d maiming him for life.

A gun carriage was thrown past us into the fort, breaking through the
roof, and falling directly in the place where an officer had been seated
writing, but a few moments before.

After the explosion a number of smaller ones took place, and then the
remains of the ill-fated frigate burned to the water's edge.

Her magazine was said to have contained eighteen thousand pounds of
powder. Three hundred barrels of sixty pounds each, for which orders
came out a few days later, to be stowed in the magazine in Macao, and
the frigate to proceed to Lisbon.

The disaster was attributed to design. The gunner was said to have fired
the magazine for revenge.

It was said that only a few days previous, he had been severely
reprimanded by the Captain, for some neglect of duty, and that the
Captain had pulled his beard.

Afterwards he told his messmates that he could not survive such an
indignity, that he was an old man, and had not long to live, but when he
died, others should die too.

This is the way the Portuguese account for the loss of the vessel and
her crew.

Out of all those picked up, but one survived! Our own escape can only be
attributed to the protecting hand of that Providence, without whose
knowledge not even the smallest sparrow can fall to the ground
unnoticed.

CHAPTER VII.

Visit Hong-Kong--A beautiful Morning--Harbor of Hong-Kong
--Settlement of Victoria--Line-of-battle ship Hastings--
Forecastle logic--An arrival from the Northern Seas--Her
B. M. S. Herald--Salutes--Description of Victoria--Club
House--Health of Hong-Kong--Death vacancies--Feasting and
Fetes--Ball--Pic-Nic--Departure from Hong-Kong.

A visit to Hong-Kong had been some time in contemplation, and
accordingly on Friday afternoon, twenty-ninth of November, we unmoored,
and at three o'clock on Saturday morning, weighed the remaining anchor,
and drifted with the ebb towards the entrance of the Typa, but sticking
fast on a mud bank, had to wait for the next tide, which luckily bore us
off on the afternoon of the same day, when we got out and underway.

Upon one of the most beautiful mornings I had ever seen in this climate,
Sunday, the first of December, we were approaching Hong-Kong harbor,
with easy tacks, and came to anchor off the town at noon.

The harbor is a very fine one, having sufficient depth to float vessels
of the largest size, which is indicated by its color, being of a
beautiful b