GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
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(2,857 ft.). The fourth highest point is Ma On Shan on the mainland (2,300 ft.). The north-western slopes of Taimo- shan descend to the Colony's largest area of cultivable land, in the centre of which is the important market town of Yuen Long. Further out the land extends to marshes and oyster- beds on the verge of Deep Bay.
The eastern half of the New Territories mainland consists of irregular mountain masses deeply indented by arms of the sea and narrow valleys. Villages are in general only found where there is flat watered land, in valleys or on small plateaux. Much of the upper land in the areas nearest to Kowloon has been eroded, one of the unfortunate results of the Japanese occupation, when tremendous numbers of trees were cut for firewood. At the end of the war virtually the only woods that still remained were those preserved in the neighbourhood of villages for geomantic reasons. For details of forestry, see the Production Chapter.
The 198 islands of the New Territories include many that are waterless and uninhabited. Productive land is even scarcer than on the mainland. The principal cultivated areas are on Lantao, Lamma and Ma Wan, where water supplies are good. Apart from Lantao, which is nearly double the size of Hong Kong Island, most of the islands are small. They range in character from the thickly-populated Cheung Chau, with its large fishing community, soya and preserved fruit factories, and junk-building yards, to places like the Ninepins, which are no more than granite rocks, used seasonally, and by day only, by fishermen drying fish or repairing nets.
CLIMATE
Although the Colony lies just within the tropics, it enjoys a variety of weather from season to season which is unusual in tropical regions. The climate is governed by monsoons. The north-east monsoon sets in during October and persists with occasional breaks until April, bringing cool air from high latitudes. Early winter is the most pleasant time of year,