167
year from various causes, this leaves very few unaccounted for. The figures for the New Territories are not so satisfactory, but here it must be remembered that at Tai O and Cheungchow a large proportion of the fishing fleet is at sea at any given time, while a certain number of licensed boats are only used occasionally and not as dwellings, and it is impossible to encounter all the sampans, which are always on the move, during a cruise in a launch along the much indented coast line of the New Territories.
8. Sexes.The proportion of females show little change, and is still much below that of the males being 41-28 to 58 72. One reason for this is the presence of junks from places in China whose crews leave their families at home; and another that the crews of launches, ferryboats, etc., have their families living ashore.
*
9. Birthplaces.-68 per cent were born within British waters, . of the remainder nearly half were born in the neighbourhood of Canton, where there is a huge floating population; the other districts bordering on the Canton Delta account for most of the remainder. The number of immigrants is far higher on the occasion of this Census as the great losses of 1906 have been replaced largely by immigration. There are a num- ber of Hakka males from the Waichow district, and of Hoklos from the Swatow district. These are quite distinct from the remainder of the floating population; unlike the majority who speak a patois of Cantonese, they speak their own languages, and in the case of the Hoklos their vessels are of a different build and they rarely take their families to sea with them. Those born in British Waters, the Canton Delta, and Macau are all akin and represent according to some authorities the remnant of the indigenous population of South China, the ancient Kingdom of Yuet, which was gradually displaced by Chinese invaders from the North. They differ in features and physique from the Cantonese land population, the difference being especially marked in the case of females. They are regarded as outcasts by the remainder of the population, with whom they very rarely intermarry. They form the oldest portion of the inhabitants. of the Colony, their intercourse with foreigners being more intimate owing to their attendance on shipping in the Canton River. They were the first to follow the foreign trading fleet when it took refuge in Hongkong Harbour, before the desolate and barren Island became British.
10. Nationality.-Nationality was assigned in accordance with the birthplace given, no questions being asked by the enumerators on this point, since such a question would puzzle extremely the ignorant women of the floating population, who would do all the talking when the enumerator visited their floating home.
11. Education. The figures given for education are not very reliable as in some cases the enumerators failed to carry out their instructions properly and the opinion of the women from whom much of the information had to be obtained was of little value. The number of women who can read and write I consider fairly correct, but the number of males is much too high; probably only 20 per cent at most of the males can read and write. The children have little opportunity to learn as their floating home is always on the move. Excepting those employed on launches and foreign owned lighters, there are extremely few of the true floating population, who could write a simple letter in Chinese; figures and a few easy characters are all that most of those who claim to be able to read and write would be able to write if actually put to the test. Among the fishing population at Shaukeiwan and Aberdeen there are very few who can read and
write.
12. Ages.--Up to the age of 7 females exceed males by 22; after that age males exceed females, moderately up to 13, but thereafter at a greatly increasing rate till at 18 males are twice as numerous, After 7 there is a marked falling off in the numbers of females, possibly partly accounted for by recruiting for brothels, very large numbers of whose inmates are drawn from the floating population. Compared with the urban po- pulation there is far greater proportionate loss shown after 40 and again after 55, while the numbers of old people of 60 and above are proportionately higher, being 33 per cent against 2-4 per cent for the urban population, the reason being that the aged in the case of the floating population have no village in the country to which to retire to spend their declining days. But the general effect of the table is to show that the duration of life amongst the floating is somewhat shorter than that of the urban population. It is noteworthy that by 25 nearly all the females are married, most being married before 20, the average age for marriage being apparently lower than for the urban population. Married males under 30 exceed the unmarried by about twice, while for the urban po- pulation the excess is three times; the average age of marriage for males therefore appears to be higher than in the case of the urban population.