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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 Sta- tion 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. Kellet's Island is a small rock near East Point, on which a fort formerly stood, but which has been replaced by a small magazine.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, a considerable island opposite Aberdeen, of which harbour it forms part, has a populous fishing village on its northern shore facing Aberdeen. There appears to be considerable doubt whether the large island of Lamma, 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.
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 61,039. The population is composed as follows:-European and American resident civil population, 4,195; mili- tary (British), 1,544; navy (British), 1,356; Police, 157; European and American crews of mercantile shipping in harbour, 764; foreign 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 (an Indian Infantry Regiment has since been added); Indian police, 224; crews of mercantile shipping in harbour, 252; 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 1896-97, consists of two companies of Garrison Artillery, 301 of all ranks; one company of Royal Engineers, 165 of all ranks; one battalion of Infantry, 1,012; 7 of the Army Service Corps; four companies of Local Artillery, one company of Local Engineers, and eight companies of the Hongkong Regiment, 1,510 of all ranks; 26 of the Medical Staff Corps, 5 of the Army Ordnance Department, 16 of the Army Ordnance Corps, and 5 of the Army Pay Corps. Total of all ranks, 3,047. There is also a Volunteer Corps consisting of one Field Battery and one Machine Gun Company.
The approaches to the harbour are strongly fortified, the batteries consisting of well constructed earthworks. The western entrance is protected by three batteries on Stonecutter's Island and two forts on Belcher and Fly Points, from which a tremendous converging fire could be maintained, completely commanding the Sulphur Channel. Another small battery, on the hill above and west of Richmond Terrace, has a wide range of fire. The Ly-ee-mùn Pass is defended by two forts, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hungham, which completely command the eastern entrance. Another battery on the bluff at Tsim-tsa Tsui, Kowloon, commands the whole of the centre of the harbour. The batteries are armed with the latest breech-loading ordnance.
In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. This consists of the turret ironclad Wivern, 2,750 tons, carrying 4 guns, the gunboats Esk (at present detached for service on the Yangtsze) and Tweed, each carrying 3 guns, and four torpedo boats. The crews of these vessels are borne in the receiving ship Victor Emanuel, a hulk moored opposite to the Cricket Ground, and which is also the headquarters of the Commodore and his staff. The Naval Yard is an extensive range of workshops and offices east of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yau-ma Ti.
CLIMATE.
As intimated in earlier paragraphs, Hongkong formerly enjoyed a most unenviable notoriety for unhealthiness, and in years past the troops garrisoned here suffered grievously from malarial fevers. A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was caused by excavating and otherwise disturbing the disintegrated granite of which the soil of the island mainly consists, and which appears to throw off malarious exhalations when upturned. At the present time, however, the Colony is