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 large boy; can he say English?’ Which was a natural curiosity, as little Miss was here the day before, and speaks nothing but Hindustani, and Freddy speaks chiefly Portuguese to his Chinese servant, who could not communicate with Missy’s bearer; so the visit was a total failure.

There are two great ships arriving, the ‘Owen Glendower’ and the ‘Seringapatam,’ both of June; surely my box must be in one of them.

Sunday, 8th. At last some Chinese news. Our fleet had taken the island of Chusan, and made Colonel Burrell governor thereof; also knocked down the forts at Amoy, which had fired on a flag of truce. The admiral arrived a day after Chusan was taken, and unluckily his ship, the ‘Melville,’ ran on a rock going in, and knocked a great hole in her bottom, which is unluckily at an obscure Chinese island, where dockyards are not plentiful. The news all comes by Canton newspapers, the ‘Kitty,’ which is bringing the despatches, not having yet appeared.