At 8.30 we came to in Hong Kong. Keppel Garnier started to ask Dr. Hill to come from the _Melville_, hospital ship. The Governor and Lady Macdonnell kindly arranged everything for our reception at Government House, where we went on arrival. Doctors Murray and Dodds were soon in attendance. After consultations, they tried to persuade us that Colin would pull through. On service, wives and children ought to remain at home! However, the boy soon mended. Nothing could have been more fortunate than the quarters into which we had been so kindly received. There was scarcely a person in Hong Kong who did not sympathise with us. Coxswain Webb was better than any nurse. Our children were much at the Bertrand’s, where their charming little daughter, Louise, took kindly to them. But all this has no business in a sailor’s log! Time passed pleasantly; with any other than the true Irish hospitality with which we were entertained I should have fancied we were over-staying our welcome. The flagship _Rodney_ did not put in an appearance until the 21st. She had then to make good defects, and leave was due to the crew. [Sidenote: Jan. 22.] We started, children and all, by the 8 A.M. steamer to pay a visit to my old friend Robertson at his Yamun in Canton. Nothing could be prettier than the passage through the Cap Sing Moon Pass, and when we came to the Boca Tigris Forts I had much to relate of bygone days. There, too, to the northward, was the fort I, with a small squadron, in 1857, was instructed to capture, which “pidgin” was spoilt by the Chinese not wanting to fight. I have at Bishopstoke the cap and sword which the Chinese Governor threw away that he might not be recognized. After a short stop at Whampoa, we arrived at the Pier of Canton, where Robertson waited with chairs to receive us. Wenny Coke, who arrived a few days previously from the north, came with us in the steamer, and was also put up by Robertson. Archdeacon Gray had kindly undertaken to show all there was. But we had arranged to return in a day or two, and our time would not allow of our seeing a tithe of what the kind Archdeacon wished. We, however, saw one or two joss-houses, only curious when the meaning of the various grotesque figures and inscriptions were explained. The City of the Dead was the most extraordinary. It is a walled town, surrounded by a ditch, as if it was ever likely to be attacked! It is here that all those who can afford it deposit their dead until some auspicious day for the funeral occurs, which may not be for years. Others who, having come from some distant province to hold office under Government, deposit their dead relatives in these clean and snug lodgings until they have made their fortunes, or are turned out, as the case may be.