XIX.] POLITICAL LIFE AT HOXG KONG. ^ 699 



Many of the Europeans settled at Hong Kong were convinced 

 that for another thousand years one would be justified in using 

 the exjDression regarding China : " Thou art what thou wast, and 

 thou wilt be what thou art." Others again stated that contact 

 with Europeans at Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and 

 the accounts given by the emigrants returning to China in 

 thousands from California and Australia are by slow degrees 

 changing the aspect of the world in the " heavenly empire," and 

 thereby preparing for a revolution less violent, but as thorough 

 as that which has recently taken place in Japan. If this comes 

 about, China will be a state that must enter into the calculation 

 when the affairs of the world are settled, and whose power will 

 weigh very heavy in the scales, at least when the fate of Asia 

 is concerned. At Hong Kong and Canton the report was 

 current that the far-sighted Chancellor of the German Empire 

 had taken this factor into calculation in settling his plans 

 for the future. 



Already the Chinese took part in the European life. A 

 number of Chinese names, as I have already said, were attached 

 to the address that was presented to me ; at the Governor's 

 reception many stout, smiling heads provided with pigtails were 

 seen ; and Chinese had taken part in the meetings at which 

 the Governor's scheme of reform was under discussion. There 

 have also existed in the country from time immemorial secret 

 societies, which are said only to wait for a favourable opportunity 

 to endeavour to link their fates to the new paths. ^ The observa- 

 tions that I made at Hong Kong and Canton are, however, too 

 superficial for me to wish to detain my reader with these 

 matters. I accordingly point to the numerous works on these 

 cities published by authors who have lived there as many 

 months or years as I have days, and proceed to sketch the 

 continuation of the voyage of the Vega. 



Accompanied by the good wishes of many newly acquired 

 friends, we left the harbour of Hong Kong on the morning of 

 the 9th November. It was my original intention to steer our 

 course to Manilla, but the loss of time during our long stay in 

 Japan compelled me to give up that j^lan. The course was 

 shaped, however, not directly for Singapore, but for Labuan, a 

 small English possession on the north side of Borneo. Its 

 northern extremity (the coal mine) lies in 5° 33' N.L. and 

 115° 12' E.L. England took possession of Labuan on account 

 of the coal-seams which are found there, Avhich are of special 

 importance on account of the situation of the island nearly 

 in the midst of the large, numerous, and fertile islands of 

 south-eastern Asia. It was the coal-seams too that attracted 



^ See on this subject W. A. Pickering, " Chinese Secret Societies " {Journal 

 of the Straits Branch of the R. Asiatic Society, 1878, No. 1, pp. 63-84). 



