great variety and excellence), poultry, and pork,
are the chief meats; beef being scarce and poor,
and mutton, as in Penang and throughout
Burmah, procured from Calcutta at an extravagant
price. European vegetables do not thrive,
nor are there any fine fruits, with the exception
of pine-apple and the deliciously refreshing
mangosteen. But the steamers—whether the
opium vessels from Calcutta, or the Peninsular
and Oriental ships from Galle—afford but scanty
leisure for a survey of Singapore. In twenty-four
or thirty hours the traveller has to proceed
on his voyage to Hong-Kong.

The first indication of the coast of China is
usually the sight of numerous fishing-junks, in
pairs, towing between them large trawl-nets,
and beating steadily up to windward. The ease
and safety with which these odd-looking vessels
ride over the tumultuous seas is beautiful to
see, and the intrepid fellows who manage them
come fearlessly out two hundred miles from
land. They are pirates, and, whenever they
have opportunity, attack and plunder the
small junks and lorchas of the coasting-trade.
The first land seen, as we near Hong-Kong,
is the southernmost of a series of barren
rocky islets, on which the heavy rollers break
with a loud roar. The sea-birds breed upon
these rocks, and amongst them may be seen,
but rarely, the only species of albatross which
ventures north of the equator—Diomedea
brachyura of Temminck. Increasing in size
northwards, the rocks attain the size of rugged
lofty islands, and encircling Hong-Kong—itself
an island—on the south and west, enclose a
tolerably smooth and land-locked harbour.

Hong-Kong is, in its own way, as beautiful
a port as Singapore. The town is built of white
granite laid out in regular streets, which rise in
terraces one above another. It spreads over a
considerable portion of the southern face of the
island, and, standing in bold relief against a
background of rugged mountain, is carried down to
the water's edge, the strand being faced by a fine
stone wall or quay for its whole length. The
harbour is generally full of shipping—merchant
vessels of all nations, and French, English,
American, and Russian men-of-war. Between these
glide all the day long boats of all patterns, junks
and sampans. Those belonging to the counting-
houses and offices in the strand are secured at
night by being hoisted up to regular davits built
into the quay wall—an admirable plan, which
I have not seen followed in any other port.
Chinese boatmen, and boatwomen with their
fat ruddy babies slung to their backs, have been
so often described, that I will say no more
about them here, except to express an opinion
that the Chinese mode of handling their boats
does not appear to have been duly appreciated.
There is no craft in the world safer and handier
than a Chinese sampan, which has no more
grace in its outlines than a butcher's tray. The
boatman, who stands and rows facing forwards,
can twist and turn it in ways not to be
attempted by our boats, thus worming his way
safely through crowds of other boats, all like
itself, too broad to be upset, too pliant and
tough to be injured in a squeeze. The Chinaman
also makes more use than we do of sculling.
Lighters, and other heavy barges, reaching up
to seventy or eighty tons burden, are invariably
furnished with a huge steering or sculling oar,
which is worked by six or seven men, and drives
the vessel much more powerfully than an equal
number of men working with sweeps. We have
also some lessons to learn from this people in
sailing, and, until we condescend to stiffen our
canvas with battens, cannot expect our vessels
to lie in the wind's eye as does a Chinese junk.

A pull of five or ten minutes brings the traveller
to the stone quay, and, as he mounts one
of the numerous flagged stairs along its face, he
finds himself surrounded by eager coolies or
porters, and chairmen, with their light pretty
sedans, ready to take him up the hill. If the
new arriver have friends in Hong-Kong, or has
been provided with an introductory letter to
some one of its hospitable residents, he is landed
in a handsome private boat, sent for his
accommodation, and under the care of a comprador
or steward of the household, placed in a chair
or sedan, and carried off to his host's house.
These sedans are most useful things. They are
nearly as commodious as an Indian palanquin,
and far more comfortable, as the rider sits
in a large easy-chair instead of being borne
along like a bedridden patient. To enter the
sedan the passenger has simply to pass in
through the front shafts, which are uplifted
for the purpose, the sedan remaining on the
ground. When he is fairly seated, the bearers
(a man at each end) squat down under the
cross-bar near the ends of the shafts, and rising
up, chair and all, stride along at a rapid pace
up hill and down dale, their sandalled feet
making a loud slapping noise on the road.
They do not go at the half-running pace of the
palkee-bearers in India, but with a sturdy step
and a stiff knee. Two men are enough for a
sedan; but if there be a long journey to make, or
the fare be of such proportions as led Mr. Banting
to his useful researches, two additional men are
added to temporary yokes lashed across the shafts.
Thus reinforced, they will run all day. These
chairs are sometimes prettily painted and glazed,
with awning roofs. They are to be had in
numbers for hire in all the principal streets and
thoroughfares, and the stranger is greeted in
such places, as he passes on, by a chorus of
"Chá!" (chair) "chá!" from the bearers seated
about their unemployed vehicles.

The main street in Hong-Kong, running
parallel to the strand, is handsome and regular,
with excellent shops, English and Chinese.
The banks, counting-houses, a handsome
club-house, and a church, are in this street. The
consular and steam agencies, warehouses, ship
chandlers' stores, and such like offices and buildings,
some of considerable size, occupy the strand.
A little way up the hill-side, and parallel to
the main street, are smaller streets, containing
hotels, lodging-houses, and some private
residences, with their court-yards and enclosures,