404 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
thou wilt be what thou art.” Others again stated that contact 
with Europeans at Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and 
the accounts given by the emigrants returning to China in 
thousands from California and Australia are by slow degrees 
changing the aspect of the world in the ‘‘ heavenly empire,” and 
thereby preparing for a revolution less violent, but as thorough 
as that which has recently taken place in Japan. If this comes 
about, China will be a state that must enter into the calculation 
when the affairs of the world are settled, and whose power will 
weigh very heavy in the scales, at least when the fate of Asia 
is concerned. At Hong Kong and Canton the report was 
current that the far-sighted Chancellor of the German Empire 
had taken this factor into calculation in settling his plans 
for the future. 
Already the Chinese took part in the European life. A 
number of Chinese names, as I have already said, were attached 
to the address that was presented to me; at the Governor’s 
reception many stout, smiling heads provided with pigtails were 
seen ; and Chinese had taken part in the meetings at which 
the Governor’s scheme of reform was under discussion. There 
’'have also existed in the country from time immemorial secret 
societies, which are said only to wait for a favourable opportunity 
to endeavour to link their fates to the new paths.^ The observa¬ 
tions that I made at Hong Kong and Canton are, however, too 
superficial for me to wish to detain my reader with these 
matters. I accordingly point to the numerous works on these 
cities published by authors who have lived there as many 
months or years as I have days, and proceed to sketch the 
continuation of the voyage of the Vega. 
Accompanied by the good wishes of many newly acquired 
friends, we left the harbour of Hong Kong on the morning of 
the 9th Kovember. It was my original intention to steer our 
^ See on this subject W. A. Pickering, “ Chinese Secret Societies ” {Journal 
of the Straits Branch of the R. Asiatic Society^ 1878, No. 1, pp. 63-84). 
