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15 May 58 Peter Hong Kong Mother ______________________________________________________________________________________________

15 May 1858

East Point, Hong Kong

My dear Mother

As usual I take advantage of Sunday to write to you altho’ the mail does not leave till Sunday next. Still I must in justice to myself inform you that I have therefore neglected none of my religious duties. On the contrary we had today, as well as last Sunday, a sermon the text of which was about as unintelligible as the argument & I believe chosen on that account.

The preacher (in the absence of Mr Gray) is an extempore gentleman who never stops or hesitates & is not at a loss for a word from the beginning to the end of his sermon. Still, for all that, I cannot admire his sermons nor can I at all account for the taste of any one who does. He has a peculiar way too towards the end of shouting out at the highest pitch of his voice so that it quite thrills tho’ without yet in any way impressing you sundry strange sentences.

Last Sunday I recollect he roared in a stentorian voice ‘Don’t you believe it !!!’ Today he exclaimed for a change ‘Do you believe it.’ The similarity of the wording of the two sentences, thus made so conspicuous, struck me.

Since my last letter I met with a misfortune by which however I do not intend to be a sufferer, namely the loss of all my washing, said to have been carried away by a rush of water from the hills, consequent upon the late heavy rains. I do not believe the story & have therefore changed my washer-man & ordered the Comprador to secure the value of the loss.

The ‘Comprador’ is a sort of Steward & banker to the establishment. If you want a Servant, the Comprador gets you one. If you want any money, the Comprador is your banker & he is besides responsible for anything or any one he introduces into the establishment.

If I lose my watch, I get the value of it from the Comprador who gets it from any one else if he can, or doesn’t get it at all according to circumstances. Then there are many other inferior Compradors such as for instance as the Mess Comprador who provides the Mess & everything connected with it & so on.

We each have our ‘boys’ a sort of term equivalent to the French Garçon inasmuch as it relates not to age & he is general valet & attendant with ‘Coolies’ for all dirty or rough work under him. A short time since, we had a great affair called a ‘Sing Song’ – something in the theatrical & circus line. As I like to see everything that is to be seen, I managed to get two companions & we went to the ‘Sing Song’ having previously sent on the Comprador to arrange about our seats. This he doubtless did to the best advantage, but it was a strange fact that my ‘boy’ sat in the seat before me & my ‘stable boy’ behind me. They have no stalls or private boxes. The creation was of bamboos (as everything in China is) covered with mats & built over a swamp (although of an enormous size) in about a couple of days, at some distance from Hong Kong tho’ at little from us here & the performance which was I believe of divers descriptions consisted at the time I was present of tumbling & all that sort of thing. At this the Chinese are very clever, being very powerful & active men – at least the lower & the working orders. On the whole I was very much surprised to see it so well conducted & am very glad I was present. An immense number of crackers served as interludes & a gong & pair of cymbals rattled away eternally.

P’raps you would like to know how I employ my day here. I will tell you.

At about 5 o’clock or half past at the latest I am up &, towel in hand, off to the Eastward some two miles to bathe at a portion of the beach where we have erected rough stone piers to sit upon & dress. Returning home in a tolerable perspiration after my walk back, I sit down in the verandah & read & cool myself. Then about 8 o’clock I take a fresh water bath & dress for breakfast at 9, after which I stroll about the grounds & see what is going on – perhaps to the stable to see my horse, until 10 o’clock when office hours are supposed to commence.

This lasts till 5 with an interlude for tiffin, when I amuse myself till the sun goes down & then take a ride. On the road to the Eastward there are usually a good many people of an evening & it is a capital airy road for a ride. We have no fashionable drive here as there are in most places. The race course is at present undergoing considerable alterations, or that would be a capital place for a gallop.

I was quite surprized the other day at finding what noted character I had become. ‘What sort of a man is Mr L.’ I enquired – Mr L. being a sort of genius to Hong Kong, altho’ really only a watchmaker – something in the same style as a certain Mr McCarthy at Romford &c. &c. ‘Don’t you know him?’ was the reply, ‘He knows you well enough & it was only a day or two since that he was spinning a long yarn about you & calling you by name.’

The long & the short of the matter was that the said Mr L. had formed a most decided opinion of my character &c. without my ever having seen him & he particularly mentioned that I had a peculiar way of walking into town of a morning at 6 o’clock, looking as intent upon some specific object, that I seemed to make in a direct line for the very place I wanted, turning neither to the right nor to the left & he did not think that it would be possible to attract my attention or divert me from the said given route by any means in the world.

I think I have told you that I am a member of the Club, a necessary thing involving 39 Dollars entrance fee (5/- about goes to a dollar here) & 12 Dollars a Quarter subscription, but I but seldom have a chance of being there except on Sundays after Church. I wish by the bye you would send me out Punch regularly & also the Illustrated News. If you want your own, please have a clean copy sent to me. Also, I should always like to receive any paper – Times or country paper – which may contain anything of interest to me, as I never am able to get hold of all the papers at the Club.

Best love to everyone, also to my small cousins at Barham whom tho’ I never mention, I have not forgot.

Yr. affect. Son

Peter

May 19

I have just shipped by the ‘Florence Nightingale’ a box of our own especial Tea for you. Made expressly for J.M.&Co., we call it P.W.K or Pickwick & I hope you will all enjoy it especially as having come from your own Son in China.

It is possible the F.N. may be home about a month after you receive this, perhaps as late as 6 weeks. There is also another small box with a few knick-knacks picked up in my travels which you may value but they will form a subject for my next letter.

Teddy asks me how it was ‘I managed it’. I don’t think I ever told you that either, for Jardines being No. 1 of course have so many hangers on & applicants.

The fact was simply this. We have all these hangers on and applicants but it so happened that Goddard, knowing that there was some one on the spot who from having been at Lindsays was just calculated to fill his berth, pressed upon Mr Jardine his desire to return & Mr J. (having of course appreciated my many virtues &c. in what little he had seen of me, allowed him suddenly to do so) threw aside the idea of all the hangers on & applicants & gave the berth to me & so, here I am, filling the place at once of one who has been 15 years in China. If you have not ordered those shirts I asked you to send, never mind them. I find I can get them just as cheap here.

P.G.L