The Sun. — 1845-11-03 (London, England)

THE ISLAND OF CHUSAN. (From the Friend of India.) The island of Chusan is seven miles from the mainland, and forty miles distant from the city of Nirgpo, and lies in the vicinity of all the great and valuable marts of commerce on the eastern coast. It is 150 miles in circumference. The chief bay, that of Tinghae, is capable of accommodating, in perfect security, a hundred sail of square-rigged vessels, and possesses the most admirable facilities for the establishment of docks. Good way abounds, not only at the capital, but throughout the island. Chusan consists of a succession of hills and dales, which present one unbroken scene of rich cultivation, and exhibit the most lovely scenery. Wheat, rice, tea, grass cloth, sweet potatoes, cotton, tobacco, and other articles grow in great luxuriance. The island is intersected with roads—not intended for wheeled conveyances— from five to seven feet broad, and paved and flagged throughout, and it is thickly studded with villages. Those who have the best opportunity of forming an opinion on the subject, believe that a hundred well-populated towns and superior villages would be found on it, containing from one to 5,000 inhabitants. The whole population is estimated at 270,000. The people are industrious and comfortable, and appear to have no want unsupplied; scarcely a beggar is to be seen, and there is a comparative absence of crime, which reflects no small credit on the Chinese character. Not a single homicide has occurred during the three years in which it has been in our occupation; and the inmates of the gaol, contributed by the whale island, have rarely exceeded twenty, and of those the majority have consisted of those who were confined for the illegal sale of its indigenous whisky, the sh am shoo.  The climate vies with that of the most favoured regions in the world. It is the Montpe'lier of China. There are but three months which can be called hot—June, July, and August. In this latter month the thermometer stands on an average at 83 degrees, but sinks at night to 73 degrees. The next month it subsides to 74 degrees in the day. Then comes winter, with its bracing, vivifying, exhilirating influences, and the ground is covered with hoar frost, and the ice lies half an inch thick. In January and February the thermometer stands at '2O degrees of Fahrenheit. In March it rises to 28 degrees, hut the hills continue to be capped with snow, and the cheerful fire is kept up till the commencement of June, so that it is only during three months of the year that woollen clothing is unnecessary. All the other places in China where we have commercial stations are hot, sultry, and unhealthy, and it is to Chusan that invalids have generally resorted for the restoration of health and vigour. The island furnishes provisions of every description, of the best quality, at a very moderate price. Beef, pork, and poultry may be obtained in the greatest abundance. Of geese, as large as those in England, there is no lack. Ducks are hatched by steam by thousands, and eggs are less than a halfpenny a piece. Game of ry variety is easily procured. Bread of English quality is readily prepared by the Chinese. All kinds of vegetables may be obi ained, and English vegetables and fruit grow with great luxuriance. Potatoes have now been introduced, and will probably became an article of great consumption throughout China. Indeed, all kinds of provisions may be obtained at-one half the sum they cost at Hong-Kong. It is only for a European want to be known, to be immediately supplied from the island or the continent. Fish is obtained in the greatest abundance. Fishing is universal around the island, and it is calculated that not fewer than 70,000 vessels come from the continent, and remain for three months off Chusan employed in fishing. They are attended by boats filled with ice, in which the fish are packed, and then dispatched to the neighbouring coast.