of which is seated an employé, either a physician, lawyer, or visitor of the poor. Here any poor man may receive gratuitous medical advice, legal assistance, or relief in the shape of food, clothing, and money. This institution has been in existence at least a hundred years—I believe more, but have forgotten. It was founded by private Chinese benevolence, and has, since its foundation, received so many bequests that it is now quite wealthy. The system was very complete, and the amount of good effected very large, but its operations were entirely suspended and deranged by the rebellion in the city, and when I visited it, it had not again returned to perfect and harmonious action. The number of applicants who crowded the hall was however considerable. It is very pleasant to see such evidences of charity in a heathen country, and to know that similar institutions exist in many other cities of the empire. Benevolence is one of the most attractive features of the Chinese character, and one that our preconceived ideas find it hard to reconcile with infanticide and other cruelties which disgrace this and all heathen nations. I was told that during a recent famine in the north of China, a single merchant offered to board and lodge, at his own expense, all children from the city of Shanghae who should be entrusted to his care. Several thousands profited by the benevolent offer, and were comfortably sheltered and furnished with food for several months, while men and women were dying, hundreds in a day, in the streets of the city, of starvation and

exposure.

In connection with this it should be remembered that the Chinese and other oriental governments do nothing for the relief of paupers a state of things that always calls out private sympathy to its fullest extent; but still the systematic beneficence of the Chinese, shown in the foundation of such institutions as I have described, and in the custom which allows no beggar to leave a house without an alms, stands in bright contrast with the conduct of all other pagan peoples. In India, for example, though there are asylums for all brute animals, even fleas and lice, established by the Boodhists and Brahmuns, I did not hear of a single foundation for the benefit

of the human species, nor of one such act of munificent charity as that of the Chinese merchant at Shanghae. To this remark I must except the case of the Parsee baronet, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the princely liberality of whose charities has been the theme of admiration throughout the world. It should be remembered, however, that Sir Jamsetjee had the advantage of living at Bombay, among a numerous Christian community, and that he is alone among natives in the distinguished benevolence of his course. In ancient Greece and Rome we hear of no charitable establishments, and I believe that nowhere but in China have they arisen except from the teaching of the Christian religion. Should any one think hardly of the Chinese character, let him remember that they have spontaneously acted upon those principles of benevolence which elsewhere required the teaching of an incarnate God to give them practical force, and that in a heathen land one of the highest virtues of the Christian is practised without the Christian's hope of an immortal reward. My companion, being of Calvinistic views, feelingly regretted that so many good works should not redound to the advantage of the doers, since, being done before justification, and not having as a motive the love of Christ, they would, in the language of the Articles, “partake of the nature of sin." I could only hope that such good intentions might be appreciated by Him in whose eyes the alms of the unconverted Cornelius were pleasing, and that some benighted Chinaman might hereafter find that in doing good, without hope of reward, to one of the least of his brethren, he had done it unawares to that great Elder Brother who is able and willing to reward beyond either our desires or deserts.

CHAPTER VII.

SOUTHERN CHINA.

Leave Shanghae-The Peninsular and Oriental Company-Hong Kong-Foreign Settlement of Canton-The Chinese Suburbs-Ceremonies at Ming-qua's House-Making Tea-Opium Smoking-The Opium Trade-Temple of a Hundred Gods-Beggars Dying of Starvation-Interior of a House-A Chinese Restaurant-Chop-sticksRat Grills and Dog Stew-Public Opium Shops-The Boat Population of CantonIndifference to Life-Lepers-How-qua's Garden-Unique Method of Hatching Eggs -Monasteries of Honan-Boodhist Services-Sacred Hogs-Gambling-Macao-A Protective Policy-The Portuguese-Effect of the War on the Commercial Impor tance of Canton.

On the last day of July I left Shanghae for Hong Kong, on board the steamer Erin, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, or, as they are called for short, the P. and O. Company. This is the largest steamship company in the world, owning, two years ago, thirty-eight steamers, aggregating fifty thousand tons, English measurement. They had, at the time of which I speak, the undisputed monopoly of steam conveyance in the Eastern seas; and even now their only rival is the Australian Steamship Company, to which they lend boats and officers, so that it must be, in fact, either the same parties under a different name, or some good friends of theirs.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company take advantage of their monopoly to charge an enormous price for the passage to Hong Kong. The distance is only about 800 miles, and the fare $120, which, when I paid my passage, was equal to £45 sterling.

The "P. and O." boats are all admirably fitted up, and the whole service is, I suppose, by far the finest private service in the world. The table is as good as circumstances will allow, and beer, wines and liquors are furnished without extra charge. Our course was close to the shore, and we were always in

sight of, and often close to, the steep and barren hills which form the coast of the Flowery Kingdom; at least, after passing the low alluvial plain of Northern China, which is scarcely raised above the level of the ocean.

On the fourth day we arrived at Hong Kong, which is situated on the sides of a high barren hill, an island in one of the many inlets which receive the waters of the Canton river. The whole island is in the possession of the English, and is a colony by the name of Victoria. The residences of Europeans are built on the side of the hill, and are similar in form to the hongs at Shanghae, except that they are not uniformly so large, and that they are rarely enclosed in compounds. The lower part of the hill, next the water, is occupied partly by the houses and offices of foreigners, and partly by the native town which has grown up since the possession of the island by the English.

I remained only a few hours in Hong Kong, and took, in the evening, the mail-boat to Canton. The distance up the river is about forty miles, and we arrived at Canton about eight o'clock,next morning. The branch of the river through which we went, winds among high and steep hills, by which the city of Canton itself is entirely surrounded. The foreign factories were situated outside the walls of Canton and further down the river. They consisted of a compact block of stone houses, four stories high, and each about sixty feet front. Between them and the river was a garden, about a quarter of a mile long and 200 feet broad. This formed the only walk of the foreign residents, and was consequently very prettily laid out. At the upper end of the garden was a building containing a subscription library, and two club billiard rooms. The lower part of this structure was arched and unenclosed, and served as a shelter to the light "out-riggers" in which the younger members of the Canton European community took aquatic exercise.

The whole space occupied by the foreign community at Canton, was not more than eight or ten acres, and was, therefore, very closely built up. The buildings had no enclosures surrounding them as at Shanghae, but were all crammed into

a compact block, consisting of five or six rows of houses, one behind the other; each row being divided from the other by only a narrow space, and the whole being connected by tunnelled passages running completely through. It may be easily imagined that Canton was not so pleasant a residence as Shanghae. In fact, the feeling to a stranger was that of a prison.

No strangers are allowed within the walls of Canton, although a free ingress is secured by treaty. The suburbs are, however, very extensive, and through these I made an excursion with Mr. Gray, H. B. M. Chaplain at Canton.

Almost all the wealthy Chinese reside in the suburbs, and we were kindly invited to enter the house of Mingqua, a Chinese merchant of eminence. Like all private residences, this was surrounded by a wall, shutting off all connection from the street. It contained several courts surrounded by buildings. The space between the first and second courts was covered in, and contained a large private temple, similar in its arrangement to all public joss-houses which I saw. During our visit we had the opportunity of witnessing a service performed by some Boodhist monks, to celebrate the recovery from sickness of Mingqua's mother. The ceremony consisted wholly of chaunting and singing to the accompaniment of several discordant instruments; among them a shrill fife, which "carried the air." The ladies of the establishment were present, but in the back-ground, and we enjoyed an opportunity rarely afforded, of seeing Chinese women of the higher classes. They were four or five in number, and dressed in black or blue satin. The face and neck were both painted with admirable art, and the hair drawn back from the forehead into a large knot behind, and retained by gold ornaments. They had all small feet, which, in this part of China, is a mark of high rank; the lower classes allowing their feet to attain the size of nature, which is, after all, very small and pretty.

When the ceremony was concluded, we adjourned with the males of the family to a small room where tea was served. The floor of this room, as of all rooms in these houses, was of marble blocks; the furniture consisted of little tables with