One person happened to say casually, of a long-missing ship, “Perhaps she has been dismasted, and put into Manilla, and that may account for her detention:” in the evening, a report was in circulation, and believed, that accounts had that day been received of the missing ship having safely arrived at Manilla, but that she had lost all her masts. It is therefore dangerous to make an observation; for should it not at first be deemed sufficiently important, it will soon be increased, both in intricacy and consequence, as it passes the daily course. Any person, then, who may visit China, will show his wisdom by preserving silence as much as possible, and he will be lauded by some for the space of a few days; then he will rise in importance, and every body will buzz and talk the most extraordinary things about him; he will be a mystery, and all the residents will be delighted with him, for he will listen tranquilly, and in much of the conversation he will hear far more than he will in any way be inclined to believe. The trifling or casual passing observations are usually—“What news?” “None.” “Fine weather?”—“Yes.” “Warm?” “Yes, exceedingly sultry.” “Is opium getting up?”—“Have not heard. No arrivals?” “None! Good morning.” Taking rambles over the narrow streets of the suburbs of Canton, filled with elegant shops, strictly Chinese, with the various gilded signs, I witnessed a very novel and agreeable sight to a stranger: every thing assumed a different appearance to that seen in any other country: the narrow and crowded streets, hardly afford a passage for two persons abreast, and the constant passing and repassing of porters with their burdens, bawling out to clear the way, is annoying to passengers. The shops are fitted up in an elegant style, and are, in many of the streets, exceedingly spacious: the shoemakers’ shops are filled with shoes, from those of the small-footed woman decorated in a most tasteful and fanciful manner, to the larger ones of the long-footed race. The shops of tailors, sign-painters, apothecaries, book and paper sellers, glass-blowers, &c. are numerous; and eating-shops, filled with all kinds of birds and beasts, cooked in their peculiar manner, and afterwards varnished; and poulterers’ shops, with living and dead poultry of all descriptions, were in some of the streets very abundant.