Meanwhile,
189
it is sad to see
their fine houses so long unoccupied
and deserted, and their bright walls and
gay verandahs festooned with tropical flowers, which I had admired
on
my
previous visit, now blackened with smoke
and
tottering to their fall. Many of European families formerly resident at Canton have removed to safer quarters at Hong Kong
and Macao; but the Consuls
of the Great Powers and several of the
principal merchants remain at their posts. It is pleasant to observe the mutual harmony and friendly feeling, strengthened here as elsewhere
by
common peril, of the members of this
little Christian and European community,
dwelling
37