Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/135

 to take me ashore, and have no further trouble. She fought her way to my pile of luggage, manfully shouldered trunk and valise, and I had only to follow in her wake to the boat, the crew of which, from a family likeness, I judged to be her mother and sister. In five minutes more I am landed at a fine granite pier, and follow six coolies carrying my luggage, which would be a light load for one Irish porter, to the Hong Kong Hotel, a spacious, airy building, with wide verandas extending round each of its five stories. This city, which is sometimes called the St. Helena of the Chinese seas, has grown very rapidly, and has a most motley population, made up of every European and Asiatic nation. It is not a part of the Chinese Empire, but the island on which it is situated, containing about thirty square miles, was ceded by the Chinese government to Great Britain thirty years ago, and forms the colony of Victoria, with an English Governor and a full set of officials appointed and sent out from home. The population is about 150,000, and it is growing more rapidly than any other place in the East. It is a free port, with no custom house or port charges of any description. The sum of five dollars, which a vessel pays on entering the harbor, is returned when she leaves. With a land-locked harbor, safe against any storm, and spacious enough to hold all the navies of Europe, so close to the ocean and easy of access that no pilots, are required, Hong Kong has become the central depot for shipping and merchandise on the coast of China. The native population from the main land have made this barren rock their home, and built up a Chinese town of 80,000 people, which stretches along the western shore of the bay, and is creeping through the ravines and up the hillside, attesting the untiring industry, perseverence and enterprise of the native Chinese when in the pursuit of gain. Hong Kong is the postal and financial centre of the Chinese seas, and hare are located the heads of mercantile firms, who determine the destination of ships and cargoes composing the foreign trade with China. Trade converges here as to a greet centre of attraction. From my room in the hotel I can see ships of war, trading junks and mercantile craft from almost every country. Over twenty steamers are anchored in the harbor, and native vessels in great numbers from the adjoining coast, each differing in shape and color, according to the port they