ses are erected on the sides of
the canals, where the different workmen have also taken up their
residence in miserable huts that, built half upon the ground and
half upon worm-eaten piles, stretch far out over the water.

I had now been altogether, from July 13th to August 20th, five weeks
in Canton. The season was the hottest in the whole year, and the
heat was really insupportable. In the house, the glass rose as high
as 94.5 degrees, and out of doors, in the shade, as high as 99
degrees. To render this state of things bearable, the inhabitants
use, besides the punkas in the rooms, wicker-work made of bamboo.
This wicker-work is placed before the windows and doors, or over
those portions of the roofs under which the workshops are situated.
Even whole walls are formed of it, standing about eight or ten feet
from the real ones, and provided with entrances, window-openings,
and roofs. The houses are most effectually disguised by it.

On my return to Hong-Kong, I again set out on board a junk, but not
so fearlessly as the first time; the unhappy end of Monsieur Vauchee
was still fresh in my memory. I took the precaution of packing up
the few clothes and linen I had in the presence of the servants,
that they might be convinced that any trouble the pirates might give
themselves on my account would be thrown away.

On the evening of the 20th of August I bade Canton, and all my
friends there, farewell; and at 9 o'clock I was once again floating
down the Si-Kiang, or Pearl stream, famous for the deeds of horror
perpetrated on it.

CHAPTER IX. THE EAST INDIES--SINGAPORE.

ARRIVAL IN HONG-KONG--THE ENGLISH STEAMER--SINGAPORE PLANTATIONS--A
HUNTING PARTY IN THE JUNGLE--A CHINESE FUNERAL--THE FEAST OF
LANTERNS--TEMPERATURE AND CLIMATE.

The passage from Canton to Hong-Kong was accomplished without any
circumstance worthy of notice, save the time it took, in consequence
of the prevalence of contrary winds the whole way. We were, it is
true, woke up the first night by the report of guns; but I expect
they were not fired at us, as we were not molested. My travelling
companions, the Chinese, also behaved themselves on this occasion
with the greatest politeness and decorum; and, had I been enabled to
look into the future, I would willingly have given up the English
steamer and pursued my journey as far as Singapore on board a junk.
But as this was impossible, I availed myself of the English steamer,
"Pekin," of