APPENDIX. 289 



PUBLIC AUCTION. 



In the Vice- Admiralty Coubt of Hong-Kong, In Rb SUNDRY PIRATI- 

 CAL GOODS AND THE JTJNK " SING WOH LOONG." 



The Undersigned has received instructions from Malcolm Strttan Ton- 

 NOCHT, Esq., Marshal of the above Court, to Sell under a Decree of Appraise- 

 ment and Sale, at 3 o'clock p.m., 



THIS DAT, 

 the 36th September, 1876, at Tow-ma-tee, — 



ONE JUNK, 

 SUNDRY CLOTHING, MUSKETS, SWORDS, &c., &o., 



Terms of Sale. — Cash before delivery in Mexican Dollars, weighed at 7.1.7. 

 All Lots, with all faults and errors of description, at purchaser's risk on the fall 

 of the hammer. 



J. M. ARMSTRONG, 



Government Auctioneer. 

 Hong-Kong, 35th September, 1876. 



. Hong-Kong is a pretty little city, nestled close down upon, the 

 shoi'es of one of the most beautiful bays in the world, and under 

 the shadow of steep hills, whose peaks seem almost to overhang 

 the city. It is an English colony, but included in the two or 

 three thousands of foreign population is a sprinkling of almost 

 every nation under the sun ; France, Spain, Eussia, and Germany 

 all contribute their quota, and the variety is made up with Parsee 

 merchants from India, Portuguese from Macao, Malays from the 

 Peninsula and Straits, and the ever-present Chinese, who have 

 gathered upon this little island, and clustered around the outskirts 

 of -the foreign settlement, until they now number upward of two 

 hundred thousand. Among them are some of the shrewdest and 

 wealthiest merchants in China. One man was pointed out to me 

 who began his business life as a " comprador," and by his shrewd- 

 ness and application has acquired a large fortune, owning quite a 

 fleet of steamers, which ply, not only between Chinese ports, but 

 the principal cities of the East. The " comprador," by the way, 

 is an institution in Chinese commercial matters. " Comprador " is 

 a Spanish word, signifying buyer, and in Chinese commercial life 

 the " comprador" is not only a buyer but also a seller and general 

 business manager ; and while nominally occupying a subordinate 

 capacity in the great houses of the East, he is the active business 

 man through whose hands most of the business of the house 

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