A large sketch map of the Pearl River, its branches and adjacent country, localities of the various towns and villages, the names are given in both English and Chinese, and positions although only approximate, yet are accurate enough for many purposes.

The area depicted spans from "Sam Shui" [San Shui] district and "Tung Kun" [Dong Guan] district, down to "Heung-Shan" [Xiangshan] District, Macao and Hong Kong. The names of the districts are conspicuously printed in a large red font. At the bottom right corner is Hong Kong, the only region highlighted in red, which seems to signify its colonial identity being the significant treaty port. Black hexagrams indicated in the reference can be found scattered over Hong Kong and Macao, which denote the stations where there are war junks or steamers stationed to collect duty and war tax on opium, as well as shore stations. Two dotted black lines stemming from Hong Kong in the directions of northwest and west indicating steamers routes to Canton and Macao respectively.

The grid on the map uses lower and upper case of letters to mark locations, 'a' to 'g' from left to right along top and bottom borders, and 'A' to 'L' from top to bottom along left and right borders. Concise descriptions of local produce are given for the districts, for example in the square G-f, it is noted that "The special products of the Heung-Shan District consists of its market produce, such as, fruit and vegetables, also its exports of salted oysters, prawns and shrimps are noticeable".

Two large insets with yellow background emphasize the two prominent rivers, one to the top right shows the West River as far as "Tak-Hing Chau" [De-Qing Zhou], and the other at the bottom left depicts the North River as far as "Ying-Tak-Un" [Ying-de]. A chart memoranda is printed directly below containing detailed information of five locations.

The map was published by a major British lithographic firm, which was incorporated as Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Ltd. in 1898.