CAUSES OF INSALUBRITY. 11 former die in the Island, for the instant they feel the approach of illness, they quit the place. But the Chinese, as a nation, are an unhealthy people, as scrofula, ophthalmia, leprosy, and cutaneous diseases are found to be prevalent in their most virulent forms. To prove that we are not singular in our belief and report of the insalubrity of Hong-Kong, we will quote from the Reverend George Smith's Exploratory Visit, page 507; "on the disadvantage of the climate the author is indisposed to dwell, because to comparative salubriousness of the last summer, 1845 has been a happy exception to the generality of such seasons in Hong-Kong.* Only a more lengthened experience of the climate can, however, fully divest the mind of serious apprehensions on this point, which the previous mortality on the Island has not unreasonably excited. The Geological character of the Island-the obstacles to free ventilation—the unhealthy evaporations produced by the powerful heat of the sun on the saturated soil after the rains, and the glaring heat reflected from the burning mountain sides in the hot season, present physical causes sufficient to account for the existence of a very insalubrious climate." In this summer (1845) graves used to be dug DAILY in the morning, without knowing who was to fill them at night-knowing too surely they would be occupied at sunset. Of the natural insalubrity of Hong-Kong there can be no better proof than that now (1848) our troops, who are well lodged, and carefully tended, are dying by scores; and those who escape death are so debilitated by disease that they are unfit for duty, and our Government have chartered vessels for the men to live at sea. A pleasant position the English in China would be placed in, were the Chinese to attack them! McPherson writes, page 168 (War in China), "Malaria, always present in marshy and certain jungly districts, caused by the decomposition of vegetable and animal substances, is on the Island of Hong-Kong to be found, where no vegetable is to be seen, and where no marsh exists. Fevers appear an epidemic disease on the coast of China, to guard against which, even the poorest peasant spares no expense or trouble to make his dwelling comfortable, and thus protect him from those frequent and sudden transitions from heat to cold, so frequent in this climate. Moreover, the natives so regulate their dress, that at one period of the day they may be seen in the thinnest and coolest habiliments, and in another clad in furs and woollens; or what is a more general habit, they put on a succession of garments as the cold increases, and again throw them aside as it becomes warmer. The climate of Hong-Kong at this period was most variable, the thermometer raging frequently 10°, 15°, and at times 20° in the twentyfour hours." We deem it a duty that we owe our fellow-men to speak truthfully and plainly of the insalubrity of China generally, but especially of Hong-Kong, for had we had but one sincere friend, who would have told us the honest truth concerning that charnel-house Hong-Kong, not all the wealth of the East would have lured us thither. Many who have expended much capital in improvements upon the Island, endeavour, naturally possibly-but assuredly, knowing what they do of the unhealthiness of the Island, most unfairly, to increase the number of colonists, by mis UNHEALTHY LOCALITY OF VICTORIA. 13 representations-hence the local press, under their influence, never record one tithe of the deaths which occur. When Chief Justice Hulme was seized with Hong-Kong fever, and not expected to live, a man, since dead, who had expended a large sum of money in purchasing land and building houses, expressed great alarm to us at the illness of the Chief Justice, lest a panic should be produced in the event of his death from fever, "for," said he, "we cannot keep his death out of the paper, as it must necessarily be known in England, and as his daughter has just died of the same disease, it would give the Colony a bad name, deter others leaving home to settle here, and ultimately would cause the ruin of the Colony." In common justice, however, let the truth be told, and afford those who may be lured to reside there by the hope of gaining a speedy fortune, the opportunity of considering, if they are prepared to sacrifice health, possibly life, in the attempt to gain gold--if they are, then they rush to the grim spectres, disease and death, with open eyes. The Island of Hong-Kong is not only the most unhealthy spot in China, sparing neither age nor sex, but the site selected for Victoria, the principal town and seat of Government, is the most unhealthy locality of the whole Island, situate as it is on the side of an arid rock, which reflects the rays of a tropical burning sun in a fearful manner. The air of Chuck-Choo, on the opposite side to Victoria, although by no means salubrious, is not so destructive to health and life, as the atmosphere of Victoria. The Chinese consider Hong-Kong so unhealthy, that they always hesitate to reside there, and no temptation is sufficiently great to induce them * Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, by Robert Fortune, published last year, we read, pages 19-26, "The climate of Hong-Kong is far from being agreeable, and up to the present time has proved very unhealthy, both to Europeans and the native Chinese. Even in the midst of winter, when the sun shines, it is scarcely possible to walk out without the shelter of an umbrella, and if any one has the hardihood to attempt it, he invariably suffers for his folly. The air is so dry that one can scarcely breathe, and there is no shade to break the force of the almost vertical rays of the sun." Page 26: "And a great deal may also be attributed to exposure to the fierce burning rays of the Hong-Kong sun. All the travellers in the East, with whom I had any conversation on the subject, agreed there was a Leyte its was a fineness and oppressiveness in the sun's rays here which they never experienced in any other part of the tropics-even under the line. I Such an opinion as this, given unbiassed and unsought for, by a CLIMATE FATAL TO ANIMALS AND BIRDS. 15 that they never witnessed, or heard of so much disease, in any part of British India, as they had beheld in Hong-Kong; and others who had fought many hard battles under India's scorching sun, and who had withstood an Indian climate for many years, with unimpaired health, have fallen victims, before our eyes, to the pestilential climate of Hong-Kong, which spares neither the temperate nor intemperate, young or old, strong man, youth, or feeble woman. Animals as well as human beings cannot endure the insalubrity of Hong-Kong: horses which are imported there from India, the Cape of Good Hope, or Australia, are frequently ill, and too often die; and the climate is peculiarly fatal to thorough-bred English dogs. A great favourite of ours, of a most valuable breed, which was brought from England, died in our house after suffering great agony, exhibiting all the symptoms of Hong-Kong fever; and we have heard of many other dogs that were carried off by the same disease. The only living creatures which appear to defy the climate, are vermin of all descriptions; these thrive and multiply to the ruin and destruction of every description of property. The cheerful note of a singing bird, desporting in the regions of air, in the full enjoyment of existence, is never heard in HongKong, and their tuneful notes, except as imprisoned pets, never glad the ear. To beguile the time, and make our habitation look as much like home as possible, we attempted to keep some of the feathered tribe around us, and to cultivate a few plants indigenous to China; but, notwithstanding that a woman's care and attention were bestowed upon |