Chap. I. UNHEALTHINESS OF THE SETTLEMENT. 
11 
" Hong-kong fever/' which has baffled medical skill, 
and carried hundreds to the tomb. 
The autumnal months, August, September, and Octo- 
ber, are most unhealthy. In 1843, when I first visited 
the island, it was in a lamentable condition. 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 Valley " already noticed, was another most un- 
healthy spot. One of my fellow-passengers, Mr. Dyer, 
and his partner, who came out with high hopes of sue- '^jly'^I^ 
ceeding in business under the new regulations, went to 
live in this place, where, in a few days, they were seized 
with fever, and in a few more they had both gone to 
" that undiscovered country from whose bourne no 
traveller returns." In other parts of the island, which 
were at that time considered more healthy, fever pre- 
vailed to a gTeat extent. Among those who were 
carried off, and whose death caused the greatest re- 
gret, were Major Pottinger, and the Honourable J. 
R Morrison, Chinese interpreter, son of the celebrated 
Dr. Morrison. The former had been only out for a 
few days, and was on the point of returning home 
with despatches for the Government. Many other in- 
stances might be mentioned ; but these are sufficient 
to show the deplorable condition of our new settlement 
at this time ; and so malignant and fatal was this dis- 
