s a small dark cabin, with no other furniture than a long white-washed
board, laid upon two tressels, with hooks fixed to the carlines of the
deck. Above these the dead bodies are removed: immediately after their
decease a _post mortem_ examination is made by the assistant surgeon, a
report of which is sent into the inspector. A port-hole has a wooden
shoot or slide fixed to it, by which the bodies are ejected into the
boat waiting to convey them for interment.

The church service is read every morning on the hospital deck, and
during the performance the strictest attention was paid by the patients.
When convalescent I enjoyed the privilege of walking on the poop with
the others who had been spared, and truly grateful was I for my
recovery. Such scenes as I have described could not but have the effect
upon me: I hope that I left the hospital a wiser and a better man.

At last the time came when I was pronounced by the doctors to be quite
cured, and at liberty to leave the ship. I hardly need say that I did so
with alacrity. I had always before this considered Hong Kong as a most
disgusting place; but now that I had been so long cooped up with disease
and death, it appeared to me as a paradise. I had made one or two
acquaintances during my former visits, and now found their kind offers
too welcome to refuse them. Having nothing to do, and not being even
obliged to present myself on board of the Mind en, I enjoyed myself
excessively in journeys and excursions to the other side of the island.
My acquaintances were the officers of the 42d regiment, who were
remarkably kind and intelligent men, and during my stay I was a great
deal in their society. We one day made up a party to visit Pirate's Bay,
a spot on the Chinese main, about twelve miles from Hong Kong. Starting
early, we took our guns and the requisites for a pic-nic. When we
arrived at the spot, we hired the only respectable house in the place,
left a native to make the necessary arrangements for our dinner, and
then started on a cruise to view the country. We shot at any thing that
came in our way, and by noon our game-bag contained a curious medley of
ducks, paroquets, swallows, and water rats. By this time the sun became
so overpowering that we returned to the house which had been hired for
our accommodation. Here we dined, and returned to Hong Kong well pleased
with our trip. The roads at Hong Kong, though not particularly good,
have been made at great expence.