174 PIDGIN ENGLISH. 



Government schools at Hongkong, now learn to talk English 

 with fluency and correctness; and the number of foreigners 

 who acquire one or other of- the Chinese dialects is increasing, 

 the latest estimate, counting all nationalities, being some- 

 what over live hundred. But there is always a large 

 fluctuating population of foreign soldiers, sailors, and visitors,, 

 to whom the acquisition of Chinese would involve a toil quite 

 disproportioned to its use. To these a means of communica- 

 tion with, the natives, based on a European vocabulary, is too 

 serviceable to be dispensed with, and for them pidgin Eng- 

 lish will hold its ground. So far from dying out, it seems 

 rather probable that in the course of years it will take rank 

 as a dialect beside the lingua franca of the Mediteranean Sea. 

 Those who are curious to see how pidgin English looks when 

 printed may be referred to Mr. Leland's little book of 

 Pidgin English Sing-Song in the Raffles Library. Although 

 some of its phrases are rather far fetched it will give any one 

 a tolerably fair idea of this singular dialect. 



