ease by two gaunt and perspiring Chinamen. The jinrikisha has made its way hither, but, owing to the conformation of the ground, it has little chance against the chair. Following the long street that skirts the bay the jinrikisha is well enough. When it comes to going up town, where most of the private residences stand, it becomes an impossible conveyance. The chair is slung on two poles, which are borne on the shoulders of two men. It is comfortable enough, but not so rapid as the jinrikisha, though the chair-men easily make their five miles an hour on level road or coming downhill.

The governor's house is situated some way up the hill, and from the terrace commands a fine view of the magnificent harbour. The situation has its drawbacks, owing to the incessant exchange of civilities on the part of the fleet. It is bitterly said that the commodore never blows his nose but the sound is re-echoed through the distant hills by the firing of one or more guns. Certainly the saluting is incessant, and what between the movements of the commodore, the visits of the general commanding the land forces, and the arrivals and departures of foreign vessels, the guns are going pretty much all day long. After tiffin, the governor drove us round by the

Happy Valley and back through town, comprising a comprehensive view of the colony and its outskirts. The Happy Valley is a dip in the green hills to the east of the town. The racecourse, a popular resort of Hongkong, lies here. Sir George Bowen, who is setting himself with vigour to improve the place, has in hand a scheme by which the centre of the racecourse will be drained and laid out as an ornamental garden. This will be a vast addition to the attractions of the place. But Hongkong is already set in gardens of older, if less straitly ordained principles. Wherever the eye turns aside from the business streets, there is rich verdure-trees full of leaf, though now putting on their autumn tints.

Hongkong was at the time of our visit much exercised by the imminence of war between China and France, a condition of doubt dispelled two days after our departure by a formal communication from the Chinese Government, announcing that France had forced war upon it, and that Hongkong merchants must look out for their own interests. Within forty-eight hours of this declaration being made, well-informed residents of Hongkong declined to believe that China meant business. This arose less from an impartial

and judicial view of the circumstances than from habitual contempt and dislike of the Chinaman. In the eyes of the haughty alien who lives upon his soil, the Chinaman is not a sufficiently elevated being even to go to war. He was only scheming, making-believe, and, at the last moment, would put his pigtail between his legs and run away. It is not for us casual callers-in to judge of the reasonableness of the state of things. Suffice it to note that English residents at Hongkong have a distinct abhorrence for the Chinese. They speak of them as if they were beasts, and, indeed, they so literally characterize them.

I have seen an Englishman walking along Queen's Road dispose of a group of chair-men, who proffered him their services, by hitting them on their knuckles or whatever portion of their body happened to be under his stick when it smartly fell. If they had been a pack of dogs they could not have been more roughly or contemptuously dispersed. Yet the good qualities of the Chinese will, upon persistent questioning, be fully admitted by the settler. The Chinese domestic servant is, perhaps, the best in the world. The night after our arrival we dined in the house of an English gentleman where the whole domestic establishment was composed of Chinese. The dinner was

excellently cooked, and the service simply perfect. Four Chinamen waited upon a party of nine. They were picturesquely dressed in blue cotton gowns, the flowing sleeve turned up with spotless white, and their long pigtails falling between their shoulders. They moved about noiselessly on sandalled feet, and were always at hand when wanted.

In higher grades of life the quiet supremacy of the Chinaman is also acknowledged. He is a born merchant, whether on a small scale behind the counter, or on a larger in an office. It is grudgingly admitted that he is absolutely reliable, his word being as good as some people's bond. It is added that this

is due not to any honesty, but to shrewd calculation and deliberate conviction, that in matters of trade honesty is the best policy.

The finest thoroughfare in Hongkong is named after a late governor, whose name will be kept green as long as Kennedy Road looks out over the bay. I heard a great deal about the last governor, Sir John Pope Hennessey, but I did not hear any proposal to name a street or square after him. The present governor, Sir George Bowen, has been in office less than a year, and has thus early succeeded in obtaining the kind regard of the community he has been called upon to govern.

Sir George has grown grey in the colonial service, but he brings to Hongkong an undiminished stock of vigour. In addition to the improvements in the racecourse already referred to, he has projected the widening and extension of the Praya, as the main street skirting the bay is called. In addition, it is proposed to spend over a million dollars in improving the sanitary condition of the colony

-a work which, unless the apprehensions of the cheerful colonist quoted be overstrained, cannot be completed too soon. Beyond this, the governor has submitted to the Home Government a comprehensive scheme of reform in the constitution of the executive and legislative councils of Hongkong, and, what is more, has obtained the sanction of the Home Government to its main provisions.

The fly in the ointment of general content is the peremptory refusal of the Colonial Office to sanction the appointment of a military instructor for the police. The English community of Hongkong do not regard with perfect repose their position as mere units in the population. They would feel more at ease if the police, a fine body of men, chiefly Sikhs, were trained to arms. As a test of their sincerity, they were willing to pay the salary of a competent instructor, and the