Hong Kong’s buildings crowd the narrow strip of land along the water’s edge. St John’s Cathedral, a recognizable landmark in the mid-19th-century skyline, is visible slightly above the harbor near the center of the painting. Other buildings creep up the peak further to the right. The painting apparently predates the Hong Kong Signal Station’s construction on top of Victoria Peak in 1861. Vessels of many types from England, France, and the United States—including a paddle steamer flying an American flag—occupy the inner harbor. One such ocean-going sidewheel steamship, The River Bird, left New York City in 1854 and worked the Hong Kong to Canton route. Ships like Chinese junks and Indian or Arabian dhows with angled rather than square sails keep to the outer harbor. The Kowloon Peninsula of the Chinese mainland appears in the distance at left.