CHINA AND THE CHINESE.

CHAPTER I.

Hong-Kong-Insalubrity and worthlessness-Want of firmness evinced by our local Government, Anecdote of Poll-tax-A. E. and the Chinese robbers, or the biter bit-Typhoon-House rent-Price of provisions-Extracts from a letter written in Hong Kong in September 1848.

AT the commencement of the year 1841, Hong-Kong was ceded to Her Britannic Majesty by the Emperor of China, and immediately afterwards British merchants, who were induced to settle there by the liberal offers of land, made by the local authorities, commenced building spacious houses and warehouses; and thus Hong-Kong from being a mere fishing vil lage, populated scantily by the most depraved and poor of the Chinese nation, became a British Colony, inhabited by many of Great Britain's merchant princes of the East.

Hong-Kong is an abbreviation of Heang-Keang, which, in the Chinese language, signifies the valley of fragrant waters, and it is one of the group of Islands which lie north of the estuary leading to

VOL. I.

B

Canton, in latitude 22° 17", and longitude 114° 12′′ East, and is distant from Macao 42 miles, and from Canton 105 miles. Hong-Kong is about ten miles in length, and four and a half in breadth; the noble harbour is nearly four miles in length, and rather more than one and three quarters in width. There ride at anchor many of the wooden walls of old Eng......... land, manned by brave hearts of oak; merchant vessels freighted with valuable commodities, affording honorable means for the acquisition of wealth to the British merchant; and too frequently fast-sailing clippers may be seen laden with opium, China's curse. By the sale of this pernicious drug Great Britain's sons gain gold; and earn opprobium for dealing destruction around them, bringing into derision the name of a Christian country, by enabling the Chinese to violate the laws of their own nation, in obtaining the prohibited and accursed poison; the use of which entails destruction, mentally and bodily on its infatuated devotees.

Hong-Kong is one of that cluster of Islands, called by the Portuguese the Ladrones, or Piratical Islands, and is a barren region, which although in many parts cultivated with persevering industry by the Chinese inhabitants, scarcely repays the agriculturist for his labor, as vegetation will not thrive in this "insalubrious colonial possession of the British." A rocky sterile mountain rises from the shore, the height of which is from 1000 to 2000 feet above the level of the sea, on whose side the town of Victoria is built, where houses of every variety of form have sprung up, with continuous ranges of buildings, interspersed

DESCRIPTION OF HONG-KONG.

3

with detached, and enclosed villas, where lately revelled the venomous serpent, and poisonous centipede. The Island has been held in ill repute by the Chinese nation from time immemorial, as one most unhealthy, and from being the resort of pirates, thieves, and depraved characters of every description; and when taken possession of by us, the whole population, which was under eight thousand, consisted principally of this disreputable class; and although many have left, still the insecurity of property in HongKong is proverbial, and daring acts of piracy occur continually near to, and in the harbour of Victoria, within sight of our men of war. A road extends from the east to the west point, the whole length of the harbour, and throughout the whole extent many handsome and commodious dwellings, Godowns, or warehouses, and private wharfs have been built by the merchants; these, together with Government storehouses, barracks, an hospital, and a club house, all bear honorable testimony to English perseverance, industry, and energy. The extreme eastern and western parts of Victoria are composed of Chinese streets and bazaars, where articles and curiosities essentially Chinese are to be found, as well as those of European origin or manufacture. Some few villages are distributed over the Island, but Chuk-choo, a military station on the southern side, is the largest, the population of which does not amount to seventeen hundred. Sai-Wan, a smaller village on the east, is also occupied as a military station and sanitorium for our troops, the native population of which does not amount to five hundred.

It would be impossible for us to find language which would express our own sentiments more congenially, in describing the appearance of Hong-Kong, than those used by the Reverend George Smith in his most excellent work on China, entitled, "A Narrative of an Exploratory Visit to each of the Consular Cities of China, &c., &c." Page 505 we read, "only small portions of soil are under tillage, the Island being formed of one huge cluster of towering cliffs, which divide it in the centre and rear their barren summits to the clouds. A partial vegetation of green herbage after the rainy season, clothes the sides of the ravines, where the glittering cascades pour along their rolling torrents, and descend into the sea through the valleys below." Wong-nai-chong, or happy valley, which might with more propriety be called the valley of death, is the most picturesque portion of the Island; cascades, which dash down from the arid grey time-worn rocks, meander in a pellucid stream through the valley, and as the waters meet with resistance in their course, from fragments of rocks which act as nature's dams or locks, accumulate and accumulate, until overflowing the opposing obstacles, they dash over in a stream of white creamy foam. The Chinese cultivate these barren rocks, carrying up earth to form terraces, manuring and irrigating this artificial soil, from which they procured paddy, or rice, and the exquisite bright brilliant green of the young paddy presented a most beautiful contrast to the aged rocks; pleasing alike to the artist or admirer of the handiworks of bounteous nature. Alas! sickness and death lurk amid this picturesque scenery,

APPEARANCE OF THE ISLAND.

5

for the exhalations arising from the water produce fever and ague, which too frequently terminate fatally, and some individuals, attracted by the beauty of the scenery, erected some apparently desirable residences, the successive inhabitants of each of these were seized with fever and died. The goodly dwellings are now all deserted and falling into decay; doors and venetian blinds are dropping off their hinges, whilst rank dense tropical weeds are springing up in what had been laid out as flower gardens; the withering sense of desolation and death, which flickers before the mental vision of the spectator, is overpowering, when he gazes on these tenantless dwellings. The mind reverts to the occupants who arrived in this distant clime full of health and hope. Where are they now? --Tenants of the cold grave, where no kindred dust commingles with their own, their earthly remains being devoured, before decomposed, by the disgusting land crab.

The road to Chuck-choo passes through this valley, and winds up the mountain side, many picturesque views of the harbour and shipping may be obtained by the lover of nature as he pursues his way; broken rocks relieved by stunted trees, clad in dark green, with occasionally a noble mangoe or lei-chee tree, the branches drooping under the weight of the delicious fruit, give interest to this panorama of nature. But the vegetation is scant, and the rocks sterile, and all around appears to impress on the senses, that Death is the presiding genius of Hong-Kong.

This island is as deficient in resources, and insalu