76
she gave birth to three children.” It seems to tally with that stated above, indicating: Hart's sexual relationship with Ayaou starts in 1857 and ends in early summer 1863. However, On 5 June 1875 in a letter to Campbell, Hart mentions his wards, giving his third child's age: "Arthur is almost ten years old". (Fairbank, Bruner and Matheson 1975: 192) According to this Arthur should be born around June 1865, rather than in 1864 as Hart states. This can be further supported by 1881 British Census, which was taken on the evening of Sunday 3 April 1881 and shows that Arthur was 15.
It indicates that Hart must have had a sexual relationship with Ayaou some time between the end of August and the middle of September 1864 otherwise it would be impossible for Arthur to be born around June 1865. This raises the question: did Hart resume his sexual relationship with Ayaou even after he had struggled desperately with his natural desire for women for more than a year since the early summer of 1863?
7
In Declaration 1 and 2, Hart states that he paid Ayaou $30 per month until their relationship finally terminated in 1866.
She was with me at Ningpo during 1857 and went with me when transferred to Canton in February 1858: [.] I left her then at Macao, and, although she continued to be kept i.e. paid ($30 a month) by me till I went home on leave in 1866...(Declaration 1)
Later in the same year I left her at Macao and from that time ceased to live with her and saw her but seldom, though I continued to pay her monthly sum of thirty dollars for her support down to the time of our connection being finally terminated as after mentioned. (Declaration 2)
In his diary entry for 29 October 1854 Hart says: "Now some of the China women are very good looking: you can make one your absolute possession for from 50 to 100 dollars and support her at a cost of 2 or 3 dollars per month." (Bruner, Fairbank, and Smith, 1986: 71) According to this, Hart obviously paid above the average for keeping a Chinese girl at that time, particularly after 1863 when he ceased the sexual relationship with Ayaou. In his diary entry for 25 November 1854 Hart tells us his monthly salary: “My salary is $71.65 per month". (ibid: 84) We don't know how much Hart earned during 1857 and 1866, his salary probably increased considerably when he became LG, in November