transformation effected in
less than a decade had been magical; yet that was only the bloom
[Page 8]
of babyhood, compared with the rich maturity of the, present day.

A daily steamer then sufficed for its trade with Canton; a weekly
packet connected it with Shanghai; and the bulk of its merchandise
was still carried in sailing ships or Chinese junks. How astounding
the progress that has marked the last half-century! The streets that
meandered, as it were, among the valleys, or fringed the water's
edge, now girdle the hills like rows of seats in a huge amphitheatre;
a railway lifts the passenger to the mountain top; and other railways
whirl him from hill to hill along the dizzy height. I Trade, too,
has multiplied twenty fold. In a commercial report for the year
ending June, 1905, it is stated that in amount of tonnage Hong
Kong has become the banner port of the world.

Though politically Hong Kong is not China, more than 212,000 of its
busy population (about 221,000) are Chinese; and it is preeminently
the gate of China. By a wise and liberal policy the British Government
has made it the chief emporium of the Eastern seas.

We now take a trip to Canton and cross a bay studded with islands.
These are clothed with copious verdure, but, like all others on the
China coast, lack the crowning beauty of trees. In passing we get
a glimpse of Macao, a pretty town under the flag of the Portuguese,
the pioneers of Eastern trade. The oldest foreign settlement in China,
it dates from 1544--not quite a half-century after the discovery
of the route to India, an achievement whose fourth centenary was
celebrated in 1898. If it could be ascertained on what
[Page 9]
day some adventurous argonaut pushed the quest of the Golden Fleece
to Farther India, as China was then designated, that exploit might
with equal appropriateness be commemorated also.

The city of Macao stands a monument of Lusitanian enterprise.
Beautifully situated on a projecting spur of an island, it is a
favourite summer resort of foreign residents in the metropolis.
It has a population of about 70,000, mostly Chinese, and contains
two tombs that make it sacred in my eyes; namely, that of Camoeens,
author of "The Lusiad" and poet of Gama's voyage, and that of Robert
Morrison, the pioneer of Protestant missions, the centennial of
whose arrival had in 1907 a brilliant celebration.

Entering the Pearl River, a fine stream 500 miles in length, whose
affluents spread