1843] IMPROVED CONDITION. 63 



visit to that station are almost incredible. We landed 

 from the ' Sulphur ' to take possession of this island, and 

 commenced the operations of the survey in March 1841. 

 At that period, its northern face was blank, the site of 

 the town was not even fixed upon ; now, after a period 

 of little more than two years, an imposing city, still in 

 the course of extension, occupies a frontage, of above a 

 mile in extent, and the buildings, erected and habitable, 

 are of the first order, both as regards comfort and mag- 

 nificence. The sickness so much dreaded, and which 

 seemed at one period almost to paralyse advancement, has 

 ceased, and the busy hum of the artificer, as well as of 

 active commerce, has succeeded to the barren and gloomy 

 solitude which had reigned previously. All this sudden 

 advancement, and in the vicinity of a country which is ac- 

 counted to be among the earliest civilized regions of the 

 earth, was the work of a handful of British adventurers, 

 and unaided by any great comparative outlay on the part 

 of their Government ; well may they be styled the ' Mer- 

 chant Princes of the land.' 



The following remarks on this New Settlement of ours 

 are by Mr. Adams : 



" Hong-Kong has been said to be void of interest in 

 living forms, and some have declared that its vallies have 

 the silence of the grave ; but in looking towards the Bay 

 a dense mass of Tanka boats is seen, which, with other 

 Chinese crafts, added to the crowded shipping of every 

 nation, afford proofs of the most active state of com- 

 merce and civilization. Turning to the land, the patient 

 and labourious Chinese may be seen toiling at their daily 

 avocations, children gamboling in the roads, Sepoys, 



