Another manner of learning the decrees of fate consists in placing a
number of thin wooden sticks in a basin, and then shaking them until
one falls out. Each of these sticks is inscribed with a certain
number, corresponding with a sentence in a book of proverbs. This
temple was more frequented by the people than those in Canton. The
counters and sticks seemed to exercise great influence over the
congregation, for it was only round them that they gathered.
There is nothing further to be seen in the town, but the environs,
or rather the whole island, offers the most enchanting sight. The
view cannot certainly be called magnificent or grand, since one
great feature necessary to give it this character, namely,
mountains, is entirely wanting. The highest hill, on which the
governor's house and the telegraph are situated, is scarcely more
than 200 feet high, but the luxuriant verdancy, the neat houses of
the Europeans in the midst of beautiful gardens, the plantations of
the most precious spices, the elegant areca and feathered palms,
with their slim stems shooting up to a height of a hundred feet, and
spreading out into the thick feather-like tuft of fresh green, by
which they are distinguished from every other kind of palms, and,
lastly, the jungle in the back-ground, compose a most beautiful
landscape, and which appears doubly lovely to a person like myself,
just escaped from that prison ycleped Canton, or from the dreary
scenery about the town of Victoria.
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