The three of us had a discussion about the use of peculiar wooden stakes. According to Mr Gonzalez, this is a special kind of idolatry of Australians. It was a sacrificial facility of theirs, with religious connotations. But Mr Trini said he did not see any religious overtones in it, as it was not an idol and there was no reverence on the part of Australians. Personally, I think that Mr. Trini's statement is justified in that we did not see anyone paying homage or worshiping these stakes along the way, and there was no sign of anything like it: no one made offerings, burned incense, or sacrificed to the stakes.

The distance from Bopu to Bairen is very close, and we estimate that we have only passed through one mile. We entered the confines of the Hundred Hundred Cities. Later we learned that we had never entered the castle of the Australians, and that no one was allowed to enter or leave it except themselves and their native cronies who served them. But beyond the city, a city of great size was built around the castle of the Australians. They call it Dongmen Market. Because it is located to the east of the city.

It is said that when the Australians first arrived in Lingao, they traded with the local aborigines here. Within a few years, the humble bazaar had grown into a thriving town, with the East Gate Market itself unguarded by walls, but no towers at the entrance to the road.

Such towers are common here. Not only in Bopu, but also on both sides of the road. The Australians seem to have used it as a major defensive facility. The towers are generally square-shaped, with heavy stone bars at the bottom and burned bricks at the bottom. Others are very rudimentary, made of wood or bamboo. Towers generally have two to three floors. Some of the towers are small fortresses. There were trenches around the towers, and there were walls "often without artillery at the top." The Australians placed guards in the towers to form a strict lookout system. Clearly, Australians are anxious about their presence on the ground, "always on the lookout for an attack."

Our horse-drawn carriage enters Dongmen City" into the main street of Dongmen City, which is from east to west. The streets were wide and flat, "wide enough for twelve heavily armed cavalrymen to go toe-to-toe."

There are many shops on both sides of the street, "displaying a wide variety of goods." The shop has two floors and three floors. It's very compact. The streetscape reminds me of The Hague or the business districts of Amsterdam. Australian houses are by no means similar to Chinese architecture, but more similar to European houses.

But more frugal and practical, they make surprising use of space, and how to squeeze the most space out of a limited area is the only aesthetic criterion for their architecture. What surprised us the most was that every house we saw was covered with tiles, and every house, large or small, had windows inlaid with large pieces of glass.

On both sides of the avenue "there are also many small horizontal streets. Whether it's the main street or the side road, there aren't many pedestrians on the street. All the streets are paved with black sè gravel from which the road is paved"

It's as flat and smooth as the main road. The streets are surprisingly clean, both in the East and in the West, and I have never seen a city so clean except in the Netherlands. There is no garbage, no sewage, no urine or urine of people and livestock.

On both sides of the street, separate stone sidewalks are built, "sidewalks planted with coconut saplings." Australians seem to love coconut palms and grow this useful plant everywhere. Here again we see similar wooden piles on similar roads. This time, however, we can easily tell what it is used for, obviously, as a walking lamp. The iron lamp head and glass cover confirm our idea.

It is said that every night, someone will light the street lamp. Lighting street lamps at night "obviously provides sufficient safety for shops and pedestrians." However, their use of such an expensive approach seems to justify the notion that Australians are "extravagant".

Our carriage stopped in front of a beautiful big red brick house, a boxy house with a sloping roof and covered with German tiles. The windows are tall and narrow, and of all the heightened Australian houses I've seen, it's the closest to the aesthetic view of a European house.

According to the accompanying official: this is a merchant house. Dedicated to receiving visitors from outside. Expatriate businessmen can also choose to stay in the basement, which is served with fine food and rooms.

We got out of the carriage with the accompanying officer. Australians don't pay attention to pomp and circumstance at all."

Apart from a few accompanying officers and guards, there were no superfluous people, let alone a gorgeous guard of honor. We were simply led to the mall. We were then taken to a small waiting room.

Before entering the hall, our attachés and interpreters were left in the waiting room. I objected to this to the leading officials: because then we would not be able to communicate. The other person replied in German: "I don't need your Cantonese-speaking translator." ”

His German is somewhat strange, but it is the most accurate German I have ever heard in all of Asia, except for Germans. His accent seems to be from the northern region of Germany. But then no matter how much I tried to talk to him, he remained silent.

Until we were ushered into the lobby to be received.

The size of the hall is not large, but it is richly decorated. There are chandeliers with fine glass hanging from the board, but we find that the glass lampshade seems to be completely closed, and there is no sign of a well candle on it, "perhaps this is just an ornament." In the center of the hall is a luxurious screen in the Chinese style, which stands "bigger than the Chinese screens we have seen in India and Bōs." The walls are painted with large paintings on paper depicting mountains, rivers, and huā flowers.

The sè color is bright. The paintings are all very large in size, and some almost completely cover the entire wall. Mr. Trini thinks that these paintings have a distinctly European technique, including the use of light, composition, and ****.

I am reminded of the booklet you gave me, Your Excellency, that the Portuguese missionaries were active in Lingao, and this was probably the work of some monks.

The floor of the hall is covered with a luxurious bōsi carpet, and in front of the screen, there are many Chinese-style chairs and coffee tables neatly arranged in a semicircle. An Australian official greeted us at the screen.

This Australian official, the so-called "executive committee", ~ resembles our master in status. The accompanying officer reminded us that this was one of the nine most distinguished senators in the entire Australian Senate. Full authority in trade matters.

The executive committee member is very young, and because Australians don't have beards at all, it's hard to tell exactly how old they are. But I don't expect him to be more than thirty years old. It is perhaps hereditary that a person of this age is in such a high position. He was dressed very frugally, unlike all the Australian officers we met along the way. If our accompanying officer did not give an introduction, we would not have been able to identify such a big man on the street.

Your Excellency, during my voyages, I have read many books written by travelers and missionaries, and each of them mentions that the officials of the Chinese country are fond of luxurious spectacles, and that a large number of attendants and guards of honor are essential facilities for every official, while here in Australians, we do not see Australians having such a hobby. As a member of the executive committee, he had neither a guard of honor nor a large number of officers and guards. It was completely in the most simple way to meet us. This reminds me that our home country, Australians, is similar to us in many ways.

The Executive Committee asked us to sit down in a chair in front of the screen, and then he apologized through the accompanying officer, because there was no one in the area who understood our language, and if High German could not be used as a language for talks, he asked if we could use French, English, Spanish or Latin. I indicated that High German is a very convenient language for us.

Before the talks began, I presented to His Excellency the Executive Committee a letter from the Batavia East India Council to the Australian Senate in Lingao to prove our identity. And a list of gifts was presented to them. The other party expressed his gratitude. We then had a conversation about trade.

Australians have expressed a lot of interest in the variety of goods we have shipped. We're all the goods they're willing to buy. and is willing to engage in further negotiations on the expansion of trade. I seized this opportunity to disagree on the issue of customs rates. As you may have seen in my previous report, while most of their imports are tariffed very low, or even exempt, they impose heavy taxes on spices, the company's main export in the East Indies. I objected to this and asked for a flat rate with them, i.e. a tariff of 1 percent on all the goods we import and sell in Lingao, except for duty-free goods. At the same time, we are allowed to sell our goods at Lingao and not exclusively by Australians. That said, I don't think it's appropriate to allow commodities to go with the market, rather than forcing them to trade at their price.

The other party disputed this. He thinks that the tariff of one percent is too low. Moreover, he completely rejected the concept of a uniform 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 give us tariff privileges on spice imports. As for the buy-in policy, he also allowed us to "sell at the market price" without being affected by this policy. Although Zuihou was not able to get the other side to agree on the condition of a flat tariff of 1 percent, I think it is a considerable step forward to be able to get the other side to accept both points.

Subsequently, I tried to reduce the tariff on the company's exports to the appropriate rate. @。