an unhesitatingly pronounce to be as good mutton as I had ever
eaten.

A very short stay, and an attack of sickness, prevented me from
exploring much of Shanghae, or its environs, and I learned there are a
thousand things worth seeing.

The Chinese call this province the Paradise of China, and if I am not
mistaken, the word has this signification when interpreted: and they
have a proverb, which runs in this wise: "See Shanghae, and die." I came
very near acting up to their advice, for after seeing what is previously
written, I was taken seriously ill; so that, had our stay been
prolonged, I would have been unable to have gone on shore, unless,
indeed, in one of their fancy coffins!

Learned, however, from one of the officers of Her Majesty's brig
"Contest," who had been stationed here some time, that the climate is
delightful to those who are able to withstand the cold of the winters;
that the features of the country have not been misstated, but are equal
to any representation made; that game is at all times abundant,
especially in autumn, when fine sport is to be obtained by those who
handle "mantons" with even moderate skill; furthermore, the followers of
quaint old Isaac, the ancient angler, need but a tithe of his art to
tempt the piscatory tribe from their native element. But he did affirm
that in midsummer, the mercury in the tube scarcely ever gets below
100 deg. Fahrenheit, and the action of the sun's rays upon the stagnant
water before-named, gives such an intimation to the nostrils of the
state of the atmosphere, as to render the use of the eudiometer
unnecessary.

Got under way from our moorings early in the morning of Monday the 19th,
and dropped down with the tide; getting out of the Woo-Sung, anchored in
the Yang-tse-Kiang, on the 20th, passed Saddle Island, and dismissing
the pilot, headed for Amoy, at which port we were to look in on our
return.

We had proceeded along pretty well until the morning of the 27th, when
about three o'clock in the morning watch, as I was lying awake in my
apartment, heard the officer of the deck give the order for tacking
ship--"Ready about"--and after the boatswain's pipe to "Stations."
"Ready, ready," when she received a shock, as from the concussion of a
heavy sea, then another, and another, which soon convinced me that the
ship was ashore. This was certainly unpleasant, as I had no doubt but
that we were at that time twenty miles from land, and the idea of a
coral