Like the English authorities and Government officials, our German fellow-countrymen, resident in Hong-kong, did not fail to exercise their hospitality for the benefit of the associates of the Expedition, and we cannot sufficiently express our obligations to the Austrian Consul, Mr. G. Wiener, and the Prussian vice-consul, Mr. Gustav Oberbeck, for their delicate attention. The latter presented the Expedition with a number of articles interesting as illustrating the advances of civilization, which he had obtained during the siege of Canton, in Dec. 1857, and of which the greater part have since been deposited at the Imperial Cabinet of Antiquities at Vienna.
Through the kindness and interest of Dr. Harland (since deceased), surgeon-in-chief of the colony, some of the members of the Expedition were enabled to make corporeal measurements in the great prison, the inmates of which come from the most various parts of the empire, as well as in the hospital, upon a number of individuals of either sex, all "fair specimens of the Chinese race," as Dr. Harland assured them, the results of which will be found in the anthropological section of the Novara publications.
Before the frigate left Hong-kong, despite the insecurity of public affairs, several excursions were made to the south side of the island, to Canton, and to the Portuguese settlement of Macao, which proved as interesting as they were satisfactory.
In the course of their peregrinations about the mountains on the island, as far as the fishing village on the south side of the island, known as Little Hong-kong (sweet-waters), the naturalists of the Expedition were accompanied by Dr. Hance, the botanist, and the missionary, Dr. Lobscheid, both thoroughly acquainted with the Chinese language. Little as the pretty name of this small settlement, founded so far back as 1668, is applicable to the entire island, it yet corresponds well, and is eminently suitable, to the smiling valley, entirely shut in by lofty rocks, in which lies wretched Little Hong-kong. A beautiful wood filled with tufts of flowers, forming for the labours of the botanist a rich supply of the most splendid plants, and refreshed by copious springs of water from the
mountains, constitute a lovely landscape. Above the limit of vegetation of the foliage trees, are seen on the slopes of the mountain groups of pines, while the level ground at the bottom of the valley is laid out in smiling rice fields. The miserable inhabitants of the village, which looks gloomily out from among the trees, are not safe from the predatory onslaughts of ferocious pirates, even among the recesses of the valley. The streets of the village, hidden between trees, are uncommonly narrow, so that two men can scarcely pass each other, and the huts are all placed on purpose close against each other, in order, we were told, to be able more easily to admit of defence. Our rambles were rewarded with an abundant collection of specimens, and were particularly instructive in a geognostical point of view, as satisfying us that the island does not consist entirely of granite, but that a large proportion of the mountain is porphyritic.
Another excursion was made by the Commodore and some of his staff as far as Canton. The Commandant of the station, Commodore Stewart, had for this purpose placed the gun-boat Algerine at our disposal. The distance from Hong-kong to Canton is about 87 nautical miles (100 statute miles), and the voyage took full eleven hours, viz. from 6.30 A.M. to 5.30 P.M.
Canton, the third capital of the Chinese Empire, and its most flourishing commercial city, which but a short time before had numbered about 1,000,000 inhabitants, was at this period a desolate, almost entirely abandoned mass of houses,
half in ruins, half burnt. The stately European factories, which had adorned the banks of the river up to the walls of the Chinese city, were heaps of ashes. The floating town upon the river itself, the renowned flower-boats of Canton, with their marvellous splendour and their luxurious beauty, had entirely disappeared, leaving no trace. Whoever had anything to lose had fled the country. English sentinels patrolled the walls and occupied the streets of the interior of the city, and only the very poorest of the mob remained behind, watching every opportunity of getting the "head-money," which the Mandarins of the province of Kuang-Tung had offered for every head of a "barbarian" brought in. "The state of matters in Canton gets worse and worse every day," said the latest issue of the Hong-kong journals. Since the Americans and Russians had concluded private treaties with the Imperial Government, and the English and French allied fleet had gone north to the Gulf of Pe-Cheli, to treat at Tien-Tsin with the Imperial commissioners, the Chinese of Canton had been plucking up courage. They conceived the allies to be isolated; the Russians and the Americans they held to be hostile to them. The Mandarins and Imperial commissioners launched proclamations by the dozen at the "foreign devils,"[118] set on foot organized Guerilla bands,
which were called "Braves," who every night discharged rockets into the city, murdered and pillaged, and kept the allied troops, who were only 3500 strong (800 of whom were in hospital) almost continually on the alert.