The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-06-28
CHINA.


The Columbus co. journal pub
fishes an exceedingly interesting pri-
vate letter, descriptive of some of the
peculiarities of the Celestial En-
pire, a portion of which we copy.
Our readers can hardly fail to be
pleased with it:
HONG KONG.
| find Hong Kong far more i'm
portant place than / had anticipated.
1t is really the headquarters for Eu-
rope and America in the East. All
the lines of steam communication cen
ter here; the British, Frepch and
Spanish lines of mail steamers have
their termination here; and from
hence they take their departure for
every important point in Asia, in
Guiding the British and Spanish
Islands in the South Pacific, and the
French Island of Mauritius in the In
5 H.. 0cA-~----, -.-s, uall as Singapore, 9ry-
lon, Calcutta and Bombay, thence to
Europe by thu Red Sea. and Madi4o--
ranean.
When our American mail steamers
arrive here it will be the central point
in Asia for the other three quarters of
the globe And yet Hong Kong is
only small rocky island-but little
seat is cut off from the mainland of
China by an arm of the sea only about
two miles wide. And beyond are the
Chinese mountains of Kau-loon rising
and stretching far, far into the inter
Tor of the Chinese Empire, all treeless
and bare, as far as vision can reach,
for succeeding generations have cut
every stick away, even generations
ago. The population of the city is
about 125,000 There are usually
from three hundred to four hundred
ships in the harbor, and about four
thousand Chinese junks and Sam
pans" passenger boats), for the in
terror and coasting business. The
great commercial houses, both Euro
pean and American, have now their
head-houses" here, with branches
at Canton, Shanghai, etc. This is
done because here they are more d.
rectly in connection, by mails and
steamers, with Europe and America.
Canton was formerly the centre of
commerce on this coast. But as
Hong Kong became a free port
under civilized Government and
Law, mercantile property came to
be considered more secure here
than under the Chinese authorities at
Canton hence all the Banks and
Monied Corporations, Steamship and
Insurance Companies, &c, for oil the
East, are located here. The wealthy
Chinese, also, finding themselves and
LII EEvLyurEV- mora SaalIra from mo-
feStat1on here than under the arbltra
ry and exacting government of their
Provincial Mandarins, are coming
here in numbers; and among them
are men of immense wealth, and of
great sagacity In commercial affairs
And both in business and social life
/ find them perfect gentlemen. 1t is
certainly one of the most cosmopoli-
tan places ON the face of the globe
All the language of Christendom and
of BabetCon1 are spoken here; and all
the " toggery' of heathendom is worn
Strangeness is so common that nothing
appears strange The irrepressible !
Yankee looks about as strange in his
habiliments as amy other man: the |
long tailed coat, the stove pipe hat
and the square toed boots proclaim !
their wearer an American as clearly |
as turban marks Turk. And it often |
amuses me to see the little Chinese
children, as | pass, take frightened
look at my heavy beard and then ske-
tt0ddte like rats to some place of Ce- |
lestial safety, whence they peep forth
in timid amazement at the terrible
barbarian Of the outside. y
RATS.
Speaking of rats reminds me that it
has been said that the Chinese some
times make Celestial potpies and
patties out of those interesting little
Rodents" / used to think this
travellers hum" Nor am I prepared
one element of Celestial food But |
can testify to some circumstances in
that regard. For instance: [ met a
Chinaman coming from market with
a fish in one hand and rdtand roost-
er in the otherl | thought this iuxta-
position of $ fish, flesh and fowl ex-
96Rgly suggestive ue at rat Il EGGGGG44A f Ii
the rat theory: being on board the
ship Bengal while discharging car
go here, a Chinese woman was seen to
come on board from her Sampan'
alongside while the men were taking
lunch, dove directly down the open
hatchway into the hold, and in few
minutes reappeared on deck holding
in each hand a well fattened rat by
the napes of their neck, the Ro-
dents" screaming emphatic protests
against their obituary arrest. But
just then the habeds CORPUS" was
suspended in China,-an so were the
rats. The $ Celestial female" was as
relentless as any Provost Marshal,
and disappeared over the ship side with
lnr trrn of t,.or,.a, n ,,.nct,, II,