nd of its importance in the eyes of the Chinese themselves, is afforded
by the immense sums paid by some of them for ground on which to build
_Hongs_, where they can deposit their goods with safety, beyond the
reach of their grasping Mandarins. This advantage to a China-man is
something so new, and so far beyond any thing he ever dreamed of
enjoying, that I conceive the benefits likely to accrue from it to Hong
Kong to be incalculable.

Goods stored in Canton or Macao, the property of a China-man, were
never safe in the event of their owner getting into trouble with the
Chinese Authorities; and, if the property of foreigners, they could not
be insured against fire, the risk arising from the universal
carelessness of the Chinese, and the consequent very frequent occurrence
of extensive conflagrations, being considered too great by the
under-writers. Both these difficulties are completely obviated in Hong
Kong; and every substantially built house and warehouse, together with
the property in them, were insured against fire, previously to my
quitting the Island. One China-man had, in March last, completed
buildings for the storage of property collected from the different ports
on the coast, on which upwards of 40,000 dollars had been laid out; and
what is more, they were already well filled.

As a convenient and safe _depot_ for opium, (a trade, in my opinion,
quite as legitimate and honourable as that in brandy, gin, and other
spirits,) Hong Kong is admirably situated: the purchaser from the
western ports, as well as from the northeastern, finds the distance he
has to travel moderate, and, on his arrival, has no one to dread, no
Mandarin daring to shew his face on shore. The ships that bring the drug
from India, here find a safe and commodious harbour, where they can
unload their cargoes in open day, without hinderance or molestation, and
where they are not driven to the necessity of carrying on their
operations in the dark. Were the opium-trade actually one of mere
smuggling, I would be as ready as any one to condemn it, and to raise my
voice against those concerned in it; but when one considers that not a
hundredth part of the quantity sold annually is really smuggled,--that
ninety-nine chests out of every hundred pay a heavy duty, (mis-called a
bribe,)--that the Chinese Government derives from it indirectly, but not
the less certainly, a very considerable revenue,--and finally, that
large quantities of it are known to