The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

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THE BOY TRxVVliLLElJS.
engas;ecl porters to carry tlie baggage to the liotel, and tlien took cliairs
for the transportation of Iniuself and the boys. As they bad the after-
noon before them, tlie chairs were kept for making tlie ascent of the
mountain just back of tlie town, and as soon as the rooms were secured,
and a sliglit bineli had been served, they started on tlieir excui'sion.
At the liighest point of the mountain—about eighteen liundred feet
above the water-level—there is a signal-station, where all vessels coming
into port are announced by means of flags. Our friends were carried along
a zigzag road to this station, the coolies stopping every few niinutes to
rest from the fatigue of ascending a steep road with a burden on tlieir
shoulders. At the station they had a view e.xtending a long distance out
to sea and over the coast of China, and the mountain was so nearly per-
pendicular tliat it seemed as if they could toss a penny on the town or
into the harbor. Fred tried it, and so did Frank; but after throwing
away several ounces of copper, and finding they only went a short dis-
tance, they abandoned the experiment. They returned well satisfied with
the excursion, and agreed that no one who visits llong-kong should omit
the journey to the top of the mountain.
Hong-kong, being an English colony, is governed after the English
form, and consecpiently the laws enforced in Cliina do not necessarily pre-
vail on the island. The population includes four or five thousand English
and other European nationalities, and more than a hundred thousand Chi-
nese. The number of the latter is steadily increasing, and a very large pai't
of the business of the place is in their hands. The money in circulation is
made in England for the special use of the colony. It lias the head of the
Queen on one side, and the denomination and date on the other ; and, for
the accommodation of the Chinese, the denomination is given in Chinese
characters. The smallest of the Ilong-kong coins is made to correspond with
the Chinese cash, and it takes ten of them to make a cent, or one thousand
for a dollar. It has a hole in the centre, like the Chinese coins generally,
to facilitate stringing on a wire or cord, and is so popular with the natives
that it is in free circulation in the adjacent parts of the empire.
There was not a great deal to be seen in the town, and so the next
morning the three travellers started for Canton. There is a boat each
way daily, and the journey is made in seven or eight hours; the boys
found that the boat in which they went was of American construction,
and had an American captain, and so they felt at home, as they had felt
011 the Yang-tse under similar circumstances.
Soon after they left the dock, Frank observed that the gangway lead-
ing to the lower deck was covered with a grating fastened with a padlock,