472
was in this building that a full room of the 49th were swept into eternity, and that without the slightest warning.
I suppose the hills that lay far up beyond the barracks, which in my time were lit up nightly by charcoal burners, have become part and parcel of Hongkong town,
I still remember many nooks, buildings, and other places, but have forgotten their names, many of them being christened by our fellows and known to us by those names only; but I presume names and everything else are altered
now.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The Club house on Queen's Road will always be green in my memory, our services were so often required there, especially during the winter months. Also the place of young John Hoegel's death, he having been cowardly murdered by the Malays. The facts of this case I will give you. Hoegel was taking his evening walk, and saw two Malays quarrelling and that it would end in a big rów. Going up to them he tried to make peace, when suddenly one of them plunged his bowie knife into Hoegel and ripped him up, killing him instantly. This act "put settled' to the accounts of all the Malays on the island, for they had long been a suspicious and ques- tionable community; in fact, many of their dark deeds had been fastened on the Chinese, not only foul murders, but many of our vessels were pirated by this race of cutthroats, for which the Chinese pirates were blamed, although the Chi- nese were nothing loth in taking that or those which did not belong to them, either ashore or afloat. Further, many a leave of absence man from the ships in the harbour has found a watery grave by the treachery of the Chinese boatmen, when the poor follows were returning to their ships. I know also that in open daylight the Chinese have snatched the war medal from our fellows' coats. This class of thief always wore a false pigtail and was covered with grease to prevent being raught. Well, to return to Hoegel's death. A very short time elapsed, when news of this tcagic occurrence was received by our fellows in barracks, Immediately word was passed from room to room, and from the higher to the lower barracks, for all hands to turn out (officers and non-coms. excepted.)
That same evening the men came out, the sentries also left their posts, and the fight commenced against the Malays. As near as I can remember it lasted three days and three nights. In the afternoon of the third or fourth day, not a Malay could be found. It was a never-to-be-forgotten scene. Many of our fellows took their bayonets, not their rifles; others, their blackthorn walking sticks, which were sent to the Regiment from home; others had pokers. These men went to the town in daylight, hiding their pokers and bayonets up their sleeves, and waited till darkness came on, when they were joined by others who brought their rifles. They had to climb over the railings to join us in the town.
The fight was a hand to hand one, and many of the Malays thought to escape to the boats that lined the beach of the harbour, but so hotly were they pursued by our fellows that before they had time to push off our men were upon them, killing them off. Some Malays, took the open harbour, thinking to escape by swimming, but here again our fellows were after them, with their bayonets in their months; when within reaching distance, the Malay would turn upon the pursuer with his bowie knife, but the bayonet soon finished the fight.
During the fight, not one of our men was killed. However, the police (I believe they were mounted) were ordered to fire upon our fellows, which they did, killing poor Lonsdale, and wounding others, who, however, recovered The Regiment was so scattered about the place looking for Malays that we did not meet once, in a body, during the fight. The fact was, the Malays would not stand against us, whether armed with bayonet, poker, sticks, or stones, but immediately made off up to the mountains, our fellows after them. Others, as I stated before, made for the boats, some took refuge in friendly Chinese houses, and others were sheltered for pity's sake by Europeans; but they were taught a lesson.
The Regiment did not meet, as a body, until they all returned to barracks on the morning
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of the third or fourth day. I do not remember whether the Governor gave the order for us to quit on the same day we returned to barracks, or on the day following. At all events, we received orders to quit the island, bag and baggage, within two hours after receiving the order, and to proceed to Kowloon. This was a surprise to us. Nevertheless we packed up and by the appointed time were on our way to the junks. As the last part of the light com- pany were turning off Queen's Road to the right, where a road led to the jetty and where the junks were lying in waiting, the Governor was seen driving past, taking his evening out ing, and had it not been for the two splendid greys attached to his brougham that drive would have been his last, for the last part of the light company dropped their beds and arms and ran after him, but those two grand horses, I am glad to say, pulled him through.
What with disease, Hoegel's and Lonsdale's deaths, cruel and outrageous ones, and this move to Kowloon, our men were desperate; for during our stay in Hongkong we suffered much from the many diseases prevalant at that time-diseases peculiar to that far Eastern climate.
I remember once upon returning from Happy Valley seeing a line of carriages and many people following a hearse. This rather unusual sight caused me to ask some of the followers who the deceased might be, which elicited the reply that it was Charley Thorn, the actor, who was to have taken his benefit at the Theatre that night of his funeral.
I never know the number of men we lost on the island of Hongkong, but when that order was received for us to go to Kowloon we numbered rank and file 471.
In my time there grew on the left hand Barracks path leading from the front gate a curious tree that bloomed only once in every hundred years. I saw the tree in full blossom. The flowers were near the top, and I think they were large and yellow, but I forget whether this was in the year' 62 or 63. There was also a very peculiar plant that grew on the esplanade, at the top, nearer the right than the left hand corner. The plant, I was informed, was called the sensitive plant. I have often put my fingers on its leaves, when the whole of the leaves would immediately, droop. There were also some rare trees in front of General Brown's house and near it; our fellows called them India rubber trees; whether that was the correct name I do not know, as I never made botany a part of my study,
I first saw Kowloon in 1860, a small boat building village near the water's edge and opposite the Hongkong Barracks. To the left of this village, and near a swampy piece of land, which ran in considerably, being often covered with water, which was caused by the tide -between these two places, stood the Military Stores, a large bamboo building which was guarded by a sentry of the 23rd Native In- fantry Regiment. I believe a detachment of this Regiment was stationed at Kowloon that year. To the right side of this swamp there grew a large number of castor oil trees and a quantity of other shrubs, and Kowloon gener- ally was fairly covered with grass. Some of our fellows, not then knowing the castor oil tree, took a fancy to the nuts hanging in the trees, and accordingly climbed them and made a raid on the nuts, and began eating them, when one suddenly exclaimed he had great pain, placing his hand on his stomach; then the others complained, and gave evident signs of much internal trouble, until one after the other they dropped out of the trees like so many balls to the ground. The doctor was requisitioned, who ordered these nut eaters to be carried to his quarters, and they soon recovered under his treatment, but these poor fellows gave nut trees, castor oil nuts in partic- ular, a very wide berth after their never-to- be-forgotten experience.
We remained in Kowloon about a month, when we were ordered to Canton. That was in 1860, but after the Malay affair, 1863, we found that a parade ground had been made, the grass having been pulled up for the purpose. There had also been built a number of wooden huts on the hill overlooking the viliage and the harbour, and these huts we occupied, but our fellows suffered so much from disease that the doctor ordered the Regiment
[June 17, 1897.
to go under canvas, and the tents were pitched a little over a mile from the huts, nearer to Kowloon City, which was walled, and was partly on the side of a hill towards the month of the harbour.
Each Company had a flag and flagstaff, which stood at the head of each Company's tents. Upon the death of a comrade the flag was raised half mast, but this was of such frequent occurrence that the officers gave orders for all flags to be pulled down.
Some remarkable affairs happened to us here. One I shall never forget, namely, the complete removal, or carrying off, of a large marquee tent, of European manufacture, during the night, and that without making the least noise, at least without awakening the sleepers beneath it, who numbered about thirty men. We ascertained that the tent had been taken by Chinese pirates of two different junks, and that they had taken it up into the hills. Some of the Hongkong police and our men followed, only to discover that the pirates had fallen out among themselves for possession of the tent, and many of both parties were wounded and killed.
of
fire,
Leaving the huts for the tents was like jumping out of the pan into the for the physical condition our men got so low that only three of the Band of thirty to forty members-myself and two others (men named Quin and Carney) -were left to play on parade. Then I went down with cholera, recovered, then down with sun-stroke, and scarcely a day well. No, I shall never forget Kowloon, nor will any of my old commanders, if any are yet live. I must here remark that teetolalers and temperate men pulled through much better than did the rollicking community. The few comrades whom I Baw in England many years ago were suffering, more or less, from disease contracted in China. Considering the security and great commercial advantage. gained by capitalists and emigrants through the presence of our troops and sailors I opine that our Government should deal more liberally with Army and Navy pensioners and, at all events, allow them sufficient means to keep them from ending their days in pauperism.
We embarked on board the Tamar and left Kowloon in 1864, and after a good voyage landed in Durban, South Africa, then proceeding to Pietermaritzburg, where we stayed about two years.
On the morning of our departure from Pie- termaritzburg I was sitting on the form outside the barrack room waiting for the "fall in" to sound, when I was joined by P. Casey, our old assistant schoolmaster. We began chatting away about the good things that awaited us in Cape Town, when his conversation suddenly took a different direction, and this was Hong- kong. He informed me that during his confinement in Hongkong civil prison he had á very remarkable warder over him, who was an East Indian. This warder was evidently under some disguise, for he was a man of great intelligence, spoke with some authority about European politics, was a good English scholar, and frequently made use of French and Latin "It often occurred during his conversations.
"that this warder was to me," said Casey, something more than an ordinary Indian, such as I had seen in India, because his manner and bearing were those of a gentleman. I was some time during my imprisonment conjecturing who he might be and it occurred to me that he might be 'so and so; if he was I could identify him by a scar over the left (I believe) eye. The next time this warder entered into conversation with me I drew near to him and positively there was the scar."
'Well," said I to Casey, "You have not named this Indian," and his reply greatly surprised me, for he instantly replied that it was that arch fiend Nana Sahib, of Indian Mutiny fame. This name astonished me. I believed every word about the warder's superior abilities and about the man, for Casey served with our Regiment in India at a Sahib, together with time when Nana certain marks and descriptions of his per son, were fresh in the minds of our Indian over the troops, and the cut or scar eye was, I believe, the distinguishing mark,
I remember during our stay in China that smallpox was very prevalent, and I here give a great recipe for that disease that I have
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