The town itself has a European stamp upon it, so that were it not for the Chinese porters, labourers, and pedlars, a person would hardly believe he was in China.

I was much struck at seeing no native women in the streets, from which it might be concluded that it was dangerous for a European female to walk about as freely as I did; but I never experienced the least insult, or heard the slightest word of abuse from the Chinese; even their curiosity was here by no means annoying.
In Victoria I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with the well- known Herr Gutzlaff, {91b} and four other German missionaries.

They were studying the Chinese language; and wore the Chinese costume, with their heads shaved like the natives, and with large cues hanging down behind.

No language is so difficult to read and write as the Chinese; it contains more than four thousand characters, and is wholly composed of monosyllables.

Little brushes dipped in Indian ink are used for writing, the writing itself extending down the paper from right to left.
I had not been above a few days in Victoria before I had an opportunity of proceeding to Canton on board a small Chinese junk.
A gentleman of the name of Pustan, who is settled as a merchant here, and whom I found excessively kind, endeavoured very earnestly to dissuade me from trusting myself among the Chinese without any protector, and advised me either to take a boat for myself or a place in the steamer; but both these means were too dear for my small finances, since either would have cost twelve dollars, whereas a passage in the junk was only three.