“The meal concluded with an enormous lacquer box of rice, from which all our bowls were filled; the rice being thence conveyed to our mouths by means of chop‐sticks. We managed very well with these substitutes for spoons and forks, the knack of using which, to a certain extent, is soon acquired. The long intervals between the dishes were beguiled with songs, music, and dancing, performed by professional singing and dancing girls. The music was somewhat harsh and monotonous, but the songs sounded harmonious, and the dancing was graceful, though it was rather posturing than dancing, great use being made of the fan and the long trailing skirts. The girls, who were pretty, wore peculiar dresses to indicate their calling, and seemed of an entirely different stamp from the quiet, simply‐dressed waitresses whom we found so attentive to our wants. Still, they all looked cheery, light‐hearted, simple creatures, and appeared to enjoy immensely the little childish games they played amongst themselves between whiles. “After dinner we had some real Japanese tea, tasting exactly like a little hot water poured on very fragrant new‐mown hay. Then, after a brief visit to the kitchen, which, though small, was beautifully clean, we received our boots, and were bowed out by our pleasant hostess and her attentive handmaidens.” Recommending the perusal of the interesting works last quoted, let us finish our trip on paper at its natural termination, so far as the route from San Francisco is concerned, in China, to which country the American vessels take us in a week or so. Hong Kong is a commercial port of the first order, but has not come up to the expectations once made of it. It has not progressed in the same ratio as has Shanghai. Its situation is picturesque. “Fancy to yourself the rock of Gibraltar, on a large scale, looking to the north. There facing us is _terra firma_. Let us scramble up to the flag‐staff, proudly standing on the highest peak of the mountain. The sun, which is already low, bathes sky, earth, and sea in crude, fantastic, exaggerated lights. Woe be to the painter who should dare reproduce such effects! Happy would he be if he could succeed!