mentioned make me lean rather to the former than to the latter side of
the story.

_Friday, February 23rd_.--Another pleasant day. The wind dropped,
fires were lighted, and at 4.30 p.m. we proceeded under steam. Soon
after seven, whilst we were at dinner, the table gave a sudden lurch,
which was followed by the sound of rain on the deck above. We found
that a breeze had sprung up all at once, and had carried away some of
our head-sails before they could possibly be taken in. Even under
close-reefed canvas we had a most uneasy night, racing along at from
ten to twelve knots an hour.

_Saturday, February 24th_.--We were rushing along, literally _through_
the water all day, for there was plenty of it on deck--not really any
great quantity, but sufficient to make everything wet and
uncomfortable.

At 1.35 we made the island of Ockseu, a capital land-fall, and very
satisfactory in every way; for the sky was too much overcast to get an
observation, and the currents hereabouts are strong and variable.
During the night the wind fell light, but we maintained a speed of
from nine to ten knots.

_Sunday, February 25th_.--A much finer day. At 8 a.m. we had run 299
knots since the same time yesterday. We met a large steamer and passed
a brigantine; also several Chinese junks. About twelve o'clock we saw
a flag being waved frantically from a junk not far from us. At first
we thought something was wrong with them; but soon a small boat put
off with three men, and we found, on its arrival alongside, that it
contained a pilot anxious for a job. He was very disappointed that we
would not let him come on board; but Tom always likes doing the
pilotage himself. The boat was a rough wash-tub kind of affair, not
much better than those used by the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego and
Patagonia.

About two o'clock we entered the tropics; but the weather is now
colder again, and not nearly so pleasant as it was two days ago. I
suppose it is owing to the north-east monsoon.

In the course of the afternoon we received several more offers of
pilotage, all of which were declined; and at 7.45 we got up steam and
lay to all night, ready to go into Hongkong harbour at daylight.

_Monday, February 26th_.--At 4 a.m. we found ourselves close under the
light on the eastern end of the island of Hongkong. We were surrounded
by islands, and the morning was dark and thick; so we waited till
5.30, and then steamed on through the Kowloon passage up to