HONGKONG
207
VI. of the Peking Convention. It has an area of four square miles, and has latterly made considerable progress. Yau-ma Ti, the principal village, has increased in population, and bids fair to some day become an important town. There is a considerable Chinese junk trade at this place. The Military and Police Rifle Ranges are at the back of and near the village. New Gas Works were erected here in 1892, and the settled portion of the peninsula is now lighted with gas. A regiment of Indian infantry is stationed at Tsim-tsa Tsui, where barracks and officers' quarters are located. At Tsim-tsa Tsui, too, a number of European houses, a hotel, and a club have been erected and numerous gardens laid out, and this portion of the peninsula, which faces Victoria, is gradually developing into a European residential settlement. A fine bund, with a massive granite wall, has been constructed there, and an extensive range of godowns built and several fine wharves made, for discharging cargo and coaling. A well equipped Observatory is situated on Mount Elgin; and a large and handsome Police Station for the Water Police occupies an eminence just above the new praya. In front of this Station is a Time Ball, which is dropped daily. A steam ferry plies regularly between Tsim-tsa Tsui and Victoria; ferry boats also run between Yau-ma Ti and Victoria and Hung-ham-where the principal docks of the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Co. are situate-and Victoria. The Cosmopolitan Dock and works, also belonging to the same Company, are situated at Fuk Tsun Heung, formerly known as Sam Shui Po.
Of the islands and islets in the waters of the Colony the most important is Stone- cutter's Island, formerly known as Wong Chuen-chow. This is really a dependency of British Kowloon, being opposite to and about three-quarters of a mile from the north- western extremity of the peninsula. The island is an irregular ridge about a mile in length, and a little over a quarter of a mile broad. The Gunpowder Depôt is on the eastern end, near the wharf; the principal eminences are occupied by batteries more or less formidable, and no one is allowed to land without a permit. The Quarantine Station is also located here. After the great typhoon of September, 1874, two or three thousand bodies of the victims found afloat were interred on Stonecutter's Island. Attempts have been made to acclimatise rabbits on the island, but with indifferent success. Kellet's Island is a small rock near East Point, on which a fort formerly stood, but which has been replaced by a small magazine. Green Island, at the western entrance of the harbour, has been planted with trees and now justifies its name all the year round. A lighthouse has been placed on its south-western extremity. One Tree Island is a tiny rock near the entrance to Aberdeen. A Dynamite Depôt has been erected on it. Aplichau is a considerable island opposite Aberdeen, of which harbour it forms part, and hasa populous fishing village on its northern shore facing Aberdeen. Thero appears to be considerable doubt whether the large island of Lamina, on the southern coast, is British territory, though it is obviously a geographical dependency of the Colony, from which it is only about a mile distant in the narrowest part of the East Lamma Channel. It is sparsely populated by agriculturists and fishermen.
POPULATION, GARRISON, AND DEFENCES,
mili-
The total population of the Colony, according to the census taken in May, 1891, numbered 221,441 compared with 160,402 in 1881, an increase of 1,039. The population is composed as follows:-European and American resident civil population, 4.195; tary (British), 1,544; navy (British), 1,356; Police, 157; European and American crews of mercantile shipping in harbour, 761; foreigu men-of-war in harbour, 453; temporary residents, 53; prisoners, 23. Total of Europeans and Americans, 8,545. Indians and others of Asiatic descent not Chinese, 1,206; Indian military, 215; Indian police, 224; crews of mercantile shipping in harbour, 232; prisoners, 4. Total British and Foreign community, 10,446. Total Chinese population, 210,995. Of the European and American population, 1,448 are British, 2,089 Portuguese, 208 German, 93 American, 89 French, 88 Spanish, 38 Italian, 31 Turkish, 26 Austrian, 26 Swedish, 16 Danish, and the rest of other nationalities. The population of the City of Victoria is about 144,300, that of Kowloon peninsula, 20,600. The remainder is distributed among the villages and the floating population.
The Garrison, according to the Estimates for 1892-93, consists of two batteries of Garrison Artillery, 258 of all ranks; two companies of Royal Engineers, 160 of all ranks; one battalion of Infantry, 1,018; four companies of Indian Artillery, 452 of all ranks; one company of Colonial Engineers, 50 men; the Hongkong Regiment, 1,012 of all ranks; 3 mon of the Army Service Corps, 6 of the Ordnance Store, 3 of the Corps of Ordnance Artificers, 4 of the Corps of Armourers, and 18 of the Medical Staff Corps. Total of all ranks, 2,981. A Volunteer Artillery Corps has existed for the past twelve years, but its effective strength is at present small.
The approaches to the harbour are now strongly fortified, the batteries consisting of