The Temple was said to contain 1,000,000 lanterns, and was altogether remarkably well got up. I met the Chinese jugglers for the first time at this place, and I must say they are remarkably dexterous. One of the best tricks I saw them execute is this—the performer, after showing the audience that he has nothing concealed about him and going through a series of gymnastics to convince them, will suddenly stop, stoop down, and from under his ordinary Chinese robe produce an immense bowl filled to the brim with water; so full, indeed, that the slightest movement would spill some, yet the trick is executed without a drop falling to the ground.
While lounging through the "palace of 1,000,000 lanterns," I found the first opportunity to study that absurd jargon, "pidgeon English." I was watching one of the most expert jugglers, when a fine, portly, evidently well-to-do Chinaman came up, and addressed me with—
"Hi-ya! this piecee man belong numbah one. Can do so fashon? ga la!"
More by good luck than comprehension, I happened to hit upon his meaning that the man was very clever, and his inquiry as to whether I approved of the trick. After a few more general and equally ambiguous remarks, in which some of my interlocutor's friends joined and made a worse confusion, he thought we had had enough of the wizard, and invited me to partake of some Chinese good cheer in these words:—
"S'pose you no wantche look see, mi wantche you come along mi catchee samshoo."
Having nothing better to do, and thinking it a good opportunity to ascertain a little of Chinese character, I accepted his proposal, and we adjourned to a restaurant department close by, where I spent a short time very pleasantly—telling the Chinamen about railways, balloons, submarine telegraph, &c., and receiving in return copious information upon pidgeon (business) and the Chinese politics of Hong-Kong. My friends were loud and unanimous in praise of the colony, and declared it, and all pertaining to it, "numbah one;" while they quite as heartily expressed their dissatisfaction with the state of their country and its Manchoo Government. At last, I was obliged to leave them in a hurry, having a confounded middle watch to keep, and we parted with mutual protestations of good will, amidst which might have been prominently distinguished, "Engleman numbah one," "Chinaman numbah one," "Chin-chin, ga la!" &c.
Hong-Kong is highly appreciated by the Chinese, who, to escape from the tyranny and rapacity of their Manchoo rulers, stifle their national pride, and flock to it in great numbers. Those who have preferred British jurisdiction to the unendurable state of their own country are mostly respectable men; but, of course, there is another and a disreputable party. Hong-Kong, besides affording shelter and advantages to the honest and worthy, has been quite as useful to bad characters and criminals from the mainland; and as these latter have not been slow to avail themselves of its protection, the result is that gangs of robbers and pirates have become located amongst the large native population. Until quite lately, a walk at evening, outside the precincts of the town, was likely to terminate unpleasantly, as these fly-by-night gentlemen were often hanging about with an eye to business. Many Europeans have returned from a late walk considerably edified upon this point; some have never returned, for the Chinese marauders are particularly unscrupulous. A couple of philanthropists one night thought to relieve me of the burden of my purse while I was taking a moonlight stroll barely beyond the houses of Victoria; but the arguments of a Penang lawyer proved so effectual—thanks to Sergeant-Major Winterbottom and its own toughness—that they were glad to forego their unwelcome attentions and decamp, leaving a memento of the meeting in the shape of an ugly-looking rusty knife.
This sort of thing, however, is becoming less frequent, in consequence of the increased police force; but there is another and a much greater evil, almost as bad as ever—that is, piracy. The whole coast, for several hundred miles north and south, is infested with pirates, and the peculiar formation of the land about Hong-Kong, (with its many bays, creeks, inlets, and rivers of every description,) affords them a rendezvous with the most perfect means of concealment. Many piratical craft carry on their depredations quite within sight of the colony; some vessels have even been plundered, and their crews massacred, upon its waters, with a large fleet of British gunboats lying uselessly almost within gunshot-range. Some of the wealthiest Chinese in Hong-Kong have been discovered to be in connection with the pirates, and even Europeans have been implicated.
About five years ago a large English brig was captured, and many of her crew murdered, in full sight of the signal-station at Victoria Peak. This case happened to come under my own observation.
The North Star sailed from Hong-Kong early one morning, bound for Japan, in ballast, but carrying some 12,000 dollars in specie. Her crew consisted of seventeen persons all told, including two passengers, to whom the treasure belonged. The wind being very light, the vessel made but little progress, and towards evening became nearly becalmed about seven miles from the anchorage. About this time the Chinese pilot left, and was observed to communicate with a native junk which had followed in the wake of the brig all day, unfortunately without exciting the apprehension of those on board.
Soon after the pilot's departure, the Chinese steward brought the captain his revolver, and asked him if he wished it to be cleaned; unsuspectingly he discharged all the barrels and returned it to the steward. At this moment the junk—which had gradually been edging down, the light airs sensibly affecting her broad lateen sails, though the brig was almost stationary—having approached within fifty yards, suddenly became alive with men, although only two or three had previously been visible. Putting out large sweeps they commenced pulling rapidly towards the brig.
The captain of the North Star perceived the danger too late, and rushed to the cabin for a musket (four of which comprised the whole armament), calling upon the crew to arm themselves as best they could, and get the watch below on deck. The pirates crashed alongside, and instantly cast a shower of stink-pots on the deck of their prey, killing the man at the wheel, and severely burning two others of the crew. Fore and aft the pirates boarded in overwhelming numbers. The captain ran on deck with a musket, and with him, similarly armed, the two passengers and the second mate. At the same time the mate, in the fore part of the vessel, had snatched up a deck handspike, the carpenter an axe, and the rest of the crew whatever they could lay their hands on. The captain and his supporters levelled their pieces, and with care and coolness pulled the trigger, the caps snapped—but that was all. The steward, after so cunningly inducing the captain to empty his revolver, had filled the nipples of each musket; he was, of course, the accomplice of the pirates, and jumped on board their junk directly she touched the sides of the vessel he had betrayed.
In a moment the captain, second mate, and one of the passengers were cut down, shockingly wounded by the swords and spears with which the pirates were armed, while the remaining passenger jumped overboard. Meanwhile, overpowered by numbers, and without arms to defend themselves, the remainder of the crew, with the exception of two or three who escaped, had been massacred. The mate, after desperately defending himself with his heavy handspike, and breaking the skulls of several assailants, received a fearful gash across the face, destroying both eyes. The carpenter buried his axe in the brain of one pirate, but, before he could recover himself, was cut down by another. In a similar way all the crew, except two men and a boy, were stretched dead or dying on the deck. The three who escaped and afterwards gave evidence, saved themselves by climbing up the forestay and hiding in the top. They were part of the watch below, and directly they emerged from the hatchway saw one of their shipmates lying half under the fore trysail (the halyards of which had been let go by the pirates while seeking ropes to make their junk fast alongside) weltering in his blood; this, and the horrid noise of the slaughter taking place abaft, warned them to seek safety aloft, while the trysail screened them from observation.
After getting the treasure on deck, and placing it on board their junk, the pirates plundered the North Star of everything of value, and then left her, sweeping themselves rapidly to seaward. When the junk was a long way off, the three survivors descended from their place of concealment, did all they could to alleviate the sufferings of the few yet alive on deck, and steered in for the harbour with a light breeze that had sprung up. After midnight the wind fell again; and, lowering a small boat, two of the three got into her, and pulled for the shipping. They reached my ship first; and, sending them on to the next vessel (H.M.S. Impérieuse) for a surgeon, we manned