The city is composed of one-storied houses, the streets straight and painfully quiet; some of the houses contained one, but the others two or three coffins resting on stretchers. There were joss sticks burning in most, with a change of raiment and other little comforts the departed might require, and as there were a few priests about, I daresay the “comforts” were appreciated. Having an appointment to meet the Viceroy at the Consul’s Yamun, I was obliged to leave the sightseers and had not time to partake of an excellent luncheon; as it was I followed the Viceroy’s train of followers, and had only donned my uniform in time to enter the room as the Consul received him with a salute of three guns. Our interview was the same as on a previous occasion, only now, as established old friends, we were much more cordial. The children amused themselves in the small, walled park attached to the Yamun, but a change of weather and a cutting N.E. wind coming on, our experienced friend the Archdeacon cautioned us to be careful. Went out again curio-hunting, and on our return found a despatch from the Commodore detailing an outrage at Swatow, in which some well-known, ill-disposed villagers had fired into the _Cockchafer’s_ boats, wounding eleven persons (some badly), and the Commodore, pending further instructions, was preparing to punish the offenders. It was fortunate my being in Canton with the Consul, as it enabled us at once to communicate with the Viceroy, Swatow being under his jurisdiction. The boats of the _Cockchafer_, when away exercising up the River Han, were assailed by stones by the inhabitants of the semi-piratical village of Ou-teng-foi. The Commander landed, intending to remonstrate with the headman of the village, but as he could get no one to conduct him to his house, he seized a well-dressed Chinaman who was near, and who had witnessed the outrage, that he might take him before the Consul at Swatow to be examined. Without further provocation the villagers opened fire on the _Cockchafer’s_ boats, who, finding themselves opposed to some six hundred Chinese, made a running fight of it, as they retreated down the river, killing and wounding several of their assailants, returning with the gunner and a boatswain’s mate dangerously, and eight others, in a less degree, wounded. I at once placed myself in communication with the Viceroy of the two Kwang provinces. That part of the department, Quang Tung, lying to the northward and eastward of Canton had long resisted the Imperial Power, refusing to pay taxes, while they themselves levied blackmail on traders passing from Chow-Chow-Fou. An imperial army of from five to six thousand troops was gradually making its way to Chow-Chow-Fou, bringing the villages under subjection as it marched.