lOG
APPROACH TO MACAO.
hopes! At first we went on pretty fairly, for, with the exception of a few showers, we had a very good passage till within half an hour of Macao. We soon passed through Kap-si-moon, vulgarly denominated "The Cut-throat Gate," though whether the name is derived from its extreme narrowness, or from the number of pirates who formerly infested these parts, I cannot say. It is very pretty about here, the slopes of the mountains being much more verdant than near Hong Kong. Our course now lay past numerous uninhabited islands, all more or less rocky. We proceeded, threading our way in and out, as through the paths of a labyrinth, so complicated seemed the route, and at last entered a broader expanse of sea, leaving the island groups rapidly behind us. As these, however, faded away others appeared in front of us, and about half-past six we gained the pretty group called the "Niue Islands." We were now informed that Macao was very neal', and that as it grew dusk we should see the lights; but before we had reached a poiut sufficiently near to do this, there was a cry of "breakers ahead!" and the engine was suddenly stopped, not however before our vessel had stuck fast, ~lld by a series 01 slLeeessive hUlllps