao for sale will be taxed at a rate of one percent regardless of the variety. At the same time, our goods are allowed to be sold freely in Lingao instead of being completely bought by the Australians. That is to say, the goods are allowed to be sold at the market price, instead of being forced to trade at their price—I think this condition is inappropriate.

The other party expressed his objection to this. He believed that a one percent tariff was too low. And he completely rejected the concept of a unified tariff, proposing that tariffs must be levied according to the different conditions of each commodity. However, he agreed to adjust the tariff on spices and grant us tariff privileges for spice imports. As for the monopoly purchase policy, he also allowed us to be unaffected by this policy and to sell freely at market prices. Although in the end we failed to make the other party agree to the condition of a one percent unified tariff, I think it is a considerable progress to be able to make the other party accept these two points. Then I tried to reduce the tariff on the company’s export goods to a suitable rate.