than the first.  They say that he is all day engaged in sacrificing to an idol, which represents the God of Physic, and which is so constructed that a stick in its hand traces figures on sand.  In the figures so traced he is supposed to read his fate.

Early on Monday the 28th the attack began; and Lord Elgin was reluctantly compelled to witness what he had been reluctantly compelled to order—­the bombardment of an unresisting town.  Happily the damage both to life and property proved to be very much less serious than at the time he supposed it to be.

[Sidenote:  Bombardment.]

    December 28th, Noon.—­We have been throwing shells, etc., into
    Canton since 6 A.M., without almost any reply from the town.  I hate
    the whole thing so much, that I cannot trust myself to write about it.

December 29th.—­The mail was put off, and I add a line to say that I hope the Canton affair is over, and well over....  When I say this affair is over, perhaps I say too much.  But the horrid bombardment has ceased, and we are in occupation of Magazine Hill, at the upper part of the city, within the walls.

[Sidenote:  Capture of the city.] [Sidenote:  Looting.]

H.M.S.  ‘Furious,’ Canton River.—­January 2nd, 1858.—­The last week has been a very eventful one:  not one of unmixed satisfaction to me, because of course there is a great deal that is painful about this war, but on the whole the results have been successful.  On Monday last (the 28th) I was awakened at 6 A.M. by a cannon-shot, which was the commencement of a bombardment of the city, which lasted for 27 hours.  As the fire of the shipping was either not returned at all, or returned only by a very few shots, I confess that this proceeding gave me great pain at the time.  But I find that much less damage has been done to the town than I expected, as the fire was confined to certain spots.  I am on the whole, therefore, disposed to think that the measure proved to be a good one, as the terror which it has excited in the minds of the Cantonese is more than in proportion to the injury inflicted, and therefore it will have the effect, I trust, of preventing any attempts on their part to dislodge or attack us, which would entail very great calamities on themselves.  At 10 A.M. on Monday the troops landed at a point about two miles east of the city, and marched up with very trifling resistance to Lin Fort, which they took, the French entering first, to the great disgust of our people.  Next morning at 9 A.M., they advanced to the escalade of the city walls, and proceeded, with again very slight opposition, to the Magazine Hill, on which they hoisted the British and French flags.  They then took Gough fort with little trouble, and there they were by 3 P.M. established in Canton.  The poor stupid Chinese had placed some guns in position to resist an attack from the opposite quarter—­the