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RONALD C. Y. NG
Considering that the mapping was done during his brief sojourn in the District, in the little time which he could devote to perform this immense task of recording over 900 settlements spreading over an area of some 750 square miles under personal and environmental conditions which were far from congenial, Fr. Volonteri deserves the admiration of all those who have recourse to the document. It is worth noting that the number of 368 villages and market towns shown in that part of San On which became British 30 years later is fairly consistent with the official figure of 416 for 1898. The information on the settlement pattern was certainly derived from his personal knowledge and the Chinese script was probably provided by his local collaborator, Don Andrea Maria Liang, who accompanied him on practically all his journeys in San On. Herein lie also the sources of weakness of the map: the vital time element and the joint authorship.
The most immediately evident aspect of the discrepancies is the number of villages on both sides of the San On border which had their locations clearly marked but remained unnamed in either language. These settlements have in common that they are situated in the remote interior or on the off-shore islands. It may well be that Fr. Volonteri would have liked more time in the District to complete the work he had so meticulously undertaken, but his health deteriorated and, furthermore, he was under the impression that he would soon be assigned to a new post under the existing circumstances of shortage of personnel in other mission stations in China. He was understandably anxious to see the map engraved in Leipzig prior to his departure from the area. The appearance on the map of these unidentified villages may lead one to suspect legitimately that there could well be many more sites which are not even marked with a symbol. This is almost certainly the case with Lantau Island. Travelling in San On in his day was an arduous and time-consuming business, as Stewart Lockhart's description of the conditions thirty years hence was to reveal. There is no doubt that the work was finished in haste for on several occasions errors made in the Chinese characters were not properly erased but were merely printed over. Fr. Volonteri, with his knowledge of the Chinese written language, must have noticed these incongruities and, except for shortage of time, he would not have sent the manuscript to the engraver with such a lack of polish.
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