cause any fatigue. When the state of a Chinese city is examined, it is not surprising that the people should suffer much from dyspepsia of various forms, but the matter for wonder is, that in a country, where in suminer the thermometer ranges from 78° to 100°, and where the habits of the people both personal and domestic are so filthy, the inhabitants can exist at all without more disease than appears to pre. vail among them. If the same carelessness regarding public health joined with equally pernicious practices, were to exist in European towns, there can be little doubt that typhus fever and other fatal diseases would exist to a large extent. During the whole of the spring, small pox has been very prevalent among the Chinese, at both Shanghai and through the surrounding districts; almost every family has been afflicted, and many children have died of the disease. As is generally the case during an epidemic of small pox, there were many cases of chicken pox, which ran its usual mild course. The only case of small pox among the Europeans occurred in the family of the Medical officer of the Hospital, in the person of an unvaccinated child, but the disease was of a mild type and the child soon recovered. Several Europeans were affected with varioloid, and at Woosung there were two or three cases of small pox in unvaccinated European adults. All the supplies of vaccine lymph both from England and Canton have failed in producing the vaccine vesicles, and it has been impossible to carry on vaccination as it was desired, and thus to have shielded the natives from the infection of small pox. In former reports it has been mentioned, that the Chinese do frequently inoculate their children when three years old, but it would appear that this is not universally attended to, and though by inoculation, the virulence of the disease is in some degree mitigated, the great objections to this procedure ever present themselves, namely that use is made of a most dangerous agency, which may disfigure and even kill the child, and also that a direful disease is thus propagated and maintained among densely populated and ill ventilated dwellings As was shown on a former occasion two years ago, the Chinese readily appreciate and avail themselves of the benefits of vaccination, and during this year they were most anxious to have this means of safety afforded to their chil Iren, but after repeated and constant efforts, the vaccination has not succeeded in a single instance, and the people have consequently been much disappointed. (September;-since the above was written, some lymph sent from Canton has taken effect, and several persons have been vaccinated and endeavours are being made to keep up a regular supply.) The religious services at the Hospital are maintained as usual, and thus the spiritual as well as the temporal wants of the people are attended to as much as possible. May these efforts be blessed of him who is our Master in heaven, and may this people find peace and joy in casting away their idols and all their superstitions and loving him only with all their heart and soul. LIST OF PATIENTS ATTENDED TO AT THE CHINESE HOSPITAL, SHANGHAI, FROM 1ST JULY, 1846, to 30TH JUNE, 1847. ART. III. Journal of Occurrences; affairs at Shánghái; nautical observation; the schooner Paradox sunk, passengers drowned; Dutch trade at Canton. FROM Shanghai our dates are to the 13th instant: the provincial officers deputed by the governor-general at Nanking, to confer with H. B. M. 's Consul, were to make their Entrance to the city that af ternoon. The "Fury" arrived at Shánghái on the afternoon of the 7th and was to leave for Hongkong on the morning of the 14th. In coming up to Wisung she met the Espiegle, captain Campbell, three days. and a half from Nánking, with a dispatch from the governor-general, in reply to a communication which she carried up from Mr. Alcock. The vice-consul D. B. Robertson Esq., and H. S. Parkes Esq. acting intrepreter were on board. We learn that these gentlemen as well as captain Campbell, were highly delighted with their visit to the old Capital. Their reception by the governor-general in his own "Ya-mun" is said to have been in the most handsome style. At Shanghai all was quiet. The following was written under the above date, i. e. on the 13th instant. "The Chinese authorities here have had a "Lesson," from which they may if they please, derive good in days to come. H. B. M. 's consul is not the man for half and half measures. Indeed no alternative was left to him, but either to sit down and do nothing, and see foreigners beaten and butchered, or to take strong measures. Who will say he has not acted wisely? "Poor Hienling has "paid too dear for the whistle." It is said he was misled by one of his secretaries. On the 7th he delivered over his seals and vacated his office. "MR. SAMQUA is Hienling's successor; protem he takes the title of "Military Intendant of the Departments of Súchau, Sungkiáng and Táitsáng, and Superintendent of maratime customs," &c. In Chinese it stands thus: kin kia yun sẽ hun hú là hai kuản Su Sung Tải ping pi lưu với cho thu 司銜護理海關松太兵備道吳 "Mr Bates, the acting U S. A. consul, received a long communication from Hienling, the old tautái, on the 2d of March, regarding 12 of the murderers of Mr. Lowrie who had been apprehended, and arguing against said criminals being brought to Shanghai for trial and punishment, and against foreign officers going to the provincial city to witness their trial and punishment there.” The following notices are quoted from the China Mail. HER MAJESTY'S SLOOP Columbine, Amor, 28th March, 1848. SIRI have the honour to report to you for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that on running into Tong-sang harbour, on Sunday the 19th March, with the following bearings,-Dansborgh Island, West end, just open inside Wreck Island, and Old Thunder Head, West, had three casts with five fathoms, tide half ebb, where the chart 143 gives seven fa. thoms low water. At the same time I observed the bank between Thunder Head and Pagoda Island breaking, leading me to suppose there is less than three fathoms on it. Wednesday the 23d, on working up in-shore of the Mirope Shoals, between Lamtia and Notch Islands, observed a reef extending 8 or 10 cables N. W. from Lamtia, the sea breaking heavily. This Island is marked on the Charts as if it were bold on all sides. I have no doubt that it exists and is most dangerous, for on enquiry I find one of the masters of clippers is aware of the fact.-I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient humble servant. JOHN C. DALRYMPLE HAY, Commander. To Captain JOHN N. CAMPBELL, Senior Officer in China. On Saturday last, as the small schooner Paradox, on her way from Canton with passengers, was entering the harbour from the Cap-sing-moon passage, she was caught in a heavy squall, and having all sail set, was capsized, and went down stern foremost. Dr. and Mrs. James were in their cabin at the time, and sunk with her. Mr. Ash, nephew to Mr. Sword of Canton, three Chinamen, and a Chinese female servant, were also drowned. The remaining three passengers and the crew were picked up by the lorcha Canten and a boat belonging to the schooner Zephyr, which fortunately chanced to be close to the Parador at the time. Efforts have since been made, hitherto unsuccessfully, to raise the schooner which is said to have contained property be. longing to one of the passengers, to a considerable amount. The three gentlemen who escaped have sent us for publication the following acknowledgment of the assistance to which they owe their lives :— We the undersigned return our most sincere and heartfelt thanks to the master and crew of the Lorcha Canton, for the timely and energetic aid in rescuing us this day from the Schooner Paradox, during a period of most imminent peril and exposure. As an expression of our sense of gratitude and obligation, we can say in a word,—we feel we owe to them the preservation of our lives. We desire also to make our acknowledgments for the kind and assiduous care bestowed on our comfort and restoration when on board the Lorcha. T. M. J. DEнON, H. B. HEDGES, Passengers per Paradox. Hongkong, 14th April, 1848. The following further particulars have been communicated by a friend of Dr. and Mrs. James : MY DEAR SIR,-I am enabled to communicate the following melancholy particulars regarding Dr. and Mrs. James, and Mr. William S. Ash, three of the passengers who perished in the schooner Paradox, on the 13th instant. They had in company with others, embarked at Canton on the evening of the 13th or Hongkong, and after passing through the Cap-sing-moon into the harbour, and in sight of Hongkong, a sudden gust of wind struck the schooner, and she went over immediately on her side. In a few seconds she commenced sinking by the quantity of water taken in the companion way, and went down stern first, leaving only the tip of her masts above water. Dr. James had just left the deck and was at the time with Mrs. James in the cabin. Nothing was afterwards seen of them. Mr. Ash was on deck when the schooner upset, and was recovered from the water by one of the other passengers, but who, being unable to support him longer, was obliged to let him go, and it is supposed he went down holding on to the bow of the small boat attached to the stern of the schooner. Three Chinese servants in the cabin and one Chinese woman on deck, were also lost. The other passengers, and all the crew were mercifully preserved by clinging to the top of the masts, that were still a few feet above water, and were soon rescued by a lorcha belonging to Messrs Dent & Co, which was near by at the time of the disaster. The Paradox has often been employed by gentlemen and ladies as a passage boat to and from Canton, and was chosen by this party in preference to other available conveyances, on account of its supposed greater safety. Dr. Sexton James was the son of J. E. James, Esq., of Philadelphia, United States of America. He pursued his classical studies at Brown University, afterwards spent some time at Newton, and studied Medicine at his native city. Mrs. James was the daughter of J. Safford, Esq. of Salem, Mass. Dr. James and his Lady were appointed Missionaries by the Southern Baptist Convention, and were to be located at Shanghai. They sailed from Philadel phia in November last, with Capt. Lockwood, in the Ship Valparaiso, and landed at Hongkong on the 25th of March. After five or six days they went in the same ship to Whampoa, and then spent a week or ten days at Canton. They were on their return to Hongkong with the expectation of soon proceeding to Shanghai, when their career was thus unexpectedly ended, before they had been three weeks in China. They have left parents and brothers and sisters, and a numerous circle of friends, to mourn their early death. Efforts to procure the bodies have hitherto been unsuccessful.—Very truly, &c. April 19th, 1848. W. The following is taken from the Friend of China, March 8th, 1848. Extract of the Register, kept at the Netherlands Consulate at Canton, regarding the trade under Dutch Colors, at Canton and Macao. Value Imports. Value Exports. $ 1,001,710 662,000 " 601,900 945,000 200,000 242,500 310,000 623,530 708,495 202,000 175,000 Compiled from the Registers and Manifests received at the Consulate Can ton, in China, February. 1848. " 1,270,400,89 M. J. SENN VAN BASEL, The Netherl: Consul. |