“On the Sabbath Brother Collins and myself spend two hours in the forecastle instructing the sailors.  Many of them seem perfectly willing, some of them anxious to receive instruction.”

“July 17.  Saturday evening.  Today passed to the eastward of Christmas Island (an island in the Indian Ocean).  It is a small island about ten miles square.  This is the first land seen since we left Boston.  Of course, we gazed with much interest.”

“July 22.  About nine o’clock Tuesday evening we anchored off Angier.  This is a village off the island of Java, bordering on the Straits of Sunda.  Remained at Angier until Wednesday afternoon.  Capt.  Patterson laid in a good supply of pigs, geese, ducks, chickens, yams, turtles, water, two goats, and fruits of various kinds in abundance.”

“Aug. 6.  Friday.  Wednesday evening arrived at Macao.  This morning set sail for Whampoa, twelve miles below Canton.”

After a few days at Canton and Hongkong, Mr. and Mrs. Doty and Mr. Talmage embarked for Amoy on the schooner Caroline.

“Aug 21.  The Caroline is a small vessel of about one hundred and fifty tons burthen.  She was built, I suppose, for the opium trade.  Our passage from Hongkong was not very pleasant.  Our quarters were close and our captain was far from being an agreeable companion.  He drank freely and was very profane.”

“We left Brother Collins and Brother White and wife at Hongkong.  We had been so long in company with these brethren, that it was trying to part with them.  On Thursday, the day before yesterday, we arrived safely at Amoy.  The brethren gave us a very hearty welcome.  The missionary company at this place consists of Brother Pohlman, of the A.B.C.F.M.; Mr. Alexander Stronach and wife, and Brown, of the Presbyterian Board.  Mr. John Stronach also belongs to this station.  He is at present at Shanghai.”

III.  THE CITY OF THE “ELEGANT GATE"[*]

[Footnote *:  the meaning of the two Chinese characters composing the name Amoy.]

In a letter to the Sabbath-school of the Central Reformed Church, Brooklyn, Mr. Talmage thus describes the southern emporium of the province of Fukien: 

“Amoy is situated on an island of the same name.  The city proper or citadel is about one mile in circumference.  Its form is nearly that of a rhomboid or diamond.  It is surrounded by a wall about twenty feet in height, and eight or ten feet in thickness, built of large blocks of coarse granite.  It has four gates.  The outer city, or city outside of the walls, is much more extensive.  Its circumference, I suppose, is about six miles.

“The streets are not so wide as the sidewalks in Brooklyn.  Some of them are so narrow that, when two persons, walking in opposite directions, meet each other, it is necessary for the one to stop, in order that the other may pass on.  The most of the streets are paved with coarse granite blocks, yet on account of the narrowness of the streets, and the want of cleanliness by the great mass of the inhabitants, the streets are usually very filthy.