Page:Parliamentary Papers - 1857 Sess. 2 - Volume 43.pdf/57

3 [AFTER describing the route from one station to another, and applying for arms, &c., he proceeds:—]

I hear from some of the people of the place (Sha-tin or Cowloon) who have come back from Victoria, that the English barbarians are in very great perplexity, that a proclamation is issued every day, and three sets of regulations come out in two days. People out at night are taken up in a haste, and let go in a hurry; no one is allowed out after 8 o'clock; the shops forced to take out tickets at sixteen dollars each; the heads of establishments paying five dollars and the partners three dollars, and that these are changed every few days. They say, too, that vessels passing to and fro between Cowloon and Victoria are not searched. A four bakery had poisoned several English devils, and had been closed; upwards of forty people imprisoned in consequence.

The Heung-shan, San-on, and Tung-kun people in business at Hong Kong were in great alarm, and thinking of returning home, but the Nam-hoi, Pun-yu, and Shun-tek men had the perverseness not to be alarmed; so far from it, they laughed at those of Heung-shan, San-on, and Tung-kun districts for standing in awe of their mandarins and gentry.

It is also stated that more passage-boats come from Kong-mun to Hong Kong than before, and that boats still go and come between it and Macao and Canton, and that supplies flow in from Kwei-shin, Hoi-fung, and Luk-fung. A Kwei-shin man, by name Wong, of Ha-ching (Oyster Bay), has started a lorcha (or some such vessel), which carries 100 bullocks or more every trip. A "tsung" (the Peninsular and Oriental Company's compradore) of the bullock shambles is a traitor in chief. Since the commencement of this business, he has (or they have) opened a number of devil shops. Several of the Nam-hoi, Shun tek, Huru-chan and Chin-chan people are also making large ptofits [sic]. Steps should, I think, be taken to bring them to justice, in order to the prevention of the like for the time to come.

I shall go to Cowloon to-morrow, &c.

Note.—Nam-hoi and Pun-yu are the districts on the conterminous boundaries of which stands Canton. Shun-tek is a little lower down the river, on the west side, as Tung-kun is on the east. San-on lies east of the mouth, as Heung-shan lies west.

ON the 2nd February, I received the 200 taels for the men's pay.

The ten braves from Kin-ton are arrived and have been placed on my strength. The expedition the braves had been directed to make across the water on the 31st January, did not succeed. On the 3rd, therefore, I returned to the camp (at Sha-tin), and, on consideration, postponed the attempt for a few days. It appears that the English barbarians are much more on the alert; they fire guns at intervals during the night to keep up their spirits. Steamers and other vessels, to the number of twenty, small and great, cruize day and night without cessation. In every devil hong is stationed a guard of devil soldiers; at sunset they make ready their cannon with great care. The police devils, in bands of eighteen, patrol, and when they come to a dangerous place they form up into large bodies and fire, before they venture to proceed.

The Malays and Indian troops that arrived a few days since drill incessantly. Such being the doubt and alarm of the English rebels, we must wait till they tire a little of watching, and a blow will then be sure.

At midnight, on the 4th February, I sent ten braves to patrol along the