ains, are said to add
greatly to the fatality occasioned by the decimating properties of an
Indian sun.

That old lady who asserted that "it never rains but it pours," would
have been furnished with corroborative proofs had she witnessed some of
the pluvial exhibitions at Hong-Kong. It really does pour on such
occasions there. Talk of the deluge, when the windows of heaven were
said to have been opened! Why if that venerable dame could have seen
the descent of these torrents, she would have thought that all
obstructing barriers of the blue empyrean had been removed, and the
surcharged clouds suddenly overturned, and have come to the conclusion
that forty days of such outpouring would leave no resting-place, even
upon the lofty peak of Victoria mountain.

They call the period from June to October the rainy season, but I have
witnessed extensive showers in nearly all the intermediate months. These
are sudden and overwhelming. Instances are related of Coolies having
been caught in currents rushing down the mountain, and drowned without
the possibility of assistance.

In the years 1845 and '6, from July to January, within a period of six
months, _ten feet of rain_ was measured by an ombrometer, having fallen
at Hong-Kong.

The island came into possession of Great Britain in 1842 by cession, but
had been occupied on the 26th of January of the previous year, in
consequence of a treaty which was afterwards rejected by the Emperor.
Great inducements were held out to Chinese to settle in Victoria by the
British government. They were guaranteed all their rights and
privileges, and allowed freedom in their religious rites, and permitted
to follow their own customs. These inducements, however, appeared to
have but little effect upon the Chinese. They distrusted the "outside
barbarians," and it was to the interest of the Mandarins to prevent
emigration to the new settlement. At present much of the distrust has
worn away, and many have taken advantage of the opening made by
thriving trade; still it must be admitted that the majority of Chinamen
to be found in Hong-Kong, are of the nature of those patriots who leave
"their country for their country's good," and the numbers seen in the
chain gangs, show the manner in which they best serve the State.

CHAPTER XIV.

Hong-Kong--Object of its Settlement--Its service as an Opium
Depot--Views of the Opium Trade--Its History--Considered the
cause and object of the War--Tre