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 CHAPTER VI.

CANTON (Continued). MACAO. SWATOW. CHAO-CHOW-FU. AMOY.

charitable institutions of China are far from numerous, and but ill-organised as a rule. At the time of my visit an establishment under Chinese supervision, and supported entirely out of Chinese funds, was about to be opened in Canton for relieving the sick and destitute, and supplying coffins to the poor. The intention of its founders, so it is supposed, was to counteract the influence of the hospitals and charities supported by the foreign Christian Missions in their city.

But when I left Canton the place was still unopened, although a house had already been bought, which had been occupied as a private residence by Pun-ting-qua, the last of the Hong merchants, whose property, as I have said already, had been confiscated by Government. This house was one of the finest I