XXIV. A RAMBLE IN HONGKONG.

ONGKONG, or "Fragrant Streams", lies between 22° 9', 22°

1', North Latitude, and 114' 5', 115° 18' East Longitude, and is one of several islands situated near the South-Eastern coast of China, and at the mouth of the Pearl River-eighty-two miles south-west of Canton, and thirty seven miles east of Macao, with a length of about ten miles and a breadth of from three to four miles-its area being thirty square miles.

It is the emporium of British Trade with China, and the distributing centre of Far Eastern commerce; its principal imports being opium, flour, sugar, oil, earthenware, woolen and cotton goods, sandalwood, (the latter coming from Western Australia) vegetables, grain and livestock. The transactions in the silk and tea trades in South China are also chiefly controlled by firms in Hongkong.

During the hostilities in 1840 and 41 which ensued from the action of the Chinese authorities at Canton to suppress the Opium Trade, the harbour of Hongkong was used by the British Fleet and its transports. The island was partially ceded to Great Britain in a convention entered into between Captain Elliot R. N. and the Chinese General, Ki Shan, in 1841.

After the resumption of hostilities, a treaty was signed at Nankin, in 1842, in which, Hongkong was declared as fully relinquished to the British; and on April 5th 1843 was erected into the full status of a Crown Colony by an Order in Council. The official occasion of taking position on the island is mentioned by Sir Edward Belcher, in his "Voyage of H. M. S. Sulphur", thus:

"We landed on Monday the 25th January 1841, at fifteen minutes past eight a.m., and being the bona fide possessors, Her Majesty's health was drunk with three cheers on Possession Mount. On the 26th the squadron arrived; the marines were landed, the Union Jack hoisted on our post, and formal possession taken of the Island by Commodore Sir J. G. Bremer, accompanied by the other officers of the squadron, under a feu-de-joie from the marines and the Royal Salute from the ships of war. On the Kowloon peninsula were situated two batteries, which might have commanded the anchorage, but which appeared to be but thinly manned; these received due notice to withdraw their men and guns, as agreed by the late treaty."

The colony presents a very picturesque and imposing appearance on entering the harbour-the background of tawny green mountains, and the white-coloured European residences rising in terraces, one above the other, on its steep slopes. Of an evening the effect is remarkably magnificent-when all the lights of these houses glimmer and twinkle, illuming with myriads of bright stars, like fairy lamps, the dark mountain side, up which they creep-growing gradually lesser and smaller-until the beacon-crowned summit is reached.

I landed in Hongkong in the evening when all was brightly lit up by electric light; and if the reader will, in imagination, accompany me on a ramble through the city, I shall be most happy to traverse the distance again as his guide.

We go ashore from the steamer in a long and somewhat narrow sailing sampan, commanded by an old Chinese woman who steers the craft, and manned by her children who are taught to pull an oar and handle the sails almost from the day of their birth. For they are bred and brought up aboard the sampan which is a family heirloom-and there they pass all the days of their life, twice a day going ashore to the market.

On landing at Pedders Wharf, we are surrounded by chair and ricksha coolies whom we gently disperse with a few judiciously bestowed raps from our sticks, and are allowed to pass forward across the Bund which is faced by rows of tall buildings, more roomy and comfortable than of architectural beauty. These are

the offices of the wealthy merchantile firms whose steamers plough the Eastern seas from the Gulf of Pechili to the Tonquin Gulf. But these offices are closed at this hour, as the hong men-or taipans, as the Chinese call them-go home at 4 p.m.: many of them living over the water on the mainland at Kowloon. Between there and Hongkong, lines of smart passenger launches run continually. Other residents, especially during the hot summer months, reside upon the Peak which is reached by an almost perpendicular tramway constructed by Mr. Bowdler, an eminent and skilled engineer who is now supervising and controlling, as Engineer-in-Chief, the important and difficult work of reclaiming, filling-in and draining a large portion of the harbour; the reclaimed ground being divided into building lots, which will greatly add to the imposing appearance of the colony. I have unfortunately mislaid my last interesting letter from this highly respected, and eminently clever gentleman, or I should take the liberty of quoting a portion to show the gigantic proportions of the work he is carrying out. A large part of the Western section of Hongkong has lately been redrained under the supervision of Mr. Bidgood, Foreman Engineer of the Public Works Department of whom-like his hard-working chiefthe Colony may well be proud, for a more trustworthy and zealous servant could hardly be found. On one occasion, during a heavy typhoon, and at the imminent risk of losing his life, he descended at midnight into one of the large drains under repair which had not been properly shored up by the Chinese contractor and in consequence endangered some buildings which threatened to fall at any moment. For hours during the worst of the storm and with a rushing torrent around him he nobly worked there-thus saving many lives and much valuable property.

The clock in the Bell Tower facing us, with its illuminated dial, now strikes eight as we enter the Hongkong Hotel for the purpose of booking rooms. What an immense place it is! and how lofty. Apartments here cost a trifle-six dollars per diem-a trifle more than one can generally afford for any length of time. These elaborate pillars, panels, traceries and statues mean weighty capital heavily sunk. 66 This way, sars-loom hundred-forty-look out-get in, sars— haiya!"