This is a descriptive, sensory account of a great port whose life revolves around its river and docks, examining how maritime commerce shapes urban form, industry, and civic character. Chapters move from the river's physical and psychological influence to detailed portraits of docks, streets, suburbs, and the crowded slums, noting architectural scenes, transportation, and social contrasts. The narrative combines personal observation with local reportage to portray everyday rituals of arrival and departure, municipal infrastructures, suburban expansion, and the human costs of port-driven prosperity, closing with reflections on reforms and the city's prospective evolution.