is performed every Sunday morning in the Presbyterian
form, and, in the evening, in Chinese. The French Roman Catholics have
built a stately and handsome chapel with a good dwelling-house attached
to it: they have a large congregation among the Irish soldiery and the
Portuguese from Macao. The English Missionaries had only just arrived
with their establishment from Malacca, and, when I left the Island, had
neither house nor chapel, but had commenced building. A chaplain of the
Church of England had arrived, appointed by the Home Government: no
English church, however, had even been commenced, and the congregation
meet every Sunday in a neat house, where, if they escape fever during
the summer, and colds and ague during the winter, they ought to deem
themselves very fortunate.

Grog-shops and other resorts for the depraved and idle, are already
plentiful in Victoria. They are, however, all closed on Sunday; and the
sailor ashore, on liberty on that day, is fain to content himself with a
walk along the road, during which he may be heard muttering deep curses
on the heads of those who framed this (according to his notion) unjust
and tyrannical regulation.

Before concluding my remarks on Hong Kong, I will add a few words on
what I consider as the best means to be adopted with a view to render
the settlement more healthy. Much must be done by the Government; and
the rest may be left to the inhabitants themselves.

In the first place, the paddy-fields at the east end of the town must be
thoroughly drained, and the cultivation of paddy in the neighbourhood
entirely stopped. Proclamations on this last subject had been published
in March last. That the draining of these lands would decrease the
quantity of malaria generated in the valleys, there can be no doubt;
but, that it would entirely do away with it, I deem very problematical.
At all events, it would not stop the volumes of fog that descend from
the hill-tops at sun-set, and completely envelop the valleys and the
houses. Draining, indeed, would do good, and ought to be tried at once.
The owners of property in the neighbourhood were very sanguine as to the
result of the experiment. More good, however, would be done in the way
of purifying the air of these valleys, by entirely removing the small
hill on which the Morrison Education buildings stand. The task, at first
sight, may seem herculean; but is not so in reality. Thousands of men
are to be hired in the villages on