evils among their neighbors across the Atlantic Ocean, to penetrate clear through the earth and detect the existence of evils, though they should even wear more monstrous forms.

It may not be very agreeable intelligence to the British public, but the fact is incontestable, that the principal article of commerce at Hongkong is opium. It is here that are found the immense establishments of the two greatest opium houses in China; and in the beautiful harbor, one of the finest in the world, may be seen, all the year round, several large receivingships, from whose mast-heads fly the colors of Great Britain. Nay, more than this; with the boldness to assume the responsibilities of this nefarious traffic, the example of which was given to its servants and subjects by the Parliament of England, and as if in defiance of the authorities of China, in 1815 Governor Davis licensed the public sale of opium by retail in Hongkong! We cannot give a better account of this daring measure, than by quoting the following from a recent work on China, by R. Montgomery Martin, who was at the time Colonial Treasurer, and a member of the Executive Council of Hongkong. He says:

"Twenty opium shops have been licensed in Hongkong within gun-shot of the Chinese empire, where such an offense is death! Hong

kong has now, therefore, been made the lawful opium smoking-shop, where the most sensual, degraded, and depraved of the Chinese, may securely perpetrate crimes which degrade men far below the level of the brute, and revel in a

vice which destroys body and soul; which has no parallel in its fascinating seduction, in its inexpressible misery, or in its appalling ruin. When the governor proposed the conversion of Hongkong into a legalized opium shop, under the assumed license of our most gracious and religious sovereign, I felt bound, as a sworn member of Her Majesty's Council in China, to endeavor to dissuade him from this great crime; but no reasoning would induce him to follow the noble example of the Emperor of China, who, when urged to derive a revenue from the importation of opium, thus righteously recorded his sentiments in an answer which would have

been worthy of a Christian monarch:

It is

true I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people! But money was deemed of more consequence in Hongkong than morality; it was determined, in the name of her majesty, to sell the permission to the highest bidder by public auction, of the exclusive right to poison the Chinese in Hongkong-and to open a given number of opium

shops, under the protection of the police, for the commission of this appalling vice. Would and established a smuggling depot on their we have acted thus toward France or Russia,

shores in a prohibited and terrific poison? We dare not. Why then should we legalize and protect this dreadful traffic on an island given to us by the government of China, as a residence and for commercial intercourse ?"

From this "smuggling depôt,” as a great center, radiates the terrible traffic along the coast and through the interior of China. We need not here trace the history of the extension of this traffic from the waters of Canton along the extended coast which the Chinese empire presents. The dealers in the drug soon became convinced of the inability of the government

to enforce the laws and edicts which it had promulged against the trade, and impelled by the same insatiable thirst for gain which first induced them to participate in a traffic so dishonorable, the opium merchants began to make experimental voyages along the coast as early as 1520. Most of these adventurous trips were successful, and before long receiving-ships were stationed at various points on the eastern coast, and opium-clippers began to make regular trips of delivery from Hongkong to Shanghai. The ever-wakeful authorities of Great Britain in the East, convinced, from the experiments already British commerce to other ports in China, made, of the practicability of extending now turned their attention to this subject, and on the 27th of February, 1835, Sir G. B. Robinson, the successor of Lord Napier as Chief Superintendent of British trade in China, wrote the following to Viscount Lord Palmerston :—

"From the period when the first ship, the Merope, Captain Parkins, in 1820-21, commenced the system of delivering opium at various places, I have closely questioned intelligent men who have had opportunities of making observations; and the result of my inquiries is the conviction, that the people are intensely desirous to engage in a traffic, certain to prove alike advantageous to themselves and foreigners; that the mandarins are anxious to benefit

thereby, but are reluctantly, perhaps, compelled to enforce the prohibitions regarding trade; and that an opening for almost unbounded commercial operations would be the desirable effect of little more than a demonstration on the part of our government of a determination to establish a proper understanding in the political and commercial relations of the two countries."

That "little more than a demonstration on the part of our government," was made in the opium war of 1840, and now "the

66

system of delivering opium at various places" along the Chinese coast is perfect. Opium stations are numerous; large wellmanned and well-armed receiving-ships begirt the eastern coast of China; with which is connected, on the one hand, an extensive line of fast-sailing brigantines delivering to them every few days their supply of the pernicious drug; and on the other, any quantity of "fast-crabs" and scrambling dragons," manned by desperadoes of the worst and lowest class, conveying the seductive poison along the coast and up the rivers. All the iniquities of fraud, perjury, bribery, and even violence, the usual concomitants of contraband trade, are practiced, and occasionally fatal collisions occur between them and the native authorities. But then, "the people are intensely desirous to engage in a traffic, certain to prove alike advantageous to themselves and foreigners," by diffusing poverty and death among the former, and filling the coffers of the latter; and then, "our government has made a little more than a demonstration," and thus a "proper understanding" has been secured between the two countries; and "an opening for almost unbounded commercial operations" has been secured under the protection of the flag of "our most gracious and religious sovereign.”

Under this arrangement, thirty-three vessels, possessing an aggregate tonnage of 12,416 tons, are known to be moored all the year round at different stations on the coast, and eighteen well-armed schooners and brigantines are constantly occupied in making voyages along the coast, delivering the drug to the receiving ships, and transporting the accumulated treasure to their princely owners. A large number of first-class vessels are known to be engaged in the trade between India and China, and large quantities of opium from Calcutta and Bombay are conveyed to China twice a month by the fine steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.

But we must turn our attention more closely to the extent of this enormous traffic in China. From 1794 to 1820 the amount of opium imported varied from 3.000 to 7,000 chests annually; but the practicability of extending the trade along the coast having been successfully tested about that time, the importations rapidly increased, and in 1824 they reached the

amount of 12,639 chests, and in 1834 they amounted to 21,785 chests, which was sold for about $14,454,193. In 1837 the sales amounted to between 39,000 and 40,000 chests, valued at $25,000,000. | During this time the trade was universally known to be contraband. For nearly forty years the Chinese authorities had done everything in their power to arrest the startling growth of a traffic which was working such terrible havoc among the lives of the people, and which was producing an exhausting drain upon the resources of the country, which were becoming already so greatly embarrassed as to call forth numerous memorials from the first men of the country, showing the fatal consequences, not only to the imperial treasury, but to the finances of the entire empire, if this dreadful traffic were permitted to continue. In 1838-39, a determined effort was made on the part of the outraged government to suppress the traffic. Edicts of the most stringent character were issued from the imperial palace, enjoining the utmost vigilance upon the provincial authorities, and calling upon them to use every possible means to arrest the trade. Almost unlimited powers were granted to them to enable them to effect this desirable object, and degradation, and even death were held out before the local authorities as the consequence of their failure. These edicts were reproduced at Canton, and proclamations from the local authorities were almost daily issued, forbidding all natives from engaging in the traffic, and even threaten. ing the consumers of the drug with death, while they declared to the foreigners engaged in the trade the determination of the government to break up and suppress entirely the smuggling in of opium. These decided movements arrested the trade, causing the merchants to surrender to the government about 20,000 chests of the contraband article, which were all destroyed at Canton, and which constituted a prominent feature among the causes leading to hostilities between England and China.

During these years-from 1839 to 1842 -a much smaller quantity of opium was brought into the country; but the demand being much greater than the supply, it sold for almost double its former price, bringing from $900 to $1,200 per chest. Many handsome fortunes were made at

to extinguish the trade "—still "it would be difficult to maintain our hold of India," and therefore it must be encouraged. And then the Chinese government has "more than a thousand miles of sea-coast to guard, and but a small protective navy," and we have already succeeded in seducing "nine-tenths of the officers in it," so that "the cabinet is helpless." Accordingly in 1840, Lord Melbourne, Her Majesty's chief adviser, stated the argument as follows:

"We possess immense territories peculiarly fitted for raising opium, and though I could wish the government were not so directly concerned in the traffic, I am not prepared to pledge my self to relinquish it.”

Why certainly not, my lord, so long as "we possess immense territories peculiarly fitted for raising opium," and then "would find it difficult to maintain our hold" of these immense territories without this revenue. Is there not something of a vicious circle in the arguments of his lordship and that of the Friend of India, when we come to "dovetail" them?

But let us proceed a little further with our calculations. One thousand rupees per chest is a low average for the price of opium at Calcutta during those fifty years, the price ranging from 500 to 1,500 rupees. 425,909 chests would thus realize to the company an income of 425,909,000 rupees. Three hundred rupees per chest is a reasonable average for the transit duties on the opium delivered at Bombay, which would give to the company another income of 95,865,900 rupees, or a total for the two presidencies of 521,774,900 rupees, equal to about $237,407,579. It would be correct, perhaps, to allow the same as the average price of the Damaun opium, which gives an additional item of about $47,577,170, making for the whole sum realized from the East India trade in opium with China, $280,984,749, which, deducted from the aggregate realized in China, viz.: $516,714,600-$280,984,749 =$235,756,851, as the spoils of the traffic to be divided among the merchants engaged in the trade in China. We may safely set down as clear profit to merchants engaged in the trafic an average of about 20 per cent., which will give to the merchants a net profit of $47,151,370; a sum sufficient to make forty-seven millionaires, and the opium trade in China would have

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made by itself alone this number of princely fortunes, if some of the merchants, more aspiring and avaricious than others, had not realized more than their share. It is stated, on good authority, that a single house in China, a few years since, divided £3,000,000, or about $15,000,000, as the clear profits of their trade in opium. After paying to the merchants their net profit we have still left the sum of $188,605,481 to be expended in building ships, steamers, and brigantines, to sail between India and China, and to ply along the eastern coast; to supply and sustain a fleet of receiving ships to lie moored at the principal ports of China; to pay large salaries to agents, clerks, ship captains, &c., and to bribe liberally the venal authorities of the empire.

These results, vast as they are, can only be viewed as a good approximation to the real extent of this enormous traffic. It will be remembered that the trade has always been contraband, and, therefore, though conducted with a degree of boldness which the smugglers would not dare to venture on in other countries, its transactions are involved in some secrecy. Before the war with England, the results of the trade were publicly made known, with almost the same freedom as with any other branch of trade; but since the war the traffic is universally acknowledged to be illegitimate, and its results are discarded from the official returns. This places us under the necessity of studying the opium trade in China somewhat indirectly through the reports of the trade in India, in which country there is no necessity for secrecy. We have carefully

examined the data used in our calculations, and believe that in nearly every instance our figures are rather below than above the real returns of this gigantic trade. Still this does not constitute the whole of the traffic, as the trade in Turkey opium, of which we have taken no account, is far from an inconsiderable item; and in forming a conception of the vast extent of the consumption of the drug in China, we must observe, that the cultivation of the poppy in the country itself is rapidly increasing, and already furnishes a considerable supply of the native drug. The traffic still continues in unabated vigor; and efforts are constantly being made in India to augment the supply. (To be continued.)

THE GRIZZLY BEAR, AND AN ADVENTURE WITH ONE.

THE

HE.grizzly bear (Ursus ferox) is, beyond all question, the most formidable of the wild creatures inhabiting the continent of America-jaguar and cougar not excepted. Did he possess the swiftness of foot of either the lion or tiger of the Old World, he would be an assailant as dangerous as either; for he is endowed with the strength of the former, and quite equals the latter in ferocity. Fortunately, the horse outruns him were it not so, many a human victim would be his, for he can easily overtake a man on foot. As it is, hundreds of well-authenticated stories attest the prowess of this fierce creature. There is not a "mountain man" in America who cannot relate a string of perilous adventures about the "grizzly bar ;" and the instances are far from being few in which human life has been sacrificed in conflicts with this savage beast.

The grizzly bear is an animal of large dimensions; specimens have been killed and measured quite equal to the largest size of the polar bear, though there is much variety in the sizes of different individuals. About five hundred pounds might be taken as the average weight. In shape, the grizzly bear is a much more compact animal than either the black or polar species: his ears are larger, his arms stouter, and his aspect fiercer. His teeth are sharp and strong; but that which his enemies most dread is the armature of his paws. The paws themselves are so large, as frequently to leave in the mud a track of twelve inches in length by eight in breadth; and from the extremities of these formidable fists protrude horn-like claws full six inches long! Of course, I am speaking of individuals of the largest kind. These claws are crescent-shaped, and would be still longer, but in all cases nearly an inch is worn from their points. The animal digs up the ground in search of marmots, burrowing squirrels, and various esculent roots; and this habit accounts for the blunted condition of his claws. They are sharp enough, notwithstanding, to peel the hide from a horse or buffalo, or to drag the scalp from a hunter-a feat which has been performed by grizzly bears on more than one occasion.

The color of this animal is most generally brownish, with white hairs inter

mixed, giving that grayish or grizzled appearance whence the trivial name, grizzly. But although this is the most common color of the species, there are many varieties. Some are almost white, others yellowish red, and still others nearly black. The season, too, has much to do with the color; and the pelage is finer and longer than that of the Ursus Americanus. The eyes are small in proportion to the size of the animal, but dark and piercing.

The geographical range of the grizzly bear is extensive. It is well known that the great chain of the Rocky Mountains commences on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and runs southwardly through the North American continent. In these mountains the grizzly bear is found, from their northern extremity, at least as far as that point where the Rio Grande makes its great bend toward the Gulf of Mexico. In the United States and Canada this animal has never been seen in a wild state. This is not strange. The grizzly bear has no affinity with the forest. Previous to the settling of these territories, they were all forest-covered. The grizzly is never found under heavy timber, like his congener the black bear; and, unlike the latter, he is not a tree-climber. The black bear "hugs" himself up a tree, and usually destroys his victim by compression. The grizzly does not possess this power, so as to enable him to ascend a tree-trunk; and for such a purpose, his huge dull claws are worse than useless. His favorite haunts are the thickets of Corylus rubus Amelanchiers, under the shade of which he makes his lair, and upon the berries of which he partially subsists. He lives much by the banks of streams, hunting among the willows, or wanders along the steep and rugged bluffs, where scrubby pine and dwarf cedar, (Juniperus prostrata,) with its rooting branches, forms an almost impenetrable underwood. In short, the grizzly bear of America is to be met with in situations very similar to those which are the favorite haunts of the African lion, which, after all, is not so much the king of the forest as of the mountain and the open plain.

The grizzly bear is omnivorous. Fish, flesh, and fowl, are eaten by him apparently with equal relish. He devours frogs, lizards, and other reptiles. He is fond of the larvae of insects; these are often found in large quantities adhering to the