352, Voyage of the Novara. 



and before sundown we had passed tlie Lemmas islands, and 

 found ourselves in the island-studded, many-bayed archipel- 

 ago at the mouth of the Canton River, where the English 

 have selected Hong-kong, with its admirable harbour, for the 

 site of their colony. Thousands of fishing-boats covered the 

 surface of the ocean all around us, always sailing parallel 

 with each other, in fact, quite a fleet of fishermen, who, on a 

 favourable opportunity, add a little buccaneering, and have 

 numerous secure retreats among the thousands of coves all 

 around, so that even up to the present day they can carry 

 on almost unpunished their piratical attempts upon their own 

 fellow-countrymen, as well as upon foreigners ignorant of 

 their danger. It was the first time we had seen in any 

 numbers the Chinese Junk, with its strange-looking rigging. 

 On most of these small but clumsy vessels there was cut or 

 painted on either side of the forecastle a huge eye, as though 

 the crew were anxious to increase the power of vision of 

 their vessel, so that it might more readily pick its way 

 through the numerous dangerous reefs and coral ba,nks. On 

 the other hand the superstitious sea-faring Chinese sometimes 

 veil and cover up the eyes of their vessels, in order that they 

 should not behold certain strange things passing by, as, for 

 instance, a dead body, or an approaching thunder-storm, 

 and not be frightened by them.* 



The nearer we approached the coast, the more was our 



• A Chinese sailor, on being asked why his vessel had an eye painted on its bul- 

 wark, replied in Canton-English, " Suppose no hab eye, how can see ?" 



