of the Empire, or, as they are
generally called, "out-ports"; while the British colony of Hongkong
stands in the same relation to out-ports in the south.

Hongkong has now no connection whatever with China, being entirely a
British possession, and has been converted from a barren rock to a
most lovely, thriving and important commercial town and naval base,
and is the greatest triumph of British enterprise and material
civilisation that I know of.

Nearly all these out-ports are in telegraphic communication with
either Shanghai or Hongkong, and through them with the outside world,
while the postal service is conducted by means of coast and river
steamers which, plying regularly with passengers and cargo, have bases
in these two emporiums, so that in whatever port you reside your
thoughts and your interests are daily and directly concerned with
either one or the other. From them come the daily newspapers,
arriving, maybe, several days after date of issue, but still fresh
reading for those in distant places. From them come the gun-boats
which, besides protection, bring the welcome society of jovial naval
men, and from them come commercial travellers with assortments of
hats, boots, guns, clothes and other necessaries; while to them we go
to embark for home, or, when in need of a social holiday, to chip off
the rust of out-port seclusion, until eventually we look to them for
many of our creature comforts, and through them, as through a window,
to the world beyond.

Existence at both Shanghai and Hongkong is surrounded with so many
Western accessories in the shape of good houses, electric light,
excellent roads, horses and carriages, bands in public gardens and
hourly telegrams, that life at an out-port, while at times very
monotonous, is frequently more interesting, for there, being less
overshadowed by the pleasure of foreign society, you may come into
closer touch with things Chinese, so that if the study of a people the
most antiquated and wonderful under the sun has attractions for any,
this, together with the many facilities for the enjoyment of sport and
outdoor life, should be sufficient to bring occasional contentment to
even the most despondent.

From the extreme north to the extreme south, and from the sea to the
mean west, that is, along the coast line and up the River Yangtse for
fourteen hundred miles to Chungking, these nests of British enterprise
adhere like barnacles to China's stolid bulk, dominating h