24 QUARRIES. [Cuar. 11. 
Luckily for the poor Chinese, their waters are much 
more productive than the land, and an inconceivable 
variety of fish is daily brought to the markets, and 
forms, with rice, the staple article of their food. 
There are numerous fine quarries of granite 
along the coast, from which the stone has been 
obtained for the new town of Victoria. Much of 
the granite in different parts of the island is in 
a state of decay, and some ingenious persons have 
fancied that to this may be ascribed the prevalence 
of that malignant disease called the “ Hong-kong 
fever,” which has baffled medical skill, and —— 
hundreds to the tomb. 
The autumnal months, August, September, = 
October, are most unhealthy. In 1843, when I — 
first visited the island, it was in a lamentable con- 
dition. A place called the “ West Point,” where some 
barracks stood, and which was to all appearance as 
healthy as any other, proved fatal to the greater 
part of a detachment of our troops quartered there. 
The mortality was such, that Lord Saltoun, then 
commander-in-chief, was obliged to remove the 
wretched remnant, and ordered the barracks to be 
pulled down.* The “ Wang-nai-chung,” that “happy 
* Before leaving China, I had occasion to visit this spot of 
ground—the grave of many a brave soldier. A fine road 
leading round the island, for the recreation and pleasure of the 
inhabitants, passed through the place where they had been 
buried. Many of their coffins were exposed to the vulgar 
gaze, and the bones of the poor fellows lay scattered about 
on the public highway. No one could find fault with the 
