"There appears to have been some little mistake in the original site of the town, the principal part of which or at least the part most inhabited by the Chinese, is situated in a great re-entrance upon the declivity of the highest of the mountains which shut in the harbour. The space for building is very limited, and indeed this is the case along the whole shore. Gradually people have spread themselves eastward along the front of the harbour, and probably at no very distant time a second town will spring up at the eastern end of the harbour; indeed the buildings already erected by Messrs. Jardine and Matheson are so extensive as to form almost a town of themselves. But the great distance from one end of Hongkong, or rather of Victoria, to the other, is already a source of great inconvenience, particularly in a hot country."
Electric and motor transport was not dreamt of then, yet the farseeing chronicler visualised much of the development in the Causeway Bay district which we see at the present time.
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A further view of old Hongkong drawn by Mr. H. Bruce, a former architect, in 1846, and lithographed in London, is reproduced to-day. It is entitled a scene of Queen's Road looking east from the Canton Bazaar, and gives us an excellent idea of the changes which have since taken place.
To the right of the picture can be seen part of a row of Chinese shops the bazaar and a little further along is the rocky outcrop at the edge of Scandal Point (see 6-7-33). This rocky promontory still stands, but the bazaar area is now enclosed by a wall, and on its site we have the Soldiers' Club and military quarters, as well as some low buildings and a yard used by a military contractor. The site is of some historical importance, as it marks the place where the first Chinese traders commenced business, almost immediately after the founding of the Colony. These men came from Canton hence the name of Canton Bazaar given to their settlement, the word "bazaar" being in use owing to the Indian name being tacked on to all Eastern market-places during the days of the East India Company, so that the designation spread throughout Malaya and on to Hongkong.
From references to the early days in several of the old chronicles one is able to gain a clear picture of the trades carried on at this part of Queen's Road - there was every variety of product on sale, wearing apparel (the Chinese tailors had already commenced to make stern-style clothes for Europeans, with their genius for copying a pattern) shoes, comestibles of all kinds, jewellery and gold and silverware, curios, and of course silks for milady's delight. As we see to-day, the shopping areas spread later to Wanchai and further along Queen's Road westward, and the old Canton Bazaar disappeared with the extension of military (and naval) land.
To the left-hand side of the old picture, indeed, we can see a row of dwellings which were absorbed in the naval and military area at a comparatively recent date in the year 1896.
The ... as referred to in the articles on the Naval Yard (see, for instance, 12-12-33).
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