Approaching Hong Kong by steamer there lies before us a confused jumble of hills, which gradually resolve themselves into islands fronting the mountainous background of the mainland. All, without exception, spring up from the water’s edge in steep slopes, with never a yard of level ground save where an occasional tiny bay shows a small stretch of sparkling sandy beach. Granite cliffs carved into a thousand quaint designs, or honeycombed with caverns by the white‐fringed waves; steep grassy slopes, with scarcely a bush upon them, rising up to a conical peak; here and there a fisher’s hut, the only sign of human habitation—such are they almost all. At last one larger than the others. On the long ridge of the lofty summits of its hills the slated roofs and high walls of European buildings outlined against the sky, and we know that we are nearing Hong Kong. Swinging round a bluff shoulder of this island, we enter the land‐locked harbour. On the right the myriad houses climbing in terraces above each other from the water’s edge, long lines of stately buildings, the spires of churches come into view. It is the city of Victoria, or Hong Kong. The harbour, sheltered by the lofty hills of island and mainland, is crowded with shipping. The giant bulks of battleships and cruisers, the tall masts of sailing vessels, the gaily painted funnels of passenger and merchant steamers, the quaint sails and weird shapes of junks, the countless little _sampans_ or native boats, a numerous flotilla of steam launches, rushing hither and thither. Ahead of us the hills of island and mainland approach each other until they almost touch, and tower up on either hand above the narrow channel of the Lyeemoon Pass. On the left a small, bush‐clad, conical isle, with a lighthouse—Green Island; another, long and straggling—Stonecutters’ Island, with the sharp outlines of forts and barracks and the ruins of an old convict prison. Behind them the mainland. A small extent of comparatively level land covered with houses, the curving line of a pretty bay, low, pine‐clad hills. This is the very modern suburb of Kowloon, which has been created to take the overflow of European and Chinese population from Hong Kong. Here will be the terminus of the railway to Canton—when it is built. And behind, towering grim and dark to the sky, stands a long chain of barren mountains that guard the approach from the landward side. Behind them range upon range of other hills. Such is the Kowloon Peninsula.