322 EAMBLES OP A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XIX. 



was a good specimen of its class. At my first visit to 

 Government House, just, as I reached the door, I heard a 

 loud and perfectly distinct voice shout out, " Orderly, call 

 the boy;" and then, "What do you want him for?" very 

 clearly enunciated ; and this was immediately succeeded by 

 a loud laugh and a sonorous whistle. I looked in vain for 

 the source of this unseemly exhibition ; and when, presently, 

 the same sounds proceeding from the verandah, I went out 

 to see what they meant, the innocent-looking black bird 

 hopping about demurely in a wicker cage would never have 

 been suspected, had he not burst into a hoarse laugh the 

 moment my back was turned. They will imitate a child 

 crying in a most painfuUy natural manner ; and their mimicry 

 of the*human voice is far superior to that of a parrot, being 

 perfectly free from segophony, and loud, distinct, and clear 

 in enunciation and utterance. 



Before I arrived at Hong Kong I had been told stories of 

 persons having been attacked in broad daylight, knocked 

 down and robbed by Chinese roughs and thieves ; but while 

 on the one hand such stories were rife, on the other I met 

 with persons who had long resided in China, and who as- 

 sured me that there was no danger of any such attack. So 

 that I was the more ready to give credence to the latter than 

 to the former, and the tales of highway-robbery and violence 

 which I had heard made no impression upon my mind. I 

 was destined, however, to be undeceived in my own person ; 

 and less than a week after I had set my foot in'China I was 

 myself the victim of one of those atrocious outrages which 

 are but too common in Hong Kong, and are a disgrace to 

 the Government of the colony. Feeling no sense of inse- 

 curity while surrounded by busy crowds of people, I natu- 

 rally, as a newly-arrived stranger in so interesting a country, 



