with a peculiar plaintive cry, or sometimes whistles; and when, in about a quarter of an hour, his charges are all collected in a dense crowd, the ladder is let down again, and they waddle up in most orderly fashion. If the birds are dilatory in responding to the summons, the last duck to come up the ladder gets a smart whack with a stick, which inculcates habits of celerity. In 1862, Archdeacon Gray tells us, a typhoon upset so many duck-boats, that for upwards of a mile the surface of the river between Canton and Whampoa was crowded with birds thus released from captivity. Sometimes planks are placed between the boat and bank along which they soon learn to pass. Water snakes were numerous. I watched one upwards of fifteen feet long, with a head like a seaserpent's, swimming past the ship; and one Sunday during church service on the Volcano's upper deck (she was a Factory ship, with a Nasmyth hammer) a snake crawled unperceived up the ladder, and bit a man's foot, but fortunately Sunday being "shoe day" no harm ensued. Ships' accommodation ladders were always on the starboard side: ordinary traffic steps on the port; and I remember being much amused at the answer of a young Irish midshipman whom Boyle sent to find out whether the tide was coming in "No, sir, the tide is not flowing." "How do you know?" "Please, sir, I looked over the side and I couldn't see it coming up the accommodation ladder." At one time I took considerable interest in watching the operations of a mason bee which selected an old nail in a chock of wood in a port of the captain's cabin to build its curious three-celled nest in. The little fellow's visits, each time carrying a pellet of wet earth, lasted only for a minute, and then he flew to shore, 400 yards away, returning in ten or twelve minutes. What a number of journeys he must have made before the chambers were complete, a grub deposited in each, and the outside one hermetically sealed with what appeared when finished to be smooth hard red putty! Though there were thirteen similar ports on the same side, he never missed the right one; and it was a remarkable fact, as showing powers of reasoning beyond mere instinct, that he was not baulked by the swinging of the ship at change of tide, because that process, as I need scarcely W.8.M. explain, completely reversed the position of the port as regards the river-side from which he was bringing his material. It is quite clear that in the animal world there is no well-defined line of demarcation between reason and instinct, the two domains overlapping and grading into each other. Whether we take High views or Low views, or regard it with those of an ecclesiastical Gallio, it is certain that confirmation is an ordinance of the Church of England on which she lays great stress; indeed enjoins upon and requires from her members. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong, in fulfilment of his episcopal duties, came up to Canton in the autumn of 1858 to confirm young people of both services. His name, scarcely unfamiliar to Englishmen, was Smith. Not having had a previous opportunity, I "gave in my name," and with a number of other candidates from the ships at Whampoa was conveyed to Canton in a gunboat, whose name, the Clown, struck me as being singularly infelicitous for the occasion. The service was held in a large and well-arranged building, which had been transformed from a disused Joss House into a temporary church by "chucking out" the idols and appurtenances, fitting it up decorously and dedicating it in proper form. The policy of doing all that under the very eyes of a population whom we wished to conciliate was certainly questionable, yet we had recognition of it, at least in principle, in the direction of Pope Gregory to St. Augustine: "If the temples of the idols are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God." On the other hand Dr. R. N. Cust, a really great authority on missionary work, assures us that to convert a heathen into a Christian place of worship, is one of those acts which may be resented for centuries. Solvetur confirmendo! Before the confirmation service began there was an adult baptism impressively conducted by the Rev. Mr. Huleatt, chaplain to the forces, who wore a Crimean medal on his stole, and then the bishop gave his address and laid hands on two hundred of us, officers, men, and boys. |