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Empire in which there is no Lazaretto. And yet Cholera, Small Pox and other infectious and contagious diseases are frequently rising in China, India, Japan, Saigon,
Lusapoon,
and in the other neighbouring Ports and coventries, with which Hong Kong there is constant communication.
Such being the state of quarantine laws in this Colony: but in the absence of Lazarettos, they appear to have been hitherto in so hazardous a manner that it is extraordinary that severe epidemics have not often devastated this City; the faulty sanitary condition of which Sir Matthew has shown peculiarly exposes it to such visitations.
3.
There is however, a small, uninhabited island at South-western extremity of the harbour of Hongkong, and about two miles from this City, — called by the Chinese, Cham-Chan, and by the English, Stonecutters' Island; which would almost appear to have been created by Nature for a Lazaretto; so well adapted is it for that purpose. I have reported that at the earliest instant two merchant...