After a stay of two days in Macao, the naturalists returned to Hong-kong, where they had to devote the little time that would elapse ere the frigate sailed to sorting and packing the collections, and arranging for their transmission: for the manipulation of packing is, as Humboldt well remarked, as important as actual science in such undertakings. That naturalist confers but a small boon on science, whose only care is to collect, but who takes no pains to preserve, the fruits of his labour, by an exact indication of the place where found, and such special particulars as may prevent mistakes, and by carefully guarding against damage to the objects about to be sent, while on their way.
The kind reception and hospitality of our new friends in Hong-kong remained undiminished to the very last moment of our stay. We were fairly overwhelmed with attentions of
all sorts, each apparently striving to make us forget the unfavourable circumstances under which we visited the Empire of China.
The steamer Hong-kong, early on the morning of 18th July, towed us out through the narrow Eastern Straits, the Ly-e-num Pass, and the Ta-thong-wun Channel, into the open sea. As we passed alongside the English frigate Nankin, carrying the broad pendant of the amiable and excellent Commodore Stewart, our band played "God save the Queen," while the English ensign was dipped, by way of parting salute. A little further on the Chinese Comprador, who had supplied the Novara with provisions daily during her stay, had stationed himself in his boat to give us a parting farewell with a roar of gong-gong, while innumerable rockets whizzed and exploded in the air.
We found a tolerably high sea outside, but a fine fresh S.W. breeze, under which we rapidly increased our distance from the shore. In like manner as when we entered, we had now in getting out to thread our way among thousands of fishing-boats sailing about in couples, which cruise about to a distance of even 50 and 60 miles to sea. The steamer which towed us through the narrow Eastern Channel, and had us just four hours and twenty minutes in tow, charged the amount of 300 dollars (£63), so that each minute of towing cost rather over one dollar. After making a tack towards Lemma Island, in order to avoid the dangerous Nine-pin rock, the wind sprung up from E.S.E., so that we were
enabled to lie our proper course, and by sundown had cleared Piedra bianca.
With fine weather and a fresh S.W. monsoon our voyage was so speedy, that by 2nd July we were in the latitude of Formosa, but without being able to distinguish the high land, either on the Chinese coast or on that island, and by 23rd July we were off the Saddle Islands, at the mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang.
Just as we reached this, the door, as it were, through which we had to enter, the weather chose to change with the utmost suddenness. Calms and contrary winds, coupled with the powerful current of the mighty river, sweeping through the islands, prevented our further advance, and on the 24th we had to cast anchor near the easternmost Saddle Island. Close to us on every side were numbers of other ships equally unfortunate with ourselves, while the spectacle of the steamers, pursuing their course without feeling any obstruction, filled us with envy. We had taken a Chinese pilot on board, and by 25th July were in sight of Gutzlaff, a small islet of rock 210 feet high, the best land-mark of the "Son of Ocean," and just before sunset anchored off the outer bar. We now had fair breezes, and without further obstacles passed over the bar in from 30 to 33 feet water, which in bad weather, however, is exceedingly dangerous. We were still out of sight of land; even the islands we had already passed sank below the horizon, and still there was nothing visible but an unbroken expanse of yellowish-red water, which reflected
with the utmost brilliancy the rays of the sun. A light-ship moored to a sand-bank, and a wreck on another sand-bank, are, after leaving Gutzlaff Island, the sole land-marks by which the pilot can hope to keep the channel, which is only from one to two miles wide in this vast shoreless river estuary. Indeed the entrance of the Yang-tse-Kiang is regarded as one of the most difficult feats for a large ship. With favourable wind and weather, the Novara cleared without accident the 47 miles between the bar and the place where the Wusung falls into the Yang-tse-Kiang, and on the evening of the 26th July dropped anchor in front of Wusung. The navigation presented little that was interesting, yet each man involuntarily felt a thrill as he reflected that he was sailing in the current of the longest river in China, whose source lies thousands of miles inland at Khukkunor, among the Mangolians.
As we neared Wusung, signs of life began to be visible on the river itself; tall three-masters were passing, bound in or out, and scores of Chinese junks with their peculiar rig and build. Far above the light-ship the shore first became visible, low, flat, scarcely above the level of the river, but green and fertile. A Pagoda of the well-known form of the Porcelain tower of Nankin and a few lofty trees enable the pilot to take the bearings of the channel at this point. Only the land on the left is actual mainland, the shore on the right being the coast of the island of Tsuning, lying at the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Wusung, this southern