Page 155 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

Passepartout wandered, with his hands in his pockets,
towards the Victoria port, gazing as he went at the curious
palanquins and other modes of conveyance, and the
groups of Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans who passed to

and fro in the streets. Hong Kong seemed to him not
unlike Bombay, Calcutta, and Singapore, since, like them,
it betrayed everywhere the evidence of English supremacy.
At the Victoria port he found a confused mass of ships of
all nations: English, French, American, and Dutch, men-
of-war and trading vessels, Japanese and Chinese junks,
sempas, tankas, and flower-boats, which formed so many
floating parterres. Passepartout noticed in the crowd a
number of the natives who seemed very old and were
dressed in yellow. On going into a barber’s to get shaved
he learned that these ancient men were all at least eighty
years old, at which age they are permitted to wear yellow,
which is the Imperial colour. Passepartout, without exactly
knowing why, thought this very funny.
On reaching the quay where they were to embark on
the Carnatic, he was not astonished to find Fix walking up
and down. The detective seemed very much disturbed and
disappointed.
‘This is bad,’ muttered Passepartout, ‘for the gentlemen
of the Reform Club!’ He accosted Fix with a merry smile,

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