his tall body swayed to and fro with agitation, and a succession of heavy groans seemed to rend his very heart: thus he stood for more than a minute; then suddenly turning round, he strode amongst the trees, and fell prostrate, or nearly so, with his arms encompassing the tomb.

'We must render him assistance, Mitchell,' said I, although I undisguisedly own that the circumstance had produced an impression of alarm.

'No, massa-nebber!' responded an aged negro, who had followed us from the house; 'let him a be, spose you please; he for come better, by littlee minute when you all gone. He for taalk too much dis morning; make him tink sorry for noder time long ago.'

'You are right, Cæsar,' observed Mitchell; 'but look well after him, boy. I was in hopes he had quite recovered from these attacks.'

'My massa for good deal much better,' said Cæsar; "but da tranger dere,' pointing at me with his chin, 'he hab face all same; palavar all same as da poor picanniny em bury in de bush.' The fallen man moved. Go, massa, go,' continued the negro; 'you no top longer; Golamity bless Massa Mitchell; go den quick, and no let em boys sing em chant hearee, spose you please.'

We hastily embarked, and the boatmen, who had witnessed the scene, were too eager to get away from the place to require any orders to stretch out; they bent manfully to the oars, and in a few minutes we swept round a point of land that entirely separated us from the spot. I eagerly inquired of Mitchell the meaning of the strange and remarkable incidents which I had witnessed. He gave me a brief outline of Hammerton's history, that only served to prompt my curiosity, and induce me subsequently to collect all the information I possibly could, and which at some future time may be presented to the reader.

CHINESE SKETCHES.

A WORK of merit, entitled the Fan-qui in China, in 1836-7, by C. Toogood Downing, Esq., was some time ago presented to the public. Of all the accounts that have yet been given of the customs and character of the Chinese, as observable in their intercourse with foreigners -or Fan-qui, as they are termed by the people of the Celestial Empire-this seems to us to be the most luminous and complete. A few extracts will satisfy the reader of the interesting character of this production.

At the date of the book, the whole of the trade of foreigners with the Chinese was restricted to the single port of Canton. This city is situated on the south-eastern coast. of China, near the mouth of the Tigris, a river of nearly the same size as the Thames. The Tigris debouches into a bay or rather a firth, at the opening of which into the sea is situated the ancient Portuguese station of Macao, distant some eighty or ninety miles from Canton. On entering this bay or firth, numerous ships and boats are seen, indicating sufficiently to the visitor the neighbourhood of the great port where traders are assembled from every country on the face of the earth. But it is on reaching the proper mouth of the Tigris that the characteristic wonders of the Canton port are seen. Thousands -using the word in an exact sense-of native vessels, of all kinds and dimensions, stud the river for the seventy miles between its mouth and Canton. The most of these are small craft, that in various ways attend on, and derive profit from, the foreign vessels that visit the port. The subjoined list includes but a few of these native craft, some of which carry government agents, while others, and the greater number, have private purposes in view: pilot-boats, clerk-boats, fishing-boats, smuggling or smugboats-called Centipedes, from the number of their oars— burden-boats, egg-boats, duck-boats, barber-boats, fruit

boats, wash-boats, &c. One of the most remarkable features about these small craft, the uses of most of which are indicated by their names, is that the people on board of them spend the greater portion of their lives there, going on shore only for a short time when necessity requires. Families, including of course wives and children, pass their days in these water-houses as happily as others do on dry land. As the existence and numbers of these floating dwellings constitute the most striking characteristic of the port of Canton, we may extract Mr Downing's description of the wash-boats :-

'The wash-boats are about twenty feet long, and of a proportionable breadth, and appear, like the present fashion of our shoes, to be cropped at the ends. The whole of the inside is covered over with boards, so that this decking is within a few inches of the gunwale. Some of the planks are made to be removed at pleasure, and thus there are very extensive cupboards between them and the flat bottom of the boats. Pieces of wood are then fastened in an upright direction round the edge of the boat, which support the covering or house. This is made of a very coarse kind of matting, formed of thin pieces of bamboo woven together, and fastened into a semicircular form by ribs of stiffer portions of the same material. Two or three of these tiles are placed upon the tops of the uprights; and as one portion overlaps the other, the whole forms a very good protection from the heat of the sun. In the winter, or during rainy weather, pieces of rough cloth are hung round the sides of this domicile; and always during the night, when the inhabitants wish to be private, the open end of the house in front is closed with a piece of matting. One oar at the side, and another astern, which is managed by sculling, serve to put the whole affair into tolerably quick motion. The only furniture to be seen within, is a square of matting and a wooden pillow for each inmate.

'This desirable mansion, "surrounded with every convenience of wood and water," as the auctioneers would say, is occupied by three or four Chinese girls, who

perhaps hardly ever stir out of it the whole year round, unless to attend to their religious duties. The meanest beggar in England would shrink from being confined to such a place, yet these girls seem not only content, but even cheerful and happy. Their red, good-natured faces are to be seen peeping out of the matting, and always with a smile or a laugh at your service.' The fruit-boats are also managed by girls. These women,' says our author, 'are remarkably strong, and manage their sanpans (boats) so well, that I have occasionally seen one of them with a single scull at the stern, come up with a four-oared cutter, and keep up the chase as long as she thought there was a chance of selling her stores.' On emerging from the hubbub of boats and crowd of vessels on the river, the stranger who visits Canton is shewn to one of the two great hotels, where the majority of those who come to stay but a short time in the place reside. Mr Downing gives a curious account of the inconveniences to which a stranger is subjected in these hotels. You are provided with a small numbered apartment, which you lock on leaving it, carrying off the key with you. One of the many Chinese servants who loiter about the establishment, attaches himself to your service, which he does not quit till you depart. All the English he is master of consists generally of 'What thing you wantshee?' or 'No saavez;' or 'Can;' which last word is the token of assent, corresponding to ay or yes. These men are faithful enough attendants, as far as their abilities go, but they league themselves with merchants of the city, and thus lead to annoyances which Mr Downing describes as follows:- In the morning, you are awaked rather early by a rap at the door, and the only answer you can obtain to your repeated summons to know who it is, and to desire the disturber to come in, is a repetition of the knocking in a louder and still more noisy manner. After wearying yourself to no purpose with quietly desiring your visitor to enter, you are at last obliged to bawl out with all your force, and perhaps with some little asperity, believing it to be your valet-de

chambre. This decisive conduct produces some effect, for you hear the handle turned round, and quickly afterwards see the head of a Chinaman thrust in, and peeping through the half-opened door. You look at the pig-tailed apparition, and try to discover an old acquaintance, but you are generally disappointed; while he is doing all he can to make his intrusion acceptable. He smiles, and grins, and nods his head at you, as if he had known you for a dozen years, and was delighted to recognise you again. To his repeated salutations, you cannot help returning the like, however much you may have been annoyed by the disturbance; and thus the scene would be highly ridiculous to a looker-on, to see two heads grinning and bowing to each other, while the rest of the body was perfectly hidden, on one side by the door, and on the other by the bed-clothes.

'After these preliminary salutations have proceeded for some little time, your visitor slowly discovers the remainder of his person, edging timidly and slowly within the door, until he has fairly shut it behind him; but yet keeping his hand upon the handle, to secure an immediate retreat in case he should meet with a bad reception. He then goes through the ceremonies which are necessary to be observed by those who enter a room, and which consist of a certain number of bendings of the body, according to the rank of the respective parties. Having completed this part of his duty, he then proceeds to inform you of the nature of his visit; and you soon discover that he is a shopkeeper, or an agent of one, who goes about to collect orders. A small bundle or

bag which he carries under his arm is quickly unfastened, and as he shews the contents one after the other, he says: "I like werry much do litee pidgeon* long you. What thing you wantshee? You wantshee all same sealee, all same chessmen, all same paper-knife?" or whatever he may have about him. Some of these men come from the best shops, are intelligent, and able to talk English

*Pidgeon is the Chinese word for business, and to an English car is most ominous of plucking.