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How it can sustain the great population which inhabits the villages that cover it is a mystery. March 14th. A vessel from Shanghae brought me this morning a letter from Oliphant, which shows that he has got well through the business which I entrusted to him.
I forgot to mention that I visited the town of Shanghae yesterday, and among other things went into a bathing establishment, where coolies were getting steamed rather than bathed at rather less than a penny a head, which penny includes, moreover, a cup of tea. So that these despised Chinamen have bathing-houses for the million.
There are two newspapers printed in Victoria (Hong-Kong), and both of these, I believe, are bi-weekly. One is called the "Friend of China, and Hong-Kong Gazette;" the other, "The China Mail." The latter is the government organ, and has the colonial printing. The former is independent, and slashes away right and left, sparing neither friend nor foe, and its columns are always open to complaining correspondents. Sir Geo. Bonham, the Governor, often got severely handled; and either because the government laid itself open to attack, or the editor had some cause for pique, it appeared to be continually "pitching into" it. Its articles were bold and forcibly expressed, and from their tenor would suppose it exposed itself to prosecution for libel, but understood it had steered clear of the Courts that far. Its editor shows a great deal of industry and perseverance in its management. His Marine List is full and complete. Not only does he give the arrivals and departures of shipping at Hong-Kong, but at all the other ports in China waters; also a full and corrected list of all vessels at Whampoa, Shanghae, and Mac
Shanghae Immense number of Junks Foreign Residences Novelty of Chimneys Revolting appearance of Beggars Undertakers Price of Coffins Decline Trading Description of City Stagnant Pools Tea Gardens Sweet Site The Taoutae Advantages of Shanghae Departure Ship Ashore! Sensation. Shanghae is situated in about 30° 26' N. latitude; longitude 120° 48' East.
These latter, of the celebrated Shanghae breed, were the finest specimens I have seen for a long time; and the most striking peculiarity about them was the preponderance of fat to their caudal extremities, the tail of each being of an entirely different formation from that of the European breed; and I can compare it to nothing better than an immense woolly mop, "in the place where the tail ought to grow."
The Woo-Sung river empties into the Yang-tse-Kiang about 40 miles from its confluence with the ocean, and the city of Shanghae is situated upon the Woo-Sung, about three leagues above its junction with the Yang-tse-Kiang, which is one of the largest rivers in China, and washes the walls of the city of Nankin, formerly the southern capital of the Empire.
Since the acquisition of California, our government possesses a much speedier route, and would find it greatly to her interest to establish a line by any of the overland routes across the Isthmus of Darien, and from thence by steam to Shanghae, or even Hong-Kong in China; and I do not despair of seeing the time when letters will be delivered in these ports within forty days, from the Atlantic cities.
Arriving at Shanghae on the 2nd of September, Lord Elgin found that the Imperial Commissioners whom he came to meet had not yet appeared, and were not expected for four or five weeks.
A mob very soon destroyed the dangerous innovation. The other Englishman, Mr. Grant, was the projector and manager of a Pony Express from Kiachta to Pekin. He forwarded telegrams between London and Shanghae merchants, any others who chose to employ him.
If a proceeding of this nature on the part of the Court of Pekin precedes our capture of the forts, it will be a great embarrassment to me. The poor old 'Furious' was lying at anchor at Shanghae. To see her brought back many feelings of 'auld lang syne. Shanghae altogether excited in my mind a good deal of a home feeling.
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