XIX.] HONG KONG. 697 



the wealthiest foreign residents have built their summer houses 

 which are surrounded by beautiful gardens. In winter they live 

 in the city. We here met with a very gratifying reception both 

 from the Governor, Mr. Pope Hennessy, and from the other in- 

 habitants of the town. The former invited Caj)tain Palander and 

 me to live in the beautiful Governor's residence, gave a dinner, 

 arranged a stately official reception in our honour, and pre- 

 sented to the Expedition a fine collection of dried plants from 

 the exceedingly well-kept botanical garden of the city, which is 

 under the charge of Mr. Charles Ford ; the latter presented 

 me with an address of welcome at a festive meetinsr in the 

 City Hall, specially arranged for the purpose and numerously 

 attended by the principal men of the town. The meeting was 

 opened by the Chairman, Mr. Keswick, with a speech of wel- 

 come, after which Mr. J. B. Coughtrie read and presented the 

 address, bound in red silk and beautifully illuminated in black, 

 gold, and red, with 414 signatures, among which many were by 

 Cliinese. The address ended with a hearty congratulation to 

 us all and a promise of a memorial of our visit to Hong Kong 

 which should indicate the way in which the Vega expedition 

 was appreciated there. Some time after our return home 

 Palander and I received from members of the community of 

 Hong Kong a splendid silver vase each. 



I here embraced with great interest the opportunity, which 

 my coming in contact with the principal men of the place 

 afforded, of getting a glance into the ^^olitical relations which 

 prevailed in this vigorovis and promising colony. At first sight 

 they appeared to be by no means satisfactory. Peace and 

 unanimity evidently did not prevail ; for dissatisfaction with 

 the Governor was loudly expressed by many of the Europeans 

 settled in Hong Kong. He favoured, they said, the Chinese in 

 an exceedingly partial way, and mitigated their punishments to 

 such a degree that Hong Kong would soon become a place of 

 refuge for all the robbers and thieves of Canton. At the time 

 of our visit an instructive parliamentary debate on a small 

 scale was proceeding in the Legislative Council of the city. 

 The controversy was carried on with a certain bitterness, but 

 with a proper observance of the parliamentary procedure cus- 

 tomary in the mother country. The eloquent leader of the 

 opposition had evidently, as is usual in such cases, the general 

 feeling of the Europeans on his side. For they appeared to be 

 pretty well agreed that the only means of protecting themselves 

 against the evil-doers from the great heavenly empire W(juld be 

 to punish them in an inhunitm way when they were taken in 

 the act. 



To an outsider it appeared, however, that the Governor not 

 only had humanity and justice on his side, but also acted with 



