Passing along, we come to the principal business part of the city. On the right is a hotel, with blocks of houses occupied mostly by English and Americans, auctioneers, apothecaries, the club-house of the merchants, etc., and back, short streets of Chinese mechanics. Continuing along the water toward the east, after a short interval we see the military quarters, which inclose within a quarter of a mile the showy stone barracks, parade-ground, officers’ residences, in elevated positions, the church, and other buildings. Half a mile farther is another fine block of buildings; then comes the hospital, ship-yard, and a large ship-chandlery establishment. Thus the town or city of Victoria is strung out for two or three miles along the shore. The population, including Chinese, is about twenty-five thousand. But a small portion are European. Almost every nation is represented here, though there are only a few of each. Besides the English, American, and Chinese, we find the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Persians, Bengalese, Javanese, Manillamen, German, Italian, Russian, Danish, Swiss, Dutch, Belgian, Pole, Arab, Turk, Armenian, Tartar, Siamese, African, and South American. The streets are filled with Chinese, and you continually see the traveling barber, carrying his barber-shop with him—cobblers, tinkers, pastrymen, men carrying hogs, rabbits, ducks, rats, puppies, etc, already cooked; and along the principal streets you find the brokers, or money-changers, with piles of cash. These cash are a small coin, about one half the size of a cent, of a base metal, and a square hole in the centre, twenty-four of which are equal in value to one of the cents of United States coin. The fortune-teller or conjurer may also be seen, with his charts, covered with hieroglyphics, spread before him, and busily engaged in penetrating the future for some inquisitive Chinaman. The police force here is composed mostly of English, Americans, and Lascars. They are very effective in preserving order among the Chinese, and a Chinaman stands more in awe of a policeman than any thing else in Hong Kong. From the ship the town looks beautiful at night. It was New-year’s week with the Chinese at this time, and their part of the town was brilliantly illuminated every evening. The thousand brilliant lamps, with an occasional rocket piercing its way into the clouds above, presented to the beholder a scene of beauty scarcely equaled, reminding him of old legends of enchanted cities. The evening gun of the frigate booms forth, answered from the fort; the bugle call from the barracks sounds sweetly on the calm evening air, and as its soft, gentle tones strike our ear, we almost forget that we are in the land of strangers, and remain musing until we are aroused by the striking of the frigate’s bell, and the hoarse cry echoed over the waters of “All’s well!”