ARRIVAL AT HONG-KONG. 279 



and a clever American widow lady belonging to Macao, 

 — of all the wretched places in the world the worst,- — 

 assisted by a very agreeable captain, kept us pretty 

 well alive. The season of the year, having started on the 

 the 16th March, being in favour of a quick voyage, the 

 "Behar" took the ordinary north-easterly course, else, to 

 avoid the monsoon as much as possible, ships run along 

 the northern coast of Borneo and Palawan, which is called 

 the " Palawan passage." On the fifth day, however, 

 we encountered a strong head- wind, which within the 

 next twenty-four hours developed into a smart gale, 

 admitting of very little progress ; this lasted until we 

 sighted Hong-Kong late on the evening of the eighth 

 day, having during that day jDassed innumerable junks 

 deeply laden, and many islands. Our average run 

 since starting from Singapore had thus been barely 

 eight knots an hour over a distance of 1,543 miles. 



Owing to a slight collision with a sailing ship, which 

 broke our main yard, we approached our anchorage too 

 late to enable passengers to land that evening, and on 

 reaching the deck on the following morning, we were 

 rewarded by a magnificent panoramic view : on one 

 side, the coast of China and numerous islands; on the 

 other, Hong-Kong rising abruptly from the water's 

 edge in the form of an extensive amphitheatre, with 

 Victoria peak, 1,825 feet high, for a background, and 



