very neat and compact aspect, and struck me very favourably as
compared with Tientsin, the only other Chinese town I had been in, and
which seemed to me to be for the most part composed of narrow, dirty,
stinking lanes with one or two good streets in the centre. Port
Arthur, as might be expected of so recent a settlement, constructed to
a large extent under European supervision, is very much better built,
and altogether presents, or did present--for to a melancholy and
deplorable condition was it soon to be reduced--a thriving and busy
aspect.

At dusk I quitted the streets, with their bazaar-like shops and
strange illuminations, and made my way back to the port under escort
of my Chinese friend, who with Oriental politeness insisted on seeing
me safe back on board. A most unwelcome shock awaited me. No
_Columbia_ was to be found, and Lin Wong's inquiries elicited that
she had left nearly an hour before. We hunted up the pilot who had taken
her out, and learned from him that she had steamed away south-east
immediately; she could not, therefore, be awaiting me outside. What on
earth could be the meaning of it? I could only conjecture that by some
oversight the fact of my not being on board had been forgotten. She
possibly might return on its being discovered that I had been left
ashore, but in the meantime what was I to do? A suggestion by Lin
solved the difficulty. If the _Columbia_ did not put back, I could
obtain a passage to Tientsin on the vessel which was soon to convey
him to that port, where I could arrange my future proceedings
according to circumstances. This seeming the only feasible plan, I,
with many internal maledictions upon the stupid mischance, accompanied
the agent to an hotel or inn where he had already chartered quarters
for his short stay in the place. There are some half-dozen of these
establishments in Port Arthur. Three or four of them are wretched