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THE SAN ON MAP OF MGR. VOLONTERI*
On the Centenary of the Copy in the R.G.S. Collection
RONALD C. Y. Ng†
In 1860 a young Italian priest arrived in the British Colony of Hong Kong to join the Mission of the Propaganda in the Roman Catholic Diocese there. Interrupted frequently by ill health, he stayed only a few years in the Colony and in the adjoining Chinese District of San On (Hsin-An Hsien, now known as Bau-An Hsien) in the Province of Kwangtung, in preparation for a later distinguished career in northern China. Compared with those long years of successful missionary work in the capacity of Bishop of Honan, Fr. Simeone Volonteri's early efforts were little remembered and his biographer devoted only a small section in an introductory chapter to the description of his labours in Hong Kong and its vicinity.
Padre Ho, a name derived from the transliteration in the local dialect of the first syllable of his surname, was a well-liked priest among the Hakka rice farmers in the District. He was a man of tremendous zeal and was reputed to have converted an entire community on an island off the coast and nine other villages to the Catholic faith. His youthful keenness and his love of the country and the people led him, together with his interpreter and colleague, over land and water to almost every settlement in the District. A most remarkable fruit of his four years' professional labour was undoubtedly the San On District Map 'drawn from actual observations', a frequently consulted historical and geographical document for those interested in the area, especially of the period before the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898. However, his modesty dissuaded him from acknowledging directly on the map his due share of the credit in bringing to the public this 'first and only map hitherto published'. Within two years of
*This article was first published in the Geographical Journal Vol. 135, Part 2 (June) 1969, pp. 231-5. It appears here with the consent of the author and the kind permission of The Royal Geographical Society who have also provided the full-scale reproduction of part of the original map that appears as Plate 15 of our Journal.
† Dr. R. C. Y. Ng is Lecturer in Geography, School of Oriental and African Studies, London University.